The greatest threat to Christ-centered witness even in churches that formally affirm sound teaching is what British evangelical David Gibson calls “the assumed gospel.”

The idea is that that gospel is necessary for getting saved, but after we sign on, the rest of the Christian life is all the fine print: conditional forgiveness. It often comes in the form of, “Well, of course, but….” After a month of Sundays with exhortation apart from Good News, one might ask, “But what about the part about God persevering in spite of human sin and overcoming it for us at the cross?” “Well, of course! But everybody here already believes that. Now we just need to get on with living it out.” We got in by grace but now we need to stay in (or at least become first-class, sold-out, victorious fully surrendered Christians) by following various steps, lists, and practices.

There was this brief and shining moment of grace, but now the rest of the Christian life is about our experience, feelings, commitment, and obedience.

We always gravitate back toward ourselves: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.”

We wander back toward self-confidence just as easily as into more obvious sins.

It is no wonder that many Christians find themselves in the spiritual equivalent of midlife crisis, losing their first love, even wondering perhaps deep down whether it is all just a game.

Tragically, my generation will likely fare no better than the previous one on the hypocrisy test. We too will fall far short of that mandate to love God and our neighbor. What we need, therefore, is a gospel that is sufficient to save even unfaithful Christians. We can never take the gospel for granted. It is always a surprise announcement that fills our sails with faith for an active life of good works.

This is not an invitation to moral apathy but to godly sanity. The bad news is far worse than occasionally failing to live up to my potential.

The smallest sin in my eyes–not only what my hands have done, but what I’ve conceived in my heart–is sufficient to banish me from God’s holy and joyful presence forever. But the good news is far greater than the bad news is bad. The good news is far greater than “just try harder next time.” In fact, that is not good news at all because I know that God does not grade on a curve and he has not asked me to try harder. He demands perfect righteousness, not good intentions. The harder I try to cover up my nakedness in God’s presence, the more I hate God, fleeing in self-deceit from his terrifying presence. Left to myself, I will always accuse God and excuse myself–even using religion to hide my ineradicable guilt.

The good news is that Christ’s righteousness is greater than my sin. Fully absolved in Christ, I am free to confess my sins, receive the assurance of pardon, and go on in my imperfect yet Spirit-led obedience.

—Michael S. Horton, Christless Christianity, 119-21.