can you give the Gospel to those who are still struggling in their sins, or who are new believers, or only to those who are demonstrating a life of faith and obedience? You must be able to preach the Gospel to all people who are sorry for their sins, whether that comes from a point of fear of punishment or a place of loving respect for God in Christ.
There was a time when we were new in the faith, either by hearing the Word of God as adults or coming into it through the waters of Baptism. We were new, but now we are not. Now, we are continuing to grow in the faith, we are growing in our sanctification. We love God now, even though we sin. And this is good. But, there are, or there should be, times when the Law crushes us under its accusations. Now, the Law is certainly given to all, and it informs us of how far we’ve fallen from grace. On top of that, it increases our sin, increases the trespass, so that we are crushed under the weight of the Law and there is no ability or feeling like one can even escape. But God doesn’t give the Law just so that we can stay crushed beneath it, but that we might be freed by the Gospel. This is why we have to preach the Law; it must crush us so that the Gospel can free us.
As far as you may be in the faith, the Scriptures are full of people being crushed under the weight of the Law and then having great fear of God; they aren’t what we would call “good Christians” A good example of this is the Jews gathered to hear Peter and Pentecost. Their answer to the accusation of the Law wasn’t, “Oh, we’re so sorry for making God mad.” It was, holy cow, what are we supposed to do now? And the answer to their question was the Gospel: repent and be baptized. They hadn’t been good Christians before, or Christians at all, but had been made so by the preaching of the Law. Terror can be useful in the right sense because terror by the Law of God is producing faith within a person to believe. And the demand to repent and be baptized then is the continued fruit of that faith within them.
We should still realize that we need to be crushed by the weight of the Law so that the Gospel can be preached to us. If then, as good Christians, repentant and ready to live the Christian life, we only want to give the Gospel to people who are like us, then we are greatly erring. We should want to give the Gospel to all people, but only in the right time, when they, like we have been, like we need to continue to be, have been crushed under the Law.
For one who is still caught up in their sin, even as they’re trying to leave it behind, this is everything. What do you say to the porno junkie who is having trouble getting that monkey off his back? What do you say to the woman with same-sex attraction but knows that this is against the Word of God? What do you say to the mother of five who has had three abortions lately and now realizes that she’s committed murder? What do you say to the man who has beaten his wife to a pulp, but has been faithfully, repentantly attending the chaplain’s bible study and is about ready to be released from jail? What do you say?
If your first inclination is to leave them behind, or to reject them because they’re not Christian enough like you are, then you are falling prey to bad theology. Point of fact, Christ came to earth only to save sinners, and these folks certainly are bad, and I guarantee you, you’re right there with them. If the Gospel can be preached to one such as you, as me, then the Gospel should be preached to all others. If we restrain ourselves from preaching the full counsel of the Word of God, we’re failing in this area. The Gospel should be as free to those who are crushed by the Law as it is to you who are already well on your way to growing in your sanctification. The Gospel must always be given freely, not on account of the person, but because of Christ. Thesis twelve will talk more about that next week.
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