My last two posts were written in an attempt to provide an honest glimpse of our desperate condition as fallen people in need of a savior. As I went back and read them a day later, I’m almost surprised that I didn’t receive a call from anyone from my church. There are some regular readers who attend my church, and a few of them have contacted me in the past when my tone has revealed traits of depression that runs in my family. Judging by the lack of concern, I can only assume that my intention was properly administered.
I wrote on the sinfulness of man to provide a black backdrop upon this blog so that the light of the gospel may shine all the brighter in the future as I progress in that direction. You see, the gospel has been hidden by our culture, most notably our general unwillingness to admit moral failure or general need of any substitutionary action on our behalf. Westerners are taught throughout our lives to be self sufficient. The description “self-made man” is seen as a virtue in our definition of reality and is sought after with much more tenacity then any definition that reveals our need of another.
This can be seen most clearly if you ask people if they are going to Heaven when they die. If you were to ask around, you would find that a vast majority of people believe they are going to Heaven when they die. Some believe this to be the default next stage after this life for everyone, but most will tell you that the reason they are going to Heaven is because they either have been a basically good person or that they have made an honest attempt to be good most of the time. To get to Heaven, you don’t even need to be righteous in their view. You only need to make a “college try” of it. I don’t fault the people who believe this. I blame the Christians who have had opportunities to share the gospel and have been content with such a response to the question of salvation. How can we be so unloving that we accept such an answer?
Until a person is convinced of their need for a savior, nobody will come to Christ in a salvific way. It is not up to us to convict them of their sin as that is the work of the Holy Spirit, but we are to be a light upon the world. We are to reveal things to people that they may not have seen before and expose the shadows in the depths of the human soul. It is true that most people will hate the light, but that should not give us reason to be surprised. Weren’t we promised that the world would reject our message? And weren’t we told why the message would be rejected by most? (John 3:19) Simply put, if your church were to gather 100 unconverted people into a room and preach to them, and if 99 of these people were to agree and say that they approve of your words, you are most likely not preaching the gospel.
This is not a call for Christians to observe their friends and then condemn them based on what sins they have displayed. A key truth that all in Christ must remember if we are to love our neighbor is that we are no better than they. We are no more deserving of forgiveness than they. God did not save you to affirm your value. God saved you to magnify His own name by revealing His strength in your weakness. This is true of all who are saved. We should all look to ourselves and marvel that God would even save ones such as us. The depravity of man is the great equalizer in missions. God gives grace to the humble as He opposes the proud.
How often do you hear that sort of a message coming from Christians? I recall as a child in church, being told that we ought to examine ourselves before partaking in the Lord’s Supper. It was usually a solemn time of waiting as we were told to search our memories for any sin that we hadn’t brought before God. The impression that left on me was one of abject terror. What if I forgot a sin or didn’t understand something as sinful? What if I were taking the elements in an unworthy manner? What if I didn’t take? What would my parents or friends think?
I truly didn’t understand sin then, and I don’t fully understand it now. Sin is not as tragic to me as it ought to be. For as long as the battle is waged within me, I will not see it as terrible as it is to God and neither will you. But before you can come in humbleness, with a broken and contrite spirit before God, you must see your sin as an affront on His character. If you have never been broken by the weight of your own sin, your Christianity is too clean and may not be genuine. If you have never seen your sin as something that will condemn you to Hell, you will not cast yourself on the Savior, for He demands obedience. And just try to explain to an unspiritual man the concept that all that God demands Christ has provided!
All that I know is that a fateful day came for me. A day when the scriptures convicted me of my condition. There was no other source of my despair. I hadn’t darkened the door of a church in a decade and had no Christian reading material at my disposal. All I had was the word of God, and it was enough. I am confidant that I hadn’t gotten to the book of Romans before I was converted, but know that when I reached this point, I understood it quite well.
Romans 7:24
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
I knew that I was lost through the word of God, and was deathly afraid. The only thing that brought me out was the word of God and the promises made by God to those who will humble themselves. I am wary of any attempt to preach the gospel if the need for repentance is not mentioned. To be saved, you must turn from your sins out of love for God. That is repentance and faith. But before such a radical shift of mind can take place, you must realize that there is sin that you must repent of. Sin is a word that has fallen out of favor in churches. So are wicked and evil. These aren’t regarded as “seeker friendly” terms. This is why we have series about how to balance your checkbook or how to make this life the best it can be. The Bible is not relevant to the carnal man, so we take it out of our churches. And this is done in the name of love? We preach an irrelevant message in the name of relevance? It is no wonder the world doesn’t persecute the American church. The prince of this world is given precious few reasons to try and change our course.
The preaching of the cross is to them that are saved the wisdom of God and the power of God. The Christian minister should preach all the truths which cluster around the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and hence he must declare very earnestly and pointedly the evil of sin, which created the need of a Savior. Let him show that sin is a breach of the law, that it necessitates punishment, and that the wrath of God is revealed against it….Open up the spirituality of the law as our Lord did, and show how it is broken by evil thoughts, intents, and imaginations. By this means sinners will be pricked in their hearts.
Old Robbie Flockhart used to say, “It is of no use trying to sew with the silken thread of the gospel unless we pierce a way for it with the sharp needle of the law.” The law goes first, like the needle, and draws the gospel thread after it; therefore preach concerning sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come….Aim at the heart. Probe the wound and touch the very quick of the soul. Spare not the sterner themes, for men must be wounded before they can be healed, and slain before they can be made alive. No man will ever put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness till he is stripped of his fig leaves, nor will he wash in the fount of mercy till he perceives his filthiness….We must also set before our hearers the justice of God and the certainty that every transgression will be punished.”
-C. H. Spurgeon
Our “self-made man” delusion will haunt the Church in America until persecution comes. The American Gospel upholds this idol and it sadly trumps Christ’s Gospel in a large number of our churches.
We need each other more than we need our selves.