Preaching the 100-proof Gospel to Youself

Fellow Mainer Joshua Otte has a great post about preaching the Gospel to your drooping heart. He's quoting the great John Owen here. Owen was one of the greatest teachers concerning the Gospel. He reminds us that it is the Gospel (and only the Gospel) that truly convicts our sin-sick hearts, and the Gospel that in turn comforts and sanctifies us. Otte's post contains a lengthy quote from Owen, and you should really read the whole thing, but here's a snip:

Let, then, your soul by faith be exercised with such thoughts and apprehensions as these: I am a poor, weak creature; unstable as water, I cannot excel. This corruption is too hard for me, and is at the very door of ruining my soul; and what to do I know not. My soul is become as parched ground, and a habitation of dragons. I have made promises and broken them; vows and engagements have been as a thing of naught. Many persuasions have I had that I had got the victory and should be delivered, but I am deceived; so that I plainly see, that without some eminent succor and assistance, I am lost, and shall be prevailed on to an utter relinquishment of God. But yet, though this be my state and condition, let the hands that hang down be lifted up, and the feeble knees be strengthened. Behold, the Lord Christ, that has all fullness of grace in his heart [Matt. 28:18], he is able to slay all these his enemies.

I also want to mention a post from Joshua's friend, Jonathan Dodson, called 50/50 or 100% Gospel.

The 50/50 Gospel relies on 50% behavior, and 50% God's grace. The behavior half can include such good things as morality, missions, or community. These things are merely our contribution to the mix. Look at any Christian bestseller list and you'll likely see a lot of books promoting the 50/50 Gospel. In fact, much of Christian publishing is dependent on reader-acceptance of this premise. Dodson explains the 50/50 Gospel further:

Broken marriages, patterns of sexual sin, deep-seated anger, and financial hardships are primarily the product of our failure to behave like Jesus. Enter the Church. The church can reminds us, exhort us, even train us to be like Jesus, to make good moral decisions, not bad ones. We need the grace of God’s example and a faithful commitment to behave accordingly. This is the 50/50 gospel, and it is anathema.

The 50/50 gospel relies, not on the power of grace, but on the power of morality. As a result, the Church becomes a half-way house between our moral failures and our moral successes. We rehabilitate our decision-making under the faithful instruction of a faithless institution. But the 50/50 gospel is sometimes mixed differently. Try 50% mission, 50% grace. We need the grace of Jesus example and the goal of Jesus mission. In this concoction, churches serve as a inspiring non-profit, moving us from missional failure to missional success. We soften our social consciences under the weight of a missional institution. And then there is the 50% community, 50% grace combo. We need the grace of God to become “like the early church,” to have real community, to jettison our individualism in order to truly become “the church.” The gospel becomes a quick-fix to our lack of community.

Well, I've quoted a good deal of Dodson's article so far. I simply don't know what to leave out. Dodson's ends his post with a brief description of the "100 proof Gospel." You should really read the whole post carefully. I would see the 100-proof Gospel explained more fully . . . but wait, that's what Owen did. Go back to Joshua's post and read Owen's take on the 100-proof Gospel.