Can You Be Guilty Without Knowing You Are Guilty?

Leviticus 5:17
“If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible.

When we say you are guilty it means we are convinced that you are responsible for the wrong you have been accused of. When you admit that you are guilty it means that you accept responsibility for the wrongs you are suspected to have committed. Guilty means you are wrong and punishable as the law prescribes.

Most times we are guilty and we know it. We may deny responsibility but deep within us, we know that we are guilty. For the sake of surviving punishment, we may completely deny and feign innocence but we know within us that we are guilty. We may win cases out of technicalities or corrupt connections and we are declared innocent but we know that we are guilty. Many times we always knew when we are guilty.

We know that we blamed the other person but the truth is we were hiding our mistakes. We know when we hurt the other person. We know that was not a kind word. We know we should have forgiven that person. We know they deserved more than we paid them. We know we made promises we can’t keep. We know our lives are double and we are living as hypocrites. Our guilt many times is not unknown to us.

However, are there situations where we commit wrong and we do not know that we committed the wrong? Can we be guilty of what we do not know? Can we be guilty of something we did unknowingly? Must you know and acknowledge that you are wrong for you to be guilty? Can you be guilty even when you are completely unaware of what wrong you did?

Our text today makes it clear that you are guilty of whatever wrong you did even if you did not know that you are wrong, Leviticus 5:17. Being guilty is being dirty. If you deliberately sit on a dirty surface you will get dirty. You will get dirty knowingly. However, it is also possible that you can be dirty without knowing. You sit on a surface you thought is clean, but it is not. Your clothes get dirty and you are not even aware. The fact that you are not aware does not make you clean. You are dirty unknowingly while others are dirty knowingly, you are all dirty!

You can be guilty of sins you have committed without knowing. We are guilty of sins we committed in ignorance. We are guilty of sins we committed while thinking we are doing the right thing. You can be guilty even if you do not know what wrong you committed. May God forgive us for all our sins that we committed knowingly and unknowingly, this should always be our prayer, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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