Sermon on Lord’s Day 1 (Q&A 2)

2. Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. First, how great my sins and misery are;[1] second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;[2] third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.[3]
[1] Rom. 3:9, 10; I John 1:10. [2] John 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43. [3] Matt. 5:16; Rom. 6:13; Eph. 5:8-10; I Pet. 2:9, 10.

Scripture Reading:
Colossians 1:1-23

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Ps 4:3
Ps 126:1
Ps 84:3,4
Ps 119:5,6,7
Ps 63:2,3,4

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

It’s all so wonderfully rich. Imagine: I was once enslaved to the power of the devil, but Jesus in boundless mercy "has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from" that evil power; I’m a slave to sin and Satan no more. That wonderful news, however, is not the extent of the gospel; the very Saviour who set me free from Satan’s clutches has Himself restored me to God Almighty so that this almighty God is now "my heavenly Father" – without whose will "not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation." Truly, here’s comfort, perspective, hope in the midst of the trials we encounter in this vale of tears! Yet even that is not the whole picture, for this same Saviour has also given me His Holy Spirit so that I’m today assured of eternal life, yes, today He "makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him." It’s rich, so very, very rich.

But the riches one has are not necessarily a source of enjoyment. Many are the people of this world who have amassed a considerable amount of material wealth, but they are not happy, do not enjoy, do not receive joy from, the riches they have. These are misers, or maybe persons so troubled by other concerns (one can think of marriage breakdown or ill health) that they haven’t the opportunity to enjoy their wealth.

The same, my beloved, can happen in relation to the riches of the gospel. It is quite possible to hang Q & A 1 of the Catechism quite prominently in your family room in order to underline what is the only source of comfort for yourself and your family, and yet not feel comforted at all yourself, go through life burdened by problems that very much push the comfort of the gospel well and truly into the background.

This is the problem, my brothers and sisters, that the fathers addressed in Q & A 2 of the Catechism. The fathers learned from the Bible: no one should use the gospel of Q & A 1 simply as a decoration for the family room; instead, all should genuinely enjoy the riches God gives, enjoy these riches in the daily circumstances of this life. Shall we say: in the kingdom of God there is no room for spiritual misers, for persons who do not actually enjoy the riches God has given them.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

THE ONLY COMFORT SUPPLIES JOY IN THE MIDST OF THE SINS AND MISERY OF THIS BROKEN LIFE.

1. the inconsistency of this broken life
2. the push to the gospel in this broken life
3. the place of self-examination in this broken life

The inconsistency of this broken life⤒🔗

It needs to be fixed in our minds first of all, my brothers and sisters, that the comfort confessed in LD 1 captures a reality. Here I draw your attention to Paul’s word to the Colossians. He addresses a letter to persons in Colosse, specifically to "the saints and faithful brethren in Christ." That’s to say: Paul addresses his letter to believers, to persons who accept as true the good news of God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ. So Paul can write in vs 3 these words:

"We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints" (vss 3f).

Notice it: Paul acknowledges that these Colossians have faith in Jesus Christ. It is because these saints of Colosse believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul can also include them when he explains what happened to himself. Vas 13:

"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."

Paul speaks here of "us", and with that refers to himself and the saints to whom he writes. He himself, and the saints of Colosse too, were once slaves to sin and Satan, in bondage to "the power of darkness". But, he says (and he can think back to the sovereign working of God in his own life on the road to Damascus so many years ago), "God has delivered us from the power of darkness." No longer is he, and the Colossian saints with him, enslaved to "the power of darkness"; he, and they also, have been "delivered". More, the same God who delivered from the power of darkness has also (Paul continues) "conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." That’s to say: Paul, and the saints of Colosse also, have been restored to the God they rejected in Paradise; Paul and the saints of Colosse have a place again in the kingdom of God, are loved by the Lord, precious in His sight.

I repeat it: Paul speaks here of a reality. He does not speak of a theory, or of a wish, or of a hope or dream. This is reality; God "has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." That is why Paul in vs 3 has reason to give thanks for these saints, and he repeats it in vs 12; he "gives thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." This deliverance is reality.

In the first Q & A of our LD we make the identical confession. In Q & A 1 we confess a reality; "I … belong … to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ." Fact, reality. I am incredibly rich. That’s what you and I say in LD 1.

Now a question, my beloved. How does this confession receive colour in your life? Better put: how does that bold confession you make in Q & A 1 add shine to the very concrete life that you live within the four walls of your house?? You know what you yourself are like, and you know the environment of your home and your own contribution to that environment. Is the work of God confessed in Q & A 1 a cause of joy, or is it a teaching you take for granted?

I’ll cast the question differently. How can the wealth of Q & A 1 come alive for you in your daily environment? The gospel it confesses is so wonderfully rich; how can this comfort be a source of joy for you in your situation? How does one bridge the distance we perceive between the wealth of the gospel (and we confess this wealth to be reality and not make-believe) and the daily lives we live?

The question is real. The apostle Paul considers it possible to thank God for the riches He’s given to the Colossians. But truth be told: while we’ll thank God for the comfort of LD 1, we realise well that there’s a distance between the comfort confessed in that LD and our mood in daily life. There’s a discrepancy between the wealth we confess in Q & A 1 and the look on our faces and the tone of our voices in the nitty-gritty of this life. What, then, do we need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

The push to the gospel in this broken life←⤒🔗

Three things, says Q & A 2. We’re quite familiar with the three: I need to know "how great my sins and misery are." I need to know also "how I am delivered from all my sins and misery." And I need to know "how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance."

I need to emphasise with you, congregation, how personal this Q & A is. When this Q & A speaks about "my sins and misery" (and it does so twice) it does not utter a truism true for all people (though it certainly is true for all people); rather, in this Q & A the Catechism’s authors put into words what they have heard God in Scripture say about themselves. And what God in Scripture said about Caspar Olevianus and Zacharius Ursinus he has equally said about you and me, for we are no different than they, and they no different from us. This is personal: when I take on my lips the words of Answer 2 I am speaking about my sins, the sins of Clarence Bouwman, and about the misery that my sins cause to me and to those around me. And again, with this Q & A I’m not speaking about the sins I committed years and years ago, say before I heard the gospel and believed it; I’m talking about "how great my sins and misery are." This is present reality. Look with me at the texts mentioned under this Q & A. In connection with the matter of "how great my sins and misery are", the Catechism refers first to Rom 3:9,10. There I read the following:

"What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one….’"

Notice: Paul says this concerning himself and the saints of Rome. He says that he and the saints of Rome are not a dot better than anyone else who has never yet heard of God. "None is righteous, no, not one…." That’s to say: Paul the believer does not shun from speaking of himself as a sinner, does not shy away from conceding that his sins are still as great as anybody else’s.

The same point is made in the second text quoted by our LD to prove "how great my sins and misery are", I John 1:10. Here the apostle is moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write this:

"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

The point of the passage is not that one would maintain that he has never, ever sinned; the point of the passage is that believers still sin. Here is the material of Rom 7, where the believer Paul writes about himself, in the present tense, like this:

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (vss 18f).

This reality is captured in LD 23 also; the person justified by faith in Jesus Christ confesses that he is "still inclined to all evil." We’ll need to say more of this reality when we deal with LD’s 2 & 3.

When you and I, then, congregation, take on our lips the words of Q & A 2, and so mention that our sins and misery are great, we are confessing a reality true of ourselves today. My sins are exceedingly great, and much misery results from my sins, misery that I feel in my home and in my work, and that misery is of such dark colour that I don’t see the joy of the comfort of LD 1 any more. Those harsh words I spat out to my wife yesterday was sin, and it ruined the atmosphere in the home, brought into my day and her day and the children’s day so much misery. And the result was that I didn’t enjoy the comfort of Q & A 1…. That I went last night where my parents didn’t want me to go was sin, and it strains the relation between my parents and me today, and one can feel it in the home and my conscience bothers me, and altogether it fogs over the bright sunshine of the only comfort of life and death. Make no mistake, beloved: those concrete sins of which we’re guilty –and you can fill in for yourself the specific transgressions you committed this morning, last evening, yesterday, Friday at work, etc- are in God’s eyes "great" and the misery that results is equally "great", and the result is that we do not enjoy the riches God gives us in Jesus Christ.

"What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?" The first thing I need to know is that, Yes, my sins of today are great, and the resulting misery is too.

How, you ask, does knowledge of "how great my sins and misery are" produce comfort? I grant: knowledge of how great my sins and misery are is not comforting of itself. Yet, my beloved, it certainly leads to comfort –how so?- by driving us to seek deliverance anew in Jesus Christ. You don’t go to the doctor unless you’re aware that you’re sick. Again, one doesn’t go to a doctor if you’ve got nothing worse than a cold. You need to be convinced that you’ve well and truly got a problem before you go to the doctor. So it is too with knowledge of sin. It’s not sufficient that I know that I slipped up a bit yesterday. Rather, I need to know "how great my sins and misery are." It’s awareness that I’ve got a major problem –I can will what is right, but I can’t do it; in fact, I do what I don’t want to do- that drives me to seek help. More, God makes me aware that I need help, so that I might seek anew the deliverance He’s promised in Christ Jesus. See there how knowing how great my sins of today are, and my sins of yesterday too, is a source of comfort; God drives me, again, to the Saviour He gave.

It’s not just knowledge of "how great my sins and misery are" that produces joy in the comfort God has prepared. The second element mentioned in our Q & A is "how I am delivered from all my sins and misery." The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians that God had "delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." This was a reality for the Colossian saints. Yet to enjoy the wealth of this gospel, those saints of Colosse had to know the sins they committed each day anew, had to know how great those sins were so that in turn they might seek deliverance again in Jesus Christ. And see, in the face of yesterday’s sins there is redemption again in Jesus’ blood; those specific sins of this morning, of yesterday, of Friday: there is forgiveness for them, there is deliverance from the wrath of God I’ve brought on myself through those sins. This deliverance is not a once-only thing; rather, the sins I’ve committed today, yesterday are also washed away. And that in turn means that I need not walk around this afternoon with a guilty conscience! So there’s room for joy to pervade my life. And that in turn affects again the atmosphere around me, be it at home or at work or at school….

There’s a third thing I need to know: "how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance." Why I need to know that if I am to live and die in the joy of the comfort of God’s redemption?? Simply, beloved, because you and I remain inclined to all evil. We do not properly know how to say thankyou to God. If the Lord would leave us to ourselves, we would immediately again transgress His commands – with all the misery that results in our homes and work environment as a result. And that in turn takes our comfort away. No, beloved, if we are to enjoy the comfort of God’s saving work, we need to be eagerly ready to learn from God how to say thankyou for His blessings. That’s why our LD impresses upon us that we need today also to know that third item; I need to learn, day by day, "how … to be thankful to God for such deliverance."

The place of self-examination in this broken life←⤒🔗

I need to work this all out in greater detail still. You will be aware that next Sunday we shall, the Lord willing, celebrate the supper of our Lord. According to the command of the apostle Paul, we shall need to examine ourselves before we attend this table. The "Form for the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper" outlines how we ought to examine ourselves; it’s the well-known "three parts" listed on pg 595 of the Book of Praise.

But see: those "three parts" of this "true self-examination" cover the exact points of Q & A 2. If we are to enjoy daily the wonderful riches of Q & A 1, we shall need to submit ourselves daily to "true self-examination." How?? The Form spells it out:

"First, let everyone consider his sins and accursedness, so that he, detesting himself, may humble himself before God. For the wrath of God against sin is so great that He could not leave it unpunished, but has punished it in His beloved Son Jesus Christ by the bitter and shameful death on the cross."

We’re quite used to the wording of this first part of the self-examination, and so its bite disappears. But notice what it says: let everyone –that’s you, that’s me- let everyone consider his own sins and accursedness. That is self-examination: I am to run my mind over my particular sins and so consider how I’ve earned for myself God’s curse. That’s to say: I’m to consider "how great my sins and misery are." The purpose of the exercise is not, though, to lead me to despair; the purpose of the exercise is to lead me to humility. It’s to lead me to humility because God in heaven can’t stand sin, yes, He hates sin so much that He even gave up His only Son in order to do something about sin – how revolting sin must be then! Here’s the punch of our LD: my mind is to go over my concrete transgressions so that I develop a sense of how cursed I ought to be before God, my mind is to go over my concrete transgressions so that I develop a sense of how much I need God’s redemption.

And see: this redemption God has supplied. He gave His only Son to bear the wrath I deserved – that’s the gospel! Now then, what’s your response to this gospel? That’s the second part of this self-examination:

"Second, let everyone search his heart whether he also believes the sure promise of God that all his sins are forgiven him only for the sake of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is freely given him as his own, as if he himself had fulfilled all righteousness."

You wish, then, to delight in the redemption God supplied? Tell me, then: how do you react to what God has done in Christ Jesus? Do you accept as true that Christ has paid the price for the sins you’ve committed last week, so that there is no wrath left from God for you?? That’s the punch of our LD: daily my mind is to go over my concrete transgressions in the realisation that God for Jesus’ sake has washed those particular sins away; they’re gone! And tell me: in the face of my concrete, awful sins, is such a message not most exciting?? Does such a gospel not invariably move one to joy?

Yet even that isn’t all. For my remaining sinfulness means that I don’t know of myself how to prevent God’s wrath from coming on me again. Hence the last part:

"Third, let everyone examine his conscience whether it is his sincere desire to show true thankfulness to God with his entire life and, laying aside all enmity, hatred and envy, to live with his neighbour in true love and unity."

Again, beloved, it’s a personal question: what is our intent in the week ahead? Ask not about your neighbour, ask instead about yourself: given the curse that you’ve earned through your sins, given God’s mercy in that He has poured out that curse on Christ instead of on you, what are you going to do this week? More of sin? Or seek God’s instruction and strength to fight against sin? That, again, is the punch of our LD: my mind is to go over my intent for tonight, tomorrow, Tuesday: shall I make it my business to show thankfulness to God for His wonderful deliverance?? What shall drive me as I go about my daily work tomorrow??

The gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is so wonderfully rich. What do you need to know so that day by day you live in the joy of this comfort? We associate "true self-examination" with the celebration of the Lord’s supper. But that, my beloved, is a mistake. Sure, let us examine ourselves before we go to the table; that’s certainly the apostle’s command. But this self-examination is something for every day anew. God "has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." That glorious deed on God’s part concerning us is not a wealth we can paste on the wall of the family room with the words of Q & A 1. God does not want His children to be misers; He wishes us to enjoy this glorious gospel, every day anew. How I can enjoy the wealth God has given me? By considering first my sins and accursedness, by embracing secondly the work God did in Christ Jesus to save a wretch like me, by determining in the third place to live every day, walk every step of my life, in conscience obedience to God’s revealed will.

Let these three, my beloved, be before your eyes every moment of your day, and of your night. Then the wealth of the gospel shall not be locked away as a treasure you can’t enjoy. Instead, then the good news God has prepared for you will give shine to each day – no matter the brokenness you witness around you and in you. Amen.

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