REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE 20 Sep 2015 MORNING SERVICE. Sing beforehand: Scripture Versification 2-2:1, 2 (34: 1, 2) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth Grace be unto you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth Amen. Song of praise: 97:1, 7 (p. 484) Confession of faith: Apostles Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, a holy universal Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. Law Scripture Versification 9-1:10, 11 (26:10, 11) Prayer Psalm 116:2, 3 (p. 569) Scripture reading: Hebrews 12:12-29 Scripture text: Psalm 127:2-3 Core text: Hebrews 12:25-29 (NIV) 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 1
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:25-29 NIV) 2
Theme: Great privileges from the hand of our great God brings great responsibility Brothers, sisters and children of our Lord Jesus Christ, we encounter warnings every day of our lives. We find warnings on many of the toy packages, warning us about small parts of the toy that is dangerous for children aged one to three years. Then mom and dad know that their child aged two cannot play with this toy without supervision. Parents take these warnings seriously, because they are concerned about their children. Likewise every warning that we see or hear must be taken seriously. When warnings are made fun of the warning loses all its power. That is when it happens that people just don t heed a warning. They think that somebody is shouting wolf, wolf again. The first time people may pay attention to the warning. When they realise that the one issuing the warning is busy playing the fool, they will just ignore the warning and carry on as if nothing happened. When the Lord issues a warning to man, He is not joking. In the garden of Eden God warned our first ancestors not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. With this warning God did not keep something from his children that would have been to their advantage. He wanted them to keep away from something that would have damaged their relationship with their good God. We all know what happened as a result of them ignoring that warning. Today we all still suffer the consequences of that disobedience. Our relationship with our loving God is not even close to the bond that our first ancestors had with the Lord. We still suffer uncountable misery as a result. God's warning about eternal damnation for those who despise the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest warning that ought not be ignored. There were among the Jewish Christians who first received this book, members who began to consider abandoning their faith in Christ. The hardships they suffered from the faithless Jews became too much for them. For that reason they thought that, should they return to the Jewish faith with its priests and sacrifices, things would go better with them. That is why the author now sends them a third warning. The first one was in Hebrews 2:1-3 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. (Hebrews 2:1-3 NIV) In Hebrews 10 we heard a similar warning: Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29) The point made by the Holy Spirit with this warning is this: If the people of old could not escape, then, how can we despise the warning from the Lord and think we can get away with it? The Lord revealed to us so much more than to the people of old. We have the 3
privilege to get to know God through, and in, His own Son. This is the great privilege we have over the people of old. From the first chapter onwards the Holy Spirit proved to us how important Jesus Christ really is. He is exalted far above the angels, above Moses, Aaron and Joshua. Christ s sacrifice on the cross is far better than the sacrifices the priest had to repeat every day. The blood of Christ is the only blood that can really wash away people s sins and clean their conscience. If man then receives such great richness in Jesus Christ, why would one return to something inferior? For that reason we hear this serious and clear warning: See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? (Hebrews 12:25 NIV) For centuries God has sent His messengers, the prophets, and through them, God spoke to the people of old. But now God sent His own Son to talk to us. (Hebrews 1:1-2) It is on the cross at Calvary where we can hear God s voice the clearest through Jesus sacrifice for mankind. On the one hand we hear that God cannot tolerate sin. Therefore, he punishes it with the eternal punishment on His own Beloved Son. At the same time we also hear the calling of grace from Calvary. Jesus is the Lamb of God that had to carry the penalty of sin instead of people, and thus salvage people from their sins. Through the blood of Jesus, God speaks clearly to us. He cannot spell out His fairness and compassion for us any clearer. When God spoke with Israel on Mount Sinai, they were so afraid of the thundering voice of God that they begged Moses, they pleaded him: Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. (Exodus 20:19 NIV) But this pleading of Israel was just the root of the hardness of their hearts. The same word that we translated here with pleaded in verse 19 has been translated in verse 15 above with refuse. And how hard were the hearts of Israel! They were ungrateful to the Lord. They carried on moaning and argued with Moses. They disobeyed God's word on Mount Sinai. Now God spoke on the cross in the clearest way through His Son and His blood. Do not now ignore the Lord. The call of the Lord through His Son is the loudest and clearest voice of God ever. He made the promise. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ and trust that his offering takes away the sins shall not perish, but be saved. God cannot promise and give more than that. He who ignores this greatest call commits the biggest sin ever, as he then tells the Lord that he does not want the gift of His Son and salvation. As Son of God, Jesus is not only the Saviour of people but also the King in the kingdom of God. In verse 29 we hear that the believer receives an unwavering kingdom. As a theme, the kingdom of God does not appear many times in the book of Hebrews. There is only one reference in Hebrews 1:8 where it is stated that Jesus is the eternal King in the kingdom. And, in Hebrews 12:22 the kingdom is referred to at a glance, as the city of the Holy God. In our core verses we learn three things regarding the kingdom of God. We received the kingdom of God, but it is still coming. When the Holy Spirit works the regeneration in people and gives them faith, He sets them at the same time under the authority of King Jesus. In that sense believers already received the kingdom. But because a believer still has the nature to sin and on earth there is so much injustice committed by people we know 4
that the kingdom of God does not fully manifest yet. Therefore, we continuously pray to our father in heaven to let His kingdom come. The word, receive also makes it clear that believers did not earn the kingdom. Man cannot establish the kingdom of God and cannot work for it. It is the Lord alone who establishes His kingdom and He does it through His Word and Spirit. Each person who bends his knee with respect before the authority of God is another piece of God s kingdom that became reality on earth. The kingdom of God is an unwavering kingdom. Earthly realms are of passing nature but God s kingdom is eternal. Believers are privileged through the grace of God to be part of, and participate in this kingdom. Even if believers, as a result of their faith in Christ, are tortured and killed, this kingdom cannot be taken away from them. Through their faith, after all, God made them heirs in His kingdom and that cannot be changed. Seeing that we received these two great privileges from the hand of our God, we must never forget what we received. Also we must never underestimate the value thereof like Esau did. For one meal he distanced himself from the great promises that God gives. Beloved the God that gives such great privileges to believers must indeed be a great God. And that is very much so. See what the Lord says about Himself in verse 26 and 29....Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens..... for our God is a consuming fire When the Lord raises His voice the earth trembles. On Mount Sinai when God announced the Ten Commandments, the whole mountain trembled. (Ex 19:16) Here in verse 26 that episode is referred to. But now the prophetic promise of Haggai is added. This prophesy that not only earth but the heavens will tremble, points forward to the return of Jesus Christ. With the return of Christ, earthly kingdoms will be shaken into nothingness. Everything that people depended on, because they wanted to live apart and independent from God, will be destroyed. And the people who never wanted to repent in Christ will cry out: mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! The stars of heaven will unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts its unripe figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. These signs of the earth and heaven that tremble and fear, that are already mentioned by the prophets of the Old Testament, characterizes the signs that will announce the final judgement of God. Earthquakes are indeed movement in the earth s crust. But we should not only understand it in a scientific way. An earthquake is the rumbling of Christ s approaching footsteps coming back as the Judge to judge. Every time we hear about thousands of people who died in earthquakes, the holy Spirit makes believers more aware of the fact that God is serious in His warnings and not playing games. Fire is another sign that accompanies the judgement of God. Deuteronomy 4:24 from which the words of verse 29 is cited, states that God is a consuming fire and in the same breath that He is a Jealous God. When God commits Himself to the salvation of humanity and He does everything completely so that the person is preserved the Lord expects people to believe in Him. He who believes in the Lord will get to know the Lord as a just and merciful God. But the one that refuses to believe in the Lord will meet the Lord as a consuming fire, as He does not tolerate to be ignored. - Especially not after he gave His only Son as a sacrifice for people s sins. Some people don t like to read the Old Testament because so they say the God of the Old Testament is a condemning God, but the God of the New Testament is gentle and kind. And 5
From their words it sounds as if there are two Gods. Here we find that, this is not the case. He is one and the same God and He never changes. He is our God who is a consuming fire. He is the God that we have always known and worship. For unbelievers this warning is something to make them tremble. But for believers this warning holds a promise. Jesus Christ will come back to judge His enemies. Brothers, sisters and children, since we received Jesus Christ as Saviour and King from the hand of our great God, it means that we have a great responsibility. And in these five verses we hear about four responsibilities that believers have. We must take care that we don t reject or ignore Him who is talking to us. Believers must take care not to fall, through disobedience to the Lord, into the same sins as the Israelites in the desert. Each believer and all believers together have the responsibility to be concerned about their spiritual life. Are we taking care not to weaken the warnings of the Lord? We cannot make fun of God's warnings, as none of us knows when the last day will arrive. Let s keep each other on our toes aware and alert when it concerns the Word of God. The opposite of rejecting the Lord is to obey the Lord. The people who rejected the Lord were the Israelites in the desert. The Lord liberated them from slavery out of Egypt. For this reason only, they should have served the Lord obediently. Instead, they moaned and came in revolt against Moses, because life as a saved person is not as comfortable as they imagined. What is our attitude when we are tested and the life of faith is not always easy and convenient? Do we also complain and long for the good old days? Do we want to return to the days before we knew the Lord? Or are we going to serve Him obediently in the knowledge that He promised to look after us? Let us also be thankful. The grace that God gives us in Christ is not something that just happens. God is not obliged to be graceful to us at all. Let us therefore serve him gratefully. Our service of thanksgiving to the Lord is not to repay Him for what he has done for us. We will never be able to pay back. We can just keep on thanking Him and that is what he wants to hear. Also our service to the Lord must always demonstrate our respect for him. Respect and awe for the Holiness of the Lord goes hand in hand with gratitude and praise for His grace. God is our loving Father to whom we are called (Hebrews 4:16), but He is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). It is not just something that should happen during a church service, but during our whole lives. The believer's life is a service of gratitude and reverence to the Lord. Beloved, in Christ God gave us vast riches and privileges because He is the great God. He is so great that heaven and earth tremble when He speaks. Let us therefore take up our responsibility in obedience gratitude and awe. Amen! Closing prayer Closing Hymn: Psalm116:7, 9, 10 (p. 570) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. Rev Coen Vrey Reformed Church Bellville Date: 06 September 2015 Scripture: King James. 2000 and NIV Translator: Johan Snyman 6
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