[Faith-talk] FW: FW: [masterslist] The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners & Fallen Saints

Tue Apr 3 19:52:21 UTC 2012

Original Message: 
From: "Eric Calhoun" <eric at pmpmail.com>
To: native_american_christians at yahoogroups.com,
christianchit-chat at yahoogroups.com
Subject: FW: [masterslist] The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners & Fallen
Saints
Date: 
Tue, 3 Apr 2012 12:02:50 -0400

The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners & Fallen Saints

John Piper

God did his most deadly work to destroy hopelessness and futility and 
provincial cowardice. He gave up his Son to torture and death. A perfect 
life, a perfect
death, and the decisive work was done.

But there are millions who are numb to hope because of the God-belittling

things they have done and how ugly they have become. They don't lift
lofty 
arguments
against God's Truth; they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They
don't 
defy God consciously; they default to cake and television. Except for the

periodic
rush of sex and sport and cinema, life yawns. There is no passion for 
significance. For many, no passion at all.

There is a Christian version of this paralysis. The decision has been
made 
to trust Christ. The shoot of hope and joy has sprung up. The long battle

against
sin has begun. But the defeats are many, and the plant begins to wither.
One 
sees only clouds and gathering darkness. The problem is not perplexing 
doctrine
or evolutionary assaults or threats of persecution. The problem is
falling 
down too many times. Gradually the fatal feeling creeps in: the fight is 
futile;
it isn't worth it.

Along with this hopelessness and futility, especially since 9/11,
provincial 
cowardice captures many Christian minds. They fear that it may sound 
conceited
to call every people group in the world to trust Christ or perish. It
seems 
too global. Too sweeping. Too universal. To say it takes their breath
away.
And, worse, it brings down the wrath of the tolerant. What could be more 
arrogant than to think that the infinite variety of need in all the
cultural 
groups
of the world could be met by a single Savior!

It is astonishing that the biblical gospel of justification by faith
alone 
answers these three human failures: the hopelessness of unbelievers, the 
feeling
of futility from falling down, and the fear of making global claims for 
Christ.

To the numb and listless sinner, feeling beyond all hope of godliness,
the 
Bible says, "To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies
the 
ungodly,
his faith is counted as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). God justifies the 
"ungodly." This truth is meant to break the back of hopelessness.

The connection between the sinner and the Savior is trust, not
improvement 
of behavior. That comes later. It's this order that gives hope. "For we
hold
that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans
3:28). 
The basis of this wild and wonderful hope (the ungodly justified) is
"Christ
for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4, literal 
translation). Through faith alone God counts the ungodly as righteous 
because of Christ.
"For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him 
we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Let all
who
are paralyzed by the weight of sin and the powerlessness to change turn
in 
here.

To the fallen saint, who knows the darkness is self-inflicted and feels
the 
futility of looking for hope from a frowning Judge, the Bible gives a 
shocking
example of gutsy guilt. It pictures God's failed prophet beneath a
righteous 
frown, bearing his chastisement with broken-hearted boldness. "Rejoice
not
over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness,
the 
Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord
because
I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment

for me. He will bring me out to the light" (Micah 7:8-9). This is
courageous
contrition. Gutsy guilt. The saint has fallen. The darkness of God's 
indignation is on him. He does not blow it off, but waits. And he throws
in 
the face
of his accuser the confidence that his indignant Judge will plead his
cause 
and execute justice for (not against) him. This is the application of 
justification
to the fallen saint. Broken-hearted, gutsy guilt.

For the squeamish fellow afraid of making global claims for Christ, the 
biblical teaching on justification explodes his little world. It says: the

deepest
problem to be solved is the same for every human being, because every
human 
is a descendant of Adam. And the problem to be solved is that "by one
man's
disobedience many were made sinners." "One trespass led to condemnation
for 
all men." The only solution to this universal condemnation is a "second 
Adam"
who provides "the free gift of righteousness" to all who hear the gospel
and 
believe (Romans 5:17-19). Therefore Christ, the second Adam, the giver of
righteousness, is the only global Savior.

Embrace as your treasure the gift of justification. There is no part of
your 
life where it is not immeasurably precious.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website:
www.desiringGod.org.
Email:
mail at desiringGod.org.
Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

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