A Religion for Sinner

Article by Ronnie Large

Albert N. Martin once said, “Christianity is primarily a religion for sinners.”

That line has been on my mind a lot this past week. As many of you know, Pastor Martin went to be with the Lord recently, and as I’ve reflected on his life and ministry, I’ve found myself returning to one sermon which he preached years ago — one that has stayed with me ever since. In that sermon he said the above quote — actually I should reword that, he didn’t just say it, he emphasized it.

Have you ever really thought about that?

Christianity is not for moral people. It is not for good people, or even for strong people. It is there for the poor, the bankrupt, the weak, and the helpless—sinners who have come to see and acknowledge their own personal guilt before a holy God.

One major problem I see today is that people do not believe that they are that type of sinner.

The Personal Problem of Sin (Sin is not Abstract)

The Bible doesn’t speak of sin as weakness, brokenness, or just some “mistake” that we made. Rather it speaks of sin as personal, as evil, and as a personal attack against God’s authority. We needn’t look any further than David and his words in Psalm 51:4, “Against you, and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight…”Notice that David didn’t blame his sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11) on circumstance. There’s no softening of the language. He didn’t say I messed up or I made a mistake. There was no talk about it being a one time affair , nor did he seek to couch  the language under some pseudo psychological term like broken or damaged. He plainly called his actions with Bathsheba, an evil act committed against God. Simple, direct, and to the point.

That’s his starting point —  and it must be yours as well,  if you’ll be honest with yourself before God. This is the point. Sin isn’t primarily horizontal. It isn’t about what you’ve done to others, or even to yourself. Sin is vertical — sin is how you have offended a holy God. Sin, therefore, makes you—personally guilty. Paul continues this argument in Romans 3 by saying “… so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable before God. ”Each individual person who has ever committed sin, therefore every person, is guilty before God. Not misunderstood. Not “working through some things”. Guilty. Accountable. And in the judgment, you will stand silent before the Judge of all the earth.

The Modern Pulpit and the Softening of the Language

In the evangelical world today, the pulpit doesn’t deny sin; it simply changes the language to soften the blow. Guilt becomes shame. Repentance becomes growth. Sin becomes mistakes or our own personal brokenness. But God does no such thing in the Scriptures. Isaiah 1:2 “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”

Sin is rebellion. Amos 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Thus sin doesn’t make you “imperfect”. One sin makes you guilty.

The Heart of the Problem is the Problem of the Heart

If you listen to a lot of modern preaching that focuses on sin, you’ll come away with the conclusion that sin is simply (if they use that language at all) what you have done. But the truth of the matter is that sin is about who you are. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick…”

You’re not merely wounded. You’re deceitful and desperately sick. Mark 7:21-23 “…from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts… All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. ”You didn’t sin (or mess up) because life is hard or because you had a tough childhood. You sinned because you are defiled. You sinned because you are evil. You sin because you are a sinner.

Sin isn’t a small thing, it’s a crime against God Himself

I hope that you are now convinced that sin is deeply personal and that it’s about who you are as a person. But now let's shift gears because once we understand that sin is personal, we also must understand that our sin bears legal consequences.1 John 3:4 “Sin is lawlessness. ”The language John uses here could not be clearer. We have no wiggle room in that simple statement. Sin is breaking the law of our Creator. You didn’t simply fail to live up to your own standards, or even societies. You failed to live in accordance with what God Himself has said to be the law by which we will all be judged. Thus we can conclude three simple things: There is a Lawgiver. There is a standard to which we are all going to be held. And there is real guilt. RC Sproul may have said it best, “Sin is cosmic treason. ”That’s not exaggeration or mere rhetoric for the sake of effect. Sin is treason against the God who made and will judge you.

And it was because of that sin, your personal sin, that Christ was nailed to the cross.

Many today in the Christian world talk of the cross as a mere symbol of love or even as a symbol of sacrifice. They wear it around their necks, tattoo it upon their bodies, put it front and center in their churches without ever really telling you what the cross is actually all about.Isaiah 53:5 “He was pierced for our transgressions… crushed for our iniquities…”That’s not sin in general. That’s your sin. My sin.1 Peter 2:24 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree…”So the cross is not just something that Christ did for you; but it is something that Christ suffered because of you.I believe it was the beloved Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones who said it with its proper weight when he said, “A man who has never truly realized the seriousness of his sin has never really understood the gospel.”If sin is small, if sin is impersonal, if sin is not “cosmic treason,” then there is no reason for the cross of Jesus Christ. But if sin is personal, real, and damnable; then the cross becomes the only hope left for humanity.

The Unavoidable Conclusion

You are not an innocent bystander. You are not merely misunderstood. You are not simply broken or imperfect. You are guilty.You are not merely a neutral observer in this story. You’re not standing at the cross as some awe-inspired follower; you are standing there as the reason that it happened.And until that fact becomes apparent to you — painfully apparent and personal — then you will forever misunderstand what Christianity is at a fundamental level.But if God has, in His infinite grace and mercy, revealed that painful truth about your sin to you; then everything else begins to make terrifying and glorious sense.Since sin is personal, real, and damning—then our next most natural question must be: What are we to do about it?

Christianity, thankfully, among all the world's religions has given us a clear and definitive answer on that topic. But before we focus on the answer that Scripture gives us, I would like to take a moment to talk about what has become the almost universal answer in both modern psychology, philosophy, and even among modern pulpits: fix yourself.

Not repent.

Not confess.

Not seek mercy from the throne of God.

But instead:

Improve.

Heal.

Grow.

Become better.

Or if you want the American version, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

The age that we now live has become obsessed with the “self made man or woman.” We have a thriving print industry that is almost entirely focused on this sole idea: self-help. There are books, podcasts, motivational series, and even clinical therapy that all promise you the same exact thing: with enough effort, knowledge, and self-discipline, you can fundamentally change yourself. The fatal assumption is that the problem is not nearly as serious as Scripture has told us that it is.

A Misdiagnosis Leads to a False Cure

 If sin is merely a mistake, then we can fix it by mere education. If sin is just brokenness, then surely modern therapy can fix it. If sin is just human weakness, then self-discipline will help us “pull ourselves up.” But if sin is what the Bible says it is—rebellion, lawlessness, guilt before a holy God—then none of those things will avail us in the least. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Educating ourselves seems right, therapy seems right, and self-discipline, again, seems right. All of this gives us the illusion that we are actually dealing with the problem. It all seems like progress. But it is progress down a road that only leads to death.

The Heart Cannot Heal Itself

 The flaw in the logic of self-fixing is this: it assumes that the person is capable of fixing himself or herself. But Jeremiah 13:23 tells us that this is simply not true. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do no good who are accustomed to do evil.” This is a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously no. Not because he may not try, but because he cannot.

Romans 8:7-8 “… the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God… it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” Notice that Paul does not say that it will not. But that it cannot.

This is the central flaw in the doctrine of self-help and honestly language that most in the modern world refuse to accept. We are not merely unwilling—we are fundamentally incapable. We possess no power to change ourselves.

A Problem as Old as Galatia

 This is where it may get uncomfortable, because self-fixing isn’t just the doctrine of modern culture. But it has always reared its ugly head in religion as well. People turn Christianity (and I’m speaking in generalities) into a system of self-improvement:

Pray more.

Do better.

Read your Bible.

Clean yourself up.

Go to church.

Don’t cuss.

Don’t drink.

Don’t smoke.

Try harder.

All of that sounds very spiritual. But none of it deals with the underlying issue of guilt. Galatians 3:3 “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Again, a rhetorical question is posed to us with an obvious and devastating answer. You cannot begin in the Spirit, by the grace of God, which you did not earn or even deserve and then complete the process through human effort. Salvation is a monergistic work from beginning to end. You have no power to fix what you are.

The Futility of Trying to Outrun our Guilt

 You can distract yourself.

You can try to redefine yourself.

You can even convince others.

But you cannot silence the condemning voice of God which says, “You are guilty.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 God “has put eternity into man’s heart…” Deep down there is something that every man knows: The problem is deeper than my habits. It’s deeper than my patterns.

Deeper than mere behavior. The problem is who we are at a fundamental level and no amount of self-improvement can deal with our guilt.

The Uncomfortable Truth

 The modern message is this: You are part of the problem—but you are also the solution. The Bible says something far more unsettling: You are the problem—and you cannot solve it.

Until that is understood, then there can be no solution. Not because the man lacks sincerity, but because he lacks the power. I do not say this in malice, but to drive you to the only place where the problem of sin and guilt can actually be dealt with.

The Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ

If sin is personal, real, and damning,— and if self-help is not a valid solution—then where do we turn? How can a guilty sinner be made right before the holy God? The answer given in the Scriptures is painfully simple, it is not self-help, but substitution. Contrary to a lot of modern preaching, Christ did not come merely to inspire, to teach, or even to set an example. He came to stand in the place of sinners and to bear the penalty that they so rightly deserved. Isaiah 53:5-6 “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities… and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. ”Many people read this and view it as poetic language. They think, “oh how beautiful.” But this is not poetic language. It is legal language describing a real transaction which took place. God did not ignore our sins. He can’t. Instead, He imputed them—counted them to Christ’s account.2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. "The sinless, spotless Son of God, treated as guilty. The guilty treated as righteous. As some have called this, the great exchange of the gospel.

Justice was Satisfied, not set aside

God’s forgiveness is not granted to us on the basis of God overlooking our sin. God forgives by judging sin. Romans 3:25-26 “… to show God’s righteousness… so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ”Paul here tells us that justice was not set aside, God is just; but also, that God is the justifier of any who place their faith in Christ. At the cross justice was not compromised in any regard, rather it was satisfied. Every sin must be dealt with either in Christ or without Christ. Every crime must suffer the just penalty as demanded by the law of God. But at Calvary the penalty was paid in full—not by the sinner, but by the substitute.

Christ Died for Sinners—Personally

Sin is personal, we’ve already established that. Thus, Christ’s substitution must also be personal.1 Peter 2:24 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree…”Sin is not spoken of in the abstract here. Nor is Christ paying the penalty for humanity in general. The substitution was for our sins. Your guilt did not simply disappear. It was placed upon Christ, and He bore it under the wrath of God by dying in your place.

The Only Ground on which we have Hope

God is holy, thus sin must be punished.

If man is guilty, then man must answer. So Christ enters the world, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died a vicarious death for each and every sinner who will place their faith in Him. This is the gospel. This is the only hope in dealing with our sin and guilt. Not self-improvement. Not religious effort. Not even moral reform. We must have a penal substitutionary atonement. We must have a Savior who satisfies the wrath of God. Remove that, and you have no hope. Remove that, and all you have is advice, and not even good advice.

The Promise (Assurance) of Eternal Life

Returning to our original premise that Christianity is primarily a religion for sinners. Not improved sinners. Not recovering sinners. But forgiven sinners. If sin is personal, real, and damning—and if Christ has truly borne the penalty for our sins as a substitute—then the question is no longer, can God forgive, but will He? John 5:24 “Whoever hears my words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment has passed from death to life. ”There is no maybe. There is no someday. John is emphatic, the one who believes, has eternal life. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation. Not less. Not delayed. None.

Assurance Rooted in Christ, Not in You

This is where Christianity separates itself from every system of self-help. Your assurance is not grounded in: Your performance. Your ability. Your progress. Your consistency. Your assurance is rooted and grounded in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. ”Those who are being sanctified, are perfected for all time. This is the language of certainty. The language of completion.

There’s Only One Question Remaining

If this is true, if sin is real, if all forms of self-help fails, and if Christ has paid the penalty in full—then the final question is not theoretical. The question is deeply personal. Will you continue to deny the personal and heinous nature of sin? Will you continue to try to fix yourself? Or will you repent from your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ—the One that has already done what you cannot do? Because Christianity is not a system for the strong. It is not a religion for the moral. It is not a path for the improving. Rather it is primarily a refuge for guilty sinners.

And for those sinners who come to Christ, there isn’t just forgiveness.

There’s assurance.

Ronnie Large is a resident of Wise, VA and married to his lovely wife, Crystal. They are the proud parents of two wonderful kids and can often be found traveling, cheering on their beloved New York Yankees, and worshipping on Sundays at Calvary Bible Church.