Is it possible for those people who are living lives morally wrong, then, to preach their morally wrong principles? Is it possible that they could preach a morally wrong Gospel? Is it possible that they could convey to people, unprotected people, a morally wrong lifestyle? If that is true, is it possible that other people might take their advice; they might buy into their way of life? The answer to all those questions is “Yes!”

It is possible. In fact, it’s happening all around, and the problem is this: If we recognize there is a Creator and we are His creatures, and we know that we’re not living according to His principles, it is inevitable that we will have feelings of guilt and shame. If we have feelings of guilt and shame, guilt and shame do not produce happiness, and there’s part of the problem. We are free to pursue happiness in areas of morally wrong thinking and living, but you’d be chasing a man without the ball.

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“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners.” The word “sinners” here, is a very interesting word. It means somebody who is constantly missing the mark, somebody who is continually coming short. If it is true that the Creator has granted to His creatures certain inalienable rights, is it not reasonable to assume that He has also endowed us with certain responsibilities, or did He just give us rights and forget about responsibilities?

I would suggest that there is absolutely no way that people’s rights can be met unless people understand they have the responsibility to meet other people’s rights. You can’t have rights without responsibilities. Therefore to suggest that the Creator endowed us with rights, but said nothing about responsibilities, is nonsense.

But what happens if He has outlined to us our responsibilities and He’s given them to us as a target, and He says, “There you are -- that’s what you do today, you fulfill your responsibilities to God and to man this day.” What happens if we don’t do it? The word for that is “falling short.” The word for that is “sin!” If you fall short long enough, you begin to get a pervasive sense of failure, because you know deep down in your heart, you are not what you ought to be. If you’re living with a pervasive sense of coming short, I promise you, that is not the breeding ground of happiness.

We see some reasons why there are so many unhappy people, and here’s a third reason:

Many miss happiness because they live with guilt

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked or stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the mockers.” You know what happens if you live with guilt? You cannot find an answer to it, you try to chloroform your conscience by various activities, you rationalize your actions in trying to chloroform your conscience, you begin to find that you are continually coming short in certain areas, but you’re finding that becoming short has now almost become addictive. You become cynical about life, and you become cynical about people, you become cynical about God, and you finish up a skeptic about people and life and God, and just decide “I’ll do it my way!” I won’t worry about anything grand and noble and transcendent I’ll just carve out my little piece here, and let the world go wherever it’s going!”