How can we resolve the guilt that haunts us? Today, R.C. Sproul explains the crucial distinction between real, objective guilt and our subjective guilty feelings. Get R.C. Sproul’s book Surprised by Suffering, plus lifetime digital access to his Dealing with Difficult Problems teaching series and study guide, for your donation of any amount: Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Full Episode
We have to remember, beloved, that guilt is real, and it's defined not by what we want. It's not defined by what we feel. It's not defined by what is legal in the state. It's defined by the law of God.
We can be masters of rationalizing our sin and seeking to hide our guilt. We also live in a time where we're made to feel guilty for believing things or doing things that are not even sinful. So how do we deal with our guilt, and how do we know when guilt is real? I'm glad you're with us for this Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind, as R.C. Sproul is helping us deal with difficult problems.
Guilt is real, and the whole world stands guilty before God. It's important for Christians to understand guilt biblically, knowing that we are forgiven. But the reality and the presence of guilt can be a powerful tool when you're having a conversation with an unbeliever. Here's Dr. Sproul to explain.
Today we're going to consider one of the most serious difficulties that any of us has to face in our Christian lives. The difficulty is one that is universal, and it's one that has the power to be debilitating and paralyzing to our personal growth. And I'm speaking, of course, of the problem of guilt. Now, when Paul gives his exposition of the gospel in his epistle to the Romans.
He talks about the universality of human sinfulness, and in chapter 3 of Romans, in verse 19, he makes this comment, Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
So Paul says, whatever the law says, it says to all who are under the law, and in a certain sense, all of us are under the law of God. So everything that the law says, it says to all of us, and what it says to us is that When we stand before the judgment seat of God, every mouth will be quiet. Every mouth will be stopped because under the judgment of the law of God, the whole world is guilty.
Now many times I'm engaged in intellectual discussions with people doing the task of apologetics and trying to answer their objections to the truth claims of Christianity, and I've noticed on such occasions that if you answer one objection to the Christian faith to their satisfaction, before they take a breath they'll raise another objection.
And if you answer that objection to their satisfaction, again, here comes the third one and a fourth one, and it gets to be almost an endless chasing of somebody around the circle. And frequently what I will do in circumstances like that, after I've tried to answer these questions, I'll stop this game and look the person in the eye and say, here's my question for you.
What do you do with your guilt? What do you do with your guilt? Now I don't ask them, do you have guilt? I assume that they have guilt and that they know that they have guilt. And it's an amazing thing to see how people stop in their tracks when you ask them a direct question like that and begin to stutter and stumble as they grope for an answer to the question.
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