NOTES OUT OF THE CATECHISM CLASSES Of Rev. J. Fraanje Using The Catechism Book SPECIMENS OF DIVINE TRUTHS

On Justification Lesson 32 Part III

Earlier in the lesson we pointed out five who were to be considered “righteous”. Who remembers who they were?

Answer:

1. The righteousness of Essence. The entire Divine Essence is righteous.

2. The righteousness of each person, each of the three Divine Persons singly.

3. The righteousness of creation, respecting the entire creation.

4. Those who are comprehended in the elect angels.

5. Those who are comprehended in Adam as covenant head.

But now I would like to add to this hst. Try to remember them.

6. There is also a righteous demand of the holy Divine law, before as well as after the fall.

7. There is an eternal righteousness in the Divine tribunal. Comrie refers to it as a righteousness before faith in contra-distinction to a righteousness by faith which comes later.

8. There is an acquired righteousness, which Christ acquired during His active and passive obedience.

9. There is the imputed righteousness which is imputed to the elect for Christ’s sake.

10. There is the gift of righteousness, which Hellenbroek refers to in question 18: Who imputes (righteousness) to us?

Answer: God, by a gracious gift.

11. That righteousness becomes an accepted righteousness which the justified sinner accepts unto himself by saving faith.

12. There is a righteousness of confidence, that is to say, as soon as God’s people are presented the essence of faith there is at the same time, with that essence of faith, a fruit which might be called confidence. Before the new birth there is no ability to believe. But that life of trust which flows out of the gift of life is an active reliance bringing to the conscious mind the imputed righteousness of Christ.

These points of doctrine are difficult for children to understand and intellectual knowledge of all this is insufficient to salvation but you will have no harm in knowing about these things.

To justify is the opposite of condemning. Consequently, if we are not accepted by God in Christ as righteous (free from guilt) we remain condemned.

Now I do not say that all elect are immediately estabished in the knowledge of this, but they can be established in this knowledge and must not deny it. Hellenbroek said, “Can we be assured of our justification?” Answer, Yes, Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in Romans 8:16 he says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

O boys and girls, never forget how necessary it is that the merits of Christ become our possession. We can only be one or the other; righteous before God or condemned.

Wouldn’t you think that to be the most wonderful occurance; to be made righteous in Christ by God? Then we are at peace with everything. Peace with the Triune God, peace with death, peace with the grave, peace with the heaviest oppressions. But do you know with what a child of God never has peace, even though he is aware of his righteousness in Christ? He cannot be at peace with himself. He is in conflict with sin, in conflict with Satan and with everything that is contrary to God. And the more of that peace in Christ he has with God, the greater the conflict he has with everything outside of God. That is the way it should be in the very heart. Truthfully now, have you ever spent a moment of your life in thought about the necessity of being righteous in Christ or otherwise remaining eternally damned?

By nature we are all lost, but then you shall be eternally lost. It is such a great step to take from this life into eternity.

I believe you would give more thought about a long journey you should make here on earth than about this one to eternity; am I not correct?

For example, if your father had plans to take you on a trip to India or America, I know you would think about it all day long and perhaps nights too. Mainly, you would think about three things:

1st. About your departure here.

2nd. About the trip itself, the passage.

3rd. About the arrival in that strange land.

First about the departing here, boy, that will be an experience; family, friends, and neighbors! Visiting places that are familiar and dear to us - don’t you think so, too?

Then the journey over the ocean; what that will be like in that huge ocean liner!

But at last the arrival. It will be impossible to mentally conceive of how that will be in that distant land. I am sure your mind would be busy every day with these thoughts. And I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that. Of course not, you may think about those things without fear.

But now you stand before a far more important journey than to another part of the world, or it is more correct to say, you are on this journey. Just as soon as one is born, he begins this journey to eternity. Nothing is more sure than the fact that every creature will arrive sooner or later.

The question may well be asked: How shall we arrive? As those who are damned or those who are justified?

You sit here now, quietly laughing or talking with one another, as if it is boring. Be sure though that it is not with me you have to do but with a righteous God. And if your thoughts are about your being before His tribunal, you surely won’t laugh. The Lord is still knocking on the door of your heart with all manner of callings but you continually refuse to listen. May the Lord assemble with you in the court of your conscience while in this time state and acquit you of guilt and punishment on the merits of Christ.

And, if there are some who can no longer live as they have or as they would have liked to live, may the Lord give you no rest until you may say from experience, “It is God who justifies, who is it that condemns? It is Christ who died for me, yea, rather sits on the right hand of the Father, and Who also prays for us.”

May the Lord take away all the supports upon which you put your trust and prevent any satisfaction in duties or religion. They are perilous. May you experience it as the poet sings of it in Psalm 73:

In glory thou only my portion shall be.
On earth for none other, I long but for Thee.
My flesh and heart falter, but God is my stay
The strength of my spirit, my portion for aye.

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