Word of Salvation – Vol.04 No.01 – January 1958

 

I Know..!

 

Sermon by Rev. A. I. De Graaf on Lord’s Day 52b (Q/A 128 &129)

Psalter Hymnal: 225:1,2; 225:5 (After Confession of Faith)
312:1,2,3,5; 420:9,10; 464
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:31-39

 

Translated by John Westendorp.

Translator’s note: early editions of ‘Word of Salvation’ still had some sermons in Dutch for the migrant communities that then made up the Reformed Churches of Australia.

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Is it not the need and the defect of our prayer, that there are so often NO WINGS to that prayer?  We began in heaven: “Father… Our Father, who art in heaven, THY NAME, THY KINGDOM, THY WILL..!”

But then we descend to our earth, the terrain of our struggle, of our toil for daily bread, our often failed attempts to live out of forgiveness of sins, also towards our neighbour, and our repeated capitulation to the devil, the world, and our own dark lusting flesh.

Then we laid down before the throne of God what oppresses us, and what we so desperately want from God.  We stand before His throne, but forget what that old Dutch song says:

“We turn our eyes
to You on high
who in our fear and need
can deliver
at all times,
yes, even from death!”

How often, therefore, are our prayers so lame and so discouraged, because we do not look to Him whose throne is a throne of grace… to Our Father Himself!  At whose right hand is He who died for us!

Brothers and sisters, how do you conclude your prayer? asks the Catechism.  What do you finally look at, what is your last word?

And then we learn here, in this conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, to end in a confession of faith.  To say to God, rising from our knees, “Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief!”

What does it mean to say, “I believe?”
Is that: “Well, I hope so?”
Is that: “I think things will turn out okay now?”
Is it: “I have a feeling, an idea, that the Lord will help me?”
Yes…?

Is that really one of the many ways we can say “maybe”?  As we often say after our prayers, “If it may be in Your counsel” – to have a back security door in case God does NOT answer our prayer – and (so says a nagging voice in our hearts): ONCE AGAIN FOR THE SO MANYETH TIMES does not answer…!

You know better!  THAT is not faith!
Faith does not LOOK around, faith looks UP, to Him!  To the Cross!
Faith says – and only then is it faith: “I KNOW!”

To know for certain, to trust firmly!  Let my prayer end there!
For Thine, O Lord, is the kingdom, Thine is the glory, forever and ever.  Amen!

“I KNOW..!”

We may say that at the end of our prayer.  The Lord Jesus teaches us this.

AWAY from that circle of YOUR cares, of YOUR desires alone.  LOOK UPON HIM, who loves you, look to Father, look to your Saviour, look to the Cross!

YES LORD, yes!  ….I KNOW!
I know that you love me!

O brothers and sisters, how different, how much brighter and more joyful and how much more a source of strength can our prayer become, if through that exaltation of praise after the prayer we are brought back to that point, to that confession:

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

All things, but more important than them, more comforting than the gifts, is the Giver Himself!

Lord, You, I KNOW!

I know, Lord, the kingdom is Yours!

You rule, You want to rule me too, You want to care for me, You, my King, have taken the ultimate responsibility for my life upon You!  Your kingdom, it is the kingdom of the Good Shepherd, Your subjects, they may be sheep of Your pasture!

I know, Lord, that I can plead Your kingship.  Yet I know, Lord, that Your heart goes out to me, You WILL help me!
You, who are mighty in all things!

Oh, brothers and sisters, when you pray, look to Him, and plead with Him; with HIS faithfulness!  Say it to God, and say it to yourself, “I KNOW!  I know in whom I trust!

So your prayer becomes a source of power.

This way you learn to persevere, even if the expected answer does not come immediately.

Is not the kingdom your Father’s kingdom?  Does not He, who redeemed ME with the life of His dear Son, rule over all the powers and circumstances that are now against me?

If He may reign in my own heart!  Thine is the Kingdom!  Knowing this, it is a trusting and OBEDIENT subject who rises from his knees and asks, “Lord, what will you have me to do?”  Yours is the Kingdom, I also, Lord, bear Your name, Your ensign upon my forehead!

Teach me then to act according to Your will!

Will You build Your kingdom, also in my life, also in the GROWTH of my life in You!

That I may seek refuge in the Cross of Jesus, and that I may daily turn FURTHER away from my sins, and may daily grow CLOSER to You, for is not the Kingdom Yours, and am I not a subject therein?

Lord, give GROWTH in my faith life, give BUILDING UP, give that my life may grow TOWARDS YOU!

I know, Lord, that this must be done!

Help my unbelief …  I KNOW, YET I KNOW, that it is possible!  Make me a GOOD subject, a missionary in my environment, a witness to Your majesty!  Do not let me drown in my worries, in the horizontal oppression of things around me, the troubles in my church, the friction with a neighbour, the setback at work, or the breakdown in my health!

Lord, You ARE KING, I know where everything is going, I know the goal, Lord, Father!  Rule me, let me look to You, to You, who STILL rules, and will show Your omnipotence.  It is Your cause, O head and Lord, the cause for which we stand, but which You Yourself will defend, You who started it, and will also finish it, Lord.  I KNOW!

I KNOW!  For Thine is the POWER!

What His love desires to accomplish, His power does not deny Him!

Everything I pray for, it’s such a small effort, NO EFFORT AT ALL, for God to do it.

Putting a mountain in the sea: God is not averse to doing so.
Your sick body getting better:
He laughs when doctors say: “hopeless case”.
HOPELESS?  He always laughs at that word.

How hopeless!  God’s arm is NOT shortened, God’s hand is NOT slackened!  The God before whose throne we stand is the God of Elijah, the God of Moses, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Communism has power, big capital has power, the sin in your heart has power, the devil who wants to destroy what was so beautiful, has power…  BUT GOD HAS THE power!

No creature can stir or move without Him!  Therefore, to pray is to say to Him, “Lord, I KNOW!”  In it vibrates the tightly strung string of faith-expectancy.

I don’t like people who are always so “done” when God apparently doesn’t hear their prayers.

Those who ask and it does NOT happen…  who then immediately say: Oh well ..!

I think it’s a good sign when people rebelliously bang on the gates of heaven and say: Lord, come on, YOU CAN do it!”

Thus Hezekiah, on his sickbed, beat at that gate: “Lord, what about your promises?  You say I must die, but you can keep me alive.  Lord, that is a small trick for you, Lord, come now!”  Yours is the power!

When I know that, I don’t stop praying right away.  Then I can be holy-rebellious when it SEEMS like the devil has THE power!

The Lord Jesus teaches us to PERSIST in prayer PRECISELY BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT GOD HAS THE POWER!

He has appreciation for Abraham, who insisted, “Lord, let there be forty… thirty… twenty… ten..!

He has respect for that widow who keeps nagging the judge, and for Paul, who asks THREE TIMES for deliverance from the messenger of Satan.  He has no respect at all for the attitude of Zacharias, who when the angel says, “Zacharias God has heard your prayer,” says, “what prayer, what are you talking about?”

I KNOW..!

I know God has THE power!

Then I am rebellious when the devil rules!

If only that were true of your life too!

If you are there too, then rely on the Power of God, which is fulfilled in YOUR weakness.

Paul is not delivered from that messenger of Satan, and he finds that BAD, he MUST find that bad, while there is a God, of whom he KNOWS that He has THE power.

Until… until this God Himself shows him, that PRECISELY IN WEAKNESS that same Power can be fulfilled EVEN BETTER.  God does not want passive resigners.  God wants Christians who know!  And hold Him to His word!

Lord, You are the strength, Lord, I will not let You go unless You bless me!

Only when I LOOK UP from my troubles to Him, then I can do that.

Then I can’t do anything else.

Then I pray: I KNOW, Lord, Thine is also the glory!

That is the last argument.  And the strongest.  God’s glory, that is the radiance of His honour.  That is, that His name receives praise.

Dangerous, this prayer!  Yours is the glory!  And that’s a sinful man talking!

            Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to Your name give glory!

That glory of God!  It burns like fire!  Just read 1Corinthians 3 about it !  Also those who have believed in Jesus Christ as their Saviour will experience before His judgment seat that the FIRE of God’s holiness will test their deeds, their GRATITUDE.  JESUS is the foundation of our lives but HOW do we build on it?

Oh, the holiness of God!  It burns out of my life and out of my prayer, that which does not honour His Name!  Therefore I ask, I accept, when I say, “Yours is the glory!”  It is about You.  Oh, if Your name is not made great by it, then do NOT give me what I so ardently desire.

If Your Name is not made great by it, then PRUNE from my life what I so much desired; if Your Name is not made great by it, then PRUNE from my life what once had such a great place there.

Yes , let us know well what we are doing, when we take these great words upon our lips: “Lord, Yours is the Glory.”

This double-edged sword also cuts the other way !

When Moses stands before God as the representative of an idolatrous and sinful people who have fallen into the worship of a golden calf, and when God threatens to cast that people OUT from before Him, Moses pleads God’s glory and honour: “Lord, what will the heathen say?”  Your promises, O God, are You not bound to them BY YOUR GLORY?  It would dishonour Your Name as the Faithful and True if Your promises were not yes and amen, if Your promises were not stronger than our unfaithfulness!

Your glory brought Jesus to the cross!  Your glory scorched Him there, because He hung in my place, laden with my SIN !  But Your glory is my guarantee now that the work You began will be gloriously accomplished in me!

Easter!  That glory was also evident there.
Pentecost!  Did you not promise?

WE may have already deserved that God does not listen to us, WE may have already made ourselves unworthy to be called His children, but FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST alone is enough to oblige GOD to HIS OWN PROMISES, HIS OWN GLORY, to save ME.

To me it’s grace, ALL UNDESERVED GRACE But God says:

OPEN YOUR MOUTH.
ASK of me boldly
in my faithful covenant
ALL THAT YOU LACK!

Such is God!

TO SEE HIM SO, that is comfort, that is confession, yes , that is saying AMEN .  That does not mean that it is OVER, but it is MY confession that He will certainly answer, even though I leave it to my King, HOW He does that,

That AMEN is my confession, that His arm is not shortened, that Amen is my pleading on God’s covenant, the foundation of my life!  It is the language of FAITH, that does not just say: “Hmm, maybe” and also not: “I hope so”, nor: “I feel so”, but I KNOW!

I KNOW, to whom I trust,
though day and night change!
I know the ROCK on which I build,
He does not fail, who waits for YOUR salvation!

Oh, if you want to have a blessed prayer life, don’t leave the throne of God until you have looked up to HIMSELF, and said it:

If I had not believed that in this difficult life
the Lord had prepared a way and a home for me,
and that my name is written in His book
for higher glory;

If I had not believed that He orders my times
and that without His will not a hair falls from my head;
if I had not seen His love sealed again and again,
if I had not believed, if I had not believed!

But now my song must also accompany your dark path,
silenced in song, silenced in battle.
There is a source of strength with inexhaustible wells,
there is still salvation!

A life of wandering makes one weary and weary.  Do you not
long for rest, do you not long for home?
This is the sure way: a hill…
a bloody CHRIST on the Cross!

Here knowledge ceases, and learning is extinguished;
the wise man passes by, the thinker shakes his head,
but there is no other way – God’s love works the miracle,
BLESSED is he who KNOWS…  Blessed is he who believes!

Blessed is he who believes, blessed is the weak
and wavering little faith that He came to plant,
EVEN when His wise counsel sends a storm into the branches
to strengthen the trunk.

Blessed is he who believes, who feeds on God’s grace;
the grain of wheat sown comes up small at first,
but grows from strength to strength, until the cherished sun
makes its seed ripen in the joy of the rustling sound of the harvest.

Until that great day, in battle and defeats
or in the glorious light, with head held high:
“through You, through You alone, for the eternal good pleasure”
If I had not believed, if I had not believed!

If I had not believed that in this difficult life
the Lord had prepared a way and a home for me,
and that my name is written in His book
for higher glory….!

If I had not believed!  Direct, Lord, to that confession
the inclination of my heart, the turning of my steps;
So may that song from ancient times become
my swan song!  I believe, Lord!

I know!

Amen!

 

PS: The closing Poem has lost its richness in translation
For those who are able to read it, here is the original.

Zo ik niet had geloofd, dat in dit moeilijk leven
de Heer mij weg en woning had bereid,
en dat mijn naam staat in Zijn boek geschreven
voor hoger heerlijkheid;

Zo ik niet had geloofd, dat Hij mijn tijden regelt
en zonder Zijne wil geen haar valt van mijn hoofd;
zo ik niet altijd weer Zijn liefde zag bezegeld,
zo ik niet had geloofd, zo ik niet had geloofd!

Maar nu moet ook mijn lied uw donker pad verzellen,
verstomden in het lied, verstomden in de strijd.
daar is een bron van kracht met onuitputbre wellen,
daar is nog zaligheid!

Een leven in de dool maakt afgemat en moede.
verlangt gij niet naar rust, verlangt gij niet naar huis?
dit is de zekere weg: een heuvel,
een bebloede CHRISTUS aan het Kruis!

Hier houdt de kennis op, en gaat geleerdheid onder;
de wijze loopt voorbij, de denker schudt het hoofd,
maar ‘r is geen andere weg – Gods liefde werkt het wonder,
WELZALIG hij, die WEET…  welzalig die gelooft!

Welzalig die gelooft, welzalig reeds het zwakke
ook wankele kleingeloof dat Hij te planten kwam,
OOK als Zijn wijze raad een storm zendt in de taken
tot sterking van de stam.

Welzalig die gelooft, die teert op Gods genade;
‘t gezaaide tarwe graan komt eerst wel nietig uit,
maar klimt van kracht tot kracht, tot koestre zon zijn zade
doet rijpen in de vreugd van ‘t ruisend oogstgeluid.

Tot op die grote dag bij strijd en nederlagen
of in ‘t omgloried licht, met opgeheven hoofd:
“door U,door U alleen, om ‘t eeuwig welbehagen”
Zo ik niet had geloofd, zo ik niet had geloofd!

Zo ik niet had geloofd, dat in dit moeilijk leven
de Heer mij weg en woning had bereid,
en dat mijn naam staat in Zijn boek geschreven
voor hoger heerlijkheid….!

Zo ik niet had geloofd!   Richt, Heer, naar dat belijden
de neiging van mijn hart, de wending van mijn gang;
Zo worde eens dat lied uit overoude tijden,
mijn zwanenzang!   Ik geloof, Here!