For our Scripture reading, turn with me to Ephesians 3, as we read together verses 8 through 21. Ephesians 3, beginning at verse 8. This morning we begin to consider, once again, the Heidelberg Catechism. As our church order reminds us as well, that ordinarily at one of the services in the Lord's Day, we shall consider our confessional statements. So we begin with the Heidelberg Catechism after an absence from it. Ephesians 3, beginning at verse 8, as we give our attention to the Word of God, Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things. His intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you which are your glory. For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. And if you would turn with me in the back of this altar hymnal to Lord's Day 1, question and answer 1, Lord's Day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism, found on page 8 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Page 8, as I read the question, and together we make confession with our mouth the answer. This is what we believe. The question asks, What is your only comfort in life and in death? that I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 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. Because I belong to Him, Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, What is your only comfort in life and in death? This morning, as we begin to study the Word of God once again, as it is summarized and explained in the Heidelberg Catechism, right from the very beginning, we are reminded that something is not right. We are reminded that our situation is not right. For you notice, I trust, that it does not ask, Do you need comfort? Do you need comfort? Yes or no. Plain and simple. But you see, it is assumed from the beginning that without question, without a doubt, we need it. And we need it completely in body and soul, in life and in death. Now boys and girls, I ask you this morning, what is comfort? And I want you to know that we're not talking here about those things that make you comfortable like clothing that fits or maybe a warm bed or food in your stomach. But what is comfort? Very simply, comfort is a good thing that takes care of a bad situation. It may not always take away the bad situation, but it makes one, you see, strong enough to endure the bad situation. And in order for something to be a comfort to us, we must be so fully aware of it, so conscious of this comfort, that the good of the comfort defeats and overpowers the pain of the bad situation. For example, boys and girls, maybe sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night after having had a bad dream or you wake up and it's completely dark and you're scared and you might be crying. But when your mom or dad comes into your room, you are comforted because you trust them. You know they'll take care of you and the comfort of their presence with you is more powerful. It overwhelms the misery of the darkness or the bad dream. And therefore, that darkness isn't quite so dark anymore and that bad dream is nothing more than a distant memory. But comfort is the strength to keep going or to endure misery and pain. And we need to understand, congregation, that where comfort is needed, misery is already at home. Misery is already in place when comfort is needed. And Scripture, as well as our own experience, reminds us that mankind is in the condition of sin and misery. Genesis chapters 1 through 6 points out clearly that man's situation went from something like heaven on earth in the Garden of Eden to something like hell on earth as sin entered the world, death entered, and we even remember that the world needed to be destroyed by a flood because the sin was so great. And therefore, you see, comfort is needed in life and in death. The distresses of life and the mystery of death simply drive one to seek some kind of a support to cling to, to hang on tightly to. And you see, beloved, the problems and the difficulties of life call for a solution, and the dark valley of death calls for a way out. And it's no secret to any one of us, I trust, that many seek their comfort in all the wrong places, whether that be in the drug needle or the bottle of booze or suicide or TV or even the computer or any number of other things that seek to help you and me escape from the reality of this life. But the truth is, all of these things are only temporary fixes and you might not even consider them to be that. But again, we're not talking about the empty comfort of good food, warm clothing, cozy furniture, fancy car, things that make us comfortable. These things are wonderful. And as believers, I trust each one of us, as we experience these things, we give thanksgiving and praise to God for them. But that's not what we're talking about here. False comforts, temporary comforts, really only drive one further into despair. And beloved, it's not possible for our life houses to have three or four or more emergency exits. Instead, we are called to get rid of all so-called pearls of comfort in order to purchase the one great pearl, pearl of great price, the only comfort. And all of the false comforts that so many cling to, including money or popularity, these things fade away in the hour of death. They have an expiration date. But the only comfort does not fade away or expire after this life because it's eternal. What is that comfort? Well, Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 3, it is being in the family of the Heavenly Father. And Lord's Day 1 explains to us what that means, to be in God's family for Jesus' sake, as well as it describes this only comfort in detail. In its introduction to the rest of the Catechism, which is what this is, question and answer, one of the Heidelberg Catechism is a beautiful confession of faith summarizing the Gospel message. The good news of salvation. And it speaks, beloved, of the amazing grace of salvation. We consider that Word of God this morning. Noticing, first of all, the grace of belonging. Secondly, the grace of deliverance. And finally, the grace of assurance. The message of the Gospel, beloved, we know is of good news. The good news of God's grace demonstrated in salvation for God's people through Jesus Christ. Our God reached down and has taken hold of His people. Those who were wandering and alone. Those who didn't belong. Those who didn't have a home. And those who were not even wanted by their own kind. And God in His grace has claimed them for His own. Even as He says through Isaiah in Isaiah 43, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. The believer can confidently confess that he is a recipient of God's grace of belonging, that I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in depth to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. And beloved, as we consider the Lord's table for next week, as we consider our call to self-examination, we are to examine, do we belong to Him? Because indeed, the Lord's table is a table of belonging for those who belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Beloved, belonging to Jesus is or is to be the identifying flag on our lifeboats. We are His property, not our own property, which ought to be comforting to us. We are His property, and this fact makes, or at least it should make, all the difference to us, because indeed it makes us different from all those who do not belong to Him. And whether we will admit it or not, we all need to belong. There's no comfort in being alone. We don't like that. Boys and girls, imagine if you had no parents. If you had no brothers and sisters, no family, how alone you would be. That's not comforting. Sin makes us alone. Sin causes separation from God. It makes us orphans from God. Yet we know that today man's highest goal is to be self-sufficient. To be the master of his own faith. The captain of his own soul. man desires and seeks to be independent. But you see, this can never be because by the very fact that He is a creature, He depends upon His Creator whether willingly or unwillingly. But the believer, by the grace of God, knows that if He is not the property of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the property of the evil one. And boys and girls and young people, that's something that we need to learn very early in life. That if we are not the property, if we do not belong to Jesus Christ, we do belong to Satan. It's either one or the other. It cannot be both at the same time. James 4, verse 4 says, Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Yet, beloved, to be able to confess the grace of belonging to Jesus Christ is to know by God's grace that you have reconciliation with God through Christ so that we are no longer enemies of God but sons and daughters of God who when moved by the Holy Spirit of adoption cry out, Abba, Father. And it is this Father of whom Paul says in Ephesians 3.15 from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. Paul is talking about the church, the company of the elect, those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise with the name of God. You see, Scripture is completely clear that Christians are not their own. We do not belong to ourselves. It's clear that God's people do not simply know Him, that they do not simply love Him with some sort of a superficial love, but they belong to Him. They are His possession. For example, 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20, in those verses we find the phrase, Paul says, you are not your own. He goes on, you were bought with a price. In Romans 14, 7-9, Paul says this phrase, we are the Lord's. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 23 says, you are Christ's. And Titus 2, verse 14 says, a people of His own. Beloved, belonging to Jesus Christ is the only comfort in body and soul, in life and in death. Because only in Him can you endure the difficulties and the distresses of this life. Only in Him can you accept who you are in body and be satisfied with your life. And then God's people are called to live and rejoice in that comfort. To live in it. You see, so many, even confessing Christians, never make good use of this only comfort in life. They don't consider Jesus Christ daily. Instead, they try to confess this comfort only in the time of death. But you see, beloved Jesus Christ is not merely a final remedy, a last cheer me up or pick me up when everything else has failed. He is our only comfort in life as well as in death. Remember, Paul says in Philippians 1, verse 21, For to me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. But that means, beloved, that to die is gain only when to live is Christ. Indeed, Christian comfort expresses and demonstrates its power for the dying, but especially when it has been used as a daily vitamin for the living. In a day of desired independence for one to say I belong to Jesus Christ is to say it all. When the world says you deserve this or that, you're worth it, the believer responds, praise God that I have been delivered from my sinful self because I don't want what I deserve. The believer understands by the grace of God that his all, his everything comes from God and in the confidence of that comfort, he can then say with the psalmist, O Lord, You are my refuge. You are my portion in the land of the living. Yet, it's one thing to say that I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? What does it mean to belong to Him? Well, it means that the amazing grace of salvation also includes the grace of deliverance. I have been delivered from sin, Satan, and hell. Notice how the Catechism says it. 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 who is in heaven. By the grace of God, beloved, I have been delivered from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and from the consequence of sin. And this is what we call the atonement. And again, this is what the Lord's table reminds us of. That we have been delivered from all of these things by the grace of God. You know, we often talk about the free gift of salvation. And boys and girls, to you and me who believe it was free indeed. There's absolutely nothing that we could do to secure it. We couldn't buy it. We couldn't work hard enough for it. It was a free gift to us in spite of the fact that we could do nothing. A free gift. But in reality, our salvation was not free. It was costly. A price was paid because a price had to be paid. Our debt for sin could not go unnoticed or ignored. And that price, as we know, was the precious blood of Jesus Christ. His blood was and is the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling all of the Old Testament animal sacrifices. You remember all those animal sacrifices which God used to teach His people that their sins could be paid for, but only by another. And that it had to be through the shedding of blood. The Lord taught them and He teaches us that life is in the blood. And as the catechism rightly says, with His precious blood, Jesus Christ fully paid for all my sins. An older version of the catechism says, He fully satisfies, satisfied for all my sins. And that's beautiful, a beautiful way to express it. That our God who was dissatisfied because of our sin and misery is satisfied with regard to you and me because of Jesus Christ. And He didn't partially satisfy, but fully. He didn't pay only part of the price and the rest is up to me. He paid the full price. His blood does not only cover some of my sin and the rest and leave me to deal with the rest. It completely covers all my sin. John says, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. True comfort, beloved, is not worldly prosperity. It is not freedom. It is not having all kinds of civil rights. It's not food. but true comfort is being redeemed from sin, being purchased, being bought back, becoming the property of the Lord Jesus Christ, being redeemed from that which separates me from God. You see, it wouldn't have been enough if Jesus had simply eased the consequence of sin a little bit or whether He would have removed only some of the pain of sin. The very root had to be destroyed. As the Lord's Supper form beautifully says, For by His death, He has taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery, namely sin. Beloved with His precious blood, Jesus has delivered His people from the root and ground of the nature of the old man. Again, namely sin. And as Paul says in Ephesians 3.17, in Christ we are now rooted and established in love. The necessary consequence, you see, of sin is to be bound by the power of Satan and to be condemned to hell. But, the necessary consequence of being delivered from the guilt of sin is also, first of all, to be delivered from its power. The Catechism says that His blood also set me free from the tyranny or the power of the devil. And that means that all of Satan's power to control me is gone. Of course, we know that he still has the power to tempt me, to attack me. But he's not in control anymore. Jesus Christ is. Satan isn't my ruler anymore. Why? Because Christ is my King. I am no longer a slave to sin, but an anointed servant of Christ. Paul says in verse 16 of Ephesians 3, I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. We, beloved, have a new source of power. The Holy Spirit of God who dwells in us. Beloved, with the forgiveness of sins to enjoy the true forgiveness of sins, it is therefore impossible to be ruled by sin and Satan any longer. And one who boasts of having the forgiveness of sins but still gives free reign to sin in his daily life is giving a false picture that one is a hypocrite. And it doesn't add up because it cannot add up. But in a matter of speaking, redemption from the guilt of sin receives flesh and blood in the fact that the power of sin is broken in my daily life. Sin, in this life, the residue of sin is still there. Sin is present, even as we read in the preparatory form. It remains against our will, against our renewed will. But its power is gone. And the truth is, Christians are real life flesh and blood demonstrations of the broken power of canceled sin by the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2 verse 14 says, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And beloved, with the guilt of sin and the power of sin removed, the grace of deliverance through His precious blood also necessarily removes the consequence of sin. The grave, hell, eternal death. And the Catechism says this in a positive way. It says, 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. Beloved, God preserves His people. And the spiritual death sentence has been reversed and salvation, complete with redemption and reconciliation with God, will never be taken away from us. Now we need to notice here that the catechism doesn't say that a hair from our heads will never fall. They will fall. Some of us, we know, are good examples of that. And as I thought about this, you did not know my family and I five years ago when I was going through chemotherapy and I did not have a single hair. But as I thought about this, even my hair, which was taken away through chemicals, not one of those hairs fell apart from the will of God. He was in control. And all that hair that you find in your brush that you forget about, that you don't even care about, not one of those came out apart from the will of our Heavenly Father. You see, even as the boys and girls and young people must understand, freedom from suffering is not promised. Not even to God's children. In fact, we know that Scripture guarantees suffering for the believer for Jesus' sake. But the promise of God's watchful will is enough to know that the difficulties will not be too difficult. He says, I will be with you in life and in death. And as we read it from Isaiah, when the waters come over you, it's going to happen. When the flames come near you, God will protect His people. Beloved, the amazing grace of salvation, the Christian's only comfort in body and soul and life and in death is made up of the grace of belonging to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And it is made up of the grace of deliverance from sin, Satan, and death by the precious blood of Christ according to the will of the Father. but it is also made up of the grace of assurance. We finish in the catechism answer, in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. Now notice the work of the triune God as expressed in this Lord's Day. God the Father ordains our salvation. God the Son obtains our salvation and God the Holy Spirit secures, seals our salvation unto us. And through the assurance of grace, I am given the confidence that all things work together for good toward my salvation. Even as Paul says in Romans 8, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And this is our assurance. And therefore, beloved, when the storms of life come upon me. The Lord draws me close and shelters me under His wings and by His grace my love then grows deeper for Him. And therefore all the trials and tribulations and persecutions and diseases and failures but also successes, bad times but also good times, times of want and times of prosperity, all the situations of this life, even the experience of death, All of these things are used by God to prepare me for the next life. And my comfort is that nothing that happens in this life and no created thing can ever separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Instead, as Ephesians 3.19 says, that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. But as the catechism answer says, this comfort is also for death. That death which ushers the believer into eternal life. That each and every believer, as he or she closes his or her eyes to death in this life, has the assurance that their eyes at the same time open in the heavenly courts in eternal life with our God. Yet as we have considered even recently with our consideration of the canons of dork, This eternal life is not just future. It's not just the life in the hereafter. But God's grace of assurance also includes the seed germ of eternal life here today. John the Baptist said, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. You see, beloved, eternal life for the child of God starts here in this life. And when it comes to salvation, that saying it can only get better is really true. The Christian's life, no matter what Satan tries to throw at you and me, no matter what flaming arrows he continues to shoot at us, the Christian life is great. But one day it will be even better, incomprehensibly better. Eternal life is that new, that completely holy, different life that is brought into being by regeneration. That's when it starts. And after that, it never withers. It never fades away. It is eternal. And as the catechism makes clear, that eternal life is demonstrated in the Christian's life today. It's demonstrated. That means it is to be seen as well. The catechism says, yet this comfort makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live unto Him. This is the result of the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit in the inner man that Paul speaks of in verse 16. of Ephesians 3. Conversion, beloved, involves a U-turn away from the broad road leading to death onto the narrow road leading to life. Paul says in Ephesians 4, verses 22-24, you were taught that with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Beloved conversion involves a different direction with a completely different focus. And that focus is our God and Father for the sake of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And by the converting power of the Holy Spirit, He gives me the heartfelt desire and the readiness to live for and to stand up for Jesus. To live always only for my King. And again, this is what we are to examine for. Are you ready and willing always to live always only for your King? Is it your desire to say thank you to God for His salvation through your life? And again, this doesn't mean that we won't stumble. We will until the day that our Lord sets our feet firmly upon the heavenly streets of gold. But the here and now is the evidence of true faith through the hearty willingness and the firm desire and the constant readiness to live unto Him. Because by grace, I know that with body and soul, both in life and in death, I am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Beloved, as you examine yourself, your life, indeed, in preparation to come to the Lord's table, But as you examine your life daily, consider these questions. What is it that upholds me in the midst of the storms of life? What is that one constant in the midst of all the changes in life? What is it that gives me stability and hope? For whom do I really live? Myself or for my Lord? And is it completely for Him? Scripture is very clear that there is only one comfort. In Acts 4, verse 12, we read, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And that's the name of Jesus. There are no substitutes. And beloved, this only comfort must include both life and death. Because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. We all need this comfort. Each and every one of us. That's not the question here. That's not up for argument. We all need comfort. Without true comfort, all we can really be as overwhelmed and overcome by sin and misery. And the question is, is Jesus Christ the only comfort? Is He your only comfort? Through Him is His amazing grace of salvation yours. If He's not your only comfort in this life, He won't be in the next. There will be no comfort then, only misery eternally. But only when you believe on Him by grace through faith will you have nothing to fear. Beloved, true comfort is not just a warm fuzzy feeling. True comfort is filled with the substance of the amazing grace of God, of belonging to Him, of being delivered by Him, and of having assurance in Him. If this is yours, then as Ephesians 3.19 says, You indeed know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Jesus Christ is the only strength who can keep us going. He only can make us able to endure and conquer sin and misery, And only He is the good that completely overcomes evil. Beloved, is He your only comfort? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, again we thank You and praise You for the reminder that You have given to us from Your Word that we need the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, too, for the blessed comfort and assurance that each and every one of Your people may have as well. That we are saved by grace through faith. And Father, when we become down and forget about this knowledge and this only comfort, we pray that You would remind us. We pray that You would fill us to greater measure with the joy of this comfort. that our lives indeed might be lives lived in joy and in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, may this comfort grow daily. May our lives of thankfulness grow daily as well, that more and more we might demonstrate the power of this comfort throughout our lives. We pray for all these things only for the sake of Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen. Thank you.