No More Sin Consciousness!

Dear Fellow Travelers,
As you remember, in my last perspective, I noted that Hebrews 10 puts to rest many of the “strange doctrines” that seem to permeate the church, and I offered several exam-ples, that I trust were meaningful to you. Today, I want to point out another of these “strange doctrines” and offer the Hebrews 10 clarification. Hold on to your seat!
This is the “strange doctrine”: God did His part by sending Jesus to die for our sins, paying the penalty in full; as a result, God, graciously, imputed His righteousness to us. We, however, must do our part by striving to live holy lives, i.e., by consistently improving our ability not only to keep the Ten Commandments, but also all of the interpretations of them, that the church imposes. When we fail to “measure up,” which is often, our resulting sin-consciousness (guilt) is God’s way of bringing us back in line (repentance), and, thereby, preventing our losing His imputed righteousness.
As most, if not all, of you know, many of the preachers of the church have taken on the responsibility of being sure that this doctrine is propagated by preaching sermon-after-sermon that is specifically designed to heighten the listener’s awareness of his/her sin-consciousness (guilt). The rationale is this: Making believers feel guilty is the most effective way to get them to repent and turn from their sins. Guilt will always bring them to the altar!
This is the Hebrews 10 clarification: “For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sin” (Hebrews 10:1-2; emphasis, added)? Hmmmm-
Thankfully, there are those who are seeing the truth and beginning to tell their lis-teners the good news: Jesus did His part and our part and, then, sat down, not because He was tired but because God’s plan of redemption was finished. Having once been cleansed, there is NO MORE SIN CONSCIOUSNESS!
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NASB; emphasis added).
I wonder how this will affect preaching? To be sure, many preachers will be without a message!