he Present Condition
he Present Condition
Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18). This is as true today as it was nineteen hundred years ago. The cross of Christ is hated, slandered, distorted and ignored. Non-Christians either assert that the crucifixion never occurred -- that it was a fable invented by imaginative men -- or nothing but the untimely death of a misunderstood Jewish carpenter. Most other moderns believe the cross to be totally irrelevant to daily life. They prefer to push it into the corner, where it is kept safe from ever influencing their parenting, pocketbook, or political decisions.
Other opponents prefer to think of the cross as The Great Example and Jesus as the martyr who showed the world how to overcome political tyranny passively. In his autobiography, Gandhi wrote of Christ, "His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept."
Yet even in Christendom there are great misunderstandings of the cross. J. I. Packer said it best: "We appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of His redeeming work as if He had done no more by dying than make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God's love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence `at the door of our hearts' for us to let them in. It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe."
Background
This distortion has plagued the church generation after generation. Early in the fifth century, Pelagius advanced the beliefs that Adam's sin was merely a bad example to his posterity which did not affect them otherwise in any significant way; that all men are thus born free from corruption or influence by sin, free to choose right or wrong by their own power; that neither the sin of Adam nor the righteousness of Christ is imputed to anyone; and that man has power to do all good, the grace of God merely assisting him in his endeavors to do so. Pelagianism thus has no place for the redemption, atonement, or regeneration of the cross as biblically defined.
Augustine had ably refuted these errors by asserting both original sin and the necessity of sovereign grace. However, after his death a semi-Pelagianism arose which attempted a compromise of Augustinian and Pelagian doctrine. Semi-Pelagians asserted that man is neither morally sound nor morally dead, but morally weakened and crippled. They denied that man can heal himself, but taught that he has the power to ask for healing. They steered between the grace of God being merely auxiliary on the one side and unconditional and sovereign on the other, teaching that human will and divine grace cooperate in bringing men to salvation.
The Failure of Non-Biblical Solutions
Semi-Pelagianism can be clearly seen as the progenitor of modern evangelicalism in all its forms. We see the modern gospel's lack of power in the human inventions which tag along with it: altar calls, follow up committees, "pray this simple prayer" tracts, evangelistic bumper-stickers, evangelistic tea bags, and other such rot. Observing the failure of these methods to bring men to a life of true godliness, some retreat to a "keeping our own noses clean" piety, while others redouble their efforts to spread their man-centered message. Both end in frustration and spiritual deadness.
The temptation among Christians who assert a saving cross, rather than a cross which creates the possibility for men to save themselves by believing, is to get frustrated with those who do not yet see it. They fail to see that this carnal response is inconsistent with the fact that God is sovereign to grant not only salvation but understanding as well. Those who try, in the name of sovereign grace, to shove these glorious truths down unwilling throats are not part of the solution, but part of the problem.
Biblical Solutions
We must, therefore, repent of the substitute gospels of the cross which focus on man's needs rather than God's glory.
We must then acknowledge the following truths, all of which stem from the declaration of the prophet Jonah that salvation is of the Lord:
Unregenerate man is dead in sin and is consequently unwilling and unable to savingly believe in the cross (Rom. 8:5-8; Eph. 2:5).
From eternity past, God the Father in sovereign love chose an elect multitude whom He would bring to glory (Rom. 8:30; John 17:2; Rev. 5:9-12; 17:8).
Jesus Christ laid down His life as a vicarious, propitiatory sacrifice in which all the sins of His people were imputed to Him, and His righteousness was imputed to them (2 Cor. 5:21; Is. 53:12).
God sovereignly calls His people to Himself, regenerating them in resurrecting grace by the power of the Spirit, resulting in their repentance and belief (John 3:3; 6:37, 44; 2 Tim. 2:25; 1 John 5:4).
Christ's death, resurrection, and continuing intercession guarantees that they shall receive the eternal benefits of His death, resurrection and intercession (Rom. 8:31-34).
Through the preaching of the cross God will destroy His enemies and save the nations of the world (Gen. 26:4; Ps. 22:27; John 1:29; Ps. 67:7; Ps. 110:1; Mt. 28:18-20).
