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DAY THREE:
This Chapter is a gross confusion of Law and Gospel. It completely fails to properly set forth the purpose of the Law which is truly known only from the work of the Gospel, the purpose and work of the Gospel, and what it truly means to be “in Christ”.
On page 27, Warren asks “What is the driving force in your life?”. The real question is “Who is the driving force in your life?”. The regenerate believer remains sinner and saint. The only power for good working within that believer is the power of the Holy Spirit working with the Word.
Warren’s description of Cain on page 28, fails to properly present that it was Cain’s lack of faith in the Gospel (Genesis 3:15) which separated Cain from God. It, therefore, was Cain’s sin that separated him since Cain was refusing the reconciliation worked by the promised Seed. In addition, God does not just give people “a fresh start”, page 28, in the context employed by Warren, He kills the sinful flesh in the Cross of Christ, and grants new life and not just a fixing of the existing life into an improved one.
Warren’s discussion of fear fails to point out that fear, in the since of terror, is a right response to man’s sinful condition standing before God’s wrath, and that fear, in the sense of awe-filled reverence, is a right response to God as revealed in the Scriptures, both Law and Gospel.
In discussing materialism, Warren again emphasizes the believer’s relationship with God, but again also does so without any understanding that the believer’s relationship with God is solely on account of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Crucified, the benefits of which are the believer’s only through the free gift of faith.
The clear conflict between Warren’s words and God’s Word is shown on page 30, and Warren’s statement that “Nothing matters more that knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them….” Warren is replacing Christ Himself with a “to do list”. This is also seen in this statement that “The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.” on page 30. In effect, since death is the wages of sin, Warren is stating that the separation from God that resulted from man’s sinfulness is not the greatest tragedy. If sin, Satan and death are not the ultimate problem, then Christ is not the ultimate Answer.
Warren’s discussion of hope again fails to encourage the reader to put, by God’s grace and power, his sole trust in Christ. Christ is Hope. He is the believer’s sole hope, and He comes to man sacramentally in the Word and Sacraments. What Christ works in the believer s truly wonderful, but Warren’s use of “wonderful changes”, page 31, does not appear to be a focus upon the new life being worked by Christ in His life, death and resurrection, but rather on the circumstances observable to man’s senses. Christ promises conflict, division and persecution where His Word is present in this sin-corrupted world.
Warren’s encouragement to let “a clear purpose” provide the believer’s “foundation”, page 31, again denies the Person and work of Christ Crucified. The foundation, content, and goal of a believer’s life is always the Good News of Christ. A believer’s life is coterminous with that believer’s baptism. That life began with Christ’s work in that baptism and is filled by that baptism. That baptism is completed in the believer’s grave. Accordingly, it is a life of the most serious conflict. That is a conflict between the sinner and saint within the believer, and the conflict between the believer and the forces of sin and Satan that fill this world. If that is a picture of “simpler lifestyle and a saner schedule”, page 31, that picture would only be known through the revealed Word of God, and not by the senses of man.
Again on page 32, Warren misses the real question when he discusses “your real problem-a lack of focus and purpose”, and Warren still does not see the problem of sin nor the answer that is only Christ Crucified. To describe the Apostle Paul’s life in the manner in which Warren does on page 32, and to state that Paul’s “secret was a focused life” is to totally ignore Paul’s epistles and Acts by Luke. Paul, as does all of Scripture, places everything concerning new life in and upon Christ Crucified only. In all of this Chapter Three, Warren makes the false assumption that man has something to offer in his own salvation.
Warren’s identification of “two crucial questions”, page 34, is perhaps the clearest example of Warren’s confusion of Law and Gospel. When we stand with Christ on Judgment Day, all of the righteousness we will bear will be the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and all of the good works commended by God will be works in which our sinfulness was forgiven through Christ, the good of which was solely the work of the Holy Spirit within us working with the Word. If God looks upon any work of any individual based upon that individual’s own righteousness and power, that work will be condemned by God under His Law.
In addition, Warren does not seem to understand that true peace is the right alignment with God’s plan and work of our salvation in Christ Jesus. Peace is being in Christ Crucified by God’s grace only, through faith only.
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