Good Morning!
It’s great to be back in Bethany. The Lord has been kind and gracious in my travels over the past week, as I went from Bonclarken to Asheville to Philadelphia to St. Davids and back to Charlotte and Clover. So much blessing comes from spending time with the saints, especially those who you have never met in real life, only on the internet. There is something about the brotherhood of the Church which brings peace and joy to the heart of the believer. Part of the reason for that comes from our common heritage in Christ. The one whom has brought us His righteousness to be our own has caused our souls to be knit together in the Spirit. For today’s catechism lesson we are going to explore a little but more on what that salvation means, where it comes from, and how it is applied to our hearts. Here are the Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.
Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.
The opening question reminds us of our major problem. We are alienated from God by our sin, and not only our sin but that breaking of the Covenant of Works made by us in Adam. Because of that what do we deserve? Judgment and death. Remember the words of the righteous thief on the cross:
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’
All men are justifiably deserving of Hell. Until we understand that, and apply that to ourselves we will never understand the fullness of the gospel. If Christ died to make good people better than what is the point? If Jesus laid down His life to “clean the slate” than it seems like a half-way redemption. It’s like giving a dog a bath and then releasing him by the mudhole. It must be that we, by nature, by the fall of Adam, are dead in sin, and not just dead but in active rebellion against the Lord God. We must therefore not just be given a holiness bath, but must in every way be born again. That new life must contain in itself the very seeds of its own success wholly by the gift of grace in Christ. The violated image of God is restored in Jesus’s death, life, and resurrection and our being united to Him by that very faith that He has given and granted unto us by promise. That is what true assurance looks like and that is the heart of both of the catechism questions before our eyes this morning.
Heidelberg Catechism Day 7, Question 21 gives us an even more full answer to the inquiry which is helpful for our understanding. It notes:
Q. 21. What is true faith?
A. True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness, and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.
Take a second and think through a little bit about what Zacharias Ursinus has presented for us here.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus? It means to rest and trust in the finished work of Christ as being the hope of our deliverance from sin, and its power, as well as the source of our being made righteous in the eyes of God both in this life and in the life to come. All this is found alone in Jesus the Redeemer. To mash up two different hymns, there is no other argument, there is no other plea because our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, for all other ground is sinking sand.
Too many people look at the decent things they do and think that will get them into Heaven. “I’m doing okay, God has to let me into Heaven”. Balderdash, as they say. The Lord says Himself there is no other way to the Father than through Him. Ladies and gentlemen if that does not get your blood flowing than I don’t know what will. For the Christian there cannot be anything that rises to be as much good news as that.
Lastly, I want to go back to something the Westminster Divines make clear in the first of the Shorter Catechism question and that is the way in which we come to have that faith. God works in and through the ordinary things of life to accomplish His will. It is in this way that Jehovah shames the wise and humbles the shrewd. Through the diligent use of all the outward means we come to know Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is by the preaching of the Word that men come to rest in Jesus alone as being the source and author of their Redemption. Israel was called to be mightier than the nations around them by outbreeding them. Hebrew midwives told their Egyptian captors that moms of Jacob’s realm were “lively” in birth. Such should be us when it comes to ensuring the ordinary means of grace are used in the life of the people of God. This catechism in which we have spent the last ten months going through is an example of this. Memorizing and applying the truths found in them is not how the world would go about things, but it is the way the Creator has called us. Let us trust in Him in all things.
Here is a something to consider:
https://rts.edu/resources/faith-is/
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church