Uprooting the Lie

The events that shape our lives often leave a residual energy that impacts our current situation. Who hasn't had an embarrassing moment that they wish they could forget, yet still think about it from time to time? Unfortunately for most of us, it's the lies we were told that impact us the most.

A little girl is singing her heart out and someone tells her to "knock off that racket." Now she believes her voice is unpleasant. She doesn't join the choir in school or at church because she doesn't want to subject people to the racket of her voice. She can't believe that her voice could now be a thing of beauty.

A boy sits alone at the lunch table because his classmates think he's a loser. He is young, inexperienced, and unskilled. He's clumsy and overweight. He doesn't understand how they do things because he is from a different culture. The few kids who do talk to him are only friendly when no one else is around. He looks at himself and he sees a loser.

You've been there. There is a lie resting in your heart and mind right now. It probably just reared its ugly head. You try to get over it, but it clings to you. Ignoring won't make it go away.

The only way to kill a lie is with the truth. The trouble with lies are they are a lot like a rash that won't go away. The truth has to be applied frequently.

For this reason, we need, as others have said, to preach the gospel to ourselves. That little girl needs to know that even if she croaks like a frog, God still loves her. That little boy needs to hear that Jesus doesn't see him as a loser. The message of Christ isn't just what saves us, it is what shapes us as well.

The lies that wage war against our souls are anchored deep. The gospel penetrates deeper. It makes us new. It gives us a sense of worth. Rest in Christ, and let him bring rest to your soul.

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you, Full of pity, love and pow'r.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome, God's free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance, Ev'ry grace that brings you nigh.

Chorus:I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in his arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you're better, You will never come at all.

Let not conscience make you linger, Nor a fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth Is to feel your need of him.
Joseph Hart

"If you tarry till you're better, You will never come at all." These words powerfully capture the heart of our predicament. We have been so weakened and ruined by the fall that we need the Lord to enable us to trust him. We lack the moral fitness necessary to please God, but he does not require us to be fit. He makes us fit when we trust him. This hymn, "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy," offers a living hope to a dying world.

This song captures the essence of the gospel. It begins with the fallen condition of mankind and drives the listener to flee to Christ as our only source of hope. The song reminds us that conviction of sin is a grace meant to draw us to Christ in true faith and repentance. It reminds us that Jesus "ready stands to save" us.

Several years ago, I heard the gospel call and my heart echoed these words: "I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in his arms; in the arms of my dear Savior, O there are ten thousand charms." To this day he has not let me go, nor will he ever. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.

Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves

"Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed'" (John 8:34-36, NIV).

Sin is an ever present reality this side of glory. From the image of sin "crouching at the door" (Gen. 4:7) to Paul's description of sin as an indwelling presence (Rom. 7:15-20), sin is displayed in Scripture as more than just lawbreaking. Sin is personified as an enemy of humanity, bent on our destruction. Often, we find ourselves within the grasp of sin and wondering how we got their.

This presence of sin, makes preaching the gospel a daily necessity. It is necessary because of the universal reach of sin. There isn't one life (except Jesus') that hasn't been affected and infected by sin. It is necessary to preach the gospel, because only Jesus has the power to free us from slavery. As he stated, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

However, sin doesn't just affect other people, it affects all of us. So it is necessary to preach the gospel to ourselves as well. We need to continually remind ourselves that we are right before God, because in his grace sent his Son into the world to die for our sins, and receives by that grace through faith. We are right with God, because we trust that Christ paid the penalty for our sin. Our righteousness is not maintained by our efforts, but by the all sufficient work of Christ accomplished on our behalf by his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

Jesus and his message becomes the driving force of our lives, because it is through him that we have access to forgiveness, hope, and purpose. Therefore, we have to continually return to the cross, not to be saved again and again, but remind ourselves of how we were saved in the first place. The cross is the means of our deliverance. Until it pleased God to reveal to us the need for salvation through the preaching of the gospel, we were slaves to sin.

Sin would have us to believe that we were still its slaves. However, the gospel declares us to be sons. Sin would have us to believe we are captives, but the gospel declares us as freemen. Those the Son set free, through his death and resurrection, are truly free (from sin and death). Even if we are able to overcome sin in this moment, it will most like trip us up in the next. Thus, we proclaim the gospel to ourselves to remind us that salvation is not based on our performance.

We must be gospel-centered if we are to maintain our focus. John compels us to remember, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, ESV). We have to continue telling and retelling the story of salvation to ourselves and others. The hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story," captures the thought well:

I love to tell the story; For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it, like the rest:
And when, in scenes of glory, I sing a new, new song;
'Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.