“If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O LORD, who could stand?”
Ps. 130:3
The British Museum. Four enormous statues of Buddha lined the far wall. They towered, enormous, yet frozen in place. Mere idols. Powerless. I turned the corner to head out, into another gallery, then noticed that Jeff was intrigued by something else, clicking a photo with his phone.
Two tall statues stood on either side of a walkway. Shiny with glaze, standing tall and proud with Asian faces and elaborate Chinese dress. The one on the left held a hefty book, probably 8-10 inches thick, like two or three phonebooks all put together. His face looked severe, judging.
The other statue held a slim booklet, more like a magazine, rolled up into a small cylinder in her hand. The plaque explained that in the first century AD the concept of hell was introduced into China. From where it was unknown. But from that time on it was clearly understood that after death there would be judgment. The severe statue with the thick phone-book type volume was holding the person’s evil deeds. The statue with the magazine rolled up was holding the person’s good deeds.
They got that part right.
If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand?
Where, I wonder, have we lost the reality of guilt? Today guilt is a dirty word, something we’re encouraged to shake off, leave behind, free ourselves from.
But isn’t guilt a critical component of the gospel?
Isn’t guilt the black backdrop that allows the glorious diamond of the gospel to be seen in all its glory?
If I didn’t understand guilt, how could I understand grace?
This is perhaps the primary obstacle to sharing the gospel in our western culture. As I read Revolution in World Missions it strikes me that the reason that the gospel is so powerfully impacting Asian nations is that even those who didn’t know Christ were bringing to the table a very foundational and real understanding of guilt.
But how does the gospel shine as good news to a culture whose conscience is seared? To a culture who has, in effect, erected statues that portray the books in swapped position? That believes our good works rest like heavy phone-books and our evil works fill merely a slim magazine?
Who needs a Savior when the books are that size?
So then how do we preach the gospel without first clearly exposing that “all of our works are filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and that our “hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:7), and that “the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5)?
To tell you the truth, I haven’t preached that in a while.
How crazy does all that sound in a “follow your heart” culture? And how judgmental will we sound?
Can we really win souls telling this truth?
Naturally, no one will want to hear this.
Perhaps that’s our greatest clue that it is an critical component of the gospel.
A gospel that can be understood and accepted by natural means is not the gospel. A supernatural gospel requires supernatural power to enable supernatural faith.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14
That’s why evangelism must begin on our knees. We cannot convict, convince or change a person’s heart. But God by His Spirit can, and I’m challenged and convicted afresh that we must not forget which book is the biggest. Let us firmly fix in our minds that our iniquities reached to heaven, but He has removed them as far as the east is from the west. He nailed the phonebook of our sin to the cross of Calvary and gifted us with glorious grace beyond comprehension. This is good news!
If You, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand?
No one could. That’s why He stood in our place.
That’s the gospel: How sweet the sound.
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In what real way are you thankful for the gospel today? How has He saved you? Let’s fix on our minds on His greatness and His grace throughout this day. Thanks for reading.