REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2006: MORNING SERVICE

Sing before:   Psalm 1:2

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 92:2+4

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.

Amen

Hymn: 14-2:1

Scripture: Matthew 3
Text: Matthew 3:8

"Produce fruit in keeping with your repentance."

John the Baptist preached that people should be baptised for the forgiveness of sins.

Let us consider the meaning of John's baptism:

• Repentance – symbolized in the immersion as a dying and resurrection.
• Forgiveness – symbolized in the washing with water that shows that repentance and forgiveness go together so that in the baptism forgiveness is preached for those who repent and the duty to daily repentance.
• The baptism is also related to the Holy Spirit.
• John baptises by the command from God and God gives us an assurance in the baptism – hence it is a holy sacrament that looks ahead to that on which the Christian baptism looks back.

It should also be remembered that the ministry of John the Baptist achieved its pinnacle with the baptism of Jesus Christ.

We must therefore examine how that which we have just said of John's baptism applies to the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Immersion as repentance (the dying of the old man and the resurrection of the new) cannot apply to Jesus as the One without sin.
• It signifies the death and resurrection of Jesus Himself in whom we died for our sins and were resurrected to a new life.

That is how Paul sees it in the Epistle to the Romans.

Likewise the baptism as a washing away of sin cannot be applicable to Jesus.
That is the reason why John stood back. But Jesus explained to him that the baptism as an order from God had to be fulfilled.
See how the Holy Spirit explains it. (Matthew 3:14-16)

"But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him."

The word "righteousness" as used here by the Lord Jesus is important.

• The word "righteousness" as it is used here has a substituting meaning.
• The righteousness of Jesus is here substituted for our righteousness.
• The Lord Jesus Christ was baptised for our sins to let us share in His righteousness.

We find the same idea in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where it is written that God made the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might share in God's righteousness.

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God's righteousness by the baptism and subsequently by His death.

• The baptism presages the death of the Lord Jesus Christ – in other words – when we are baptised it means that we share in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Our baptism therefore is a baptism in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin and for repentance.
• That is why after having baptised Jesus John preaches that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

When John baptised Jesus the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove.

• Here He is anointed with the Holy Spirit to commence His Messianic ministry: as from that moment He was the Christ or Messiah – the Anointed.
• With it the Lord Jesus Christ is also confirmed as the Head of His church.

Up to this point, beloved, this sermon may sound like a lot of difficult theology that is all true, but at the same time incomprehensible.

• But when we were baptised the future suddenly entered our lives here and now.
• The future became a reality to us for with our baptism we were assured thereof that we are part of the Kingdom of God.

We are saved already – but because of this we are subject to the command of Him who saved us.

• That is where John's sermon fits in – "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near!"
• We are bound to the command to repent, because we are bound to Jesus Christ.

God gives, but God also demands.

• In this covenant of salvation we cannot negotiate any conditions.
• We are only able to satisfy the demands and to enter the kingdom of God.
• Otherwise we subject ourselves to God's judgment.

Hence the instruction by John to the people of his day is still valid in our time. Repent!

With it produce in your life fruit in keeping with repentance!

Verses 7 and 8 should be read together: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

Many Pharisees or Sadducees came to John's baptismal ceremonies.

• They were two religious factions who were in direct opposition to each other and disliked each other fiercely.
• But in their onslaught on Christ they stood united.
• John calls them a brood of vipers – snakes. Thereby he means to convey that they are crafty and underhand.

Thereafter he preaches that the wrath of God can be escaped from by bearing the fruit that befits repentance.

• The demand is clear – a radical change of life is required.
• You must be like a fruit tree bearing copious fruit – that is the simile used here.
• But the right fruit – fruit in keeping with repentance.
• You must be a tree of repentance bearing the fruit of repentance.

Let us try ourselves – how much is visible of my and your repentance? Christ wants us to show it!

• Is it not true that we often show signs proving that in essence we remain unrepentant?
• Is it not so that many of us know that we are saved but do not live it?

All of us are able to answer many of the difficult questions concerning our spiritual life.

• We know of sin and of the principles and of obedience.
• But often our lives show exactly the opposite!

This sermon is not aimed at telling of sin and how terrible hell and God's judgment of sin shall be. Let us approach the issue positively. We first listen to John the Baptist and then look at Christ.

• John preached that we must produce fruit that befits repentance – that is not judgment.
• It means that we must reflect deeply on our salvation and then truly know what happens in this matter.

John the Baptist also preached that the axe is already at the root of the tree.

• Which means that trees that do not bear fruit are to be chopped down and thrown away.
• Not all trees – only those that do not bear fruit.
• Which means that all trees are given the opportunity to bear fruit!

John also preached that the kingdom of God was near. If all this is added together we find the following:

• We were because of our human sins and transgressions outside the kingdom of God.
• But through the Lord Jesus Christ we are put inside the kingdom – by Him and on His conditions – we must repent.
• We must show our repentance.
• The repentance must be so radical that it is clearly demonstrated in my life!

That is quite a mouthful.

• No one of us means much before God.
• On the contrary, we tarnish the glory of God with our lives.
• We actually mean nothing.
• Next to the glory of God we are reprehensible.
• Anybody who fails to realize this has serious difficulties in his faith.

But by the grace of God we are baptised.

• In Christ God nevertheless decided that we be accepted by Him.
• With His life free from sin Christ lifts us up out of a filthy life into the glory of God.
• That is why He became sin for us.
• He confirmed this to us in public, in front of all the congregation as witnesses, when we were baptised in the Name of the Triune God.

But now we have a problem – God saddles us with responsibility.

• We must now live like people who have received such a great gift.
• We must always remain in recognition of that which God has done for me.

We must remain grateful. We may not and cannot allow our gratitude to diminish for even a moment.

• In practise it will mean that we shall remove from our lives all the wrongs we do.
• To be able to do this we must change our attitude. We must have the right disposition towards this great matter.

A wrong disposition can be changed – that is a fact, for it is exactly for this that Christ died.

• A different word for a change of disposition is repentance.
• We can do it through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do not doubt.

• God has baptised you so that you may have the assurance that you are part of the kingdom of God.
• Let us then make our daily life a life of repentance – in the words of John the Baptist – produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Amen

Closing prayer
Closing Psalm: 121:1

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
3 September 2006 (morning)
Scripture NIV