Comfort & Joy

Dearly loved people of God,

In a sermon a few weeks ago, I mentioned a verse from the NT letter called I Peter. It was the Apostle Peter’s instructions to believers:

For today’s message, we’ve turned back to the 2nd chapter. Depending on how you read through these passages, you probably read this 1.5 weeks ago. Maybe you remember the way this section can be seen in three sections.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Sin - Salvation - Service

(NIV)

It’s a framework that we find elsewhere in the Bible. If you studied the letter to the Christians in Rome, you would find that the whole book is written according to the same pattern: Sin - Salvation - Service.

I told you then that over my years as a pastor, some people told me they aren’t prepared. My question today is: are you?

Let me approach this from a different angle. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, just before he returned to his throne in heaven, he told his disciples:

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

(NIV)

So, what does a witness do?

A witness describes what they have seen, heard, and experienced. Are you able to do that? Are you able to describe what you have experienced of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the effect the news has had on you?

IN the first Q&A of the HC, which we used earlier in the service, believers confess the comfort they have. My only comfort, in life and in death, is that I belong to my faithful saviour Jesus. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood . . .

The next Q – is much less famous. It asks, “What must you know to live and die in this comfort?”

A: 3 things . . .

My goal today is to use those 3 things to explain the gospel. I hope it gives you a framework for being a witness of what Jesus has done. I hope it gives you some words and phrases for giving the reason for the hope that you have.

Along the way, I’ll use the passage we read from because, as I explained in the daily readings nearly 2 weeks ago, this passage has the same structure: Sin – Salvation – Service.

Alternatively, I could have used the letter to the church in Rome. In 16 chapters, God’s Word to the believers in Rome has the same structure, but it’s a little more difficult to do in one sermon. I’ll save that for a sermon series someday!

Sin

Concept #1 Sin: As a result of the fall, humankind is sinful and doesn’t measure up.

God has a problem with me because I do not measure up to His perfect standard. Although God created humans good and in His own image, I have repeatedly broken the law – committing crimes against Him and others in my thoughts, words, and deeds. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbour.

Concept # 2 God’s Nature: God is righteous and just, which results in my punishment, namely death.

God is righteous and perfect and cannot accept me the way I am.

God is just and must punish every sin I have committed or will commit.

The punishment is death – the eternal punishment of body and soul.

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

(NIV)

They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

(NIV)

Concept #3 Good works won’t work

There is nothing I can do to make myself acceptable to God no matter how hard I try or how religious I become. Actually, I increase my guilt every day.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

(NIV)

Salvation

Concept #1 God’s nature: God is loving and merciful, so He provided a substitute.

God is also loving and merciful, and in His love He provided a substitute, someone to take the punishment for me. No other creature could do the job and therefore God the Father sent God the Son to be this substitute.

Concept #2 Christ’s nature: the perfect substitute.

1. Truly human and truly righteous: Human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others.

2. True God: Only by the power of His divinity could Christ bear the weight of God’s anger.

Concept #3 Christ’s work – Death and Resurrection

God put my sins on Jesus and punished Him in my place at the cross. Jesus died and was buried. On the third day he rose from the dead, proving that my two enemies – sin and death – have been completely overcome, and guaranteeing my glorious resurrection.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

(NIV)

Service

Concept #1 The invitation: Genuine Repentance and Conversion: Dying-away of the old self and the coming-to-life of the new.

Jesus offers forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life with Himself to those who through the Spirit’s work and by true faith trust in Him to save them FROM sin and eternal condemnation TO a new life lived with and for Him.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

(NIV)

Concept #2 A New Mission: Saved to Do Good Works

Christ by His Spirit is renewing me to be like Himself so that:

a) By my living I show that I am thankful to God and praise Him

b) By good works, I am assured of my faith by its fruits

c) So that others may be won over to Christ.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(NIV)