This morning we stand before a question of critical importance. It calls us to face the whole matter of the value of our religion. "What does it profit you now that you believe all this?" That is the question. And the "all this" refers back to the confession we have just finished making. We confess our faith. We do so personally and as a congregation when we recite from our hearts the Apostles Creed. And as the Catechism just finished expounding the whole of that Creed, the question comes: "But what doth it profit thee now that thou believest all this?" Oh, to be sure, there must be profit in religion. We are of all men most miserable, if there is nothing to look forward to and no joy in that which we believe. Jesus Himself said, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" You find a similar implication spoken in I Corinthians 15:14 concerning the truth of Christ's resurrection. Paul writes: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." We must not have a faith that is vain. So you have made a confession. "I believe this, and I believe that." Now, what does it profit you?
The answer to that question, a very brief answer in the Catechism, is an absolutely amazing answer. When you can make this answer your own, you stand upon the very bedrock of true Christianity. This is the gospel in the form of a little capsule. This is that which proclaims the glory of the sovereign God, the wonder of sovereign grace. That I am righteous before God in Christ—that is the bedrock of true Christianity. For don't forget where we began! We saw from Scripture that we are sinners. We saw that we by nature are totally depraved! We have heard from Scripture even this morning that inescapable proclamation of the Righteous and Holy Judge of all the earth: "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." The whole world has become guilty before God. Yet when the question is asked us: "What does it profit you now that you believe all this," the answer is totally contrary to that which one would expect. Should a man come to you and confess that he has kidnapped and murdered someone, and you ask him, "What profit is it that you confess that to me," would you expect him to respond, "That I am righteous?" The very thought is astounding! But this is the profit of all that we have confessed. Believing all this, we are assured that we belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, and therefore are righteous before God and heirs of life everlasting. This is the only comfort in life and death. And to this amazing truth I call your attention this morning.
RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD
I. AMAZING
II. WELL-GROUNDED
III. DIVINELY BESTOWED
I. TO MAKE THE CONFESSION BEFORE GOD THAT "I AM RIGHTEOUS" IS AN AMAZING STAND.
RIGHTEOUSNESS, YOU UNDERSTAND, HAS TO DO WITH OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAW, TO GOD'S LAW.
You remember, as we began our study of Scripture's truth in our Heidelberg Catechism, already in Lord's Day 2 we were pointed to the law of God as the teacher of our misery. For that law requires of us that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. At every moment and in every place, we stand before the inescapable calling to love God. That is His law. And death is the consequence of disobedience. This means that to be righteous is to be exactly how God wants you to be, i.e., to walk perfectly in love. To be righteous is to be in perfect conformity with His law. Are you able to say this? "I am righteous before God." Are you? Are you able to say, "All my words, all my deeds, all my thoughts, even the inner recesses of my heart are in perfect conformity to the law of God?" Is that true of you?
Still more, it is possible to view that righteousness from two perspectives. Perhaps in the way that I have described it thus far, you may understand that righteousness as referring to that which characterizes our life and nature. In that case, righteousness refers to my condition as I stand before the law of God. And Scripture does sometimes speak of righteousness in that way. In that sense, righteousness is our conformity to the will of God. But Scripture also speaks of righteousness in a different sense. And we have to understand clearly what is referred to in this Lord's Day.
Righteousness, as we confess it here, is a legal concept that has to do with our legal status before God. This righteousness emphasizes that God is Judge. He is Judge of all. And according to His judgment we stand before Him as either guilty or innocent. If we are righteous, we are free from any liability of punishment and death. If we are righteous, we are heirs of eternal life and glory. But guilt brings condemnation and liability to eternal punishment and damnation. To be righteous means that, as far as the law is concerned, we are completely untouchable. The law cannot condemn us.
NOW I STATE IN MY FIRST POINT THAT TO CONFESS "THAT I AM RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD" IS AN AMAZING THING. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TRUTH! — FOR TWO REASONS.
It is amazing, first of all, because of what we are. We are sinners. You heard the judgment of God as we read it in Romans 3. "For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." And then, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." That a sinner is righteous before God—isn't that an amazing phenomenon? That is almost incredibly amazing! I am conceived and born in sin! So says the Scripture. Even my best works are as filthy rags. All my righteousnesses are polluted through and through. And yet God declares of me that I am righteous?!
Furthermore, when I say that I am righteous my own conscience accuses me. And that conscience, you understand, is not just some inner feeling. We can't make judgments merely on feelings. Feelings can very well be in error, and often are. Our perceptions of things are often wrong perceptions. Our thoughts, even of what others think of us, are often totally out-of-line with reality. We are often mistaken. But that conscience is the testimony of God. The word conscience means "to know with." I know with God. That is the idea of the conscience. That is God's testimony to my inmost mind by His Word and through His Scriptures. That is my conscience. God brings His own testimony to me concerning all my actions and thoughts. And the more I hear His Word, the greater the testimony to my conscience. Which is also why those who hear the Word of the gospel and reject it bear the greater responsibility before God.
But what is the testimony of my conscience? The minute I would confess my own righteousness, my conscience accuses me. And what does it tell me? It tells me "that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them." Do you have that same experience? Is that the testimony of your own conscience? I don't like that testimony. Do you? My conscience accuses me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them. That means I am no better than any one. In fact, it tells me that of all sinners, there is none greater than I. That is what my conscience tells me. But not only that. It tells me moreover that I am still inclined to all evil! I continue a sinner, practicing the evil. The devil comes along every day, knowing my sinful flesh, and he sows temptations here and temptations there. And I find those temptations attractive. I am still inclined to all evil. So that—and I speak now as a regenerated Christian, even as the Apostle spoke in Romans 7—the things that I would not, that I do; and that which I would, that I do not!
Do you see, then, why this righteousness is an amazing thing? Though my conscience accuse me that I have grossly transgressed all God's commandments and have kept none of them—and I know very well that my conscience is true, and though I am still inclined to all evil, notwithstanding, God declares me righteous, innocent, worthy of life everlasting! In the word of Romans 4:5, He justifies the ungodly. Now, you understand, we have yet to consider how God can do that. The second main point of this sermon is yet to come. But the truth of our righteousness is exactly this. It is an amazing declaration of God. Because of what we are. We are sinners.
In the second place, this confession of righteousness is amazing because of Who God is! Don't forget, we stand before the Holy One, Whose judgment is at all times true and righteous altogether. You and I can judge the outward actions. We are called to do that to, always. But God alone can see through us. When it come to the heart, I cannot judge you and you cannot judge me. By their fruits you shall know them, said Jesus. But the fact remains that the heart no man can know. That heart may be thoroughly corrupt; but it may also be a heart awaiting the wonder work of the Holy Spirit by virtue of God's sovereign and irresistible decree of election. And therefore we can never speak with finality about a man's eternal welfare, i.e., so long as that man still has breath. That is why the door to the Church and to the kingdom is always open even to the sinner who has been cut off by excommunication. That door is always open in the way of confession of sin and true repentance. But you and I stand before God. And before Him there are no secrets at all. To Him we are all as an open book. He not only sees you here this morning, but He knows why you are here. He knows your attitude in being here. He knows your desire for Him and His Word, or your lack of desire. Possibly, as you sit here in church today, you may be thinking of all kinds of things other than God's Word. I don't know that. But the Judge of all the earth knows that. And that is true of our whole life. We are as an open book before Him. There is no sin hid from Him. Though we live in complete isolation from neighbors, though we keep our curtains closed and our lights out, we cannot sin without God seeing it in the brilliant light of His holiness. And He would declare us righteous?! Is that not an utterly amazing thing?
Furthermore, God reveals Himself to us in such a way that His holiness is inescapable! Does not He constantly reveal His wrath against sin? And is not our own experience one of tasting and observing the wrath of God? Has not He told us that the wages of sin is death? And do we not in fact live right in the midst of those consequences, ourselves being consumed by death? Listen to Moses, the inspired servant of God. Is not his testimony your own experience, beloved, as we sing in Psalm 90? "For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in the wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath" (Psalm 90:7-11).
Are not sicknesses and sorrows constantly our lot in life? those are not accidental, you know. They are God's visitation upon us. Oh no, don't get me wrong. I don't say that every sickness and every trial is the direct result of a particular sin in your life and mine. That is not so. Jesus' disciples were mistaken from that point of view. When they saw the man who was born blind, they asked Jesus who had sinned, the man or his parents, that he was born blind. Jesus corrected them. It wasn't a matter of any particular sin; but that the power of God might be made manifest in him. Even so, we know that all sickness and sorrow and death is the consequence of Adam's fall. They are God's visitation upon us. His hand is heavy upon us. So that this declaration of righteousness is an amazing thing. It seems so contrary to our own experience.
God tells us that we are heirs of life everlasting. And yet we experience the hand of His wrath constantly. (Again, parenthetically, don't confuse wrath with hatred. Don't do that. God's wrath upon the wicked is an expression of His hatred toward them, to be sure. But not so with the righteous. His wrath is that which purifies and preserves us. Wrath is not synonymous with hatred. Oh, if you confuse those two, you will end up in all kinds of error.) But clearly, as a father who must spank his wayward child, so the Lord corrects us, constantly. That is our experience, isn't it. So that this declaration of righteousness is so contrary to what we observe in our own lives. It is an amazing thing. God makes no mistakes. He never perverts justice, never errs in His judgment. And when He declares, therefore, that I am righteous, that is a wonder to me. I know who I am. I know what I am. I also know what I experience in this life. How can God declare me legally righteous, a saint? But He does. I believe.
And it is exactly because of the testimony of our conscience and our
own experience of the wrath of God, that we need to understand that our righteousness is
no pipe dream! We need to understand how this truth applies to our own lives! When your
conscience accuses you, and when the devil taunts you and says, "You're no child of
God," what will you say? Do you doubt? What does your religion profit you? Are you
prepared to answer? This must be the answer: "That I am righteous in Christ before
God, and an heir of eternal life." That alone is able to hold us up, and beat Satan
down.
II. OURS IS A WELL-GROUNDED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
OURS IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST!
Do you believe that? Let us remember: God never does and never can simply pardon. In our state government, the governor has authority to pardon a criminal. That is sometimes done. In fact, not too many years ago, a former governor who was running for the office of the President of the United States, had his campaign pretty much destroyed when it was discovered that a criminal whom he had pardoned and set free continued to commit acts of violence in society. It made that pardon look like a sham, and the governor look like a fool. But God never pardons. His justice must be satisfied. He cannot declare a man righteous, except His justice is satisfied with perfect righteousness. And you will remember, for we discussed that from Scripture as well some time ago in Lord's Day 4, Q & A 11, you can't appeal to God's mercy either. God is indeed merciful. But He never casts aside His justice at the expense of mercy and vice versa. His justice requires that sin which is committed against His most high majesty be also punished with the infinite punishment it deserves.
How, then, are you righteous before God? That is an important question. When you look at yourself and see the absolute impossibility of righteousness in you; when your conscience accuses you that you have been an absolute failure when it comes to the righteous demands of the law, and that you are still inclined to all evil, what is your answer? You don't continue to strive to attain salvation by works, do you? You don't do things merely to please men, do you? Your religion is not a matter of outward compulsion, is it—to keep the elders from visiting, perhaps? That cannot be the life of the Christian, who lives in the consciousness of love for God. The works of the Christian are not to earn anything. The Christian strives to walk in all God's precepts out of thankfulness to God, nothing less. We'll have opportunity to consider that truth more fully in future Lord's Days, God willing. But the ground for my justification cannot be in me. It cannot be in you. The Scriptures always speak the same language, you know, even as we read earlier. "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." How are you righteous before God?
That righteousness is the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. The Apostle put it this way in the chapter which we read: "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:21-26). Christ came. He came as God's Christ. He didn't come because we asked Him to come. We would never ask for Him. He came as God's Christ, to accomplish the purpose whereunto God sent Him.
IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT WE ARE SINNERS, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT IN US WAS FOUND NO GOOD THING, GOD SENT HIS CHRIST.
He entered into the state of a sinner. Christ did. He did not become a sinner spiritually or in His nature. He remained holy and undefiled. He wasn't guilty in Himself either. That was impossible. It was impossible for Christ to have any sin or any personal guilt or corruption. He was the Son of God in the flesh. He was perfectly righteous. But He became a sinner legally. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He entered into the state of our guilt. He did that willingly, voluntarily. He took it upon Himself. We don't take our guilt upon ourselves. It is simply laid upon us, imputed unto us, because of our relationship to Adam. Adam was our legal representative, our head legally. But Christ took our guilt upon Himself. He took all our debt, all our sins and all our guilt upon His mighty shoulders. Again, not because we asked Him to. It wasn't that we said, "O Lord, we cannot possibly pay this tremendous debt we owe. Will you help us please? Will you pay it for us?" Oh no. He was sent of God. And God had a purpose. He would take all our sin and all our guilt and lay it upon His Son. And He took them. And with that tremendous burden upon His shoulders, He rendered to His heavenly Father perfect obedience, and fulfilled all righteousness. That is a wonder of grace that we cannot comprehend. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). That is our righteousness, beloved. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Rom. 5:8,9).
Will you confess that with me this morning? "What does it profit
thee that thou believest all this?" Notice that the Catechism is very personal. It is
throughout. But especially in this Lord's Day the question asked is pressed upon your own
soul and mine. What does it profit you? How are you righteous before God? I am righteous
in Christ before God, and an heir of eternal life. That is my confession by faith. Shall
we say this, beloved? That is the sum and substance of all true Christianity, don't you
know? This is the core of all our salvation. If you are righteous in Christ by faith, you
have all. If you are not righteous in Christ, you have nothing. That's it. There are
multitudes who have no life in Christ. There are multitudes whose whole life is focused
upon religion and religious practices, and yet who have not the righteousness of Christ.
They have nothing. Their religion will avail them nothing. There are multitudes who claim
to be "Christian," but who have not this righteousness of Christ. They have
nothing. What does it profit thee now that thou believest all this—that you make this
confession of believing the Triune God, Jesus Christ, the truth concerning the church, the
forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and so on? What does all your religious
conviction profit you? After all, there shall be many in the day of judgment who say,
"Lord, Lord, have not I done...." And He will say, "I never knew you."
So what does it profit thee that thou believest all this? Are you prepared to answer?
"That I am righteous in Christ, before God, and an heir of eternal life. That I am
righteous by faith and therefore a partaker of all that is in Christ Jesus my Lord."
That must be the practical application in this particular Lord's Day for you and for me.
Jesus Christ is mine and I am His. He is my Head, and His righteousness is my
righteousness. All His work and satisfaction is imputed to me, so much so, it is as if I
never had been burdened with any sin, nor had ever committed any sin; yea, as if I had
fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me. Do you believe
it?
III. THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD, DON'T FORGET, IS DIVINELY BESTOWED.
I CONCLUDE BY CALLING YOUR ATTENTION TO THE TRUTH THAT THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OURS ONLY BY A TRUE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.
That is why, besides the passage of Romans 3, I read earlier from Galatians 2:16, a text also quoted in the footnotes of the Catechism. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." That faith, let us never forget, is divinely bestowed. That is taught throughout Scripture, and summarized nicely in Ephesians 2:8,9, again as quoted in the footnotes of the Catechism: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."
We have already said that Christ alone is the ground of our righteousness. With that understood, we know that this faith is not another ground. Faith is that bond that unites us with Christ. Don't think that the situation is this, that whereas no man can pay for his sin and satisfy God's justice, God will take our faith now as a substitute. Don't make faith a work by which righteousness is merited. That is essentially the tragic error of Rome, which error lay at the foundation of the Reformation. Rome says that by faith we do good works, and that those good works are meritorious. Therefore faith is the means of our justification. No, no. Faith is nothing of the kind. Faith is not a certain condition that I must fulfill, so that God says to me in the preaching of the gospel, "If only you will believe, I will declare you righteous." Oh no. Faith is not a condition. It is not a work.
FAITH IS THE BOND, THE SPIRITUAL BOND, IMPLANTED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN OUR HEARTS, WHICH BOND UNITES US WITH CHRIST.
We developed that concept of faith way back in Lord's Day 7. So this is review. But let's not forget that, beloved. This is tremendously important. When God reckons Abraham's faith for righteousness, then God looks at Abraham and does some reckoning. And His reckoning is always true. He looks at Abraham and sees that faith connection with Christ. He sees that by faith Abraham is one plant with Christ. That explains how, according to Romans 6, when Christ dies, we die in Him. And when He is buried, we are buried with Him. And when He arose, we arose with Him. We are united with Him and therefore partakers of all His righteousness.
But that righteousness also must become our own conscious blessing. It is only when and as we live out of that faith, that we live as conscious partakers of the life of Christ, that we can experience and taste and know that wonderfully blessed assurance that we are righteous before God forever. The man who does not know the fellowship of Jesus Christ, the man who does not live in the consciousness of Christ's love and friendship, is a man who cannot know his righteousness, who cannot enjoy the only comfort of Christ's righteousness. The man who has no desire for fellowship with God, no desire for spiritual growth, no desire to partake of the spiritual food Christ provides for him, is a man who misses out on the true joy of Christianity. For faith partakes of the life of the living Savior!
Do you live as a partaker of Christ and all His benefits? Then there is probably no more precious article of faith that the one we confess today. Righteous before God, forever. Because you know that the verdict of God cannot be wiped away. If God be for us, nothing can be against us. Believe, beloved! Stand in this faith. Rejoice in the God of your salvation! And you will confess, "My only comfort in life and death is that I belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ."
Amen.
Preached:1) Randolph PRC 3/9/97 (am)
===========================
Return to the
Heidelberg Catechism Sermons page
Return to the Reformed
Literature page
Return to the Reformed Sovereign Grace Literature
Home Page