Sunday, January 30, 2011 pm
SERMONS IN SONGS
I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED
Sacred Selections, #338
This song was written by Daniel Whittle (1840-1901), whose
pseudonym was El Nathan. It was
copyrighted in 1883. He
wrote other songs that we might be familiar with including , “Why not
now?”, “Beneath the Banner of the Cross”, “Moment by Moment” “There
shall be Showers of Blessing” and others.
The composer of the tune was James McGranahan (1840-1907)who also
composed the tunes of songs like “The Banner of the Cross” and “Showers
of Blessing”
In it’s original form, this song had some problems that have been
addressed in our version of the song.
a.
The point
of vs. 1 is to remind us that we cannot fully appreciate all that God
has done for us. We know that He loves us and has extended His grace,
but can we fully fathom the depth of it? As we consider all that He has
done to save us, we are in awe at why He would dowhat He did for us.
b.
“I
know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known.”
When Paul wrote his first
letter to Timothy, early on he recalled that God had saved him.
BUT he also noted how he didn’t deserve it – 1 Tim. 1:12-16.
Bear in mind that Paul says this later in his life, AFTER he has
endured years of suffering and physical consequences for his faith.
He knew that our only hope exists because of the grace of God.
And what a true statement that is. Rom. 3:23-24 reminds us that
we have all sinned and justification comes through His grace.
Eph. 2:4-8 is a great passage relating the grace of God.
It demonstrates HOW God extended His grace – by sending Jesus to
die for our sins.
What is grace? It is described
as, “unmerited favor”. God
gives us what we don’t deserve – and that is why it is something we
cannot fully comprehend.
When we consider how we treat one another and how we have been treated,
especially when wrongs have occurred, we sometimes struggle with
understanding God’s forgiveness of us.
But through His grace He will forgive IF we repent.
And it is available to everyone – Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men…”
The more we study the grace of
the God and understand what it involves, the more we cannot fully
comprehend its depths.
c.
“Nor why unworthy Christ in love,
redeemed me for His own.”
Just as we cannot fully fathom
the grace of God, so we struggle with what He did to clear us of our
guilt, that is to pronounce us “not guilty” (notice how in a court room
the verdict is not “innocent”).
This verse also reminds us that in spite of how unworthy we
really are, Christ still redeemed us. Romans
5:6-11 – Christ died for us, while still sinners.
1 John 4:9-18 – in love God sent His Son to appease His wrath for our
sins.
To redeem us means that He paid the price to purchase us – Titus 2:14
tells us that Christ, “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people,
zealous for good works.
1 Peter 1:18-19, “knowing that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from
your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot.”
d.
As Paul
said in 2 Cor. 9:15, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
II.
Chorus, BUT I know whom I have believed…
a.
The Chorus
is taken directly from 2 Tim. 1:12.
It is a wonderful verse written by Paul knowing that he is about
to die. Paul has suffered
greatly for the cause of Christ (1:8) but he has hope that all he
endured was NOT in vain.
Why? Because after all the work he has done, “I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what
I have committed unto Him until that day.”
b.
Paul KNOWS
that Jesus is real. His
grace and love and redemption are substantial (i.e. with substance).
He knows that his works have not been for an empty cause.
He has FAITH (trust).
See Phil. 3:8-10 here – Paul has suffered the loss of all things, yet he
counts them as rubbish…
c.
He is
persuaded – fully convinced or convicted in this...
In this Paul’s mind is FIRMLY made up.
NO one, nor anything, could dissuade him of his trust in Christ.
Rom. 8:35-39 – NOTHING could separate him from his convictions.
d.
He is able
to keep what I have committed to Him until that day – the word for
committed in that text is a word that means to entrust or to make a
deposit. Paul is an example
of one who has laid up for himself treasures in heaven, because that IS
where His heart was (Matt. 6:19-21).
NOTE: The KJV, NKJV, & ASV use the word “committed” here while the NASU
uses the word “entrusted.”
The word “committed” is no accident as not only does it deal with what
we have put into God’s care, but such CANNOT be done without COMMITMENT
on our part in this life.
ALL the treasures we lay up for ourselves in heaven (and they will NOT
be the worldly things) can be forfeited if we are not committed to
finishing the race faithfully (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27).
e.
THE CHORUS
of this song is a contrast with things we may not fully comprehend.
This beautiful song challenges our faith.
We may not understand the find details, or even the mind of God,
but it is our faith that gives us hope.
Oh how we need to constantly remind ourselves of this!
III.
Vs. 2 , It is through God’s word that we find peace and faith.
a.
“I
know just how this saving faith to me he did impart and how believing in
His word wrought peace within my heart.”
b.
The
original text said, “I know not how this saving faith…nor how believing
in His word…” The change in
our book, I suspect, is due to concerns that many teach that the
influence of the word of God borders on the miraculous or requires the
intervention of God to understand it.
Many religions teach this (i.e. Calvinism).
we cannot understand how we are convicted through the word of
God.
So two words were changed and now we are reminded of how through God’s
word we have all things that we need to know to be saved (2 Pet. 1:3,
Rom. 1:16-17, John 17:17).
RJ Steven’s, Hymns for Worship (#350) omits this verse.
c.
We DO KNOW
how faith that saves is imparted.
Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Colossians 1:3-6 speaks of our faith and love and hope “which you heard
before in the word of the truth of the gospel.”
1 Pet. 2:1-2 calls for us to desire the pure milk of the word what we
may grow thereby.
1 Thess. 2:13 speaks of how the word of God effectively works in each of
us.
d.
We DO KNOW
that obeying the word of God produces peace within the heart.
James 1:21 speaks of the implanted word which is able to save our souls.
Romans 10:15 speaks of “the gospel of peace”
Eph. 6:15 refers to it as “the gospel of peace.”
WHEN one truly understands what he is doing in obeying the gospel, as he
comes up out of that water, having his sins washed away, there is a
feeling of relief and hope – “a peace that surpasses understanding”
(Phil. 4:6) which will guard our hearts.
e.
NOTE:
While I understand the intent of our hymnal and accept the point, it is
still true that we may not fully understand everything about our faith
as it relates to the word of God.
But regardless of how much you understand, see the chorus of this
song. We KNOW that keeping
His word is the ONLY hope we have of eternal life (Matt. 7:21-23)
a.
“I
know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me, of weary ways or
golden days, before His face I see.”
b.
We live in
a world filled with uncertainties.
We can make plans down to the minutest of details, but things
happen! We have to make
adjustments. AND as
Christians, as we do, it is imperative that we keep our faith and our
priorities intact!
c.
This verse
is so true in reminding us of this uncertainty.
In James 4:13-15 reminds us that our life is but a vapor and we do not
know what will happen.
Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to remind us of the uncertainty
of life. All in this world
is “vanity” or “vapor”.
Acts 20:22 describes Paul as he speaks to the Ephesian elders.
He notes that as he goes to Jerusalem, he doesn’t know what life
has in store, but he will trust in God.
A study of his life reveals that he had to make changes in his
plans (cf. 1 Thess. 2:18, Rom. 15:22, 1:13, Acts 16:6-7, etc.)
d.
But no
matter what happens, we can know who we believe in and that God will
keep what we have committed to Him.
a.
“I
know not when my Lord may come, at night or noon day fair, nor will I
walk the vale with Him, but meet Him in the air.”
b.
Currently
there are predictions that the rapture is going to happen on May 21,
2011 and the world will end on October 21, 2011.
(Harold Camping, “We Are Almost There”).
Others have predicted the end of the world in 2012 because of the
end of the Mayan calendar.
These are some of the latest in predictions and attempted date setting
for the Lord’s return. There
have been more than 200 such predictions since our Lord left this earth.
Virtually every generation has attempted to predict the Lord’s return,
all ending in failure. Why?
c.
Matthew
24:35-36 says differently, “Heaven
and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My
Father only.” Based on
passages such as this, it is foolish, and even sinful, to seek to
specify a date when the Lord is going to return.
d.
Our verse
in this song reminds us that we don’t know WHEN He will return.
e.
The song
concludes with hope, we will not walking with Him on this earth, but
meeting Him in the air.
The original song said, “Nor if I
walk the vale with Him, or meet Him in the air.”
That expression could have premillenial overtones, but there is
another possibility. The key
lies in a obscure term, “vale”. According to Random House Dictionary,
the word can have two meanings, 1)a valley, 2) the world or mortal,
earthly life. The songwriter
could be saying that he doesn’t know whether he will walk the valley of
the shadow of death (cf. Psa. 23:4) or whether he is alive on this earth
when the Lord returns, but either way he will “meet Him in the air.”
But in our version this has been addressed to note that even though we
don’t know when He will return, we know that we will meet Him in the air
instead of walking with Him upon this earth.
This accords with 1 Thess. 4:16-18 notes that the Lord will return with
a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and we will be caught up in the
air to meet with Him.
f.
EVEN
though we don’t know when the Lord will return, we know what we have
believed and that we can be prepared to stand before Him.
And thus we can see another psalm intended to instill faith in our Lord and hope as we proceed throughout our time in this world. May we always seek to have the disposition Paul had, living or dying for the Lord knowing that He will keep what we have committed to Him. What have YOU committed to Him until that day?