Your Reasonable Service and Its Blessed Fruit

Beloved reader, it is impossible to express in words, nor is it possible to be written by pen, into what a fearful misery man has cast himself by the covenant breach in Adam, when he willfully fell away from God and gave ear unto the lies of Satan. Oh, had not the Lord in His eternal good pleasure in Christ Jesus revealed a way of redemption, the whole race of Adam would have been forever lost. But thanks, praise, and glory be unto God, by whose eternal wisdom and goodness there is a way opened, revealed unto us in His Holy Word. This is placed, wrought out, and explained by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the elect, in the time of love, to the honor of God and true soul comfort. This reasonable service and its fruits are described in the text mentioned above.

In Isaiah 32:17, we read, “And the work of righteousness shall be peace.” In the state of innocence, Adam performed this as long as he remained in that state. However, when sin was committed by disobedience against the holy commandment, peace was removed and slavish fear entered the conscience. Adam, while yet in the blessed state, not only desired to walk perfectly, but actually performed the keeping of God’s law, because the Lord had created man good and adorned him with the image of God, consisting in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.

The Lord is right and just in all His ways. “With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward” (Psalm 18:26). As already mentioned, in Adam we lost all blessedness and peace, and with the whole world we lie under the dominion of sin, guilt, and wrath. We not only fell into sin, but according to the threatening are dead in sin and trespasses.

Can a fallen child of Adam come again to that blessedness and peace through and from himself in a way of self-righteousness? No, from our side it is forever impossible, because we now love death and hate God’s law. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). But glory unto God in the highest; that which has become impossible with man is possible with God (Matthew 19:26).

For in the eternal Counsel of Peace, the Son of God, with His whole heart, has become Surety to God for all the chosen of the Father which were given Him. He then spoke, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart” (Psalm 40:8). So He was from eternity a covenant of His people. From eternity, He took all conditions upon Himself. He fulfilled and finished them in time, not for Himself, but for and in the place of the elect. He came and was sent by the Father in the fullness of time. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). His works are found complete before God. “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). In Him the way of the righteous is made plain.

God’s law has become their heart’s desire and the joy of their soul.

But who are they to whom the text refers? Who are they that are so greatly blessed? They are none other than the elect and regenerated offspring of God. Are they better than other men? Oh, no, certainly not! They are by nature children of wrath, a rebellious generation, like all other men. But the Lord glorifies Himself in His sovereign grace in them when He recreates them and places His law in their hearts. They are born again according to God’s will (John 1:13), and thereby are made partakers of the divine nature.

Let us remember that God’s will and law are revealed in His Word, and His holy sovereign essence is plainly expressed: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Commencing in this life, they partake of peace in the way of righteousness.

It remains now a personal question for each of us: Do I by grace have part therein, or am I a total stranger of these things? By the fruit the tree is known. Has God commenced this heavenly planting in our hearts? For then we will bear fruit. The first of these fruits shall be to will what God wills, through the love shed abroad in our hearts. That love is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Those who have not the Spirit of Christ are none of His, and they shall not bear fruit to all eternity.

Now it is not alone that they shall do works in accordance to God’s law, but God’s law has become their heart’s desire and the joy of their soul. They are converted to God with all their heart. It is not with them just to obtain heaven or escape the punishment of hell, but the soul chooses God unconditionally, indeed, in such a manner that she learns that to be separated from God “is hell,” and to enjoy His communion is heaven. They learn to hate sin and their sinful life in this world, and the truth in Christ is exercised in this, that God is all and the creature nothing. This all is the gracious gift of God, in conformity with the passive and active obedience of Christ.

In this life we commence to die unto our own will and way. The soul is fully convinced of the good and perfect way and will of the Lord, and then the soul prays with David, “Teach me Thy way.” And then alone she will own all the afflictions of this life as her just portion, because she has come into agreement with God against herself. This is entirely impossible for our nature, but if the law of love of Christ has the upper hand in our hearts, it is as of itself.

If we may be brought to this, with our whole heart truly to justify God and condemn ourselves, we will find peace, and the way will be perfectly even. Here the waves become quiet, no matter how high they have risen. Though flesh and blood rise up against it, we desire no other way to be saved than as the Lord has willed, and that is through faith that worketh by love in Christ Jesus.

God’s perfect attributes are therein glorified. God’s eternal wisdom, righteousness, and holiness, and also goodness and grace, are then glorified in the salvation of curse- and hell-worthy sinners. May we by grace, through the eye of faith, be given a glimpse into this sanctuary. We will then forsake all other ways, things, and persons, and be brought at the feet of Christ, and His will and way will become our joy. Oh, beloved, here God’s will and way are only wisdom, and we nothing but foolishness, but we may by grace be led as fools on a way in which the fool shall not err.

This is that blessed way of faith in Christ Jesus. Not to him that worketh, but to him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Romans 4:4-5). Without faith it is impossible to please God. This is a fruit-bearing faith in Christ Jesus, a living through Him and unto Him. Here a soul commences to live unto God and to be crucified unto self, to live unto Him who died and rose for us and is placed at the right hand of the Father, there to intercede for us that our faith fail not.

The fruit hereof is peace in our soul. The Lord by the Holy Spirit gives testimony thereof in the heart that therein we are pleasing unto God. Oh, may we be led therein in these dark days, in which we choose so much our own way. How far we really are from it! How fearfully are unbelief and lawlessness increasing! We cleave to self-righteousness, offer unto our own drag (Habakkuk 1:16), despising the Rock of our salvation. We must commence with our own heart and home, and then deep shame shall cover us.

Is it not plainly to be seen by the signs of the times that we are in the last days? Did not the Spirit of the Lord testify that in the last days men would be lovers of self and the world, which is enmity against God? When the Lord comes, shall He find faith on earth? God’s people are divided and consumed by each other. These are not fruits of the law of love in Christ, bearing one another. May we be brought to repentance by the Lord, for then we will be converted.

Yet the goodness of God glories against a well-deserved judgment. The Lord yet remembers His covenant, and this He will continue to do for His great Name’s sake. May the goodness of the Lord humble our hearts, and may we, with shame on account of our sins, be humbled in the dust before Him.

There is a cry of peace, but we shall never obtain it in our own way, and a hasty destruction is before the door. Oh, we are sunken ever so deep in sin and shame, and the worst of all is that we perceive it not nor have any shame regarding it. May God’s law become precious to authorities and subjects. The despising of God’s Word, His law, and His Sabbath is making us ripe for destructive judgments.

For everyone it shall be a personal matter whether we have a part in this grace. Our personal lives and that of home, congregations, and office should be full of this most reasonable service, but what is our life? What else can we expect but the terror of the Almighty, who already is making the earth to tremble?

Blessed are those who have a part in this grace. They have peace, and for them all things shall work out to their good. But it shall be terrible for those who continue to despise God’s law and count the blood of the New Testament unclean. The Lord have mercy on us and our children for Jesus’s sake; so be it.

— Rev. J. Van de Hoef
(1878-1942)

Anniversary

On October 6, 1998, Rev. and Mrs. A. M. den Boer were enabled to commemorate their 45th wedding anniversary. We wish to extend our heartfelt congratulations to them, and we pray that the Lord who has cared for and enabled them in the past may be near and dear to them in the future. May they be spared for each other, for their family, and for their congregation in the coming years, but above all may it be their experience, “O Lord, prepare us evermore to meet Thee in righteousness.”

— The Banner of Truth
Editorial Staff

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