FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Messiah
Yahushua, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Last week’s post ended
with this comment:
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Two weeks ago, we discussed “issues,” and how
everyone has them. We used them to illustrate
at least one reason why we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our issues interfere with our ability to
respond to the grace of IAUE and do His will.
Today, I want to discuss one issue that afflicts many believers; and
that is “guilt.”
Guilt is actually a healthy response to sin. It is one of the ways in which our heart
informs us that we have strayed from doing the will of IAUE. Healthy guilt manifests for a purpose. It alerts us that we must deal with our disobediences
properly and expeditiously. Guilt is a natural consciousness of wrongdoing.
Society has its own ways, through the legal system,
of dealing with “wrongs” we commit against our fellow man; but the legal system
does not deal with our consciousness of guilt.
One may “pay the price” for wrongdoings within the social order (“Do the
crime. Do the time.”) and still feel
guilt; because guilt, ultimately, is an awareness of our disobedience to the
will of IAUE, not our disobedience to man’s laws. One may disobey certain of man’s laws and
feel no guilt at all; because those laws are unrighteous. All disobedience, however, to the will of
IAUE produces an awareness of guilt. Healthy
guilt is our friend. It is not an “issue”
that requires the renewing of our minds.
What is?
There are two principal manifestations of guilt that
represent problems to the disciples of Messiah.
One is the self-inflicted guilt that comes from an unwillingness, or an
inability to forgive ourselves for something we have done. The other is the subconscious guilt that
comes from knowing we have sinned; but our theology tells us that it is not a
problem. Both of these conditions demand
immediate repentance. Let’s look at them
individually in detail.
Self-inflicted guilt:
How many times have you heard yourself or someone
else say, “I will never forgive myself”? Maybe it was some vindictive act that
produced horrific consequences. Maybe it
was an angry spiteful word which was the last thing you said to a parent or
child before they died. Perhaps it was
something that was not even your fault at all; but the hurt was so great to
your mind that you found some way of convincing yourself you were responsible
for it. Whatever the circumstances were,
when a person embraces a guilt that they refuse to resolve, they are
unwittingly rejecting the efficacy of the shed blood of Yahushua Messiah; and
Messiah becomes of no effect to them.
We are not gods.
We are servants of the Most High.
We do not get to choose what to forgive and what not to forgive. Embracing a guilt that we will not resolve
before IAUE is a willful disregard to His instruction and His command to us.
Matthew
6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew
18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy
fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his master was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors,
till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Mark 11:26 But
if ye do not forgive, neither
will your Father which is in heaven forgive
your trespasses.
Forgiveness is not our option. It is our duty. We have been forgiven; therefore, we have no
option of not forgiving others, or of forgiving ourselves. Self-inflicted
guilt, by definition, is not guilt that forms naturally within the conscience
by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It
is false guilt created by the mind; and it forms a hardness of heart that
produces a hindrance to the voice of the Spirit; because it is an attitude of
the heart that is willful and disobedient to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not honor a
consciousness of guilt that is not borne of Him; and as long as we hold onto
self-inflicted guilt, it will provide the foundation for all manner of other
forms of disobedience to IAUE. Self-inflicted guilt will be resolved the
moment we repent and obey IAUE’s command to forgive even as we have been
forgiven.
Subconscious guilt:
That which passes for the gospel, today; but which
is NOT the gospel, tells us that we need to “come to Jesus and ask him to forgive us of our sins; and to come into
our hearts.” Nothing could be
farther from the Truth.
2
Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that IAUE was in Messiah, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Messiah, as though IAUE did
beseech you by us: we pray you in Messiah’s stead, be ye reconciled to IAUE.
Romans
5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to IAUE by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
The reason Yahushua died was to take upon himself the
penalty for man’s sin.
John
1:29 The
next day John seeing Yahushua coming unto him, said, Behold the Lamb of IAUE, which
takes away the sin of the world.
All men are already forgiven of their sins. They do not need to ask for it. Forgiveness for sins is an accomplished
fact. It was the strategy of IAUE to
remove this barrier that had prevented man, His creation, from returning to
Him. That barrier being removed,
however, did not automatically mean that all mankind was now in fellowship with
Him; because man does not know that he is forgiven. Men live in a consciousness of their iniquity
every day. Their lack of knowledge that their
sins have been forgiven keeps them alienated from IAUE. The disciples of Messiah are charged with sharing
the “word of reconciliation” with them so they can be made aware that the
barrier to “coming home” has been removed.
It is like a person who is living in squalor, barely
surviving from month to month, unaware that a relative has died leaving them an
estate and great riches. Until someone
comes to tell that person that they are wealthy and own much property, they
continue to live in their present condition.
The fact that he is wealthy does
not benefit him until he is made aware that the circumstances of his life have
changed. Men and women around the world
live in a conscious state of their sinfulness.
Until they are told that they are already forgiven, they will not make
their way back to the one with whom their sins have made restoration impossible.
This, however, is a conscious guilt of sins that have, unbeknownst to the individual,
been forgiven and no longer stand between the man and his Elohim. His
conscience provides the natural guilt of his sin; but because there is no life
in his spirit, he has not been able to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit
communicating to him that he has been forgiven. Where does the subconscious
guilt come to play? It is a function of
the false gospel that tells the believer that all his sins have been forgiven, past present and future. It is a message that enables man to
continue to sin after bowing his knee to Messiah; because he is led to believe
there is no eternal consequence to his ongoing sinning. This leaves a sense of freedom in the “mind”
of man. Guilt, however, is a function of
the conscience…that part of man’s heart that touches the spirit. When a man sins after becoming a disciple of
Yahushua, the Holy Spirit immediately communicates to his spirit that he has
disobeyed IAUE; but when the conscience communicates that awareness of guilt to
his mind; the theology that his mind believes disregards the guilt. The guilt
remains, however, and becomes a subconscious source of irritation.
It is often heard within circles of contemporary
Christianity, “There is therefore now no
condemnation!” as if to say, “There is no reason to feel guilty for
anything we have said or done because we are totally forgiven, past, present
and future.” This recitation is a
truncated version of Romans 8:1. Whether
intentionally or unwittingly, they leave off the “qualifier” to this freedom
from condemnation.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Messiah Yahushua, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
This freedom from condemnation (freedom
from guilt and its consequences) is
dependent upon two things. One, that we
are in Messiah Yahushua; and two, that we are walking in obedience to the
Spirit, and not following the dictates of the flesh.
Hebrews 7:12 For the priesthood being
changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
The writer of the book of Hebrews explains
that Messiah is now our High Priest; but he is NOT of the tribe of Levi which
administered the Law of Moses (the
Torah). Since the Master is of the tribe of Judah,
there is of necessity a change of the law, a law that is administered by the
High Priest of the tribe of Judah. The Torah was principally given to produce
an awareness of sin accompanied by natural guilt; and provided mechanisms for
dealing with the guiltiness of sins. The
NEW law administered by Yahushua also produces an awareness of sin and guilt,
and provides a mechanism for dealing with the guiltiness (1
John 1:8-10).
What is that new law?
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yahushua hath
made me free from the law of sin and death.
“The law of the Spirit of life in Messiah
Yahushua” is the will of IAUE revealed to our newborn spirit by the Holy Spirit,
which He writes into our heart through the conscience of man. When the Spirit speaks the will of IAUE to
our spirit, our conscience communicates the will of IAUE to our understanding;
and our soul chooses to obey, producing a life that is walked in accordance
with the Spirit, superseding that lower corrupt life of the flesh.
Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against IAUE: for it is
not subject to the law of IAUE, neither indeed can be.
We
do not have the luxury of pretending to be gods, holding onto guilt for things
for which we blame ourselves. We must repent
for this gross disobedience; forgive ourselves, release the self-inflicted
guilt, and get back under the law of the Spirit of Life in Messiah Yahushua.
We
do not have the luxury of self-deception, of deluding ourselves by our wrong
theology that we are not really experiencing guilt that is coming from the conviction
of the Holy Spirit. We must repent and
obey the voice of the Spirit. We cannot
walk in the Light as HE is in the Light until we do.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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