There was this lady who remarked that those Canadian Reformed people have it so easy. They believe they're all in the covenant and are saved regardless of what they do. Salvation is automatic. In the Can RC you are baptized as an infant and it is believed that nothing can go wrong. You are home-free and safe, just as in baseball.

Well, I know from personal experience that things can easily go wrong, even if you are baptized as an infant. More about that later. Right now I want to state that it is easy to make a caricature of someone else's beliefs and then piously attack the caricature. Accuse us of automatism and then wax indignant over such a heresy. One ought to do justice to others' views. It is not easy, I know, but we should try. Doing justice is proof of true rebirth. Otherwise it isn't worth a solitary dime.

The biblical doctrine of salvation is rather clear. One is saved by faith in Christ. This faith is worked in us by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. This faith regenerates us (present tense = ongoing regeneration and sanctification). The source of this salvation is God's grace. The Reformed doctrine is God-oriented, Christ-centred, faith-based, Bible-founded, and Spirit-filled. In all this also the teaching about God's covenant has its place. But it's not as easy as some would have us believe.

My favourite passage⤒🔗

Someone said to me once that Christians shouldn't have favourite texts. Gives you tunnel vision. We have to abide by all the Scriptures and not a few favourites. Tota Scriptura, he said, with pursed lips. I agree with that, but I still have a favourite passage. I am a bit naughty, but I can't resist.

I love to read and meditate on Ephesians 2:1-10. You should read it for a moment and then revisit it regularly. It tells us how we come from death to life. Surely that has piqued your interest. If you follow the line in that passage, you find roughly the following:

1. We were dead in transgressions and sins — fall
2. We were by nature objects of wrath — curse
3. God who is rich in mercy loved us — love
4. God made us alive with Christ — faith
5. God raised us up with Christ — justification
6. We have been saved by grace — grace
7. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms — ascension
8. We are not saved by works so that no one can boast — praise
9. We do good works, prepared in advance by God — new life

Notice that from beginning to end, the entire work of salvation is done by God in Jesus Christ. We are dead objects of wrath made into living people of grace who excel in good works because God wants us to be holy. Does this sound easy? It's quite a process and involves a life-long commitment and struggle. There is nothing automatic here. There is something ecstatic and outstanding here: my salvation rests not in myself but in Christ! Still, I am fully involved in that work of salvation from start to finish, from A — Z. The Reformed faith is simply amazing.

It would be easier if we ourselves could do part of the process. God can do all the initial ground-breaking stuff, but activated by the Spirit we will take care of the regeneration and the sanctification. We will not boast, but always affirm that we have been saved by grace. Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... we will diligently tend to our works as evidence of regeneration. Sometimes we might stand back for a moment and admire the result that came through much effort. Better than the Can RC's easy and glib idea of Wal-Mart salvation.

When things go wrong←⤒🔗

Sometimes things do go wrong in a Christian's life. I have another favourite Bible passage (I am almost ashamed to admit it, tunnel vision, remember?) and it is found in Romans 7. I'll focus on verse 18 for now, "I know that nothing good lives within me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."

It's not as easy as it sometimes seems. It can take a lifetime of struggle and triumph to overcome one weak­ness. Some weaknesses we carry with us into the grave, to leave them there with the body of death. This does not mean that the weaknesses are okay, but that they are very hard to overcome. When the Apostle Paul speaks about a war raging inside, I understand what he means. When things do go wrong and I again fall into a sin of which I know it is a sin, I am comforted in Christ and I do affirm my delight for God's law. I hate myself, but I love my Saviour.

Salvation is not easy. But our Lord Jesus Christ is a sympathetic high priest, who was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. (See Hebrews 2, another one of my favour...). When we fall, he lifts us up. He knows how to lead his sheep. Sometimes he carries me in his arms, be­cause I cannot go anymore on my own. The Can. Reffers have it easy? Not this one. Not anyone I know.

Almost forgot about the covenant←⤒🔗

I am developing tunnel vision. I almost forgot to write something about the function of the covenant. Does the covenant make things easy? Is the covenant an assurance of automatic salvation? What utter nonsense!

Ask Abraham how easy it was — a promise of children and a barren wife. Have some tea with Isaac and Jacob. Read the history of their lives, so carefully recorded for us in Scripture. See how the Nazirite Samson loses his hair and his head. Envision David standing on the rooftop lust­ing after a bathing Bathsheba. Check out John the Baptist in his prison cell when he began to wonder if Jesus was truly the Man. Read Hebrews 11. What more can I say? Stand in faith at the old rugged cross and hear the words, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Easy?

All these were in the covenant — circumcised just as we are baptized. And they knew that it is not easy to live as a covenant child. Some fell deeply and wept greatly. The covenant is not a free pass to eternity. The covenant is a working relationship that God has established with us and our children, with believers and their seed, people who know that salvation is not easy, but possible, yes, guaranteed in Christ. So, get to work.

Re-baptism←⤒🔗

When God establishes a relationship, he means it. He means every word that He ever said to us, regardless of age, gender, or status. I discovered that in the course of their lives some people mistakenly come so far that they seek re-baptism. Nowhere does the Bible speak of this. It is not a biblical requirement but a human invention.

We do read that Apollos only knew of the baptism of John and the way had to be explained to him more adequately (Acts 18:25). We do not read about any re-baptism. If it happened, it was not important enough to mention.

In Ephesus there were a number of disciples who had never heard of the Holy Spirit and they had received only the baptism of John. Of these people it is said that they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. It is not called re-baptism because there was in their case really no prior proper baptism. Other than this, the Bible is silent about re-baptisms.

This denial of infant baptism is symptomatic of a deeper shift. It is a denial of the doctrine of grace. See my favourite passages. Why can God not claim children of believers as his own and give them the sign of his covenant? God is gracious, even to infants, conceived and born in sin.

I have also discovered that some develop "itching ears" syndrome (2 Timothy 4:3-5). They seek out preachers who tell them what they want to hear. Ask someone who is church-hopping why they left where they were and began attending elsewhere and you may get the an­swer, "We were not hearing what we wanted to hear, so we left." Well, how can you argue with that?

It is not easy being "Reformed" today. As churches we need to stand together and encourage one another. We need to seek sister churches who also love the Reformed faith. Generally, I'd like to see more enthusiasm for the Reformed faith among office bearers, teachers, parents, and young people. A lot of good initiatives are developing. Cool.

Our churches have never taken the easy way out. We should not start now.