Wednesday, June 28, 2006

What I Really Need

A friend of mine made this comment to me about the Gospels:

In the 4 gospels Jesus teaches us what to do. He speaks very little of worship, yet talks constantly about our hearts. God will judge us by the true content of our hearts.

How true that we will be judged by the content of our hearts. Yet I fear that Jesus would do so. If Jesus were to judge my heart I would be instantly lost into outer darkness and bearing God's wrath.

So much of the Gospels speak of true worship, I am amazed that anyone would miss it. In fact, it is in the context of worship that Jesus condemns our evil hearts. When reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, one can't help but see Jesus teaching on the law of God and how we are to live our lives in true worship. Yet Jesus makes the law so much more difficult, that my evil heart is only exposed in brighter light for what it truly is.

The "New Perspective" on the Apostle Paul's doctrine of Justification (which many Protestant Scholars are beginning to teach) is only a step backwards as a solution to the above quote. It takes us back to the days when men had to maintain their relationship with God in the Covenant. If we fail to do so, we become lost again.

Due to the Law of God and his grace, I have come to see my sin for what it is, atleast in part. I do not need a Savior who will help me go through a twelve-step-Joel-Osteen-gospel on how to live a better life. I need a foreign and alien righteousness that is God's imputed to me. This is what Paul teaches in Romans.

I thank God Alone that by His Sovereign Grace Alone, I have received Christ's perfect righteousness Alone, through Faith Alone, according to the Scriptures Alone. It is only in this context that I will be able to truly worship God.

Soli Deo Gloria

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