Guilt and condemnation

I need to explain the difference because a lot of us as Christians go through life living under condemnation and guilt thinking it’s the voice of God and it’s not. It’s the devil.

Let me explain the difference. Conviction comes from God. Condemnation comes from the devil. The purpose of conviction is to correct something that’s out of whack in your life. The purpose of condemnation is just to put you down and make you feel miserable and guilty and ashamed. The motivation behind conviction is God loves you and wants to help you be better.

The motivation behind condemnation is Satan hates your guts and wants to make you miserable. When God speaks to you about an area in your life for conviction He’s very specific. Condemnation is general. Conviction is specific. God will come to you and point out an area and say, “you were prideful just then.” He’s very specific. “you were impatient… or you got angry… or you’re resentful… or you’re jealous… or you lied just now… or you exaggerated” or whatever. He will give you a very specific area of your life, point out an area that’s out of whack. Then He gives you the solution. You confess it, you admit it, you say, “God, I admit it. I was wrong. Please help me change.” And bingo!

The conviction feeling leaves instantly. Condemnation on the other hand goes on and on and on. You can feel guilty about it for weeks or months or years. That’s not from God. That’s from the devil. If you’ve confessed it, it is not from God.

If you’ve ever felt vaguely guilty in your life where every time you go to God you feel like, “I’m not measuring up. I’m not doing very good.” That means you’re not hearing from God. You’re hearing from your own voice or your past or you’re hearing from the devil.

Notice what the Bible says, Romans 8:1 “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” If you’ve accepted God and His Son, Jesus Christ, into your life and you trust in what Jesus did on the cross – that’s what The Passion was all about. “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus.”

God never attacks my value. If you hear a voice that says, “You’re hopeless! You’re worthless! You’re dirt! You’re crud! You’re unlovable! You’re junk!” you can know that is not the voice of God. It never has been and it never will be. That’s condemnation and it’s coming from the devil. The devil is the one who wants to make you miserable, not God.

So what is conviction? The Bible tells us in Revelation 3. God says “Those whom I dearly and tenderly love…” notice the motivation behind conviction is God loves you and He wants to help you change. “Those whom I dearly and tenderly love I tell their faults and convict and discipline. So, be earnest and repent [that means changing your heart, your mind, your attitude]”

So conviction is very definite and specific. God tells you what’s wrong in your life. He tells you the solution. As soon as you admit it, confess it, say, “Help me change.” The feeling goes.

Condemnation doesn’t go away. It just stays there.

How many times do you have to ask for forgiveness to be forgiven? Once. So if you keep feeling guilty after you’ve confessed it and you confess it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Every time that thing comes back to your mind and you confess it again and say, “Please forgive me. Please forgive me.”

What are you saying? You’re saying “God, I don’t really believe You forgave me the first time.” And that’s a lack of faith. God forgave you the first time you asked for forgiveness and meant it and said help me change.

I don’t know how to say it any clearer than this. If you still feel guilty after you’ve confessed a sin, that guilt is not from God. It’s from the devil. Because God doesn’t make you feel guilty for stuff that’s already been confessed.

Let me explain it like this. There’s a big difference between the human court system and God’s justice system. The human court system has two parts to it. God’s has three parts to it.

In a human court, here’s what happens. First comes the conviction. Then comes the sentencing or the condemnation. You get called into court. You’ve committed some kind of crime. First, you get convicted of that crime. Then after you’ve been convicted then the judge offers the condemnation, the sentencing. You commit the crime, you do the time. It’s just two points. Conviction and condemnation.

But that’s not God’s justice system. God’s justice system is three parts. First, God convicts you of something that’s out of whack in your life, that’s wrong, that’s sin. You admit it. You say, “God, I admit it. It was wrong. I’m sorry. Help me to change.” Then Jesus Christ takes the condemnation for you by dying on the cross. So step three is you get to go scott free and forgiven. What a deal! I like God’s system better than man’s.

Again: What happens is God points out a sin in your life – “This is out of whack. You were just incredibly selfish.” That’s the conviction. You say, “God, You’re right. I was selfish. I don’t want to be selfish. Help me to be more like You.” Jesus Christ takes the penalty on the cross. He’s already paid for all the sins you’re ever going to commit. That’s why there is no condemnation for those who are believers. God says, “Jesus took the penalty for you. You get to go scott free. You’re dismissed. Be forgiven!” What a deal!

How long should a Christian feel guilty over sin? About a split second. About as long as it takes for you to say, “You’re right. I was wrong. Help me change.” Boom! A lot of people think that feeling guilty is feeling spiritual. They think guiltiness is next to godliness.

You think the more guilty I feel the more spiritual I am. God doesn’t want you feeling guilty. He wants you not walking around in an attitude of guilt. He wants you to walk around in an attitude of gratitude. When you're guilty what are you doing?

You’re focusing on you, not Him. You’re focusing on all the things you’ve done wrong. And you’ve done a lot of wrong things and so have I. So when I’m focusing on all the things I’ve done wrong, I feel guilty. Instead, God says, “No. I want you focusing on Jesus, on the cross. I want you to focus on what He did for you. So instead of living in guilt I want you living in gratitude.”

Every time a sin comes to mind and it’s the devil who keeps bringing up those old sins not God, you say, “You’re right God. I blew it. Thank You for Your forgiveness.” And you live in gratitude.

Before you commit a sin, Satan goes, “It’s no big deal. It’s just a little tiny thing. Everybody does it. It’s no big deal.” He makes it small. After you commit it, he reverses his strategy and goes, “That thing I so huge you’ll never be blessed by God. How can you call yourself a believer, a Christian? You’re worthless. You’re scum. You should feel shame the rest of your life.” He maximizes it.

Here’s the problem. Too many people, including a lot of Christians, mistake their own low self esteem for the voice of God. They think that it’s God saying, “You’re no good. You’re worthless. You’re scum. You’re pathetic. Nobody likes you.” That’s not God. That’s your own hang-ups. Your own voice. Or it is the devil. It is not God. God doesn’t say that to you. There is no condemnation for those in Christ.

Some of you had an unpleasable parent growing up. An unpleasable mom or dad and you have taken that voice and you have transferred it to God. Now every time you pray you imagine God saying, “Not good enough. I expect perfection. Not good enough. Can’t you do better?” It’s no wonder you don’t want to pray because God has become an unpleasable parent. That is an old tape you need to turn off and erase. Stop blaming God for the way you’ve felt about yourself.

The Bible says this in Revelation 12:10 “Satan is the accuser of believers.” Not God. It is Satan’s job to make you feel bad. So those feelings that are coming, they’re not from God.