The Necessity of Guilt

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That's cornerstonerbc.com. I want us to consider the necessity of guilt for salvation. And when I refer to guilt, I'm not speaking about the emotional experience that we feel, that we experience when we know that we have done something wrong. I'm not speaking about the emotional aspect of guilt, because that emotional aspect is going to be different from person to person.

There's going to be some people that experience guilt, emotionally speaking, in a different way to others. So we're not speaking about that emotional experience. Rather, we're speaking about the fact that a person, when they transgress the commandments of the Lord, they are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, and that we call guilt. This awareness that you have broken God's commandment. Irrespectively of how you experience emotionally that guilt.

Only the awareness that a person has broken God's commandment. The Spirit of God convicts this person through the law of the Lord and says, you have broken my commandments. And then the person experiences guilt. Now, let me submit, as I'm going to show you from the Scriptures, that when we come to the New Testament, we realize that there are two types of guilt. One that is called worldly guilt, and the other one that is called godly guilt.

Perhaps the word that the Apostle uses in 2 Corinthians 7 is worldly sorrow. Remember the passage in 2 Corinthians 7? Worldly sorrow, and then godly sorrow. I'm saying, and the title of my sermon is, that there is a necessity for godly guilt for salvation. So it is important that we distinguish between those two types of guilt, this worldly guilt, or this worldly sorrow, and the godly sorrow.

And for that, I don't want to quote the passage, but I want to direct your attention to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10 so that you can see it with your eyes and then you can see the two types of guilt or two types of sorrow so let's come to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 and in verse 10 the apostle as he's writing to the Corinthians he is going to explain or at least implicitly going to give us at the church the definition of these two types of guilt 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. I hope that you remember the context because I only want to take verse 7 to distinguish between worldly guilt and godly guilt. Verse 10 of chapter 7 of 2nd Corinthians, it says, for godly grief, or some of you may have godly sorrow, this is what I refer to as guilt, this godly grief, pay attention to what it does in verse 10, for godly grief, produces a repentance that leads to salvation. You see, that is worldly or better, godly sorrow or godly guilt produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas, or in other words, but worldly grief produces death we have on these two sides we have on this side worldly guilt and on the other side we have godly guilt or sorrow or grief very clearly here these two have different destinations of different outcomes worldly guilt has the destination of death And godly guilt, and if I confuse both of them, you know what I mean, godly guilt leads to eternal life.

Why is that? Because when the Spirit of God convicts a person that they have committed a sin, then this Spirit of God, that guilt that the person experiences, uses it so that the person will repent of that sin, place their faith in Jesus Christ, and this is what leads to salvation or forgiveness if the person is a Christian. This is godly sorrow or godly guilt. However, we do not always experience that godly guilt. Sometimes we experience worldly guilt or fleshly guilt.

And that type of guilt, once again, the spirit, who is the one that convicts of sin, brings awareness to us through the commandment that we have broken a commandment, that we have disobeyed, but instead of leading us, because of our flesh, to repent, of their sin and to place our faith in Jesus Christ to be forgiven and to salvation or forgiveness, then we just simply either have just simply remorse because of the consequences of sin and we do feel bad because of that, but we are not actually repenting before God. We may feel wrong about it. I mean, we may even come to a person and ask for forgiveness to the person, but we do not actually ask forgiveness or repent before the Lord. That is the type of sorrow that sometimes is more concerned with the consequences of what we have done, or perhaps with the outcome of the thing that we've done. There is no outcome of eternal life.

You see the difference between those two, right, brethren? I'm saying that there is a necessity of godly guilt for salvation. And if you know the contents of the gospel, then what I'm saying is actually a big statement. Because what I'm saying is that every genuine Christian who has been genuinely saved has gone through an experience of guilt. Now remember that I'm not referring to the emotional aspect of it, right?

Because people will manifest guilt in different ways emotionally speaking. But what I'm saying is that a person that is genuinely a Christian will go or has gone through an experience of knowing that they are sinners, that they are convicted by the Holy Spirit, and that guilt has led them to repent of their sins, to place their faith in Jesus Christ, and that is salvation. This is very important because in the message of the gospel, there are many elements that make the gospel beautiful. For instance, the love of God, for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life, right? The love of God is a very good aspect, a beautiful aspect of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But let me submit to you that all of these beautiful attributes of the gospel should have at its core in the heart the fact that we are sinners, that Jesus Christ is righteous, and because we are sinners, we deserve the punishment of God, and Jesus Christ takes upon himself the wrath and the punishment that we deserve. Hence, the person that is a genuine Christian has to go through that experience of acknowledging that they are guilty before God, and that the only solution for their problem is Jesus Christ. This is very important because we live in times in which churches and preachers, and when I say this, brethren, I'm not wanting to exalt our churches if we were something unique or the only ones. I hope that you understand that that is not my intention. I'm just simply making an assessment of what happens very often, that people and preachers and teachers and other churches will exalt all the other aspects of the gospel at the expense of the fact that we are sinners.

Why? Because knowing that we are guilty is not nice, brother. To read this passage in Romans chapter 3, that we are rebellious, that we're liars, that we're haters, that we don't have fear of God. Nobody likes that. People do not come to churches to hear that.

They come to feel sometimes good about themselves. And hence, sometimes churches will emphasize those things of the gospel that make people feel good. The problem is that if we do not go to the heart of the gospel, we may have people that are feeling good in the chairs, but they might not have the reality of Christianity in their hearts. And while that might be very nice in which we smile at each other and we have a good time, then people are not generally saved. And when they have to give an account before the Lord, brethren, that is the big problem, as we know.

Right? So I'm simply saying that there is a necessity of guilt for genuine salvation, and that's exactly what the Apostle Paul has been doing in chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3 of the book of Romans. If you pay attention, if we return to our passage in Romans chapter 3, and if you pay attention to Romans chapter 3 verse 21, you will know that this famous passage of the righteousness of God that is revealed, that is only in the gospel, that the the law and the prophets prophesied about this righteousness of God. Verse 21 is where the apostle will start explaining the contents of the gospel and how we are saved. Romans chapter 3 verse 21.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law and so on and so on and so on. And from there is that we have this powerful and beautiful verses of the book of Romans that we have all fallen short of the glory of God that, you know, if we confess with our hearts and we with fading and mouths then you remember Romans 10 10 and so on and so on and so on all of those verses of the gospel only make sense after the apostle has fully charged the Jews and the Gentiles that they are sinners. You see that brethren, we cannot have good news if we don't have bad news. The good news do not make sense if we don't have the bad news. And it's our mission, it is our requirement that we will present the bad news so that Jesus Christ is not your friend to whom you speak to every time that you're in trouble, But Jesus Christ is your Lord every single second of your life.

That Jesus is your God. That Jesus is the reason for whom you live. That Jesus Christ is not just simply the appendix to your life. Every time that you remember that you're supposed to pray, but rather that Jesus Christ takes possession of your thoughts because now you understand that you were dead in your sins and in your trespasses and that it's only Jesus Christ the one who has given you life. That is the difference between genuine Christianity and false Christianity.

And brethren, when you read the New Testament and then you see what is going to happen in the encounter of professing Christians with Jesus, it is terrifying to see that the scriptures themselves speak about the fact that there is going to be many that on that day are going to be rejected by Christ Jesus himself. We cannot receive or accept the good news if we don't understand the bad news. So this sermon is going to be quite heavy and quite difficult because I'm basically going to be telling you and myself that you're guilty, that you're unrighteous, that you're bad, that you're not as good as you think that you are, that you're not as smart as you think that you are, that that which is in you, in your mind, in your head, in your heart, is actually rubbish. The doubt which you have in your soul is actually terrifying. That if I was just going to take the thoughts that you have in your head and put them there, I don't know if you will be invited next Sunday.

Would it happen the same thing with me, brother? What I'm going to say to you is that you are so unrighteous as I am, so that if we see the chasm of separation between us and God, we can see the greatness of God and the greatness of His love. Because if I don't see myself as a sinner, brethren, I'm going to be self-righteous and believe that I deserve favor from God. You know that, right? If I see myself as good, if I see myself as enough, it is okay, just the things that I know and do.

If I see myself as deserving, then what Jesus Christ has done upon the cross is of no value to me. And Jesus Christ just becomes my friend. It only becomes appendix to my life. It is just my body, just my might. As you guys say, it is just my friend there just with me.

But Jesus Christ is not your friend. He is your friend. He's not only the person that is there to help you. He's there to help you. He's Lord, and He's King, and He's God, and He's the one that rules, and all glory should be to Christ Jesus, and all your life should be for Him, through Him, and in Him.

Not only when you come to church, but when you're studying, when you're working with your family, with your husband, with your wife, with your children, all should be in Him, for Him, and through Him. And no religion is going to be able to empower you to live your life in that way, other than the presence of the Spirit of God genuinely in you. And for the Spirit of God to be genuinely in you, brethren, we need to know that we are broken, that we are unrighteous, that we are bad, and that He is the good of this story. that He is the merciful, that He is the exalted one, that He is the perfect one, that He is the loving one, that He is the one that deserves all the glory, not us. That is the healthiest thing, spiritually speaking, that a person can do.

That is the greatest spiritual conclusion to which a person can arrive to. That apart from Jesus, I am nothing. That is what I want us now to consider here because that's what the apostle was doing. He was saying to the Jews and to the Gentiles, you are guilty. You are unrighteous.

All of you are unrighteous. All of you are under sin. And the law that God gave to the Jews was for the purpose of pointing you to your unrighteousness. So that when you see that you have sinned, then you will ask yourself the question, now, what do I do? And guess what?

I send my son to die upon the cross. So that when you genuinely ask yourself that question, now, what do I do that I have broken all God's commandments? then Jesus Christ will be the answer. Place your faith upon him, repent of your sins, and salvation is a gift that comes from the divine hands of the Lord. So it is our mission simply here to understand a little bit deeper what I have already said.

What I have already said is the main message of this passage. That is what I said to the kids in the kids' meeting before this. That is the main point of the passage. Now what I'm going to try to do is just to go into different layers to see how much each one of you can get out of this passage, and then hope that the Spirit of God will nourish our souls, pointing us to the fact that there's only one who is holy and good, whose name is Jesus, and that he happens to be the savior of our souls. So there are three things that I want us to do from this text.

The first one is that I want us to consider, brethren, and the text, as I said, progresses in complexity as Paul develops his argument, so your attention is appreciated. There are three things that I want to do from this text. The first one is that I want us to consider the reality of guilt. And I want us to do that from verse nine. Okay, we're gonna take verse nine, and we are going to consider the reality of guilt.

The reality of guilt. And when I say guilt, now you know that I'm not referring to the emotional experience, right? I explained that. I'm not referring to this emotional experience of how you experience guilt. I'm more speaking about the fact that a person is aware that they have broken God's commandments.

First, the reality of sin. Second, The Apostle is going to present four evidences or proofs that we are guilty. He's going to do that by taking from the Old Testament from verse 10 to verse 18. He's going to give us four proofs, one, two, three, four proofs that we are indeed guilty. He explains, or better, he gives us the reality that we are guilty, you guys are guilty, verse 9.

And then from verse 10 to verse 18, he's going to give us four evidences or four proofs that we are guilty. And then in verse 19 and 20 what I want us to see is the voice of the accuser that tells us that we are guilty. The voice of the accuser that tells us that we are guilty. The reason why I say the voice of the accuser is not because I want to have a romantic or poetic title to my point, but it's rather because in verse 19, the Apostle Paul is going to give almost a persona, a personification to the law. If you pay attention to verse 19, he says, now we know that whatever the law says, It speaks to those who are under the law.

Literally, verses 19 and 20 is speaking about the voice of the one who accuses us as guilty, and the one that accuses us as guilty is the The law of God is the one that accuses us as guilty. So we have the reality of sin, verse 9. Then we have the evidences of the proofs that we are guilty from verse 10 through verse 18. And then the voice of the one that accuses us as guilty. And I'm sorry for the repetition, but this is important for those of you, for many of you.

Very good. Okay, so let us start with the reality of sin. Pay careful attention to verse 9. The Apostle is going to continue his argument from the 8 verses. He's going to say, What then?

Are we Jews any better off? The Apostle, once again, is anticipating another question that the Jews may have against him. Remember, the Apostle Paul is trying to bring a charge against the Jews, and he's saying, your religion is not going to save you. The circumcision and the law is not going to save you. And from verse 1 through verse 8, if you remember last week, he explained or he responds to all the potential excuses that the flesh can bring to the fact that we are sinners and that only Jesus Christ can save us.

So in verse 9, the apostle is going to anticipate another excuse that the Jews may have. And that excuse actually makes sense, because if you pay attention to verse 1 in chapter 3, the apostle has already said that the Jews have an advantage over the Gentiles. You remember that, verse 1 and 2? It says in verse 1, then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

And then he replies, much in every way. to begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. The apostle has already said that the Jews, that is the people of Israel, do have advantages over the Gentiles. We are Gentiles, the non-Israelites, the non-Jews. That the Jews do have not only one advantage, but they have many advantages.

And the main advantage that they have is that they have been entrusted with the word of God. You remember that, right? So it makes sense now that the Jew is going to say, well, if we have an advantage, if we as people from Israel have an advantage over the Gentiles, then that means that we're better off, right? It makes complete sense. If you have an advantage over someone, then that means that you're better off.

But the Apostle is going to say in verse 9 that no, the Jews are not better off. What is the Apostle referring to? Is the Apostle here contradicting? Of course he's not. Simply, he's speaking about two different things.

In verse 1, the Apostle is saying that from a practical point of view, The Jews do have an advantage over the Gentiles from a completely practical point of view. What is this practical point of view? That they, as a people, were entrusted with the word of the Lord. So from a practical point of view, they had the revelation of God. They had the promises of God.

Had they had faith, they would have received the eternal blessings because they had a practical advantage in which they received the oracles of God. But we know that they did not have faith. So that practical advantage did not give them the spiritual benefit. While in verse 9 that we have before us, the apostle is not speaking about practical matters, but is speaking about morality. From a moral point of view, both the Jews and the Greeks or the Gentiles are exactly the same.

It does not matter that the Jews had a practical advantage, in other words, that they had the word of the Lord. from a moral point of view, both the Jews and the Gentiles are the same. So then that means that the Jews are not better off than the Gentiles from a moral point of view. Because when it comes to judgment, the Jews are going to be judged according to the law that was given to them, according to the light that was given to them. And when the Gentiles are going to be judged before the Lord, they're going to be judged according to the testimony of creation and the work of the law, their conscience in their minds and in their hearts.

Both of them, after that judgment, are considered to be sinners. Both the Gentile is a lawbreaker, and also the Jew is also a lawbreaker. I don't need a commandment that says, you shall not lie, to be written on a piece of paper, to know that lying is wrong. My conscience testifies to me that lying is wrong, and hence, before the Lord, whether I have the written commandment or I don't, I'm a sinner. So from that point, the Apostle says both Jews and also Greeks and Gentiles are guilty.

And he tells us that this guilt is a universal guilt. He is that every single human being is guilty. But if you have understood that, and I hope that you do, the Apostle is going to use a very interesting expression to speak about that guilt. That is the one that I want to pay more attention to. And from what it seems from the time is going to be mainly the only main thing that I'm going to be able to do.

And that is the expression under sin. Did you pay attention there in the end of verse nine that he says, for we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are. Under sin. You see that, brethren? Under sin.

Now, this expression is a very poignant expression. And it's actually a very important expression that is going to help us understand the gospel as it is formulated by the apostle. Because this is going to be the first time that the apostle uses this expression, under, but it's not going to be the last one. Actually, if you pay attention to verse 19 of the same passage that we are addressing, there is where the Apostle is actually going to use once again that word, under. Pay attention to verse 19.

Now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So our guilt, in verse 9, is expressed in the terms of the Apostle by being under sin. Under sin is equal to be guilty. But we want to explore that a little bit more from the Scriptures, right? We want to go a little bit deeper than just simply saying that we are guilty because of our sin.

The Apostle uses this word very carefully, not only speaking here, but if you turn your page and go to Romans chapter 6, verse 14, then you're going to see that the Apostle once again uses this word under. under Sin 3.9, under Law 3.19, and then when you go to 6.14, you're going to see that the Apostle says, under grace and under the law once again.

For sin, verse 14, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. Now, brother, I could take you through the entire New Testament and you will see how many times Paul uses this expression, not only here in Romans, he's gonna use it once again in chapter seven, verse 14, but he also uses it in 1 Corinthians and in the book of Galatians. So the fact that we are guilty means that we are under sin. Remember, I'm just trying to give you a little bit more depth to the idea that you are guilty, that you're not good, that you're unrighteous, and that you're not okay. So how are we going to understand that under scene?

First of all, let me just simply give you the understanding from the preposition that is written in the Greek. This preposition, under, basically speaks about two things, position and motion. Under means that you are positioned, of course, under something, right? That means that we are under sin, that sin is above us. And if you picture that, if you see yourself and sin is above you, that picture already is going to tell you that there is one master in that relationship.

that is not you, right? Because you are the one that is under seen. That is when it comes to position. But second, that word of being under in the Greek also means motion. That means that that which is under or that which is below or under, that is the only word that I have for under, that means that that the person or thing is unable to move.

In other words, that that which is above has such power that controls and governs that which is under. That is that we are under the government of sin. Now, I think that most of us will know that. Human beings are born in sin and that means that we are under the government of sin. The Apostle explains this a little bit more in Romans chapter 7 verse 17 when he's explaining or speaking about his experience against sin.

Come with me please to Romans chapter 7. There the Apostle is going to use once again that expression of being under sin. Once again, please remember that I'm trying to explain to you the depths of what it means to be guilty before the Lord. Romans chapter 7 verse 14. For we know, verse 14, 7, 14.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. Now he uses that expression once again, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. I do not do what I want. I do the very thing I hate.

Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the Lord that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but, pay attention, sin that dwells within me. Where does sin dwell, brethren? Sin dwells inside of you. Sin is above us, and sin is in us.

And the question is, why or how is this manifested? Well, it is not only manifested in the fact that it's in us, but it's also manifested in the fact that sin has a power to dominate us and to make us sin. And we also know that it's not only the presence and the power of sin, but there's also a penalty of sin. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is? death.

So then that means that naturally speaking from a natural point of view, I don't need to know you. I don't need to know your background. I don't need to know your history. I don't need to know how many good things you've done in your life. One thing I know by virtue that you're a human.

And that is that you are a sinner, and the sin is inside of you, and the sin has power over you. Now, the thing is that this relationship between us and sin is not one of friends. It's rather one of a master to a slave, just like Pharaoh to Israel in Egypt. You remember Pharaoh to Israel in Egypt? So is sin to us.

He's mastering us and he's dominating us and he changes our nature in such a way that we no longer are able to be under God because we are under sin. The Apostle explains and articulates this in Romans chapter 8. Come with me to Romans chapter 8 in verse 5. This is what happens in the flesh of the sinner. Romans chapter 8, verse 5.

For those who live according to the flesh, those are the ones that are under sin, because we know that the Christian now is under grace. We know that, right? But verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. Let's keep attention to those of the mind, or the fleshly ones, those who are in sin or under sin.

Verse 6, For to set the mind on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh, pay attention, is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Brethren, you see the weight of that statement, right? Apart from the grace of God, this is our condition. It does not matter how beautiful a baby is when they are born. It does not matter how soft their skin is.

It does not matter how cute and tender when you see them. And it does not matter all the emotions that they produce inside of you. And you know, everything, the love that they can produce within your heart. Every baby that is conceived and is born is conceived in sin. And the question is why, right?

Why this happened? Well, the apostle has given us the answer to that in Romans chapter five. If you come with me to Romans chapter five, then we have the answer to the question of why we are all under sin. Romans chapter five, verse 12, the apostle would say, Romans chapter 5 verse 12, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because of all sin, this man is Who is this man? Adam.

Through the disobedience of Adam, Adam and Eve in the garden, you remember? Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the disobedience of Adam, sin entered into the world. Sin did not only enter into Adam and into Eve, but sin entered into the cosmos, into the world. Everything that was created was permeated with the presence of sin. And this sin produced something that is death.

Death spread through all people. Why? Because all people sin. The natural condition of humanity is that we are guilty before God because we have been born in sin. And the fact that we have been born in sin is manifested in the fact that brother, sister, dear friend, you are a sinner.

You have light. I know that the thoughts that you have in your head are not all pure. How do I know that? Because of what the scripture says. I know that I'm a human.

I know what I have in my head. Even as a pastor, even during this week, I know what I have in my head. I know what I have inside of me. I know what you have inside of you. This is the power of sin, brethren.

And we should see ourselves as guilty and as unrighteous. Otherwise, the favor of Christ does not make absolute sense. The reason why God sent his only begotten son to be like one of us is so that he could take our place. Jesus Christ was not conceived in sin like us. He was sinless.

When he was conceived in the Virgin Mary, he was without sin. He was without sin coming from God, no sin at all. And the reason why he had no sin is because not only was a man, but also God. And in dying upon the cross, He pays for his people the price and the penalty of the sins that they have committed. And he's the only one that now has the power to liberate us from the condemnation that we have under sin.

And some of you may say, well, but can we liberate ourselves from sin? Right? Perhaps I can put myself in a program or I can focus so much in my life that if I was lying, I'm not going to lie anymore. If I was committing sexual immorality, I'm going to focus so much in my life that I'm not going to do it anymore. That is completely impossible in and of ourselves.

Why? For two reasons. The first one, because of what we read in Romans chapter 5, verse 12. Sin has permeated absolutely every aspect of your life, and sin has permeated every aspect of creation. Your mind, your feelings, your emotions, everything has been permeated by sin.

Everything that we see in the cosmos has been permeated by sin. When we see a dog that was supposed to be born with four legs, but was born only with three legs. That is the result of sin being present in the cosmos. When we see that the world does not operate as it should, an earthquake, tsunami, or whatever, whatever, that is the result of sin that is present in the cosmos. Sin has permeated absolutely everything.

And if sin has permeated absolutely everything, There is nothing that I can do to cleanse myself. But second, and more importantly, the reason why you cannot fix this problem is because of the perfect standard of God. Come with me to James chapter 2, verse 10. We could read the context, but once again, we're just simply going to take the verse. And I know that most of you will know this verse, but James chapter 2, verse 10.

We call that Santiago in Spanish. James chapter 2, verse 10. So James chapter 2 verse 10. If you go to James chapter 2 verse 10, you will see there the strict standard of God. James chapter 2 verse 10.

I would like us all to read it together, but we have different translations and we don't usually do that. So I'm just going to read it from the pulpit. James chapter 2 verse 10. For whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, has become accountable for all of it. Brethren, that is a heavy weight, isn't it?

Now, James is putting it from the point of the law of obedience. But basically what he's saying is that if a person has seen only once, that person has broken all the commandments. The standard of perfection of God is such that one single sin is accounted to be the breaking of the entirety of the law. Because God is righteous and God is holy, so he requires that those who have been created will be holy and also righteous. And 1%, 0.

111% of unrighteousness, in righteousness, makes that righteousness no longer righteousness, but unrighteousness. The standard of God is such that none of us have the power even of ourselves, brethren, to escape the condemnation that we deserve. The reason why there is hell that is eternal It is because in and of ourselves we cannot repay the infinite debt that we have before God. And the only thing that we can give in exchange for the sins that we have committed is our own life. But our own life is not sufficient to repay God for the things that we have done.

So hell must be eternal. But there is another way, brethren. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The reason why God sent his son is because the problem that we have is completely unsolvable. There's nothing that we can do to remove ourselves from the guilt and the condemnation that we deserve because of the judgment or because of the sin that we have committed.

It was only God, the only one who can rescued us from this. And when we understand that, brethren, when we understand that chasm, that separation of how unrighteous we are and how holy and loving He is, is only when we understand the love of God. Because the love of God only makes sense in terms of redemption. God demonstrates his love towards us. You remember Romans chapter 5 verse 8?

God demonstrates his love towards us that while we were good, he died for us. No brethren, God demonstrates his love towards us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus did not die for a righteous. Jesus died for sinners. So we are to see ourselves as sinners.

So you see why it is important guilt, godly guilt, leads to salvation? The gospel and the church is not about only God loves me, and he has a wonderful plan for my life, and he's going to change my finances, and he's going to give me a new job, or he's going to give me work, and things are going to get better, and he's going to bless me, and I'm going to have more money in my bank account. That is not the gospel about. The gospel is about you are a sinner, you are unrighteous, and you have a big problem. And that problem means that you're going to have to give an account before God on your own terms.

But God has so loved you that He sent His Son to die upon the cross 2,000 years ago so that you will be forgiven. And when you put on this side to be forgiven with a new car or a new house or a better marriage or this and that, it is not out of comparison. Having a new job or having more money or being blessed in material things does not compare to the fact of being forgiven. Because when you are forgiven by God himself now, you know only that you're not only forgiven, you're also a child of God. And then when you hear his words, that says, you know, that all things work together for good.

for those who love him, that makes sense. Then you don't care about being sick. You do care. But what I mean is that you are not taken over by the fact that you're sick or that you're poor. But you don't have that because your name is written in the book of the Lamb of God.

And then God says, you are my son, you're my daughter. And that is what actually matters. That's why guilt, the experience of guilt is necessary for salvation. I have completely failed in terms of time. So let us just return to our text and let me see how we can do this in 10 minutes.

That is the reality of guilt, brethren. Second thing that I want us to share is the evidences, the evidences that we are guilty. the apostle is going to give us four evidences and i'm going to explain them as general as i can because the apostle is using a lot of statements here but let me what i'm going to share with you brother it changed my view of this text in in terms of approaching this text you know how no one is righteous and not not one this is a text that we usually in our camp is comes out of our mouth very quickly and very fast, usually, or that is generally what happens. Let me just give you the structure of this text. The apostle, now, when he has said, you're guilty, you're unrighteous, there's nothing good in you, you are under sin, you cannot liberate yourself from sin, he's going to give us evidences of that fact.

And he's going to give us four evidences of that. They're going to be in different groups. First, he's going to say that we are guilty because we are rebellious. He says that from verse 10 through 12. First, we are guilty because we are rebellious.

Second, the second evidence that the apostle is going to give us from the Old Testament is that we are guilty because we are liars. He's gonna say that in verse 13 and verse 14, referring to our mouth. You see when he says, verse 13, their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. Their venom of asbestos under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. The mouth. We are guilty first because we are rebellious. Verses 10 through 12. We are guilty because we are liars.

Third, we are guilty because we hate or we have evil actions. That is verse 15 and 16. Their feet are sweet to shed blood in their path or ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known. The idea of the apostle from the sound that he's quoting is hate. We are haters.

And remember that according to Jesus Christ to be a hater is to be a A murder, right? That is to shed blood. So we are guilty because we're rebellious. We are guilty because we are liars. We are guilty because we are haters.

And finally, we're guilty. The reason, the final reason in verse 18 is because we are irreverent. We are irreverent. Let me perhaps only give you, because I don't have much time, only the first one, and then I will just go through the other ones. The argument of the Apostle is this.

He's going to give us five reasons why we are rebellious. We are rebellious, we are liars, we are haters, and we are irreverent. When he says that we are rebellious, he's going to make five statements. First one, he's going to say that there's no one righteous. Not even one.

Second, he's going to say that no one understands. Second, that no one seeks after God, no one seeks for God. And then fourth, he's going to say that we have become worthless or unprofitable. And fifth, he's going to say that no one does good. God created us, and this is how the argument flows, God has created us so that just as he is righteous, we will be righteous.

God expects that the people that he has created will submit to the standard of righteousness that he has given us. And because he has given us this standard of righteousness, he has also given us his word that we are supposed to understand, that we are supposed to pursue. In this pursuit of being righteous as God is righteous, we are to pursue the truth of God. We want to understand spiritual matters. The reason why we want to understand these spiritual matters and be righteous is so that we can have fellowship with God.

In other words, that we will seek God, that we will not turn aside from Him, but that we will have fellowship with God. And in having fellowship with God, we will fulfill the purpose for which we are profitable as creatures, and that is to glorify God, that then Paul is going to explain in chapter 3. When we do not glorify God, we become unprofitable. And in glorifying God, God expects that we will do good things. Just as we receive the standard of righteousness, then we do good things.

But we have rebelled. We have rebelled against the standard of righteousness that God has given us. There is no one righteous, not even one. Because we have rebelled is because we don't understand the things of God. We don't care about the spiritual matters.

We don't even have the light, the spiritual light to pursue God. No one understands. And because we don't understand the standard of God and we don't have the righteousness of God, then what happens is that we go away from God. We don't seek God. We don't want to have fellowship with him.

We are enough in and of ourselves and our lives are enough. We don't want to have fellowship with God. And because we don't have fellowship with God, we don't fulfill the purpose for which we have been created. We do not glorify God, but rather we become worthless or unprofitable is the word that you may have. And because we don't fulfill this purpose of righteousness that God has given us, then we don't do good.

Everything that we do is evil. We care only about ourselves. We don't care about others. We are rebellious. That is the point of the puzzle, not even one.

Everyone is unrighteous. Nobody understands the things of the Lord. No one seeks for God. Nobody wants to have fellowship with God. Nobody wants to fulfill the purpose for which they have been created.

Everyone is worthless. Everyone is unprofitable. Everyone does evil. No one does good. And that is manifesting that we are liars.

Our mouths are open graves, and the grave is inside. We use this mouth instead to speak truth and to praise God, to lie, to gossip, and also to speak words of anger, which are the three things that Paul has in mind in those verses there. To lie, not to tell the truth, to gossip, to speak about each other, or then just to speak words that do not produce But rather to destroy and these words that are lies that we have in our mouth and takes us to hatred verse 15 and 16 We are ready to shed blood and we don't have we don't need to have a gun in order to be murderers or killers We only need to have hate in our heart towards someone else. Someone that we don't like. Someone that did something against us in the past.

Someone that we have not been able to forgive and we're storing up, harboring bitterness or resentment in our heart towards that person. That is hate. And that is murder. That is shedding people's blood. And that does not produce peace according to what the Apostle says.

That produces destruction. Why? because we don't care about God, we care about ourselves. Verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes. We have no idea what comes ahead of us because this world has taught us that you are good and you're okay.

Because this world has been teaching that everything that you need is found inside of you. It's finding in your own power. You need to strengthen yourself and you're going to be good and you're going to be okay. While the Bible tells us we need to put our eyes in Christ. He's the one who came to love us and to save us.

It doesn't matter that you're 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 or 50, you're going to die. You're going to grow old and weak and you will die. It doesn't matter how successful and how much money you have in this world, that is going to pass. You're going to die and everything is going to be left behind. Everyone is going to forget your name.

Everyone is going to forget that you existed. Give it 50, 60, 80 years, everyone will forget that you existed. What matters in this life is to be united to Christ Jesus, brother. is to have repented of our sins and to come to the feet of Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, so that you can see through the lenses of Christ your life, your work, your friendship, your family, and be good to them, not because of your prideful wanting to be the best. but rather because you want to honor the one who loved you and gave himself for you.

You want to be a good husband and a good wife, not because the other person deserves it, but because he loved me and he gave himself for me. You want to be a good father, a good mother, not because your kids deserve that, but rather because he loved you and he gave himself for you upon the cross. You want to be good brother and sister one to the other and you want to help each other, not because you like each other, not because you like the same things, but rather because he loved you and he gave himself for you. And then when you think about who you are, you say, Lord, I am a sinner. But I also know that your grace abounds and you send your son to die upon the cross.

So we have an accuser, right? Because we so easily forget about these matters. And so easily we can point to ourselves and say, I'm good. I'm all good. I'm not like those people.

I'm actually better than they are. I'm more moral than they are. You know, look how much I have progressed or advanced. We have an accuser. God has given us the voice of an accuser that tells us that we are guilty.

And that accuser, verse 19 through 20, give me five minutes, verse 19 through 20, brethren, is the law. the commandment. Now we're told if we pay attention to those verses and we finish with this, but please direct your attention there because some of the things that I'm going to say here perhaps will help us to understand some of the things that Paul say later on. He says something very interesting in verse 19. He says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

What Apostle is saying in the first clause is very clear, that that which the law says or that which is written in the law He says it to the Jews. Why? Because he was given to the Jews. The law, the Mosaic law, was given to the people of Israel. But Apostle also tells us that even though the law was given to the Jews, it is through the standard that at least is revealed in the law that every mouth in all the world is going to held accountable.

That is, the law was given to the Jews, but everyone is going to be held accountable before God. Why is that? If the law was only given to the Jews, and the commandment, you shall not lie, you shall not kill, was only given to the Jews, why is God going to use that standard, or at least the principle of that standard, to judge the Gentile to whom the law was not given? And the answer is actually very simple, brother. The reason why God can do that is because the commandment only finds existence in the commandment giver.

The commandment, the letter of the commandment is nothing in and of itself apart from the commandment giver so when God says you shall not lie and that was given in a written code to the people of Israel the reason why he says you shall not lie is not because he wanted to give a commandment but rather because God is truth and in his world and in his creation Lies are not accepted, not because the letter of the commandment, but because of the giver of the commandment that is true. When God says you shall not lie, the reason why we should obey the commandment is not because the written word says you shall not lie, but rather God is life and he's the one that keeps and sustains life. So because the law or the principles of the law are containing the character of God and God is God to everyone, everyone can behold a cannibal. The one who breaks the letter of the commandment like the Jew will be judged according to the light that it was given to them. You had the light of the scriptures.

You will be judged according to that. But the one who does not have the written commandment, they have the work of creation and the testimony of the conscience that tells them that even though they don't have the law, you shall know lie. they know that lying is wrong. So then that means that the law is telling us, all of us, that no, we are not good, we are guilty. Because when the law tells you, brother, sister, dear friend, you shall not lie, it's not only pointing you to the thing that you should not do, it's also pointing you to the thing that you have already broken.

Because when he says you shall not lie, you know that you have already lied. And it does not matter that from this point onwards, you don't lie anymore. Remember James 2.10? If you break one of the commandments of the law, you have broken the whole law.

So let me just ask you this question and you can, you're welcome to answer it. Are you a liar? Yes, we are liars, brethren. And we should not be embarrassed about. We are liars.

We are unrighteous. But the thing is that we're not only liars. We have a Savior whose name is Jesus. He came to this world to fulfill the requirements of the world that we could not fulfill. So when the law comes and accuses us, this law that cannot justify us, as the text says here, that the works of the law will not justify any flesh, we can put our eyes in Jesus Christ and we can say, I have broken the commandment, I have lied, I have done those things, but there is someone.

who did not. There is someone who obeyed the law perfectly. There is someone who kept all the requirements of God perfectly and he happens to be my Lord. He happens to be my Savior. He happens to be the lover of my soul.

He happens to be the one who has forgiven me. He happens to be my God. So when I have to give an account before God, I'm not going to point to my life. I'm not going to point to my being a father or a husband. I'm not going to point to my being a pastor or not.

I'm not going to point to the things that I've done, brethren. But I'm going to point to the things that Christ has done, because He's the one that has liberated us from the condemnation of the law, that brings us condemnation and sends us to hell, not because the law is bad, but because we are sinners. because we are guilty, because we are unrighteous. So the call of the gospel is, do not turn to the commandment, but turn to the commandment giver. Do not turn to yourself, but turn to the Savior.

It is to Christ Jesus that our eyes are to be placed upon. But in order to place our eyes in Christ, you need to know that you are a sinner. How are you going to see Jesus as a savior and as a redeemer if you think that you're good, if you think that you're righteous, if you think that you are okay, if you think that you are the standard and the model that everyone should follow and pursue? Guilt, godly guilt, remember, is necessary for salvation. Godly guilt is necessary for salvation.

And when the eyes of a person are open and they see that they are guilty, they are not left there in the cave of guilt, brother. They are invited to come to Christ, come, come, because there's no price, there's no requirement, only come, come to Jesus. He's the one that forgives, He's the one that receives, and He's the one that receives all the glory. And on that day, brethren, there's going to be many people that will come from many different places, from many different countries, many different tribes, many different towns, and all of them will have one thing in common, even though they are so different, that they were guilty, They were saved by the blood of the Savior, who loved them so much that took upon himself the wrath that they deserved. But these people, when they were guilty, they did not remain in their guilt.

They turned to God, they repented of their sins, and they placed their faith in Jesus Christ. and they have been set free. That is the power of the gospel. That is what moves us, not to come to church only on a Sunday, brother or sister, but to live your entire life, to be kind to your wife, to be kind to your husband, to be kind to your children, to be kind to each other, not because. who you are or they are because of what He has done.

Remember when the scripture says, and the Lord Jesus Christ says that you should love one another and they shall know that you're my disciples? Because the real genuine love of Christ is Christ himself, brother. It's the love that is not contingent upon each other, but it's contingent upon to what He has done. So praise God that we are guilty, brother. Praise God that we are unrighteous.

And praise God that He sent a Savior, and that Savior is our Lord Jesus Christ. And to Him be all the glory. Amen.