This man is in a very bad house. I feel sure that before long that house will fall about his head. The walls are cracked and unstable, the roof full of holes. I want to get the man out of that house into an entirely new one—one firmly built on a solid foundation, perfectly secure against the heaviest storm. What must I do?
Do I go into the old house with paint and paper, and begin to cover up the cracks, stuff the holes in the roof with rags, and make the place look as respectable as possible?
Of course not! That might even persuade him to remain in it to his certain destruction.
No, I go to him and point out the defects of the place in which he is; I warn him that if he stays there he will certainly die when the house collapses. I tell him of the security, comfort and strength of the new house and earnestly plead with him to leave the old for the new right away.
So it is with the gospel. Am I to improve man’s old condition, cutting off this bad habit and adding that good one, trying to make him as respectable a person as possible?
No, for the Word of God says, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:1212They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:12)).
I tell a man that he is lost—that if he remains as he is, he will be lost forever. Then I point him to Christ—the perfect Saviour, the One who has borne the heaviest storm, who has been down into death and risen again. I dwell upon the security, satisfaction and peace to be found in Christ, urging him to give up self and flee to Him. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)).
“ We are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags.”
“ Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature:
old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.”