It is most blessed to serve the Lord and to bow before Jesus here already upon the earth. The world calls the true and intimate worship of God a walking mournfully before the Lord, (Mal. 3:14), and says of it: “what a weariness is it!” (chap. 1:13). Those, however, who by experience know the blessedness and comfort which is bound up in serving the Lord, shall never have such an uncharitable conception of it and also never testify so wrongfully of it. Nevertheless, no one must think that one can walk upon the narrow way leading to heaven, and enter into the strait gate without strife and self-denial, and that it is sufficient to make Balaam’s wish theirs, to simply die the death of the righteous, (Num. 23:10). No, a person is not saved with a faint-hearted, lazy wish and a desire, if it were possible, to serve God, and the world together. Neither is one saved with a respectable conduct without true poverty of spirit and upright union with Christ.


This is a sermon preached by Wulfert Floor on the text, "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1Pet 4:18). In this sermon, pastor Floor both challenges those who are deceived into thinking that they are on their way to glory but who do not have a true living faith and offers comfort to those who are plagued by doubts concerning their relationship with God and their ultimate end. He expounds on this passage of Scripture with the following four points:
  • First − the righteous;
  • Second − the ungodly and the sinner;
  • Third − the blessed portion of the righteous;
  • Finally − the wretched portion of the ungodly and sinner.

You can read this sermon now by clicking here: The Different Portions of Man After Death

For later reading, you can find this article in "Calvinism and the Reformed Faith" and in the Eschatology section.

In His service and grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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