Anything that deminishes or destracts from the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is to be opposed with all that is within us. It is not to be tolerated!
(This is an excerpt of part three of a four part series entitled 'Another Gospel: The Challenge of the Theraputic Movement', recorded at Covenant Life Church. C.J. Mahaney leads Sovereign Grace Ministries.) [...]
The Doctrine of God We exist to glorify God, he doesn't exist to gratify us. [...] In his book, "A call to Spiritual Reformation", D.A. Carson begins by asking the following question: "What is the most urgent need of the church in the Western world today?" Ponder: how would you answer?
There could be many seemingly legitimate answers, but his answer, I believe, is accurate: "The one thing we most urgently need in Western Christendom is a deeper knowledge of God." We need to know God better!
In his book: "The Supremacy of God in Preaching", John Piper says: "People are starving for the greatness of God, but most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is the unknown cure. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow. It does not matter if surveys turn up with a list of percieved needs that
does not include the supreem greatness of the sovereign God of grace." This is the deepest need: our people are starving for God. [...]
1. We must teach the doctrine of God. 2. We must teach, in respons to the theraputic movement, the doctrine of sin.
The Subject of Sin J.C. Ryle: "Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies and false doctrines of the present day." If in his time (late 19th century) there were dim and indistinct views of sin, what do you think Mr. Ryle would say, if he were alive today? I think he would write: "Non-existent recognition of sin." I believe that one of the chief wants of the church in the 19th century has been and is, a clearer and fuller teaching about sin.[...] This topic has not only been neglected in our culture, but it has been distorted as well.
Look at this, by William Kilpatrick: "Christiany does not make sense without sin. If we are not sinners turned away from God, there is no reason for God to become a man and no reason for him to die. Our slavery to sin is the thing Christ came to free us from. That is the most fundamental Christian belief. It follows that if you have no
consciousness of sin, you will not be able to see the point of Christianity. Now, it is possible to create a climate in which people have a very little sense of sin and therefor little chance of comprehending what Christianity is all about."
We know it's possible, because that's the climate that exists today!
Listen to this quote by J.I. Packer: "The subject of sin is vital knowledge, not optional. To say that our first need in life is to learn about sin may sound strange, but in the sense intended, it is profoundly true."
If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, your fellow man, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith, and you'll not be able to make head or tale of the Bible; for the Bible is an exposition of God's answer to the problem of human sin. And unless you have that problem clearly before you, you'll keep missing the point of what it says.
Getting it Clear The theraputic movement does not have that issue clearly before them. That's why they miss the point of the Bible. Apart from the first to chapters of Genesis, which sets the stage, the real subject of every chapter in the Bible is what God does about our sins. Loose sight of this theme and you'll loose your sight of the Bible at once. With that, the love of God, the mening of salvation and the message of the Gospel will all become closed books to you. You may still talk of these things,
but you won't know what you're talking about.
It is clear therefor, what we need to fix in our minds on is what our ancestors would have called: 'clear views of sin.' That's the greatest need we all have. And often that is what we are most unaware of. It's not only the existens of sin, but the seriousness of sin.[...] The God we serve is a God of wrath. The God we serve is a consuming fire, and it is a frightening thing to fall into his hands - apart from having your sins substituted for by the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Anthony Hocome: "In todays world there is little emphasis on the biblical doctrine of sin, but a person with a shallow sense of sin and of the wrath of God against our sin will neither feel the need for nor understand the biblical doctrine of justification.
Martin Luther said: "The ultimate proof of the sinner is that he doesn't know his own sin. Our job is to make him know it."
If you aren't aware of wrath as a result of holiness and your sin, you will never appreciate grace. It is only those, who are aware of their need, who are growing in their perception. For at the end of his life, Paul makes this declaration: "I am the chief (or worst) of sinners." He didn't grow out of an understanding of sin as a result of being reconciled. He grew in his understanding of the seriousness of his sin, of the depth of his sin, in light of the holiness of God.
Now this didn't result in the paralysis of condemnation. It resulted in worship, because grace to Paul was truly amazing. And when grace isn't amazing to us, we have lost sight of wrath, we have lost sight of holiness; we no longer understand that when we sin, it is serious!
The Problem of "Self-steem" Do you know what has replaced the doctrine of sin today? Teaching about self-esteem. Paul said to Timothy: "In the last days, people are going to love themselves." Our problem isn't low self-esteem. It's very high self-esteem. That's the problem. [...] Anything that deminishes or destracts from the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is to be opposed with all that is within us. It is not to be tolerated! [...]
Robert Schuller: "To call sin rebellion against God is shallow and insulting to the human being. Were the 16th century reformation returned our focus to the sacred Scriptures as the only infallable rule for faith and practice, the new reformation will return our focus to the sacred right of every person to self-esteem. The most serious sin...", he says, "...is the one that causes me to say: 'I am unworthy'." And
then finally: "I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelistic enterprise than the un-christian, un-couthe strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinfull condition." [...]
I believe Scripture teaches dignity of human beings, but their dignity is an extrinsic dignity, not intrinsic. Extrinsic because they have been created by God and in the image of God. Now, the emphasis in Scripture is not on our dignity. The overwelming emphasis is on our depravity. We were worthy of wrath. That's what we were worthy of. And only by understanding the doctrine of sin in light of his holiness, will you grow in appreciation of just how worthy of His wrath you are. [...]
Dan Madsen: "The cross reveals the depth of our sin, not the hight of our worth before God."
"I have often heard it said: 'If I were the only person on the earth, Jesus would still have died for me.' Allthough our Lord could have given his life for just one person, it most certainly would not have been because that person was so valuable, but because God was so gracious. Such an incurring should therefor be regarded as a source of pride or self esteem. For me to argue that Jesus would have died for me if I were the only person on the earth, simply indicates that my sins alone - without the rest of you contributing your share - were sufficiant to demand the severe punishment of Jesus Christ vicariously assumed in my place. When faced with that reality, we ought to weep for the selfless sacrifice of our Lord, instead of finding in it one more opportunity for fealing good about ourselves."
Heresy! This is a man named Ray Anderson. He is teaching a course on the intergration of self-esteem and theology at Fullers Theological Seminary in Pasedena, California. And he is complaining about the psychological battering of the Cross. This is a man teaching in a seminary, training future Christian leaders: "If our sin is viewed as
causing the death of Jesus on the Cross, then we ourselves become victims of a psychological battering, produced by the Cross. When I am led to feel that the pain and torment of Jesus' death on the Cross is due to my sin, I inflict upon myself spiritual and psychological torment."
A writer comments: "There is no doubt that the Cross of Jesus Christ does inflict upon us a psychological battering. Theologically, we have considered that to be a part of the process leading to repentance. The Law reads as a series of algebra problems, we have failed, and the failing grade is read alloud: for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is a meassure of just how greatly secular concepts have revolutionised our daily discourse as Christians, when evangelical
seminary professors can look at the Cross and its suffering and its physical and spiritual battering and then warn Christians about the danger of being sychologically battered by the event."
This is error! This is heresy! I don't care what seminary this individual teaches at, he should be led through a process of discipline. And if he doesn't respond, he should be removed.
The Greatest Need of the Church We are not talking about personal preferances here. We are not talking about non essential subjects. We are talking about why that man is hanging on that tree, on that hill! We are talking about why is that now unrecognisable individual, who is recieving the full fury of the wrath of God and experiencing unimaginable torment as he cries out: 'My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me!' We are talking about why did he do that! He didn't do it because of low self-esteem. He didn't do it because we were wounded. He didn't do it because we have been sinned against. He did it because we have sinned against God himself! And in his justice our sin must be judged. And so the Father initiated a plan. The plan was that his son would recieve the full expression of his wrath that we deserved, so that one day we could sing with all our hearts: 'Amazing grace, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch... a God hating, rebellious wretch like me!' And don't you
entertain any thought to the contrary.
If he had reserved his comming for this generation, he would have still been killed. And if it wasn't for his grace, we would participate. Luther said: "We all walk around with his nails in our pocket."
Why is he hanging there? He is hanging there because of my sin. And if it was only my sin, he would still be hanging there. And this teaching on low self esteem, positive self-esteem, has all but replaced the doctrine of sin today. And it's wrong and it's deminishing and it's destracting from the finished work of Jesus Christ. [...]
The greatest need of the church is not to discover the deepest needs of human beings. The greatest need of the church is to discover the doctrine of God. The greatest need of the church is to understand the doctrine of sin. The greatest need of the church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the greatest need of the church and the greatest need of our lives today.
