To preach the gospel to yourself means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life.  It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the Law of God.  In both its precepts and penalty, He fulfilled the Law of God in its most exacting requirements.  And He did this in our place as our representative and our substitute. He is your propitiation, so that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you take at face value the precious words of Romans 4:7-8: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”  You believe on the testimony of God: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  You believe that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).  You believe He forgave you all your sins (Colossians 2:13), that He reconciled you “to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:22).

To preach the gospel to yourself means you appropriate by faith the words of Isaiah 53:6: “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  It means you dwell upon the promise that God has removed your transgressions from you as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), that He has blotted out your transgressions and remembers your sin no more (Isaiah 43:25).

Jerry Bridges’ Holiness: Day by Day

The gospel is so foolish (according to my natural wisdom), so scandalous (according to my conscience), and so incredible (according to my timid heart), that is a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should.  There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemnings of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsinsg of the gospel (14).

The gospel is:

• The power of God (Rom 1:16)
• My daily protection (Eph 6:10-17)
• The glory of God (2 Cor 4:4; 1 Tim 1:11)
• A cure for distrust (Gen 3)
• Sufficient (Acts 20:32; 2 Pet 1:3)
• Freedom from sin’s power (Rom 6:1-14, 8:12-14; Titus 2:11-12)
• Jesus’ righteousness (Rom 3:21-24, 5:18-19; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 2:1-2)
• A call to be an instrument (and slave) of righteousness (Rom 6:12-14)
• A call to love my brothers and sisters (Phil 1:3-7; 1 Thes 1:5, 2:8; Titus 3:1-8)
• A message that produces a heart for the lost (Rom 9:1-4)
• A message that cultivates humility (1 Cor 1:27-29; Eph 2:8-9)
• What real love is (John 15:13; Rom 5:7-8; Eph 2:4-5)
• Liberation us from self-love (John 15:13; 2 Cor 5:14-15)
• Perspective amid trials (Phil 3:7-8)

I’d like just for a moment to summarize their explanation and critique of two types of individuals:  the happy moralist and the sad moralist.  The happy moralist says, “I know God loves me; why wouldn’t he?” (pp. 73).  This individual recognizes that there is a God who does have expectations (rules and regulations) and they wrongly assume that their life “measures up”…(for the most part).  This type of mentality is what characterized the religious people of Jesus’ day and to whom He had his most severe rebukes for.  The happy moralist is an individual who finds sufficiency and reliance in his own morality; they fail to see the depravity of their sin and so it causes them to exemplify a judgmental, condemning, and unmerciful perspective.  These individuals won’t embrace God’s love or salvation in their life because that would mean acknowledging  that their own goodness isn’t enough, which is more present in my life and your’s than we’d like to admit.  Fitzpatrick and Johnson give several examples in the Scriptures that speak to the happy moralist:

“When the happy moralist Nicodemus surreptitiously sought out Jesus, the Lord annihilated him with five simple words: you must be born again (John 3:7).  When another happy moralist asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? (Luke 18:18), Jesus purposely crushed his proud heart with the words, Sell all that you have (Luke 18:22).  Jesus deliberately told them both to do something beyond their ability because be wanted them to recognize the full extent of their helplessness” (pp. 74).

You may ask the question, what does this explanation of the happy moralist have to do with me?  Glad you asked.  If someone asked you the question, why would a perfectly holy God love you and you say “because I’m not such a bad sort, or because I tithe, or because I try to serve him the best I can” (pp. 76) you are exemplifying the happy moralism that speaks to a sufficiency and reliance independent of the cross of Christ.  “If you think God should love you because you obeyed enough, you have misunderstood the depth of God’s law.  Even more seriously, you have missed the gospel” (pp. 76).

“In contrast to the happy moralist, the sad moralist really does see the law and says in response, ‘I can’t believe that God loves me like that; why would be’” (pp. 79).  This individual has a healthy understanding of the transcendence of God and exemplifies a seriousness in his pursuit of God’s holiness and righteous demands.  However, similar to the happy moralist, the sad moralist too has a pride problem.  “He believes that he ought to be able to do better, so he is harsh with himself, and he thrashes himself with condemnation, hoping that by so doing he will be able to obey and finally find rest” (pp. 79).  Too many times, I’ve exemplified this type of behavior; I’ve used my repentance as a means to show God I really am serious about repenting and getting “serious” with Him and subsequently, I think that if I could just see my sin as it really is and be sorry enough for it, God would pleased with me (pp. 79).  “When he reads about God’s love for us in Christ, he isn’t comforted or enthralled.  He is terrified and condemned.  He doesn’t know the peace that Christ promises of the joy that should infect his heart” (pp. 79).  Again we ask the question…

“Why would a perfectly holy God love me?  If you answer, I suppose he might love me because he promises to, but then those promises are for people who love him with all their heart and prove their love by their actions.  So I guess I don’t know why he would love me or, actually, even if he does, can you see how you are hoping to earn his love by being worthy of his love and thereby negating the grace that is the essence of the gospel?” (pp. 79).

“Do I find it difficult to receive criticism?  For the sad moralist who is always so self-critical, criticism from others can feel devastating.  But criticism has the power to devastate only because the sad moralist is hanging onto shards of self-respect.  He is still hoping to be good.  Embrace your helplessness; it’s the only qualification you have that enables you to be saved” (pp. 82).

As I type, and as you read I pray that the Spirit of God is illuminating your mind to aspects of your heart and mind that exemplify the happy or sad moralist – He did with me.  That being said, how are we to approach God’s commands and expectations, particularly when we fail to meet them (which happens everyday for all of us).  Again Fitzpatrick and Johnson give us three-fold scriptural response.

1. Confess your sins to God (openly and freely), while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit to strive against them.
2. Thank God for our ongoing struggle with sin because, when rightly viewed, it makes us love and appreciate Jesus Christ more.
3. Strive to put off our sin and obey all the moral law in the light of God’s ongoing forgiveness, love, and grace.

I’ll attempt at sharing more insights from this book, but it would be well-worth your time to read it for yourself.

Here are some wrong motivations for discipline:

• The desire for a quiet life
• The desire for respect or appreciation
• A fear of being embarrassed
• Wanting to have our own way or be in control
• Wanting your child to be “a success”

I’m quite certain that anyone who has ventured to read this post (and who has children) can resonate with some of the aforementioned wrong motivations.  As my eyes hit each one I was convicted of my shallow and many times selfish motivation for discipline.  God has used my children in a myriad of ways and one of those ways is to expose several idols in my heart.  For example, idols such as comfort, convenience and what people think of me (reputation, respect, etc.) have come front-and-center as I’m confronted with the question, “why do I discipline?”  That being said…

What is good discipline?

• Good discipline is calm.  The focus of discipline is the child’s heart rather than your emotional state.
• Good discipline is clear.  Make your commands clear.
• Good discipline is consistent.  Set boundaries.  Always follow through with your warnings.  And there must be consistency between spouses.
• Good discipline concentrates on the heart.  The most important thing about good discipline is that it’s concentrated on the heart.

Here some ideas they give for discipline:

• Expressions of disapproval (a stern talking to)
• A calm smack preceded by an explanation and followed by an embrace
• Isolation (sending them to their room, grounding them)
• Letting children face the natural consequences of their actions (let them be late for school, don’t replace toys they’ve carelessly broken)
• Removing privileges (because privileges go together with responsibilities)

Here’s a great quote by Moll/Chester and then I’ll conclude with some statements they make.

Grace doesn’t mean no discipline. Instead, it changes the way we discipline.  We combine discipline with love and acceptance.  We discipline our children and point to the forgiveness won on the cross.  We accept our children as they are, but with an agenda for change. (pp. 47)

They ask the question (and you might be as well), ”what does this mean in practice?”

• Discipline and then stop. Don’t harbor a grudge.
• Always show acceptance to your children when you’ve disciplined them.
• Discipline your own heart.  If we’re angry, we’ll most likely discipline out of anger.  Discipline should be an act of love and not retaliation.
• Don’t use bribery to control your children.  Teach children to do the right thing because it’s the right - not because of any unrelated reward.  Bribery motivates children to get the reward rather than do the right thing (it makes behavior negotiable).
• Make sure your child knows you discipline them because you love them.
• Legalism looks down on other people because that makes you feel good about yourself.
• Don’t compare your child to other children.
• Apologize to your children when you don’t get it right.
• Above all, bring your children to the cross!  Teach them about the cross.  Extol the cross. Thank God with them for the cross. Sing about the cross.

All of the content of this post was taken from Ed Moll and Tim Chester’s book “Gospel-Centered Family: Becoming The Parents God Wants You To Be.”

Douglas Wilson (friend of Hitchens’ who ministered to him over the course of many years, as well as co-wrote  a book together) weighs in here.

Russell Moore (Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) weighs in here.

Denny Burk (Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Boice Bible College) weighs in here.

I’ll leave you with a question as I conclude this post: are you teaching the people in your congregation to know and love the Scriptures?