November 4 – LD 44, Day 7: Preaching God’s Law
by Pastor Steven Key
I Thessalonians 2:13: “For
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the
word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as
it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh
also in you that believe.”
The Heidelberg Catechism
concludes its exposition of the Ten Commandments by reminding us of the
importance of preaching that law of God. The authors of the Catechism
recognized the need for piercing preaching, preaching which lets no one escape
its personal application. They understood that, because they were students of
the preaching of the prophets, of Christ Himself and His apostles. So they
taught that when the Ten Commandments are preached sharply and faithfully, then
God will work by His Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who are His, conforming
them unto His own image.
Such preaching of the law
is necessary, in order that “we may learn more and more to know our sinful
nature.” This growing knowledge of our sinful nature is a deepening of
spiritual life. The strict preaching of the law exposes our sinfulness and
shows us how susceptible we are to wandering and living apart from God.
As our own sinfulness
becomes a frightening reality for us in an ever-increasing measure, to that
same measure we hear the glad tidings of redemption in Christ are heard more
clearly. When God exposes our sin by the preaching of His Word, He does so not
to cast us off but to bind us more and more to Himself, drawing us by His
grace. So the Spirit works. There is a deepening, therefore, not only in the
knowledge of sin, but in the knowledge of our redemption. Christ is found
indispensable to us. If we do not enter into fellowship with Christ daily, we
wither spiritually. By the preaching, God moves us to fervent spiritual life.
Faithful preaching calls
us to a life of true conversion, evidence of the Spirit’s work in us. We long
to glorify the God of our salvation! The more the preaching of the law finds
entrance into our hearts, the more we yearn for the perfection that awaits us.
May God soon fulfill our desire for the perfection of holiness, that His glory
may be perfectly revealed in us who are the work of His hand.