Download Sermon on LD 3 Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ

Sermon on LD 3
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
David committed a terrible sin. He abused his power as the anointed king of Israel to
satisfy his own desires. God had made him king over his people so that he could rule over
them in God’s Spirit. But David used his power not to serve God’s people, but for his own
gratification. David was granted a most responsible position, but he betrayed God’s trust and
appointment.
We read in 2 Sam. 11 & 12 that his desire went out to a beautiful woman, by the name of
Bathsheba, whom he saw bathing on the roof of her house. He brought her into his palace.
How could she resist the wishes of this powerful anointed king? Then he found out that she
was married to one of his own commanders, Uriah. But instead of acknowledging his
wrongdoings, he had Uriah killed, so that his adultery would not become public. For a while
he must have thought that he had gotten away with it. But God’s eyes see where the public
eye doesn’t; and he was severely punished by God - Bathsheba had fallen pregnant by David,
but the LORD did not allow the child to live.
David had committed this terrible sin. Once he realised that, when he did not justify or hide
it any longer, the severity of his sin hit him like a ton of bricks. In Psalm 51 we find the poetic
expression of the state of mind that he was in when he realised what he had done. He
acknowledges his sin, and cries out for mercy, and he also prays for renewal, so that he would
not betray his LORD and God again.
This history of David’s fall takes us right to the heart of LD 3. Why did David do what he
did? Why could he not control himself? And when he found out that Bathsheba was married,
why did he try to hide his sin? Why did he not confess his sin?
LD 3 suggests: is it perhaps because that’s just the way we are? It is perhaps because that is
just the way God made us? In other words, is David really to blame for what he did? He was
only human, wasn’t he, just like anyone else? When we considered LD 2 last week we found
that we are totally depraved in nature - in words, actions, thoughts and desires - which
explains why David sinned. Then LD 3 continues and adds that we cannot blame God for this.
So David could not and did not say that God should not have had created him that way, that
he was after all only human. No, we are responsible for our own sinful actions. And not only
that, we are also responsible for our own sinful nature - not just for the things that we do, but
also for who and what we are, sinful people by nature.
This, however, raises a question: how can we be held responsible for the way we are born?
How can we be held responsible for something that we did not do? You and I were not there
in Paradise when Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil. Then how can God hold us responsible for that sin, and also for the consequence of that
sin: our depraved nature?
In the sermon this afternoon we have to consider that and explain it. We need to, because
we must not be left with any excuse about our sinfulness. We must come to see and accept our
responsibility, for if we do not, we will not be able to fully appreciate the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ for us, who died for our sins and our sinful nature. Nor will we be able to
appreciate the work of the Holy Spirit who creates in us a new heart so that we may still live a
life pleasing in God’s eyes. But if we do accept our responsibility, we will share in the joy of
our salvation in Christ and we will find strength to live in holiness before our God.
To discuss these things we will follow the systematic exposition of LD 3 regarding the
origin of our sin. First we will consider the fact that man was created perfectly (q/a 6), then
the complete destruction that extends to the whole of humankind (q/a 7), and finally the
merciful restoration of our human nature through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
Holy Spirit (q/a 8).
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1. Our perfect creation
Can we shift the blame for our sinfulness on God? Can we say to God: you should have
created us better, then we would never have sinned? No, absolutely not. LD 3 teaches us that
God did create us perfectly. Adam and Eve in paradise were perfect. There is no excuse for
their actions. Of course, Adam and Eve tried to play the blame-game. When the LORD asked
Eve why she had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she responded:
“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:13). Adam tried it as well. His response to
God’s question was: “The woman gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” (vs 12). He even
managed to smuggle in an accusation against God himself - his exact words were: “The
woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit and I ate.” Whenever we are
caught in the act of doing something wrong, the first thing we do is look for excuses and
justifications. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll try to shift the blame, if not on people, then on
circumstances. But more often than not there is no excuse. We have to learn to take
responsibility for our own lives, for our own actions.
And that is definitely the case here. Answer 6 says: “No, God did not create us wicked and
perverse, but good - that is, righteous, holy, and knowing our Creator.” In fact, man was
created in the image of God, and after his likeness (Gen. 1:26). Even more, man and woman
were the crown on God’s creation. They were so special and so wonderfully created that in
Gen. 1:26 the plural is used for God: “Let us make man, after our likeness.” God deliberated
within himself, all the three Persons in God’s triune being were involved in the creation of
Adam and Eve - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit decided in divine unison how to design and
create man. And the triune God decided to give Adam and Eve an exalted position in creation.
In Psalm 8 David says by divine inspiration: “You have made man a little lower than the
heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over
the works of your hand; you have put all things under his feet.” (Ps. 8:5-6). Art. 14 BC tries to
capture this in these words: “Man did not appreciate his high position, nor did he value his
excellency.” So was humankind corrupt from the very first beginning? No, not at all; he was
perfect and excellent from the start.
At this point we must go into a bit more detail about what it exactly means that man was
created in the image of God, and after his likeness. LD 3 does that as well in answer 6. The
reason for that is probably that when we see the high position from which we have fallen,
when we see the depth of our sin, then we will all the more see and understand the wonder of
our salvation. Man did not appreciate his high position says art. 14 BC. Let us pray that we do
not fail to appreciate the wonder of our salvation as well!
So, what does it mean to be created in the image and after the likeness of God? To explain
that, the HC refers to two texts: Eph. 4:24 and Col. 3:10. If you were to look these up you will
find three key words relating to the image of God: true righteousness, and true holiness (Eph.
4) and renewed knowledge (Col. 3). Another crucial text is 2 Cor. 4:4 where our Lord Jesus
Christ himself is called the image of God. When you put these together then you see that
being created in the image of God means that man was like Christ. Not of course in Christ’s
divinity and with our Lord’s divine attributes (Adam and Eve were not gods) but in his
relationship to God the Father and his neighbour. Just like the Lord Jesus lived in perfect
harmony with God the Father, so Adam and Eve lived with the LORD God in paradise. They
were righteous, without sin; they were holy, living according to God’s will and command; and
they had perfect knowledge, knowing God intimately and loving him deeply from the heart.
That is first of all what it means to be created in the image of God. There is, however,
much more. We will touch on a few aspects. There is the aspect of having dominion over the
earth. Ever since dr. K. Schilder was professor in The Netherlands we often talk about the
Culture Mandate in this context. This refers to the mandate that God gave to Adam and Eve
in Gen. 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on
the earth.” This means that God has made man his governor in this world. We are to represent
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him in this world. We have the task to cultivate this world in the way that God wants us to.
And as such we may mirror God, reflect him and glorify him, who is the Creator.
Another part of the image of God is the fact that we have our own human qualities. Being
created after the likeness of God does not mean that we look like God. God is a spiritual being
(ref. Jn. 4:24) and he is incomparable (ref. Isa. 40:18ff). It means that we are uniquely human.
Man is unlike any other living creature. Man has received the ability to think, to plan ahead,
to appreciate beauty, to believe, to be creative, to exercise self control. No animal or plant can
do those things. We are unique creatures. Connected with that is our creation as uniquely men
and women. Gen. 1:27 explicitly says that God created man as man and woman. That means
that man and woman are different. They have received different positions, but also different
bodies, different emotions, they are of a different design - both human of course, but
distinctively man and woman. And this distinction is a good thing - unlike what our society
likes to think. Men do some things better than women, and women do some things better than
men, because they were created differently. This too is part of the image of God.
There is more, but we must stop here. To conclude this point we quote what the Lord God
said after he had created man and woman in his image and after his likeness: “And God saw
everything he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31). Indeed, God did not
create man wicked and perverse. He created man perfectly good. And it will serve us well to
realise that. We have no excuse, no one else to blame for our misery but ourselves. This we
see in our next point:
2. Complete destruction
Answer 7 responds to the next logical question: if God created us good, then where does
our depraved nature come from? And the answer is: from the fall of Adam and Eve. Because
of their sin the nature of all of humankind became corrupt. No man can escape this sinful
nature, for all those ‘born of woman’ are part of humankind. That this is true is clear from
God’s own Word, and also from our own experience. We spoke about this at length last week,
so we can be brief here.
From God’s Word just one example: in Ps. 51:5 we find one of the most telling verses in
the Bible which speaks to our inborn depravity. David acknowledges: “Behold, I was brought
forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David does not refer to his sinful
being from birth to find an excuse for his sin with Bathsheba. As in: “God can’t really hold
me responsible, for I was born in sin. What can I do about that!?” No, David considers the
depth of his sinfulness. Not only did he sin with Bathsheba, but in addition to that, even his
very nature is condemnable in God’s eyes.
And, further, also from experience we know that our sinful nature comes with being
human. Even little children can be mean to each other. Our own kids sometimes seem to think
that the world revolves all around them and their wishes. Or think of the bullying at school
that can leave deep scars in the hearts and minds of young people.
So God’s Word and our own experience tell us that man is sinful from nature. And it is
good to establish that first of all. For in the course of church history this truth has been
challenged many times. In confrontation with the church father Augustine, Pelagius (see art.
15 BC) stated that children were born innocent. They only did evil because they imitated
others. Therefore, people could only be held responsible for their own actions, not for some
kind of evil that clung to them from birth.
I think we can easily imagine why the existence of our sinful nature and our responsibility
for that has been challenged and are challenged to this day. If you think about it, it is as if we
are being judged for something that we did not do. Even more, this sinful nature for which we
should not be held responsible, is the reason why we do sin at all. So, we are judged for a
sinful nature that we did not bring on ourselves in person, and we are also judged for sins that
we would not do if we did not have this sinful nature to begin with! All of that sounds pretty
unfair to us, does it not?
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To answer these questions and challenges the church father Augustine in the fourth century
developed the doctrine of original sin, meaning the first sin, the sin that was originally
committed. Although the expression ‘original sin’ is not found in the Bible, the concept
certainly is. Original sin indicates the sin of Adam and Eve, their rebellion against God, which
resulted in the corruption of all of human nature. Because Adam and Eve fell into sin in
Paradise, that is why all people are born with a corrupt nature and are liable to everlasting
condemnation.
This teaching explains the Biblical truth that all people are born and conceived in sin, in
the words of David in Ps. 51. But it does not answer the question how that happens. If only we
knew how original sin extends through the generations, perhaps that would make it easier for
us to accept that we are responsible for it. Many answers have been given to this question.
One is called Realism. It holds that all people were as it were really present in Adam when he
sinned. In some way all people ate from that fruit in person, and that is why all people can be
held personally responsible. The other one is called Federalism. This teaching holds that
Adam represented all mankind in Paradise. Just like a head of state can declare war on
another country on behalf of the people of his own country, just like that Adam ate for all
people, as the head of the human race.
Now both of these theories try to explain how all people can be held responsible for the sin
of Adam and Eve’s. However, both of them have a crucial weakness. Realism does ultimately
not explain the fact that we were not there when Adam sinned. Whichever way you turn it,
you and I were not in Paradise, and you and I did not eat from that fruit. Federalism swings
too far to the other side. It ultimately does not explain that you and I are held responsible for
something that someone else did.
Is there any way we can solve this problem? There is, at least in part, but to do so we have
to step outside of our own cultural context. In this time, and especially in this so-called Post
Modern age, we think of ourselves as individuals. People of our time tend to live for
themselves, have their own goals, their own ambitions. We do not live for the collective. We
do not usually think of ourselves as being a part of a greater whole. But in the time of the
Bible that was different. We determine our identity from who we are individually. But in the
Bible people determined their identities from the group of people to which they belonged. If
someone asked you now who you are, you would say something like: I am James Brown, and
I work as a salesman, I am married and have three children. If you would ask the same
question of a person in the OT, he would probably say something like: I am an Israelite, one
of the people of God. He would derive his identity from the social structure wherein God has
given him a place.
And that is also how the LORD God created human kind. The human race is not a collection
of individuals, it is a corporate unity. All humans live in solidarity with each other by virtue
of their human nature. They all share the same forefather, they all share the same mandate,
they all share the same nature. And that is why we all share in the same sinful nature. When
Adam fell, we all fell. Just like Adam is responsible for his sinful nature, we are responsible
for our sinful nature. This is sometimes difficult to understand, but we know from God’s
Word that it is so, and we also know it from experience.
I realise that this sounds all very theological, and I guess it is very theological. But again I
say, we need to understand these things so that we do not seek excuses for our sins, but rely
on outside help, on our Lord Jesus Christ to save us.
I need to make one more thing clear to avoid a common misunderstanding. In art. 15 BC
we read that original sin is “a hereditary evil which infects even infants in their mother’s
womb.” This is true, but we must understand the ‘hereditary’ correctly. Our sinful nature is
not a physical reality, but a spiritual reality. Many times we say that we receive our sinful
nature from our parents. This is not true. Our parents can not give us faith, nor can they give
us sin or a sinful nature. Our birth in itself does not make us corrupt. It is the fact that we are
human that makes us corrupt. Our sinful nature is a spiritual reality. It is imputed to us, it is
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assigned to us by God himself. God declares us guilty, and rightly so, because we are of
Adam and Eve. If our sinful nature were a physical thing, then we could perhaps find the gene
in our DNA that causes it, cut it out, and create sinless people. But that is not how it works.
Our sinful nature is imputed to us.
And why is that important to understand? Again, because it makes us realise that we need
someone else to save us. We can not save ourselves, not by good works, not by escaping
responsibility, and not by means cutting in our genetic design. We have manoeuvred
ourselves into a hopeless position, and we can not get out. We concluded our first point by
saying that we have no excuse, no one else to blame for our misery but ourselves. Now we
must conclude that we no one else to run to but Jesus Christ, to beg for mercy. That brings us
to our final point.
3. Merciful restoration
This restoration is a work of both our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. We find this
in vss 7-12 of Ps. 51. When we finally acknowledge our sinfulness, when we stop making up
excuses, we have only one way left to go: to the cross of Jesus Christ. And so David does as
well. In vs 7 he says: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.” Hyssop was a kind of plant that, because of its particular structure, was
often used as a brush. It also smelt nice. You will remember that at the time of the Exodus, the
Israelites were to celebrate the Passover and smear blood on the lintels and doorposts of their
houses with brushes of hyssop. Therefore, when David used the word hyssop in the context of
the forgiveness of sins, he referred to the blood of sacrifices. He realised that he needed to be
washed with the blood of sacrificial animals.
And so we too seek refuge in a sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ,
who died for us on the cross on Golgota. His blood washes us clean from all sins. He takes
away not only our sinful deeds, but also our sinful nature. Jesus Christ was God and man at
the same time, he had both the divine and human nature. He shared in our human nature, so
that he could cleanse it with his precious blood.
In vs 9 David repeats his prayer, but in different words. And I think the children can relate
to that very well. Kids, look what it says: “blot out all my iniquities.” Do you know what that
means? It is like “rub out all my mistakes.” I am pretty sure that you use rubbers at school, so
that you can rub out mistakes. Every now and then you have a spelling test, or math test, or
you have to make exercises, and then your teacher says that you must use your pencil to write
down your answers. And why is that? Because, if you make a mistake, you can rub out the
wrong answer, and write down the correct answer instead. Well, David is basically asking
God to do the same thing here. David is asking God to rub out his sins from his book.
And this was common practice in the Ancient Near-East. To illustrate: there should be a
picture in your liturgy sheet. That is a picture of a Palimpsest. That is a bit of papyrus that was
reused. Because papyrus was quite an expensive material to write on, it was often reused. The
old text was blotted out, or actually scraped off, and then a new text could be written on it
again. If you look closely, you can perhaps vaguely see words or letters underneath the bold
text in the picture. Nowadays, with the use of X-rays scientists have discovered many ancient
texts underneath other texts.
Well, that illustrates and may help you remember what David is asking God to do: rub out
my sins, and also in vs 10, “create in me a clean heart.” Not only do we need God to forgive
us our sins through the blood of Christ, we also need the Holy Spirit to create a new heart for
us, our sheet needs to be cleaned. And so the image of God, of which we spoke in the
beginning, can be restored. David asked for pardon and purity, for justification and
sanctification. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we will be renewed after the image of
our Lord, and after this life live in perfection with our God once again.
Conclusion
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And so this LD about destruction and misery and original sin ends with hope and
forgiveness. To rejoice with David (vs 8) in the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to
stop making excuses. We need to stop justifying our sins. We need to stop blaming our
wrongdoings on others or even God himself. We need to take responsibility for our actions.
Only if we do that, will we be able to humble ourselves and to offer our LORD the sacrifice of
a contrite heart (vs 17). And then the Lord will be happy to forgive. As John says in 1 Jn. 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” So let us confess our sins, brs and srs, and rejoice in our salvation. Amen.
Liturgy:
Ps 100
Ps 8:1,4,5
Ps 51:1,3
Ps 51:4,6
Ps 33:1,6
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