Good Enough | MISQUOTED

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Introduction

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Wk 3 Misquoted

sociologist Christian Smith coined the phrase “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” to name the prevailing religious belief of youth in America.

Last week - sociologist Christian Smith coined the phrase “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” to name the prevailing religious belief of youth in America.

“Therapeutic” - meaning that “God or religion should help me feel good”

Today, moralistic

“Moralistic” - meaning that “God wants me to be a good person and not a jerk”

“Moralistic” - meaning that “God wants me to be a good person and not a jerk”

Answer the question: How good is good enough?

Good Enough

Andy Stanley in his book How Good is Good Enough? shares a story of Sunday School teacher tasked with explaining to 6 year olds how someone gets to heaven. To discover what these 6 years already know, the teacher starts with a line of questioning:

If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven? > NO!

If I cleaned the church everyday, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven? > NO!

Well then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven? > NO!

Well then, how can I get into heaven?

To which a boy in the back row stood up and shouted, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!”

And herein lies the problem: You’ve gotta be dead to go to heaven. And while everyone wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die. So while we’ve got a moment to talk about it, let’s consider how good is good enough?

As Christian Smith pointed out, a prevailing religion ascribed to by many in our country is moralism.

Logic goes: There is a good God who lives in a good place reserved for good people.

Good people go to heaven, so we say.

Now imagine standing before God and having him ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven?”

What’s your response?

I’ve always tried to...

I never...

I do my best...

For many, our answers center around our attempts to live a good life. Or at least a life that is better than so-and-so.

If she can make it, I’m a shoo-in...

Don’t have to out run the bear. I just have to out run you.

>>> And so we come to arguably the most famous verse in all of Scripture.

The Rest of the Story

John 3:16 CSB

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Incredible promise

Christians have been using this verse for years to share the Gospel

Billboards, cleats, eye black, posters

Yet, many we have shared our faith with feel this is simple too easy. They’ve done too many bad things.

So we continue...

John 3:17 CSB

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Christian leaders love to add this verse in

You’ve lived a terrible, no good, rotten life? No worries! Jesus did come to condemn you!

I’ve heard well known pastors pull this verse out to bypass and skirt around all kinds of “touchy” subjects..

“What do you think about ____?”

Jesus didn’t come to condemn.

It seems right. It feels right. It sounds right. Yet… it’s not the whole story.

Already Condemned

John 3:18–21 CSB

Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

jn3.18

Did you catch that?

Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world because the world was already condemned.

The light came into the world, and yet, people chose darkness.

>>> This points to a foundational doctrine knows as Total Depravity.

Total Depravity

CARM defines Total Depravity as: The doctrine that fallen man is completely touched by sin and that he is completely a sinner. He is not as bad as he could be, but in all areas of his being, body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions, etc., he is touched by sin. In that sense, he is totally depraved.

Generally held to by both Calvinist and Arminians

How one comes to salvation may differ, but both agree that all of humanity is marred by sin and separated from God.

Arthur Pink:

Gleanings in the Scriptures: Man’s Total Depravity Characteristics of the Doctrine

It is an exceedingly illuminating doctrine. It may be a melancholy and humiliating one, nevertheless it throws a flood of light upon mysteries which are otherwise insoluble. It supplies the key to the course of human history, and shows why so much of it has been written in blood and tears. It supplies an explanation of many problems which sorely perplex and puzzle the thoughtful. It reveals why the child is prone to evil and has to be taught and disciplined to anything that is good. It explains why every improvement in man’s environment, every attempt to educate him, all the efforts of social reformers, are unavailing to effect any radical betterment in his nature and character. It accounts for the horrible treatment which Christ met with when He worked so graciously in this world, and why He is still despised and rejected by men. It enables the Christian himself to better understand the painful conflict which is ever at work within him, and which causes him so often to cry, “Oh, wretched man that I am!”

Want to be convinced of the humanities total depravity? Have a baby!

Psalm 51:5 NLT

For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

The psalmist understood that humanity is infected with a virus—a sin virus—and we are incapable of doing anything to rid ourselves of this plight.

Yet, the idea that someone is okay because they are a “good person” is prevalent not just in society, but in our churches. We want to believe that good people go the heaven and bad people go to hell. It just seems fair—it just feels right.

Romans 5:12 NLT

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Macro level - all of humanity is infected

Romans 3:23 NLT

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Micro level - yes, even you.

Yet, the idea that someone is okay because they are a “good person” is prevalent not just in society, but in our churches. We want to believe that good people go the heaven and bad people go to hell. It just seems fair—it just feels right.

Even so, the glaring question we all must face is: how good is good enough?

Arthur Pink :

Scratch Sheet

Gleanings in the Scriptures: Man’s Total Depravity The Scriptural Answer

during the past century the steady trend of a deteriorating Christendom has been to underrate the evil of sin and overrate the moral capabilities of men.

Gleanings in the Scriptures: Man’s Total Depravity The Scriptural Answer

Until we really behold the horror of the pit in which by nature we lie, we can never properly appreciate Christ’s so-great salvation.

Ephesians 2:1 NLT

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.

Total Depravity:

The issue is deeper than we deserve a slap on the wrist. We are dead because of sin and disobedience. Not sick, not ill, not slightly nauseated—DEAD.

Gleanings in the Scriptures: Man’s Total Depravity Characteristics of the Doctrine

It is an exceedingly illuminating doctrine. It may be a melancholy and humiliating one, nevertheless it throws a flood of light upon mysteries which are otherwise insoluble. It supplies the key to the course of human history, and shows why so much of it has been written in blood and tears. It supplies an explanation of many problems which sorely perplex and puzzle the thoughtful. It reveals why the child is prone to evil and has to be taught and disciplined to anything that is good. It explains why every improvement in man’s environment, every attempt to educate him, all the efforts of social reformers, are unavailing to effect any radical betterment in his nature and character. It accounts for the horrible treatment which Christ met with when He worked so graciously in this world, and why He is still despised and rejected by men. It enables the Christian himself to better understand the painful conflict which is ever at work within him, and which causes him so often to cry, “Oh, wretched man that I am!”

Here, Pink also notes the rise in moralism—our belief that man is inherently good. If we can just string together enough good deeds...

Yet, over and over, Scripture points to man’s sinful nature and our inability to do any truly good thing.

Isaiah 64:6 NLT

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

>>>We have to get the Gospel back. We are born condemned and are in desperate need of a Savior.

Getting the Gospel Back

NLT - Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 7:24–25 NLT

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Dead in our trespasses and sins

Rich Young Ruler

-Love that even though he had lived a “good” life—never murdered, never committed adultery, never stole, honored his mother and father, loved his neighbor as himself… He still recognized that something was missing in his life.

matt19.

Matthew 19:20 NLT

“I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”

How good is good enough?

Psalm 51:5 NLT

For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

Apparently this ruler had lived the life we all aspire to and still wondered, Have I done enough? Was it good enough? What’s missing?

Matthew 19:22 NLT

But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus’s response was an invitation to follow Him—to take on a new identity. But it meant laying down the things the ruler currently found his identity, his meaning, his purpose in.

He went away sad.

He refused the invitation and walked off the pages of Scripture and history—never to be heard of again.

The men and women who sold out and went all in? We’re still talking about them over 2000 years later.

How good is good enough?

Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

It’s not about how good you are!

It’s about how good—how great—how supreme—how complete—how total—how faithful—God is.

You were dead. He offers you new life.

You were a slave. He offers you freedom.

You were dirty. He makes you holy.

You were tainted. He makes you righteous.

You were an orphan. He adopts you as His own.

Romans 3:22–28 NLT

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

Paul said this is true for “everyone” who believes.

Looked up “everyone” in the Greek (pas).

Translated: Each, every, any, any and every, every, all, whole, every kind of

Every Bible translates “pas” here as one of two words:

Everyone -or- Whosoever

Calvinist would said that everyone or whosoever points to those that God preordained.

Arminians claim that the everyone or whosoever indicates the openness of the call.

Here’s all you need to know for today’s lesson:

John 6:44 CSB

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

If you feel God calling you today, you’re chosen, you’re invited. Today is the day of salvation.

It’s not about how good is good enough.

It’s not about how

You’re good deeds can never make you right with God.

And all the terrible, awful, things you’ve done aren’t enough to keep you from God’s grace.

O Come to the Altar

Are you overwhelmed by the weight of your sin? Jesus is calling.

Are you tired to trying to live up to expectations and constantly falling short—wondering if you’ve been good enough? Jesus is calling.

His arms are open wide. His call is effective. His sacrifice is sufficient.

Prayer & Close