[AI translation] This passage, which is now being read, is an exhortation to the Christian life consecrated to God, which we promise and vow before every communion. Remember: the last Communion question goes like this: Do you promise, do you vow, that for this grace you will consecrate your whole life to the Lord and live already in this present world as his redeemed for his glory? And to this we have said, who knows how many times, with a calm conscience, or perhaps not so calm a conscience, We promise and we receive! And then what we have solemnly promised and sworn, we do not usually keep, or even try very hard to keep. Among the many fine promises and vows that one makes throughout one's life and does not keep: this is the one that one renews most often and breaks most often!It is much more serious than we think. It is not simply a matter of breaking a vow to God, but of not taking seriously the forgiveness of sins that God promises by His free grace to the repentant sinner. It is an abuse of grace. Those who continue to live in the sins that God has already forgiven them should examine themselves: has the proclamation of forgiveness reached their hearts, or only their ears? In practical terms, this question is: what is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever, between a converted and forgiven person and a person who has not repented and is not forgiven? Is there any difference that you see, that you notice in the believer, that you can tell, that you can tell outwardly that something sacred has happened in him, deep in his soul - because if there is no such difference, then there is not much point in all religion, faith, prayer, divine revelation!
According to the Scriptures, there is a difference. Romans 6 deals with nothing but this very difference. And it is on this difference that you yourself can measure whether you are already a redeemed child of God or whether you only imagine yourself to be one. Nietzsche, the great mocker of Christianity, once said that if Christianity were true, Christians would have to look much more redeemed. The truth of this saying is that if you are a truly saved Christian, you must look truly saved!
The textually recorded Scripture sums up the essence of this difference most succinctly when it says, "You are not under law, but under grace." (Rom 6:1-14) This means that there has been a very significant change in man's legal standing with God: he has undergone a judgment. In spite of the fact that he was found guilty, and that his serial sins were found to have exhausted the degree of transgression for which the severest punishment is due: yet, quite incomprehensibly and illogically, the verdict was acquittal. The sinner who deserved to die received full mercy, full forgiveness, and this forgiveness means that God has completely forgotten everything, because the death of Jesus has completely erased from his memory everything that a believer in Jesus had ever done against God! So the position, the status of the believer in Jesus has changed: he is no longer under accusation, he is no longer in a litigious relationship with God, but he is under an eternal acquittal! The condemnation of Jesus Christ on the cross means the final and complete acquittal of the believer in Jesus from all accusation!
Do you believe this, and do you believe it when, immediately before you receive the Lord's Supper, the forgiveness of your sins and the assurance of eternal life are proclaimed to you? As long as you do not believe this, you can be a religious soul, however zealous, church-going, church-officiating, but you are not a believer! Because this is where faith begins. Your legal standing with God can be changed right now if you believe now that Jesus' condemnation of you is your absolution from the death sentence that will surely come, and your ticket to eternal life! And you can believe it boldly, even now, because there is no sin so great, no sin so great for you, that the grace of God is not even greater. There is no sin so heinous and detestable, even to you, that God's forgiving grace cannot digest it! Whoever believes in Jesus Christ in this way is subject to what the Apostle Paul says: "you are no longer under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14b) That is, if you believe in Christ crucified and risen, you are no longer under the law, but under grace.
This is the first, crucial, big difference between a believer and a non-believer. From this state of grace now follows the other differences, which then affect the most minute manifestations of life. And it is precisely on this difference that one can see whether one is really living under grace. You see, being under grace does not in practice mean that I can continue to live in peace as before, in sin, since God forgives me anyway. It does not mean that everything is now free, that I can continue where I left off before coming under grace. Oh, no! On the contrary! Grace does not make me irresponsible and reckless, but disciplines me. It does not oblige - like the law - but it makes you a prisoner of God. Because what is grace? Undeserved saving love! And do you know what disciplining, binding, imprisoning power love has? Far greater than anger, punishment or severity. It is recorded of Vrede Matild, the angel of Finnish prisons, that she once wanted to visit a prisoner in her cell who was in a rage of despair and even the prison guard did not dare to enter her cell. They begged her, for a weak woman, not to expose herself to the animal brutality that she would obviously be subjected to. Vrede Matild remained adamant. She opened the cell and stepped through the door, but no sooner had she set foot inside than the prisoner, with a terrible, bellowing curse, lunged at her and pushed the frail woman out of the cell so hard that she crashed into the wall on the other side of the corridor and crushed her. No sooner had she regained consciousness than she shouted back to the furious prisoner, smiling, "I'll be back tomorrow! The prison warden wanted to hit the prisoner with an iron as punishment, but Matild refused. And the next day, when he came to see her again, the tamed prisoner was waiting, sweeping the dirty paving of the cell with his own hands, spreading his handkerchief on the dirty seat to offer his visitor a clean seat, and apologising with blushing shame for his behaviour of the day before. He was quite disheartened and taken prisoner by an undeserved, incomprehensible love.
Much more so is this how God treats his children. For him who has once experienced the great love of God, who has once experienced the love of God through the forgiveness of his sins in Jesus Christ, this undeserved love becomes the supreme guiding and disciplining factor for the continuation of his life. If there is anything that impels us to do good and to avoid evil, it is grace, much more than the strict command of the law. The love of God is more binding than his wrath, the forgiveness of sin more than the punishment of sin. It is precisely by forgiving the believer that God disciplines him most, and by always reminding him: 'Man, I have already forgiven you this or that sin: how can you still live in it? The man who has received grace does not try to avoid sin because he fears punishment, but because he knows that God has forgiven him. He has no greater sorrow than to see that he has again offended the One who loves him so much. Do you know this overwhelming love? Do you know it when God, with His infinite love, with the attractive power of His love, frees you to stop living for sin, but to live because you can now live for God? That is what the Apostle Paul means by this saying, "sin does not have dominion over you!" To be under grace is to be delivered by God from the embracing arms of sin, as it were, and drawn to Himself, just as the prodigal son is drawn home from the trough of swine by his father. Think of living in grace! Believe that grace is for you too. Remember, in times of temptation, in times of physical or spiritual struggles, you will see how this grace can draw you to God.
So says the apostle Paul: "Do not give your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, but give yourselves to God as those who have been raised from the dead to life, and your members as weapons of righteousness to God." Here the difference between a believer and a non-believer becomes quite obvious. It can no longer be hidden and concealed to whom you have given your members as weapons: to sin or to God? For here it is a question of service, the thing in which we most often fail. With such devout fervour we can listen to a beautiful exposition of the Word, we can nod so approvingly at it! Then, when it comes to ministry - giving financially, helping out at a charity event, visiting a sick person, or reaching out to believers in our area - the nods of approval become both a shrug, a search for excuses and an excuse for being too busy.
The man under grace does not consider it a burden, but a very happy privilege to be free to serve the Lord in whatever small way. Can you so happily, in gratitude for God's grace, serve Him? If God has held a mirror up to you with this Word, look well into it, and go and do as the Lord has now seen you do! For every sin there is forgiveness, but not for the sin that is seen and not repented of, and not committed to Christ. Would that the Holy Spirit of God would open our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Amen
Date: 20 February 1949.
Lesson
Róm 6,1-14