Word of Salvation – Vol.34 No.12 – March 1989
Life, The Reward Of Faith
Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Psalm 31:5
Readings: Luke 24:1-12, 1Cor.15:1-14, Psalm 91
Singing: 356; 301; 357; 58; 360; 131.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, and Sisters, Young and Older,
The Resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrate today, is a glorious fact. Christianity, and the Christian faith, are based on FACTS. Our witnesses, the apostles, were people who were at first very sceptical. They did not believe the first reports of Jesus rising from the dead.
They had the same idea as most men today have: Dead is dead! They were only convinced of the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead by meeting, by seeing and touching, Jesus with their own eyes and hands.
I for one, am thankful for doubting Thomas. I am glad for this man who said, I won’t believe it till I see it with my own eyes. Thomas is my assurance that that the resurrection was not the wishful thinking of befuddled idealists. The resurrection is not the imagination of dreamers. It is a fact. As the apostle Paul, writes in 1Cor.15, there were many witnesses who saw the risen Christ. Jesus is truly risen from the dead. The man who was dead lives again. This proves a number of things.
First of all it proves that Jesus was who he said he was. Romans 1 says that by His resurrection from the dead He was proved with power to be the Son of God. And that is the heart of the Christian message and faith. Jesus is the Son of God. That is what the apostle John writes in his Gospel record. He says that he could have written about many more things that Jesus did, ‘but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ And in his first letter, chapter 5 the first 5 verses, John writes,
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God; by loving God and carrying out his commands… and his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
So the resurrection of Jesus from the dead proves the central fact of the Gospel, that Jesus is the Son of God.
Secondly, the resurrection proves that our sins are really atoned for. Our peace with God is assured. Jesus accomplished everything that God asked him to do to make satisfaction for our sins. God was satisfied with the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. In Philippians 2 we read that because of his perfect obedience, God highly exalted Jesus. God raised him from death and placed Jesus on the throne at God’s right hand in heaven. The resurrection of Jesus proves the perfection of his saving work on the cross. It is that perfect obedience of Christ that is the basis of our salvation. It is that perfect sacrifice which is the basis of the forgiveness of our sins. And it is the perfect obedience which is the substance of the “righteousness from God which comes through faith to all who believe.” Rom.3:22ff.
The apostle Paul takes up the centrality of the resurrection for our relationship with God in 1Cor.15:14 and following, where he writes:
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that we are found to be false witnesses about for God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ (i.e. those who have died believing in Christ) are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most to be pitied.”
Thank God, our faith is not useless because Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Thirdly the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead proves that Jesus told the truth. You can rely on everything Christ said and taught. He not only predicted his death, but also his rising from the dead on the third day. He said, “I to lay down my life and I have power to take it up again.” I find it quite amazing that people can think highly of Jesus without really believing in Him. He made such tremendous claims for himself. So if you think carefully about all Jesus said and did, there are only two possible conclusions you can come to. Either everything Jesus said about himself was true, or he was a confused, raving megalomaniac, a dreamer.
I say the resurrection proves that Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Life. Jesus knows what He is talking about. You can depend on all that he says. You can safely and confidently believe Him, he never told a lie; not even when he said he would rise from death.
There is one other thing that I see the resurrection proving. That is the faithfulness of God. You can depend on God. You can trust the promises of God. You can safely rely on God’s Word. And I mention this in connection with our need and practice of prayer. Prayer is in a sense putting your life into the hands of God. When, for instance, you pray, Thy Name be hallowed, Thy Kingdome come, Thy Will be done, you are saying: Heavenly Father, carry out your own plans and purposes and do with me as you see fit. You are saying that you believe in the Person and Cause of God and you are engaging God as your God. You are, if I may put it that way, accepting and making use of God’s availability as well as making yourself available to God and his service. You are engaging God, a little bit like engaging an accountant or lawyer. You need them and you trust them to do the right thing by you (though you know that in this world you can be taken for a ride even by those you pay to further your interest). So we need God and trust God to make all things work out for the good of those who love him, as we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
The message of Easter is: God won’t let down anyone who trusts in Him. On Easter Sunday God answers the last prayer of Jesus on Good Friday. On Good Friday Jesus cried: Father into your hands I commit my spirit! I place my life in your hands. Then Jesus died. And on the third day God said, AMEN. God gave Jesus life, glorious life. A life to share with his disciples and with all whom the Father had given him and who would believe in him through the preaching of the apostles all over the world.
God honoured the trust Jesus had shown had shown in his obedience to the will and purposes and purposes of God. That trust in God’s word had been Jesus comfort and encouragement throughout his ministry. Jesus was convinced of the promises which God had made repeatedly through Abraham and Moses, through David and the prophets. God will keep and bless those who trust that in Him. Is not why Jesus was so surprised and shattered to find that God had abandoned him on the cross? He had always drawn such strength and comfort from the Psalms which talked about God not forsaking his beloved. Even in their darkest moments God is near his saints. But on the cross Jesus was abandoned because he carried the curse of our of our sins. But even then Jesus clung to God – he was still expressing his hope in God’s word and promises when he cried out: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, your faithful servant?
Yes, Jesus was abandoned of God because he was carrying our sins, he was forsaken by God as we deserve to be rejected and forsaken.
But there is another side to the saving work of our Saviour Jesus. He not only carried our sins, he not only died our death, the penalty of our sins. Jesus also did something very positive. He obeyed God on our behalf.
will
He loved God for us. He did God’s will perfectly on our behalf. He prayed our prayers. He fulfilled God’s holy law of love in all its details for his people. He was the righteous one. He practised perfect righteousness – perfect love – perfect faith – and for that Jesus expected to be rewarded with life, with everlasting fellowship with God. Surely that was his right. That is what God had promised, is it not? That he would bless with life those who do His will. None of us can claim that promise in our own right. But Jesus can. Jesus can claim the reward of righteousness. Jesus can claim the right to life eternal. He believed and obeyed God perfectly.
That’s why on Good Friday, when the darkness was lifted, Jesus cried out: It is finished! The dreadful part of suffering for the sins of his people was over. The battle for faith and obedience was won. Now he could look forward to his reward. Jesus had kept the faith. Once again Jesus addressed God as Father – as a child who has a rightful place in the presence and care of God. And Jesus could confidently take up those words from Psalm 31 which is a Psalm of trust and confidence in God. A Psalm which opens with those words of surrender to God.
In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge,
let me never be put to shame,
deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead me and guide me.
Free me from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit,
redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.
The psalmist had said: You are my refuge, you are my only protector, my help, don’t let me be put to shame, don’t let my faith in you down. Don’t embarrass me in front of my enemies. O, it so often looks as if God lets his people down. It looked as if God had let Jesus and his disciples down when Jesus died.. It looked as if Jesus had been defeated and as if His enemies had triumphed. But on Easter day God said, Look again. Behold My Servant, my faithful Son in whom is all my delight. On Easter God shows the world his pride in Jesus. And God publicly rewards Jesus with LIFE. And just to make sure that many will hear about it God sends an earthquake to wake up all the people in Jerusalem and surroundings on that first Easter morning.
God can be trusted. He is the God of Truth. He is faithful to him who trusted in the Lord his God.
What a glorious reassurance for us who live on this side of the resurrection. I mean that we live after the resurrection of Jesus. We know that it has taken place. We also live on this side of the resurrection which has still to take place when Jesus comes again. That means we live as pilgrims on this earth. We still have to die, unless the Lord returns soon (and we had better be ready for that). We still have to live by faith. There are things we hope for. Things we don’t see yet. Romans 8 is a powerful reminder of two things:
- that in this life we can expect all kinds of hardships because the sons of God have not yet been seen for what they really are; this creation is still subject to frustration and in bondage to decay.
- that there is a glorious future still to come.
In this life our faith will be tested and tried, often in the most subtle of ways. God’s children will suffer disappointments, sickness. There will be death and bereavement. There will be sorrow, loneliness and pain. Such suffering is painful, it is something very real. I think of Christians persecuted and killed for their faith in the living Christ. Yet they could sing, like the parents at the grave of their little child – they sang because of their hope in Christ. He who died for us will also share his reward with us. We will be like him. What a glorious future. We shall share his resurrection life in all its glory, beginning here and now, for we rejoice in the hope of his coming. We shall share his glory completely on the new earth where death and any other evils will have no place. Because of Jesus’ trust in God, because he made these words of Psalm 31:5 his very own, we may make them our own.
Into your hands, I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.
Because of Christ’s faith we have a future.
AMEN.