Word of Salvation – Vol.53 No.12 – March 2008

 

It’s Got to Come Out!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 32

Scripture Reading:

Romans 11:25-12:21

 

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ…

Have you ever been called “a chip off the old block”? You know, others notice how much you are like your parents? Perhaps it’s your physical features, maybe a particular mannerism. There’s something that strikes someone else about you that reminds them of your mum or dad.

Imagine, though, instead of saying how much you were like your earthly parents, people were to say about you, “Look how much he’s like the Lord.” Fancy if they said to you, “You can tell that God’s your heavenly Father!” What a connection that would be! That we would be showing our faith so openly, and so clearly!

Showing that family likeness to God is not an unreal expectation. Instead, the Bible treats it as if it’s just a natural thing to do. That’s how it is expressed in our reading from Romans 11 and 12. The beginning of chapter 12 is a command: you have to do it! Yet in the light of those words Paul has just declared at the end of chapter 11, doesn’t it really become a natural expectation? Since we have been so richly blessed with the most marvellous salvation we really don’t have a choice! We’re related to God and we will show the family likeness!

Yes, you are related by adoption. But now you are family. Being joined to Christ, the Solid Rock, means that you are also “a chip off the old block!”

Believer, using this Lord’s Day, let’s see this family connection in three ways:

First – IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS INSIDE.

Second – IT’S HIS LIFE WHICH SHOWS OUTSIDE.

And Third – IT’S HIS LOVE THAT PUTS THEM OFFSIDE.

It’s His Spirit That Flows Inside

Our first point then is… IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS INSIDE. Having just spent most of the Heidelberg Catechism on the source of our salvation, we know who saved us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is clearly revealed. Right through from Lord’s Day 5, where we began to see that only a certain One could make up for us; then through the teaching of the Apostles’ Creed in which the Triune Godhead is clearly announced as the one God showing His grace by the Son; through to how we see His Body – the true Church – commissioned to preach the Good News about the Son in Lord’s Day 31. So we have seen the way of salvation being mapped out.

Now, knowing who and what exactly saved us, we can’t help but show it. You see, your conversion means that the Lord now comes and lives in your heart by the Holy Spirit. And we desperately need Him there because the Lord has still to bring us through this life into the next. Until He actually takes us to Himself, He hasn’t finished what He wants to do with us. You ain’t perfect yet!

So there is still work to be done on our souls until they become totally renewed in Christ. Answer 86 describes it, “so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us, and so that He may be praised through us.”

Remember, IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS INSIDE. It’s the Spirit who is working all things out for His good purpose, however we may find ourselves treated in the process! And, therefore, things aren’t necessarily meant to go our way – they’re meant to go His way! Man was originally created for no other reason than to glorify God.

What the Heidelberg Catechism says here is similar to what The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with. In answer to the question, “What is the chief end of man?” the Westminster Shorter Catechism replies so succinctly and beautifully, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

Isn’t this precisely the theme of those last verses of Romans 11? “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever.” Praise and fellowship – that’s why God made man. That’s also why He sent His Son and His Spirit to this earth. He so much desires to renew us, and to hear His praises from His creation again. IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS INSIDE!

It’s His Life That Shows Outside

Which leads us, secondly, to… IT’S HIS LIFE THAT SHOWS OUTSIDE.

Dear Christian, since you now have the vital life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit flowing from the True Vine into you and through you, as one of His branches, the fruit will come. In fact, isn’t it already budding right now? Haven’t you responded to the Lord’s call to worship Him today? Didn’t you seek His blessing in prayer as we began?

The power of Christian living is not that some spectacular fruit may one day appear, it’s actually in the hidden, mysterious working of God’s Spirit ever building towards that end result. So let the loveliness of what we see in Christ’s Body work in your life to gradually mould you and change you to be more like Christ. IT’S HIS LIFE THAT SHOWS ON THE OUTSIDE.

Listen to the words, congregation, of the latter part of Answer 86: “We may be assured of our faith by its fruits.” This reflects the teaching of our Lord in Matthew 7:17 about the good tree bearing good fruit. You just cannot do true good unless it flows from the Holy Spirit who lives in your heart.

Listen to how The Canons of Dordt wonderfully describe this in its first section, Article 12: “Assurance doesn’t come by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within…, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word – such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for our sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.” Fruit is plain to see if we know where to look!

When it comes time for self-examination, the believer – though sincerely sorry for his sin – will yet know by the fruits to whom he belongs. However, the one who claims to believe and yet doesn’t show any fruit, his faith will be severely shaken. Perhaps such a testing may drive him to Christ. Let’s pray it does so!

That’s why we need to remember the last lines of our Answer, “and so that by our godly living our neighbours may be won over to Christ.” Whether those neighbours are those we meet out there, or those unbelievers who could be right here, the Lord, through us, witnesses to them! And so often without us even knowing about it!

Here is how this happened to a doctor in Canada. He said,

“Apparently, I had everything – an excellent education, a medical degree, and certification in paediatrics. After fifteen years of successful practice in St Catherines, Ontario, I had a million dollar home. I had a beautiful wife and children. I was head of the paediatric department in one hospital and assistant head in another. But I was miserable. Life was a farce, a rat race, an endless chain of unconnected happenings. I tried to counter the feelings of hopelessness and despondency with alcohol and drugs. Getting them and using them was all too easy for me. I saw what a fraud I was, and reflected that my whole life was a lie.

Then my wife and I took a trip to the island of Barbados. One Sunday morning, we saw little black children going to church. Out of curiosity, we decided to join in their worship. I had never been in such a poor, run-down church. I don’t remember the pastor’s sermon, but he spoke as if he knew Jesus Christ. There was joy in the faces of the worshippers. I began to realise that it was the spirit of Christ that made them different. That evening, for the first time in my adult life, I knelt and prayed. I prayed that God, if there was one, would give me what these people had that money could not buy. I asked God for the missing ingredient in my life. I realised that my unbelief and disobedience made me a sinner. I asked God for forgiveness and received Jesus as my Saviour. I was set free! My whole life was changed! Since trusting Jesus, I felt alive for the first time. Christ has given me new wisdom to meet life’s problems and decisions. He has given me new strength, freedom from alcohol and drugs. For the first time I feel clean and free, full of hope and optimism!”

That man was converted through seeing the church from the outside. But there are those who need converting who are inside the church. Like the man who was converted after being a member of the church for the whole of life, because the Lord used marriage counselling to expose the hypocrisy in his life. He and his wife saw the motivation and marriage of the minister and his wife helping them, and it struck them.

This is what the apostle Peter meant in his first letter in Chapter 2:12, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” Yes – they could be saved! They too – just like you – may come to know Jesus Christ as their own Saviour and Lord. IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS WITHIN… so that… IT’S HIS LIFE THAT SHOWS OUTSIDE.

But there’s also a sad and difficult side to showing our faith. As we produce the fruits of faith, there are those who refuse to accept the Spirit which brought about that growth. While our hearts are being softened by the Word of the Lord to become more moulded to the image of Christ, there are those who are hardening their hearts against the very words which could free them from themselves! Galatians 5 shows us these people as they indulge themselves in their own selfishness. It shows that they habitually keep going the wrong way. And it’s not once or twice, or a few other times, but repeatedly they live depraved lives.

The apostle John draws the difference between them and the true believer by saying, in his first letter Chapter 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.”

Friend, God’s standard remains the same. Despite the spirit of this age in which almost every sin is tolerated and justified, God’s Word proves that while people might be fickle, He’s not! He’s still holy. He still demands that holiness from mankind. And though He could have held us accountable for breaking with Him and going our own way, yet, He – in love – gave no less than His own dear Son to make us holy again.

It’s His Love That Puts Them Offside

Congregation, this world has been given every opportunity to love God. Don’t let it tell you how cruel God must be. See that IT’S HIS LOVE THAT PUTS THEM OFFSIDE! Our third part.

You know, we were heading down the same road along with the world. We were the unchaste, idolatrous, adulterous, thieving, covetous, addicted, slanderous – to use the words of Answer 87, which are similar words to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. We would have been doing exactly what they’re doing.

The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 doesn’t stop there, though. In verse 11 he immediately says, “And that’s what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Christian, the wonder of what God has done in us through Jesus Christ just cannot be held back! It must flow! And we must let it! In the words of Galatians 5:24-25, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let’s keep in step with the Spirit.”

It’s this way, dear church of the Lord, that IT’S HIS LOVE THAT PUTS THEM OFFSIDE! Because they are caught out. Like the rule in soccer where a player is penalised for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so they are shown up.

But not so with us. IT’S HIS SPIRIT THAT FLOWS INSIDE. And IT’S HIS LIFE THAT SHOWS ON THE OUTSIDE.

Then each one of us is “a chip off the old block!” We are showing that Christ is our solid rock. And anything else is only shifting sand.

Amen.