REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 EVENING SERVICE.

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1 REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 EVENING SERVICE. Sing beforehand: Psalm 105:1, 5 Let us commence this meeting with God by declaring openly to one another and to God: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Beloved, grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. By the powerful operation of God the Holy Spirit. Amen. Song of praise: Psalm 146:1, 8 Prayer Doxology: Worship: Confession: Supplication (for pardon of sins): Thanksgiving: Intercession (for the need of the congregation, the church, authorities, sinful world and appeal to the promises of God) General supplication: Illumination of the Holy Spirit (necessary for the ministry of the Word): Amen. Scripture Versification 2-4:1, 3 Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:17-5:5; Heidelberg Catechism Sunday 33 Scripture verse: Ephesians 4: That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit; 23 And be made new in the spirit of your mind, 24 And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living. (Ephesians 4:22-24) Heidelberg Catechism Q. 88. Of how many parts does the true conversion of man consist? Of two parts; of the mortification of the old, and the quickening of the new man. Rom. 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Rom.6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 1

2 Rom.6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Rom.6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Eph.4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Eph.4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Eph.4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Col.3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: Col.3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: Col.3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. Col.3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Col.3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; Col.3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 1 Cor.5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 2 Cor.7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Q. 89. What is the mortification of the old man? It is a sincere sorrow of heart, that we have provoked God by our sins; and more and more to hate and flee from them. Rom.8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Hos.6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. Q. 90. What is the quickening of the new man? It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ, and with love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works. (b) Rom.5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Rom.14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Isa.57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (b) Rom.6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Rom.6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Gal.2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 2

3 Q. 91. But what are good works? Only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, (b) and to his glory; (c) and not such as are founded on our imaginations, or the institutions of men. (d) Rom.14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (b) Lev.18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. 1 Sam.15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Eph.2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (c) 1 Cor.10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (d) Deut.12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. Ezek.20:18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: Ezek.20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; Isa.29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Inasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Matt.15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, Matt.15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Matt.15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Theme: If you know Christ, then you are busy with true conversion Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the life op man there are many various phases. We note this clearly in the natural life of man. There is the phase of being a baby, then toddlers, primary and high school scholars, and young adults until you are also a senior citizen. In a certain way there are also phases in your relationship towards the Lord. It starts when you are still a toddler this is the phase when adults teach us in the Word of the Lord and guide us in our relationship towards Him. This phase in our life of faith we normally call confirmation-class. As with the phases of our natural lives the phase of confirmation-class also comes to an end. But now the tragic occurrence takes place of many people now thinking seeing that they have completed confirmation-class they now have totally finished growing and learning in regards to their relationship towards the Lord. People reasoning this way do not easily again open our articles of confession. Some people thinking that they have finished learning even but the Bible away. The only time they perhaps take out the Bible again is when they are in distress and searching for answers from the Lord. Some not only put away their articles of confession and Bibles, it gets lost completely. They no longer attend worshipping services, never partake in Bible study groups and become so lost that they can never develop or apply their gifts to the glory of God or to the advantage of other members. 3

4 Brothers, sisters and children, indeed it is so that should God have elected a person there is nothing and nobody that can prevent Him from bringing that person to conversion. The Holy Spirit will grant that person the faith in Christ. And the powerful work of the Holy Spirit ensures that the person will eventually inherit the eternal life on full. This first conversion of a person we also call it the re-birth that the Holy Spirit grants mankind. Re-birth does not mean that man is now perfect. Re-birth also does not mean that you need not do anything more in aid of growing in your relationship with the Lord. Re-birth is the beginning of your life of faith it starts from your relationship with the Lord. The re-born person is assured by the Holy Spirit that God, for the sakes the perfect work of Christ, declares him righteous. At the re-birth a drastic change happens to man. The Holy Spirit turns him around hundred and eighty degrees. Where prior the man did not like listening to the Lord and just did what his sinful heart dictated, the Holy Spirit now turned the face and heart of man towards the Lord. He makes man willing and ready to listen to the Lord and to start doing what the Lord expects from him. In this life a believer does not change from sinner to a sinless person. In this life the believers are continually in the process of changing and becoming to the image of Christ. Believers are always on the way to that point where they will be sinless and perfect. Only at his own death the believer dies off his sins and at the Coming Again he will be able to live as complete human sinless to the eyes of God. This evening the Lord makes it clear to us that somebody who has heard the gospel and got to know Christ as his Saviour can no longer continue in the old way of life as if nothing has happened. The life of the person to whom the Holy Spirit granted the re-birth changes continually. As a messenger of the living Christ Paul makes a serious call to every believer to be spiritually and in their mind renewed. Under command of Jesus Christ the spirit and mind of every believer must be renewed. The lord does not issue this command only to some people, but to everybody ransomed by the blood of Christ. But what does it mean to be renewed in your spirit and mind? Put in simple language: The thoughts of believers, their attitudes in life, their way of thinking about matters in the depth of their being, where their thoughts and desires start, must become new. The outlook of believers onto life must be totally different. They strive to satisfy God by their entire lives, to act properly and dedicated to God in accordance to the demands of the gospel. We would like to hear what it means to be renewed and out of what this renewal process consists. But before we reach this, let us first hear what the motivation is. Why should a believer daily convert? Whoever became a believer got to know Christ. What do believers know about Christ? We who believe know that Christ is the Son of God who became a human. Due to our sins God had Him die the horrible death on the cross. Because Christ perfectly executed the will of His Father He was also re- 4

5 surrected from death and God elevated Him to the heaven at His right hand from where He rules the church and the world. But there is more we have to get to learn. In many sermons and in confirmation-class lessons the absolute rule of Christ is ministered. In fact we confess every Sunday that He is our Lord. He is our owner and has sole authority over our lives. He is King in our lives and King of His church. He justly rules us by His Spirit and Word. And through His Spirit and Word Christ guides believers to satisfy the demands of His kingdom, to live totally different than other people. You do not only get to know Christ through what others tell about Him. Every time the Word is read it is Christ Himself teaching us, so that we can get to know Him and His Father. When we are taught how the life of a person, who is true to the Word of God must look like it is Christ Himself teaching us about Him. Who thus got to know Christ also made acquaintance with the new lifestyle. This new lifestyle is the lifestyle of a follower of Jesus Christ. Because the Holt Spirit makes the be - liever willing and ready to live for the Lord, he strives following in exactly the footsteps of Jesus when he follows Him. This means that he desires to act like Christ acted, because Christ is perfect and He satisfied His Father by His entire life. How does the renewal process run for the person that got to know and believe in Christ? Paul describes it in our verses of text by using an image of undressing and dressing. Under guidance of the Holy Spirit the believer strips the old person from his sinful desires that want to drag and overcome him, just like a person gets rid of dirty clothing. And in obedience to the Holy Spirit he clothes himself with the new person like dressing in clean and neat clothes. We confess in our Catechism that we call this renewal process conversion. True conversion consists out of two parts: the dying off of the old person and the resurrection of the new person. In the way we tell this we hear that it is not something that is done only once in this life and then it is completed. It is an ongoing process of dying off and resurrection. The dying off of the old person means that you have true regret for angering God through your sins and therefore the longer the more hate the sin and flee from it. The Holy Spirit guides you by the Word to realise that the things you do are not on the par with the Word of God. Of the it is things we automatically do and never realise that it is contrary to the Word of God. When other people point out that it is wrong what we do, we quickly become aggravated. But the Holy Spirit guides us by the Word and shows us that by these dings we do we do not follow exactly in the footsteps of Jesus. That then means that we do not follow Jesus and therefore also cannot satisfy God by our words or deeds. On the contrary we anger God by such deeds. When the Holy Spirit then lets you realise that you angered the Father the believer cannot else but regret his sins by heart. Then you realise that you rise against the almighty God and sadden the Holy Spirit who leads you with so much care an the road following Jesus. When a person realizes how abhorrent the sins are he starts more and more hating the sin and fleeing from it. Toe die off the old person is a serious and urgent matter. By the words of Paul we hear 5

6 why it is so urgent. The road of life of the people who do not care about what Jesus teaches them is a downhill way. Through descriptive words the Holy Spirit depicts this downhill road to us. It starts at the hardness of the human heart. The word we translate with hard is like a hard heart can also mean a heart of stone. But a heart does not just become hardened by itself. The person co-operates to get his heart hardened. He resists against the approach of the Lord. When he hears the voice of the Lord in ser - mons and during evangelization they close their ears. They lock themselves out of God s loving search for them. Because they do not want to hear the voice of the Lord, because they lock themselves out from the truth of Jesus, they remain unenlightened. The do not get to know Jesus better. They do not hear Him speaking to them. And the result is that the ignorance leaves them in darkness. They search for light but do not find it because they do not want to follow the light of the Word of God. Therefore they become estranged from the life of God because He is also no longer heard. The people who continually close their ears when the Lord speaks and continually close their eyes when the Lord indicates the proper road eventually become deaf and blind. Then the Lord will cause them to no longer see and hear because they continually resisted His loving search. And eventually they are given over to profligacy to do everything that is evil. And the urge of profligacy becomes so strong that they cannot escape from it because the Lord gave them over to their sins. The believer who thus wants to give in to his old way of life must thus now become aware what downhill road awaits him. It starts by just the idea that you have completed growing in your relationship with the Lord. And when you no longer study the Bible and not want to be taught by God stalling takes place. It becomes like a car without wheels. He just remains at one spot. And should a person then also get lost from the congregation the danger is extremely large that he would succumb to the old person that still have movement in him. The longer a person then do not want to listen to the voice of the Lord the darker it becomes in life. And who wants to persevere on this dark road must know that later the Lord will stop calling in love and leave him entirely to the sin. Therefore it is ur - gently necessary for believers to continually become renewed in their thoughts and desires. The second part of the renewal is the resurrection of the new person. It is the heartily joy in God through Christ and a desire and love to live according to the will of God in all good works. Although the believer does not become perfect in this life the believer strives continually towards becoming on the par with the image of Christ. The person who is truly born again will never say about himself that he has completed growing in his relationship with the Lord. He is never fully satisfied with the state he exists in. He also never says: I know that I am not perfect, but then nobody is. Therefore I need not be worried about my lifestyle. As long as the Holy Spirit indicates an imperfection in his life he will hate the imperfection in his life and pray for the Holy Spirit to renew him more. Driven by the love for Christ he wants to satisfy his Father in the heaven by the good works. At the dying off of the old person and the resurrection of the new person we say every time that the heart of the believer is involved. Dying off is the hearty regret about the sins. Resurrection is to have hearty joy in God through Christ. The heart operation the Holy Spirit does on the person at the rebirth is to remove his heart of stone and to replace it with a heart of flesh take place only once. But 6

7 the believer must every day get used to this new heart because his old nature clings to the heart of stone. Beloved let us hold firmly to the truth of Jesus Christ, indeed, we got to know Him. Let us always keep in mind what the Lord and the Spirit made of us, new people. Then we would also be full time aware that we could become new. And should we keep in mind what great misery and heartache it entails in giving in to your old person and his sinful desires, we will always know that it is of utmost importance to be continually renewed. Amen! Closing prayer Scripture Versification 15-7:5,6 The Lord blesses you and keeps you; The Lord makes His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you, and gives you peace. Amen. Rev Coen Vrey Reformed Church Bellville Date: 20 May 2018 Scripture: New King James. Translator: Fred Scheepers Word Count