Here is what he wrote:
Charles Spurgeon once said,
"I would not mind if I were condemned to live fifty years more and never allowed to speak but these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them in the ear of every man, woman, and child who lives. 'Christ Died for the Ungodly.' That is the best message that even angels could bring to men."
As you probably know, we encourage people to write us at saved@wretchedradio.com if they are not sure of their salvation. While we receive many different types of letters, there are two major themes that stand out:
1. I am addicted to porn.
2. I am not sure I am saved because I don’t do enough.
Basically, those two major themes are:
1. I hate the things that I do.
2. I hate that I don’t do enough.
The operative word there is: do. My dear fellow Wretch, if we fail to understand who does the doing, we will fail to understand the Gospel. The result will be that we live in fear, either for what we have done, or for what we have failed to do. Either result is miserable. Neither is the Gospel.
The Bible tells us to test ourselves to see if we are in the truth. It is imperative that we do this right. As we examine ourselves, we must hold two things in tension.
1. God is growing us in holiness. Remember, it is not perfection, but we should be moving in that direction.
2. We are not holy enough.
You and I must recognize both of these. If we examine our fruit and recognize that we are growing in holiness, but fail to see that we are not as holy as we should be, we will become self-sufficient, prideful and worst of all, we will forget the Gospel.
However, if we ONLY recognize that we are not as holy as we should be without recognizing that God is growing us in holiness (not perfection, but direction), then we will always doubt our salvation.
The reality is, we sin too much and we don’t do enough. But the good news of the Gospel is: Jesus did enough. Never forget, His passive obedience (being beaten and crucified) cancels our sin debt. His active obedience (living a perfect life) credits our account with infinite righteousness.
As a Christian, you sin too much, but Jesus died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
As a Christian you don’t do as much as you should; but Jesus did! His perfection has been credited to your account.
You must proclaim that good news to yourself every day or you will certainly end up in the Pit of Pride or the Slough of Despair. God does not want you in either place.
-Todd
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