REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2002: 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 36:1,2.

THE APOSTLES' CREED

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 descended into hell;

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 Law: Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 119:38

Reading from Scripture: Revelation 22:6-22

Psalm 1:1

Scripture text: Revelation 22:11
Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practise right­eousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.

Brothers and sisters, every day, by this injunction, the Lord places us before a choice. After all, it touches our daily lifestyle. Every day all people are occupied in planning what they must and what they wish to do. And they plan what they wish to do in the future.

The plans of some persons are filthy and full of iniquity. In their thoughts there is room only for abominations such as hatred, murder, robbery and sexual perversity.

Others again plan on a more honourable level how to overcome their problems in striving after a better standard of living. But they do not acknowledge the Lord's involvement in their planning.

Yet others wish to acknowledge the Lord alone as the basis of all their plan­ning. They seek to do only that which is good and acceptable in His sight.

In the eyes of the Lord, however, there are not three ways. He knows only two ways in the daily lives of people: one is the way of life of the workers of iniquity and the filthy; the other is the way of the righteous and the holy.

For that reason we must take seriously what the Lord here reveals to us. It affects our daily lives and our future.

Where do we find ourselves? In the path of the workers of iniquity, or in the path of the righteous?

To understand this declaration correctly, we must consider it against the background of the entire book of Revelation.

This book deals with the place of the Lord's people, His churchfolk, in a godless and hostile world. It deals particularly with the period from Jesus' ascension to His Second Coming.

The book comprises seven sections. Each section deals with separate events during the entire period.

The second section, Revelation 8-11, deals with God's judgements upon the godless world. The aim is to move godless humanity to repentance.

Everything we experience nowadays, natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, wars and epidemics, are the Lord's trumpet calls of warning.

But then we read in Revelation 9 that the people, in spite of these disasters, still did not repent.

It is against this background that we must understand the Lord's declaration in Revelation 22:11.

The godless world is being prepared for the final judgement with the Second Coming. That is why the Lord says to them: "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy..."

But, on the other hand, He comforts those who truly believe with the injunc­tion: "...and let the one who is righteous, still practise right­eousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy."

By this injunction the Lord informs us what we must do, and what we may expect in the future. He also informs the godless what they will do and what awaits them.

Actually He hereby also places us before a choice. We must decide where we wish to stand. That is: on the side of those who are bent on doing wrong, or on the side of the righteous and the holy.

In the eyes of the Lord there is no in-between choice. To Him there is only light or darkness, good or evil, purity or filth.


That is why He says in this declaration: "Who chooses to do wrong, must continue on the path he has chosen."

Brothers and sisters, it may seem to us as if the Lord by this declaration leaves us entirely to ourselves. If you have chosen the wrong path, you must continue on that path. It is entirely up to you.

But that is not what the Lord says to us here.

The Greek text has a sentence construction which clearly indicates that the Lord Himself is involved in what we choose. Notice the formulation of the sentence in this (correct) translation: "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong..."

We are concerned with the word "Let..."

The Lord does not hereby only encourage the worker of iniquity and the filthy to do yet more iniquity and to become yet filthier. He does more than that. He directs matters so that the worker of iniquity does more wrong, and that he who is filthy becomes even filthier.

We can compare this with the Lord's words of creation in Genesis 1: "Then God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light."

The same happens in this declaration of the Lord. If He says to someone who has chosen the way of iniquity, "Let him do more wrong," then that is what will happen. For such a person there is no turning about. The Lord Himself renders this impossible. The time of grace and repentance for such a person has passed.

The situation is much the same as it was with Pharaoh during the ten plagues.

With the first five plagues, we read that Pharaoh each time hardened his heart. He did not wish to listen.

But then we read, in connection with the last five plagues, that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. For Pharaoh there was no turning around. We know what his end was in the Red Sea.

If the Lord then eventually says of someone who persists in doing wrong, "Let him do more wrong", then the time of grace has passed eternally for such a person. After that he can no longer repent in order to do what is right.

Once the Lord has departed from your life, He never returns. Such a person's life ends in the most awful darkness, forsaken by God.

But, brothers and sisters, there is, mercifully, also the alternative situa­tion. That is the choice, the intention we affirm to try to live each day righteous­ly and holily.

People who choose a way of life in which they try to live each day righteously and holily, do not make this choice of themselves. Such a choice proceeds from grace alone.

The Lord's declaration refers here to righteous and holy persons. Righteous persons are not so of themselves. They are people who have been redeemed of their iniquities and debts of guilt by God (in other words, justified) through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

When we come across the words "justified", "righteous" or "redeemed" in the Bible, this is associated with the crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha. God judged us to be justified when Jesus took upon Himself on the cross the judge­ment and punish­ment of God for all our debt of sin (i.e. when He redeemed us).

People who are justified, or righteous, are therefore all those who have been declared to be so through grace alone, because Christ paid fully for their debt of guilt (i.e. because He redeemed them). He took upon Himself the wrath of God and judgement intended for us.

These people are the antithesis of those who work iniquity and persist in their wrongdoing.

The Bible also calls these people holy.

To be holy is to be clean and pure. They have been washed clean of the pollu­tion of their sins.

We have therefore not only been justified (declared righteous) by Christ's death on the cross. By His atoning blood He also washed us clean of the pollution caused by our sins.

We are pure before God. That is why we have again been reconciled with Him. Because He is holy, no one can stand before Him who is still polluted by sin.

Because the Lord in this verse calls us righteous and holy, it must be our only and most important intention every day to live righteously and holily.

In 1 John 2:29 and 3:2b,3 this is stated very clearly.

Listen to what the Lord says to us:
2:29: If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practises righteousness is born of Him.
3:2b,3: We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
If then it is our intention and desire to become more righteous and holy in the course of our lives, such an intention does not arise of its own accord. It is the Lord who arouses this desire in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

The word "let" is also used in this declaration. The Lord said: "...and let the one who is righteous, still practise right­eousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy." He Himself arouses in us the will and the desire to act thus.

But He does not merely arouse in us the desire and the will to become more righteous and more holy. The word "let" also conveys that He enables us to do so.

It is for that reason that the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. It is He who not only makes us willing to do as we must. He goes further. He also enables us to do as God wills, namely to become more righteous and more holy.

Some people might think that, if the Lord has already declared us righteous and holy on the strength of Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection, there is no need for us ourselves to strive to become yet more righteous and more holy.

No, we cannot attempt to evade our responsibility by adopting such a view. We still live in this sinful world.  We have not yet shaken off our sinful nature. Nobody can boast that his life is perfectly righteous and holy.

It is true that the Lord has declared us righteous and holy, but we still have to become in reality what He made us in Christ. As redeemed people we must begin to live as redeemed persons, and that is not easy. The course of our lives, as a path of righteous and holy persons, is a path full of struggle and conflict. We face enemies who wish to seduce and mislead us - satan, the godless world, and the old sinful headstrong Self in us.

That which Paul describes in Romans 7:19 we also exprience daily: "The good that I want, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not want."

In Romans 12:2 we are also warned that we should not be conformed to this sinful world. We must every day refrain from the sinful practices of the world.

We must not underestimate satan. He is extremely devious. That is why the Lord warns us in 1 Peter 5:8: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Therefore, in order to prevail in this struggle of faith to become more righteous and more holy, we must put on and employ the full armour of God. You can read about that in Ephesians 6:10ff.

We are, however, not alone in this struggle. Before His ascension Jesus promised us:"...I am with you always, even to the end of the age."(Matt.28:20)

Through the Holy Spirit He is with us to guide us and to enable us to persevere on the path of justification and sanctification. We are able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

This means that we must purposefully and with dedication strive every day to live as redeemed children of the Lord. In His Word the Lord provides us with His prescriptions concerning how we must live lives of gratitude in order to become more righteous and more holy.

Brothers and sisters, this injunction of the Lord in Revelation 22:11 is extremely urgent:

 "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practise right­eousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy".

With this injunction we are, as it were, placed before the day of the Second Coming. The day of judgement is at hand. The day will come like a thief in the night. Suddenly, unexpectedly.

All, all the true believers, who walk on the path of justification asnd sanctification, need never await the day of judgement in uncertainty and fear.

God's love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:17-18a).

Everyone who has been declared righteous and holy by God, and therefore strives in the strength of Christ to live more righteously and more holily, now already calls out in joyous expectation with the Holy Spirit, "Come, Lord Jesus, yes, come quickly."

AMEN.

Closing prayer.

Closing Hymn: 43:4,5.

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. H.P.Prinsloo (Emeritus)
Reformed Church, Bellville.
9 June 2002.
Scripture quoted from NASB.