REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 2 APRIL 2006: MORNING SERVICE
Sing before: Psalm: 145:1+5+8
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: 149:1+2
Confession of faith: Nicene
We 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 ages; 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, or 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 sits
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 we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who
proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.
And we believe one holy catholic* and apostolic Church. We acknowledge
one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection
of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
After the reading of the Law we confess our guilt and pray for
forgiveness and a new life before God with Psalm 40:4
Law
Psalm: 40:4
Prayer:
- Doxology
- Worship
- Confession of sins
- Forgiveness
- 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
Psalm: 147:4
Scripture: Zechariah 13
Text: Zechariah 13:4+9
"On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He
will not put on a prophet's garment of hair in order to deceive."
(Verse 4)
"This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold. They will call on my Name and I will answer
them; I will say, "They are my people," and they will say, "The Lord is
our God"." (Verse 9)
The church on earth shall experience a time when hypocrites in the
guise of humility and truth will despise God.
It is prophesied that there will be times when the church falls into
decay.
But there will also be times when the Lord will purify His church.
- A day will come when a false prophet's own mother will kill him for
telling lies in the Name of the Lord.
Such things will happen because it is not just anybody who can stand
before God and say that he will preach the Lord's Counsel.
- This can occur only when the Lord calls somebody to do so.
- When the Lord says: "They are my people!"
- Only then can we say: "The Lord, my God!"
This passage also makes it clear that the unrighteous have no hope of
surviving the judgment of God.
We shall consider this revelation from three sides:
1.
Present day idolatry
2.
The church repents.
3.
Where do we fit in?
1.
Present day idolatry
The church that became sinful shall be made perfect again.
- Hence verse 1 predicts a day of grace.
- There will be an open fountain.
The meaning of this prophecy is that all sin will be removed.
To us, as believers of the New Testament, the preaching of Christ
already starts with these words for no salvation can come about without
the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Although it is written in the Old Testament the Lord says there that
this process of cleansing of sin shall be done by the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Read again chapter 12 verse 10 where the Lord predicts that He will
pour out on the house of David His Spirit of grace and that they will
look on Me, the one they have pierced.
The fountain that will be opened in Jerusalem predicts the Lord Jesus.
- He will cleanse the house of David of its sins.
- This is a pointer to the baptism with water.
- It also ties in with the conversation the Lord Jesus Christ had with
the Samaritan woman when He tells her that He gives living water that
will ensure that she will never be thirsty again unto eternity.
This passage in the Old Testament speaks of the ministry of salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ until His Second Coming.
In this chapter the Lord warns especially against idolatry and false
prophets.
- This does not mean only that we may not kneel down before wooden
statues and images.
- It also means that we may not practice any modern form of it
– that is to replace the true faith with a false one.
- We may never twist the truth in the Name of the Lord or add things to
our religion that the Lord excluded.
Present day idolatry is to put yourself above God.
- We sin because we refuse to do what God demands of us.
- It is also idolatry to worship and glorify ourselves.
Verse 2 goes further: "On that day, I will banish the names of the
idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more, " declares
the Lord Almighty. "I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of
impurity from the land".
- The Lord says that on that day He will remove the names of the idols
from the land.
- Together with the idols the false prophets will be taken away.
- The false prophets are the people who teach the people a false religion.
- They are also called the prophets of the impure spirit.
The impure spirit is the opposite of the Spirit of God that the Lord
will pour out on His people.
- The Spirit of God works in the hearts of His people.
- The Spirit moves them to expel the impure spirit and all its works.
It is put here in the language of the Old Testament but that is what
happened when Jesus was crucified.
- After His ascension He sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth and
righteousness.
- What else is this than the expulsion of the impure spirit out of the
life of each true believer and out of the church?
Listen now how earnestly the Lord warns His church.
- We should not accept that every prophet is a true prophet of the Lord.
- The Lord warns us here that there are prophets who only use the office
of prophet as a means of spreading lies and practising impurities.
2.
The church repents
It would appear here that the spirit of God had left all the prophets
in those days.
In Jeremiah 5:30+31 a similar situation is described "A horrible and
shocking thing has happened in the land: the prophet's prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?"
Apparently no true prophet could be found in those days.
In verse 3 we read of a change: "And if anyone still prophesies, his
father and his mother to whom he was born, will say to him "You must
die, because you have told lies in the Lord's Name". When he prophesies
his own parents will stab him".
Here the Lord tells us that a time will come when the church returns to
the right road.
- This will not occur without much sorrow for those believers who want to
return to the Lord.
- The fight for the Lord's glory may be very painful.
- You may have to fight those who are dearest to you – your own
children.
- We read here that if someone wants to prophesy his own parents will
forbid him to do so.
- And if he does prophesy they will kill him because he told lies in the
Name of the Lord.
- He may speak only the truth about the Lord.
Clearly this can only occur after the Lord has driven out all lies.
The false prophets will be ashamed of their lies. We must understand
what is meant their being ashamed.
- The Bible does not mean that they repent and are ashamed.
- No, they will remain silent because of fear because in those days the
truth only may be spoken.
Verse 3 refers to Deuteronomy 18:20 and 13:6 where the Lord says that
any prophet who dares to speak falsely in the Name of the Lord must be
put to death.
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my Name anything I have not
commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other
gods, must be put to death". (Deut. 18:20)
"If your very own brother or your son or daughter or the wife you love,
or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying" Let us go and
worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have
known)". (Deut. 13:6)
Verse 3 says that they shall not put on a prophet's garment of hair in
order to deceive.
- The prophets wore robes of hair when they prophesied in the Name of the
Lord.
- We read in 2 Kings 1:8 that Elijah wore a garment of hair when he
prophesied to the messengers sent by Ahaziah.
- In the Gospel of Matthew we read that John the Baptist also wore
garments of camel's hair.
- The text simply says that no false prophet will be able to disguise
himself as a messenger from the Lord to preach in the Name of the Lord
false lies to the people.
- The text accepts that there were such people who proclaimed falsely and
they were part of the church.
- But a day shall arrive when they will be exposed.
- The Spirit of the Lord will make them feel so uncomfortable in the
church that they will deny having prophesied.
- They will deny it and say that they are farmers.
But the wounds on their bodies will expose them.
- In those days the prophets inflicted wounds on themselves to prove
their religious fervour.
An example we find in the history of the prophets of Baal at Mount
Carmel who slashed themselves with swords and spears. (1 Kings 18:28)
We see from this passage that the servants of the Lord can also err and
become like the idolators.
- They can become lost in darkness because of the impure spirit
– so badly that they bear the marks of the false prophets.
- The evil wil also enter the lives and work of the leaders of the church.
Against this we must be watchful! We must be part of the church that is
brought to repentance by God.
Thereafter the Lord tells us how He is going to purify His church.
- There will be a Shepherd for His flock but the sword of the Lord will
strike him down.
- These words describe the suffering of Jesus Christ.
What is the meaning of the words: "Awake, O sword"?
- It is an expression used by the prophets to show that God's Counsel
determines their conduct.
- But it also means that God's Counsel determines that they must kill.
It is clearly a pronouncement of judgment.
- The church's repentance does not come with glory but with judgment.
- Evil will be destroyed.
- The sheep will be scattered and two thirds will perish.
This ties in with the earlier prophecy that the Spirit of God will be
poured out over the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
- The Holy Spirit together with the judgment of God, will destroy all
evil in the church.
This happens in two ways:
- Until the Second Coming God uses members of the church to remove from
His church those who scorn Him.
- At the Second Coming God Himself will execute the last judgment and
then punishment and salvation shall occur in the Name of Jesus Christ.
3.
Where do we fit in?
Those members of the church who are truly guided by the Holy Spirit are
concerned about the glory of God.
- Look at the matter as described in the passage we have read. It must be
a matter of great importance that moves a father and a mother to kill a
child because of his false religion.
- The last verse tells us that the purifying process goes through the
church like a fire.
- As when gold and silver is purified in a hot oven.
All those who pass the test are addressed by God with the words: "They
are my people!"
- Those are the people who are justified by God and may stand before Him.
This passage also preaches predestination. See what is written.
- It is not written that the people will first call on God and that He
then named them His people.
- No, God first names them His people and they then answer "The Lord is
our God".
Let us now look at the implementing of this passage: We are chosen.
- That is why we are gathered in church.
- That is why we must all answer God's call and say that we are His
people.
- We must not answer with words only.
- Our life must be a continual proclamation that we know and worship the
Tri-une God in our life.
- All we do must accord with what the Bible teaches us.
Seeing that this passage refers to parents and children, let us aim our
implementing at that.
- Do we as parents wear the garment of God's true prophet when we teach
our children?
- Are we truly honest with them?
- Or do we commit all sorts of sins in which our children will follow us
in our footsteps.
We shall stand before the Lord for what we taught our children
– not for what they became, but what we taught them while in
our home.
- Do we lovingly discipline our children when they do wrong as the Bible
expects of us?
- Or do we just leave them to carry on because we wish to keep the peace.
- We always hear arguments that times have changed and that children
today live differently and this we should accept.
- Yes, there are things that we can accept, but do we accept things that
God demands of us to reject?
Children, how do you justify your lifestyle before the Lord?
- Are you sure that the Lord would be satisfied with the friends you keep
and that he is happy with the way they live and the influence they have?
- If not, then we are like the people spoken of in this passage who put
on the prophets garment of hair to tell lies so that they may be
believed.
A day will come when we all stand before the Lord.
- Then He will judge all these things.
- That day we shall stand naked in our sins.
- We shall not be able to hide anything nor ourselves.
- What will then happen to us?
What does this chapter in the Bible ask of us?
- We must rebuke and discipline everyone.
- We must banish all false religion out of the church.
- The Holy Spirit guides and drives us to do so.
- We must also sincerely faithful serve and worship the Lord.
Let us do so earnestly because with His death Jesus sanctified and
purified our lives. Let us keep it that way.
Amen
Closing prayer
Closing Psalm: 150:1
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be merciful to you.
The Lord turn His countenance to you and give you peace.
Amen
Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
2 April 2006 (morning)
Scripture NIV