Our Guilt Has Reached The Heavens

Here are some great words from a great book: The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges.  This quote is found near the end of the section where Bridges talks about original sin and the sinful guilt/pollution humans have by nature (i.e. Rom. 3:10-20).

“You might be thinking by this time, ‘Why devote so much attention to sin?  It just makes me feel guilty.  I thought you were going to tell us about the unsearchable riches of Christ.’  My reason is to cause us all to realize we have no place to hide.  In our relationship with God we cannot plead our Christian duties, as helpful as they may be, or our external morality, as exemplary as it may be.  Instead, we must confess with Ezra that ‘our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens’ (Ezra 9:6).”

“Furthermore, even a deep, penetrating sense of our sinfulness does not do justice to the reality of our predicament.  Our need is not to be measured by our own sense of need, but by what God had to do to meet that need.  Our situation was so desperate that only the death of his own Son on a cruel and shameful cross was sufficient to resolve the problem.”

“Many people erroneously think that God can just forgive our sins because he is a loving God.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The cross speaks to us not only about our sin but about God’s holiness. …The cross…is an expression of God’s wrath toward sin as well as his love to us.  It expresses his holiness in his determination to punish sin, even at the cost of his Son.  And it expresses his love in sending his son to bear the punishment we so justly deserved.   …We cannot begin to understand the true significance of the cross unless we understand something of the holiness of God and the depth of our sin” (p. 28-9).

Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2003).

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Your Sin: You Have No Idea!

  When God convicts us of our sin, he ordinarily only shows us the tip of the iceberg (so to speak).  This is an act of mercy, for if he showed us the exact depth and extent of our depravity, we would not be able to live with ourselves.  Thankfully, genuine conviction and repentance can take place even though we don’t know the full depth and extent of our depravity.  I appreciate how  Robert Murray M’Cheyne explains the depths of the sinful heart in a sermon he preached on Jeremiah 17.9-10 (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?).

“…The most awakened sinner does not see the ten thousandth part of the wickedness of his own heart.  You are like a person looking down into a dark pit – you can only see a few yards down the sides of the pit; so you can only see a little way into your heart.  It is a pit of corruption which is bottomless: Who can know it?“

“…You are like a traveler looking down into the crater of a volcano; but the smoke will not suffer (allow) you to look far.  You see only a few yards into the smoking volcano of your heart….  There are chambers in your heart that you have never yet seen into – there are caves in that ocean you have never fathomed – there are fountains of bitterness you have never tasted.  When you have felt the wickedness of your heart to the uttermost, then lie down under this awful truth, that you have only seen a few yards into a pit that is bottomless – that you carry about with you a slumbering volcano – a heart whose wickedness you do not and cannot know.”

Thankfully M’Cheyne ended the sermon on the heights of grace.

“[Christ] was the only one that knew the wickedness of the beings for whom he died.  He that searches the hearts of sinners died for them.  He knew what was in men; yet he did not abhor (hate) them on that account – he died for them.  It was not for any goodness in man that he died for man.  He saw none.  It was not that he saw little sin in the heart of man.  He is the only being in the universe that saw all the sin that is in the unfathomable heart of man.  He saw to the bottom of the volcano – and yet he came and died for man.  Herein is love!”

“When publicans and sinners came to him on earth, he knew what was in their hearts.  His eye had rested on their bosoms all their life – he had seen all the lusts and poisons that ever rankled there; yet in no wise did he cast them out.  So with you.  His eye hath seen all your sins – the vilest, darkest, blackest hours you have lived, his pure eye was resting upon you; yet he died for such, and invites you to come to him; and will in no wise cast you out.”

Jesus knows exactly how sinful you are, but he loves you and went to the cross for you.  You only know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your sin, but Jesus has seen it all in full.  And he didn’t run away from you.  Instead, he took your sin and its curse upon himself, removed it from you, and gave you his righteousness in exchange.   It is frightening to realize that we don’t know how sinful we actually are; but Jesus does know, he loved us, died for us while we were still sinners, and literally took our sin upon himself to deliver us from it.  You are forgiven!

R. M. M’Cheyne, Sermons, p.35-37.

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No Inherent Stock of Goodness

Between the years 1768 and 1779 John Newton wrote several letters to a friend of his who was also a pastor.  Apparently, his friend was skeptical about the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) and tended towards the mystical writers of his day.  Newton, in a loving way, explained why he himself believed these doctrines and stayed away from mysticism.  Here’s one part from one of the early letters in this correspondence.  (Note: I’ve edited it very slightly).

“…The longer I live, the more I am constrained to adopt that system which ascribes all power and glory to the grace of God and leaves nothing to the creature but sin, weakness, and shame.  Everyone must speak for themselves; and for my own part, I cannot ascribe my present hopes to my having cherished and improved an inward something within me, which Mr. [William] Law speaks of.  But, on the contrary, I know I have often resisted the motions and warnings of God’s Spirit, and if he had not saved me with a high hand, and in defiance of myself, I would surely have been lost.”

“Nay, to this hour I feel an evil principle within me, tempting me to depart from the living God.  I have no inherent stock of goodness upon which I can hope to hold out hereafter, but stand in need of a continual supply, and emphatically understand our Lord’s words, ‘Without me you can do nothing.’  For I find I am not sufficient of myself so much as to think a good thought.”

“…I believe…in a word, that Christ is the all in all in a sinner’s salvation; that we have no righteousness in the sight of God but in his name, no power but so far as we are ingrafted into him by faith, as branches deriving sap and influence from the true vine (John 15:1, Isaiah 45:24, 1 Cor. 1:30).  Upon these principles I find that I cannot have satisfaction or comfort in the mystical writings, notwithstanding they may say many excellent things occasionally – things which may be very useful when understood in a gospel sense (p. 205-7).

This series of letters is found in volume 6 of The Works of John Newton.

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All Boasting Excluded

As I mentioned earlier, as I read through John Newton’s works this winter, I plan to pass along some “gems” I find.  I hope to do this weekly (give or take).  This week’s quote is from a letter Newton wrote in April of 1772.  It is basically an explanation of the great phrase he spoke at the end of his life: “Two things I know – first, that I am a great sinner.  Second, that Christ is a great Savior.” 

“The unchangeableness of the Lord’s love, and the riches of his mercy, are likewise more illustrated by the multiplied pardons he bestows upon his people, than if they needed no forgiveness at all.”

“Hereby the Lord Jesus Christ is more endeared to the soul; all boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of a full and free salvation is ascribed to him alone.”

“If a mariner is surprised by a storm, and after one night spent in jeopardy is presently brought safe into port; though he may rejoice in his deliverance, it will not affect him so sensibly, as if, after being tempest-tossed for a long season, and experiencing a great number and variety of hair-breadth escapes, he at last gains the desired haven.”

“The righteous are said to be scarcely saved, not with respect to the certainty of the event, for the purpose of God in their favor cannot be disappointed—but in respect of their own apprehensions, and the great difficulties they are brought through. But when, after a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, ingratitude, and insensibility, they find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ, Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls.”

“They love much, because much has been forgiven them. They dare not, they will not ascribe anything to themselves—but are glad to acknowledge, that they must have perished (if possible) a thousand times over, if Jesus had not been their Savior, their shepherd, and their shield. When they were wandering—he brought them back; when fallen—he raised them; when wounded—he healed them; when fainting—he revived them. By him, out of weakness—they have been made strong:  he has taught their hands to war, and covered their heads in the day of battle.”

“In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of his excellence, have been occasioned by the humiliating proofs they have had of their own vileness. They would not have known so much of him—if they had not known so much of themselves.”

John Newton, Works, volume 1, page 450-1.

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The (Deceitful) Heart

Here’s a good summary of what the heart is – in biblical terms.

“‘Heart’ is used different ways in the Bible.  Sometimes it is the mind believing or being enlightened (Rom. 10:10; Eph. 1:18), the will deciding and acting (2 Cor. 9:7, Eph. 6:6), or the affections feeling (2 Cor. 2:4).  In Hebrews 4:12 the heart thinks and feels.  The best way to think of your heart is that it comprises

-Your thoughts, plans judgments, discernment (the mind);

-Your choices and actions (the will);

-Your longings, desire, revulsion, imagination, feelings (the affections);

-Your sense of right and wrong, which approves or condemns your mind, will, and affections (the conscience).

This summary is based on John Owen’s discussion of the same in Indwelling Sin and The Mortification of Sin.  Consider the above and then consider how the Bible says the heart by nature (apart from Christ) is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9).  Also consider what it means when the Holy Spirit graciously gives sinners new hearts (Ezek. 36:26).  Check out chapter three of The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard for more info on this theme of the heart.

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