Many commentators define the phrase “vain jangling” as idle words of no profit. You could just as well define the phrase used in this text as peddling something that has no value. During the past few years in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC), God’s people have been subjected to much vain jangling. Powerful men, who are supposed to be leading the sheep and guiding their souls, have revealed their jangling ways by their empty words and the wares they sell.

Have you ever gone to a sporting event or to a flea market where outside the main event there are those who catch you on the side street and try to hustle you out of your money by selling inferior, poorly made products? It is the same feeling you get at a garage sale when you find a great tool that you have been looking for, only to discover it was poorly made in China and is of inferior quality.

Some live out this analogy in the church and say, “The truth is marred everywhere, so I will take the inferiority of the truth.”

God will not be mocked!

This vain jangling is what we were under and what many whom I love are still under in the PRC and in other denominations apprehended by these vain peddlers and their smoke and mirrors. The street hustlers of the church, though, are not shady men with outwardly nefarious intentions, but they are handsome, winsome men dressed in fine attire and who speak very confidently of what they are selling and trying to get you to buy.

Martin Luther knew of this kind of buying and selling. He was privy to many of these types of scams. Having recently departed from the Roman Catholic Church of his day, Luther knew that it was commonplace for men as officers of the church to sell indulgences for future forgiveness of sins. The German friar Tetzel was known for saying, “As soon as the gold in the casket rings, the rescued soul to heaven springs.”

How is that any different than what is being preached today in the Reformed church world? Maybe the phrases sound a little different, and maybe it is harder to track where the financial gain is found in the end. But in essence it is the same theology to make repentance precede the forgiveness of your sins and the knowledge that you have been forgiven in eternity according to your election in Christ. That is not the truth though, for we read in Ephesians 1:4–9,

4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

8. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.

There is no longer a Tetzel, but there are others who peddle the same indulgences. These peddlers prey mainly on the weak and the poor, knowing that keeping men’s knowledge of their salvation out of reach is the peddlers’ greatest power and influence. Why do they do this? So that the weak and indigent will come to these peddlers and give allegiance to them! The rich are preyed on too; the peddlers in the end need the coffers of the wealthy on their side. The hard part with the wealthy is that they can actually “pay off” their sin-debt for a time and feel assured that they and their loved ones are partakers of eternal life. Do not worry, the rich will be repeat customers.

Ephesians 1:9 says, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.” I understand this to mean that God by his rich grace makes known to his people their salvation, wholly apart from their working. God does this through faith alone! That faith is worked by the Spirit through the chief means of grace, the preaching of the gospel. Yet in the PRC the ministers preach that the experience of your salvation cannot be realized until you shed tears of repentance. But how do you know your sins, unless you have been given the knowledge of how great a sinner you truly are? How can you have that knowledge except the Holy Spirit gives to you the gift of faith?

Not too long ago, teachers in the PRC taught that repentance was the first good work or fruit of faith. Now in the PRC the teaching is that repentance is the fulcrum on which all of salvation hinges. Repentance is not only taught as the prerequisite for forgiveness; but repentance as a prerequisite for forgiveness is also defended as the gospel so that no man may think to know that he is saved, that no man can taste the riches of heaven, until and unless he sheds a tear of his work of repentance. No wonder the sheep are absolutely terrified from week to week and why many flock to the world for counseling and seek help from the world’s medications to ease their troubled minds.

That is why Canons 1.9 is so beautiful to the Christian.

This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which it depended; but men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore election is the fountain of every saving good, from which proceed faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according to that of the apostle: He hath chosen us (not because we were, but) that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). (Confessions and Church Order, 157)

Making repentance a prerequisite for forgiveness is the crime of mixing the law and gospel in the preaching of salvation. When a church takes the law and makes it a doable service, then man must start doing it, or else. This is what the Roman Catholic Church did and does to those under its theology. This is what drove Martin Luther mad to the point that God plucked him out of that crucible and forced him to confess in 1521,

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world.¹

Professor Cammenga of the Protestant Reformed Churches preaches only a fictitious grace. We are reminded of the discourse he has had over the past couple of years but especially his agreement with the Roman Catholic understanding of faith according to the Council of Trent. In that council the Romish religion states,

If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof: let him be anathema.²

What we hear from Professor Cammenga is, “We may not deny that our good works are always fruit. But Scripture does not allow us to say they are only fruit.”³ This discourse is purely vain jangling. It is at best either a complete ignorance of the truth that the child of God longs to live a life of thankfulness, or at worst it is an attempt to move the children of God off the position that by faith in Jesus Christ alone we are complete in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power (Col. 2:10). Professor Cammenga’s writings against those who say that good works are only fruit and that as fruit alone, good works do hold a great place in the lives of the children of God, are only detriments to the great cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ to bring freedom in their lives. Professor Cammenga believes that the place of the living sacrifices of regenerated children of God is somehow on another level than “only fruit.” He writes,

Scripture speaks of the good works of the child of God not only as fruit, but also as the conscious, willing activity of the believer. One way in which Scripture does this is by speaking of our good works as the sacrifice of praise that we willingly offer up to God.⁴

Why stress that good works are something more than fruit? Why stress that good works are also the willing activity of the believer? Why be afraid of the gospel? A theology that reminds everyone that their works are more than “only fruit” and that they must also be active in willing sacrifices of praise, so that they do not just have “good works” on the exterior, seems like a theology that is scared that God’s people are free and that now that they are free in Christ, they will all start living like devils. I really pity that theology; I pity those who teach and stress that theology of man’s living a conscious, willing life of sacrifice so that one’s life might be viewed as more than fruit in God’s eyes and in man’s eyes. That theology is weak and false and will only turn men into a bunch of white-walled sepulchers.

What does scripture really teach us? “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise, work is no more work” (Rom. 11:6).

And what do our Reformed confessions say of Christ and his perfect work? Article 21 of the Belgic Confession says,

We believe that Jesus Christ is ordained with an oath to be an everlasting High Priest, after the order of Melchisedec; and that He hath presented Himself in our behalf before the Father to appease His wrath by His full satisfaction, by offering Himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out His precious blood to purge away our sins, as the prophets had foretold…Therefore, He restored that which He took not away, and suffered, the just for the unjust…and hath suffered all this for the remission of our sins.

Wherefore we justly say with the apostle Paul, that we know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; we count all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, in whose wounds we find all manner of consolation. Neither is it necessary to seek or invent any other means of being reconciled to God than this only sacrifice, once offered, by which believers are made perfect forever. This is also the reason why He was called by the angel of God, Jesus, that is to say, Savior, because He would save His people from their sins. (Confessions and Church Order, 47–49, emphasis in bold added)

Yet men do not count all things but loss and dung! Men count things gain and sweet smelling! They say, “Look what God has enabled me to do now as regenerated!” They say, “But I do obey the law occasionally; I do obey; I do love my neighbor…sometimes.” We give to God our good works—done perfectly in principle, yet wholly polluted—and tell him that he must be satisfied with them, and we tell ourselves that we must feel satisfied by them. Just like that, the perfect work of Jesus Christ is displaced!

What does Philippians 3 tell us?

8. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Yes! Fellow believer, press toward the mark. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that all your works are but dung and believe that Christ has saved you apart from your works. Knowing by faith alone that God has created us unto good works, that we might present ourselves as living sacrifices. That our lives are lives of thankfulness and only thankfulness. That a thankful life is fruit and only fruit, but what a great calling that is. But never may we take that fruit and make it more than what it is. We just confessed with the Belgic Confession that we may not seek or invent ways to be reconciled to God. This includes the experience of the remission of sins! Which is the experience of our justification! Which is justification!

Man loves to feel that he has done something, though. He will not become the ungodly but only somewhat of a sinner. He looks at his nice house, his pretty wife, and his clean kids and says, “Yes, of course, I am a sinner, but look at that guy across the street! He is profane!” Yet, whether it is his good works, pious life, or incredibly humble repentance, man will do something for God. Not to merit! Oh, no! Never to merit! That would be heretical. But to experience! To taste! To know! To abide! That is something which man does, by grace, of course. And do not forget that doing has faith as its partner; do not leave faith out of it, but man must do! Yes, I can, I want, I must, I do so that…—and the coin hits the casket—and all is well, and in his mind the man goes home justified.

But, believer, you know all is not well in that theology; it is “glawspel,” the mixture of law and gospel, of do and done. It is so sad to see men, women, and children burdened under the weight of how they need to live in order to taste the experience of their salvation. For we all remember this infamous saying,

That little child doesn’t think to himself, “Now, the more that I embrace my mother and hug her, the more I’ll earn this fellowship with her.” But he understands it’s in hugging her that I’m enjoying fellowship with her, and he understands: the more I do this—the more I hug and embrace her—the more I will enjoy her embrace and fellowship as well. Well, so it is with the life of conversion and good works. If the life of good works is the life of living in joy and fellowship with God, then, you understand, the more you do that, the more of that joy and fellowship you will have. It really is something like this: the more you fellowship with God, the more you enjoy fellowship with God. And because the life of turning from sin and living in obedience to God is the life of fellowship with him, the more you do that, the more you will enjoy the love of God your Father for Jesus’ sake.⁵

Do these sheep not realize that they do not have the real coin that it takes to taste, to know, to abide in Christ? Do they not know that it is only on the basis and merit of Jesus Christ, by faith alone, that we know this? I think they do know that they do not have the real coin; I think some know that the vain jangling is all a charade. The preacher calls for repentance, for holiness, for pious living, without which no man shall see the Lord; and all the while some in the crowd say, “Sure, pastor, here it is; this is what I give; this is all I will or can give.” I wonder what is going through their heads? For they are not like those who actually believe that what they do gives them more or less fellowship with God. I bet they think to themselves, “Well, that is not what I believe about my salvation; I do count all things but dung and loss, but it is not worth the hassle of telling this man otherwise, so I guess I will shake his hand after the sermon.”

The gospel though cannot be bought! Only one can pay for sins, and only one can earn the forgiveness of sins. The gospel cannot be pressed down out of the mind of the child of God for long. Christ has overcome! He gives his Spirit to his people, and that Spirit cannot be held down by the power of persuasion or the hard look of man. That is the comfort I live with, that I am the chief of sinners and that God justifies the ungodly wholly apart from what I have done and what I am able to do as a regenerated child of God. What freedom! What a truth! Not to be afraid of the gospel but to live in all its truth unashamed of election, of reprobation, and of being a sinner who is saved by grace alone! Some say that the Reformed Protestant Churches have made laws and precepts unto salvation. I do not believe that, for the truths taught in the denomination bring forth lives of thankfulness and covenantal understanding that keep those thankful lives as fruits, merely as fruits, our reasonable service. Not unto, but because of. That is the Reformed understanding, is it not?

To those who are being preyed upon, be comforted to know that our God is a great God, that he will not be mocked. To those who offend, woe! To those who sell the gospel by another name, woe to thee! To those who distress the poor and widows and little ones, woe to thee! To those who take justification by faith alone and peddle obedience as a requirement to taste of that justification, woe to thee! “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). Wolves in sheep’s clothing, hucksters selling cheap wares. Brothers, people of God—do not be fooled by fool’s gold! Walk by faith in the truths that you have been taught and live in the freedom of the free grace of Jesus Christ.