Tuesday, March 29, 2011

God saves bad people (Deut. 9)

The title of this article is borrowed from one of best - if not the best - sermons I have ever heard before from a preacher very few Christians are aware of, namely Arturo Azurdia.  The title of the sermon from Joshua 2 (can be listened to here, http://www.spiritempoweredpreaching.com/sermons.htm [check out the youtube clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoMIDK1SXTU) is the same, but my passage from which I draw the same conclusion is different.  I have no problem highjacking Azurdia's clever sermon title, for the biblical narrative paints a consistent and coherent picture from Genesis to Revelation, namely the great story of redemption wherewith a loving and sovereign God saves a people, who are - to be painstakingly honest - in the words of the apostle Paul, "the worst of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:17).  The text from which I see this theme once again reemerge is Deuteronomy 9.

The context of the early chapters of Deuteronomy shows Moses preparing the chosen people of God as they are on the verge of entering the promised land of Canaan.  This section consists mostly of repeated reminders of Yahweh's sovereign faithfulness in not only rescuing the Hebrew nation out of slavery in Egypt, but also in conquering every possible obstacle and hindrance to their entrance into the land "flowing with milk and honey."

The question we need to answer then is, why does God repeatedly remind the people of this cardinal truth, namely, that God chooses to save bad people?  The answer, simply stated, is that the only people God can save are bad people.  A quick perusal of the Scriptures shows just how replete they are with this dire assessment of the natural state of fallen humanity.  For instance, Paul, quoting the OT says, "None is righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10).  Prophets such a Jeremiah describe the natural human heart as "desperately wicked above all things and desperately/incurably sick" (17:9).  Even King David, described by the Scriptures as "a man after God's own heart" can lament that he was sinful from birth (Psa. 51:5).  Isaiah, perhaps the most glorious prophet of the Old Testament, could even speak of himself - he who was also a legitimate Old Testament priest - "Woe is me / I am ruined / For I am a man of unclean lips" (6:5).  A man whose duty was to declare with his own lips the very oracles of God declares that even his lips are unworthy to speak of or for the thrice holy LORD of Hosts (6:3).

Even the writer of Deuteronomy, Moses, elsewhere portrays the mass of humanity inhabiting the earth prior to the great Flood this way: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5, italics mine).

So we should not be surprised, then, when we read God's words to the Israelites at the threshhold of entering into the land of Canaan:

"Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them [i.e. the pagan inhabitants of the land] out before you, 'It is because of my 'righteousness' that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is becasue of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.  Not because of your 'righteousness' or the 'uprightness' of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." (9:4-5)

To prevent even the slightest chance that the reader might presume that Israel was chosen because they were not as bad the inhabitants of the land, Moses continues:

"Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your 'righteousness', for you are a stubborn people.  Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness.  From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD." (9:6-8, emphasis mine)

Rather than taking passages such as these as offensive, I on the other hand find great comfort in the truth that the only people that God chooses to save are wicked sinners.  Why?  Because I actually agree with God's assessment of mankind that it is not by nature good.   No, mankind by nature is bad.  Mankind is, like Israel, stubborn and rebellious.  Mankind is by nature depraved.  Mankind by nature hates God.  If mankind could, it would not only mock and beat and ridicule God, it would kill Him.

Actually, this is precisely what mankind did to God.  Though mankind has derided and blasphemed God throughout the ages, when it received the opportunity to kill God, it did so by hanging Him upon a Roman cross.  Mankind killed the God that came to save mankind.

The Scriptures unashamedly and unrelentlessly declares to us that these are the kind of people that God in Christ came to save.  Sinners like you and sinners like me.  Sinners like Moses and Rahab and David and Isaiah and Peter and Paul.

Why this "consuming fire" (9:3) does not devour us rebels is just beyond explanation.  But then again, sovereign and electing grace defies a perfect explanation.  This is why we will marvel throughout the ages at "the immeasurable riches of God's grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

And so Moses' repeated exhortation is the same as Paul's: "Remember!"  In Deuteronomy, Moses uses this word 14 times, almost exclusively in the context of the immensity of God's grace in kindness towards His people, which is neatly juxtaposed against the backdrop of their sinful rebellion against Him.  Likewise, in Ephesians 2:11, Paul exhorts his Gentile listeners to remember that they were formerly "dead in the trespasses and sins in which they walked" alongside the fact that God, in His rich, electing grace, "made us alive together with Christ Jesus" (2:1-6).

God doesn't save good people; He saves bad people.  I was by nature bad, and thus a perfect candidate for the grace of God that saved me.  The Good News of the gospel just doesn't make sense until we understand the bad news of the gospel.  The bad news is that mankind is inherently bad.  The Good News is that Christ Jesus came to save bad people. 

Those who see themselves as not bad have fallen from grace, for they only need Jesus as a band-aid, or accessory (Gal. 5:4).  The cancerous lie spreading through Galatia in Paul's time is the same gangrene that permeates our culture and, sadly to say, most of our churches, who have fallen hook, line and sinker for the deception that we as people generally (and individuals specifically) really not as bad as God says we are.  This lie is filling Hell up with scores of deceived people who think they are going to Heaven.  Why?  Because Hell is not only for bad people, it is also for 'good' people.

Why?  Because Heaven is not for 'good' people, but for forgiven people.  Heaven is for people who have acknowledged their wicked ways through genuine repentance, beat their breast with contrition for personally sinning against their Creator, and cried out for mercy from a merciful God who demonstrates His mercy with sinners on the cross of Christ.

Jesus, the Great Physician, did not come for those who are 'well'.  He came for those are sick (Mark 2:17).  Only the sick will find the healing they so desperately need.  Those who are blinded by their illusionary 'goodness' will never truly see their need of a Savior (John 9:39; cf. Luke 18:9-14).

May the Holy Spirit continue to open our eyes to see our continual need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Him and for His supreme glory,
Pastor Ryan Case