Word of Salvation – Vol.52 No.28 – July 2007

 

Don’t Get It Wrong!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 24

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:9-14

 

Congregation…

At first glance, doesn’t it seem that Lord’s Day 24 repeats the previous Lord’s Day? Lord’s Day 23 says clearly that we’re made right with God by faith alone. And don’t we know that to accept this gift of God we only need a believing heart? So why then does Lord’s Day 24 continue to mention that it is by God’s grace alone that we are who we are?

To understand why, we need to picture the situation in which the Catechism was written. In 1563, in the middle of Germany, there was one particular religious force which the authors of the Catechism were opposing. That opposition was the Roman Catholic Church. And a most powerful force it was! The people had for hundreds of years been controlled by its thinking.

So a major problem in these early Protestant churches was faulty thinking because of Catholicism. Therefore, after having spelt out justification by faith, the two authors of the Catechism – Ursinus and Olevianus – immediately had to point out that there was nothing in addition to faith that made you right with God.

You see, Rome would not have disagreed that you were saved by grace. They had no problem with the idea that you were justified by faith. That’s why in recent years they have had no difficulty making agreements with Protestants. There was even the ‘Evangelicals & Catholics Together’ document, in which a number of well-known evangelicals, such as Charles Colson and J I Packer, came to an understanding with certain Catholic leaders.

When you look at those statements you have to admire them. They affirm so much of the fundamentals of the biblical faith. They only miss out the most important word – ALONE! The very word the Reformation was all about – Faith Alone; Grace Alone; Christ Alone; Scripture Alone.

Rome still says you also need to do these other things. They haven’t got rid of salvation by works through religious rituals and penances, or the worship of icons and saints. The Mass is still the actual presence of Christ’s physical body. And according to them only the Roman Catholic Church “alone” (!) is able to help you do these other things.

In a way the thought that we can contribute to our salvation is quite appealing. It is such a powerful idea in fact that it’s not only the Roman Catholic Church today which teaches them. This doctrine is called Pelagianism. A name which comes from Pelagius whom Augustine opposed in the early centuries of the New Testament church. A doctrine which popped up again with Jacob Arminius in Holland at the end of the 16th Century. And we know that resulted in the Synod of Dordt, and the very clear Canons of Dordt exposing that error.

But the idea keeps coming back – the idea that our decision itself is crucial in our salvation means there’s something you have to do; like the Roman Catholic with his participation in the Mass. But in the end it becomes a new slavery. How can you be sure then that you have done enough? Were you feeling completely dedicated when you made that choice? Have you been really full-on for Him since?

Answer 62 hits this right on the head! Here we confess that the good we do, in order to pass God’s scrutiny, must measure up to the divine law in every way! It has to be perfect! And looking at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word we see that even the very best we do is imperfect – it’s blotted with sin. In those telling words of Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one.”

So the first aspect to our text that we see is, that it is NOT ON OUR OWN. We read earlier, in Luke 18, the parable of our Lord of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Two completely different people were pictured. The Pharisee is an upright, religious man. He goes to church twice each Lord’s Day. He puts many of us to shame by that ten per cent he puts in the collection bag – of his gross income, too! He is an asset to any church. He quite honestly shared that with God. He prayed, thanking God for how good he was.

Then, in stark contrast, there is the Tax Collector. He had never given or done anything for the church, let alone for those around him. All he has done is become rich – at the expense of others! What could he say to God? Only this, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.” Yet Jesus con-cludes in vs 14, “I tell you that this man” – the tax collector – “rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Do you see? There’s nothing you can bring to God. No amount of following the rules gets you credit with Him. We can only come before God and confess our complete worthlessness. You have to say again and again and again, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.” And in that exact moment you are forgiven! Then in Christ it is as if you had never sinned, nor been a sinner. You’re seen by God to be as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for you! So, we cannot do anything to please God. We are justified by faith alone.

But that’s about our being saved. Once we’re saved it’s a different story, isn’t it? Then you can’t say that the good we do won’t count. I mean, God says He’s going to reward us for the good we do. And He says we will receive a reward in this life and the next. In the same way He says we’ll be judged for what we have done on this earth. This is the essence of Question 63. For the Bible does speak of God rewarding the good and obedient ones, and punishing the evil and disobedient. There are over one hundred verses in Scripture that speak of rewards, even if there are only two mentioned in the footnotes below Answer 63.

Look at what David says in Psalm 19:11, about keeping the law – “in keeping them there is great reward.” The apostle Paul says of the believer in 1 Corinthians 3:14, “he will receive his reward.” And the apostle John, in quoting Jesus in the very last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:12, says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”

Now, if God is going to give rewards to those doing good, then it must be that those good works do have some merit in them. Can’t you picture the Roman Catholic theologian picking at the Reformers at one of their various discussions? He taunts, “God must reward good works!” But we have to say, according to the Scriptures: Those rewards that God gives to those who obey are always on the basis of grace, not merit. God never owes man anything. The rewards of obedience are never earned. In the words of the second aspect to our text… GOD DOES IT ALONE.

Mind you, we could put it more simply, in the words of Answer 63. As it says, “This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace.” God doesn’t owe us anything. We can never claim this reward as some kind of right. Some churches get very close to doing exactly that. And churches which may surprise you. In fact, some of the fastest growing churches within Protestantism say that this is definitely the way God works. And we should expect Him to. In fact, if He doesn’t we should tell Him what to do! This is usually known as the ‘health-and-wealth’ gospel. These are the televangelists who turn the Bible’s teaching upside down. They will tell us that we fail to see this because of our ignorance.

They interpret the Book of Job in this way. Job’s problem was that he was ignorant of how he could realise God’s blessings through all his sufferings. If Job only stood on God’s Word, and kept standing on it, he would have been sure to have had whatever he wanted to have! It was when Job realised that his faith would be victorious that his fortunes were finally turned around! But what does the end of the book of Job really teach us? Isn’t it that God’s grace is seen in the life of Job? He had kept His servant through it all. That was despite what Job sometimes said and did. And Job finally confesses that.

But the Roman Catholic theologian hasn’t finished yet. He’s already detected another possible chink in the Reformer’s armour. So he asks a further question, often thrown up at the Protestants. This is Question 64. And it goes, “But doesn’t this teaching make people indifferent and wicked?”

After the Roman Catholic Church has gone to such extreme lengths, and spent so much time on building up this very involved system of salvation, they couldn’t afford to have people saying that salvation is simply a gift of grace! That’s heresy, and it will show, too! That makes things too easy for people! Can’t you see that they need something to guide their lives by? Telling them only of God’s grace makes things more difficult for them by making it too easy! It’s a fool’s paradise, an easy, get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a view, sadly, which is not only found in the Roman Catholic Church. There are many churches today who add on to God’s gift of grace. They say you need that something extra. It has to be Faith Plus, Grace Plus, Christ Plus, Scripture Plus.

For instance, they say you need Faith Plus Feeling. You have to have a distinct conversion experience. And if you can’t recount that how can you be sure you are a Christian. They might say, “You’re not just going to take God’s Word for it, are you?” But that’s exactly the point, isn’t it? We can only take God’s Word for it. Anything else is as stable as the sand that’s blown by the wind. Anything else is always changing. And before you know it, you have to confirm your experience with other experiences. Because baptism by immersion is part of your decision, well, you find you can be “done” again when you go to another church. Going down to the altar call becomes a weekly event. In fact, when that terrific American evangelist comes to town you go down every night.

Back in my Massey University days the Pentecostal movement was in full swing. And after much begging from my charismatic friends I went along with them on the last night of one of those travelling evangelistic crusades. Well, at the end of the keynote address there was the inevitable altar call. So the plea went out that those who had been convicted to accept Christ should come down to the front. There they would be prayed over and receive counselling on living the Christian life.

Suddenly, I was all on my own! All my friends were filing down to the front. So I called out to one of them, “Why are you going down now? Aren’t you already a Christian?” To which I got the reply, “Oh this is the fifth time this week. I’ve been every night!” It’s like one speaker very honestly said when he wasn’t getting much response to an altar call, “Oh just come down if you want to feel good!”

So who is being made indifferent and wicked? The Catholics were accusing the Reformers of this danger, but in a sense the shoe was on the other foot! Answer 64 quite strongly replies to that taunt that this teaching made people apathetic and bad, “No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to bear fruits of gratitude.”

In the words of the third aspect to our text… HE IS WHO WE MAKE KNOWN.

You see, we could not say that we show ourselves to be Christian if it depended upon ourselves. But the wonderful thing is, brothers and sisters, young people, it doesn’t depend on us! We have been grafted into Christ by the true faith He has worked in our hearts.

That same Christ will keep us by His Spirit. He’s busy, right now, working in our lives. And despite what may happen to us, that Spirit will be shown through us. As the apostle James describes it in James 2:26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

We simply cannot help but be Christians, in what we think, or say, or do. Mind you, there will be times when we quench the Spirit. In fact, we’ll do that often, despite all our good intentions. Yet, like the prodigal son, we have that constant realisation that we can go back to our Father and confess our sins to Him. As our Lord said in Luke 4:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

What is it that makes you good or bad in the sight of the Lord? Isn’t it that position you have before Him? That position you have in Christ!

So, dear friend, where are you standing before God? Have you, in faith, reached out and taken Christ?

I’m certainly not appealing for you to have some kind of special experience. Quite the opposite. For can you see – whether for the first time or again – that it’s God’s work alone which saves you, and which keeps you safe? Have you confessed, in those immortal words of Horatius Bonar:

“Not what my hands have done, can save my guilty soul;

Not what my toiling flesh has borne, can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do, can give me peace with God,

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears, can bear my awful load.

Thy grace alone, O God, to me can pardon speak;

Thy power alone, O Son of God, can this sore bondage break.

No other work save Thine, no other blood will do;

No strength save that which is divine, can bear me safely through.”

(PsH 389:1,2)

Oh, may this be the song upon your hearts tonight! For the spirit which sings this in truth is the Spirit which loves the truth!

Amen.