Word of Salvation – Vol. 31 No. 44 – Nov 1986

 

Knowing How Τo Enjoy Full Salvation

 

Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 1, Q&A 2

Reading: 1John 2:1-17

 

One day last week I opened the front door to someone who had rung the bell.

The person, who I had never seen before, didn’t ask for money, or somewhere to stay, or a job.

The person just wanted to ask a few questions about life.

Does life become easier when you grow older?

How can God become more real?

How do you see people who have hurt you?

What’s the Bible really all about?

We had quite a pleasant conversation and I was happy to answer the questions from a Christian point of view.

The person left with a couple of booklets from the World Home Bible League, like the ones you see in the literature rack in the church’s foyer.

But one particular remark that this person made stayed with me, more than all the other things that were said.

In the course of the conversation I had said something about people always remaining restless like the tossing sea until they find their rest in Christ.

It was then that this remark was made, “I am still on that sea, looking for a port where there is rest and peace.”

Yes, how many people are still being tossed about on life’s wild, restless sea, with many a conflict, many a doubt, and fightings and fears within and without?

When you look at Answer 1 of Lord’s Day 1, then most of you will agree that it’s a bit like a port of call where one finds rest and peace from life’s restless sea.

Answer 1 speaks of the comfort of belonging to the Saviour Jesus Christ.

That belonging brings with it the loving care of the heavenly Father, and an inner assurance brought about by the Holy Spirit.  It really has to do with the rich blessings of full salvation.

But how do you enjoy this full salvation?

How can I continue to enjoy the comfort of it?

How do you go on living in it?

I guess that this is what the person I talked with really wanted to know.

But what about you, do you know how to enjoy this full salvation provided by Christ?

The contents of LD 1 may be familiar to you, but do you know of the comfort that this full salvation brings?

Well, that’s what Q. and A. 2 are all about and we now turn our attention to their content.

Our theme is: Knowing How to Enjoy Full Salvation

1.  By learning the a, b, c, of the Christian faith.

2.  So that you can face life and death.

1.  In the first place then: we can know how to enjoy full salvation by learning the a, b, c of the Christian faith.  That’s the way with most things isn’t it?

By learning the a, b, c of it.

It’s one thing to find a suitable Christian partner to marry, but it’s quite another thing to know how to keep on enjoying your marriage.

Every husband and wife have to learn the a, b, c of it.

So also with the rich, full salvation that Christ has worked out for sinners.

How can you enjoy it?

What do you have to know?

Well, you have to learn the a, b, c of it.

You realise, don’t you, what is meant by learning the a, b, of something?

When a child goes to school for the first time you cannot expect that child to read and understand a novel straightaway.  You begin with the basics – these have to be mastered before everything else.

Some people object to this.

They are adult, mature, they know a thing or two already about the Bible and feel they can plunge straightaway into the heavy stuff.

But if people have not first learnt the a, b, c of the Christian faith, then usually they can’t manage the more difficult aspects of the Christian faith either.

Maybe you know of some people who have come to reject Christianity because they couldn’t bring themselves to believe the miracles described in the Bible, like creation and the resurrection.  Or they began to have difficulty in accepting the Bible as the infallible, inspired, authoritative Word of God.

Or they didn’t like God electing some to salvation and leaving others in their lost condition.

The sad thing about these people is that they never tried to first learn about the heart of the Christian faith, the a, b, c of it.

There are, of course, a number of things about the Christian faith that are difficult to grasp.

Some aspects, in fact, will always remain a mystery to us.  But Christians who have learnt the basics, who know the heart of their religion, they have come to respect and worship God.

By learning the a, b, c of the Christian faith they find that they love God and are drawn to Him.

They straightaway understand the language of Answer 1 of LD 1.  And because they know the basics, they have no real difficulty in accepting those aspects of the faith others stumble over, even though they themselves can’t fully understand some of these more difficult aspects either.

Can we now point to some people in the Bible whose lives show that they enjoyed the full salvation God provided in the Saviour Jesus Christ?

People who by their deeds and words indicated that they had learnt their a, b, c?

Perhaps we ought first to mention one or two people who didn’t have the comfort of knowing God in that special way, even though they seemed very religious.

The name of Gehazi comes to mind.

He was the servant of the prophet Elisha, and you would think that being so close to the famous prophet he certainly would have learnt the secret of knowing God in that trusting, personal way.

But no, Gehazi’s heart was more taken in by worldly treasurers than by the salvation God provided.

The servant could not resist the temptation to cheat and lie in order to receive valuable goods from Naaman the Syrian who had been healed from his leprosy and whose rich presents Elisha had refused to accept because it was God who had brought about the healing.

We can also think of the rich young man who felt he was decent and worthy enough to inherit eternal life.

He too did not know the first thing about salvation, even though he said he kept the commandments.

We can also think of Demas, a close companion to Paul.  Surely he would have heard from Paul what salvation was all about.

And yet, the Bible tells us that Demas deserted Paul because he loved this world.

So here are just a few examples of people who were religious, and were in a position to know about salvation, and yet were strangers to it because they never, it seemed, understood the real heart of it, and never experienced the comforts of belonging to God.  It’s striking too that it so happens in these examples I came to think upon that each one of them was overcome by a craving for materialism.

Gehazi badly wanted Naaman’s presents, the rich young man could not part with his wealth, and Demas couldn’t stay away from what the world had to offer.

Not that material riches in themselves are the problem.

We can mention Abraham as one example who did enjoy knowing God, and Abraham was a rich man.

In his life and death Abraham very much took comfort in belonging to God.

He trusted God, sought to obey Him, asked for guidance and looked forward to the new heavenly city whose builder and architect is God.

When you read about Abraham it is not hard to see that he knew what salvation was all about.

And what about the author of Ps.130 who writes that he cried out of the depths to the Lord and was heard?

The Lord paid attention to his cry for mercy.

The psalmist had experienced forgiveness from God and therefore he truly respected God.

Because he knew God in that wonderful way, he continually waited upon God.

And he, furthermore, was so excited about the Lord that he called upon all Israel to put their hope in the Lord, for with the Lord, he said, is unfailing love and full salvation.

Now that man, if he had lived when LD 1 was written, would have straight away affirmed its contents with joy and conviction.

And think of Paul, desiring to do the good but finding that failure was always close to hand.

At one point he cried out, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” he said.  Paul knew the comfort of belonging to Christ!  (cf.Rom.8:37-39).

And how do we explain Stephen when he said, as he fell to his knees, dying from the many stones that were thrown at him, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How can a man say that about cruel people, full of hate, stoning him to death for being a witness to Christ?

Surely, the only explanation is that Stephen knew God in the same way as the author of the Catechism knew Him, and as you know God when you can make this confession of Answer 1 your very own confession.

There are, of course, hundreds more people mentioned in the Bible who possessed that comfort of knowing God and having received full salvation because they believed in the Messiah, the Saviour Jesus Christ.

But what did they know in order to have that comfort?

It’s all very well to say that they knew God and possessed the comfort that comes from belonging to Him but what kind of knowledge are we talking about?

We know the a, b, c of many a thing but what’s the a, b, c of the Christian faith that one has to learn?

Well, look at Answer 2 of LD 1.  It mentions three things:
            First, how great my sin and misery are;
            second, how I am set free from all my sin and misery;
            and third, how I am to thank God for such a deliverance.

And while you’re still looking at that answer note how we can summarize that further to just three key words: sin, salvation, service.

Sin for the first, salvation for the second and service for the third.

To receive a good primary education people still often say that you must have the 3 “R’s”: reading, writing and ‘rithmatic.

They are basic and important.

You can build the whole structure of education on that.  Well with regard to knowing God and enjoying His full salvation, we can speak of the 3 “S’s” of the Christian faith: sin, salvation and service.

Anyone who wants to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to experience the comfort of belonging to Him, to be saved and to have entered the kingdom of God, must know about each of those three aspects.

We do not say that you must be an expert in each of them, nor that you must know everything there is to know about each of them.  There are people who do have that knowledge but who yet do not possess the comfort of belonging to Christ.

It’s possible to know it all with one’s intellect and yet not really trust Christ for one’s salvation but one’s own decency and virtues.

Sin, salvation, service.

The remainder of the Catechism proceeds to deal in detail with each of these three.

It works it all out for us and thus presents to us what Abraham Kuyper called the map of our Christian faith.

And when the English theologians returned home from the Synod of Dordt in 1618-19, one of them wrote:

“Our Reformed brethren on the continent have a small book, the Heidelberg Catechism, whose single leaves are worth more than tons of gold.”

Indeed many theologians have sung its praises.

But the highest testimonials have been given, not by theologians, but by common, ordinary people whose dying words were, “I am not my own but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.”

2.  In the second place we confess that knowing how to enjoy full salvation will enable us to face life and death.

This, of course, is the whole purpose of learning the a, b, c of the Christian faith – so that you can face life and death and still retain the comfort of knowing Christ and to know that He has saved you to the very end.

It’s where the rubber hits the road, as the saying goes.

So what we have to learn is not to obtain a diploma of sorts but a knowledge that will help us to face life and death and remain the dear children of God.

You know about life, its ups and downs.

I can think of people who have to fight depressions.

They need to have this comfort of belonging to Christ!

And of people who are facing serious problems in their marriage, or with their children, or people with their parents, they need to know in such critical times that they, through faith in Christ, belong, to God!

And the same goes for those facing whatever kind of hardship, being a widow or widower, battling loneliness, or students struggling with their studies and having to make ends meet financially.

These all as they face life in various ways need to have the a, b, c of the Christian faith to comfort them.

And so also in death.

The reality of death is not strange to our congregation, especially to those whose loved ones were taken from them.

They too must know how to enjoy and take comfort in the salvation God provides for otherwise they can’t cope.

And therefore as we face life and death we must know how to enjoy full salvation in all circumstances.

See how many people are so very busy in learning for a job that will provide them with a good income.

To make an extra dollar, or to get the most out of every dollar, people will sacrifice a great many things.

They are prepared to face drudgery, learn things that are dry and boring, work late hours, put up with physical strain; they persevere with all of that, and more, in order to reach their goal which may be no more than a high income, good security, an expensive holiday, or a care-free retirement.

Admirable as these all may be they will not help you to face life and death with a calm assurance that you belong to Christ in all eternity.

In order to have that kind of comfort you need to have a Christian home where parents themselves know the a, b, c of their Christian faith, and where the three “S’s” are continuously held before the children.

And you will have to forego some luxuries and send your children to the Christian school where right alongside the three.  “R’s” they also learn the three “S’s”.

You also have to go to the catechism classes where the subjects of sin, salvation and service are continuously taught.

And you must attend church faithfully so that the preaching of the Word about sin, salvation and service can constantly reach you.  And when God’s children spread the good news about Christ and speak to the unsaved about the comfort of belonging to Christ, then again it is sin, salvation and service that must be taught.

And the whole aim of and purpose of all that activity is so that you and others may know how to live and die in the joy of that comfort of belonging to Christ.

But as with all learning, there are times that certain things are not as appealing as other things and yet have to be known, for it all contributes to having a good grasp of the subject.

So when children lack enthusiasm for their daily devotions and catechism class, then drive them on.

And when you, mums and dads, don’t feel like going to the church, then you better discipline yourselves for children are not only taught through your diligence but also through your slackness and spiritual laziness.

And in all of this we must resist the demand of our present times to want instant satisfaction.

Nor are we to give up if one finds the going a bit boring and repetitious.

To live and die in the joy of our comfort of belonging to Christ is not simply a matter of how I and others feel about certain things or how we experience them.

Our feelings and moods change so often.

There are times in which we feel terribly depressed and guilty because of sin.

The guilt is real for the sin was real.

But it is then that the Christian must not only hear what havoc sin brings to his relationship with God, but he must also hear again of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Likewise, there are times in which the Christian is very joyful over the grace God has shown him in Christ.

He can sing and rejoice in God’s salvation.

But that is also the time to be mindful of Satan who lurks behind every corner in order to drag the Christian back into some kind of sin.

And also the saved Christian who rejoices must gently be reminded that his joy must now express itself in thankful service to God.

And likewise again, the Christian is keen to serve God in His church and kingdom, and ready to do all and everything for the Lord.  But in such times of warm enthusiasm he must not forget that it was the Lord who brought him to such heights by delivering him from sin.

The thankful Christian, therefore, must be considerate of those who are pressed down with burdens of guilt and are struggling to find the comfort of belonging.

Feelings and experiences change, they can dominate our moods in different ways even in one day.

But that’s why sin, salvation and service are always there as indisputable parts of the Christian life.

These three “S’s” are not in our Christian lives one after the other but together.

It’s not a matter of graduating from one class to the next class but its learning to face life and death in the comfort of belonging to Christ with whatever one is present.

Too often we hear of people who speak of the Christian life as consisting of a series of stages, one after the other.

There is first the stage of sin wherein the person couldn’t care less about God and the church.

Then came the next stage where the person realised he was a sinner and experienced salvation in Christ.

After that the person is living a victorious life in a happy serving of God.

But that’s not how the Christian enjoys the comfort of belonging to Christ.

The Bible and the Reformed faith are more kind to us than those who see sin, salvation and service as three successive stages.  In the Bible we find that sin, salvation and service are continually experienced by the Christian.

The child of God is saved from the guilt of sin but the possibility to sin remains.

The Christian does not plan to commit sin with total indifference to God, but he finds that it is easy to fall into some sin.

However, God does not abandon us and He calls us to repentance and faith once more, and thus in returning to God the Christian finds deliverance and tastes again the joy of full salvation.

Thus pardoned and forgiven the child of God is made willing to serve God and do His will thankfully and obediently.

Thus this pattern may repeat itself throughout life.

The thing to say however is not that we therefore may think lightly of sin or sin with such abandon.

No, we should see the wonder of God’s grace and go on fighting the good fight of faith.

It’s to experience the joy of full salvation in Christ time and again.

To know and learn of the Redeemer more and more as we move on through life.

If it wasn’t for God working in us through His Word and Spirit we would never have been taken out of the bog of sin.

And it is God through His Word and Spirit who saves us time and again when we in our weakness return to sin.

And it is God who having delivered us so often, moves us to serve Him.

These things we must know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort of belonging to Christ.

AMEN.