REV. LAMAIN - GRAND RAPIDS

February 21, 1947— — — — — — February 21,1977

Part VI

But how is the breach between God and our soul? In general, people just pass over that question, but where is the sorrow about our state? Does it ever concern us? A minister who passed away years ago once wrote, “The plagues can be healed, the breach is not fatal, the sickness is bearable, the yoke is not too oppressive. We can still help, heal and deliver ourselves.” Oh, that we might see ourselves as such a person. O God, bring me there once more!

When David acknowledged his guilt before God, it was remarkable that he did not say, “But Bathsheba is also guilty.” Oh, no. He did not mention her at all. His confession was: “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.” Psalm 51. When he became a sinner before God he took over all the guilt. Years ago a child of God expressed it thus: Guilt is a beast that no one wants to have in his house. Our aim is to remain a Pharisee, but the Lord Himself must make us true sinners, guilty sinners before God. To do that an almighty power is necessary, and only the love of God can humble and soften our hard heart. Then the Lord says, “If my people shall confess their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant.” That is personally, but it is also true for the nation and the church. Then the Lord will be intreated of His people. (Ezra 8:23)

Of course, those people first learn to know themselves by discovering grace as prayerless people. The holy Spirit must pray within us with groanings that cannot be uttered. We will become aware that we have no prayer. They also learn that the answer to their prayer is not granted because of their prayer, but upon their prayer. The only ground for our prayers being heard is the intercession of the great Intercessor at the right hand of the Father, Whose prayer is not a request, but a demand, based upon his own blood and righteousness. Man falls entirely away and we give the Lord Jesus Christ the highest place in our heart. Then they can heartily agree with what the poet says in Psalm 45:

“Supremely fair Thou art,
Thy lips with grace o’erflow;
His richest blessings evermore
Doth God on Thee bestow.”

And now regarding the fruit: the Lord has at times encouraged our soul when we had no more courage with the words in I Cor. 15:58: “Ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” And further, it is as with the disciples in John 21, when they came to land with their nets, then they knew how many fish they had caught. In eternity all will be revealed, also how many God had converted by our ministry.

And now a few lines in conclusion. The Consistory wanted to come together with the congregation to observe the fact that we have been in their midst for thirty years. It is true, the Lord says in His Word, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” But it was my wife’s desire and mine to observe it quietly. Is the Lord not worthy to be acknowledged? Most certainly, of that we are fully convinced! If we look at ourselves and we see all the unfaithfulness, all the deficiencies, and all the shortcomings, then it is a wonder. Some members have asked us personally to accept a call and leave this place. That also is good. It all takes place in the providence of God. It would be against God’s Word if all men spoke well of us. A minister, who was very well known among us, and has long since been delivered, once was preaching his farewell sermon upon leaving a congregation which he had served a few years.

He began by saying, “First I would like to thank my friends and my enemies. My friends, because the Lord has used them to encourage me, and my enemies because they have driven me to the Lord constantly.” We need both. We have told the congregation that we appreciated the intention of the consistory to have a meeting on March 17, but that they must not be offended because we do not desire such a meeting. We did speak on the occasion when we had been in Grand Rapids for 25 years, and also when we had our 45th wedding anniversary. Looking back, we can see it was a good decision, for in that week my wife had to be taken into the hospital to be treated for her asthma, a sickness with which she has suffered for 17 years.

At the close of the service of Sunday morning, March 20, I only said, “Congregation, I do not wish to crown myself, nor do I wish to be crowned, but I wish to read to you those parts of God’s Word on which I was given meditations. That was in the first place:

I Tim. 1:12: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” and: II Cor. 2:14–17: “Now thanks be unto God, Which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.”

I added nothing more to this, and then pronounced the benediction. I am no Paul; far, far from it, but I had a need and a desire to let God’s Word speak, only that Word, the precious Word of God, of which David says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect”. That was enough for me, for self creeps into all that we would add to it. It is like the snow: when it is newly fallen it is bright and white and shining, but the first step we take on it defiles it.

Now I shall close. May the Lord remember us further in His favor, making us submissive to His Divine Will, whether the time that we may be united with each other be long or short, both with this congregation with which we have lived through so much gladness and sadness, and with the other congregations that have also shown us so much love and have borne and tolerated us in all our shortcomings. May the Lord be glorified in the gathering, establishing, building His Church that was chosen by the Father, purchased and redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. May God’s strength be made perfect in our weakness in order that the Lord may receive all the honor.

Now I wish to quote a few lines written by the Rev. L.G.C. Ledeboer, who was delivered long ago, in 1863, that expresses the wish of my heart for myself and for all Jehovah’s darlings.

“My calling, if I may have one, (what language!) is none other, or especially, to preach, as I am enabled, to preach truth and judgment, for therewith Thou hast permitted me to enter the warfare. I have not sought to the place I have reached, although I have lost it or am losing it because of my sins and my unfaithfulness. Thou hast permitted me to fall into snares and bands, pits and caves to teach me what I could not have learned elsewhere. Thou hast made me delve into my own and others’ hearts, for they are the same, for we are each others’image. Thou hast preserved me amidst it all. My unfaithfulness Thou hast and wilt forgive, otherwise I would have come to an end, but Thy faithfulness and lovingkindness are everlasting.

And what shall the way be now? It is known to Thee, O Lord, my Guide and my God! I need not know, but only follow. My foolishnesses chastise me, but Thy grace soothes the strokes, heals the wounds and softens the stripes. Thou hast, I feel it, made all things work together for good. Thanks be to Thy guidance, thanks be to Thy love, thanks be to Thy faithfulness, thanks be to Thy grace, eternal thanksgiving for Thy eternal mercy, eternal thanks for Thy groundless love. Indeed Thy favor strengthens us more than the choicest food. Thy love makes all things light, Thy grace makes all things glorious, Thy faithfulness makes all things sweet, Thy protection makes all things blessed. Yea, I may say that I am graven upon the palms of Thy hands; and my walls are continually before Thee.”

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