Looking Through A Misleading Manual

I was looking through a manual entitled "Growing in Christ". I went through it and looked at how the Gospel was presented. I just can't help but weep on what it says. It quotes Revelation 3:20 "Here I am! I stand on the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with Him, and he with me." And then it says that Jesus is waiting for you to open your heart. It then goes on and quotes John 1:12 "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to be children of God." It then describes how sin separated man from God and then finally asks, would you like to accept the Lord Jesus in your heart as your Savior?

Oh.. I just can't help but weep. What has happened to the great Gospel of Jesus? Brothers and sisters, my dear friends, before we come to know Christ we must first understand our position against Him. Man is not just separated from God because of his sin. He is in bondage with it and for this reason he is going to hell to suffer there for eternity as penalty. Sin is a vile thing and it brings about the wrath of God. Whenever we sin, we are offending a God of infinite worth and are therefore laid with a curse of infinite duration (hell). Before the Good News becomes "good", we must first understand the bad and terrible situation that we are in. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. This doesn't just mean that we are separated from God. It means that we stand condemned before Him. It is important to explain the truth about man's total depravity and sinfulness, not just his incapability to attain salvation on his own. Only then will the power of the Gospel be manifested in his life.

We have a penalty to satisfy because of God's justice. We cannot pay for it and so hell awaits us. We are in the end of the road, helplessly chained in sin. However, God with His mercy, love and grace, sent His Son to die in our place. He suffered the condemnation which we were suppose to take. So then, if we fully repent, believe and cry out for His grace, He will save us, put His Spirit in us and begin to work in us.

Dear friends, we live in an age of half-truths. No one talks about the fullness of the truth anymore because they are either scared of what men would think or they are simply ignorant of it. Ever wondered why prostitutes and death row convicts have this overwhelming zeal for God after hearing the Gospel? It is because they have experienced man's depravity to the core that is why they have no problem accepting their wretchedness and repenting. We, on the other hand, who have "clean" and "decent" lives think that we are not full of sin. A man will never admit that he is full of sin. He will constantly defend himself or make some excuses even though sin is a reality in his life.

It is through our depravity and dislocation that the fullness of God's glory and love is seen. We have sinned against Him. Despite this, He sent His only begotten Son as an atoning sacrifice to us. This should be enough to bend our knees, weep over our wretchedness but at the same time rejoice and praise Him for His mercy, love and grace. The truth hurts but it will set us free.

It is through the understanding of our helpless and depraved state that we would learn to desperately need him. We come to Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior not in ignorance but in repentance. Genuine faith is preceded and followed by repentance. And repentance will only result if you have fully understand your sinful self and helpless case before God. The Bible is clear about man's nature. If you do not believe that we are sinners and transgressors of the law, you cannot be saved, at least for now. We are not ignorantly saved. We are also not saved by a contract we make with God. We are saved when we repent, believe and throw ourselves into the Lordship of Christ Jesus.

No wonder so many "converts" are not really converted. Our pulpits no longer have power because we only preach one-side of the Gospel. We no longer preach what the Bible says about man. The depravity of man is the hardest part to preach because men will not admit that they are under the condemnation brought about by their sin. They will hide their sins and cry out that they are basically people who do good and will therefore go to heaven. They will say that they need Christ but you can see no repentance on their part. To repent is to let go of all your self-righteousness, to admit that you are a sinner and that you are under the condemnation brought about by your sin, and to desperately seek God's mercies. I tell you, when a person repents and the Gospel is presented to him, he will leap with joy praising and worshiping God for the rest of his life. It is only through darkness that the light can be seen. If we do not accept the darkness we are in, we will never see the glory of the Light.