WHY DO YOU FEEL GUILTY?

GUILT is the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability:

     It is determined by God ALONE because He is the only Righteous judge who alone is worthy. God has already prescribed what righteous means by His commandments and wrote them on all men's hearts. When a violation is committed against God's law the person is determined to be guilty. This is their status before a righteous God in the court of Heaven. Guilt began in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. The one command, which was really a warning, that God gave Adam was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because as God said, it would kill him. The first REAL sin was that Adam placed the woman at a higher importance to him than God which is the first sin of worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator or idolatry. (Romans 1:25) And so mankind fell into sin and death through the lust of their own flesh and all of Adam and Eve's offspring were born with the same tendency to serve the creature rather than the creator which ultimately leads to death. Therefore, we are all born sinners and guilty of sin. It is in our genes. (Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:)

I FEEL GUILTY

     The FEELING of guilt is different from the state of guilt in that it is not required to be accurate. Often times a person will feel GUILTY and retain the feeling of guilt even when there is no merit to it. Rape victims often feel guilty and ashamed as though they had violated some law although they are the victims of a crime. Because the heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) we are often betrayed to think that we CANNOT be forgiven. The reason is JUSTICE. We all have a sense that JUSTICE must be served by punishment of wrongs that have been committed. This is based on God's law and there is NO mercy in the law. (Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.) And so as it says in (Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;) we ALL stand guilty before the God of Heaven because we have fallen short of the perfection that is required by God's commandments.
     This leaves one understanding in his heart that he is a sinner and guilty of death because he has served his own lusts rather than the righteous commandment of God, (Idolatry). The devil has taken man captive to do his will through lust and continues to bring corruption into his life so that he can eventually destroy him using the commandments as a weapon of destruction against him. In essence, the devil has kidnapped God's children by tempting them to fulfill their own lusts regardless of what God requires and thereby making them guilty and unworthy to stand in God's presence. This separation from God is final as was God's first decree that Adam would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
     The only way anyone can satisfy the demand of justice is to die himself eternally separated from his maker according to the commandments. God loves all mankind, however, not because we are perfect and sinless but because we are His creation. After looking at all He made in Genesis, God said that it was VERY good. He was very pleased at what He had created. God's original will for man was for man to be His companion in close intimate relationship with the God of the universe. God does not change. He still wants that with man today but in order to fulfill His original will a man would have to keep His laws perfectly and earn the right to stand before Him by his own works. There was only one way this could be done.

GOD PAYS OUR RANSOM

     The commandments of God are His very attributes; or character and therefore only God Himself could possibly perform the commandments but God is a Spirit (John 4:24 God is a Spirit:) and not flesh. Because God knows all things, however, the plan was made from the beginning of creation (Romans 8:29) that God Himself would become a man (1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, [Isaiah 9:6]) as our representative and fulfill His own laws as a man thereby earning the right to stand before Him as a man in Heaven because of His own righteousness in the flesh. But by living a perfect life as a man He would earn THE WAY to Heaven but man would still stand guilty before Him because of their own sin. The commandments of God required death as the only way to satisfy justice in the rest of mankind and therefore the flesh body of God (Jesus the Son of God) had to pay the price of death as our representative so that the required ransom could be paid to the kidnapper (the devil who is our accuser). The commandments and the curse had to be taken out of the way so that we could come boldly to the throne of God as righteous and His original will could be fulfilled. Now we can be found righteous before God by the death of Jesus because He has nailed the law and the curse of the law to the cross (Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;) God resurrected His Son Jesus from the dead as a sign to men that HE IS GOD.
    A sinless man paying the penalty of death for the sins that all mankind had committed would eradicate the curse of the law forever thereby declaring ALL men righteous in the court of Heaven through this man, Jesus. He became sin for us, (2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.)

FREE AT LAST

     Now ALL men have a WAY to get to the God of the universe. All it takes is to accept Jesus into your heart and believe what He has done for ALL mankind and confess it with your mouth (Romans 10:9-13). When you call on Him out of your heart, He will put His Holy Spirit in your flesh and teach you His ways. The ransom will be applied to you in the court of Heaven and you will be won back from the devil's power with the promise of eternal life with God Himself never to be separated from Him again for all eternity which was God's original will.
     Paul said that he always strove to have a clear conscience (Acts 24:16) by believing all things that had been written.  Believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the ransom for your soul is what will clear your conscience.
     Guilt therefore should also be eradicated out of your heart because Jesus has made you righteous if you have accepted Him and truly BELIEVE IT. Don't believe your heart that tells you that you still stand guilty if you have accepted Jesus because God has made all things right and taken you back to the status in the garden before the fall, innocent before Him and able to have a personal relationship as His adopted child. You stand GUILTLESS BECAUSE OF YOUR BELIEF IN JESUS CHRIST. HALLELUJAH!