I’m a firm believer in the importance of preaching the gospel to ourselves—rather than just listening to ourselves. But I find I have a tendency to only preach half of the gospel to myself. I’ll major on preaching the good news and minor on preaching the truth of my depravity. What I find is that when I’m a bit hesitant to own up to my sinfulness the gospel doesn’t taste as sweet—it feels more functional than life-giving.
I believe Zechariah 3:1-2 is in our Bible for a reason. The accuser plays an important role in gospel proclamation. When we feel the weight of his accusation we taste the sweetness of our gospel rescue. I’ve always appreciated what Spurgeon said in preaching on this text:
“Satan says, ‘the man’s garments are filthy’,’Well,’ says Jesus, “how do you expect them to be otherwise? When you pull a brand out of the fire, do you expect to find it milk-white or polished?” No, it had begun to crack and burn, and though you have plucked it out of the fire, it is in itself still black and charred. So it is with the child of God. What is he at the best? Till he is taken up to heaven, he is nothing but a brand plucked out of the fire. It is his daily moan that he is a sinner; but Christ accepts him as he is: and he shuts the devil’s mouth by telling him, “Thou sayest this man is black — of course he is: what did I think he was but that? He is a brand plucked out of the fire. I plucked him out of it. He was burning when he was in it: he is black now he is out of it. He was what I knew he would be; he is not what I mean to make him, but he is what I knew he would be. I have chosen him as a brand plucked out of the fire. What hast thou to say to that?”
And so when we talk about preaching the gospel to ourselves part of that is also embracing our accusation. I’d be remiss to conclude this without pointing you to this excellent song by Shane & Shane:
