June 13 – LD 24, Day 3: The Uselessness Of
Our Works
by Prof Herman Hanko
Read: Psalm 10
Our teacher is very
patient with us and tells us in some detail why it is impossible for our works
to be in any way the basis for our justification.
The first reason is that
if our works must serve as a ground for our justification, they must be
“absolutely perfect, and in all respects conformable to the divine law.”
This clearly is true.
God is, in His own divine being, a righteous God. He created man in true
knowledge and holiness, but also righteousness. As all God does is in perfect
conformity with His holiness, so he made man able to do all things in perfect
conformity with God’s holiness. That is the righteousness approved by God.
Where someone is found
who is as righteous as God demands, you will find a person whose whole life is
in conformity with the law of God. His thoughts and desires, his words and
deeds are all perfectly in conformity with the law that God has given for man.
But we must not forget
that that law is: “Love the Lord thy God. And love him with all thy heart,
mind, soul and strength.” An outward conformity with the law will not do. It
must be a conformity to the law of God that
characterizes our entire nature.
But where can such
righteousness be found?
The answer to that
question is the second reason why our good works can never be the ground of our
justification: “Our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with
sin.”
That is the indictment
of Scripture.
Notice that our teacher
is not now talking about wicked people; he is talking about God’s people, who
through the power of God’s grace, actually do good works. He is talking about
our worship of God, our prayers, our instruction of our children, our care for
the poor, our refusal to indulge in all the sinful activities of the wicked
world in the midst of which we live.
Our teacher is talking
about our works in this life. Another day is coming, for which
this life is the preparation. But we live in this life as God’s people. Can we
claim, in this life, to keep God’s law perfectly? We cannot!
Worse yet, it is true we
do good works, but every good work is imperfect. We sing God’s praises, but not
from the heart. We pray, but our minds wander during our prayers. We pray for
God’s grace to escape a particular sin, but we add in our hearts, “Not yet,
Lord. I want to enjoy this sin a while first.” We help the poor, and hope to
gain glory for it. We witness to others, but do so very imperfectly. Our best
works are still imperfect.
In a striking passage,
Isaiah calls our “righteousnesses”, that is, our very
best works, like “filthy rags”; that is, like menstrual rags. That certainly
does not say much for them.
How often we must ask
God for forgiveness for our “good” works, for our best works are still
corrupted and polluted by sins!