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 9:1, 5
Creed
Ten Commandments
Psalm 25:2
Prayer
Psalm 91:7
Scripture reading:
2
Corinthians 5
Scripture
text:
2 Corinthians 5: 20, 21; Catechism Lord’s Day 23
So we
are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We
beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He
made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 ESV).
Be reconciled to God! Very serious words. Do you realise that it can be
tested whether we have reconciled ourselves to God?
- One’s life tells whether one has paid heed to these words of the
Lord,
because a hypocrite’s life does not correspond with what he testifies.
- Our life style reflects the depth of our faith.
Let’s look at our faith from the following two angles:
1. Faith and life style
2. Faith and absolution
1. Faith and life style
As our faith can be verified against our life, everyone who testifies
about his faith in the Lord should pay attention to this matter.
- Does my faith correspond with my life? We can’t talk about our
faith if
we do not believe, and if we do not live according to what we believe.
Faith really goes hand in hand with repentance.
- Whoever believes should therefore determine whether he/she really
breaks with sin.
- Do we really want to change and become better people, to be true
ambassadors of Jesus Christ, or do we want to continue doing wrong and
only use the Name of Jesus Christ as kind of protection?
In the passage we read it says we should act as ambassadors of Christ.
- It means that we must tell other people something – in other
words what
we say and the way we live should bear testimony to something about
Christ. That something is our faith.
- What do we have to tell about ourselves and about Christ in whom
we
firmly believe? Rephrased: What do I believe concerning Christ? And
what do I believe concerning myself?
Our confession and our lives have a specific direction.
- We don’t live like people who have lost their way and who are
scared
because they don’t know what the future holds for them.
- 2 Corinthians 5:15 states that we no longer live for ourselves
but for
Jesus who died and rose from the dead for our sake.
- We were all guilty before God because of our sins, but now we can
testify that Jesus died for our sake.
- We now live to live for Christ instead of dying.
But how do we show this? With a stony face? Impassive? Disinterested as
if it’s just one of those things?
- Our eyes and our hearts should speak the same language, in other
words
the joy, established by the Holy Spirit, must be reflected in our voice
and in our faith.
- Our confession regarding our salvation should be what we read in
Psalm
28:7:
The
Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am
helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him
(ESV).
David’s confession is not spoken – it’s a shout of jubilation. It’s as
if the truth of it is too overwhelming! Is it the same for us?
2. Faith and absolution
Verse 17 of the passage we read together, says that anyone who is in
Christ, is a new creation, because the old has passed away and the new
has come.
- This also means that our sins have passed through Christ’s
atoning
death, because He sanctifies us.
- Therefore it obviously means that the Lord will not condemn us on
Judgement Day, because we have received absolution through Jesus Christ.
We confess the same, only in other words:
- We say that God does not condemn us – we receive absolution from
Him.
- We don’t stand before Him as condemned sinners – we stand before
Him as
people who are his children.
- We stand there as people who have become his children through the
testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. Undeserving ‑ but rich in his grace
Look at the Scripture text again, because this is how it all happened:
- Jesus Christ never committed any sin. But God made Him to be sin.
- He simply had to die for our sins. And, above all, it had to be
in a
way cursed by God.
Then God was satisfied, because all the sins by which we dishonour Him
were punished.
- Then God declared us righteous. Through the death of Jesus Christ
we
are righteous before God.
- Now, how do we experience this salvation?! Listen to the first
lines of
Psalm 146:
Praise
the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as
long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being
(Psalms 146:1-2 ESV).
You see, the truly faithful can’t help but shout of joy when confessing
this.
Let’s briefly consider what we confess as witnesses of Christ:
- We are redeemed, and therefore we know that neither will God
condemn us
nor will we end up in hell!
- On Judgement Day I will stand before God as if I have never
committed
any sin.
- He will justify me, and I will receive eternal life.
- God grants me eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ! The
Holy
Spirit lives in me, and He leads me and teaches me to believe and to
pray!
What does the knowledge of our
salvation now mean to us? We urge you,
as though Christ himself is pleading with you: “Be reconciled to God!”
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,
so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Let’s read together Catechism Lord’s Day 23:
59. Q. But what does it help you now
that you believe all this?
A. In Christ I am righteous
before God and heir to life everlasting.[1]
[1] Hab. 2:4; John 3:36; Rom. 1:17;
5:1, 2.
60. Q. How are you righteous before
God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus
Christ.[1] Although my conscience
accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's
commandments, have never kept any of them,[2] and am still inclined to
all evil,[3] yet God, without any merit of my own,[4] out of mere
grace,[5] imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and
holiness of Christ.[6] He grants these to me as if I had never had nor
committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the
obedience which Christ has rendered for me,[7] if only I accept this
gift with a believing heart.[8]
[1] Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph.
2:8, 9; Phil. 3:8-11. [2] Rom. 3:9,
10. [3] Rom. 7:23. [4] Deut. 9:6;
Ezek. 36:22; Tit. 3:4, 5. [5] Rom.
3:24; Eph. 2:8. [6] Rom. 4:3-5; II
Cor. 5:17-19; I John 2:1, 2.
[7] Rom. 4:24, 25; II Cor. 5:21. [8]
John 3:18; Acts 16:30, 31; Rom.
3:22.
61. Q. Why do you say that you are
righteous only by faith?
A. Not that I am acceptable to
God on account of the worthiness of my
faith, for only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ
is my righteousness before God.[1] I can receive this righteousness and
make it mine my own by faith only.[2]
[1] I Cor. 1:30, 31; 2:2. [2] Rom.
10:10; I John 5:10-12.
Amen.
Closing prayer
Scripture hymn 2-4:1, 3 (33:1, 3)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr
MJ du Plessis
Reformed
Church Bellville
Date:
21 November 2004 (morning)