"Against such as these [i. e., unbelievers], the doctrine of justification may be defended, but it is vain to attempt their satisfaction in it. Whilst men have no sense in their own hearts and consciences of the spiritual disorder of their souls, of the secret continual actings of sin with deceit and violence, obstructing all that is good, promoting all that is evil, defiling all that is done by them; who are not engaged in a constant watchful conflict against the first motions of sin, to whom they are not the greatest burden and sorrow, causing them to cry out for deliverance from them; they will reject what is proposed about justification through the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Neither the consideration of the holiness or terror of the Lord, nor the severity of the law, nor the promise of the Gospel, nor the secret disquietude of their consciences can prevail with them, who have such slight conceptions of the state and guilt of sin, to fly for refuge unto the only hope set before them, or really and distinctly to comport with the only way of salvation." -John Owen, "The Doctrine of Justification by Faith Through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ"
In his well-known prolix manner, Owen is advising us of an important consideration: until the unbeliever is conscious of his sin and its consequences, he has no interest in hearing about what Jesus has done for His people. This is a message that too many American evangelicals need to hear, because they suffer from the Gospel of Joel Osteen, that "Jesus loves everybody and wants us to be happy." It is too negative, we suppose, to tell about the sin in men and God's hatred of it. Yet, that is why the evangelical church has turned into a circus of self-esteem, rather than the body of Christ confronting the fallen world.
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