The Cross of Christ - John Stott (p.109)
Unhappily, even in the church we seem to have lost the vision of the
majesty of God. There is much shallowness and levity among us.
Prophets and psalmists would probably say of us that 'there is no fear
if God before their eyes'. In public worship our habits is to slouch
or squat; we do not kneel nowdays, let alone prostrate ourselves in
humility before God. It is more characteristic of us to clap our
hands with joy than to blush with shame or tears. We saunter up to
God to claim his patronage and friendship; it does not occur to us
that he might send us away. We need to hear again the apostle Peter's
sobering words: "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's
work impartially, live your lives ... in reverent fear." In other
words, if we dare to call our Judge our Father, we must beware of
presuming on him. It must be said that our evangelical emphasis on
the atonement is dangerous if we come to it too quickly. We learn
to appreciate the access to God which Christ has won for us only after
we have first seen God's inaccessibility to sinners. We can cry
'Hallelujah' with authenticity only after we have first cried 'Woe is
me, for I am lost'. In Dale's words, 'it is party because sin does
not provoke our own wrath, that we do no believe that sin provokes the
wrath of God.'"
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