Tonight, in connection with Lord's Day 1, question and answer 1, which, of course, we've already recited together, we turn to Isaiah 43, first of all, Isaiah 43, the first seven verses, and then turning more specifically to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14. Isaiah 43 and Ephesians 1. Beginning with Isaiah 43 at verse 1 as we give our attention to the Word of God. But now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up, and to the south, do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. In Ephesians 1, beginning at verse 3 through 14. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the one He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in Him with a seal. the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. Shall we bow together in prayer? Father, again, we come before You in Jesus' name. We thank You for Your precious Word, Your Word read. We thank You for Your Word to be preached. Father, we thank You for the beautiful confessions that You have given to us, written by faithful men, taking the truths of Your Word, putting them in a way easy to understand, easy to learn. And Father, we pray for Your blessing tonight on this Word to be preached as we consider as well something so familiar to many of us, something that we have heard time and time again, but for some, maybe the first time, We pray that You would bring things new and fresh and unseen to our hearts and minds and remind us of great things that we need to know. Give to us, O Lord, the comfort indeed of belonging to You. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen. Beloved in Christ the Lord, what is Your only comfort in life and in death? Again, a question that many of us have had placed before us time and time again for many, many years. Some of us our whole life long. A question even some of our young boys and girls are already learning, learning the answer to in Sunday school. Maybe some of you adults didn't even know that. Eight, seven years old, learning this beautiful answer to Heidelberg Catechism question and answer one. What is your only comfort in life and in death? It's really an interesting question, isn't it? And if you think about it, it's interesting because we can list lots of comforts or things that we would say give us comfort in this life. Now, Webster's Dictionary defines comfort as follows. Strengthening aid, consolation in time of trouble or worry. In other words, giving comfort to someone in the midst of a difficulty. Or, a feeling of relief or encouragement, contented well-being, a satisfying or enjoyable experience. In other words, being comforted, feeling that comfort. Or finally, one that gives or brings comfort. One who is then a comforter. Comfort really is both something that is given, and it is something that is experienced. And we might think of comfort in a sense as the absence of fear and worry and stress and danger or misery. And on the other side, the presence of some sort of calm and peace. We speak of the comfort of our own homes where we feel safe. There is the comfort of a warm bed. Boys and girls, you might be comforted when your mom and dad are close by. That just makes you feel safe and good. Or maybe a blanket or a favorite stuffed animal. Things that you are familiar with give you comfort. There are those who speak of comfort food as well. But we might say that comfort is to know that everything is alright. And again, the comforts of this life may include a home to call our own. Money in the bank. Plenty of food on the table from day to day. And of course, the list could be endless. But these things are temporary, we know. And these things really are meaningless and of no lasting value apart from the Christian's only true comfort. And of course, we know again, even some of the boys and girls that I mentioned who are memorizing this answer in Sunday school, we know how that familiar answer begins, don't we? That I am not my own, but I belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. I am not my own. I don't belong to me, but I belong to Jesus Christ. And therefore, we might say, true comfort is to know and to have the assurance that everything is alright between you and God. Now, of course, we know that up front, this flies in the face of society today and the world of unbelievers around us. This idea is foreign to them. The unbeliever, as we know the saying goes, is the captain of his own ship. He's the master of his own fate. He doesn't see the need to belong to someone else. He's got everything under control. And he's concerned with the body and he's concerned with this life, but as far as the soul and death, the unbeliever doesn't give that a second thought. And for example, for the unbeliever in the midst of losing all of his belongings in a hurricane, his comfort is knowing that his insurance policy is paid up. And that the government will bail him out. But for the Christian in the same situation, his comfort is knowing that he belongs to Jesus Christ. For the unbeliever, when the bank goes bankrupt, his comfort is that the money in his savings account is insured by the FDIC. But for the Christian, when the stock market crashes, his comfort is that he belongs to Jesus Christ. For the unbeliever, when he is diagnosed with a serious illness, his comfort is in the success rate of the surgeon and in the type of surgery and in the medication. But for the Christian, his comfort, even in the face of death, is that he belongs to Jesus Christ. The Christian's comfort in the midst of any difficulty or tragedy or suffering in this life is that because he belongs to Jesus Christ, he is secure body and soul in life and in death because nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And only the Christian, one who has true faith, can have this only comfort and only the Christian will know and understand why he or she has it. This only comfort of belonging to Jesus Christ was ordained by the Father, obtained by the Son, and is sealed by the Holy Spirit. Our only comfort is the comfort of having salvation, and our triune God works together as a symphony in accomplishing the beautiful harmony of our salvation. This is what Ephesians 1, 3-14 teaches us. Now, of course, the catechism answer right from the beginning makes it clear that we did not always have this comfort, but that we had a desperate need. It talks about our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And if He is our Savior, then that means we needed to be saved. And of course, the answer reminds us why we needed to be saved. Because of our sin. In sin, we are not God-seekers. Not one. But instead, God-rejectors. In sin, we still want comfort. Man, unbelievers in the world still want some sort of a comfort. but the only true comfort again is foreign to us. And therefore, many try to find their comfort in all the wrong places. In themselves. In money. In governments. In people. In things. But lost in sin, man can never truly escape the misery that sin brings. And in sin, man deserves nothing less than the eternal condemnation of God. And that's why for those who belong to Jesus Christ and have the assurance of this only comfort, they can be nothing less than amazed as they come to know and understand that their salvation was ordained by God the Father. Paul speaks in verse 9 of Ephesians 1 of the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ. And that mystery of His will included that as verse 4 begins, for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. My salvation is only and all of God's good pleasure. That's what we considered this morning, wasn't it? It's all of God. He has done it all. He didn't have to save me. Now again, that's a difficult pill for some to swallow. That God didn't have to save me. He didn't have to save you. He was under no obligation at all. He didn't have to. And there was nothing about me that compelled Him to save me or would be of a benefit to Him. I can't benefit God at all. And there were no strings attached to His good pleasure to choose me requiring that I meet certain conditions in order to secure my place in His family. None of that. And that's why my salvation is so comforting. I couldn't mess it up. If I could, I would. I couldn't mess it up and thereby keep Him from saving me. And I can't mess it up and thereby lose the salvation that He has already given to me. Beautiful, huh? Irresistible grace. perseverance preservation of the saints God the Father himself ordained or predestined his people to be adopted as his children beloved we were outside of his family now for many of us I think we have a hard time even contemplating that myself included I had the privilege of growing up being born into a Christian family with Christian parents who taught me from a young age about the Lord Jesus Christ, of my sin and my need for a Savior. Maybe I didn't fully grasp it and even claim it right away. But I knew it. And for most of us, we have a hard time thinking about understanding what it means to be outside of God's family. But for those of you who may have been brought to faith in adulthood, in a sense, you've got a greater understanding of this, what it means to be outside and to be brought in. But outside, we had no place to call home. Ours was nothing but misery and hopelessness and death, the very opposite of comfort. But God ordained. He determined to bring many into His family, giving to them the gift of faith. And the odd thing is, it's only after this comfort is ours. Only then can we look back in faith and sing, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be, this heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me.'" And all of this is what John talks about in John 1, verses 12 and 13. "'Yet to all who received Him,' that is, Christ, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God. As adopted children of God, we have been brought into His family. He calls us His sons and daughters, and we have been given the full rights of children, indeed, as heirs, inheritors. And to us belong the riches of the eternal inheritance He is keeping safe for us. But He also ordains what happens to us in this life. Answer 1 again says, Not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. All things. Not all good things. Even bad things. All things must work together for my salvation. This is to be comforting to you and me. To know that whatever happens to us in this life, we are kept safe by the hand of God. As the psalmist says in Psalm 91, His wings cover and provide a refuge for us so that when we go through the fire and the water of trouble and difficulties, we are not consumed and destroyed. Instead, He works it for our good, strengthening our faith and strengthening our assurance of salvation and using it to prepare us for glory. Now that's amazing, isn't it? Think back over the troubles and the difficulties you may have had to experience and think back to how you handled them. Did you always handle them with such contentment and peace? Isn't it true that sometimes when we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we blame someone? Or we say things that we know aren't glorifying to God? And we act as if the world is going to end right now? whatever the situation may be, but even in that, even in the midst of our sin in dealing with troubles and difficulties, God uses that for our good. Amazing. Again, at the time, it may be hard to see that. As the writer of Hebrews says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. But as adopted children of God, beloved, we also have the right to bear His name, the name Christian. And that then begs this question to be asked, how are we representing our Father in heaven? How are we representing Him? When the world looks at us, does it see this only comfort of belonging not to the world, not with them, but to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ? Does the world see you as one who strives to be holy and blameless in the sight of God? Brothers and sisters, God the Father ordained that we who believe by His grace would enjoy the comfort of belonging to Him. And then God the Son obtained this comfort for you and me. He secured it. My faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, is my comfort. and through Him and because of Him I am comforted. Why? He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. And Paul says in verses 7 and 8, in Him, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Now, boys and girls, you know that one who is arrested for committing a crime usually can get out of jail for a time until the trial by paying the bail amount. In a sense, they can purchase their freedom, even if it's only temporary, but they can purchase their freedom with money. But when it comes to paying for our sin, like Peter says, Perishable things, things that perish, things that will be destroyed, things that do not last, like silver and gold. Those things won't do. And eternal punishment required an eternal payment. And only Jesus Christ, as true and perfect man, could pay to God the perfect sinlessness and righteousness that God required, and only as true God could He suffer and endure the wrath of God against sin that was supposed to be for you and me who believe. And to top it all off, His sinlessness and His perfect righteousness is given to me. It's given to me and again, I can't resist it. In fact, it's put on me like a robe. That robe of righteousness is given to me so that when God looks at me, He no longer sees my sin and shame. But he sees Christ's righteousness and therefore he says, you are my child. Now that too is amazing, isn't it? Because we have a hard time looking at a person, don't we? And not seeing their past. If we know anything about them, we have a hard time looking at them and not seeing their past. If one used to be an alcoholic but now no longer takes even a sip of alcohol, we still have a hard time looking at them and not remembering their drinking problem and maybe the things they did while they had that problem. We just can't get that picture out of our mind. And the same is true with anything. A drug addict or a convicted criminal or simply one who used to be mean to us. Even as adults, remember the bully when you were a kid. That person may be the nicest, sweetest person now. But when you meet up with them, what do you think of? You remember, don't you? I'll tell you a little story. I hesitate, but I'll tell you because it doesn't reflect very well on myself. When I was in third grade, I stole some candy bars from a store and I got caught. And to scare me, which they did, they called the police. And the assistant chief of police came and took me to the station and that's all I'll tell you about the story. But many years later, when I was in seminary, I had the privilege to preach in one of the Reformed churches in my hometown. And who is sitting in the congregation? The retired assistant chief of police. And all I could think about is that he remembered me. He remembered me. We remember. But in Christ Jesus, God says, I remember your sins no more. Imagine that. You and I know our sin. Whether we will admit it or not, we know our sin. All too well. But when our sin is forgiven in Christ, God the Father no longer looks at us and thinks, I remember every single one of your sins. Instead, He looks at us in peace. And He remembers His Son upon whom He poured out His wrath and who lived in perfect righteousness for us. And the result, beloved, is that Satan no longer has claimed to us. He no longer controls us As Paul says in Romans 6, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness. And although Satan still prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, yet I am kept safe as my faithful Savior watches over me and cares for even the minor details of my life. Not so much as a hair from my head is unimportant to God. And beloved, sometimes it's easy for us to slide through the comfort of this answer in somewhat of a meaningless way without letting its truth really sink in. But the truth is, beloved, all that would deprive me of the Christian's only true comfort, namely my sin and living according to that sin under the power and the control of the devil, it's all removed. And not just temporarily, forever and ever. All that I truly deserve, again, the torment of my spirit in this life, that's what I deserve. That my spirit be tormented every moment of this life. And the torment of hell for eternity, it's gone. And it will never threaten me again. And as far as this life goes, the trials and the tribulations and the difficulties of this life are changed for me. I can face them with the comfort knowing that I belong to the Lord. It doesn't mean tears won't stream down my cheeks from time to time. It doesn't mean that my heart won't ache from time to time. But I can face them even in the midst of those tears and heartache with the comfort that I belong to Jesus Christ. Indeed, it's true that in our weakness, sometimes in our experiences in life when there's not enough money to pay the bills or when disease and death strike or when many different kinds of disasters hit in our weakness, we might feel a little bit short on this comfort of belonging. But then, beloved, we must take God at His Word. You see, it doesn't depend on how I feel, but it depends on the truth of that which is real. God says, but now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. And Paul says in Romans 14, verse 8, If we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, We belong to the Lord. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, you are not your own. You were bought at a price. And in another place he says, you are Christ's. And in Titus 2, it speaks of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own. When you feel short on this comfort of belonging, Take God at His word. And this is to be our only comfort in life. No matter what this life holds for us, whether good times or bad, whether times of plenty or want, whether in sickness or in health, because this is our comfort also in death. Because when we die, we still belong to Him. He doesn't let go. Paul says, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. How is dying in Christ gain? Because then very simply, we will be at home with the Lord. Those who belong to Him own His promise that He will come back to take us to be with Him where He is. Beloved, the facts of Scripture are that the Christian's only true comfort has been ordained by God the Father and obtained by God the Son. Those are the facts. But the reason this only comfort can be and is ours in reality is because it is sealed by God the Holy Spirit. Verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1, And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. And Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 16, But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears. And He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. And that truth that the Holy Spirit makes known to us is beautifully expressed in the last part of Answer 1, because I belong to Him. Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life. There are many assurances that we appreciate in this life. We appreciate the assurance of knowing that all of our physical needs are met. We appreciate the assurance of knowing that our friends are really our friends. But there's no greater assurance than this. The greatest is the assurance of eternal life. Beloved, the Holy Spirit of God gives new birth to, He regenerates the heart of the elect child of God. And He dwells in that new heart and He applies all of the work of Jesus Christ to that heart and life and makes it ours through that precious gift of faith which He too gives to us. It is the Holy Spirit of God who causes you and me to understand our sin and misery and need for a Savior. It is He who lifts our eyes to the only Savior, only faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is He, beloved, who leads us in such a way that we do not seek our salvation in ourselves, which is complete hopelessness. But He causes us to look outside of ourselves to Jesus. And He comforts our hearts with the truth that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. And He also gives us the assurance, beloved, that when we know He lives in us, He gives us the assurance that eternal life is ours. As Paul says in Ephesians 1.14, the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. When you make a deposit on something, that means you promise to pay the full amount. Our faithful Savior sent His Holy Spirit as a deposit, a seal, a promise, a guarantee that He will come again and bring us into the full glory of salvation. But in the meantime, until Jesus Christ comes again, the Holy Spirit stays busy in our hearts. He makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. Ephesians 2, verse 10, as we read this morning, For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Again, we are called to do good works, not to get saved. That's already been taken care of. But because we are saved through Jesus Christ, And those who truly believe and enjoy this only comfort cannot help but to live openly for Jesus Christ. And their adoption as children of God is unmistakable to those who see and observe them. They desire their lives to be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, and they confess with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Now, of course, who of us fulfills this perfectly? Not one of us. Not one of us. But our comfort is that our Lord Jesus Christ who saves us has fulfilled all righteousness for you and for me. And therefore, even though we still sin and struggle with sin daily, that's no excuse for us to throw up our hands and say, well, I can't begin to wholeheartedly live for Him. That's beyond me. It's no excuse. He bought us. He signed our adoption papers with His own blood. We belong to Him. There is no greater comfort than to belong to Jesus Christ and to know it. And may it be that we would not be embarrassed, beloved, or hesitate to show it. To show that we belong to Him. boys and girls and young people and all of God's people in all of life's situations and circumstances in whatever we do and say may we always remember to whom we belong you've heard me say this before when you wake up in the morning before you leave the house for the day whether it's to go to school or to go to the office or to the job site or to the grocery store wherever you go before you go remember tell yourself remind yourself to whom you belong. I belong to Jesus Christ. And may it be that that would be visible, plain to see for anyone you have contact with in the day, that there's no mistake that you belong to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. If you do not belong to your faithful Savior, Christ, then you can only belong to the father of lies, Satan. And to belong to the devil is the very opposite of comfort. It will result in torture and eternal punishment. But in Christ Jesus, for those who trust in Him alone, who have faith in Him alone, we have the comfort and assurance that everything is alright between us and God because we belong to Him. Body and soul. In life and in death. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we pray that You would flood our hearts with this comfort. That if there is anyone here who had questions when they walked in this place, that You would work in their heart in such a way by the power of Your Holy Spirit that there would be no questions as they leave. That You would turn that heart to Yourself. That each one of us might have a greater understanding and assurance of belonging to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. A belonging which is sure, which is secure forever and ever. To know that we will never be let go. That we will never be lost. That He will keep us in His care forever and ever. And may that truth give to us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.