Today I was reading in Steven Lawson’s book ‘Foundations of Grace‘, the book reads like a Biblical Theology on the Doctrines of Grace. Here I am at Chapter Four, and its as if Lawson never wrote the previous three chapters, such is his energy and enthusiasm for the topic.

This chapter covers some of the early leaders of the Bible ‘Joshua to Job’, and shows how God’s sovereignty in salvation was on full display in their life stories.

Here’s how he opens:

Strong men always proclaim a strong message. They do not read the polls and check the surveys before they give their opinion. In fact, they do not even have opinions – they have convictions. They bleed convictions. They are strong men anchored in the strong Word of God, and, as such, they bring a message with gravitas and punch.

That certainly sounds like the kind of man I want to be. Though I come from dust and will return to it, I want to stand for something during this life. Don’t you?

That phrase, “In fact, the do not even have opinions – they have convictions” is worth pondering. I believe what Lawson is getting at is that men and women who stand on the truth of God do not stand on the strength of their own ideas.

The ideas that a godly man or woman stand on are not always popular – in fact, they can be downright dangerous. But they hold them and speak them nonetheless.

Lawson continues:

When they (“strong men”) stand to speak, they actually have something to say – and they say it, whether anyone listens or not. When they sit to write, they do not skirt the issues – they tackle them. When they address the times in which they live, they do not tickle ears – they box them. They do not have one message for one group and a different message for a different group. Wherever they go and whomever they address, they have only one message – God’s message. This is what makes them strong men. They speak God’s Word, or they do not speak at all.

Indeed, very well said! As a Christian there are some difficult truths which we must embrace. Some are difficult because they are hard to understand, and others are difficult because we are sinners and do not like what they entail. Such is the case with the doctrines of grace, as Lawson states:

There is no stronger message than the truths of God’s sovereignty in the doctrines of grace. No other message is more God-exalting and Christ-glorifying than these truths. And yet, no other announcement is as sin-exposing, pride-crushing, and self-denouncing as these five theological points. No other truths are as sweet and previous to the soul that is humbled and submissive, but no other message is more offensive to the flesh or abrasive to the carnal mind than these doctrines. In fact, this message is unbearable to the natural man – just as it is sometimes intolerable even to those who are saved.

In my short time upon this earth, I’ve spent a lot of time in church. And in sermon after sermon, I have heard good men flee from preaching these truths. In fact, one of the things that seems to govern the phraseology of their sermons is a fear of man. A fear of offending either the sensibilities or intellect of their congregants.

I have heard men that I respect and love, equivocate on these truths with a subtlety that would be better left to politicians. And because I am a politician and communications and messaging expert by trade, I smell this stuff from 1000 yards away! I can tell when someone either doesn’t own up to the truths of God’s Word, or cannot fully come to embrace it intellectually.

I sometimes wonder how many other communications professionals – or just attentive people in the sanctuary – pickup on this kind of equivocation…phrases like “God won’t force himself on you, you have to let him into your heart”, which I heard even this week. These are really poor ways of communicating God’s work and your responsibility. And they are purposefully vague because they are meant not to offend, and to force people toward making some kind of “move toward God.” AS IF WE HAVE TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP!?

The truth is that Lawson is right. Without the sovereign in-breaking of God’s love into our lives we would never seek Him (John 3:19-21). I am personally glad that He “forced” His way into my life, and preached grace to my dead heart (Ephesians 2:1-10).

I wrote this post today because I really don’t have much to stand on for truth outside of Scripture and what it says. So that when I come to a more difficult truth in Scripture, I remember that the One who saved me doesn’t have to explain Himself to me. He doesn’t have to tell me why He does what He does. I know He does all for His own pleasure and glory. It is enough for me to know that He saved me, and that if He had not, I would still be standing on the shakiness of my own opinions. And, in the end, it is not my opinions that will save me.