Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude (HC 2-5)

Deuteronomy 6 “Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude” August 19, 2007

Heidelberg 2-5

Deuteronomy 6 is all about catechesis.

Moses says that we are to teach these things to our children.

We are to speak of the great and marvelous works of God

when we rise up and when we lie down,

when we walk by the way.

If all we do is have our kids memorize the catechism and have family worship,

we are not truly catechizing.

If you can teach the whole history of the Bible and the whole theology of the scriptures

without using the catechism or family worship, that’s fine!

They are just tools.

Never confuse the tools with the goal.

And there are other tools!

An audio Bible is a great tool.

Listening to the Bible while you drive, or while you do dishes,

is a great way to get it stuck in your head.

There are people who have set the Shorter Catechism to music.

(Bruce Benedict’s tunes are quite catchy!)

But the point is that our children would learn to love God and to walk in his ways.

Oh, and remember that the best way to teach them that

is for you to love God and walk in his ways!

Last time we looked at the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism:

What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death,

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,

and has set me free from all the power of the devil.

He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father

not a hair can fall from my head;

indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.

Therefore by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life

and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.

In a nutshell, the answer is:

My comfort is that I belong to Jesus.

The second question follows up on this.

2. Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. First, how great my sins and misery are;¹ second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;² third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.³

¹ Rom 3:9, 10; 1 Jn 1:10. ² Jn 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43. ³ Mt 5:16; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9, 10.

1. Guilt, Grace and Gratitude

This answer sets up the rest of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Some have summarized it in terms of three Gs:

Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude.

Questions 3-11 focus on our “guilt” –

or better, “how great my sins and misery are;”

Questions 12-85 then focus on “grace” –

or better, “how I am delivered”

And Questions 86-129 then conclude with “gratitude” –

or “how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.”

Guilt, grace and gratitude is an easy mnemonic device for remembering these three divisions,

but I must say that it is not the most accurate.

Because the answer does not focus on guilt or grace.

The answer focuses on “sin and misery” and “deliverance.”

Certainly where there is sin and misery there is guilt!

And we are only delivered from sin and misery by God’s grace!

But “deliverance” has a very sound from “grace.”

We saw Friday night that the very word “salvation” means “deliverance.”

Our sin and misery is not simply a matter of guilt—

it is also a matter of bondage, slavery, imprisonment.

That is why I chose Deuteronomy 6 as our text for this evening.

Because while Deuteronomy 6 says a little bit about guilt,

it says a lot about deliverance from sin and misery.

Because Israel had been in bondage in the land of sin and misery.

Deuteronomy 6 comes at the beginning of Moses exposition of the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy consists of Moses’ farewell sermons that he preached on the far side of the Jordan.

Israel is preparing to enter the promised land.

God has told Moses that he must die.

But before he dies, Moses wishes to remind Israel of those things most necessary.

So Moses reminds them of the Ten Commandments in chapter 5,

and then he spends chapters 6-26 expounding the Ten Commandments,

more or less in order.

If you read chapters 6-26 in order, with a copy of the Ten Commandments beside you,

you will notice that the flow of Moses’ teaching follows the flow of the 10 Cs.

The first six chapters (6-11) focus on the first commandment:

you shall have no other gods but me.

Indeed, chapter 6 starts by saying “this is the commandment” –

suggesting that there is in fact one commandment that summarizes all of the ten.

Yes, verses 2-3 also mention the commandments plural,

but the commandment is stated boldly in verses 4-5, in the famous Shema:

Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your might.

Why are you supposed to love God?

Because he has delivered you from all your sins and misery!

As Moses says starting in verse 20:

When your son asks you in time to come,

What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules

that the LORD our God has commanded you?

Then you shall say to your son,

We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt.

And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Indeed, in every chapter in this opening section (chapters 6-12),

Moses reminds Israel that God has brought them out of Egypt.

The great Deliverance from Egypt is used as the motivation for gratitude.

Because God has delivered you from bondage and misery, therefore walk in his ways.

So what do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

First, how great my sins and misery are;

Second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;

Third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

2. The Law Reveals Our Sins and Misery

Question three then asks,

3. Q. From where do you know your sins and misery?
A. From the law of God.¹

¹ Rom 3: 20; 7:7-25.

Paul talks about this in Romans 3 and Romans 7.

The law is holy and good,

and as we compare ourselves to God’s holy law,

we see how far short we have fallen.

You see this in Deuteronomy 6 as well.

In verses 10-11 Moses speaks of how Israel will be brought into the land of promise.

--with great and good cities that you did not build,

and houses full of all good things that you did not fill,

and cisterns that you did not dig,

and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—

and when Israel comes into this land, Moses warns,

then take care lest you forget the LORD,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

And Moses warns that if you forget the LORD,

he will destroy you from off the face of the earth.

Moses reminds Israel of their sin at Massah (verse 16),

where they tested the LORD,

and the LORD responded by striking down those who rebelled.

The Law of God – even in Moses day – teaches us of our sins and misery.

As Israel heard Moses that day,

and as they heard the reading of Deuteronomy 6 throughout the ages,

could hear the judgment that they deserved for forgetting the LORD.

Josiah heard this law read in 2 Kings 22,

and he tore his clothes, because he heard the impending doom of God’s judgment.

If Israel obeys and worships Yahweh alone, then Israel will live.

But if Israel disobeys and follows other gods, then Israel will die.

The law of God teaches us our sin but it also teaches us our misery.

We are not happy sinners.

We are miserable sinners.

Sin has brought us under God’s wrath and curse.

3. The Requirement of the Law

Question four of the Heidelberg Catechism then asks:

4. Q. What does God's law require of us?
A. Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.¹ This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.²

¹ Deut 6:5. ² Lev 19:18.

When asked what is the greatest commandment,

Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy 6.

This was really a no-brainer.

Everyone knew that the great commandment was the Shema –

(Shema is Hebrew for “hear” and is the first word of

Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your might.)

God’s law requires us to love God.

You might say, “but of course I love God!”

You do?

Children, do you love your parents?

Do you love your Mommy? Your Daddy?

How do you show your love for them?

By doing what they say!

So every time you disobey your parents, you are saying, in effect,

I don’t really love you that much!

And we do that to God as well.

Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)

God requires of us that we love him

with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our might.

In other words, that we will love him with the entirety of every part of us.

It is not enough that you love God most of the time.

You are called to love God all of the time, with all of your heart.

No breaks, no time-outs, no exceptions.

And Jesus says in Matthew 22 that this is just as true in his kingdom as it was in Moses’ day.

4. Our Inclinations

If that is so, then I’ve got a problem!

As question five puts it:

5. Q. Can you keep all this perfectly?
A. No,¹ I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.²

¹ Rom 3:10, 23; 1 Jn 1:8, 10. ² Gen 6:5; 8:21; Jer 17:9; Rom 7:23; 8:7; Eph 2:3; Tit 3:3.

Let me make one thing clear:

When it says “I am inclined by nature,”

it does not mean that God created me this way.

(We’ll come back to that next time).

Rather, it means that sin has warped my nature.

Sin has twisted me so that my “natural” tendencies are no longer good.

I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor.

What does this mean?

Many of us would strenuously disagree!

No!

I don’t hate God!

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Well, yes, I know, but I love God most of the time—

it is just sometimes, I forget…

I try to be good!

Okay, I’ll give you that.

You only hate God some of the time!

If your husband loved you some of the time and hated you some of the time,

how would you describe your relationship?

If your wife cheated on you every other Tuesday,

but loved you the rest of the time,

what kind of love is that?

I love God when I feel like it, and I hate God when I feel like it.

In other words, the best way, the nicest way to put it is,

your love for God is a self-centered, self-interested love.

If your love for God only shows up when you feel like it,

then it is surely not worthy of the name of love!

And the same is true of my neighbor!

If your love for your sister only shows up when it benefits you,

then that is not really love.

If your love for your neighbor lies dormant for months,

and only arises when you feel like it,

then that is not really love!

Truly, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor.

Conclusion

So why do you know how great your sin and misery is?

Because it is only then that you realize how great is God’s grace

in delivering you from your sin and misery!

Which helps you be truly thankful for such deliverance!

God has redeemed us from bondage to sin and misery,

he has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil

through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And you are not your own. You belong to Jesus.

So, church of Jesus Christ,

if your only comfort is that you belong to Jesus,

3. Q. From where do you know your sins and misery?
A. From the law of God.¹

4. Q. What does God's law require of us?
A. Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.¹ This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.²

5. Q. Can you keep all this perfectly?
A. No,¹ I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.²