November 2 – LD 44, Day 5: Our Humiliating Imperfection
by Pastor Steven Key
Romans 7:14: “For we
know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
under sin.”
The reality of our
imperfection comes to its inescapable light when we stand before the tenth
commandment. That we commit sin is bad, but that we are sinners in the depths
of our beings is worse. This dark background of our lives, this horrible
fountain from which our desires arise, and this sinful nature
in which those desires grow like weeds on a bad field, only add to our guilt.
In the light of the tenth commandment, we are reminded that we only increase
our guilt daily. For when we stand before the commandment, and understand that
the requirement is to live perfectly and to be perfect before the Holy God, we
find ourselves utter failures.
Don’t lose sight of the
fact that we are standing before God’s law as the redeemed, those who have been
delivered out of the bondage of sin. For nothing in ourselves, but entirely of
God’s grace, we belong to that elite group of “those who are converted to God.”
That does not mean merely that we attend church and have certain convictions.
After all, many unconverted people attend church and have certain convictions.
But converted people are new creatures in Christ (II Cor
5:17). Specifically, as our Catechism explained in Lord’s Days 32 and 33, we
who are converted have “a sincere sorrow of heart that we have provoked God by
our sins, and more and more hate and flee from them.” In addition, we have “a
sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ, and with love and delight” we live
according to the will of God in all good works.
“But can those who are
converted to God perfectly keep these commandments?” And the answer is: “No,
but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of
this obedience; yet so, that with a sincere resolution they begin to live, not
only according to some, but all the commandments of God.” This answer is
sobering, if not humiliating. Even the holiest men...a small beginning!
As far as the sprouting seed is from the full harvest, so distant are we from
that perfect obedience to God’s commandments. Paul calls himself the chief of
sinners, upon whom was bestowed great mercy (1 Tim 1:15). Peter is the one who
cried out, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
This is the confession of those who are converted.