I wonder what answer you would get if you asked your non-believing friends if they believe whether they are accountable to anyone for their life? Many people are willing to say they believe in God, but so often that statement is divorced from truly being accountable to God. That lack of acceptance of accountability is seen everywhere in our world. When there is no accountability outside of self, there is only self. There is only what we can get out of this world for us. Imagine if our gospel response came by way of a very important question. Would you be terrifyingly surprised to find out that you are accountable to God and that at an unexpected time he will appear before you as the ultimate judge? Would you be further surprised to find out that his judgment will be based on his own perfect standard of goodness?
We live in a world that has a dangerous mentality of "out of sight, out of mind" when it comes to God. Every day we live with the enticements of money, popularity, sex, power, and every other allurement to keep our attention focused on the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. We have more than enough to keep us striving for ourselves so that we never have to think about one day being accountable to an ultimate authority. If you think this is a problem only for our culture and our time, think again. This is an ongoing human problem.
The Scriptures inform us that this problem has been the temptation for humanity from the beginning.
Genesis 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve was partly based on the lie that they would not be accountable for rebellion against God.
Gen 7:22-23 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. The people of the world in the time of Noah watched him build an ark for decades. In the ignorance of their accountability to God, all humanity except for eight people were drowned in the comprehensive judgment of God. Mat 24:37-39 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
2 Peter 3:3-4 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." In the time of the Apostle Peter in the first century AD, people were saying that there is no coming day of judgment for them. Out of sight, out of mind.
Two thousand years later and we are no different today. What if they knew? What if the warning of the coming of Christ and the final day of judgment became part of our gospel discussions? What if people could know that while there is no way for them to meet God's standard for that day, there is One who already has and offers his righteousness for their sin?
The gospel is not simply, Jesus died for you so that you can be in heaven. It is the fact that Jesus died for you who are guilty in sin and accountable to the judgment of God that will inevitably come for all humanity. The gospel gives us hope that, only through faith in Christ, we can be judged righteous by God on the final day because His righteousness will cover us. The gospel changes our life in the way we live today according to that accountability, and we also live today according to that hope.
What if people could know and see that truth?