Church Reformation

Remember therefore

Remember therefore! There is a sin to which we continually pay little attention but which, according to His Word, the Lord takes very seriously. It is the sin of forgetfulness. We read in Deuteronomy 4:9, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen …” In Psalm 103 the poet sings, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Hosea complained in his prophecy that Israel had forgotten the Lord their Maker.

Now that October 31 is again upon us, it is good that we do not forget what the Lord has given us in the blessed church reformation. It is also necessary for our young people so “that the generation to come might know [the Reformation history], even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare [it] to their children” (Psalm 78:6).

The word which we wish to consider is a word from the exalted Mediator to the church of Sardis. The leader and the congregation of Sardis were well known both far and near. Departures from the doctrine did not occur there as was the case in the congregation of Pergamos. Sardis was known as an orthodox, flourishing congregation where spiritual life was still visible and where the people did not tolerate any departure from the truth. How terrible, however, was the judgment pronounced upon this congregation and its leader by the all-knowing Mediator, who has the seven spirits of God: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

He who sees through all things that are only form religion and a pretense fathoms and measures the spiritual condition of the congregation of Sardis. Twice in its history Sardis was overcome and conquered by its enemies because the watchers who should have been protecting the gates of the city had not paid attention. It is to this which the Lord Jesus refers and admonishes when He says, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” In this connection, the Lord also calls out, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard …”

The Lord would say, “Minister and congregation of Sardis, have you not experienced better times in the past compared to the barren and dead time in which you are presently living? Do you remember how you listened to and heard the Word of God when it was brought to you for the first time by My servants? Was it not with you, then, as it is written of Lydia that the Lord opened her heart and that she attended to the words which were spoken? Was it not with you as we read in John 5:25 that the dead shall hear the voice of God and shall live?” The exalted Mediator does not only say that His congregation in Sardis had heard His Word but also that they had received it. They had even received it with joy, and the message was embraced in the most holy faith. According to the word of the Apostle James, they received “with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Remember how thou hast received and heard! Christ wishes to say how different it was with them then compared to the present. There had been a hearing combined with faith, a receiving with meekness. However, that became only an outward appearance, an orthodox preaching, and the appearance of godliness. It is remarkable, my readers, that Jesus did not drive away the minister of Sardis and the congregation. No matter how terrible the judgment was which He passed upon them, He also pointed to the medicine which was available for healing—a remarkable medicine—Remember, and repent! Christ says here that a remembering by itself is not sufficient. A true remembering will lead to actual repentance.

Let us bear in mind these days when in many places services will be held to commemorate Reformation Day that there is so much unfruitful remembering. On Reformation Day we gladly hear about Luther’s soul strife and about Calvin and Geneva, but where does it bring us? It is good that we remember how the Word of God was heard and received in our fatherland and this portion of the world. With how much hunger, with how much thirst the Word of God was consumed in the time of the Reformation. Often, simple field preachers brought the Word of God to thousands in the open air. One of the first open air services was held in the suburbs of Amsterdam.

As a violent storm, the doctrines of the Reformation spread over Europe—Luther’s translation of the Bible, Calvin’s Institutes, The Heidelberg Catechism. They were sledgehammers which made the decaying building of the Roman Catholic Church shudder on her very foundation. How were they heard and received? Thousands of followers because of this Word had to endure the tortures of the Inquisition and died by being burned at the stake. Remember!

What is the condition now? Oh, certainly there is still orthodox preaching in our fatherland. That in and of itself is a great benefit. In another country, I once saw a sign on the door of a Protestant church that there would be a Sunday service once every six weeks. When we look at that, we still have many privileges. The candlestick has not yet been removed from our midst, but how is it with our hidden life? Who are we in God’s eye? Is it not to be feared that the awesome judgment of the exalted Mediator is applicable to us also, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”?

Is it not true also for many of you, children of the Lord, that it was better in the past than it is now? Have you not lost your first love? Do you still remember with how much love, humility, abasement, and tenderness you, at one time, received the Word when God became too strong for you? Remember, therefore, and repent!

And preserve it. Between the admonishing to remember and the call to repentance the exalted Mediator warned His inheritance in Sardis to preserve that which they had heard and received. Now there are different ways in which we can preserve or save something. We can save a precious keepsake from our departed parents in a drawer or a chest. When we consider the original word, however, that kind of preserving is not meant here. The root word points to a keeping, a guarding, even a defending of an assaulted possession. This word from the exalted Mediator is certainly worth double our attention.

How terribly is the inheritance of our Reformation attacked and assailed. Remonstrantism, which was thrown out through the front door in 1619, is again creeping in through the back door. The absolute sovereignty of God which was especially confessed so powerfully by Calvin is an offense to many. Man’s state of death, so sharply taught and defended by Luther against Erasmus in his book The Bondage of the Will, is denied or glossed over. The personal satisfaction by Christ for His elect and for them alone which is so clearly defended in our Canons of Dort is watered down to the doctrine of universal redemption by those who call themselves evangelical. Therefore, preserve it! May the Lord Himself grant us this true remembering, coupled with a deep humility; this firm preservation of the earnest which has been entrusted unto us; and above all, the true conversion which brings us to the feet of God with a heartfelt confessing of our guilt.

Rev. A. Moerkerken, Capelle a/d Ijssel, the Netherlands

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