Seeing Your Sin, Seeing Your Need
By Kyle E. Sims - Posted at Gentle Reformation:
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17–22 (ESV)Why the Church Won't Stop Talking About Sin
Why do biblical churches insist on the doctrine of sin as a central teaching? Critics both outside the church and within its liberal wings point to this as a problem. Why not spend more time on God's goodness and love, they ask, and less on sin and wrath? Why not put the spotlight on the beauty of love rather than the ugliness of sin?
The answer is right here in these six verses. Jesus is speaking to a man who earnestly comes to Him looking for an answer but does not see his own need. Ask people why they think they're going to heaven, and many will answer, "I try to be a good person." That is the wrong answer, and it's essentially the young ruler's answer. He can claim to have kept the commandments because he is measuring himself by outward obedience rather than by the deeper demands God's law makes upon the heart.
This is exactly why the doctrine of sin matters. Rightly understood, it forces our eyes off our own works. We are not graded on the curve of human goodness; we are measured against the perfect standard of God's holiness. Once that standard is clear, our need for the gospel becomes clear too.
The cross, apart from a real understanding of sin, judgment, and hell, doesn't fully make sense—it remains fuzzy, sentimental, and incomplete. We have to reckon with the seriousness of our sin before we can understand why we so desperately need a Savior. The law drives us to the gospel. It shows us not only our sin but our inability to save ourselves: “With man it is impossible, but not with God” (Mark 10:27). When we see our sin and helplessness, we begin to understand our desperate need for Christ.
