Assurance of Faith

1. 0:00Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 32.
2. 0:12Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good?
3. 0:20works because Christ having redeemed us by his blood is also renewing us by his spirit into his image so that with our whole lives we may show that we are
4. 0:29thankful to God for his benefits and that he may be praised through us and further so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits and by our godly living our neighbors may be one won over to Christ.
5. 0:42Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and unrepentant ways?
6. 0:47By no means.
7. 0:48Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, adulterer, thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like, will be saved.
8. 1:00will inherit the kingdom of God.
9. 1:02This Lord’s Day starts the beginning of the third section of the catechism.
10. 1:06The first section is the acknowledgement of our sin and our misery.
11. 1:10The second section is the wonderful announcement of God's salvation and our deliverance from our sin and misery.
12. 1:16And so you see that reflected in the beginning of question 86.
13. 1:20Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good works?
14. 1:29Implied in that is this: Isn't that the end of the story?
15. 1:32We're free in Christ?
16. 1:34Well yes, we are free.
17. 1:36That's the first part of the answer because Christ having redeemed us by his blood, blood. He has redeemed us, but this is not an absolute freedom from all obligation. Rather,
18. 1:46this is a freedom from slavery to sin and a freedom to live as we were made to live.
19. 1:51This is what Galatians 5 says spiritually about us. It says, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another. How do we do this?
20. 2:04Through Christ in me. By the power of Christ's Spirit in me. So this also is in answer 86. Why should we do good works? Because Christ having redeemed us by his blood is also renewing us by his Spirit in into his image.
21. 2:22You see, the gospel is bigger than forgiveness.
22. 2:25That's the heart of the gospel message, but it's not the whole story.
23. 2:28Christ has redeemed us.
24. 2:30He is also renewing us.
25. 2:31You could say that God has saved us by his grace.
26. 2:34That's our justification.
27. 2:35And now he's transforming us by his grace.
28. 2:38That's our sanctification.
29. 2:39So question and answer 86 gives four reasons why your good works matter.
30. 2:46Reason number one is so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefit.
31. 2:52Of all the religions in the world, we have the highest view of God's holiness.
32. 2:56The only standard that is acceptable is perfection.
33. 2:59Yet no other religion offers a full and free salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
34. 3:07And so the work of Jesus is unique and wonderful and because of it we are thankful.
35. 3:13And so this is closely connected to the second reason that we do good works.
36. 3:17Reason number two, as the catechism gives it, so that he may be praised through us.
37. 3:23We praise God through our good works.
38. 3:26What does it mean to praise God?
39. 3:29It is to give him glory, to acknowledge that he is worthy of honor.
40. 3:35And so when we do the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do, When we live according to God's will for our lives, we're showing to others and to ourselves that God is good and worthy of our praise.
41. 3:48So reason number three is the internal testimony.
42. 3:52So that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits.
43. 3:56Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit.
44. 3:58A good tree produces fruit.
45. 3:59good fruit, a bad tree produces bad fruit.
46. 4:03A good spirit will be characterized by the fruit of the spirit.
47. 4:06It will be loving and joyful and peaceable and patient and so on.
48. 4:12And then that will work itself out in good actions.
49. 4:14And so James was able to write, "Faith without works is dead."
50. 4:19Kevin asks, "Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and unrepentant ways?"
51. 4:25The answer is by no means.
52. 4:27Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, adulterer, thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like will inherit the kingdom of God.
53. 4:39Now it's so important that we get the order of things right here.
54. 4:42We are indeed justified by faith alone.
55. 4:46We are declared, in other words, to be righteous and holy before God on the basis of Christ's righteousness and holiness.
56. 4:55But the magnificent power of Christ's work is such that it does not only remain somewhere outside of us, but by His Spirit it is also something that He is doing in us.
57. 5:06So that as those who have been declared righteous, we will, not just maybe, but we will become more actually righteous in our actions.
58. 5:15How righteous?
59. 5:16Well, we can't answer that.
60. 5:19If you're struggling against sin and you're prone to despair, you need to remember that the Lord is gracious and compassionate. In fact, God delights to
61. 5:29work in our weakness and so the struggling believer is still a believer.
62. 5:33But if you're not struggling in your sin, but you're delighting in it, if you're living in a pattern of sin with no desire to stop. If there's no evidence of good works in your life, then
63. 5:47you really have no ground to be assured of your faith. And then James is speaking to you and the Holy Spirit through James is saying, "Don't presume on the mercies of God." The
64. 5:59and final reason for why we should do good works is the external testimony so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ you see we are
65. 6:10messengers all of us we all proclaim the the message of Jesus our Savior well how important is it then that we don't let our ungodly living get in
66. 6:19away of that message, but rather complement the message by our godly living.
67. 6:25Perhaps you can think of situations where professing believers have looked like the world rather than like God.
68. 6:31That's not attractive.
69. 6:33Full of anger and resentment, speaking evil against others, that's not a sweet smelling aroma.
70. 6:38That's just smelly.
71. 6:39But if we look like Jesus, if we're imitators of God, if we're full of compassion and truth and grace, well then they'll be intrigued and this will be so attractive.
72. 6:52This Lord’s Day reminds us that we have been saved for a purpose.
73. 6:55We are freed from slavery to sin and free to live life as we were designed.
74. 6:59to live. So this is what counts: faith expressing itself through love.

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