The Gospel Is a Lifelong Journey of Deeper Understanding

Evangelism in a Postmodern Society

Second, there is understanding the gospel. Understanding the gospel.

At the end of Jonah chapter 2, while Jonah was in the belly of the fish at the bottom of the sea, he prayed a prayer of repentance to God. And at the very end of that prayer, he said,

“Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

Edmund Clowney often said that this verse — “Salvation belongs to the Lord” — is the central verse of the entire Bible. The whole of Scripture is summarized in this one statement: “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” There is no room for debate. It means that salvation is by grace.

Whenever Edmund Clowney quoted Jonah 2:9, he would always repeat it:

“Salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation belongs to the Lord.”

He always said it twice.

Why did Jonah — a prophet — say “Salvation belongs to the Lord” while trapped in the belly of the fish at the bottom of the sea? It’s as if it was a new realization for him. Didn’t he already know this truth?

The answer is: he knew, but he didn’t really know. He knew, but he didn’t truly understand.

Clowney’s point was this: if you think you truly understand the gospel, then you don’t understand it. But if you say you have not even begun to understand the gospel, that’s when you’re beginning to understand it.

Simply theologizing the gospel is not enough to transform the world. What we need is a lifelong process of coming to grasp, more and more deeply, the wonder of the gospel.

You may have heard this before:
Religion says, “I obey, therefore I am accepted.”
But the gospel says, “I am accepted because of what Jesus Christ has done for me, therefore I obey.”

Religion gives us control — and that’s why it’s so popular.

I remember a woman I once spoke with when I tried to share the gospel. She said that the gospel frightened her. She said, “It’s scary that everyone is saved purely by grace.”

When I asked her why that was frightening, she said, “If I were saved by my own merit, then I could have some control.”

I asked what she meant, and she explained: “If I were saved by my own works, I’d be like a taxpayer. If I pay my taxes, then what the government can demand from me is limited. I have rights. I’ve worked hard, so God couldn’t just demand anything He wants from me. But if I’m saved purely by grace, then there are no limits to what God could ask of me.”

There’s a touching scene in the movie The Bible — yes, the one with the terrifying ending. George C. Scott plays Abraham. I didn’t care much for most of the movie, but the final scene was profoundly moving.

Abraham is about to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Isaac, bound and lying there, begins to realize what’s happening. The film dramatizes the moment in a Hollywood way, but it’s still powerful. Isaac looks up at his father, realizing what’s going on, and asks:

“Father, is there nothing God cannot ask of you?”

Abraham (played by George C. Scott) replies,

“No, there isn’t.”

That woman understood this. She said, “If I were saved by my own merit, I would still have some control. But if I’m saved by grace, then there’s nothing God cannot ask of me.”

So when we accept the gospel — when we are justified by faith alone — we must acknowledge that our salvation is not by our own works but by grace alone.

She said, “So when I invite Jesus into my heart, when I ask God to accept me, it’s not because of anything I’ve done but because of what He has done. I want my relationship with God to be based not on my work but on Jesus’ work. I know that. I know it.”

And I said to her,

“No, you don’t understand. I’ll baptize you — you’ve become a Christian — but you haven’t even begun to understand Christianity.”

This is an excerpt video of Tim Keller’s lecture, “The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World” (Methods of Evangelism in a Postmodern Society), delivered as a speaker at the Desiring God 2006 National Conference.