A man experiences guilt when he breaks his own standard of right and wrong. He feels guilt when he goes against the truth that he possesses about what he should and should not do. Throughout his life he becomes increasingly depressed and attempts to mask it by increasing his carnal activities (taking drugs, alcohol, partying, dating women, music, outdoor activities etc). By these constant activities he creates distractions that drown out his conscience. Listening to music, video games, internet and phone take up any "down time" that might allow the conscience to bring the guilt to the surface. So as time goes by, the conscience is quieted somewhat, but the loneliness and emptiness never go away. The guilt that is always just below the surface, bubbles up now and then but is quickly brought back down by another drunk or high. The biggest threat to his lifestyle is boredom. Boredom is time that is not being spent doing something and therefore is a time that the mind could possibly wander.
His mind sometimes wanders into dangerous territory. Things like, his duty to do righteousness, death, and the judgment to come. He knows that there is right and wrong. His sense of judgment concerning others speaks volumes to him that evil acts and the people that do them must be held accountable. He knows that there must be day where people that do bad things must and will be judged, and therefore there must be a supreme Judge. All this he knows without a bible. He knows this without any outside religious influence. It is inherent in all men. This creates an uncertainty and fear in him about dying and how he will fair in the judgment. This doubt and fear create an unstable platform for the mind. His soul is in a constant state of unease. There is a nagging feeling of something not being right. Constant effort to justify his actions and himself is tiresome. All the self justification he can do, never satisfies his soul.
The guilt and depression mounts. He is now fully addicted to drugs, alcohol, pornography... He is a slave to his body. He knows that he should clean himself up and do what's right, but he can't. He is completely enslaved. His will is overcome by a stronger force, (his bodily desires) and what he wants to do (what's right), he can't.
Someone from the local denomination comes and invites him to "church". His guilt drives him to listen to them and as a last resort he goes. The well meaning people surround him with good will and cheerfulness. He hears a message about how to live a "Christian life" and how to follow the law of God. He makes a decision, confesses his sin, and prays a prayer with a councilor and goes away feeling great. He is highly motivated to try his best. He stops drinking, drugs and starts to get his life in order. He reads the books that the denomination members give him about how to live the deeper Christian life, a life of joy and happiness right now. He studies hard on how to overcome his addictions and live a life pleasing to God. He hears sermon after sermon on how bad sin is and the principles on how to overcome the overpowering desires of his flesh. He feels better and his guilt is lessened by his religious activity but the lust in his body still have control. All the while he is trying to live a good life, his greatest desire is to feed his carnal desires. He knows he shouldn't but the urge to partake is very great. His addiction to pornography is still alive and well and sometimes he still dabbles in drugs, but his guilt drives him back to trying to do what's right. He is trying to do what God wants out of guilt but his true desire is for his sin and the world from hence he came.
This man is what the bible calls "Dead in trespasses and sins". If this man dies, he goes to hell. He had a heart problem that never got addressed. His guilt drove him to Dr. Religion. Dr. Religion gave him a shot to make him feel better and failed to tell him that he was terminally ill. Dr. Religion told him to "just do the right thing and God will have to accept that". The man was already in a condemned state and Dr. Religion didn't fix him. He needed a new heart and Dr. Religion stepped in and offered him a cheap, worthless substitute. The man had a fatal disease since the first time he deliberately broke his own standard of right and wrong. Religion failed to address the sin issue.
Our sin incurs debt with God. Sin must be punished or God would be unjust. The penalty for sin is eternal death. So to get rid of the guilt, somehow our sin must be paid for. We MUST die or someone must die in our place! Being good and being religious from now on won't settle this issue! Dr. Religion is a liar! He claims that by ignoring your past sin and just live life by doing the best you can, God will not send you to hell and will let you into heaven. That is the farthest thing from the truth. Justice must be done and the payment has to be made. The wrath and justice of a holy God must be satisfied! The payment God requires is blood! Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. So what are the options? We burn in hell as guilty sinners, or somebody completely righteous that is worth more then all the souls on earth, sheds his blood and dies in our place. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. SIN MUST BE PAID FOR SO GOD CAN JUSTLY FORGIVE SINNERS.
Seeing that there is no way for us to be justified then and our sins to be forgiven by our own effort and merit, God who is rich in mercy, shows his love by sending his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON JESUS CHRIST to die horribly on a cross. The blood that the perfectly righteous Son shed, is sufficient to satisfy the wrath and justice of God for our sin. So through Jesus and that ONE OFFERING and payment for all sin, we have peace with God through faith. That is completely apart from all effort or religion. God made Jesus to be sin for us so we could be made His righteousness. God can now JUSTLY forgive all sinners who will turn to him and believe that what Jesus did is enough to get them into heaven. It is a FREE GIFT and can not be bought with any filthy religious acts. The sinner must come to God with all his sin, realizing that there is nothing he can do to remove that sin and without the shed blood of Christ, it is a hopeless situation. There is only two options... You die, face the judgment and be damned to the fires of hell... Or Christ died, went to hell so you could go to heaven. That's it... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
