REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2012 EVENING SERVICE. (Scriptural quotes from the New International Version unless indicated otherwise) Sing beforehand: Psalm 124:1+3. 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 107:1+3. 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. Psalm 19:7. Scripture reading: John 8:21 47; Belgic Confession: Art 14. Scripture text: John 8:36: So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. BELGIC CONFESSION Article 14: The Creation and Fall of Man * We believe that God created man from the dust of the earth and made and formed him in his image and likeness-- good, just, and holy; able by his own will to conform in all things to the will of God. But when he was in honor he did not understand it 21 and did not recognize his excellence. But he subjected himself willingly to sin and consequently to death and the curse, lending his ear to the word of the devil. For he transgressed the commandment of life, which he had received, and by his sin he separated himself from God, who was his true life, having corrupted his entire nature. So he made himself guilty and subject to physical and spiritual death, having become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways. He lost all his excellent gifts which he had received from God, and he retained none of them except for small traces which are enough to make him inexcusable. Moreover, all the light in us is turned to darkness, as the Scripture teaches us: "The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not receive it." 22 Here John calls men "darkness." 1
Therefore we reject everything taught to the contrary concerning man's free will, since man is nothing but the slave of sin and cannot do a thing unless it is "given him from heaven." 23 For who can boast of being able to do anything good by himself, since Christ says, "No one can come to me unless my Father who sent me draws him"? 24 Who can glory in his own will when he understands that "the mind of the flesh is enmity against God"? 25 Who can speak of his own knowledge in view of the fact that "the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God"? 26 In short, who can produce a single thought, since he knows that we are "not able to think a thing" about ourselves, by ourselves, but that "our ability is from God"? 27 And therefore, what the apostle says ought rightly to stand fixed and firm: "God works within us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure." 28 For there is no understanding nor will conforming to God's understanding and will apart from Christ's involvement, as he teaches us when he says, "Without me you can do nothing." 29 21 Ps. 49:20 22 John 1:5 23 John 3:27 24 John 6:44 28 29 Phil. 2:13 John 15:5 25 Rom. 8:7 26 1 Cor. 2:14 27 2 Cor. 3:5 Theme: Only when you obey Jesus are you truly free. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, you probably know the saying: you only realize what you had after.you have lost it. When we speak of man s free will, it appears that this saying is spot on. Listen again to our confession on this issue: But when he (that is man) was in honour he did not understand it and did not recognize his excellence. Before the fall into sin man had, together with all the other good gifts of being holy, righteous and good, also the gift of a free will. Then man was still able to exercise a free choice whether to serve and obey God or to rebel against God and join forces with Satan. When man listened to the devil s words he knowingly and willingly rebelled against God and joined in with Satan. Man then gave up the free will he had before. Man no longer has a free will. Yet, when one listens to people talk it sounds as if they believe that they still have a free will. It appears that they believe that they can themselves decide whether to serve the Lord or not. From what they say it might sound as if they still have this free will which they do not have - but from their deeds it appears otherwise. Everybody wants to be free. Everyone wants to be his own master and himself decide what he will do. Everybody wants himself to decide what is good and right for him. Others must not take these decisions for him because then, man believes, he is no longer free. Because of this pretended right to freedom we see today many forms of evil and injustice that shock us deeply. The human rights being claimed and employed everywhere are fed by this desire of man to be free and to do as he wishes. This has led to the abolition in our country of censure of films and periodicals and other literature. Because modern man is mature and free to decide himself what is good and right for him. The pretended right to freedom has also contributed to people disdaining and rejecting all authority. We see this in the conduct of children in school. They do as they please and the teachers are powerless because there are children s rights and human rights that protect them. The authority that 2
parents have is rejected and children want to decide themselves about their lives. For example, they want to decide themselves about their relationship with the opposite sex and how far they want to take it. And nobody may prescribe people, whether older or younger, about sexual relations. And the consequence is the unimaginedly high figure of HIV/AIDS infection and all the sorrow that goes with it. And if there is one matter about which people do not wish to hear anything, it is that they are incapable of any good. Man will not admit that he is by nature corrupt and evil for that would negative and destroy his self-image. Man does not want to know that by nature he is driven to hate God and his neighbour. when yougod s Providence most certainly is one of God s works that raises the most questions in people. We understand and believe with all our heart the Providence of God to mean that with His own hand God controls and maintains everything He created. God is the eternal King. Because He is the eternal King and Creator He alone governs everything. His rule encompasses the past, the present and the future. We can therefore believingly confess that at no time in history this government was not in God s hand or even threatened to slip from it. We believe that according to His holy will He so rules and governs everything that in this world nothing happens without His direction. Having said that, one should say: amen! We need not go any further. But it is not that simple. We, people, are inquisitive by nature. If we as believers could suppress our curiosity and only cling to the fact that God governs everything, it would not mean that there are not more questions about God s just and perfect rule. Many things that happen to us and others lead to questions being asked. And these questions compel us to think about God s providence again and again. But from the start we must remind one another that we as people are unable to answer all those questions satisfactorily, no matter how well one knows the Bible or how close to God one lives. There are times when, and questions to which, one must admit that we do not know. We do not know how the difficulties or suffering of someone fit in with God s good and holy governance. Therefore, because His actions surpass human understanding, we will not curiously inquire farther than our capacity allows us. There definitely are certain things that God does in His ruling of the world that He does not want to make known to us because He knows that we do not need to know it. Now I do not want to try to be clever and defend God. Our heavenly Father does not need sinners to defend His conduct. He is the Almighty God how can my tiny, sinful intelligence defend God s hidden ways if He did not reveal it any man? That would be arrogant even worse, blasphemous. Based on what happened to Job we can conclude that God does not reveal all about His rule because we do need to know it all. To all Job s entreaties God never told Job why he had to suffer all that grief. The LORD never told Job what Satan had told Him and that He had ordained it that Satan may bring all those disasters over him. On the contrary, God posed Job a number of questions because Job himself did not have to know why it all happened to him. Yet Job learned from it. He says so himself in the last chapter of the book of Job: My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:5) Job had learnt that God truly holds the government of the whole world in His hand and nobody can take it from Him. Therefore one can rest in peace in the knowledge that everything happens subject to God s providence so that the world and all in it may arrive at the purpose God destined for it, namely, the complete arrival of His kingdom. 3
For this acquiescence to be engendered in us, brothers, sisters and children, the Holy Spirit recorded the history of Joseph for us in Genesis. Joseph never forgot all that had happened to him nor what his brothers had done to him. Yet he says to his brothers three times: God sent me ahead of you (Gen 45:5+7+8). His brothers had also not forgotten what they had done because for about five years they had lived with their guilt about the lie they had told their father Jacob. All ten of the brothers also knew full well that they had acted wrongly and sinfully. We are well acquainted with the history of Joseph and his brothers. We know that no one, not Joseph, not Jacob and not one of Joseph s brothers was completely innocent in what happened to Joseph. Jacob, their father, had shown more love to Joseph than to his other sons. For Joseph was the son of his beloved wife, Rachel. Actually Jacob s way of dealing with his children had its origin in his own childhood. Jacob grew up in a family where the father and the mother preferred the one child to the other. Isaac loved Esau, his eldest son, more than Jacob whereas Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. To Jacob it was therefore not unusual or strange to love one of your children more than the others, especially if it was the son of your most loved wife. Jacob s guilt in what happened to Joseph was his preferring of Joseph. Joseph does not herd the flock, the other ten brothers must do so. Only Joseph receives beautiful clothes from his father. This conduct by Jacob definitely caused his ten elder brothers to dislike him. Joseph also was not innocent. He enjoyed being preferred by his father. Why should one complain if you are treated better than other people, also better than your brothers? And Joseph had dreams that he liked to tell his brothers of. They already disliked him and after these dreams the dislike increased. Eventually they became jealous of Joseph. Joseph therefore also carried blame for the treatment he received at the hands of his brothers. And then one would like to place the greatest part of the blame on the shoulders of Joseph s brothers. They planned to rid themselves of Joseph. Their jealousy had grown into hatred so that the next step was not difficult. They even discussed murdering him. At this stage the Holy Spirit draws our attention to God s rule that lies deep below the surface. At first glance we notice only the conduct of people, Jacob s preferring, Joseph s satisfaction and the jealousy, hate and murderous talk of the brothers. Superficially we notice Ruben who tries to find some favour with his father by saving Joseph and sending him back to Jacob and Judah who convinces his brothers to rather make some money by selling Joseph as a slave and to rid themselves of him this way. The Holy Spirit shows us that deep below the surface of human conduct and sinful factors God is ruling. Through the hand of the LORD that is working in Ruben and in Judah the brothers come to realize that they may not commit murder, no matter what their motives might be. The LORD protects Joseph s life because with Joseph God wants to ensure a future for Jacob and his sons. More than that, God wants to ensure a future for all Abraham s children. He wants to crush the serpent s head and found on earth His kingdom that is being crowded out by sin and the devil. Although Joseph is a sinner, or, rather because Joseph is a sinner and knows this himself, he seeks refuge with God, the God of his fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is sold into slavery but conducts himself worthily. He does not despair. By the ministry of the Holy Spirit in him he remains conscious thereof that in Egypt also he lives before the face of God. Therefore he did his work in the house of Potiphar so well that Potiphar put him in charge of his entire household. But Satan has other plans for Joseph. He is God s greatest enemy and does not want a future for Jacob and his children. God therefore ordained that Potiphar s wife approaches Joseph with indecent 4
and adulterous proposals. But God rules and with the power of the Holy Spirit Joseph withstands the temptations and runs away from the sin to which Potiphar s wife entices him. Initially it would appear as if Joseph s obedience to God is not to his advantage. Joseph does well to flee from sin but he still lands in prison. If the devil fails to get Joseph to sin, then he will remove him from society with lies. But even these evil plans do not stop the LORD. In fact, He lets the devil work for Him. Because of some or other reason the baker and the cupbearer of the Pharaoh were imprisoned with Joseph. While in prison Joseph did also not despair. He continued to live close to God and the warden put him in charge of all those held in prison. In this way God ordained that Joseph was not put in a cell but that he could come into contact with the other prisoners, also with the baker and the cupbearer. The LORD had also given Joseph the gift of interpreting dreams. With this gift the LORD saw to it that the cupbearer remembered Joseph two years later when Pharaoh had a troublesome dream. The cupbearer recalled that Joseph had interpreted his dream correctly as it would prove subsequently and perhaps he would be able to do the same with Pharaoh s dream. The LORD then provided that Joseph could interpret the dream. And Pharaoh was so impressed by Joseph s wisdom that he put him in charge of all of Egypt. When Joseph s brothers then come to bow before him a second time he knows that all these things happened to him during the past years because God had sent him ahead of his brothers. God had ordained it that he should rule in Egypt as viceroy so that the future of Jacob and his family should be assured. Hence Joseph could say to his brothers three times: So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. (Gen 45:8) and But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Gen 45:7) God did not have in mind only the preservation of Jacob and his people but his whole people, the progeny of Abraham Jacob s and Joseph s and Joseph s brothers conduct was not always according to God s will. Many of the things they did were in fact against God s will because they were not done out of love. But nothing of what had happened was outside the will of God. Not for a single moment had the devil or evil people snatched the government of the world out of God s hand. Beloved, when one sees the greater picture within which the history of Joseph unfolds, we can see and understand and believe and profess that God rules everything. Unfortunately one s view of everything is so limited by the occurrences in which one finds oneself and that cause one to suffer that matters are not always that clear. Joseph probably also asked himself why this had to happen to him when it occurred. So we, too, ask: why? when we suffer grief because we cannot see through it all, although we believe and confess that everything occurs under God s guiding hand and that the government can never be taken from Him. With this history of God with Joseph and His purpose with it, the Holy Spirit guides us farther. We must not only acquiesce passively therein that also the suffering and hardship we experience is ordained by God and accept this grumblingly. He wants to give us insight to see beyond the suffering and to gain perspective on it, not to understand each hardship. Joseph s suffering was in the service of God s purpose, namely, the coming of His kingdom. Through Joseph s suffering God assured the future of all Abrahams believing children, for out of Abraham s descendants Christ was born who would crush the serpent s head. The inexplicable is not really the hardships and the grief we sometimes suffer, but the patience and faithfulness and love that God still shows us, although we complain about the hardships. God wants us to come out of the hardship and to receive the glory of the eternal life completely. But there is a path He wants us to walk to get out of it. That is the path on which Jesus Christ went for us. In Christ 5
God Himself took the responsibility of the suffering upon Himself. The Son of God in our stead bore the suffering as punishment for our sins so that we should not bear that grief. But He did not only save us from this grief, He also died for our sins and with His blood redeemed us for God. With His life He paid dearly for you and me because God loves us. If you have then done everything as the Lord wants it and have planned carefully and it still so happens that you end up in places you do not want to be or something happens to you that you did not seek, do not despair. Do not think that you have fallen out of God s governing power and are left to the wiles and pleasures of people and devils. Persevere in the faith. Continue to do the will of God and live as He commands you in His Word. And trust in the Lord, He has the control of everything, also that which happens to you, in His hands, because He governs the world towards one purpose, namely, that His kingdom shall be founded on earth completely. Your and my suffering is therefore not something that occurs by chance, it stands in the service of that which God wants to achieve and you and I are part of God s purpose. Nothing shall separate us from His love. Although we do not always receive a satisfactory answer to all our why and wherefore questions, know this: God is in control. With the greatest humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, and we content ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, who have only to learn those things which He teaches us in His Word, without transgressing these limits, without wanting to know what the Lord does not want to reveal to us. May the comfort that God alone reigns support you with the knowledge He who rules is your heavenly Father in Christ who wants only the best for you and who can give you the best perfection in His kingdom. Amen! Closing prayer Closing song: Psalm 33:10+11. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Rev. Coenraad Vrey Reformed Church Bellville Date: 11 November 2012. 6