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This is the question asked by John Piper: "if you could have everything about Heaven — forgiveness, fellowship, absence of sin and pain and death, etc. — but God is not there, would you still want it?"
The question is addressing the heart of the gospel. Do we want the gospel for our own self-exalting ends and purposes, or for the delight of the glory of God for which we were created?
A generation ago, Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked the same question in a different manner:
"What are you looking for and hoping for in Heaven? Let me ask you a question that perhaps should come before that. Do you ever look forward to being in Heaven?…The person who looks forward to death simply wants to get out of life because of his troubles. That is not Christian; that is pagan. The Christian has a positive desire for Heaven, and therefore I ask: Do you look forward to being in Heaven? But, more than this, what do we look forward to when we get to Heaven? What is it we are desiring? Is it the rest of Heaven? Is it to be free from troubles and tribulations? Is it the peace of Heaven? Is it the joy of Heaven? All those things are to be found there, thank God; but that is not the thing to look forward to in Heaven. It is the face of God. 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God'…to stand in the very presence of God — 'To gaze and gaze on thee.' Do we long for that? Is that Heaven to us? Is that the thing we want above everything else?" [quoted by Donald Whitney.]
The gospel has always been controversial and attacked.
This afternoon I began listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon "Christianity — the Only Hope" preached a generation ago. And his lament in that day was largely the same as today — a concern over a declining interest in the truth, the power of the Word of God and the clarity of the gospel.
It's always been that way. So we should hardly be shocked when it is attacked now. That ecuminism and the arguments over penal substitution and emergent theology and openness theology are taken seriously and given credibility by so many is to be sadly expected.
We should not be surprised — but voices should also be raised in clearly articulated arguments and defenses against these attacks against the centrality of the gospel. So we should be grateful for faithful men and new institutions like The Gospel Coalition, which are being raised up to defend the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This coalition is a new organization of pastors and theologians committed to preserving the accuracy of the gospel — salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone:
We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Of the plenary messages at the initial conference in May, the addresses by D. A. Carson ("What is the Gospel?") and Tim Keller ("What Does Gospel Centered Ministry Look Like ") were especially helpful and well worth hearing (I will be listening to Keller's message again later this week).
We do well to keep abreast of these attacks against the gospel. Our faith stands or falls on the reality of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, coming again — Savior and substitute. There is no salvation except in Christ and His righteousness, alone. We have been placed at this station of life in this time for the defense and proclamation of that very truth. Defend it and speak it we must and we will.
