REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 15 JUNE 2003: MORNING SERVICE
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: 145:2, 4, 12.
The Apostle's Creed (Or Nicene Creed, below)
1.I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
2.And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3.Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
4.Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He
suffered all the pains of hell, even unto death;
5.The third day He rose again from the dead;
6.He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty;
7.From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
8.I believe in the Holy Spirit.
9.I believe a holy catholic Church, the communion of saints;
10.The forgiveness of sins;
11.The resurrection of the body;
12.And the life everlasting. AMEN
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all the worlds; God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance
with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made
man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered
and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the
Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living
and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;
who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the
Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I
acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN
The Law : Ex. 20:1-17.
Psalm 65:2.
Prayer.
Psalm 89:10, 11.
Scripture reading: Hebrews
10:1-18; Galatians 1:1-5; 1 Timothy 1:15
Scripture text: Hebrews 10:5
Therefore,
when He comes into the world, He says,
"SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT
DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR
ME..."
There was a council in heaven which decided that we would be redeemed,
because Jesus would come to the earth in a human body. This is not
strange. The Bible reveals several such councils between the Persons of
God which concern mankind.
- At our creation there was such a council in which all the Persons
of God participated.
- The Bible reveals that God said:
Let Us
make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the
cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth." (Gen. 1:26)
- This passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews tells of the
decision of a similar council.
- God the Father did not desire animal sacrifices or wheat
offerings to atone for the sins of mankind.
- It was then decided that Jesus would receive a human body,
which would be sacrificed in atonement.
- It is even written here that Christ stated at His entry into
this world that God had given Him a body prepared for Him, which was to
serve as a sacrifice (See also Psalm 40:6):
"SACRIFICE
AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR
ME..."
The Bible also reveals that the Lord Jesus accepted this decision made
in heaven:
"THEN
I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME
(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS
WRITTEN OF ME)
TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'" (Verse
7, see also Psalm 40:7 and 8).
These words are important if we wish to grasp the significance of the
Lord Jesus' entry into our world, because they reveal that Jesus Christ
was prepared to come Himself and to do all that the will of God
required of Him to reconcile and atone for mankind.
- The Lord Jesus mentions that the scroll (i.e. the Old Testament)
foretold that He would be born and that He would die.
- In this passage He declares unequivocally that that was precisely
why He came: He entered the world to accomplish and finally complete
His work in all respects.
This passage is a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8.
- The writer of Hebrews adds in verse 9 something important which
does not appear in the Psalm:
He
takes away the first in order to establish the second.
- By doing so, the Bible states clearly that the dispensation of
sin and the absolute rejection by God of all men tainted by sin
accompanying this dispensation, has passed, because the punishment for
this was borne by the Lord Jesus in His own body, so that the wrath of
God towards us could subside.
- This is stated very strikingly by the Holy Spirit:
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. (verse 10).
The same truth is also stated elsewhere in the Bible (1 Peter 2:24):
"...and
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die
to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."
That is how it came about that the Lord Jesus was born on earth among
us in a human body.
After Jesus' ascension, and the apostles carried out His instruction to
establish churches, the Holy Spirit of God began every epistle which He
caused to be written by assuring us of the grace and peace of God upon
us.
- Grace is the source from which peace is born.
- Grace is the forgiving favour which God the Father bestows on
us as His children through Jesus Christ.
- Peace is not merely peace of mind.
- It is to be immersed in God's grace and to feel the holiness of
God's omnipotence and presence flowing over you.
In the Epistle to the churches in the province of Galatia the Lord
reveals very clearly how this grace and peace come to us. It is written
there:
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave Himself for our sins so that
He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of
our God and our Father..." (Gal. 1:3,4).
The significance of this relates to the Lord Jesus' entry into this
world:
- When the lord Jesus was born, he gave Himself for our sins
so that we might be delivered from this godless world.
- This passage also emphasizes that Jesus' coming to this
world was willed by God the Father.
The entry into this world of the Lord Jesus therefore teaches two
things:
- The Lord Jesus assumed a completely human body by His birth.
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that
He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
(Heb. 2:17)
- As a result of this, we have been sanctified as believers,
in other words, we are pure in the eyes of God.
- This means that, through Jesus Christ, we will be able to
stand free from sin before the Lord when we appear in the eternal
throne chamber.
- Jesus placed us upon a new course:
"Therefore,
brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through
the veil, that is, His flesh,..." (Hebrews 10:19,20)
Note how practical the meaning of this event is. An old man writes a
letter of encouragement to a young man who is on the point of becoming
discouraged:
"It is
a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus
came into this world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost."
(1 Timothy 1:15)
- The Lord Jesus came to save sinners!
- Do not lose courage and think that the Lord has written you
off because of your sins.
- Paul was so sure of this that he began by stating
unequivocally:
"It is
a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance..."
The Holy Spirit uses the apostle Paul's personal history to show us how
profound the gospel of grace is.
- The history of Paul's conversion must compel Timothy, and
of course all of us who read it, to understand how much thankfulness we
owe to God.
- Because, by entering this world, the Lord Jesus raised us
from the profound depths of sin and misery.
- According to the Bible the message of atonement is that
God reconciled the world to Himself through Christ and no longer
imputes to mankind their sins (2 Corinthians 5:19):
"...namely,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting
their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation."
There is such great power in the atonement accomplished by the Lord
Jesus, that we cannot always understand it, because the matters in our
own lives which are affected range so widely across the spectrum of our
spiritual and physical existence that it will be very difficult for us
to realize the full impact of this in the course of our earthly lives.
- Furthermore, things were said and planned in heaven to accomplish
our redemption - things of which we are not even aware, and to which
the Bible refers only in passing, such as the statement in our text
that God did not desire sacrifices and offerings. He prepared a body
for Jesus Christ.
- That was done so that God could bestow grace upon us.
We might ask, "What on earth does Jesus' body have to do with grace for
us?" The Lord lets it become clear in Paul's life that its significance
is that Jesus, in the body of a man, accomplished reconciliation
between God and us.
- Our unbelief is thereby transformed into belief.
- As a result, our lifestyle is also transformed.
- Paul remembers that he used to be a blasphemer (1 Timothy 1:13).
- He was, in addition, a persecutor of believers and given to
violence.
- But, because he received grace, he was changed so that he
realized with amazement that God did not reject him, but even gave him
a calling to serve His kingdom.
His firm conviction about this matter is shown by the assurance he
gives us that our salvation through Jesus Christ is trustworthy and
deserving of full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15)
The lives of all of us are filled with experiences of sin and of grace.
- With regard to our sins, the Bible teaches that the believer will
remember them and be ashamed.
- He will be too ashamed to open his mouth, because it is written
in Ezekiel 16:63:
"...so
that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth any more
because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you
have done," the Lord God declares.
All who know the Lord Jesus and believe in Him with body and soul, know
that the grace He grants is far above our deserts. The grace of the
Lord Jesus does something to us:
- It forgives us our sins.
- Furthermore, it transforms us inwardly. It lets us love, believe
and break with sin.
It is deeply moving to realize that it was an old man who wrote these
words to a young man for whom the doubts and trials of life still lay
ahead.
- If it were not for the fact that Jesus Christ came for the sake
of sinners, then there would have been no place in God's grace for
mercy and lovingkindness.
- Then there would have been no forgiveness of sins and
reconciliation with God.
In contrast with the emptiness in man himself, and the future he faces
when he strays into sin, the Lord depicts the fruits of the
transformation brought by the coming of the Lord Jesus. This gives us
temporal as well as eternal transformation of life.
- Through Jesus Christ God reconciled everything with Him.
- Through the blood of His Son on the cross He restored peace.
- Through Him he reconciled everything on the earth and in heaven
with Himself.
- We are also very often far from God and hostile to Him - our
sinful lifestyle proves this.
But
now He has reconciled us also with Himself, by His Son having died as a
man to present us before Him as holy and blameless and beyond reproach
(Colossians 1:20-22).
Amen.
Closing prayer.
Closing Psalm 118:14.
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. Dr. M.J. du Plessis,
Reformed Church, Bellville.
15 June 2003.
Scripture quoted from NASB.