REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2005: MORNING SERVICE

Sing before: Psalm 11.1; Psalm 31.1+17
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 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: Psalm 68:9
Confession of faith: Apostolic

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 catholic* Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.

After the reading of the Law we confess our guilt and pray for forgiveness and a new life before God with Psalm 19:4
Law
Psalm 19:4

Prayer:

• Doxology
• Worship
• Confession of sins
• Forgiveness
• Gratitude
• Prayer for the need of the congregation for the church, the authorities and the sinful world and appeal to God's promises.
• General prayer
• Enlightenment from the Holy Spirit for the sake of the ministry of the Word.

Psalm: 144:1
Scripture: Luke 18
Text: Luke 18:8

"I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

It is clear that this passage deals with the Second Coming and what the situation between the people on earth and the Lord Jesus will be at that moment.

• For a proper understanding of this parable it is necessary to remember that the Lord addresses His church and that in this parable He speaks to them about the manner in which they believe.
• In the previous chapter the Lord already addressed this issue when He said: "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and however loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding corn together; one will be taken and the other left. Where, Lord? They asked. He replied, where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather." (Luke 17: 26-37)
• The question is searching: do you have a persevering faith? The parable stops people from thoughtlessly responding "yes" because the Lord reveals here that the perseverance of your faith is demonstrated by the perseverance of your praying.

How persevering do we pray?

• Prayer and trueness in faith go hand in hand.
• Every person who has a true relationship with the Lord also regularly has speech with the Lord.

Do we truly trust in the Lord?

• This is not a rhetorical question – for if you truly trust the Lord with your life then you will also go to the Lord in your need.
• Then you will know that the Lord answers prayers and that He provides in all our needs.
• Our trust in the Lord – or our faith – is demonstrated in our prayer and the way in which we pray.

It is precisely this what this parable teaches. It is a parable filled with contrasts so that the truth can be shown by these contrasts.

Shortly before the Lord Jesus had just responded to a question put to Him by the Pharisees and told them that nobody knows when the Second Coming will be and that it cannot be predicted by signs and observations. "Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, 'The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is', or 'There it is', because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21)

The Lord Jesus now continues and He encourages the true believers not to loose heart.

• He gives them the recipe for perseverance – pray, pray and continue to pray.
• This point the Lord explains with the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge.
• In the parable the widow persists in putting her case before the judge – until he gives her justice.

The point made in this parable is that at the right time and in the right way the Lord answers prayer.

• In His time His judgment will destroy the evil powers and all evil.
• With the same judgment He will justify His chosen and let them triumph in His kingdom.

That is how perseverance in prayer – which is nothing but perseverance in true faith and a vibrant relationship with God – ends in our entry into the kingdom of God.

In this parable the judge stands in sharp contrast to the Lord.

• The people listening to the parable probably thought that any judge should act in the name of the Lord.
• He should demonstrate the will, the style and the image of the Lord.

The judge shows two deficiencies.

• He does not have God's justice in mind.
• And he does not appear to care for the well-being of those whom he judges.

In contrast to this stands the Lord.

• The Lord is our heavenly Father who in His holiness is just in everything.
• He is deeply concerned about the well-being of all those who worship Him in prayer.

Another contrast in this parable lies in the widow and her person.

• She is unknown to the judge.
• She persists in praying to somebody (the judge) who does not want to listen to her.

In sharp contrast to her we, when we pray, pray to a loving God who wants to listen to us and who deeply cares for us.

• He is a God who deals with us personally – which means that He knows all of us.
• He also answers our prayers because He knows who we, as his chosen, are. He determined this Himself. (Ephesians 1:4)

On this issue the Lord reveals the difference between His grace and the indulgence of a person.

• The widow's pleading eventually caused the judge to hear her case.
• But he does not do so out of grace. He does so because he is bothered by her and he wants to put an end to this irritation.
• He seeks peace and this woman keeps bothering him.

In contrast tot his judge the heavenly Judge shows Himself as being gracious – He answers our prayers out of love.

• He does not answer our prayer because we bother Him and does so to get rid of us.
• He forgives us our sins and comes to our aid because He loves us.
• He does not take into consideration our worthiness or unworthiness when answering our prayer.

The parable also tells us that at a moment which He shall determine the Lord will terminate the history of our earth finally.

• That shall occur when He returns.
• That shall be a moment of the utmost seriousness, it will be the moment of decision between life or death – for every person it will be either eternal salvation or eternal death.

What is the message of this passage for us? This:

• Do you and I believe perseveringly in Jesus Christ the Son of the living God?
• Do you and I worship Him in persevering faith and relationship with Him as our only Redeemer?

Do we still know that because of our sin we did not have access to God but that Christ's merit on the cross brought us redemption so that:

• We as God's chosen children may go to Him in our need.
• And that we must go to Him to worship Him.
• That is the meaning of the curtain in the temple being torn in two from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51)

There is more.

• If we know Him, why then do we so easily stay away from our appointments with the Lord?
• Are you truly a believer if the Lord makes an appointment with you to bless you and to teach you out of His Word and you fail to attend?

The answer to these questions you must not give to your minister. You must tell the Lord what justification you find in His law that gives you the freedom to stay way from the evening service – when He has made the appointment with you.

The reality is that we allow many things to take precedence before the Lord while we pretend to be serious and true believers.

An example out of our daily lives tells us this. A recent poll showed that most white households possess a DSTV. A DSTV costs more than R300,00 per month. These people also watch TV on average 4 hours per day.

Question!

• Is it not true that many of our church members who own a DSTV facility make a church contribution that is less than the cost of that facility?
• Can it be denied that this shows that your relationship with the Lord is out of kilter when measured against your relationship with the world?

The answer is not that we can simply say that notwithstanding this our worship is still on par.

Have we not with all our arguments become so shallow in our faith that we no longer truly know the Lord?

Should the Lord return today, how many of us who are gathered here would He accept as being true believers?

How many of us will then not have the opportunity to defend ourselves with all sorts of arguments and clever points simply because His holiness will sweep us, together with our innate falsehood, away from before His eyes into hell?

What is the face of our congregation?

• Our congregation is rich in venom, whereas we should try to outdo each other in showing respect. That is what true love is like.
• We are also rich in slackness. We must throw off this slackness and show that we take the matters concerning the kingdom of God seriously. 
  
  "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, introduces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees! Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord". (Hebrews 12:11-14)

• We are rich in many excuses that make each of us in his arrogance unique so that he can be an exception to the Lord's rule. Let us not succumb to the same seduction which the devil did – for him no salvation is possible.

The Lord's judgment may well be that in this congregation He sees a large number of camouflaged heathens – a large number of people who with their weekend arrangements and sharp tongues and their high self estimation worship themselves. But to pacify the Lord His Name is written on their church's cornerstone.

People with empty hearts for the Lord but living their lives to the full in the world.

Why would the Lord see many of our church members differently?

We know that Christ predicted that these things that cause decay and apostasy in the church would happen. They must happen.

• But we must guard ourselves and one another.
• Let us see to it that we know our own hearts so that we may not fall behind in God's grace.
• Let us for the sake of our own salvation not despise the Word of God, but use the opportunities to hear it and to bow before it.
• Let us ensure that our arrangements for the weekend do not cause us to miss the meetings with God and our fellow believers.
• Let us guard our tongue towards each other for we shall be called to account for each idle word spoken when He comes.

On God's clock little time remains.

• We are still alive which means that He still gives us time to repent.
• Perhaps we as believers should each one by himself, but also as a congregation, together, sit around God's table and ask again what the Lord expects of us in our worship.

There is still time for repentance – for full repentance.

When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Amen

Closing Prayer
Closing Psalm: 130:2+4
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

Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
18 September 2005 (morning)
Scripture NIV