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Are You Guilty as charged?

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10).
Many Christians in the workplace have little or no Kingdom impact as they soldier on through the daily routine, allowing circumstances and situations to happen to them, putting out fires rather than starting fires for the sake of their King.
Yawn.
Does this describe you (or anyone you know)? Has Satan stolen your joy, your victory?  Has he killed the passion of your love for Jesus - your first love? Has he destroyed your hope, your sense of expectancy about the blessings coming your way? For most Christians – mankind as a whole – the root problem is a dirty little 5-letter word: GUILT. It produces a lack-luster faith that causes very few to desire what we claim to have found in Jesus Christ.
Here’s some Good News you can use: Every sin that we have ever been guilty of, or will ever be part of, has been washed away by the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that statement to be true? It’s either true or it’s a lie. If it’s true, we have reason to rejoice. If it’s a lie, we are, in essence, denying the power of His blood to forgive us once and for all, forever.
“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake? and will never think of them again,” (Isa 43:25). Who was the Father talking to when He spoke these words? YOU, of course!
We’ve all heard Romans 3:23 emphasized: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Truth is, this verse is not the end of the sentence. It should be read, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” ALL of us have come short of the glory of God, but we MUST overcome our guilt-laden sin-consciousness or we will NEVER walk in the victory provided by Jesus at Calvary. Right now, try NOT to focus on a crystal bowl filled with Green and Red M&M’s. What good does it do any of us to focus on failures and shortcomings instead of looking at the victory provided by the blood of Jesus? The Accuser will make every effort to remind us how bad and unworthy we are.
Truth is, none of us has to try to justify ourselves; we’re justified because we believe in Jesus. Don’t remind me of all my shortcomings and faults. I’m well aware of my bad habits, thank you. If I base my fellowship with God on my own conduct, I will always have a conscience full of guilt, and I will never feel good enough to come into the presence of God to have fellowship with Him. In fact, I will most likely gain the smallest bit of worthiness ONLY when I compare my self-righteousness with others who are obviously “worse” than I am. There are multitudes of Christians who do not sense any closeness of God, they don’t hear His voice, they don’t sense His direct guidance, all because their conscience is full of offense; they feel guilty. Many Christians don’t realize that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that was provided by Jesus.
“God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son,” (Rom. 5:8-10). Make sense?
“I have swept away your sins like a cloud. ?I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.? Oh, return to me,? for I have paid the price to set you free,” (Isa 44:22). Allelujah!
One of the most important things you will ever see is that God is not holding you accountable for your sin. You may say that’s impossible, but listen to His Word: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation,” (2 Cor. 5:19). “David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those? whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin,” (Rom. 4:6-8).
This means that the sins of humanity are not held, not charged, against them because of the blood of Jesus; God is no longer holding us accountable for sin. If you will embrace this truth, it will set you free from the guilt you may be carrying now.
Some will say, “This is greasy grace! You’re saying we have a license to sin! This is Universalism!” First of all, I didn’t say it; God did. You read it yourself. Secondly, we don’t need a license to sin; we’re gonna do it any way. As long as we abide in these earth-suits, we are prone to do, say and think all kinds of evil. As Paul said in Romans 7:18-24, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am!”
Who will deliver any of us from “this body of death,” as Paul refers to his own “miserable” condition?  “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord,” he finally declares.
Sadly, the two places we are most often reminded of how bad we are is (1) from the pulpit and (2) by other Christians. We are taught, “Good little boys and girls go to Heaven; the bad ones go to Hell.” Can you feel the love? Such encouragement! If we answer, for example, that the reason we are not to do this or that is because my pastor, my mother or even because the Bible tells me so, that’s nothing shy of legalistic Phariseeism for it has NOTHING to do with knowing the Father experientially. Frankly, it’s nothing but extreme bondage to rule-keeping.
So, I ask again, are you guilty as charged? No, because the one that’s pressing those charges is Satan, and we know he’s lying when his lips are moving.