Another Gospel 2
Last week we
spoke about the fact that many are no longer preaching
repentance as part of their gospel. This week I want to
examine another reason why repentance is no longer part
of the message which has become so popular today.
If one is
basically good and acceptable to God as one is, then
there is no need for repentance. And that is exactly the
heart of the problem. Repentance is not being preached
because preachers no longer believe in sin and no longer
believe that man is sinful to his very core. The point
of departure is that man is basically good and only
needs God to help him improve his basic goodness and to
reach his full potential. Off course preachers don’t
like to speak about the fact that people are sinners
because that is not the message that fills pews and
offering plates. Everyone wants to hear that he is good
and that he has so much value and potential that God
just had to save him. People want to feel good
about themselves and resent the message that “all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God”.
A few weeks
ago I watched a famous TV preacher interview Chuck
Yeager in that preacher’s church. (You may remember
Yeager as the first man to break the sound barrier.)
Yeager was being paraded as an example of excellence and
the kind of individual people should try to emulate. The
problem is that in the entire interview, which lasted
about 10 or 15 minutes, the hero never once made
reference to God, Jesus or anything that had to do with
Christianity. He simply recounted how he had done all
these wonderful things because of his skills, tenacity
and cool head under pressure. Not once did he
acknowledge the Creator or the One who gave him life.
Thus according to that preacher and his guest; we do not
need the Lord or His Spirit as long as we are positive
and work hard at what we do. Man is good; in fact, so
good he can actually lift himself up by his own shoe
laces.
One of the
most popular books today tells men that their wild,
carnal and animalistic side is good and needs to be
rediscovered and developed. Yes, we need to rediscover
the savage deep down within us! This is not a secular
book; it is a so-called Christian book, supported by a
few scriptures, sold in Christian bookstores and
promoted by preachers.
The truth we
no longer believe is that without God, man is without
hope and is desperately lost and needs a savior. David
says we are conceived in sin and we are sinners from our
birth (Psalm 51:5). By nature we do the things that are
wrong and the only time we do good things is when there
is something in it for us.
We have no
value, in and of ourselves, and God did not need us or
have to save us. He saved us out of His abundant mercy
and grace and the only value we have is the value He has
given us. “What is man that You are mindful of him, And
the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4). Oh that
we could only see ourselves the way God sees us. Man’s
“heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9) and “in me that is, in my flesh
nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own
way” (Isaiah 53:5).
The problem
is that we are so bad that there is nothing in us that
is salvageable and we do not need a bit of adjusting or
a slight facelift. We need to be remade completely and
it is only Jesus Christ who can do that through the
power of the Cross and the resurrection. This is what
Jesus meant when He told Nicodemus – a very religious
person, that he had to be born again. Yes, the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. (Romans 1:16). The
truth of the Gospel is not that God enhances our natural
abilities but; “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new” (2Corinthians 5:17).
This
wonderful work of God cannot take place unless we come
to the end of our feeble attempts at self-improvement,
turn out backs on all our claims to goodness, fall at
the foot at the Cross and cry out for His mercy. Only
once we are prepared to loose all and die to self and
the world, does the mighty power of God take over and
miraculously make us new. “Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much
grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who
hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life (John 12:25,25).
In order to
be saved we must recognize our sin, repent (or turn
away) from it and place our trust in Him and Him alone.
Without these we may become very pious and religious and
may appear to be good Christians but are still in our
sin and will never see the
Kingdom of
God.
Not the
labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in
my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Anton Bosch
anton@abcd.co.za
www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
Tel 033 347 0463
Fax 033 347 0013
17 Frankish
Road
Pietermaritzburg
3202
South Africa