Sermon Theme
KNOWLEDGE can be more than just about being academic… it can be life saving
In QA.1 we learned about what is our ONLY COMFORT in life and death à belonging to Jesus
In Lord’s Day 1 QA.2 we have a question, the answer of which, is a life saver… ETERNAL life saver:
“What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?”
Sermon outline
- THE REALITY OF OUR SINFUL CONDITION APART FROM CHRIST
- GOD’S INCREDIBLE GIFT OF NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
- WITH HEARTS FILLED WITH GRATITUDE
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: Lord’s Day 1
QA.1 What is your only comfort in life and death?
That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil.
He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.
QA. 2 What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
Three things:
first, how great my sin and misery are;
second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery;
third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.
Text
Ephesians 2:1–10 (NIV84)
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God