What are the Odds?

10/4/13                            Rob                    about 20

A young man named Rob said something I found to be revealing about the motivations and heart of the unbeliever.  He had attended a Christian high school and had a fairly good understanding of the Bible, but when asked about eternity he said “I’ll take my chances.  The way I see it, the odds are pretty much in my favor for two reasons.  First, I think the chances are pretty slim that there is such a thing as heaven and hell, and even if there is, the chances are good that I can sit down with Jesus and work things out with him”.  This selfish consideration of “the odds” is opposite that of sinners who are sincerely “cut to the heart” when confronted with the gravity of their sin, like the crowd whom Peter confronted with the truth in Acts 2.  Paul wrote about the calculating, unrepentant heart in Romans 6: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?”   This is a description of the heart unaffected by God’s love and grace, the heart that enjoys sin and secretly wants to ensure it will continue to be able to live in opposition to God for eternity.  It is the heart that asks “What is the least good I have to do in order to go to heaven?” ;whereas the born-again heart, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, asks “What is the most good I can do before I go to heaven?”    So it is with this in mind that I ask, “What is the purpose of the use of the law in sharing the Gospel?”  Many believers don’t refer much to the law, sin and consequence of hell because they don’t want to attract people to Jesus for the wrong reasons, for what they view as simply “fire insurance”.  I think this is a reasonable concern, but I believe there is another, far greater and important reason we should frame the gospel with reference to the law and the just punishment for our sin: God’s glory.  We can really only begin to understand the glory of God’s goodness, which includes His infinite justice, when we begin to understand the consequence of our sin.  We can only understand the necessity of the cross and the tremendous love God has for us when we understand how much God abhors our rebellion against Him.  It is only by a demonstration of His glory that, like Peter after Jesus' miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5, we can fall down at His feet and say with selfless conviction, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”