************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 12-15 ************
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on December 11, 2005
Q & A 12-15
Hebrews 2:14-18
"How Can We Return to God's Favor?"
Introduction
The Catechism is speaking to comforted believers, to believers who know their only comfort in life and in death is that they belong to Jesus. These comforted believers know God is terribly angry on account of the sin they are born with as well as the sin they personally commit (A 10). These comforted believers know their sin and misery deserves punishment both in this world and forever after (Q 12). These comforted believers also know there is no escape from sin's punishment sin must be punished (Q & A 9-11). In this context, these comforted believers want to know how miserable sinners can return to God's favor.
On this third Sunday of Advent we rejoice in God's answer. God has sent His only Son, in the flesh, as a mediator, a deliverer, a redeemer so we can return to God's favor.
I God's Justice Must Be Satisfied (Q & A 12)
A How can miserable sinners return to God's favor? It starts off with God's justice. According to Answer 12, "God requires that his justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of his justice must be paid in full."
Only a comforted believer can accept this answer. Because unbelievers, together with human reason and the secular world, either minimize or deny God's demand for justice. And, they either minimize or deny human sin and misery. If there is talk about God, the focus is on His love to the point that His justice is cheapened. Human reason is scandalized by the necessity of advent and Christmas and the incarnation and the cross and the grave.
In our day we are sensitive, very sensitive, to human rights and justice for all races and minorities. We are very sensitive to the rights and justice for the poor and oppressed. We are very sensitive to the rights and justice for animals and the environment. We are very sensitive to the rights and justice for criminals and terrorists. We are very sensitive to the rights and justice for different religions and faiths.
Our sensitivity is seen in a couple of different things. First, in the past couple of months our TVs have shown screaming mobs of Muslims who burn and deface the Bible; some serious-faced newscaster explains to us they have every right to act this way because one of our soldiers burned a copy of the Koran or put in on the lid of a toilet. In the mail we have been getting cards that say "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas." And, around town we see a "Holiday Tree" instead of "Christmas Tree."
But, how sensitive is our society and culture to God and His rights and justice? I think you know the answer. I want you to realize that God has rights. The idea of an unjust God is a scandal. But the idea of a just God Who is angry with sin and punishes sins is just as big a scandal. Amazing, isn't it, that sinners who are so concerned for rights and justice on the human level want no rights and justice at the divine level?!
B What is justice? Justice means giving a person what is their due. Most of you have heard of Stanley "Tookie" Williams because of his impending execution in a couple of days. Williams was convicted of a series of horrifying murder robberies during the late 1970s when he headed up Los Angeles' notorious Crips street gang. Justice means that if he is guilty of these crimes then he should receive the punishment his crimes require.
God's justice demands that when someone sins, someone must pay for that sin. From Genesis through Revelation, this truth is written in blood across the Bible. As our Bible reading from Hebrews puts it, someone needs to "make atonement for the sins of the people" (Heb 2:17).
Remember God's remarkable self-revelation to Moses in Exodus 34? God proclaims and shows His compassion, grace, patience, love, faithfulness, and forgiveness. And yet at the same time God reminded Moses that "the Lord ... does not leave the guilty unpunished" (Ex 34:6-7).
In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul states that "the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men" (Rom 1:18). Those who practice the horrible sins described in this chapter "know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death" (Rom 1:32).
So, the Catechism is on solid Biblical ground when it says, "The claims of his justice must be paid in full." God cannot overlook sin. God will not go soft on sin. Payment must be made. When someone sins, someone must pay even if it is not the sinner himself. And, payment must be made in full. A couple of times I have been involved when someone finds themselves unable to pay their debts. Banks and finance companies settle a debt for 50 or 40 or even 30 cents on the dollar because that is better than nothing. I understand even the IRS is willing to do this at times.
But God does not operate this way. He does not accept part-payment. He demands that all the debt be paid.
The good news of the Gospel for the comforted believer in this season of Advent is that Jesus has come to fully pay for all my sins with His precious blood and to set me free from the tyranny of the devil (A 1).
II Who Can Pay This Debt? (Q & A 13)
A God requires that His justice be satisfied, but who is able to pay the debt? "Can we pay this debt ourselves?" "Certainly not. Actually, we increase our guilt every day."
This is the answer of the comforted believer. This is the answer of the person who recognizes that the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. This is the answer of the person who knows that even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin (Q & A 62). This is NOT the answer of the unbeliever. This is NOT the answer of the person who thinks they deserve salvation and eternal life and entrance into heaven.
B A history book can be written on human efforts to make oneself right with God. All sorts of examples come to mind. I think of Martin Luther. As a young man Luther was bothered very much by his debt of sin. He thought he could pay the debt himself by praying for six hours at a time, living in an unheated cell, fasting, and so on. What was the result? Luther's acts of penance did not give him peace of soul and mind. None of this ever gave him the assurance of forgiveness. The debt of sin continued to hang upon him. Nothing he did ever gave him the peace he wanted and needed.
I think of the Pharisees. They thought they were securing their salvation when they brought bulls and goats to the temple. They thought they did God a favor when they gave Him a tenth of all they had. They thought their external observance of the Law guaranteed themselves salvation.
C Are we any better today? Thousands of church-going people seek their salvation in a religious life. When these people stand before the judgment throne they point with pride to their church membership. "Lord," they say, "I was a member in good and regular standing. Churchgoing was my second nature. My neighbors, maybe they spent Sunday working and touring and fishing and golfing and living for their own pleasure, but I went to church." Or maybe they point to their prayers, their charitable donations, their Bible reading, their attendance at Bible Study or Youth Group, their attendance at a Christian school or college.
Hundreds of thousands believe that rites and ceremonies are roads to the everlasting God. They sprinkle water, they dip and immerse, they burn candles, and they say litanies. Or, they chant mantras and verses until their minds are numb. They call on saints and holy people, make pilgrimages, sing songs, pay money.
All of these people are fools. We can't buy off God. We can't pay our debt. We can't earn salvation.
In this season of Advent we learn again that salvation is only by grace through faith! God sent Jesus to make atonement for sin.
III Can Any Other Mere Creature Pay the Debt? (Q & A 14)
A God requires that His justice be satisfied, but who is able to pay the debt? Q & A 13 told us we cannot pay the debt ourselves. Well, then, what about another creature: "Can another creature any at all pay this debt for us?"
What other creatures does the Catechism have in mind? The kinds of creatures contemplated are animals, angels, or anything else created.
Can other creatures, such as angels, pay our debt? The clear implication of our Bible reading is that Jesus Christ in the flesh did what no angel could do for us.
What about the sacrifice of animals can that pay our debt? In His law God did institute the sacrifice of animals as an offering for sin (Lev 16). Sacrifices have their God-given place, but they do not atone for human sin (cf Hebrews 9 & 10). No Old Testament believer received salvation through animal sacrifice. "It is impossible," says Hebrews, "for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Heb 10:4). Animal and other sacrifices pointed to the only atoning sacrifice made "once for all" by our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 10:10; cf Heb 9:11-15).
B What about the sacrifice of another mere human being? Will that pay our debt?
Some of you perhaps know of the time Luther made a trip to Rome. There he crawled up the steps Jesus supposedly climbed on His way to Pilate's throne. On each of the 28 steps Luther planted a kiss and offered a prayer. Why did he do this? The purpose of all this was to release the soul of his grandfather from purgatory.
Did Luther feel any better after doing this? Did he know for sure in his heart that his grandfather was now with Christ? No, of course not! It took a couple of years but eventually Luther learned another lesson as well: no mere man can release the soul of others from God's eternal anger against sin.
IV What Kind of Mediator and Deliverer (Q & A 15)
A God requires that His justice be satisfied, but who is able to pay the debt? Q & A 13 told us we cannot pay the debt ourselves. Q & A 14 told us no mere creature can pay the debt either.
The Bible doesn't leave it there nor does the Catechism. God has provided a mediator and deliverer. Question 15 of the Catechism asks what kind of mediator and deliverer? Answer 15 of the Catechism gives us three characteristics of the mediator: truly human, truly righteous, true God.
In this season of Advent we need to remember what Hebrews says about Jesus. First, He had to be fully human, He had to come in the flesh, in order to be our Redeemer.(Heb 2:14) Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity ...
Christ had to share our flesh to satisfy the demands of God's justice. He had to be of the human family says Hebrews 2:11.
B Second, throughout Hebrews we are told of the sinless perfection of Jesus. He was made like us "in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God" (Heb 2:17). He also "has been tempted in every way, just as we areyet was without sin" (Heb 4:15). He is a high priest "who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners ... he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day ... for his own sins" (Heb 7:27).
C Third, throughout Hebrews we are told Jesus is part of the godhead. Listen to how Hebrews states this:(Heb 1:2-3) ... appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. (3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Conclusion
People may not realize it, but they spend their life searching searching for a way to return to God's favor, searching for a way to settle accounts with God. Man's search first leads him to look to himself. But he finds no satisfaction or peace there. Next, his search leads him to look for some other creature to pay off his debt of sin. Again he finds no satisfaction or peace. To find what he is looking for, man's search has to end up in Christ Jesus, the only Mediator between God and man, for only Jesus is able to satisfy God's justice and pay our debt of sin. That's why we celebrate His coming in this season of Advent.
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