Latest / Reformed Thinking / Not Ashamed of the Gospel: God’s Power to Save (Romans 1) | Charles Simeon

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Not Ashamed of the Gospel: God’s Power to Save (Romans 1) | Charles Simeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis,
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there's this expectation of like, precision.
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Right. Yeah, like engineering.
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Yeah, you break your arm. The X-ray shows that jagged
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white line and the Doctor just points to the screen and says
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there is the fracture. It's binary.
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You're looking at a clear image of, well, broken or not broken.
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I mean, we like things to be visible, to be categorized
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neatly in a file folder. We really do.
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But then you step into the world of human nature, into the realm
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of spiritual reality, and suddenly that X-ray machine is
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just. It's busted.
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Completely busted. Yeah, we're looking at a
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diagnostic landscape that is entirely murky.
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It is the absolute definition of diagnostic Muddy Waters.
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When you look at the human condition through a theological
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lens, you aren't looking for a simple hairline fracture, you're
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looking at a total systemic failure.
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Well, welcome to Reform Thinking.
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You are sitting at the table with us today, tuning in as the
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third participant in this conversation, and we have a
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massive task ahead of us. They really do.
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Our mission for today is to unpack a large collection of
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excerpts from Charles Simeon's Hoare Homoleta K, Volume 15,
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specifically focusing on the 1st chapter of the Apostle Paul's
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epistle to the Romans. We're going to look at Simeon's
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readerus historically Protestant analysis of human nature, the
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absolute necessity of justification by faith alone,
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and the intense pastoral heart of the Apostle Paul.
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And we'll be framing this entire discussion around the core
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tenets of Protestant Reformed theology.
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We are hearing closely to the Westminster Confession here
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because the text we are examining today provides a
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stark, unyielding look at human depravity.
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But it also reveals the majestic efficacy of God's grace It it
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strips away our excuses and leaves us standing before a holy
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God, requiring a mediator. It really does.
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So let's jump straight into the logic here.
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Let's look at the first part of our text, which covers Romans
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chapter 1, verses 8 through 12. OK, Simeon starts by dismantling
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an idea that still floats around a lot today.
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You know, you hear it in coffee shops or you read it in modern
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theological blogs. The idea that the Church would
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be perfectly fine if we only had the Gospels, and that the
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Epistles are somehow, I don't know, secondary?
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Or maybe just the Apostle Paul overcomplicating the simple
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teachings of Jesus. Yeah, Simeon calls that
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sentiment impious. Wow.
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He does not hold back at all. He argues that this mindset
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actually originates from a hatred of the truth and reveals
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a massive ingratitude toward God.
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That's a heavy charge. It is now the Gospels certainly
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contain the vital truths of the Christian religion, right?
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We have a life, death, and resurrection of Christ
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documented there. But the epistles clarify those
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truths. OK, clarify how?
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Well, the epistles provide the strict theological mechanics
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behind the historical events. To make this concrete, it's a
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it's like reading the Gospels is like watching a magnificent
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house being built right in front of you.
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I like that. You see the walls go up, you see
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the roof put on and you marvel at the finished structure.
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It's beautiful. It's awe inspiring, but reading
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the epistles is like sitting down with the architect's
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blueprints to understand the precise structural engineering
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behind it all. Spot on.
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You learn why that load bearing wall is placed there, how the
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base supports the massive weight of the roof, and you know how
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the internal wiring operates so the house doesn't just burn
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down. And taking your blueprint
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analogy a step further, Paul isn't just detailing the
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plumbing, he is showing us how a fundamentally cracked base is
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repaired. Yeah, Simeon notes that without
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the epistles, we would never grasp the correspondence between
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the Jewish dispensation and the Christian dispensation.
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OK, let's define that term for the listener, because
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dispensation can sound like heavy academic jargon.
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What are we actually talking about when Simeon used that
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word? Sure.
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In this context, a dispensation is the specific method or system
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by which God administers His grace and truth to humanity
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during a particular historical era.
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OK, so the Jewish dispensation involved the sacrificial system,
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the temple, the priesthood, and the ceremonial law.
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It was full of shadows and types.
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Symbols pointing forward to something greater, right?
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Precisely. The Christian dispensation is
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the arrival of that greater reality in Christ.
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Without the epistles, specifically Hebrews and Romans,
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we'd have a very hard time connecting the dots.
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Would you just be guessing? Yeah, we wouldn't understand how
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the blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament logically maps
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onto the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament.
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The epistles give us the decoder ring.
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They. Do.
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And more than that, they give us the rigorous definition of
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justification by faith alone, which is the absolute bedrock of
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the Protestant Reformation. Furthermore, the epistles give
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us unparalleled insight into practical religion.
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Like how to actually live it out?
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Yes, we see how flawed human beings, men and women of like
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passions with ourselves, strive for holiness in a hostile
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culture. But, you know, if the gospel
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provides this perfect blueprint for the church, why does Paul
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start this letter by focusing so heavily on his own emotional
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state? That's a great observation.
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Because right here, in these opening verses of Romans, Paul
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shows us the blueprints of a pastoral heart.
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He writes to the church at Rome, a congregation he had never
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visited in the flesh, yet he expresses immense paternal
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affection for them. It is a striking emotional
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baseline for such a heavy theological letter, isn't it?
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He feels intense love for people he has never even met.
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How does Simeon say Paul proves this love?
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Because I mean, words are cheap. Anybody can write I love you at
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the top of a letter. Paul proves it through his
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incessant prayers. He says without ceasing, I make
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mention of you always in my prayers.
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Always, always. And Simeon points out a key
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distinction here. Worldly love focuses on temporal
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welfare. If you love someone in a worldly
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sense, you want them to be healthy, wealthy, and
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comfortable. Sure, standard stuff.
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But Christian love exercises itself in promoting the eternal
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welfare of others. Paul knows God alone can make
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these believers truly happy, so he laborers in prayer to to
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bring down the blessings of heaven upon them.
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It's beautiful. And he also has an earnest
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desire to impart spiritual gifts to them, to strengthen their
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hands and confirm their faith against the specific pressures
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of living in Rome. Right.
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And Simeon breaks down Paul's pastoral joy into 3 distinct
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categories of believers, doesn't he?
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He looks at the different stages of spiritual growth within that
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Roman congregation, or really any congregation.
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He does, and this is where Simeon's own pastoral experience
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really shines through. First, Simeon says, a minister
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rejoices over those who are just beginning to manifest a concern
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for their souls. The beginners.
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The beginners. These are individuals who
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previously lived, as he puts it, without God in the world.
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Let's unpack that phrase. Without God in the world, He
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doesn't necessarily mean they were card carrying atheists
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writing manifestos against religion, does he?
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Not at all. They could have been highly
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religious in a Pagan sense, or even just secularly moral, but
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functionally they were alienated from the true Creator.
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They put God far from their thoughts, prioritizing every
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earthly ambition, relationship, or pleasure over their Maker.
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When a person in that specific state of functional atheism
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suddenly has their eyes open to their guilt and danger, Simeon
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views that as an absolute miracle.
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It's an awakening, yes. It is entirely a work of God.
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Which ties directly into the Reformed view of sanctification
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and the Westminster Confession. The theological framework here
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is that human beings don't just, you know, suddenly decide to
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become spiritually alive on a random Tuesday because they read
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a good self help book. Precisely in Reformed theology,
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growth and grace, and the very initiation of that grace is
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entirely a divine operation. It is a work of God to be
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praised, not a human achievement to be boasted about, right?
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Simeon is very careful to state that God alone quicken them from
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the dead and endued them with new holy dispositions.
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The pastor rejoices because they're witnessing A literal
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spiritual resurrection. OK, so that is the first group,
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the absolute beginners. What about the second category?
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The second category consists of those who are making progress in
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the divine life. Over these, Simeon says, a
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pastor rejoices with very exalted joy.
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Exalted joy. Yeah, because the reasoning is
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practical. Beginning a heavenly course is
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one thing, but maintaining it against severe friction is
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another entirely. He brings up the concept of the
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Stony ground hearers here for the listener who might not have
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the parable of the so are fresh in their mind.
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Let's explain the mechanics of what Simeon means by Stony
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ground. Sure.
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In the agrarian context of 1st century Judea, farmers often
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dealt with soil that had a solid layer of limestone bedrock
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sitting just inches below the surface.
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A seed might fall on the thin topsoil, germinate quickly
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because the shallow dirt gets warm in the sun, and shoot up a
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bright green stalk. It looks incredibly healthy for
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a few days. But the roots have nowhere to
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go. Exactly because of the bedrock,
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the plant cannot develop a root system.
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When the hot sun beats down, it Withers and dies almost
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instantly because it has no access to deep moisture.
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So mapping that onto human psychology, Simeon is describing
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a specific type of person, someone who hears the
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theological message, gets a massive emotional high from it,
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maybe feels A rush of dopamine in a sense of community, but
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they have no intellectual or theological root system.
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Yes, when the social pressure turns up, when their Co workers
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mock their new beliefs, or when holding to their convictions
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cost them a promotion or a relationship, they collapse.
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They cannot bear the cross. They just wither, right?
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Simeon notes that many are also ensnared by the cares of this
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life or the lusts of the flesh. So when a pastor sees believers
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maintaining their steadfastness despite worldly temptations and
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intense spiritual conflicts, it is a massive reason for
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Thanksgiving. They are surviving the heat.
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OK. And the third category.
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The third category includes those who are walking worthy of
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their high and heavenly calling. These are the mature believers
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who bring glory to God, who act as a stabilizing force in the
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world, and who actively do good to mankind.
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Veterans. The veterans.
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Simeon points out that without these individuals, works of
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religion would stagnate entirely.
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They are the ones pressing forward, ripping through the
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cultural noise, ripening for glory.
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OK. I want to pose a scenario based
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on this Go for it. If a pastor surveys A
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congregation and sees these three distinct groups, the
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fragile beginners, the embattled ones progressing, and the highly
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mature, stable believers, is it natural for that pastor to feel
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closer to those with higher spiritual attainments?
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Does Simeon suggest we should value the mature believer over
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the novice? Because he's just reading the
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text, it sounds like he gets significantly more excited about
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the mature group. That is a highly practical
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question for anyone in leadership.
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While Simeon does acknowledge a greater delight in seeing actual
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progress and maturity, he is absolutely adamant about not
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despising the novice. OK, he uses a phrase from the
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Old Testament prophet Zechariah warning against despising the
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day of small things. What does that moon in practice?
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It means that even if the change in a person is microscopically
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small, and even if a pastor lacks the confidence they might
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feel toward a battle tested Christian, they must still
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rejoice fully. Simeon uses the analogy of
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heaven. Just as the angels rejoice over
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a single repenting Sinner, pastors must celebrate the
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initial fragile signs of grace. The beginning of grace is still
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grace. You don't look at a newborn baby
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and criticize it for not being able to run a marathon.
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Yes, precisely. You celebrate the fact that it
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is breathing. It's intense pastoral affection,
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whether for the novice or the mature believer, is rooted
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entirely in a shared possession of the gospel.
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Paul loves them because of the truth they hold.
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But if his gospel provides such a perfect blueprint for life and
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eternity, why was Paul so aware of the social cost attached to
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it? That tension leads us directly
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into his thoughts on the stigma of belief found in Romans 1.16.
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Romans 1.16 is a monumental structural pillar of the New
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Testament Paul writes For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
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Christ, for it is the might of God, and to salvation to
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everyone that believeth. OK, so he's confronting the
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shame head on. He is Simeon categorizes the
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Epistle to the Romans as the premier text on a sinner's
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justification before God. It is comprehensive, logical and
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orderly. But Paul knew that bringing this
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specific message to Rome would invite immense contempt.
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We need to set the stage here for your listening.
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Rome was the absolute center of the universe at that time.
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It was the intellectual, political, and military hub of
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the known world. The intimidation factor of
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walking into that city with a new philosophy would be
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staggering. And Paul states he is not
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ashamed. Simeon takes this ancient
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declaration and turns it like a mirror toward his modern
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audience. He argues that many professing
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believers today actually are secretly ashamed of the Gospel,
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even if they loudly call themselves Christians and safe
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environment. That is a heavy accusation.
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How does Simeon diagnose this hidden shame?
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Like what are the symptoms? He provides 3 specific metrics
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for detecting hidden shame in the life of a believer.
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The first metric is being deterred from seeking
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instruction. Simeon says many people have a
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secret internal conviction that the gospel holds truth and
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excellence. They feel a pull toward it and
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they would like to learn more, but they dare not go where it is
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plainly rigorously taught because of the social stigma.
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Fear of being labeled. Yes, they are afraid of being
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labeled evangelical or fundamentalist or whatever the
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current pejorative term is in their social circle.
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If they have to sacrifice their sophisticated reputation to gain
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biblical instruction, they will choose their reputation every
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single time. Simeon even notes a highly
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specific behavioral tale. Such a person might quickly hide
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A religious book or switch the tab on their computer browser if
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a secular friend unexpectedly walks into the room.
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That is incredibly specific and relatable.
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I have an analogy for this. It's like possessing the
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absolute cure for a lethal, contagious disease.
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A disease that is ravaging your own body, but you hide the
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medicine in a drawer when your friends come over because the
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disease itself is considered socially unacceptable to discuss
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at dinner parties. You are literally dying, but you
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are vastly more concerned about the social awkwardness of
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acknowledging the cure. That is a terrifying scenario,
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but it captures Simeon's point. Florida State.
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It shows a catastrophic misplacement of priorities,
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driven entirely by the fear of human opinion.
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So the first metric is hiding the instruction.
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But what happens if they can't hide it?
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If they're forced into a situation where their beliefs
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might be exposed, what is the second metric?
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The second metric is being deterred from making an open
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profession. Some people attain A thorough
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knowledge of the truth. They understand the theology,
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but they refuse to confess it openly in public.
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Spaces you stay undercover. Right.
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They look around and see that genuine followers of Christ are
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often spoken against, mocked in media or Passover for
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promotions. They want no part of that
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reproach. Simeon phrases it brilliantly.
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They want the crown without the cross.
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The crown without the cross. They want the eternal benefits
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of salvation while refusing to be associated with an unpopular
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sect in the present day. They want the fire insurance
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without the association and the third metric.
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The third metric is being deterred from walking worthy of
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the gospel. This happens when believers make
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moral compliances to screen themselves from worldly
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critique. They hide their light under a
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bushel. Give me a practical example of a
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moral compliance. What does that look like?
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It's blending in when you are called to stand out.
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It is laughing at the joke you know is vile because you don't
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want to be the prudish one in the break room.
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It's agreeing with a business practice that lacks integrity
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because pushing back would label you as difficult or overly
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rigid. Instead of living as a distinct
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holy people, they belie their consciences to avoid standing
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out. Simeon points out that this is a
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direct betrayal of the 'cause they are pledged to.
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I have to push back here, or at least challenge the presence of
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why this happens in the 1st place.
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Romans were incredibly polytheistic.
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They adopted gods from all over the empire.
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They collected deities like souvenirs.
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Why would adding one more Jewish Carpenter from a backwater
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province be such an offensive assault on their ego when they
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just add him to the pantheon and move on?
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Right. Why not just one more statue?
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Yeah. Why does the Gospel create such
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a visceral, hostile reaction both in an opulent center like
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1st century Rome and in our modern intellectual society
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today? That is the core issue.
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The Romans were happy to add gods to the pantheon, provided
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those gods stayed in their lane and offered benefits in exchange
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for rituals. A transaction.
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Yes, but the Gospel is inherently offensive to human
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pride because it is aggressively exclusive.
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It requires placing all your hope for time and eternity on a
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despised, crucified man. Furthermore, it pours absolute
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contempt on human wisdom and human merit.
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It strips the ego. Completely.
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The opulent Romans valued philosophy, military might,
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civic virtue, and self-sufficiency.
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The gospel comes into that environment and says all your
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wealth, all your Stoic philosophy, all your civic good
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works are completely useless for your justification before a holy
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God. Wow.
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It says you are a beggar entirely dependent on the
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unmerited grace provided by a man executed as a state
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criminal. That is a massive assault on the
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ego. It leaves us with absolutely
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nothing to boast about. It strips away any illusion that
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we can save ourselves or even contribute a single percentage
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point to our own salvation. Yes.
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However, Simeon contrasts this natural human shame with three
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logical reasons why a believer must never be ashamed of the
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gospel. Let's dig into those.
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First, he says, it is the ultimate revelation of God's
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grace. It is a mystery that angels
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desire to look into. It displays the Father sending
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the Son, the Son bearing the full weight of our sins, and the
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Holy Spirit applying that salvation to the human heart.
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To be ashamed of the very mechanism that brings the
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highest glory to the Creator is extreme folly.
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Makes sense. What's the second reason?
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Second, it is God's soul instrument for the salvation of
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a ruined world. And Simeon points out a
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staggering theological thought here.
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This gospel is the only thing that differentiates redeemed
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humanity from fallen angels. Wait, let's dwell on that for a
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second. That is a massive theological
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point. It is staggering.
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According to biblical theology, fallen angels rebelled and God
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provided no mediator for them. No savior was sent to the
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angelic realm. Their condemnation was immediate
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and permanent. But for us?
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Humanity rebelled and God provided A savior.
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How can a human being possessing this exclusive, unmerited
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lifeline treat the only instrument of their salvation
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with social contempt? That puts it in perspective.
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And the third reason? 3rd it is actually effectual.
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The gospel doesn't just offer theoretical help or moral
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advice. It works.
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It provides A righteousness so pure that a Sinner stands before
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God without spot or blemish. The grace provided is sufficient
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to keep believers to the very end without failing.
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It holds up under pressure. Yes, Simeon notes that God does
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not bring a person out of six difficulties, only to abandon
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them to perish in the 7th. The structural engineering of
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salvation holds up. So if this gospel is the only
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effectual remedy, we really need to understand the terminal
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nature of the disease it cures. And that brings us to the next
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massive shift in Paul's logical argument.
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He moves from the glory of the remedy to the utter ruin of the
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human race. Yes, we are moving into Romans
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1.20, zero 21, looking at the book of creation and our
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inexcusable rebellion. Paul's goal here is to prove
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there is only one way of salvation, and to do that he
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first has to establish that the Gentile world, the world without
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the written Jewish law, the world without the Bible, is
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altogether guilty before God and lying under a just sentence of
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condemnation. Which feels unfair to a lot of
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modern readers. It does.
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How does Simeon explain the Gentile world's law state if
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they didn't have the scriptures? How can a just God hold them
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accountable for rules they never read?
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Simeon explains this to the theological concept of general
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revelation. Even without the written
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scriptures, the Gentiles possessed the Book of Creation.
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This book was open and legible to every single human being with
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eyes and a rational mind. OK, what does that book actually
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say? Simeon argues that by observing
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the heavenly bodies moving in their precise orbits, the earth
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abundantly furnished for human accommodation, and the curious,
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intricate design of the human body, any rational mind could
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logically deduce a first 'cause. So observing nature leads to a
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necessary logical conclusion collusion about a creator.
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The classic analogy here is William Paley's watchmaker.
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You find a pocket watch on a heath, you see the gears, and
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you assume a watchmaker. But let's upgrade that analogy
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for today. Let's hear it.
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It's like walking into the middle of the Sahara desert and
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finding a fully automated self-sustaining server farm.
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It's entirely powered by solar arrays that track the sun
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perfectly. The cooling systems maintain an
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exact temperature. The servers are routing massive
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amounts of data. Florida State.
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Without any human intervention, you stand there looking at this
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marvel of engineering, you would never in a million years
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conclude that the wind just blew the silicon, copper and glass
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into that exact configuration over billions of years.
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Right, you assume an architect. You assume an intelligence
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vastly superior to your own. That is an excellent modern
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framework for general revelation.
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If you trace the data routing back, you must see that the
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first 'cause who gave existence and order to everything else
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must be self existent and eternal.
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It's the only logical conclusion.
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Furthermore, looking at the immensity and Excellency of the
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universe, you can deduce that this Creator possesses infinite
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wisdom, infinite might, and infinite goodness.
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Simeon points out that even some of the more enlightened Pagan
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philosophers like Plato and Aristotle made these basic
21:59
deductions using reason alone. So the evidence is massive and
22:03
undeniable. How did humanity fail?
22:05
They failed because they did not use this general revelation
22:09
correctly. Instead of responding with
22:11
gratitude and worship to the Creator, they could clearly
22:14
deduce they suppressed the truth.
22:17
They actively pushed it down. Yes, they created corruptible
22:21
images, idols resembling men, birds and beasts.
22:25
They took the gifts God gave them and abuse them to indulge
22:28
in abominations. And Simeon concludes that this
22:31
suppression makes humanity without excuse.
22:34
Yes, they cannot plead ignorance because the evidence of the
22:38
server farm was right in front of them.
22:40
And crucially, Simeon says they cannot plead necessity.
22:44
They were free agents. They chose it.
22:46
They willingly chose to violate the moral law written in their
22:49
own minds and consciences. They did not want to retain God
22:52
in their knowledge because their deeds were evil.
22:54
The light they resisted actually constitutes the heaviest
22:57
aggravation of their guilt. OK, this raises a huge question
23:00
for me. Let's have it If the ancient
23:02
world is completely without excuse, based just on the
23:05
observation of nature, just looking at the stars and the
23:08
seasons, where does that leave you and me today, sitting here
23:12
with access to the full completed revelation of the New
23:15
Testament? We have the Bible on our phones.
23:17
We have 2000 years of church history and theological
23:20
scholarship. Simeon addresses this with a
23:22
severe, piercing warning to what he calls the Christian world.
23:27
We have infinitely superior advantages compared to the
23:31
ancient Gentiles. We don't just have the book of
23:33
nature, we have the historical reality of the incarnation of
23:36
God's own Son. We can see precisely how divine
23:39
justice and Divine Mercy meet at the cross.
23:42
Simeon says that the most uneducated person among us knows
23:45
more about God's character from John 3.16 than the greatest
23:49
philosophers of Greece and Rome ever deduced from staring at the
23:52
stars. But have we improved upon those
23:54
advantages? Have we responded better than
23:56
the ancient world? Simeon argues that we absolutely
23:59
have not. He points out that while we
24:00
might not bow down to physical statues of birds or beasts in
24:03
modern society, we create theoretical idols in our minds.
24:07
What does a theoretical idol look like in practice today?
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A theoretical idol is a version of God that we invent from
24:14
scratch to suit our own modern sensibilities and comfort.
24:17
It is a designer deity A. Designer deity.
24:19
Yes. For example, by inventing a God
24:22
all mercy, who universally overlooks sin, who doesn't
24:25
demand justice, and who never punishes iniquity, we strip the
24:28
biblical God of his true terrifying attributes.
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Simeon has a phrase here that really stuck with me.
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A God all mercy is a God unjust. Let's break that down logically.
24:38
Let's use a legal scenario. Imagine a human judge sitting in
24:42
a courtroom. A man is brought before him who
24:45
has confessed to murdering a family.
24:47
The judge looks at the murderer, smiles and says I am a judge of
24:51
absolute mercy. I forgive you.
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You are free to go. Is that judge good?
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No, that judge is corrupt. The families of the victims
24:59
would riot. Society would collapse.
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Exactly. If a judge does not punish a
25:04
clear violation of the law, he ceases to be just.
25:07
Simeon is applying that same undeniable logic to God.
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If God does not punish sin, which is a violation of His
25:13
infinite holy nature, he ceases to be just and therefore ceases
25:16
to be the God of the Bible. Wow, when we worship a
25:19
grandfatherly figure in the sky who just wants everyone to be
25:23
happy and never demands holiness, we are worshipping a
25:26
God of our own imagination. Simeon argues that this is just
25:30
as idolatrous and just as wicked as worshipping a piece of carved
25:33
wood. That is incredibly convicting.
25:36
We tailor God to fit our modern moral standards rather than
25:40
conforming our moral standards to God.
25:42
We do, and this suppression of the truth is not passive
25:45
ignorance. It is an active, hostile
25:47
rebellion. We don't want the God of the
25:49
Bible because he demands absolute holiness and absolute
25:52
submission. Which brings us to the most
25:54
intense, controversial part of our discussion today.
25:57
Paul moves from the suppression of truth to the terrifying
26:00
bedrock of the unregenerate human heart.
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We are looking at Romans 1.30 and the specific phrase Simeon
26:06
focuses on is haters of God. Yes, haters of God, Simeon
26:10
acknowledges right away that this phrase sounds like a
26:12
massive libel upon human nature. People are going to hate that
26:15
phrase. Oh, absolutely.
26:17
If you go out onto the street today with a microphone and ask
26:20
people, are you a hater of God, almost every single person will
26:23
spurn the idea. They will consider it a gross
26:26
insult. They might admit they aren't
26:28
perfect. They might say they have made
26:29
mistakes. But they will vehemently deny
26:32
hating God. I would assume most people think
26:34
of themselves as generally good or at least spiritually neutral.
26:38
They think I don't go to church, but I don't hate God.
26:41
I'm just living my life. But Simeon argues that this
26:44
phrase, haters of God, is not a description of a few unusually
26:48
wicked individuals. He isn't just talking about
26:50
notorious criminals, dictators or vocal anti theists.
26:54
He insists that this is an absolutely universal fact
26:57
regarding every single child of Adam in their natural
27:00
unregenerate state. Every single one.
27:02
The entire scope of Paul's argument in Romans is to show
27:05
that every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty
27:08
before God. So what evidence does Simeon
27:10
provide to back up this massive offensive claim?
27:13
How does he prove that the nice neighbor who mows your lawn and
27:16
pays his taxes is by nature a hater of God?
27:20
He looks at our daily disposition and our automatic
27:22
conduct in our natural state. We value any vain gratification
27:27
over our Creator. We will violate His express
27:30
written commands for the smallest, most fleeting earthly
27:33
pleasure. That's true.
27:34
Furthermore, look at who we actually fear.
27:37
We fear the displeasure of a fellow human being, a boss, a
27:40
spouse, a neighbor, far more than we fear the displeasure of
27:44
the Almighty. We care more about our social
27:47
media reputation than what the Creator of the universe thinks
27:49
of our hidden thoughts. Right?
27:51
Simeon grounds this entirely in the Westminster Confessions
27:54
understanding of human nature, which states that from the
27:57
original corruption we are utterly indisposed, disabled,
28:00
and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil.
28:04
The carnal mind is an active enmity against God.
28:07
I have to admit this sounds incredibly harsh to modern
28:10
years. We live in the culture built on
28:12
self esteem, positive affirmation and finding your
28:16
inner truth. Telling someone their
28:18
fundamental nature is hater of God is a tough pill to swallow.
28:21
I want to bring the listener into this.
28:22
Let's do it. Simeon sets up a test to prove
28:26
this hatred and I want you listening right now to take this
28:29
test with us. Let's look at the Simeon test.
28:32
Simeon introduces a brilliant and devastating psychological
28:35
thought experiment to prove his point.
28:37
He says imagine you were reading the news tomorrow and you were
28:41
told by an undeniable, absolute authority that there was no God.
28:45
OK, imagine you were given a waterproof guarantee that there
28:48
is no creator to inspect your ways, no divine being to control
28:52
your actions, no moral lawgiver, and absolutely no judge to call
28:56
you to account at a final judgement.
28:59
If you were handed that guarantee, what would your
29:01
immediate internal gut reaction be?
29:03
That's the question. Would you feel a crushing grief,
29:07
or would you feel a sudden, massive wave of relief?
29:09
That is a staggering question. It cuts right through the
29:12
theological jargon and hits the psychology of the human heart.
29:15
Simeon concludes that the unregenerate heart would welcome
29:18
the extinction of God as a mass of relief.
29:20
The fact that the natural man would feel liberated by the idea
29:23
that God does not exist proves that God's existence is felt as
29:27
a heavy burden. And if someone's existence is a
29:29
burden to you? Your mind is alienated from
29:32
them. You are functionally and
29:33
practically a hater of God. You wish he did not exist so you
29:37
could be the sovereign ruler of your own life.
29:39
That is the Simeon test. If the absence of God brings
29:42
relief, it proves the enmity. But why?
29:46
What is the psychological and theological root of this deep
29:50
seated hatred? Simeon explains that this hatred
29:53
has a 2 fold root. The first root is contrary.
29:56
Let's define. That contrary means there is a
29:59
total fundamental opposition between God's perfect holiness
30:03
and our fallen nature. There's not a greater difference
30:06
between light and darkness than between God's moral perfections
30:09
and our corrupt dispositions. We naturally hate what He loves,
30:13
and we naturally love what he hates.
30:14
Can you give an example of that contrarity in action?
30:16
How do we see this play out historically?
30:18
Look at the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
30:20
That is the ultimate test case. When God actually became flesh
30:24
and exhibited a perfect, living transcript of his moral
30:27
perfections to the world, how did humanity react?
30:30
Yeah, we didn't exactly throw a parade.
30:31
Did we embrace him? Did we elect him to high office?
30:35
No Humanity. He offered him every indignity
30:38
imaginable and eventually put him to the most ignominious,
30:42
torturous death possible. And it is vital to remember who
30:45
killed him. It wasn't just a mob of
30:48
uneducated criminals. That is the key.
30:50
It was the religious elite who knew the scriptures, the
30:53
political rulers who valued Roman law and order, the priests
30:56
who ran the temple, and the general populace all working
30:59
together in perfect harmony. Simeon says that if the
31:03
restraints of modern law and society were removed today,
31:06
human nature would do the exact same thing again.
31:09
We crucified the light because we prefer the darkness.
31:11
So the first root is contrariety.
31:14
What is the second root of this hatred?
31:15
The second root is the consciousness of judgement.
31:18
Despite all our attempts to press the Chaath with
31:20
theoretical idols and moral relativism, we all possess an
31:23
internal dread. We know we're guilty.
31:25
Deep down in our bones we know we have violated the moral law,
31:30
and we know that a holy God must, by definition avenge
31:33
breaches of His law. We cannot contemplate Him
31:37
without a feeling of fear and dread, because we know He must
31:40
act as a judge against our specific sins.
31:44
The criminal always hates the magistrate.
31:46
But wait, someone might push back here and say, I don't feel
31:49
that dread at all. I feel a warm, complacent regard
31:52
for God. I pray when I need help, I feel
31:55
grateful for my blessings, and I feel a sense of peace.
31:58
How does Simeon respond to the person who claims they feel warm
32:01
fuzzies toward the Creator? Simeon is relentless on this
32:04
point. He says that the God they feel a
32:05
warm regard for is not the God revealed in Scripture, but that
32:08
theoretical idol we discussed earlier.
32:10
The designer deity, yes. They have imagined A deity who
32:14
does not bear anger against their sins, who lowers his
32:16
divine demands to fit their modern lifestyle, and who
32:19
readily accepts their flimsy, self-righteous efforts of being
32:22
a good person. They have despoiled God of His
32:24
justice and holiness. They're feeling warm regard
32:27
toward a phantom. Yes, if you present them with
32:30
the true God of the Bible, a being who cannot look upon
32:34
iniquity without abhorrence, who demands absolute perfect
32:38
righteousness, and who declares that all their good works are
32:41
like filthy rags, they will instantly lose all their fancied
32:45
regard. The warmth just vanishes.
32:47
They will show the very aversion and hostility we are talking
32:50
about. The warmth turns to ice the
32:52
moment God exercises authority over their autonomy.
32:55
This is a devastating diagnosis of the human heart.
32:59
We're completely ruined, stripped of all excuses,
33:01
harboring a natural act of enmity toward the very being who
33:04
created us. But this bleak reality is
33:07
precisely why the Gospel we discussed at the beginning of
33:10
our deep dive today is so magnificent.
33:12
Yes, the moral law diagnosis the fatal condition, but the gospel
33:16
provides the total cure. Let's summarize the theological
33:19
progression we have walked through today.
33:21
We started by looking at Paul's pastoral heart and the absolute
33:24
necessity of the epistles to give us the structural
33:26
blueprints of our faith. We saw how we must never be
33:29
ashamed of the gospel because it is the only effective instrument
33:32
for salvation in a ruined world. We examined how general
33:36
Revelation, the server farm in the desert, leaves all of
33:39
humanity without excuse because we willingly suppress the truth
33:42
of the Creator in unrighteousness.
33:45
And finally, we confronted the radical total depravity of the
33:49
human heart, taking the simian test and acknowledging that by
33:52
nature we are at enmity with God.
33:54
But the unmatched efficacy of the gospel is that it does not
33:58
leave us in that state of ruin. The gospel doesn't just offer a
34:01
theoretical pardon or a clean slate.
34:03
It actually slays the this innate enmity.
34:06
It changes the heart. When a person receives the
34:08
gospel by faith alone, God removes their legal guilt.
34:11
But He also performs A radical surgery on their nature.
34:14
He removes their indisposition to what is good.
34:17
He writes His holy law into the believers heart.
34:20
He aligns their will with His own.
34:22
He changes their fundamental disposition from contrarity to
34:25
conformity. The disease is lethal, but the
34:28
cure is absolute. And that reality requires a
34:31
response from you, the listener. We have a staggering obligation
34:35
to God for providing this way of reconciliation.
34:38
Think about the magnitude of this.
34:40
God doesn't just sit back in heaven, fold his arms, and offer
34:42
to be reconciled if we do all the heavy lifting to climb up to
34:45
Him, right? He comes down.
34:46
He actively pursues the hostile center.
34:49
He sends his ministers to beseech us to invite us through
34:52
the finished historical work of Christ.
34:54
The great obstruction to friendship between God and
34:57
humanity lies entirely on our side of the equation, yet God
35:00
overcomes it through sheer grace.
35:03
As we wrap up this deep dive, I want to leave you with a final
35:06
lingering thought to ponder long after the audio stops.
35:10
Today we have talked a lot about this hidden enmity, this
35:14
psychological contrarity in the human heart.
35:16
We have. Think about the moments in your
35:18
own life when you feel a sudden, inexplicable resistance to
35:21
praying, reading scripture, or pursuing holiness.
35:25
You know you should do it. You want to do it on some level,
35:27
but there is a heavy, irrational friction pushing back against
35:31
you. Is that simply fatigue from a
35:32
long work day? Or could it be a faint,
35:35
lingering echo of that old unregenerate enmity hiding in
35:39
the shadows of your heart, proving your absolute daily need
35:42
for justification by faith alone?
35:46
That is the reality of the ongoing struggle of
35:48
sanctification. The diagnostic X-ray might not
35:50
show a clean break, but it shows a chronic condition that
35:53
requires constant daily reliance on the great physician.
35:57
The diagnostic landscape is murky and the X-ray machine of
35:59
our own self-assessment is completely broken, but the
36:02
Gospel provides both the accurate diagnosis and the
36:05
perfect cure. Thank you for sitting at the
36:07
table with us today on Reform Thinking.
36:09
Keep reading, keep questioning, and keep resting in grace.