Ben Sasse driven to tears expressing hope of Gospel amid cancer

Former Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was overcome with emotion throughout a latest interview as he described the hope and luxury that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has introduced him as he faces imminent demise from Stage 4 pancreatic most cancers.

“We’re all on the clock, but knowing that your death is impending sooner gives you an even greater ability to deny any of our righteous acts as righteous,” Sasse, 53, mentioned throughout an hour-long dialog posted Wednesday along with his longtime pals, Reformed theologian Michael Horton and Dan Bryant, a former assistant legal professional common on the U.S. Division of Justice.

Sasse, who served because the director of Horton’s White Horse Inn and government editor of Trendy Reformation on the Christian media firm Sola Media earlier than coming into politics, mentioned the terminal sickness he first introduced publicly final December has clarified to him the guts of the Gospel and his personal incapacity to justify himself earlier than God.

“The foolishness of our works are pretty apparent to you when you try to really look at the accounting of a life,” he mentioned, including, “Jesus did everything on the cross to fulfill the whole law. I fulfilled none of it. He fulfilled all of it.”

Citing Genesis 3 and Romans 5, Sasse acknowledged his subjection to the Curse, however grew emotional describing the kindness of Christ in laying apart His glory to revive fellowship with sinners.

“I am, in Adam, a member of this rebellious race — imago Dei, we were created glorious in God’s image and meant for fellowship with Him, and yet we’re a part of this rebel clan of everybody,” he mentioned.

“And that’s not the end of the story. The end of the story is the new Adam came from Heaven, laid down all of His prerogatives and came and swept us up,” he added via tears.

“The foolishness of our works are pretty apparent to you when you look at the accounting of a life. . .Jesus did everything on the cross to fulfill the whole law. I fulfilled none of it. He fulfilled all of it.”

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Horton, who additionally serves as professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, responded to Sasse’s heartfelt description of the Gospel by citing Ephesians 2:6, the place the Apostle Paul writes of being raised with Jesus to the heavenly locations, and a pair of Corinthians 4:7-16, the place he writes of the everlasting hope of glory amid temporal affliction and demise.

“The ‘weight of glory’ Paul talks about is so great, it’s not even worth comparing the sufferings of this age and of our lives right now to that weight of glory that will appear in us,” mentioned Horton, who famous Paul repeatedly skilled profound struggling throughout his ministry and was not making an attempt to be dismissive of ache.

“[Even Paul] can say, not that this is unimportant, this is insignificant at all, but glory is so great that this suffering right now seems like, in retrospect, it will seem like a light and momentary affliction,” Horton mentioned.

Sasse, who’s present process chemotherapy remedy and was evidently struggling bodily all through the interview, additionally defined that the Lord has used his sickness to strip him of the issues during which he as soon as positioned inordinate worth.

“I have a bunch of tumors that have grown in and around my spinal column, and so, I had some tough pain that was hard to make sense of,” he mentioned. “And it definitely shattered idols really fast; lots of dumb stuff that I cared too much about, and I was too self-reliant about, seemed really pointless.”

Sasse mentioned he has been reminded amid his bodily ache of the phrases of the late Rev. Tim Keller, who was additionally stricken with pancreatic most cancers and claimed amid his personal struggling that whereas he hated his sickness, he would “never want to go back to the prayer life I had before cancer.”

Remembering how, earlier than his prognosis, he must take sizzling showers each 20 minutes to alleviate the ache in his again that might shoot to his stomach, Sasse mentioned, “I felt then, what a blessing that I’m saying, ‘Lord, come quickly, Maranatha. Thank you for all of the different things that I used to cling to that right now seem really, really trivial, because they’re actually really trivial.'”

Wanting again, Sasse mentioned he regrets having devoted a lot time to his work to the detriment of observing the Sabbath.

“One thing I tell my kids a lot is, ‘Man, I wish I’d taken the Lord’s Day more seriously more in my life, because it’s a really good antidote to all those idolatries.’ God smashing idols for us is a blessing, and having a death sentence is a really good way.”

Sasse represented Nebraska within the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2023 earlier than resigning mid-term to function president of the College of Florida. In his Dec. 23 publish to X asserting his prognosis, which he known as “a death sentence,” Sasse expressed love for his spouse, Melissa, and delight within the latest accomplishments of his three kids — his daughters, Corrie and Alex, and his 14-year-old son, Breck.