REFORMED
CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2004: EVENING SERVICE
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and
earth. Beloved grace and peace be to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy
Spirit.
Amen
Psalm of praise: 107:1+9
Prayer
Psalm: 41:2
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1 and
Ephesians 6:10-20
Text: 2 Corinthians 1:7
"And
our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share
in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."
Can one be a winner if one has never fought? Can you be proud of your
faith if you rebelled against God and gave up when you were in trouble
or severed your bond with God out of stubbornness?
The devil walked this road and see where it took him.
- because he remains a rebellious and unhappy creature he continues
to
destroy all around him.
- he wants to destroy people and ruin their lives because in this
way he
hopes to injure the Lord.
There are instances when disease is the Lord’s punishment of people for
their sins. Revelation 2:22 gives an example:
“So I
will cast her on a bed of suffering and I will make those who
commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her
ways.”
This image the Lord uses to picture the last judgment also shows that
people who persist in sin are punished with illness and they will know
why this is so.
The devil wants to bring us to a point where the Lord is angered by our
sins but he knows that we will resist him because he knows that the
Holy Spirit warns us to be alive to his assaults.
- therefore he tries to sever the bond that ties us to God.
- in doing so he is cruel because he does not care for us.
- he aspired to the throne of God and when he failed in his attempt
he
turned to the destruction of all that belongs to God.
The Lord tells us that the struggle against the devil is difficult.
Hence He tells us to put on the full armour of God so that we can stand
up to the devil’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:11)
- you must not for a moment believe that because we are saved by
the Lord
Jesus we shall not suffer pain and illness and death.
- the Lord tells us to put on the full armour of God so that when
the day
of evil comes we can stand our ground and stand firm. (Ephesians 6:13)
- trouble and illness will come and eventually death.
This is the place of illness in our life.
- it is only when we during our life have in the Name of Christ
struggled
to overcome debilitating disease that we can arise from death in
perfection. Hence Paul writes to the Corinthians that he knows that
they participate in his suffering.
- the Holy Spirit causes him to write something else too – it is
our
participation in suffering that makes it possible for us to participate
in the comfort of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection.
- the apostle Peter had the same experience – he says that we must
rejoice that we may participate in the sufferings of Christ so that we
may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13)
This message is repeated more than once by the Lord. He tells it as
well to churches awaiting the last days.
“Since
you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep
you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world
to test those who live on the earth.” (Revelation 3:10)
The Lord does not usually cause illness. He always is a God of love and
grace.
- remember that after the fall into sin the Lord said to Adam that
the
earth is cursed because of him and that all mankind would suffer in sin
and tribulation. This curse meant that henceforth the devil could use
disease to show mankind the extent of his power.
The devil is not a king with a glorious kingdom. His power is only
negative. All descriptions of hell are coupled to illness.
- it is a place stinking with evil smells.
- there is crying and gnashing of teeth.
- it is a place where worms eat people.
When we fall ill we should see in it some of God’s revelation, because
in the manner that some illnesses destroy our bodies we feel the power
of the devil. It must warn us of the devil and his deeds.
Accordingly illness and suffering have an important place in the life
and the understanding of us who believe in the Lord. It helps us to
understand what the Lord Jesus meant when He promised us that He would
let us arise from death in perfection. It shows us the extent to which
He is with us to take us out of disease and death.
Think of a body debilitated and destroyed by cancer in death.
- that same person shall with that same body be resurrected by the
Lord.
- at the same time the Lord will change that body into a perfect
body
shining in glory.
- our body and soul will be united.
- our abode changes into a perfect place.
Nobody would understand this and the extent of the grace and the
miracle worked by the Lord Jesus without first having felt the depth
and darkness of the physical destruction worked by disease.
- the purpose of illness and death is to show the glory of the
resurrection in Jesus Christ so much brighter.
We are not the first congregation in which many are ill and where
people die and struggle with illness. It has been with the church of
the Lord from the beginning.
- the church in Philippi was told by Paul inspired by the Holy
Spirit
that we can know the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His
resurrection only when we share in His suffering and become like Him in
His death. (Philippians 3:10)
- the Lord tells us that suffering and assaults by the devil go
hand in
hand. Not all people experience the same suffering but suffering is
undergone by all people.
“Resist
him, standing firm in faith, because you know that your
brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of
sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:9)
Those of us who are ill and with them those who attend at their beds
and at death must look past the suffering to eternity.
- at such times we must with the help of the Holy Spirit look past
our
earthly life to the Hereafter and see Jesus crowned with honour and
glory because of His suffering and death.
- we must remember what the Bible tells us of His suffering, that
for a
short time He was made less than the angels so that by the grace of God
He would die for us all.
- God, for whom and by whom everything was created wanted to lead
many of
His children to glory.
- therefore it was fitting that God should make the Originator of
their
salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:9-19)
God made the Originator of our salvation perfect through suffering!
Hence it cannot be different with us.
- we must follow Him through His suffering and death so that we may
arise
with Him in glory.
- hold on to your faith, because when we are ill or when we suffer
it is
our comfort and salvation.
- it is to encourage and to strengthen us so that we can endure our
suffering patiently. (2 Corinthians 1:6)
- our illness and our suffering teaches us to accept life. With
Jeremiah
we must say: “This is my sickness and
I must endure it.” (Jeremiah
10:19)
We should also remember that the Lord tells us that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed
to us. (Romans 8:18)
- our life does not stop at our present illness or suffering.
- it continues beyond it and reaches a glory that is beyond our
comprehension.
When we fall ill we must not like Asa lose our faith and with it sight
of the Lord.
- the Bible tells us that when he fell ill he did not seek help
from the
Lord but only from doctors.
- we must seek medical help when ill and use the medicines
available, but
bear in mind that these are only instruments in the Hand of the Lord.
(2 Chronicles 16:12)
In the end it is not the doctor or the medicines that cures the
illness. The Lord makes us whole. He can heal even when it appears to
us to be an incurable disease. Think of Psalm 41:4:
“The
Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed
of illness.”
Remember the people at the pool of Bethesda. We read in John 5:4 that
the first one to enter the water after the water was stirred by the
angel would be cured of whatever disease he had.
The Lord does not heal everybody who is ill.
- sometimes He lets someone suffer a long time.
- in John 5.5 we are told of a man who had been waiting at the pool
for
38 years.
- this is a long time – yet the Lord considered it fitting and to
those
who saw him it gave food for thought.
- John considered it worthwhile mentioning.
When people who have suffered so long are eventually healed the Lord
Jesus is glorified thereby. Jesus said so Himself: John 11:4
“When
He heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death.
No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through
it.”
This emphasises an important point. When we are ill we are in the Hands
of the Lord. We must pray and believe. The Lord will deal with us
according to His Will.
Remember the words of James, the brother of the Lord Jesus:
“And
the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the
Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” (James
5:15)
This is the issue:
- the death on the cross does not mean that in our earthly life we
shall
always be well.
- when we fall ill and are cured it is a prelude that our sins are
forgiven through the blood of Christ so that in the life eternal we can
live in perfection with God in His eternal kingdom.
Amen
Closing prayer
Psalm: 4:3+4
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen
Dr
MJ du Plessis
Reformed
Church Bellville
21
November 2004
Scripture
NIV