Word of Salvation – Vol. 41 No. 09 – March 1996

 

How We Come To Enjoy Christ

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Lord’s Day 25

Scripture Readings: John 3:1-17, Ephesians 1:15 – 2:10

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord’s Day 25 is an introduction to the subject of the sacraments, about which there was a lot of heated debate at the time of the Reformation.  However, this evening I would like to approach the material of Lord’s Day 25 from the angle that faith is a gift of God which rests on His Word.

My concern is this: faith is too often talked about as if it is the sinner’s contribution to his salvation.  Too often in the evangelical world the way of salvation is presented as if God (through Jesus) has done all that is needed to be done – and now God is waiting for us to do our bit.  Like, make some faith decision or other; as if the sinner can make such a decision in his own strength.  The other concern that I have is this: too many people seek to base their faith on some personal feelings, some personal experience, rather than on the solid Word of God.

So today I want to draw your attention to the teaching that the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart.  And the Holy Spirit does that; He produces faith in the heart through the broadcasting of the Gospel.  Furthermore, the Holy Spirit confirms, He strengthens our faith through our use of the holy sacraments.

Now, before we go any further, let us stop to consider the importance of faith and its crucial place in the way of salvation.  Its importance is beautifully expressed in the first question of Lord’s Day 25, which asks where true faith comes from.  The question includes the statement that by faith alone believers share in Christ and all His blessings.  Now, isn’t that a heart-warming way of describing what salvation actually involves?  Salvation is sharing in Christ and in all His benefits.

Now, this directs all our attention away from ourselves and from our feelings or emotions to Christ.  Salvation is to have Christ.  It means to benefit from everything that Christ is.  Salvation is to benefit from all that Christ teaches, from all that Christ has done, from all that Christ has achieved.  Salvation is enjoying the benefits of all that Christ has obtained for His people (the ones the Father gave to Him).

Now, in order to have a part in Christ and all His benefits (to have a share, a stake, in Christ and His saving work and achievements) all that you and I are asked to do is to believe it.  In other words, simply to accept it.  But even that believing is something that Christ has to work and produce in us by His Holy Spirt.

Let me put the whole question we are really talking about here like this: How can I be sure that Christ and all His benefits are for me?  Now, let’s be careful with the Catechism’s answer which says that the Holy Spirit works it in our hearts.

What many people do, when they hear this (or some similar saying), is to start trying to look into their heart.  They try and look inside themselves to find out whether the Holy Spirit is actually present and working in their hearts.  They ask themselves whether they can feel the Holy Spirit at work.

This is actually a wrong approach altogether.  If you want to find out whether the Holy Spirit is at work in you, don’t try and look inside yourself.  Don’t look for feelings.  How could you be sure that your feelings are the result of the activity of the Holy Spirit.  Your feelings might well be the fruit of your imagination or the result of some music that you heard or sang.  Your feelings could even be caused by the food you ate, or simply the result of your own desires.

No, if you are looking for evidence of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirt in your heart, look away from yourself; look to Jesus; look to God.  Do you see Jesus as the Saviour sent by God, do you rejoice in Jesus as the One who has fulfilled all righteousness for you?  Do you see Jesus as the One who has established and guaranteed peace with God for you, by His death and resurrection?

The Holy Spirit works faith in us by telling us of God’s saving purpose in Christ.

The Holy Spirit works in such a way that we hear the Gospel and grasp it.

The Holy Spirit communicates the Gospel to God’s elect so that they understand it and see the love of God for them, in Christ Jesus.

Now, when you hear the word ‘elect’, don’t focus your attention upon yourself.  Don’t ask, “Am I elect or not?  What sign will God give me?”  Don’t look for signs.  Look at the Gospel.  Focus on the Word of God.  Take note of what God says to you in His Word.

The Catechism talks about the promise of the Gospel.  The Gospel, you see, is good news.  It is good news for sinners who find nothing good in themselves.  It is good news for those who are poor in spirit; who have nothing spiritually good to boast about.  As one new translation presents the first beatitude: “Blessed are those who recognise that they are spiritually helpless” (God’s Word).  Such people expect their help, their salvation from God alone.  And that is exactly what the Gospel promises; that God provides help and salvation, in Jesus the Saviour.

The Rev. G.I. Williamson, in his book on the Heidelberg Catechism, has put the whole problem very well in an illustration.  He writes that the problem of the natural man is like that of a blind man in a dark room.  Not only do we need the light of the Gospel.  We need to have our eyes opened in order to be able to see the light once it is turned on.  So the Holy Spirit has to enable blind sinners to see the light and beauty of the Gospel that is heard or read.

The Holy Spirit shows those in whom He is producing faith, that their salvation is entirely obtained for them and guaranteed to them by Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross.  It is that sacrifice that is our ransom from sin.  It is that sacrifice which has obtained our forgiveness and full pardon.  It is that sacrifice by which atonement is made for us and by which we are reconciled with God.  It is that sacrifice of Jesus by which we are forever made holy in the sight of God.

We need to grasp this once and for all.  And we need to be reassured of this again and again.  Our faith needs confirming and strengthening.  Why?  Because the old self is always rearing its ugly head for some attention.  Our old self wants to have part in our salvation.  It wants to be able to contribute something.  It wants something to be proud about, to be able to take some credit for.  Our old self demands that we look at its attempts and performances.

But when we do – when in the light of the Gospel, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we honestly look at our own achievements – we are horrified!  With the prophet Isaiah, we shake our heads and confess that our best religious acts and efforts are like filthy rags, polluted by pride, by harshness and by a judgmental spirit.  Yes, that awareness of our own failures, of our own utter sinfulness and spiritual helplessness, that’s an evidence of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, too.

Woe to the person who has no sense of failure, no sense of his/her own tendency to do his own will rather than God’s.  Woe to the person who prides in his own efforts and decisions; who does not admit to sin and repent of it.  Such a person will never look to Christ alone for salvation.  And that’s exactly what the devil, our spiritual enemy, wants: to keep us from looking to Jesus.  The devil loves to keep us busy with ourselves.  Either he feeds our pride and self-congratulations.  Or the evil one keeps our attention riveted on our failures.  He loves to accuse us; loves to grind our faces in the filth of our own hearts.  He loves to see us despair.

And well may we cry, “can there be forgiveness for a failure such as I.  Can God, will God, possibly continue to love and care about a wretch such as I?”

The answer from the Gospel is, Yes!  God loves, and will ever continue to love, those whose hope is in Christ Jesus.  God loves and helps those who despair of themselves, who confess their sinfulness and look to God for mercy.  God himself has provided the very help they need.  Jesus has been made their righteousness before God.

The Holy Spirt, through the Word and through the symbolic message of the sacraments, assures the humble and contrite sinner that our salvation rests entirely on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross.

So that’s the central question.  Do you see Christ’s sacrifice as the foundation of your relationship with God?  Do you see Christ crucified as your Saviour from sin and your Saviour to peace and everlasting fellowship with God?

What a tremendous blessing it is to be able to see that.  What a tremendous gift it is to be able to see and accept the marvellous Gift of God, even Jesus Christ who is the good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.  What a glorious working of the Holy Spirit, to convince us – that not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins and eternal life are granted, by grace alone, and simply because of Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross.

That’s where the Holy Spirit directs our attention.  To Christ crucified.  And by looking up to Him alone we are healed and given life eternal.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Amen.