NOTES OUT OF THE CATECHISM CLASSES Of Rev. J. Fraanje Using the Catechism Book

Of the Law of God and of Prayer

Lesson 35 Part III

But now if a person becomes thoroughly convinced that he cannot perform even one commandment and that one must be justified by Christ, doesn’t it seem there is nothing more to do? Hellenbroek teaches us differently on the basis of God’s Word. He asks, “When we see our impotence out of the law, to what must it excite us?”

Answer: To prayer. Psalm 119:4–5 -”Lord, Thou hast commanded us to keep Thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes!”

What happens when God’s people become aware of their unwillingness and their inability to do the requirements of the law? Then God’s law becomes the burden of their prayer. It is not a matter of indifference with them. We see that in the prayer of David and so it is with all God’s people.

Prayer is necessary because God has commanded us to use it as a means of obtaining what we need. This applies not only to our bodily needs but also to our spiritual necessities.

Now in regard to the catechism lesson on the law I want to present yet another thought.

It is said that the first table is directed toward loving God above all else and then our neighbor as ourselves. The Lord is then given the preeminence here. But who is meant by “our neighbor”.

Answer: All people.

Yes, by virtue of creation all people are our neighbors. God made the whole human race out of one blood. Can a person, out of necessity, set aside the obedience to the first table in order to fulfill the second? In normal circumstances we may not do that. Everyone should seek God’s honor above his own life and of course also above that of our neighbor.

We read in Luke 9, that the Lord said to someone, “Follow me.” But He said, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus said unto him, “Let the dead bury the dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

It is plain to be seen here that this man had to neglect the second table to fulfill the first.

It was not a sinful desire to bury his father, but Jesus wanted him to place his obedience to Him above the duty to his father and assign the work to someone else.

In this case the man had to set aside the second table in order to fulfill the first. The Lord demanded that he love God more than anything else.

I do not say that we can prefer God’s honor in our natural state, I merely say that it is our obligation to do so. In the way of grace, though, God’s people are called upon to choose one or the other.

He is called upon to decrease in himself even to suffering or death rather than decrease God’s honor by doing a sin.

There can be special cases though in time of need, where he, figuratively speaking, must set the first table aside for a moment in order to fulfill the second. For example, if I am walking to church on Sunday I am fulfilling in an outward sense the first table of the law, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,” etc. But if I pass by a pasture and notice a cow or horse stuck in a ditch, must I still continue on to church fulfilling the first table of the law and have no concern for the second (love thy neighbor as yourself)?

Absolutely not. It is, in a circumstance such as this, my obligation first to fulfill the second table by helping my neighbor rescue his cattle.

But do you know when it would be wrong to help my neighbor?

When I would sin against the first table to do it.

This is just a look at a very small part of these very important matters. Boys and girls, you are obliged to do the requirements of the law, too. There are people living in this world for whom the Mediator said, “Lo, I come,___I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.”

He takes over the obligations resting upon the elect and fulfills them in their place. He terminated the service of the shadows or types, because He was both the Priest and the Sacrificial Lamb. Observances of the various laws of purifications were stopped when Christ died because He eternally purified them with His Blood.

What still remains? Only the ten commandments, which now must be a law of thankfulness for the church.

The Holy Spirit uses the law first as a severe schoolmaster with His whiplashes of the law to bring the convinced sinner to Christ and make him know his misery, obstinacy and helplessness.

But when through this he is taught who has fulfilled the law for him and finds Christ as the end of the law for righteousness, 0, then he discovers this same law to be his delight and says, “O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”

What at first was a burden now becomes a desire and God’s law becomes the subject of thankful prayer.

Boys, perhaps you find it troublesome and boring to listen for this length of time. You would rather whisper and play. I know all about it, your undisciplined nature wants to be rid of it. But what if I were to be called to your deathbed tonight, what then? You could rightly say, “Dominie, I am about to die unexpectedly and you never warned me.” That would not be good, would it?

I have been told about a woman who had very naughty children. They very seldom attended church services. The minister of that congregation came for house-visitation and asked why she so seldom took her children to church.

“Alas” said the lady, “It is impossible for these children to sit still for two hours. Young, healthy children cannot endure that.”

And do you know what the minister said? “Woman” he said, “You lack reverence for God, I must reprimand you. You are giving your children over to sin and are supporting them in their transgression of God’s will and in their lack of esteem for the means of grace. If you say the children cannot endure church services, how shall they endure hell if they should die unconverted? All condemned shall certainly say, ‘It is not bearable!’ And yet they must bear it eternally. The unbearable will have to be borne there forever.”

The Lord had made the minister faithful to his work. Don’t give in when it seems you cannot hold out listening to God’s Word.

He is calling you through these means and is still allowing it to be said to you, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”

May the Lord expose unto you your miserable state with His law and make His commandments the subject of your prayer while you are in the prime of life. May He present that for His Son’s Sake.

Jehovah’s perfect law
Restores the soul again;
His testimony sure
Gives wisdom unto men;
The precepts of the Lord are right,
And fill the heart with great delight.

(Psalm 19) Psalter 38

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

-Ephesians 6:11

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