The remark by Machen below is as true today as it was in 1919. In this modern world, may we be ever more convinced, not of our self-worthiness, but of our sins and the grace we have received in our union with Him.
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But how may this Christian conception of the majesty of Jesus' person be regained?
Some people think it may be regained simply by more knowledge. If people would only read the gospels more, we are told, they would come to know Jesus, and, knowing him, they would revere him. But knowledge, important though it is, is not sufficient. Many men knew Jesus in the days of his flesh--intelligent men, too--who never became his disciples. Who then were those who did come to reverence him? The answer is plain. During the earthly lifetime of Jesus and all through the centuries, the men who really understood the majesty of Jesus' person were the men who were convicted of their sin. Peter was one of those who said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." The dying thief was another; he knows more about Jesus today than many a modern preacher who has the name of Jesus forever on his lips. Paul was another--a brave, clean man he was, too, as the world looks on it, even before he found forgiveness in Christ. The real reason why men no longer understand the majesty of Jesus' person is that they do not contrast his holiness with their own sinfulness; they are without the conviction of sin.
--- J. Gresham Machen, "The Church in the War" (a chapel address at Princeton Seminary on May 6, 1919) ---
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