God Loves… Himself

Matthew 22: 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB ‘? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

If it is true that human beings are given over to sinful hearts and hardened hearts and that they are always suppressing the truth of God, then they are bad interpreters of Scripture and of the character of God. This also means that they are bad interpreters of what the Gospel is. When the true God of all creation and the God of Scripture are (is) distorted, the Gospel of God is distorted. When the interpretation of Scripture is distorted, out understanding of Christ is distorted and as such the Gospel of Christ is distorted. When our understanding of Christ is distorted, then our understanding of God who reveals Himself in and through Christ is necessarily distorted.

If all of that is indeed true, then the Gospel is always under attack from men who hate God and His Gospel though they may be very religious. We must never forget this and we must never underestimate the power of the hearts of men to distort the Gospel. But of course, that includes our own hearts. We must preach to ourselves again and again that our own hearts will always tend to water down the Gospel because our hearts long to water down God. We suppress the truth of God so that we can live as we please and do as we please. We suppress the truth of the Gospel of God in order that it will remain in our own power to do with as we please when we please.

We tend to think of the Gospel as something that God provides and men must respond to, which is not something that will upset men. Their hearts will not get upset with a God that loves them and has provided salvation for them and is earnestly desiring for them to do what they can do which is to believe. However, that is not the biblical view of the Gospel or of the Gospel of God. The true God is sovereign over all of His creation and all events and happenings. The heart that suppresses the truth of God is a heart that will suppress the truth of the Gospel of God and as such turn it from being God-centered to where it is man-centered.

While it may seem odd at first glance, one of the reasons that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ungodliness is because of how men are suppressing the truth of the Gospel. For some bizarre reason we think that the Gospel is just a message about how men are to be saved and we don’t realize that it is at the heart of the truth of who God is. We are not careful with the Gospel because we are not careful with God Himself. In the Gospel men have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” In the Gospel men do “not see fit to acknowledge God any longer” so “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”

Romans 1:18-32 is immediately preceded by Paul telling the people that he was not ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel, according to Paul in Romans, was not something he was ashamed of because it was the power of God for salvation. In other words, the Gospel of God includes the power of God. The good news of God is that He has the power to save from Satan, sin, and self. The biblical Gospel is not how man has the power that is needed to finish up what God left for man to do, but it is about how God is powerful to save all by Himself. Man has no power in the spiritual realm because man is dead in the spiritual realm. The selfish hearts of men will always distort what is uncomfortable to them and twist it and twist it until it becomes something they can like. The true and biblical Gospel is not to the liking of fallen man even if s/he is extremely religious. The Gospel that is popular today is popular precisely because it has been twisted by fallen man and fallen man is not uncomfortable with it and may even choose it, but that is not the same thing as the Gospel of God which fallen man hates.

Matthew 22: 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF
JACOB ‘? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

It should be easily seen that unregenerate people do not make good interpreters of Scripture because they are not spiritual people and that is true regardless of how scholarly they are and how religious they are. The natural man is always suppressing the truth of God and that includes scholars and religious people. God blinds people and hardens hearts as judgment upon their suppressing the truth about Him and they exchange the truth of God for lies about God. So many people wonder why there are so many interpretations of the Bible in our day, but it is no real mystery. God hardens the hearts and blinds the eyes of people and they interpret the Scriptures according to those hardened hearts and blinded eyes.

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Why did Jesus speak in parables? It is not because of all the popular answers given to us today, but Jesus Himself told us why He spoke in parables. He spoke in parables in order to hide the truth rather than reveal the truth. He hid the truth as a way of bringing judgment. While it is so hard for people to swallow, understanding Scripture is not a matter of free-will either. That is also the sovereign prerogative of God. A good understanding of Scripture and of the character and nature of God are given to those whom He is pleased to give it.

Matthew 13:14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’

John 12:37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?”39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.”

The passage in John 12 (just above) is crystal clear to this point. It tells us that “for this reason they could not believe.” Why could they not believe? Was it because they did not choose to do so? Was it because they did not exercise the free-will to do so? No, it was because He had blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they could not see and perceive. It does not matter if one is a professor at a seminary or a pastor of a large congregation, that person is utterly dependent upon God for spiritual understanding. In fact, being a professor or pastor can lead to a greater blindness because knowledge puffs a person up and makes them proud. This is true whether a person is orthodox or liberal or whatever. This is true regardless of a person’s wealth or status in life. God opposes the proud and one way He does this is by blinding them and hardening their hearts and leaves them without any spiritual understanding while they go on puffed up with information about the Bible and false ideas about God.

Matthew 22:23 On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, 24 asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.’ 25 “Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; 26 so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. 27 “Last of all, the woman died. 28 “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB ‘? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

The issue of where errors come from in the interpretation of Scripture is an important one. If we have a wrong idea or doctrine of God, then we will not have a solid foundational block for interpreting Scripture. It is true that the Spirit must enlighten us to these things, but when we see from Romans 1 that God judges sinners by turning them over to more sin and a darkened understanding of Him, we should be quite careful. Wrong ideas of God can be a judgment of God and judged more and more by God. This is not an easy thing to set out, but our hearts are truly idol factories and they want a god that they can control and a god that will allow them to be themselves without the need of real repentance.

In the first passage of Scripture above we can see that errors in interpretation of Scripture and the doctrine of God go together and influence one another. In the second passage of Scripture just above we can see that our ideas of God are greatly influenced by the judgments that God sends upon us. God reveals His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. God reveals His wrath against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. There is much about God that He has made evident to them, so in reality they are suppressing the truth of God. His attributes are made clear from nature, yet there are those who are busily suppressing those truths about God and do not honor Him as God. Instead, they give themselves to futile speculations and their hearts are darkened. First, their hearts are darkened by how they speculate about God. Second, their hearts are hardened by God as judgment.

A person who is hardened and his heart darkened will be a poor interpreter of Scripture. The Scriptures declare God to us in them and depend upon Him at all points, so when a person is darkened by foolish speculations and hardness of heart that person cannot understand Scripture. This person, despite his or her academic credentials and reputation is simply another person who has become a fool in the eyes of God. Instead of pouring out biblical wisdom, this person is pouring out the wisdom of a foolish heart that opposes the truth of God. This person may still be in possession of academic qualifications and may preach on Sundays, but the person is still a fool in the eyes of God. We need men with the wisdom of God and not those who possess the wisdom of men. That is precisely what happened in the New Testament. The Pharisees had a lot of the wisdom of men, but when they ran into Jesus who was the wisdom of God they hated Him. They hated Him for many reasons, but one of them was for showing them to be the fools that they were because of their interpretations that were opposed to God when they claimed to be men of God.

Matthew 22:23 On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, 24 asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.’ 25 “Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; 26 so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. 27 “Last of all, the woman died. 28 “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB ‘? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

The Sadducees and the Pharisees would have thought of themselves as experts in the Bible. However, claiming to be an expert is not the same as understanding Scripture. We see this time and time again in the Bible as the experts had a serious misreading of Scripture and their thinking and their lives were built on that. Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time correcting the so-called experts regarding their understanding of Scripture. Not only were they mistaken about the Scriptures, but they were also mistaken concerning so many things about God. It is not surprising that they misunderstood both the Scriptures and the character of God as those things go together.

We see the same thing in our world today. People misunderstand the Scriptures and they misunderstand the character of God. Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees went to their misunderstanding of both the Scriptures and of God. This is perhaps a pattern we need to understand and practice as well. When a person has a misunderstanding of the Scriptures or a particular doctrine, it may reflect a serious misunderstanding of the nature of God as well. We would do well to remember the teachings and practices of Jesus at this point.

There are many professing experts on the Bible in our day as well. It may be that they have an academic knowledge of the Bible, but that is not the same things as understanding Scripture and especially of understanding Scripture in light of the true character of God. Understanding some academics about God is not the same thing as understanding God in His glory and in His beauty. Even the lawyers or the experts on the law misunderstood the meaning of Scripture and God. An expertise in the Scriptures and of theology as such is no guarantee that the expert understands the spiritual meaning of Scripture or of God Himself.

The soul must learn that Scripture and the character of God must be revealed to it by the Spirit of God. The natural man can understand words, but only the spiritual man can understand spiritual things. The natural man can be brilliant in terms of intellect, but will always be blind to spiritual things unless God is pleased to give him a new heart and then show him spiritual things. Only the Spirit of God can reach the inward parts of man to teach a person spiritual things. Only the Spirit of God can reveal to a person the things of God. Only the Spirit of God can give spiritual enlightenment. After all, it is God alone who can teach a person spiritual things in the inner man which is how God teaches His people.

It does not matter a person’s academic or lack of academic status, a person must understand something of the nature of God in order to understand spiritual things and Scripture. All doctrines must be examined and compared to the character of God to check them. It is the character of God that helps check our doctrine and not our feelings about whether we like it or not. When we check doctrines and interpretations by ourselves and our own desires, we will never be accurate as doctrines and Scripture are determined by God. This is the great problem in our day. We want things to be determined by us rather than by God. We want things to be determined by our idea of justice and our idea of right and wrong rather than by the God who made all things for His own glory. As Jesus said, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

Psalm 4:6 Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

The Scriptures are clear that the heart of those who love God will seek His face and will seek His glory.  Moses longed to see the glory of God and it was shown to Him. In fact, if one goes on to read and consider what God did after Moses prayed for God to show him His glory, it is clear that God is sovereign and that His sovereignty is an important aspect to that glory. There is no way to think about this but that to deny His sovereignty is to deny His glory which is an essential aspect of His being.

When God promises Moses to show Moses His glory, His sovereignty was clearly listed as what He was going to show Moses:

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.

It is a fact of Scripture that God promises or reveals in several placs that He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and He will show compassion on whom He will show compassion. In this context it is a vital aspect of His glory. Therefore, why do ministers so flee from this truth? Why do they want to hide this from the people that fill the pews or chairs and why do they want to hide this from those they are evangelizing?

Jesus taught us this great truth as well. He taught us that no one could come to the Father unless that person was drawn. If this is an important aspect of the glory of God and Jesus taught this, then why is this so hidden in our day? Why is it that ministers who think of themselves as Reformed hide this great truth from the people they are supposed to shepherd? Can we be faithful shepherds if we hide an important aspect of the glory of God?

A reposting of The Gospel and the Enslaved Will 2 from May 3, 2010

A BLOG/website with the title of God Loves Himself must never stray far from the main theme of the site, especially since that is the deepest theme of the whole Bible. As quoted in the introduction of the O.R. Johnson and J.I. Packer introduction of Luther’s Bondage of the Will, one man called this book “the finest and most powerful Soli Deo Gloria to be sung in the whole period of the Reformation.” To quote Warfield again, speaking of this same book, “it is…in a true sense the manifesto of the Reformation.” This is not just any doctrine that is set out that for a person to intellectually believe or dismiss with no important result. This teaching is at the heart of the glory of God in the Gospel of grace. This can be seen by Luther’s statement below (quoted once again).

Moreover, I give you hearty praise and commendation on this further account—that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with these extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and such like—trifles, rather than issues—in respect of which almost all to date have sought my blood (though without success); you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot.

It may seem surprising that Luther thought that the list of extraneous issues included such “trifles” as the Papacy, purgatory, and indulgences. Indeed it was the issue about the indulgences that was the main theme with his 95 theses that were used to get the Reformation going. His death was desired by the pope over such issues. But he saw those as trifles as compared with this great doctrine of the bondage or enslavement of the will. The doctrine of the will was and is the essential issue of the Reformation as touching the Gospel and the glory of God. How we understand the Gospel of grace alone depends on how we understand the depths of man’s enslavement to sin. The issue of God’s glory in the Gospel is vitally linked with how free His grace is versus how free the will is.
We must understand this point in the thinking of Luther and his understanding of Scripture if we are going to understand the issue of the Gospel that was used in the Reformation and is so needed in our day and any other day as well. While many want to limit the Gospel to believe in Jesus, though others will say repent and believe, Luther thought that people must understand from the depths of their being just how depraved they really were. This is not an intellectual doctrine alone; it is one that must reach the depths of the soul. A person cannot understand the doctrine of depravity in a real sense apart from seeing and feeling it as true of him or herself. Until a person arrives at the point of seeing and understanding him or herself from the deepest parts of the soul that s/he is utterly undone unless God shows grace, that person will not really understand the nature of grace itself in the Gospel.
Many Protestants today oppose quite stringently the teachings about the Pope, purgatory, and the indulgences. They do this thinking that they are quite in line with the Reformation. What they don’t see is that they are dealing with mere trifles as compared to the teaching of the enslaved will which they quite ignore. Luther said that this is “the hinge on which all turns.” By that, we can safely say, he meant that this is the hinge on which the Gospel turns. The Gospel of grace alone to the glory of God alone must also be declared. God saves by grace alone in order that it would be His glory alone that shines. There is no other Gospel. There is no other hinge on which the Gospel turns. If we deny the enslavement of the will in reality, whether we deny it in our creed or not, we deny the hinge of the Gospel itself. When we practically deny the enslavement of the will we deny the heart of the glory of God in the Gospel. If this is the “vital spot” as Luther said, then to deny this is to deny a vital spot of the Gospel. We are not dealing with trifles here.

Stephen Charnock wrote in the 1600’s on the Existence and Attributes of God. In it he had a very powerful section (about ninety pages) on practical atheism. He said that people denied certain truths about God in practical ways while they held to them in their heads. He said that in many ways it was worse for a person to be a practical atheist than to be one in reality. Perhaps, then, we should take that to heart and understand that those who hold to creeds that uphold the enslaved will and yet deny it practically are worse than those who deny it openly. Certainly it is far more dangerous for people to say they believe it and then deny it in a practical way than those who simply deny it. Those who say they believe it and then deny it practically are far more deceptive than those who simply deny it. One greater than Luther told us that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). If we deny the enslavement of the will, in creed or practically, we are saying that men can come to Him apart from the work of the Father. We should and must believe Jesus.

A reposting of The Gospel and the Enslaved Will 1 from May 2, 2010
The trumpet of the Gospel that blasted forth from Luther and the Reformers is virtually unknown today. The power of that Gospel was also the Gospel that changed the world in the New Testament times before the Reformation. There are many who go forth preaching things about Jesus, but they miss the Gospel. There are many who go out telling people that they are sinners in need of a Savior, but they miss the Gospel. There are many who sound forth the teaching of grace, but they miss the Gospel. There are many today who want to call themselves Reformed or Calvinists, but they have missed the Gospel itself. There are many gospels that are not the Gospel.
Interestingly enough, there are many who call themselves Reformed who fight the heart of the teachings that came forth in power during the Reformation. The Gospel of the power of God can be hidden beneath the outward teachings of Calvinism and so the real power of the Gospel is not preached. The Gospel itself can be hidden beneath the cries of preachers to repent and believe, no matter how loudly they proclaim it. The Gospel itself can be hidden beneath the cries of men who attack what they call hyper-Calvinism and go forth preaching a false Gospel themselves because what they call hyper-Calvinism is really the truth of the Gospel.
Perhaps this sounds arrogant to some who read it, but so be it. Luther and all the Reformers were thought to be arrogant. The Lord Jesus was hated and abused for being Truth and preaching truth. The Reformers who preached the Gospel of Christ were abused and hated as well. It is no surprise that the true Gospel will be hated by unbelievers whether open sinners, religious people, and even those who claim to be Reformed. It should not surprise us when the truth of the depravity of men is preached that even very religious people don’t like it. What should surprise us is when all men speak well of us. Jesus said “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6:26). 1 John 4:5 tells us that “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.” This is true even of those who are very religious. Paul tells us that “all who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (II Tim 3:12). Being gracious may simply be a way of avoiding true godliness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will not go forth apart from abuse and persecution from religious people. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will not go forth apart from that hated teaching of the enslaved will of sinners who can do nothing but sin apart from God giving grace. Yet that is the Gospel that thundered forth in the New Testament, the Reformation, and real revivals. The Gospel will not thunder forth again until the truth of it is captured and proclaimed. Until it does, the Gospel of grace alone cannot be understood or declared.
Luther’s Bondage of the Will can and has been translated as The Enslaved Will. His book on that topic was not written as some metaphysical musing, but was his effort to defend the heart of the Reformation and of justification by faith alone. While many today will agree that justification is by faith, fewer will agree that it is by faith alone. Even fewer will declare the connection between the enslaved will and the Gospel preached by the Reformers as the New Testament teaching. The Gospel preached by all the Reformers was that the very heart of the Gospel was the enslaved will of sinners. That meant that the Gospel of grace alone could be taught. Erasmus thought that the doctrine of the will was rather insignificant, but Luther saw it as the very heart of the Gospel. Here are his words:
Moreover, I give you hearty praise and commendation on this further account—that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with these extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and such like—trifles, rather than issues—in respect of which almost all to date have sought my blood (though without success); you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed for the vital spot.

That was and is Luther’s response to all who diminish the importance of this doctrine and the necessity of what it means to know the sin of the heart. The thinking of so many today is that we can simply go tell people to repent and believe and not deal with the real sin of a person’s heart. But when that is not done, the Gospel will not be set out in truth. Until the nature of the disease is seen, the cure will not be seen. Until the rotten and corrupt hearts of sinners are set out for what they are, they will not see the need for a real Savior. It is because this book of Luther’s was the very heart of the Reformation that Warfield termed it “the manifesto of the Reformation.” There is no preaching of the Gospel of the Reformation without the teaching of the enslaved will. We do not preach the Gospel to sinners until we have opened them to the depths of their corruption and their desperate need for Christ to save them from their own hearts. This is, after all, what the old catechisms teach us is at the heart of irresistible grace.

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

What appears small to man is gigantic to God (adding one little work to the Gospel) and what is gigantic to man (life’s troubles and trials) is actually tiny to God. We must learn to accept the perspective of God in matters of life and of the Gospel. Man cannot imagine that it is such a major issue to God to add one little work to the Gospel, but it appears that the Gospel has virtually disappeared in our day. It is true that a statement like that sounds arrogant, but when one reads the Reformers it is not at all clear that many in our day hold to the same Gospel that they did.

Man thinks that it cannot be a major thing adding one work to the Gospel, but we must remember that when one work (regardless of how small it is) is added to grace alone it is no longer grace alone. When one adds one work (regardless of how small it is) to justification by grace apart from works, then justification is no longer apart from works. The Reformers thought that it was vital to the Gospel that it be by grace alone and by grace apart from works. In this way it could all be according to grace alone and to His glory alone. What harm can it do to add one little work to the Gospel of grace alone? Well, what harm can there be to adding just a little poison to a person’s drink? What harm can it do to add just a peanut to a cookie when a person is allergic to peanuts?

From the text above we can see that people are called by God who calls through the grace of Christ. Anything else is a different Gospel. It is so hard (even impossible) to get nice and accepting people to grab a hold of the fact that adding one little thing (in man’s view) makes the Gospel a non-Gospel or distorts the Gospel where it becomes something other than the true Gospel of grace alone. While it may appear to man that one little work is no big deal, in the eyes of God it changes the whole structure of the Gospel and gives man something to brag about. In the eyes of God that one little work means that man is trying to have something to add to the Gospel so that he can trust in himself just a little. This means that the Gospel of the glory of God is now shared with man. That is huge.

In this we can see with some degree of clarity of the need of the human heart to be broken and humbled. The proud heart of man will cling to some hope in self until God humbles the heart. In this we can also see how it must be God who breaks the proud heart of man because man can never cast the pride of his own proud heart. A proud heart can be ashamed of obvious pride, but in its self-love it will never be able to cast out its own pride. The proud heart will always operate according to pride and as such a proud heart cannot cast out pride since it would be pride doing the work.

Men can see that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, but they think that they can humble their own hearts. In this is a great error because that would make them assist God in coming up with grace. Men must seek the Lord for a true conviction of sin and a true humility. Men must seek the Lord to give them a true faith in Christ alone. If men must come up with faith, then they are trusting in themselves and Christ. The heart must be thoroughly broken from self and pride if it is going to truly rest in Christ alone for faith and all things and to rest in His grace for those things. For a human being to rest in Christ alone that human being must not trust in self at all.

The Gospel of grace alone is not simply a belief in the words or a belief that God saves by grace, but instead the Gospel of grace alone teaches us that God Himself saves sinners in reality and He does that by His own grace alone. He does not need to find anything in them to save them and He does not need them to add anything to what He has done or is doing. In order for this to happen, then, the hand of God must break the human heart in His kindness and make them humble and broken enough that they would not trust in anything or anyone but Christ and His grace. They must not rest in themselves for anything and that includes the breaking of the heart and of faith. It truly is all of grace and no one can add one thing to the true Gospel and so we must beware of those who try. We must also beware of those who seem to think that proud hearts can enter the kingdom of heaven. Oh no, as Jesus said, it is those who have been turned and become like little children who will enter.

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament times Paul was amazed that men were departing from the Gospel and in fact that was deserting Him who called them by the grace of Christ. It amazed him that these things could be true. However, if we see what happened in the New Testament times it becomes apparent that the Gospel was under attack from within and without before the apostles departed the scene. We can see how quickly works and forms of legalism crept in and seemingly took over. By the time of the Reformation a system of the professing Church and its legalism and opposition to sovereign grace took over. Luther was also amazed that people would prefer forms of legalism and opposition to sovereign grace over the Gospel of grace alone.

It is really no different in our day when one gets to the heart of the matter. A little bit of works goes a long way when it comes to distorting the Gospel of Christ. We must beware in these issues and we must take extraordinary care in the teaching we listen to. We must beware of the small things people say and the things that are slipped in. We must beware and listen with the greatest of care or we will be allowing a false gospel to influence our thinking and our way of life.

Notice from the text what a slight turn (in our view) means: 1. It is a deserting Him who called by the grace of Christ. 2. It is a deserting Him for a different gospel. 3. It is distorting the Gospel of Christ. 4. It is a gospel contrary to what the true Gospel is. 5. Preaching this gospel is a serious enough matter for men to be cursed. What was it that was so serious? From the context of the passage some men were trying to add circumcision to the Gospel. Notice, they were just adding one little thing that is in the power of men to do to the Gospel. What harm can there be in adding one little thing to the Gospel of grace alone? Well, it makes the Gospel as something other than grace alone and something other than to the glory of God alone. That is what adding one little thing to the Gospel does.

In our day we have people adding faith to the Gospel as if men could come up with that on our own. We have men adding church membership to the list, adding baptism to the list, and adding things like the Lord’s Supper to the list. We have people adding certain moral requirements to the list as well. The problem with adding moral requirements is not that people are changed by the Gospel, but that the moral requirements are not part of the Gospel. It is a very important issue. People are not saved by morality and they cannot tell for sure they are saved by morality. They can tell if they are not saved by immorality, but we must never place morality in the place of grace alone.

The Gospel of grace alone is not just a rejection of a doctrine; it is a rejection of God Himself. This is perhaps as serious an issue as one can find. The Gospel is not just a doctrine, it is the truth of God Himself and as such a rejection of the Gospel is a rejection of the living and true God. When one hears a preacher, regardless of how nice the man is, regardless of how good a speaker the man is, and regardless of how orthodox the man is; when a man adds to the Gospel of grace alone that man is a deceiver. The man who adds to the Gospel of grace alone is as dangerous a man as there is in the world. It is no small thing at all, but in reality it is an enormous thing. But despite all of that there are many, many men in the world who are adding things to the Gospel and are distorting the true Gospel to one that is contrary to the true Gospel. That false gospel also sets out a false god. The pulpits of our land are full of deceivers and yet as long as they are nice it seems as if no one cares.