" GOD USES STRICT PREACHING OF THE LAW TO URGE GROWTH IN HIS PEOPLE ."

114. Q. But can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly?
A. No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience.[1] Nevertheless, with earnest purpose they do begin to live not only according to some but to all the commandments of God.[2]
[1] Eccles. 7:20; Rom. 7:14, 15; I Cor. 13:9; I John 1:8. [2] Ps. 1:1, 2; Rom. 7:22-25; Phil. 3:12-16.

115. Q. If in this life no one can keep the ten commandments perfectly, why does God have them preached so strictly?
A. First, that throughout our life we may more and more become aware of our sinful nature, and therefore seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ.[1] Second, that we may be zealous for good deeds and constantly pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that He may more and more renew us after God's image, until after this life we reach the goal of perfection.[2]
[1] Ps. 32:5; Rom. 3:19-26; 7:7, 24, 25; I John 1:9. [2] I Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:12-14; I John 3:1-3.

Scripture Reading:
Romans 7:7-25
Philippians 1:1-10

Singing:  (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 17:3,6
Hymn 29:1,2
Psalm 19:3,5
Psalm 119:35,36
Psalm 40:3 & Hymn 57:4

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

In Q 115 our Catechism queries why God wants the Ten Commandments "preached so strictly." It’s a question, I think, that lives in the hearts of each of us. In the course of this past year, we’ve heard the Ten Commandments read out to us some 52 times; week after week we were reminded not to do this and not to do that. More, in various sermons the holy will of our God was laid before us on this matter and that and that. In the last three months we’ve heard sermons on each of the Ten Commandments. As we listened to the law Sunday by Sunday, as we listened to these sermons throughout the year, there were times that we felt uncomfortable, felt guilty, felt spoken to; we squirmed on our seat. Then we wonder: is that really the way it should be? Why draw attention to our sins? Didn’t Christ come to take sins away, so that the emphasis should be on His forgiving work? Shouldn’t we tone down the preaching on the demands, on the law, so that we hear more Gospel?

Yes, we’d prefer to downplay the law, to emphasize the gospel; that’s more agreeable to our human nature. Yet in Q 115, congregation, we implicitly confess that the Lord wants the Ten Commandments preached "strictly". So we want to know why. That’s the material I need to draw out with you this afternoon. Has the preaching this past year been too strict? Should the preaching next year be lighter?

In our Lord’s Day, brothers and sisters, we answer these questions in the negative. No, the preaching has not been too strict. On the contrary. For God would make us grow in Him through the use of admonitions….

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

In order to make clear the purpose for strict preaching of the law, I need first, brothers and sisters, to set before you the context in which this preaching occurs. We don’t live in Paradise anymore, we don’t live before Sinai either, nor before the first coming of Jesus Christ. Instead, in the broad picture of salvation history, we live between the moment of Christ’s victory over Satan on Calvary and His return on the last day. That fact is critically important in understanding the need for the strict preaching of the law. To explain what I mean, I ask your attention for Afghanistan.

The Taliban regime controlled the biggest part of the country for the last five or so years. Countless of the Afghani people experienced the Taliban as oppressive. By order of the government, the men folk were not to shave their beards. The women were not to be seen in public; they had to hide themselves under their burkas. Children were not allowed to fly a kite; that was too frivolous. TVs and radios were banned as too worldly. Etc.

Under the assault of the American army, the Taliban regime collapsed; America has won the war, the Taliban signed for peace. You will recall the reaction of the Afghani people when their part of the country was delivered from their slavery to the Taliban. The media told us extensively how the people of Kabul responded when the Taliban was driven out of their town. Men got their beards shaved, women tossed aside their burkas, children flew their kites, TVs and radios were hauled out of the cupboards. The people were free, and they gave enthusiastic expression to that freedom.

We’ve followed the news since the deliverance of Kabul. America may have won the war, but that did not mean that peace is restored to Afghanistan. The news has told us how not every man in Kabul dared to shave his beard, and not every woman dared to lift her veil. That was because the people didn’t trust each other; they knew some Taliban fighters weren’t dinkum in their surrender; they’d simply gone underground to await a better day to impose their demands on the people again. The news told us too how various tribal chieftains have sought to claim their traditional part of the country, and how this has resulted in renewed fighting –or at least threats of renewed fighting- among various warlords. America has won the war, but there’s a bigger challenge before the allies, and that is to win the peace. That is, America needs to ensure that a peace-loving central government is firmly established in Afghanistan; otherwise the Afghani people will quickly find themselves under the control of another regime as evil as the Taliban was. To win the war was relatively easy for America, but the harder task lies ahead, ie, to win the peace.

With this comparison in mind, brothers and sisters, I take you back to the history of salvation. When the Lord created the human race in Paradise, people lived in perfect obedience to the law of God. Then there came the fall into sin, with its rebellion and its evil. Instead of acknowledging God as our master, we acknowledged Satan as master, served him. But his rule was evil, oppressive. Not that that particularly bothered us, for we were dead in sin and therefore in no position to criticize his heavy hand.

True, God established His covenant of grace with Abraham and his seed. Within that covenant, He gave His law to His people so that they might know how to live before Him. It’s the same law as characterized Paradise, be it that it’s now given in a form that takes into account human sinfulness. God summarized into ten brief points how it was He wanted His people to live, and the ten came largely in pithy negatives: "You shall not…," "You shall not…."

But: obey these Ten Commandments God’s Old Testament people could not. Their depravity remained a shackle, and Satan undefeated. So you find in Old Testament Bible history so much evidence of backsliding and apostasy. God’s people-by-covenant were so inclined to serve their natural father the devil.

Then came Jesus Christ. Not only did He obey the law of God perfectly and atone for sin; on the cross He also defeated Satan. So John could see in the vision shown to him that the dragon and his angels were cast out of heaven; "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world … was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Rev 12:8f). You see, beloved, here is victory for Jesus Christ! So the Lord God received Jesus into His heavenly presence, crowned Him with glory and honor, and gave Him a seat at His right hand as Lord of lords, and King of kings.

This glorious development could not remain a secret. So on Pentecost the ascended Lord of lords poured out His Holy Spirit. As soon as the Holy Spirit was poured out, the apostles began to speak to the people of the victory of Jesus Christ. Peter delivered a sermon, confronting the people of Jerusalem with their sin of murder (Acts 2:22f). Not only that; he tells them that Christ Jesus has arisen from the dead and is now King of kings. The people’s reaction? "They were cut to the heart," says Acts 2. That is: they felt guilty, very guilty. "What shall we do?" they cried in their anguish. To which Peter responded with the instruction to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. That’s what happened; "about 3000 souls were added" to the number of the disciples.

We understand: by their faith in Jesus Christ these 3000 received a part in Christ’s victory over sin and Satan. They experienced what Paul wrote elsewhere: they died with Christ to sin and arose with Him to a new life (cf Rom 6). So the old regime no longer had any control over them (Rom 6:14). Like the people of Kabul: once they heard that the Taliban was defeated, they got themselves a shave, tossed off their burkas, flew their kites – so also the new believers of Acts 2, when they were freed from the oppression of Satan’s slavery, began to live with the attitudes that dominated Paradise. Listen to the conclusion of Acts 2:

You see, here’s the communion of saints as per the attitudes and conducts that God had ordained in Paradise! Here’s no selfishness; here’s rather an eager emptying of self –wallet included- to help the other. Christ has won the war, and so the people are freed from the slavery of Satan. And it shows up in Acts 2, as obviously as it appeared in Kabul after the defeat of the Taliban.

But the fruits of Christ’s triumph in Acts 2, brothers and sisters, did not mean that every evidence of Satan’s oppression was now gone. The people of Kabul did not all dare to shave or lift their veils; they knew there were Taliban-minded people around, ready to pounce on the bold as soon as the opportunity presented itself. And as long as the warlords kept fighting for their turf, peace would not be restored to the city. So it is too, congregation, in the victory of Christ on the cross. It is one thing for Christ to win the war. Now He must also win the peace. Christ won the war so that Satan was cast out of heaven. But when heaven rejoices on account of that triumph, heaven also utters this cry:

On this earth the devil and his demons –though defeated- continue guerilla warfare, attacking the freed people of God in whatever hideous way hell can dream up. To make matters worse, those redeemed by Christ are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks, for we remain inclined to all evil. It’s a point that frustrates the apostle Paul so terribly that he cries out in Rom 7: "O wretched man that I am!" Though he died with Christ to sin and was raised with Christ to new life (Rom 6), though the Holy Spirit has made His home in him, yet Paul has not reached the goal of perfection; he can will what is right, he says in Rom 7, but he can’t do it. It’s a weakness Satan exploits to the full as he sets before the people of God this temptation and that in an effort to sabotage God’s renewing work in His redeemed.

Here, brothers and sisters, is the context in which the preaching of the law occurs. The point in salvation history in which we live today is after the victory of Christ on the cross; Christ Jesus has won the war over sin and Satan. But Christ Jesus has not yet ‘won the peace’. Today Satan roams this earth seeking who he may devour, today he continues his guerilla warfare, shooting here, laying a booby trap there, engaging in spiritual terrorism elsewhere. In that context the Lord God has been pleased to give the preaching of the law a fundamental role. For He would use that preaching of the law to encourage His people to live in a manner consistent with the victory Christ has obtained over the devil. That’s our second point:

I mentioned Pentecost earlier, and how the believers of Acts 2 demonstrated fruits of repentance agreeing with God’s law. That happy fruit was not something that Satan appreciated. In Acts 4 we read that Peter and John were arrested, forbidden to preach. There’s Satan attack to silence the ambassadors of Christ. Make no mistake: how tempting it was for the apostles to cave in to this demand, for no one wants to be whipped. But the Lord granted no victory to Satan here; in the strength of the Lord the apostles continued preaching.

But that doesn’t mean Satan quits. Acts 5 tells us of a new attack from the devil, this time using successfully the depravity remaining in the children of God. Ananias and Sapphira, people renewed by the Holy Spirit, lie to the Holy Spirit when they give their offering for the poor. Point is: though Christ has won the war, and though He has poured out His Holy Spirit to renew His people, yet the Lord has not swept Satan off this earth totally, nor has He renewed His people perfectly. That won’t happen till Christ comes back. Today we live in the period when the peace of the last day is still on the horizon. As long as that last day has not come, "even the holiest have only a small begin of [the] obedience" God requires" – says the church in A 114. It matters not whether you think of Moses or Jeremiah or Paul or Ananias or Calvin or Schilder or your grandmother; each had only a small beginning of the obedience God desires. For the obedience God requires of His people in the New Testament dispensation is the same perfection He demanded of Adam and Eve in Paradise – a perfection they were able to produce.

Let this be clear to our minds, beloved. Given Christ’s triumph over sin and Satan, God demands today perfect obedience to His law. Nothing less will do. But the combination of our abiding inclination to sin, plus Satan’s continued guerilla warfare, renders us unable to produce the obedience God requires.

Here, now, is the purpose of the preaching of the law. God wants growth among His people, growth in obedience, in service to Him. To promote that growth, the Lord sends His servants to preach more than news of Christ’s victory in the war; to promote that growth, the Lord sends His servants to preach also how to live as a result of that victory.

We read a passage from Phil 1. The apostle tells the saints of Philippi in vs 3 how thankful he is for the work of the Lord in their hearts. He recognizes –vs 6- that God has "begun a good work in you." That is, the "beginning of obedience" was found among the Philippians so that these people no longer lived as persons enslaved to Satan - if you will: not shaving their beards, not flying their kites, not showing their faces in public. But Paul immediately adds –vs 9- that he wants their love to "abound still more and more." That is, he wants growth amongst these saints of Philippi. God demands perfect obedience, the Philippians have a small beginning, now Paul wants growth; that small beginning has to become larger. Then certainly, Paul prays for that growth (vs 9). But he does more than pray; he also preaches. That is, he writes a letter to the church in Philippi exposing certain sins in the congregation and insisting on obedience to the norms of God in Christ. In chapter 2, for example, the apostle addresses selfishness in the congregation. He gives this command in vs 3: "let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." Similarly in vs 14: "Do all things without complaining and disputing." Paul wants growth among the Philippians, and therefore exposes their sins and sets before the congregation the norm of God – they should learn to shave their beards, toss off their burkas, fly their kites.

This is precisely the point the church today confesses in Lord’s Day 44. "Why does God have [the Ten Commandments] preached so strictly?" The first reason given in Lord’s Day 44 is "that throughout our life we may more and more become aware of our sinful nature." We are not to think that we have somehow reached the level of obedience God requires of us. No, we need to grow in the service of the Lord who delivered us. The task of the preaching includes that our remaining shortcomings be pointed out so that we "more and more become aware of our sinful nature."

Consider the Canons of Dort. Chapter III/IV, Art 16 had said that obedience to the Lord "begins to prevail." Then in Art 17 the church confesses the place and purpose of the preaching, and says that the preaching has a role not only in working faith, but also in maintaining that faith and prompting growth in the Lord’s service. The second last sentence of the article reads like this:

There you have the reason, beloved, why the preaching needs to be pointed, why the law must not only be read in church but also expounded in detail. As long as we think that the beginning of obedience that we produce is sufficient to keep God happy with us, we shall not grow in holiness and obedience. Why should we grow, if we’ve achieved God’s standard already! Then you end up with complacent Christians, where the preaching serves simply to confirm a lifestyle to which the congregation has become accustomed.

But then you miss out also on the second reason the Catechism mentions for strict preaching of the law. The catechism insists that we need "more and more [to] become aware of our sinful nature" –why?- so that we "seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ." You see, nobody will repeat Paul’s cry of desperation in Ron 7 unless he shares Paul’s conviction that he falls far short of God’s holy standard. And no one will share Paul’s thankfulness for God’s grace in Jesus Christ unless he knows himself a lost sinner. The complacent Christian may thank God for the forgiveness of those sins he committed in his wild days, but truly, he doesn’t need Christ much for his daily life because that life measures up pretty respectfully to God’s standard. It’s the people who know that today they failed to meet God’s standard, who know that today they displayed only a small part of the obedience that God requires – these are the people who today are excited for the forgiving work of the Savior.

Should the preaching of the law make a person feel guilty? Yes, beloved, yes!! We may be O so thankful for the fact that the Holy Spirit has worked the beginning of obedience in our lives; Christ has won the war, and so we’re free! But, congregation, His work at this stage is no more than a beginning! Guerilla warfare is still a reality, and there is within us the inclination still to live under the oppression of the Taliban; we remain inclined to evil. So we do not measure up to God’s standard yet, and that failure is sin. That’s a reality we need to recognize so that we learn to treasure the more what God has done for us in Christ. Preaching that makes a congregation feel comfortable with the status quo fails to meet God’s standard for preaching. Preaching must in its time move people to tears so that the members of the congregation echo Paul’s cry of despair: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:24). That sort of despair drives people to Christ, because He alone can give forgiveness of those sins.

Then there’s still the third purpose for the preaching of the law. Exactly because the law holds before us the standard God has set –He wants perfection, and not just the beginning of obedience- the child of God is continually instructed to change his behavior, to live more and more according to the perfect will of God. That is, the child of God is taught to "be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach the goal of perfection." There’s our third point:

The strict preaching of the law is necessary because of the context in which we live. Christ has won the war, so Satan is defeated. But Christ is pleased to permit Satan to continue his attacks on Christ’s people, and the means Christ is pleased to use to encourage growth among His own in the midst of Satan’s attacks is the strict preaching of the law.

But see, beloved: the day comes when Satan will be swept off this earth, be cast into the bottomless pit, and with him every demon and every evildoer. Christ has won the war long ago, but permitted the enemy to continue his guerilla war against the redeemed. But that will end, end in a radical and total way; every person who remains sympathetic to the Taliban (to continue with our metaphor) will be cast out of the land, off the earth – to a degree America will never attain.

And not only that. For today our hearts remain imperfect, inclined to sin, and therefore open to the temptations of the abiding guerilla fighters. On the day of Christ’s return those hearts will be renewed to perfection, so that not a single inclination to sin remains with us. Then every reservation we may have against shaving the beard and removing the burka and flying the kite will be gone forever, and we can enjoy to the full the freedom that God has obtained for us in Jesus Christ.

Therefore the law will on that day also no longer be preached as it is today, for we shall all live before God in perfect holiness – Paradise restored. As Adam and Eve did not need the admonitions of the law in Paradise, so we will not need the strict preaching of the law anymore on the new earth. Then the Christ who won the war on Calvary will also have won the peace in perfection.

We enter a new year. The strict preaching of the law will need to continue in this New Year, simply because the devil and his demons continue to attack, and we remain vulnerable to those attacks. We’ll submit to the strict preaching of the law, because we want to grow in the service of the Lord, want to learn how to live in the freedom Christ has obtained for us. And we pray that Christ will come back in the course of this new year – and the era come when the law need no longer be preached at all.

Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.