Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 21 – June 1991
Why Preach The Perfect Law Of God To An Imperfect People?
Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Lord’s Day 44, Q&A 115
Reading: Romans 13:8-14; Revelation 3:14-22
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Lord’s Day 44 begins with a statement concerning the tenth commandment but concludes with saying what the Ten Commandments as a whole mean for the Christian believer. We first saw that coveting is really at the back of every sin. To fight successfully against sin is to be content with whatever God gives. But you would not know how to be content in a God-glorifying way were it not for the law of God. The Ten Commandments are for the Christian what a good map is for the traveller. In the commandments God asks for comprehensive obedience. That is, we must obey all the commandments and not only the ones that seem to suit us.
The Christian soon discovers, however, that his obedience is far from perfect. That can be a cause for unhappiness, yet he knows that he must not despair. God’s commandments are good and they show the way. So in following them the Christian experiences well-being and joy. He can delight in the law of God, for without the law he would not know what is right or wrong.
We have arrived at a point where we can say that it is a blessed thing to obey God but we do not expect to be perfect.
Is it still necessary to say anything more? We know what to do and we know that we cannot do it perfectly. But it is precisely at this point that we can come to a standstill in our pilgrimage of faith.
‘Ever heard a Christian say: ‘Look, I am in a bit of a dead spot at the moment. My spirituality seems to have lost its shine and enthusiasm. I know I am supposed to enjoy my Bible, the worship of God and serving Him but sometimes I’ve got to push myself to do all this.’ ‘Ever heard that kind of talk before? You most likely have. It was probably you who spoke like that. It’s a form of spiritual lethargy that we are all familiar with.
There is so much about God to get excited about, and we are amazed that it affects us so little at times. We should be more obedient to God’s commandments but after being a Christian for many years, we somehow don’t expect to be running on all cylinders all of the time. After all, nobody’s perfect.
It is like being married for many years. You love your wife or husband but you know each other’s limitations so well. So you have gradually settled into a mediocre marriage, that is, you are no longer hot or cold.
Is it then still necessary to say anything more now that we know that it is a blessed thing to love and obey God but knowing also that we cannot expect to be perfect at it? The answer is of course: yes. We simply cannot afford to go on with a lukewarm relationship with God. It is dangerous for a marriage. It is even more dangerous with God. He could decide to spit us out of His mouth.
Yet, here we are today hearing His Word. He is still knocking at the door of our heart and calling out to His people to let Him back in, for if we belong to Him then He needs to live inside us. It’s nice to have good fellowship again, for us to eat with Him and He with us.
But what is God doing for us lukewarm Christians? Well, in His love and grace He wants us to give some fresh attention to His commandments. Yes, even though we cannot obey them perfectly, the Lord still uses His commandments to help us grow spiritually.
So in answer to the question: ‘Why preach the perfect law of God to an imperfect people?’ we say:
1. Because God wants this;
2. Because the Ten Commandments drive us to Christ; and
3. Because they set a perfect goal for us.
1. Firstly then, it is God Himself who wants the Ten Commandments preached to an imperfect people. But are we sure about this? We can see by looking at question 115 that the Heidelberg Catechism says this, but does God say that too?
The thing to do, of course, is not to look at the rest of Scripture for the Ten Commandments in the same form as you find them in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Scripture interprets itself and you will find the heart of each commandment repeated in many places, both in the Old and New Testament. In Romans 13:9 the apostle Paul literally quotes four commandments and adds, ‘and whatever other commandment there may be.’
But when you understand what each commandment is saying, not just in a negative sense but especially in a positive sense then you find that God is holding His law before His people all the time and especially when His imperfect people have drifted away from Him and are in need of renewal.
Take, for example, the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He takes a number of the commandments and really applies the heart of each commandment to our personal lives. And when He has done all that then the Lord says: ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matt.5:48).
We know that perfection will only come when we are home with God in heaven. And the Catechism also says that the goal of perfection is at the end. Yet, the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us is not going to allow us to rest on our laurels, for He knows that as soon as we do that we will be in trouble. There are many Christians who have fallen by the wayside because of their slackness. We all know of some. Now don’t let the same happen to you. Take Jesus’ words to heart when He says: Be “perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
It’s no good measuring yourself against some other Christian. When you do that you will either feel content with your achievements or you will excuse yourself by saying that no one is perfect.
What we have to do is to measure ourselves against the perfect will of God. The Ten Commandments in their deepest and fullest meaning are our yardstick. How can a Christian be content to take it easy as regards his obedience to the commandments when Jesus said: ‘Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt.7:21)?
Manufacturers like their products to work properly. To ensure that this happens they provide their customers with an instruction booklet. If the design is good and the workmanship is of a high standard, then the product will give the desired performance, provided the instructions are followed.
God created man good, after His own image and God is perfect. But man failed to carry out the instructions properly. So man began to malfunction. Whilst God was in no way to blame, He nevertheless did something about it. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to fix things up. Christ did it perfectly. He lived the life of man just as God’s instructions wanted it to be done. In this He glorified His Father in heaven. Then in His death and resurrection, Christ somehow accounted for man’s failure to obey God’s instructions perfectly. But Christ’s saving work in man will only be of benefit to man when he believes and trusts that Christ has fixed him up. But not only did the Saviour make man as new again, He also put His Holy Spirit within man so that man was given the means to obey the instructions perfectly.
The instructions are the Ten Commandments and only when we follow them up perfectly can we function properly as a people of God. That’s what God wants for the people He has made in His image and then remade them in Christ the Saviour. You now can’t afford to do anything else but to obey the Ten Commandments properly.
2. Then secondly, God wants the Ten Commandments preached to an imperfect people because it will drive them to Christ. We have just seen that our Saviour wants us to be perfect because our heavenly Father is perfect. It’s not a matter of doing this in your own strength, for Christ has put His Holy Spirit within us.
But we still strike a problem. It’s that inability to be perfect. I can hear you say it. You say: Yes, I believe Christ to be my Saviour, I needed Him for I failed to obey the instructions properly, and I can see how a perfect God can only be glorified when we obey perfectly, but even with the Holy Spirit working in me I still find that I mess things up in my life.
Yes, how true. We still cause arguments; we still upset our wives and husbands needlessly; we still can be a pain in the neck to others, we still cheat; we still lust; yes, in many ways we still covet and thus sin over against God in just about all the areas the Ten Commandments cover.
But when the commandments are regularly preached in a way that hits home, then we will find that they drive us to Christ.
Imagine a father teaching his son how to make the garden look just perfect. Cutting the lawn and pulling out the weeds are things the son learns quickly enough. But there are also the edges to be trimmed and cut in a straight line, the soil is to be turned over so that it looks fresh and the flowers and bushes need expert attention. The son gets frustrated with these things because learning to use the tools right and remembering what needs doing takes time. The father comes alongside his son and shows him how. This does two things. The father’s example will make the son see how his work is far from perfect and that in turn will make him look to his father all the more, in order for him to do it better.
The preaching of the Ten Commandments will drive us to Christ in much the same way as the son is forced to see again how his father can do such a neat job.
As Christians we can be stubborn and also stupid by not looking to Christ and turning a deaf ear to His commandments. But that results in having a very messy and untidy Christian lifestyle. In fact, by ignoring Christ we could end up being excluded from the kingdom of heaven.
But if we don’t want that to happen then we will patiently and humbly allow Christ to show us how to live our lives to the glory of God. We look to Him and see how He obeyed His Father’s commandments in such perfect manner. In so doing we will see our sin even more than ever. But something can be done about it. Christ, by His example, teaches us how to do things better. In fact, we will be increasingly eager to look to Christ, for who wants a messy garden when your life can look like paradise?
The catechism sums it up so well. God wants us to understand the commandments in a manner that they hit home, ‘so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.’
Yes, how wonderful it is to be able to go to Christ and say: I am sorry Lord, for having made such a mess, please forgive me; and then to hear: you are forgiven my child, I am coming to you to help you do things right.
Did you notice by the way that it takes time to do it right? The catechism speaks of ‘the longer we live.’ We should not overlook that. Life is a pilgrimage. It’s not happening all at once. The longer the Christian lives the more he begins to see the sinfulness of sin and the more he begins to look to Christ.
Many make the mistake of thinking that they don’t have to start obeying God’s commandments straightaway in the beginning but leave serious obedience for later on. But God would say to that: ‘You fool! You do not know when your life will end. That could happen this very night.’
You must make a start straightaway in following Christ. And as you do so, you will find this principle at work: things intensify. You will see more sin around you and in you, and you will see your need for Christ more and you will love Him more.
When this principle is not yours your idea of salvation is limited to Christ only saving people from hell. And if that is what you think salvation mainly consists of then you don’t need Christ now, you only have need for Him at the end of your life, gambling that you will know when that will be.
But men will only escape hell at the end when Christ has saved them from the evil that is now present in their hearts. We should ask the Saviour to save us from rebellion against God; to be more aware of our living in the sight of God than our being afraid of the anger of others; to be at peace with God more than seeking the praise of men.
Salvation is to have your sunken spirits lifted now; to experience full and free forgiveness in the present; to serve the Lord with joy and gladness at this very time; to find direction and guidance from God’s Word in whatever present situation one is placed; and to let Christ be king over your life and family now.
It is not something to be held over for the future but it is now that the commandments of God should drive us to Christ.
And if you should find that it is still hard and toilsome to obey God’s commandments, then remember to what lengths the Lord went in His suffering to put you on the pathway of life. See how He loved you enough to even die the death you deserved, and how He loves you even now.
When we do not love the other person, then doing something for this person becomes hard labour. But Jacob loved Rachel and so the seven years of hard work he had to do in order to get her seemed like only a few days to him (Gen.29:20).
See what the Lord did to save you and help you follow the instructions properly. When you do, then you will find that loving Christ comes more easily and that in turn will make obeying Him easier. Jesus said, `If you love me, you will obey what I command.’ (John 14:1) and His commandments are not burdensome. He said, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ (Matt.11:30) The labour of love, therefore, is never hard, even if it demands our all.
We have seen so far that God wants His perfect law preached to His imperfect people; and that will drive us to Christ; and now lastly we see that the Ten Commandments set a perfect goal for us. What is this goal? It is perfection. Or if you like – glorification. Remember how it says in Romans 8:30: And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.’
Yes, in Christ God has done everything for the Christian already. But there is also a full perfection at the end when Christ is all and in all.
In the present we set our eyes on that goal. The Christian’s aim must be to become what he is already in Christ. Without a goal to aim for we will become stagnant and that spells deterioration. The ten commandments that God wants preached, and which drive us to Christ, also set a perfect goal for us.
It is to be like Christ. To be like Jesus is to have `true righteousness and holiness’ (Eph.4:24); to have ‘tenderness and compassion’ (Phil.2:1); to have the same mind as Christ, the same love, being one with Him in spirit and purpose (2:2); it is not to be selfish or conceited but humble, considering others better than yourself, looking not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others (2:3,4); it is to become mature in the knowledge of Christ (Eph.4:14,15).
It also means being increasingly transformed into Christ’s likeness with ever increasing glory (2Cor.3:18).
Should all this become too high and too lofty then we may remember that God knows we are still ‘jars of clay’ (2Cor.4:7). We can be hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed’ (4:8,9). Yes, we are jars of clay but we carry God’s glory all the same and possess it in ever increasing measure.
‘We are being renewed day by day’ (4:16).
As we press on towards the goal we get more from God and less out of ourselves. The things of God become more important than things in ourselves. And so we travel on in our pilgrimage and finally we shall see God, face to face. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1John 3:2). Then our salvation will be complete and then we will have no further need of any commandment. That travellers’ map has served us well. But when we have reached our destination, the map can be folded up and put away.
But lest you walk away from here thinking: Well, that’s not really fair, he has left us with heaven but now we have to go back into the world! Let me remind you of one wonderful piece of equipment that makes living in the world a real challenge. It is prayer! Yes, prayer.
We pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God’s image. On your pilgrimage to the goal how can the Christian be kept from being crushed, from despairing, from feeling abandoned and from being destroyed? It is prayer.
In prayer we have an open door into the heart of our heavenly Father. We are never alone. As the Ten Commandments are held before God’s people, then all the time the Christian can look up to His Saviour Christ and say: Lord, help me with this, guide me in that, uphold me, forgive me, strengthen me and bless me. Yes, prayer is our communication with God, it is our lifeline.
You have probably seen those river ferries that cross the river guided by a cable. The engine is on the ferry, it drives itself but it needs the cable to get to the other side.
‘Work out your salvation’, says God, and He adds, ‘for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose’ (Phil.2:12,13).
So we take hold of salvation, we strain towards what is ahead, we press on towards the goal (Phil.3:12-14), and it is as if God is driving us to the other side and we pulling on that line which is really our prayer. The psalmist in Ps.119 tells God that he loved His law and asked God to open his eyes to see its beauty and help him to obey. How did the psalmist communicate this to God? He did it in prayer!
AMEN