The World's Glorious Sins
Thinking about good works from a believing and nonbelieving standpoint
Wesley Huff, now a well-known Christian apologist and biblical scholar, made an appearance on The Flagrant Podcast hosted by comedian Andrew Schultz. This, from Huff, was yet another faithful showing on a popular podcast that reaches millions. Perhaps you saw where he also appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience earlier this year, which was equally fascinating.
When speaking with Schultz, Huff was talking about how we must view ourselves as bad people in order to see the goodness of God in salvation; we must admit our depravity so that we can even understand why we need a Savior. Schultz is not a clean comedian—so if you choose to watch it, be prepared to hear many four-letter words—and he responded,
[In order to see the beauty of salvation], you first have to admit you’re a piece of ****. And what if you don’t feel like you’re a piece of ****? Now I have to stop feeling good about myself and have to convince myself that I’m a piece of **** just so God can get me back to feeling good about myself. I think that really works for people who feel like they’re a piece of **** all the time. But if you don’t feel like a piece of **** — to convince yourself that you are, and the only way out of your piece of ****ness is to believe in this one person, who will then, through that belief, convince you to do the good and kind acts that you were already doing prior . . . I can see how that’s a heavy weight for people to take on.
Of course, there are many red flags in what Schultz is saying (including his use of profanity). But Huff, in my opinion, does a great job in his response (even though he chooses to use Schultz’s phrasing, but that’s another topic for another day).
What Schultz is saying led me to a great quote from the Puritan Thomas Brooks, “Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.” What Brooks is getting at is the fact that no one is capable of doing good deeds in the eyes of God before coming to faith in Jesus Christ. The emphasis there is on “in the eyes of God” because of course unbelieving people do good things. Sometimes unbelievers do extraordinary things for their communities and even the world. But if you examine the motivation of their heart, there will always—and I mean always—be a hint of sin, an inkling of pride.
God looks at those “good” works as filthy rags or menstrual garments (Is. 64:6). Brooks coins those “good” deeds as “glorious sins.” The argument, as Huff conveyed to Schultz, is not that unbelievers don’t be wonderful things. Like I mentioned above, unbelievers can do many good things, including volunteering at homeless shelters, paying for people’s food, donating to nonprofits, and the like. The problem resides in the fact that the motivation of their heart will never be 100% pure. They aren’t fooling God.
Take, for instance, the plethora of videos on social media. There’s one in particular of a guy going to a pizza shop, ordering hundreds of pizzas, and giving it to the homeless community in that area. On its face, that is absolutely a fantastic act—but it’s clear that the motivation is not pure simply by filming yourself doing it and posting it to social media for attention. I don’t think that’s me, or others, being cynical; I think that’s a clear indicator that unbelievers—or even Christians!—can do good deeds but not have pure motivations.
The Bible mentions a few things about unbelievers’ works and their stance,
Good deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)
They are hostile to God; cannot please God because of the flesh (Romans 8:7-8)
Unable to please the Lord without faith (Hebrews 11:6)
Unfit for good works because they don’t believe (Titus 1:15-16)
The main problem is unbeliever’s relationship with God. They are hostile. Every unbeliever in the world can do good things, but nothing they do will please the Lord apart from repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus Christ. It is then, and only then, that God works through us via the Holy Spirit to have us do works unto his glory (Ephesians 2:10).
All of this is intertwined with the fact that, per Schultz’s words, he feels like he’s a good person. He admits in the podcast that he has sin, but doesn’t admit that he’s not a good person. There’s a disconnect there because of his, and many others’, inability to understand who God is and who we are in relation to the Lord. We must remember that Scripture teaches that “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
As Brooks said, until someone comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, their good deeds, their acts of service, their heartwarming moments on Facebook are only but glorious sins before a holy God who sees the heart.