Deep Wrestling

From David Platt's book Radical

The danger of spiritual deception is real. As a pastor, I shudder at the thought and lie awake at night when I consider the possibility that scores of people who sit before me on a Sunday morning might think they are saved when they are not. Scores of people who have positioned their lives on a religious road that makes grandiose promises at minimal cost. We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory We have a ticket to heaven,and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way. Much of modern evangelism today is built on leading people down this road, and crowds flock to it, but in the end it is a road built on sinking sand, and it risks disillusioning millions of souls.

Biblical proclamation of the gospel beckons us to a much different response and leads us down a much different road. Here the gospel demands and enables us to turn from our sin, to take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and to follow Jesus. These are the terms and phrases we see in the Bible. And salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity and the desperation of our need for his grace; Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender.

As in a previous post, here David Platt deconstructs an aspect of modern evangelism that he feels is at best inappropriate and at worst a terrible tragedy. He begins with the possibilty of error; and I think he hits close to the mark. But what struck me is the positive correction of the alleged problem which he states. "the gospel demands and enables us to turn from our sin, to take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and to follow Jesus ... salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity and the desperation of our need for his grace." (38-9)

For me, I need these constant reminders. This is part of preaching the gospel to my self everyday. The depth of my depravity and the sinfulness in my heart is a source of constant contention, better yet warfare, in my soul.