There Must Be Something More

61 | Parachute

Samuel and Trey leaned close behind Steven. I knew they had heard the preaching before, but I figured the sermon must be so convicting they had to hear it one more time.

Steven began, "The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, 'The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.' What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why scripture makes it very clear: 'The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.'"

He cleared his throat once more and continued, "Now, with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let’s now look at Romans 3, verse 19. We’ll look at some of the functions of God’s law for humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: 'Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.'"

Trey nodded and leaned close as Steven leaned back. It was his turn to talk.

He said, "So one function of God’s law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners justifying themselves and saying, 'There’s plenty of people worse than me. I’m not a bad person. Really.' No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God."

Samuel spoke next, "Romans 3, verse 20: 'Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.' So God’s law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, 'Sin is transgression of the law.' Romans 7, verse 7: 'What shall we say then?' says Paul. 'Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by the law.' Paul says, 'I didn’t know what sin was until the law told me.' In Galatians 3:24, 'Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.' God’s law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God."

Steven nodded. He said, "Let me say that again. This is so important. We are not saved by the law. We are saved by God's grace through faith. The law doesn't justify us. It just shows us we're filthy dirty and in desperate need of God's cleansing."

I nodded. Suddenly the room felt cold.

"And the tragedy of modern evangelism is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of 'life enhancement'. The gospel degenerated into 'Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.'

"Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching, I’d like you to listen very carefully to this following anecdote, because the essence of what I’m saying pivots on this particular illustration; so please listen carefully."

Samuel nodded at Steven's signal. He looked at me sternly. "Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

"The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he’s told. He’s told to put it on because at any moment he’d be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn’t notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute."

Trey leaned close. "Let’s analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he’s concerned it’ll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again."

"The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude." Samuel interjected.

Steven said, "Now listen to what the modern gospel says. It says, 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.' In other words, 'Jesus will improve your flight.' So the sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him.

"So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he’s offended for the word’s sake, like in Mark 4:17, he’s disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called 'good news'. His latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider."

The door to my room swung open and Meredith pranced inside.

"I heard from Grandpa Chuck that you're going to tell him what Pastor James preached during Worship Night and the Sunday service," she said.

I nodded. I smiled. "Wanna fill us in?"

"I'd love to!"