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With Heart and Mouth: Is That the Way You Have Made Confession of Faith?

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With Heart and Mouth: Is That the Way You Have Made Confession of Faith?

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

We wish to consider out of the Word of God that making Confession of Faith does not only mean your audible answer. The words of the confession are not in and of themselves without value. The Lord Jesus even calls them good, but that is not enough … Let us take a look in the camp of Israel, the Church of the Old Testament.

Good words

“And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken. O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:28&29).

Moses is busy saying his farewell to the people who will shortly pass over the Jordan River. The mediator of the Old Testament calls to the younger generation to remember what the Lord has spoken and done in the years that are behind them. He wishes to convey those words to them so that they would not forget them. He reminds them of the very impressive happenings at Mount Sinai where the Lord gave the Ten Commandments just fifty days after they had left the land of Egypt. Compared to what is written in Exodus, Moses, here in his fifth book, tells them more. This privileged, separated people may not forget what happened there when the Lord spoke His Law to them under the administration of the covenant of grace.

Jehovah speaks

How impressed they were with God’s majesty and glory. How they were humbled under the tokens of the thunder and lightning, the shaking of the mountain, because the Lord of glory descended to the sound of the trumpet which suddenly went silent. Then God’s voice was heard. “I am the LORD your God which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Subsequently, the gathered desert travelers heard the Ten Commandments, one by one, just like we hear them every Sunday morning in our church services. In the introduction the Lord states who He is and what He has done. He is the faithful covenant God who always remains the same. He is who He was in the past and will remain the same in the future.

In all His words and works, in the conversion of sinners, in the care for His people, in the faithfulness of His covenant of grace, He remains the same. “I am the LORD” were the words which the church people of the Old Testament heard. The Lord still does the same today, and what does He do? He leads out of the house of bondage and separates; as with His people then He does with you, making known His words and deeds. That is not only while attending Confession of Faith classes. The Lord makes His will known in the care for souls. He also brings the Ten Commandments to let us know what He considers good and evil. He does not do that to hinder us or to restrict us; He does that to teach us and convert us. It is therefore for our essential well-being.

Believing freely

How impressed the people were with the hearing of these words, words which you hear fifty-two times per year. The people were even afraid that they would die because of the majesty of God and the accompanying signs and tokens. They had an impression of the holiness of the Lord and felt small in themselves when the Lord gave the Ten Commandments. Sinful and ready to perish, they asked for an intermediary. “Moses,” they begged,” why should we die? For this great fire will consume us.” They even asked if Moses would bring to them the words of the Lord. “Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say.” Under the deep impression of these happenings, they added a voluntary promise. “Speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it” (verse 27). Moses had certainly not asked them to make this promise, but it came voluntarily before God’s countenance. “All that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, we will hear and do.”

Nevertheless good words

This is also true when making confession. This is also hearing God’s Word and afterwards walking according to its precepts. How do we view this freely confessed promise? Are they just words? Is it easy for you, perhaps, not to do so? Do these words have any value for you? Moses could not look into the future. He did not know what would be happening shortly. He did not know that these same people who made this solemn pledge here would soon be dancing around the golden calf as if they had never made a promise. The Lord, however, knew it. He knew what would be happening shortly and what would be happening in the years to come. What did He say about the promise of these “church people”? Did the Lord say, “Hypocrites, you really do not mean what you are saying; you are over-estimating yourselves; you are such liars and shallow-minded people; it would be better if you did not speak this promise.” No, the Lord did not say that. He said, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee; they have well said all that they have spoken.” He who knows the hearts called the spoken words good words even though He had every reason to call them evil. He did, however, add something to His words.

Give Me your heart

The Almighty God, who knows all things according to the counsel of His will, He who speaks and it is, this covenant Jehovah sighed. If it were not written this way in God’s Word, we would dare not express it in this way. He sighed with the word “Oh.” He sighed because He was looking for their conversion and not, as they thought, their destruction. The words which they spoke were good. He did not turn down their freely made confession; on the contrary, He approved of it, but, He added a godly sighing to it, “O that there were such an heart in them.” The words were good, but He asked for their heart. The Lord is concerned about our heart, our entire being, our complete existence. Also to you the Lord says, “Your yes word is good, but My son, My daughter, give Me your heart.”

The Lord has no desire in your destruction but that you might be converted and live. The Lord cannot be satisfied with anything less than with all of your heart and all of your life, soul and body, for time and eternity—not only with your mouth but also with your heart. Is it not striking that a holy God sighs in the midst of so much formal religion and superficiality? We also hear of this godly sighing in the words of Psalm 81, “Oh, that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways!” We also read of the Savior how He was moved when He said, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” (Luke 19:42). The Lord has that concern also for you. He is looking for the saving work of the Holy Spirit in your heart whereby you begin to fear Him with a childlike fear. When this work of the Spirit is in your heart, your demeanor will be visible in relation to the commandments of the Lord all of the days of your life.

Calling upon the Mediator

It is not what our attitude is toward some of God’s commandments which the Lord continually places before us for our welfare. No, it is what is in our heart concerning all of God’s commandments, without exception. That should be through all of our days—Sundays and schooldays, weekdays and holidays, happy days and troublesome days, your young days and your old days. If we would walk in God’s commandments all the days of our lives, it will surely go well with us, not only in and through this time state but also for eternity. Then we can view our daily life in the light of the coming eternity; so many things are seen in a different light. Perhaps you will say, “I do not know how I can live all the days of my life in the light of all of the Lord’s commandments with the heart that I have. I feel that I must be consumed because of His righteous anger caused by my sin against each of His commandments.” Yes, indeed, that is what we deserve, but the Lord places this before you just as He did in the wilderness so that through grace you might tremble before His precious majesty and attributes. The Lord will teach you to bow humbly because of your sin and misery and with your whole heart to cry out for the Mediator of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that Christ may take the chief place in your heart. Pray that he will rule you your entire life, for then it will certainly go well with you. Even your offspring may then benefit from the promises and blessings of the Most High.

When you make confession, therefore, and promise to walk in all of the statutes of the Lord, He calls this good. He not only calls good the contents of the spoken words but He also asks for your heart. Looking at the fruits in your life, what is your attitude concerning God’s commandments all of the days of your life? What are the fruits of your life?

(Translated from De Saambinder. Taken from Met hart en mond. Ons belijdenis doen (With heart and mouth: making confession of faith). Den Hertog, Houten)

Rev. G.J. Van Aalst, Klaaswaal, the Netherlands

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With Heart and Mouth: Is That the Way You Have Made Confession of Faith?

Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 mei 2017

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's