Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 23, question 59. What does it help thee now that thou believest all this, that I am righteous in Christ before God and an heir of eternal life? And then question 60. How art thou righteous before God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. That is, although my conscience accuse me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil, yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart. And then question 61. Why sayest thou that thou art righteous by faith only? Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God, and I can receive the same and make it my own in no other way than by faith only." We've been considering particularly what we learn from the question part of the questions and answers of the Heidelberg Catechism, And with question 59, we come to something very important and quite central. When it says, what does it help you now that you believe all this? There's something very important that emerges when you stop and think about that question and that answer, because it isn't entirely subjective. What I mean by that is it's not just saying, well, it helps me feel better that I believe this. That's not the answer, is it? The answer to this question isn't, well, it's a nice thing to think about. It helps me sleep. You know, sometimes people will say something like that. They'll say, well, you tell yourself whatever you need to tell yourself in order to sleep at night. That's not what the catechism is driving at. It's not just saying, well, this helps me feel better. Now, that may be true. I hope it is true. But that's not everything that's in view. What does it help you that you believe this? I'm righteous in Christ before God and an heir of eternal life. That's not just something that's happening on your inside. That's not just something to do with how you feel about things. That's something objective. That's something that takes place in the most important arena of all, between you and God. And so this is a very significant thing to grasp. For the authors of the Catechism, for our church, for Bible believers, faith is not just optional. Faith is not just, well, this is how I cope. Faith actually makes a tremendous difference. Who is righteous in Christ before God and an heir of eternal life? Well, those and only those who believe His promises, who take to heart, entrust what God says in His Word. And that's why question 60 goes on to say, how are you righteous before God? And the answer is, only by true faith in Jesus Christ. True faith makes that much of a difference. And of course, true faith makes that much of a difference not because it counterbalances everything we've done wrong, but because true faith is directed to Christ, to one whose satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness are perfect. And all of that becomes ours by faith. So what is the importance of this Lord's Day? Well, obviously it tells you how to be right with God, and that right by itself is an extremely significant question. But if we focus on just the answers, this Lord's Day also tells you that true faith is incredibly important. Without true faith, there is no way to be righteous before God. Well, that seems pretty significant then, doesn't it? That means it's very important to know and to believe the actual truth, not to be left in doubt and uncertainty. What is it that we believe? What should we believe? But to have those questions answered because we are righteous by true faith and that includes actually believing the truth rather than believing some random thing because somebody once told me or however that might work. Well, may God be pleased to grant to each one of us that true faith and the comfort of that true faith along with it.