The guilt of guiltiness

So I have been silent on here.  That's okay no one really reads this stuff anyways.  I'm just working on my writing skills.  The good news is that as I have been silent, I have been reading and getting in lots of ministry training.

The book that I am currently in, Death in the City by Francis Schaeffer deals a lot with the deadness of humanity because of sin.  The one point that he has really emphasized over the last few chapters is mankind being guilty since the fall of Adam.  This one point has really made me re-think a lot of my thoughts about my sin and guilt feelings.

Here's what I have concluded:

Sin is more than a guilty feeling.  It is included in that definitely but it is so much more than that.  To some degree, God will judge people based upon their works.  This is not what will save them, only the death and resurrection of Christ can do that.  This is just the way God is going to judge the non-Christian.  He is going to judge the man without the Bible by the philosophy they hold.  What the man without the Bible will come to terms with is that any philosophy that stands against the truth of God and his holiness discredits man as creation.  Also, man having the truth written on his heart, will have to break any untruthful parts to his philosophy/ worldview, discrediting it completely.  Basically God will show the man without the Bible his fault.  He is guilty of sin.

The Christian's judgment of works is to an even higher standard.  This is because the Christian believes God's truth as true and the bible as the instruction manual to life.  Those are the truths by which God will judge man, His own holiness and perfection.  Any unrighteousness in the Christian's life will be brought to light and judgment will be made.  Fortunately for the Christian, this is not the end of the road.  Christ is the mediator.  His blood covers all the Christians wrongs so that even when he does go against God, God still shows him grace.

Keeping those two thoughts in my mind I settled on this.  Sin is more than just a guilty feeling.  It's much deeper than that.  It is the grieving of God's heart because you stand against Him and His holiness.  Guilty feelings are only man made but the truth of the matter is that sin is disgusting before God.  He has to turn His face away.  It cuts down to the purpose of being created.  We were created to glorify God in His righteousness, and enjoy Him forever.  When we sin, we stand against our created order.  Being guilty before God is much more than a feeling.

I share this just because it really has been changing my mindset on my sinfulness before God.  I am very thankful for the work of Christ on the cross for my life.  His death and resurrection have saved me from the wages of sin and death.  If God were to mark my transgressions, I couldn't stand.  Only by grace am I accepted as His son.

...END...

Reading: Death in the City- Francis Schaeffer
Listening to: We Shall Overcome- The O.C. Supertones