Recently, I read a news story about a man who drowned in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The events surrounding the tragedy were so disturbing that I found myself contemplating what must have happened to bring it about and what it must have felt like to be this unfortunate man.
The calamity was discovered when an empty ski boat, still in gear, ran ashore, prompting police to launch an investigation into this puzzling incident. On the boat they found a cell phone with video footage that helped them piece together the bizarre chain of events that had resulted in this abandoned boat making its way back to land.
Apparently, the man who had rented the boat positioned his phone to video himself jumping and playing in the water not realizing that he had accidentally left the boat slightly in gear until it was too late. According to the police, the video shows the man diving into the water and splashing around, however the scene becomes increasingly morbid as the boat slowly pulls away from this man who cannot swim fast enough to catch it.
Tragedies like this cause me to stop and think. They force me to contemplate my own mortality. They compel me to look beyond this life and ponder what awaits each of us beyond the grave. They constrain me to consider God: who He is and why He would allow such a disturbing demise. Thankfully, God has spoken on these topics.
In chapter 13 of Luke’s gospel, some of the people bring up a horrific event, recounting how Pilate had slaughtered some Galileans, mixing their own blood with the sacrifices they had been making. Perhaps they wondered why a good God would allow these good worshipers to be destined to such a fate. Or maybe they wondered if possibly the Galileans might have done something to deserve punishment from God at the hands of Pilate. Jesus, however, does not answer these questions directly, but shows them they are asking the wrong questions. He does not praise any goodness in the Galileans that would suggest injustice on God’s behalf for allowing them to perish in such a way. He also does not reveal some deplorable sin of the Galileans that would cause us to agree in judgement, “Yes, they deserved it.”
So how does Jesus respond? He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus is challenging their presuppositions by essentially asking, “Do you think it is unjust that God allowed these Galileans to be killed? Don’t you agree that all sinners, including you, deserve death?” He uses this opportunity to make us consider why we die in the first place. Yes, we will all die. And those who suffer what we might consider an untimely death are no more or less deserving of death than we are. If we fancy ourselves to be good, moral people, we might think we are entitled to a long life with a peaceful passing. We certainly don’t think we deserve to fall victim to a wicked man’s outrage or to succumb to some unfathomable freak accident. When tragedies strike, our hearts cry out, “It’s not right! It’s not fair!” But our hearts are deceitfully wicked, especially when we think God is somehow unjust or unfair for allowing people to suffer and die.
God has told us why we die. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. We are paid a wage for what we do. Our rebellion against God has earned us the death penalty. So it really doesn’t matter so much as to when we die or how we die; we need to understand WHY we die. This is what Jesus is bringing to our attention. He then strengthens his message by offering an example of another event we might be tempted to shrug off as “wrong place, wrong time.” Jesus continues, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Now is Jesus saying that if we repent we won’t die? Yes and No. He’s obviously not saying that if we repent we won’t ever die physically. Rather, he is calling us to a repentance that leads to true life, eternal life. You see, there is a second death that is far worse than the physical death we are all too familiar with and will all face. This final, eternal, irrevocable death of ultimate and continual perishing awaits each one of us if we refuse to believe Jesus and repent. (See Rev. 20)
God is not unjust for allowing and even sovereignly decreeing each of our impending deaths. We deserve death. All of us. Why? Because each of us have broken God’s moral law which is revealed to each of us through our own conscience and more explicitly expressed through the Ten Commandments. Yahweh God is the Sovereign Creator God and it is His prerogative and absolute right to establish the law for His creatures, decree the punishment for breaking it, and serve justice upon those who defy it. When we defy God’s law, we defy God himself, for His moral law is an expression of who He is. How have we broken His law? We have lied. We have lusted. We have hated. We have envied. We have slandered. We have deceived. We have failed to love God and have served ourselves; and we know what we do is wrong.
Did you know that God not only tells us what sin is and that we are all guilty, but He also tells us why we love sin in the first place? It is because we, all mankind, have been condemned in Adam, the first created human being. When Adam fell from grace through his deliberate disobedience, we all fell in him and through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men (Romans 5). Mankind is now born guilty, condemned under God’s curse with our human nature utterly defiled. The Bible says we are slaves to sin and children of wrath. We are spiritually dead in transgressions and sins. We love the darkness rather than the light because our deeds are wicked. You may say, “but God sees my heart!” Yes he does. Our hearts lie open before him like a book and this is what He sees:
None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-18)
Perhaps you might be thinking, “This still seems unfair. Why am I under this curse for something Adam did?” I would argue that we are again asking the wrong question. We are assuming that God does not have the right over His creation to do as He pleases. God is the sovereign Creator of the universe. This is His world and we are His creation. God told Adam that if he ate the forbidden fruit he would die. When Adam rebelled, choosing to trust in his own wisdom over God’s, he deserved immediate death. If God wished to exercise His perfect justice in that moment, He could have put an end to Adam and Eve and destroyed the human race right then and there. If God were to have done that, you and I wouldn’t even exist now to question His justice and righteousness. But what did God do? He showed Adam and Eve mercy by allowing them (and all people who would come from them) to continue to exist; and He promised to send a Redeemer who would deliver His people from this curse and set them free from the slavery of sin! Adam, our earthly father, was our representative and in God’s perfect knowledge, He knows each of us would have rebelled just as Adam did if we had been given the same opportunity. So now, because of the justly deserved curse of God, we are all born physically alive but spiritually dead. We need to be brought back to spiritual life, to be born again. But just like our physical birth, we have no power or control to do this for ourselves. We are entirely at the mercy of the Almighty God. It is a terrifying thing to stand before a Holy God and His perfect law, naked and condemned, without hope and without excuse. Unless God chooses to show us mercy, we are utterly lost. Which brings me back to thinking about the young man in the lake.
I imagine him excited to enjoy his day on the water and then coming up with the idea to video and share his experience with his friends on social media. He sets up his phone and dives in the water. At what point does he perceive the dreadfulness of his situation? Perhaps after a few minutes of splashing around he realizes he is farther away from the boat than he’d like to be. So he begins to swim. When does he realize that it’s not him who got too far away but that the boat is leaving him? As the boat pulls away faster than he can swim, surely he must have tried with all his strength and might to reach it. But he can’t swim fast enough. It is just not physically possible. Ultimately, he had to recognize the futility of his efforts. The panic sets in deeper as he watches the distance between himself and the boat grow increasingly larger, leaving him stranded. He is helpless. He is hopeless. He is ruined. With the water beginning to engulf him, oh the doom and despair he must have felt!
It is to this place of utter helplessness and hopelessness that the gospel of Jesus Christ must first bring us. To rightly grasp the weight of the glorious gospel, the good news, we must first come to understand the reality of our desperate situation. It could be said that we are that man left in the middle of the lake and the boat represents anything we’ve done that we are counting on to justify ourselves before God. Perhaps it’s a prayer we once said. Or the many good things we think we’ve done. Or the bad things we’ve not done. Maybe it’s our belief in God, our biblical wisdom, or our efforts to be obedient. We might just be banking on the idea that God esteems us above other evil people by comparison. It could even be an idol, a false Jesus even, whom we’ve created in our own minds and who speaks words to our hearts that though they are contrary to The Word, they are words we like better. Whatever you are trusting in to commend yourself to God, if it is something that has been generated from yourself, you need to know that boat will not save you. It will leave you stranded and damned. Why? Because if you will escape the second death and earn eternal life and everlasting favor with God, you must be holy, as He is holy. You must be perfect, as He is perfect. You must be righteous, as He is righteous. You must not fail to keep the entirety of God’s law perfectly. Do you see that if the boat represents something you have done to justify yourself before God, then it must be your own sinless perfection. The boat, therefore, actually represents the perfect law of God. Trying to reach God through your own works are as futile as the man’s efforts to try to catch the boat. They are useless. We can’t attain unto it. No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to reach the boat. The perfect law of God and the obedience He requires is a burden we are unable to bear because it condemns us and we are condemned already. We don’t enter this world neutral with God, rather we are conceived in iniquity. Who can live up to the perfect righteousness of the most Holy God? We are guilty, we know it, and death is our just sentence. I pray you will see the boat leaving you.
Our only hope is to throw ourselves before the mercy of God. And praise God, He is merciful! He has not left us without hope. This is the grace of God, this is the mercy of God: Jesus Christ. God has allowed a substitute to take the punishment of death we have earned and deserved. He has allowed a substitute to live a life of perfect obedience in our place. And not only has He allowed a substitute, He has provided one. But only one. God has supplied a Spotless Lamb without blemish, the perfect Lamb of God, His one and only eternal Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus endured the wrath of God and received the penalty of death in our place. Because God punished the sins of His people through the death of Christ on the cross, we have been forgiven. Our sin debt has been paid and our slates have been wiped clean! And if that weren’t enough, Jesus was bodily resurrected as proof that God accepted this perfect, complete, once-for-all sacrifice which provided full atonement for every single person that had been given to Christ before the foundation of the world. And here’s grace upon grace: not only have God’s elect been saved from eternal condemnation, not only have His people been delivered from the spiritual death that once held us captive, God has bestowed upon His sheep the righteousness of Christ whereby God has adopted us as sons and daughters and made us joint heirs with Christ! The people of God, true Israel, are freely given everything that Christ earned when all we ever earned was everlasting damnation and eternal death. Eternal life has been given to the bride of Christ - a never-ending life spent knowing God, serving God, worshiping God, loving God, and enjoying God.
How does one receive this merciful gift of grace? By faith. This salvation from God is freely given to all who repent and believe. Repentance is agreeing with God that what He says is sin, is sin. It is turning from our sin, renouncing our sin, hating our sin, forsaking our sin, and turning to God, to Christ, for spiritual cleansing. It is trusting in every word He has spoken which has been preserved for us in the Holy Scriptures; for God cannot lie. Believing this gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t make it true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, therefore, we who have received mercy, believe.
If anyone rejects this glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, they will be left in that place where the boat left the man: without hope and without salvation. I implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He is the only Savior. Believe Jesus.
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:4-5)
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15)
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21)
