Should We Be Made to Feel Bad Due to Sin?
The answer to this question is, "YES! ABSOLUTELY!"
Notwithstanding, today's mainstream preaching is all about being popular so that to make one feel bad is not an option. In an age of political correctness and carnal sensitivity it is definitely taboo to make someone "feel bad" by preaching the word of God that convicts of sin. To the contrary - it is the one who preaches the truth that is made to feel bad (II Tim. 2-4)!
Every Sunday morning, tens of thousands of Christian preachers are resolved to make their parishioners feel good - either not realizing, or not interested in the fact that they are preaching only half of the gospel. They have forgotten that resurrection comes only after death, and the new man comes only after the old man has died. Imagine the damage done to the gospel of God when conviction is withdrawn in favor of a kind of Christian political correctness; and imagine what God thinks about it! It is indeed "another gospel" (Gal. 1:8-9). Please read on.
If a man is not saved from sin to righteousness, then for what is he saved in this life - to continue in sin since grace is given? "Certainly not!" (Rom. 6) Is it not that we should become like Him?
Old school preaching or new school... There should not be the slightest difference regarding the declaration of righteousness. It is the clarion call of the true gospel message. Jesus Christ is the same righteous Lord today that He was yesterday, and that He will be forever (Heb. 13:8). Indeed, He came to destroy the works of the devil (to deliver us from our sins and from the sin-nature), and to make us "slaves of righteousness" (I John 3; Rom 6). These two chapters of the New Testament should be reviewed carefully by every preacher today. We should renew our understanding in what God has made us to be and to become through faith in Jesus Christ. The apostle John, and Paul declared that the crowning mark of one who has been born again should be that he has been made righteous through Christ's alone, and that he is expected to live righteous too.
Please, do not misunderstand my exhortation, brothers. We are not to beat people down under condemnation, but simply to preach the word of God by the anointing of His Holy Spirit, so that it both convicts of sin and restores to righteous living. Conviction is indeed the work of the word of God and His Spirit. The word of God divides the heart, revealing sin, and the Spirit of God convicts of sin to make the hearer feel bad about it - real bad - and thank God for it (Heb. 4:12; John 16:7-11; II Cor. 7:10).
Unless we have believed God through Christ for personal death to sin and life to righteousness, then we have not believed with authentic repentance and no real life has been given (Luke 9:23-24; I Cor. 15:36)! Indeed, we have misunderstood the gospel message altogether! We must identify with Christ in death if we would be raised with Him in resurrection!
Oh, let us resolve once and for all to be preachers of righteousness! Let us ask ourselves where our loyalty lies - to men, or to God? And if we should be expelled from our pulpits, let it not be due to our sin, but rather due to our example in righteousness (not a pretense of self-righteousness, but rather His life lived through us) and our commitment to preach the same for all - even and especially for hard-hearted elders and deacons!