Sing before the service: Scripture hymn 8-1:1, 2 (14:1, 2)
Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Psalm of praise 66:7
Prayer
Psalm 50:11
Scripture reading: Ezekiel 36
Scripture
text:
Ezekiel 36:25-27; Catechism Lord’s Day 26
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will
cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from
you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put
my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to
keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV)
At times we focus so much on physical life that we completely miss the
spiritual world of which we are part – we actually live as if
it doesn’t even exist.
- It’s as if we naturally only think about the physical world
as if it is the only world that exists,
- and also as if it is the world that determines our well-being and
prosperity.
The heart transplant story tells of it.
Some 40 years ago the first heart transplant – as everyone
believed – featured prominently in the media.
- Physically this was true for the modern world.
- But the first heart transplant for eternal life happened many many
centuries ago.
Let’s consider in this sermon the following things that
concern eternal life. It’s all about how we are cleansed, and
of course how we are clean and that we should remain clean. The moment
we lose our purity, death comes – physically and spiritually!
1. Purity and living through the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ
2. What is the meaning of granting of the Spirit?
1. Purity and living through the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ
It sounds strange to us that the Lord speaks in this passage of the
clean water He would sprinkle on his people.
- We can’t imagine anybody would sprinkle dirty water on
another person – let alone sprinkle water on anybody!
- In the time the book Ezekiel was written, clean water was a very scarce
commodity.
- It was so scarce that it was not wasted or sprinkled onto anybody.
Therefore it means that the Lord would grant the believers something
very precious – something of they would not be worthy. The
Lord also describes this same act in another way:
- He is going to replace our hearts.
- He will literally perform a spiritual heart transplant. He is going to
remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.
- He is going to remove our hardened hearts that continue to sin and give
us the gentleness of his peace and presence.
- And so the image of God, namely true knowledge, righteousness and
holiness, is restored in us.
This certainly happens in the area of our spirit – but the
effect is very much physical.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and
be careful to keep my laws.
Hence the Lord reveals in this passage that his Spirit becomes part of
us when He saves us – when He gives us a new heart.
- His Spirit cleanses us – He cleanses our lives.
- The Spirit of God does not cleanse our lives through making us perform
some weird and extravagant miracles.
- He guides us to do what the Lord expects us to do – to follow
his decrees and keep his laws.
To follow the Lord’s decrees and keeping his laws means that
we should comply with the Ten Commandments.
- This physically means to be obedient and not kill anybody.
- Also, to not use the Lord’s Name blasphemously.
- And similarly, to meet the Lord in public worship and to worship Him.
What makes me go to church to worship the Lord?
- It all starts in my spirit where the Spirit of the Lord calls me to the
meeting ordained by Him to bless his children.
Where and how is it that the Holy Spirit of God is in me to call my
spirit and guide it? It all starts when God changes my heart.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
The Lord started this process long before the creation –
Ephesians 1:4 (NIV): For he chose us in him before the creation of the
world to be holy and blameless in his sight – but physically
when we are baptized. This is what the Lord in fact refers to when He
says:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
In the time of Ezekiel the baptism of repentance had long been
administered.
- When someone repented because of a sin he had committed he went to the
temple where the priest joined him in prayer.
- The sign that the Lord had forgiven his sin was the baptism of
repentance.
- The
priest dipped a bunch of hyssop in water and sprinkled the sinner.
- This was
called the baptism of repentance – the baptism also
administered by John the Baptist.
This was a prophecy of the blood of the Lord Jesus that would cleanse
us of our sins like water washes the dirt off our bodies. Cleansing of
sins means forgiveness of sins – this was already signified
by the baptism of repentance in the Old Testament.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)
Due to our sins, which are red as scarlet, we deserve damnation, but
the Lord acts differently. He makes us, who believe in his Name, the
children of God.
2. What is the meaning of granting of the Spirit?
When somebody is baptised we could so easily be misled and think
it’s all about the water – especially because the
Lord states so clearly in the Old Testament: I will sprinkle clean
water on you.
When baptism is administered something extremely important happens:
- Baptism and the Spirit of God go hand in hand. The Lord says:
And I will put my Spirit in you . . .
The heart transplant has certain very clear effects on a person with a
new heart. His attitude and the way he lives are suddenly completely
different.
First look at the Lord’s view of us: In verses 13 and 14 of
this chapter Ezekiel describes his people’s idol-worship:
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because
people say to you, “You devour men and deprive your nation of
its children,” therefore you will no longer devour men or
make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Christ instituted baptism. Why?
- Because He uses something visible to show that we are very dirty
because of our sins, but that He does something about it – He
washes away all my sins.
- He uses something from the physical life to reveal what happens in the
invisible sphere of my life.
- With the
baptism He promises that as surely as water washes away the dirt from
the body, so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of
my soul, that is, all my sins.
What shall we do now? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed me
and He gave me his Spirit – what will happen next?
This is exactly where the effect of the heart transplant kicks in!
- Suddenly the Spirit of God leads me to break with my sins.
- Immediately it can be seen in the way I behave – physically
visible.
- I no
longer pick a quarrel easily.
- Suddenly
I increasingly become aware of what is important in honour of God
– and then I make myself available for it.
- I no
longer complain about life – I share the peace of the Lord
with everyone.
- By doing
so I live the fruits of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, (Galatians 5:22 NIV)
And so I remain clean – and I let my heart make me experience
and live – in principle – the joy of eternal life.
This passage from the Scriptures teaches us that the Spirit of God does
not make us do unusual things – such as what we are often
taught.
- The Spirit of God does not necessarily make us speak in tongues.
- He does not make us drop down and have convulsions.
- He does not make us cry out about what we experience.
- He guides us to be responsible and become different – to turn
away from sin.
- He guides us to live in the peace and insight God grants us.
From this we learn that salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is
absolute and is necessary if we want to become holy.
- But it doesn’t show us a dark and difficult road ahead
– it teaches us that the Lord, together with salvation, also
grants us his Spirit to replace our tainted and sinful heart.
- He replaces our attitude and our insight – but we have to
enter this new life and accept it with the greatest responsibility.
Hence parents who do not walk in these ways cannot have their children
baptised. The reason being very simple:
- People, whose lives do not show that the Spirit of the Lord is their
companion in life, cannot guide their children in the ways of
righteousness.
It sounds unreasonable, but it isn’t. The life of a person
whose heart has not been reborn shows it. He makes himself known as an
enemy of the Lord.
- He who has not been reborn cannot lead a reborn Christian. Or we can
put it like this: He who is still caught up in his heart of stone
cannot lead somebody to know the Lord, because he has not received the
heart of flesh from the Lord.
To live according to the heart God has given us, we must become dead to
sin. The Lord states it explicitly:
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more
than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came
through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each
in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those
who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:19-23 NIV)
Let’s have a look at what is written in the Heidelberg
Catechism Lord’s Day 26 about it:
69. Q. How does holy baptism signify and seal to you that the one
sacrifice of Christ on the cross benefits you?
A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing[1] and with it
gave the promise that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the
body, so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of my
soul, that is, all my sins.[2]
[1] Matt. 28:19. [2] Matt. 3:11; Mark 16:16; John 1:33; Acts 2:38; Rom.
6:3, 4; I Pet. 3:21.
70. Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ's blood and Spirit?
A. To be washed with Christ's blood means to receive forgiveness of
sins from God, through grace, because of Christ’s blood,
poured out for us in His sacrifice on the cross.[1] To be washed with
His Spirit means to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified to be
members of Christ, so that more and more we become dead to sin and lead
a holy and blameless life.[2]
[1] Ez. 36:25; Zech. 13:1; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 12:24; I Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:5;
7:14. [2] John 3:5-8; Rom. 6:4; I Cor. 6:11; Col. 2:11, 12.
71. Q. Where has Christ promised that He will wash us with His blood
and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?
A. In the institution of baptism, where He says: Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). He who believes and
is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be
condemned (Mark 16:16). This promise is repeated where Scripture calls
baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins (Titus
3:5; Acts 22:16).
Amen.
Closing prayer
Closing hymn 31:1, 4, 15
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
Date: 9 July 2006
(evening)