00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
We now turn to our scripture
reading. You can find our scripture reading for this morning in Ezekiel
36. And we begin reading at verse
16 till the end of the chapter. Ezekiel 36, verse 16 till the
end of the chapter. Let's pay attention to God's
precious word. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel
dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and
by their own doings. Their way was before me as the
uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore, I poured my fury upon
them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for
their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered
them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries
according to their way, and according to their doings I judged them.
And when they entered unto the heathen, with they went, they
profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people
of the Lord. and are gone forth out of his
land. But I had pity for mine holy
name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen,
whither they went. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake,
O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake. which ye have
profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you before their eyes." And I will take you from among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, from
all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart will I give
you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of
flesh. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments
and do them. Ye shall dwell in the land that
I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will
be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleannesses and I will call for the corn and I will
increase it and lay no famine upon it and I will multiply the
fruit of the tree and the increase of the field and ye shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. And shall ye remember
your own ways, evil ways, and your doings that were not good,
and shall loathe yourself in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded
for your own ways, O house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God,
in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes
shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas
it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they
shall say, This land that was desolate is become the garden
of Eden. and the waste and desolate and
ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen
that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord,
build the ruined places and planned that that was desolate. I, the
Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God,
I will yet for this be inquired by the house of Israel to do
it for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock, as the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in
her solemn feasts. So shall the waste cities be
filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the
Lord." Thus far, God's precious word to us this morning. Dear congregation of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Puritans believed that we should, as they called
it, improve on our baptism. In other words, they believed
that we should make use from the fact that we are baptized. The Puritans believed that the
promised privileges in baptism should be used and improved in
various ways. For instance, Thomas Boston believed
that we should use baptism against temptation and in our struggle
against sin. This morning, we would like to
particularly focus on how we can use and improve and enjoy
the benefits of baptism in sanctification. About that, Boston said, improve
baptism to the vigorous exercise of, and growth in holiness. Because, or since, thereby ye
are engaged in newness of life, as ye are raised from the dead. Were you dedicated unto God?
Does not that say you should be holy in heart, lip, and life? So baptism teaches us we should
be holy. We are to be holy. And that's
what we consider this morning. And we do that from our text,
Ezekiel 36, verse 25-27, where we read, Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, And ye shall be clean from all
your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh,
and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments. and do them. We do this in conjunction with
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 26, question and answer 70,
which you can find at page 55 in the back of your Psalter.
There we read, what is it to be washed with the blood and
spirit of Christ? And the answer is, it is to receive
of God the remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ's
blood which he shed for us by his sacrifice upon the cross,
and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to
be members of Christ, that so we may more and more die unto
sin, and lead holy and unblameable lives. Our theme is this this
morning, with the Lord's help, enjoying the reality of our baptism. We have three thoughts by receiving
salvation, secondly by renewed spirituality, and third by renouncing
sin. First of all then, enjoying the
reality of our baptism by receiving salvation. And we read our question
just a moment ago, where it said that we receive God's remission
of sins freely for the sake of Christ's blood, which He shed
for us by His sacrifice upon the cross. And this is what we
have extensively tried to lay out in last week's sermons, so
I don't want to repeat that all here. But let me just briefly
summarize what we have learned last week. Baptism is a visual
picture of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Moreover, it's
also promises that God wants to be our God. God's promises
are shown to us in a visible way. What is this picture? The water pictures free forgiveness
for all who believe. So in other words, what we could
say, what we have been discussing is justification by faith. And that is exactly repeated
in this first question, first part of the answer of question
and answer 70. What I would like to underline
this morning is the part of the answer that says baptism is to
receive of God the remission of sins. And though it's our
obligation to believe the promises of God in order to experience
the reality of baptism in our own lives, it is from the beginning
till the end God's grace working in us. It's God's work. It's
to receive of God remission of sins. And that's also what our
text focuses on this morning. Our text. Ezekiel 36 verse 25, Then will
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all
your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart will I give you,
and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh,
and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in
My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them." Who
is acting in this text? The people of Israel to which
the promise came? No, they are reacting. God is
acting here. He is the one promising and He
is the one working this out in our lives. In the lives of those
who were in captivity in those days of Ezekiel, but also by
extension in our lives. Seven times we hear here in this
text, I will, I will, I will. God is speaking His promises,
but He immediately shows that enjoying the spiritual reality
of those promises, the meaning of baptism, the spiritual reality
of it, is completely His work. He will wash us and we shall
be clean. He will take away the idols out
of our heart and we shall serve Him. In other words, it says
Jonah said it in the Valley of the Will, salvation belongs to
the Lord. It's His work. Maybe there is
someone this morning that says, well, isn't that a bit discouraging? No, it's not discouraging because
the most discouraging news, children, on earth is that when we have
to save ourselves, that's the most discouraging news. And God's
people sometimes have to discover that over and over. We can only truly enjoy What
baptism pictures? We can only truly enjoy salvation
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when God works it
in us, because then it gives us rest. When He works it. As soon as we think we have to
do something ourselves, we cannot enjoy it anymore. We cannot enjoy
it anymore, because what happens? It becomes hard work. It becomes
drudgery, slavery, captivity. The people of Ezekiel's day were
brought in captivity because they loved to serve the idols
of the world around them. And when we look to our own hearts,
know our own hearts a little bit, and look around us, nothing
new under the sun in 2017, is it? They felt comfortable living
apart from God. How many of us this morning are
there that feel comfortable living apart from God as well? They were not only in physical
captivity, in physical bondage as it were, but they were spiritually
captive to the idols of their time. And Ezekiel shows that
Whatever he prophesied, whatever he said against the people, their
problem was their stony heart. Their heart was unresponsive. It was dead as a stone, children. And so, they did not respond
to God's words, they did not respond to the richest promises,
they did not use them, they did not respond to God's love nor
to His judgments. Maybe someone says, I've come
to church and that's kind of my heart. That's a bit like me. I've heard the gospel so many
times, but it seems to do nothing with me anymore. It's not doing anything with
me or not doing anything with me anymore. Maybe you have had
some impressions in the past and you're trying maybe now to
live a decent life and your heart seems dead and unresponsive to
the things of God. What is the problem? It's probably
the same problem as in the day of Ezekiel. What was their problem? Idols. The world around us is
so attractive. Or self. to please your own self. There's something that you love
more than God Himself. Now, what is your need? What
was their need? Was it to try harder? To believe
harder? To pray more? To appear interested
in church? And when we speak with others,
speak a bit more about religion? Is that what is going to save
you? No. What we need, congregation,
this morning, and God's children need that by renewal, over and
over, we need God to come and save us. We need God to come
and pour out His cleansing water over us, and we shall be clean. God needs to come and wash us
from all our sins, from all our idolatry. We need to be delivered
from the idols of the world around us. and the idols of our heart,
so that we have a responsive heart. He must do it, otherwise
it will never happen. But the amazing thing is that
with the Word of God that we read this morning, He has promised
to do it. And so we may, as it were, put
our finger with the text this morning and say, Lord, do it
again and again. Bring us out of our spiritual
captivity. Give us personal revival, personal
cleansing, a deep and abiding sense that we have been forgiven
because of the blood and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That we have faith. It's God's work. God needs to
come and enliven and quicken us. His amazing grace has promised
to do it among us. But you may wonder, what happens
when He comes and does it? When we look to Ezekiel 36, He
not only cleanses us from our sins, forgiving us, but when
God comes and saves, we are also renewed. He creates something
different in us. And when that happens, we to
a greater extent experience what baptism is all about. Because,
let's think about it for a moment. Even if God would only forgive
us, you and me, our sins, would you be satisfied with that? Would
I be satisfied with that? Would I be fine to stay as I
was? Would it bring glory to God?
Would it change us? I hope you understand the answer
is no. I hope, children, that you understand
how important it is that we not only need forgiveness of sins,
that's not enough. For then we would maybe be kept
out of hell and then our forgiveness would be a kind of fire insurance
to keep us from the flames of hell. When God saves us, there
is more needed and more to enjoy. And mind you, receiving salvation
and cleansing from our sins is a true blessing. And what a joy
is that! What a joy can that give to believers
and how we need that right now, again and again. But if that
would be all that the Lord was doing this morning, all that
the Lord was doing in our lives, it would be half work. So what
else does does baptism point us to that we need to enjoy?
And the answer is spiritual renewal. Let's look at that in our second
thought. Enjoying the reality of our baptism by renewed spirituality. The Catechism puts it like this.
It asks what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of
Christ. So it asks for the true meaning
of baptism. And then, I skipped the part
that we just considered, and then we read, "...and also to
be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members
of Christ." So God does more than just delivering us from
our sins. He renews us by His Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Let's look
at two passages to understand this from a scriptural perspective. First of all, the next verse
in our text, Ezekiel 36, 26. There God promises, a new heart
also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give
you a heart of flesh. What do we read here? Besides
forgiveness, which is so clear from verse 25, and washing, He
takes away our stony heart and He gives us this new heart and
a new spirit, the Holy Spirit. What does it mean? It means that
God renews us inwardly, our inward life, our soul. our thoughts,
our desires, our will, that's all included in the heart, the
new heart. Ezekiel showed that the people
in his day had this irresponsive heart. If we live outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, we have such a similar
heart toward God. Children, maybe you wonder, what
does it mean to have an irresponsive heart? Here is an example. Don't
you have that sometimes that your dad or mom calls you, and
you have heard it? For instance, Johnny, could you
please clean up your room? Or Janet, please wash your hands. You've heard it, but you don't
respond. You have no desire to listen.
You have no desire to act upon your parents' request. That's
what it means to be irresponsive. At that moment, you just want
to do your own thing. And so it's spiritually. The Lord calls us. The Lord speaks to us. The Lord
warns us. The Lord shows the way we should
go. But we don't respond. What's
our problem? Our problem is this stony heart. No, the Lord says here in our
text, I wash you of your sins. But I will do something more.
I will do something more. I will take away this stony heart. Instead, give you a new heart
and a new spirit. A heart of flesh. A heart that
responds to me. A heart that beats in love toward
me. A heart that desires to serve
me. You see, dear congregation, the
Lord does more than only forgive sins. The Lord does more than
only wash us. He changes us from the inside
out so that we are truly spiritually renewed. That's also what we
see from Titus 3. We start reading at verse 4 where
we see, not by works of righteousness which we have done are we saved,
but according to His mercy He saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed or poured
out on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Just
like Ezekiel, Paul here in this text shows that God saves His
people, saves us on the basis of His mercy, His goodness, His
kindness, His love. And then he says this about how
salvation works. First, through the washing of
regeneration, and then second, through the renewing of the Holy
Spirit. In other words, Paul here says,
he speaks here about this bath, the bath of regeneration, so
that we are renewed, so that we are made alive. In other words, Paul speaks here
about the fact that God changes us through a cleansing. the cleansing
of regeneration, but then also He renews us, just as Ezekiel
pointed out. He sends us His Holy Spirit to
live in us through the renewal of the Holy Ghost, Paul writes. It's similar to what Ezekiel
wrote, a new heart will I give unto you, a new spirit I will
put within you. That is what changes us around.
That is God's work in us. That is what ultimately also
connects us, draws us close to the Lord. Because our catechism
shows that there's more happening. Because catechism speaks about
the fact that believers are sanctified as members of Christ. What does
that mean? To understand this, we need to
see Romans 6, verse 4. And there we read, therefore
we are buried with Him. And then again we hear about
cleansing and baptism. We are buried with Him in baptism
into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of
life. You see these same elements coming
all back, washing, renewal and new life so that we can walk
in the ways of the Lord. Paul in the previous chapter
said we need to be disconnected from Adam and we need to be connected
to the new Adam, Jesus Christ. That's all His superabounding
grace. And then in this text He continues
then to explore that connection. He says, how are we connected?
We are connected in His death, in His cross. We're connected. We draw by faith His benefits
of the forgiveness of sins. But also in His resurrection,
that new life, that new principle in us. He conquered sin, death,
and hell. at the grave, and He rose victorious,
and that power, that victory over sin, death, and hell is,
through faith, yours, dear believer. And you can draw from this inexhaustible
fountain of grace. Isn't that a tremendous comfort
for every believer? Your and my righteousness does
not depend on my feeble efforts to live a holy life. No, our
righteous standing is secure in the Lord Jesus Christ and
His work. When we draw from it by faith,
then we are united to Him. We are linked up with Him. And our catechism puts it like
this, we are members of him. And in the original Dutch and
German catechism, they say that we are members of Christ in the
sense as a limb, a part of the body, is part, a limb is part
of a body. And there they use even the word
limb in the original. So what they are saying is, Christ
is the head, He is the control center of your life, reverently
speaking He is the brain, and He steers into your life, strength
and health in your body, as you are a member of Him in His church,
He gives this virtue in the body, this life, this strength, this
resurrection power, so that you can live in accordance with His
law. That's the picture here. Christ
is really working in us as His body. through the power of His
Spirit. True faith connects us to the
Lord Jesus Christ so that we even can say that we become,
as it were, part of the Lord Jesus Christ. His Spirit lives
in us. Because in Christ the sinner
died to sin. By faith we are then influenced
by that indwelling Spirit. and we become members of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He does when He spiritually
recreates us, when He gives us life, new desires, a new heart,
and a new spirit within us. When we read in the Catechism
about becoming members of Christ, we become part of Him. Oh, how
we need that work. to be done in our hearts and
in our lives. If we read in Ezekiel 36 that
He promises it and that He will do it, then we still come to
the next chapter and what do we see? The picture of the valley
of the dry bones. The picture of the valley of
the dry bones. All dry, dead bones. And how
is God going to do that? to make these dry bones live. Can these dry bones live? God
says, prophesy, Ezekiel, prophesy, prophesy, and prophesy toward
the Spirit. And then what we see, God makes
these dead, dry bones and brings them together, puts limbs on
them, and gives them flesh and skin around them, And then they
are still lifeless there. But then God comes with the powerful
working of His Holy Spirit and makes them stand up, a whole
army, a whole army to serve God and to praise God. And that's
what God did for the people of Israel in the sending of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But also, that's what God does
in every person who is made spiritually alive. He makes them stand up.
to serve Him acceptably through the power of the Spirit. This
is a tremendous comfort for every true believer. And this is a
tremendous comfort even when you're outside of Christ and
you have to say, I'm as dead as those dry bones there. God
comes with His Spirit and He is able, far more able than what
we think He can ever do. That's what God does, spiritually
recreating. So, let's summarize. What did
we see here? God does more than forgiving
us. He plants in us this new principle,
this new heart. He gives us His new Spirit, that
Holy Spirit that connects us to the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we become members of Him. We become members of
Him. What a comfort! to know our desires
are changing, if you know something about that, your desires are
changing, because there is an indwelling spirit in every believer. We belong to Christ, and we draw
from His perfect work, not from our feeble efforts. And that
He lives through us, through His Spirit. Really, He lives
in us. Do we believe it? Do we realize
how highly privileged we are if we know something of the Lord
Jesus Christ? We not only enjoy the washing
away of our sins, but in His kindness, in His love, He poured
out over us the washing, cleansing, His Spirit, as Titus 3 puts it. He gives us these new desires,
these holy desires, these new motives, a renewed will. But maybe you ask, how do I know
that then? How do I see that in my life
if I have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Here is a question
to consider before the Lord's face this morning. Do you have
changed desires? Are your desires really changed
toward God? Do you really desire to serve
the Lord? To love Him with all of your
heart? Not just desiring to receive
forgiveness, how great and how beautiful that is. But to have
cleansed motives. Do you see your desperate need
for a changed heart? And is that often your prayer? Lord, quicken me according to
Thy Word. Quicken me! Make me alive! Is
it your desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, if you can
say yes to these desires, you tell me from whom these desires
come. Do they come because you make
them up yourself? Or do they come because the devil
likes to work these things in you? Or are those desires that
the Lord works in our heart? You answer the question. These are the three possibilities.
Are you working up yourself and then it's difficult work? But
the devil doesn't want us to have these motives and desires
and changes. It's because the Lord's Spirit
works in us. Let's answer that question before
His face. I'm not asking whether you are
as holy as you could possibly be, or whether you're not still
perfect and not stumbling in sin. I ask you, what is the direction
of your life? Is it Godward? Is it your desire
to live out of the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do
you consciously live before God? A positive answer to these kind
of questions will determine whether God is working with His Spirit
in you, whether you have received that indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
and whether you then are enjoying what baptism is picturing, what
baptism is really all about, this renewed spirituality. So
ponder it and answer these questions before God's face. May that be true for all of us.
Search me, O Lord. Know my heart. See my thoughts. May we all know that. Lord, searching
our hearts, knowing our thoughts, if in paths of sin you are straying,
was it your prayer? Lord, lead me out, lead me out
of these paths of sins, make me to go in the ways of life. May you do that for us. So we
saw that we do not only enjoy the reality of baptism through
forgiveness in the cross, We saw also that we enjoy baptism
if we see God through His grace renewing our minds and hearts
and wills and affections for His own glory, changing our hearts. But finally then, we also see
that we enjoy baptism, the reality, the truth of it in our hearts
and our desires, when we learn to renounce sin. and fight sin in the power of
that very same indwelling spirit that He has promised to give
us. Renounce sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's
what we consider now in our third thought. the reality of our baptism
by renouncing sin. Let's read the last part of the
answer. We're considering what is it to be washed with the blood
and spirit of Christ. And then the final part of the
answer says that so we may more and more die unto sin and lead
holy and unblameable lives. So the first thing that we see
here is that there is progression in the life of a believer. There's
progression. According to the Catechism, it
says here, the more and more die unto sin. So there's a progression. It says, Proverbs 4 puts it,
the path of the just is a shining light, it shineth more and more
unto the perfect day. But the opposite is also true
there. The way of the wicked is as darkness, and they know
not what they stumble at. But the believer then sees more
and more where he stumbles at. It becomes more and more light.
So there is progression here in sanctification, for sanctification
is what we are talking about here. How does progressive sanctification
then work? Well, there are three things.
First of all, sin becomes more and more clear, as we saw from
Proverbs 4. Sin becomes more and more clear,
and it becomes more and more abhorred off. Often we are painfully
aware of it. It's interesting to notice that
in Ezekiel 36, That after God has given all these promises,
and that God is going to work among them, to restore them,
to rebuild them, to rebuild their country, to change their hearts
and lives. That then, after that happened,
we read verse 31. Then shall ye remember your own
evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe
yourself in your own sight for your iniquities and for your
abominations. You see, God makes us more and
more aware of that wickedness in us, because He is shining
with His light in our hearts to search it and to know it.
and to make us known so that we would abhor our sins. It's
one of the things. The way becomes more and more
clear. Second, but God does also do
the other side. God's goodness, His mercy, His
grace becomes more and more clear and even sweeter to us. We see more and more it's His
work alone. And He is, through His Spirit,
working it out in us. It's alone Christ's work. Nothing
of me. Nothing in my hands I bring.
Simply to the cross I cling. That's two. And three, as we then look over
and over to the Lord Jesus Christ, what does He promise? He promises
us when we look away over and over that He changes us into
that same image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That image is more and
more impressed upon us. Do we always realize it? Often
we don't. Most of the time we don't. But
we may trust that the Lord never forsakes the works that His own
hand began. And so our baptism is linked
to sanctification in this last part. In sanctification, in the
cleansing more and more of our hearts and the directing into
a new life, entrance into a new life. But there are two sides then
to sanctification, that's also what the catechism points us
to. There are two sides, die more
and more to sin and live more and more holy and unblameable
lives. We have two words for this, mortification
and sanctification. Mortification, putting to death
of sin and vivification, which means to make a life. to live
through the power of the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the
flesh. Romans 6.4 shows us both of these
sides. We are buried with Him by baptism
into death, that like as Christ was raised, the other side from
the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk
in newness of life. dying to self and arising from
the dead through the perfect work. So there is this new principle
working in us, this resurrection power, this walking in newness
of life in accordance with God's commandments. And the putting
of sin to death, that's what God works through His Spirit. Maybe you are asking, how can
I do that? I struggle with that. How can
I then do that really in my life? What are the weapons that I have?
Well, you're connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. You draw from
His perfect life. He lived a perfect life in your
place. And you draw from His sacrificial
death. His work on the cross says that
all your sins are forgiven, and that He gives you His Holy Spirit,
and so then you become strong in Him. You become strong against
sin in His victory. Romans 8 puts it like this. We
are more than conquerors through Christ, for through Him that
loves us. More than conquerors. This is
very important to understand. We can only fight against sin,
against Satan, against worldliness and everything in us and around
us from victory. The victory is already won in
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The victory is through faith
ours. Let us through faith stand armed
and protected by the work of Lord Jesus Christ. Children,
I have a question for you. If you would go and look at soldiers,
which group of soldiers would be more hopeful? The first group,
those who have been defeated over and over and over again
and have lost battle after battle and fought many, many battles.
Don't you think they will be discouraged? This is what happens
when we do it in our own strength, when we try to live a holy and
pure life in our own strength. Defeat after defeat after defeat. But there is a second group of
soldiers. Second group of soldiers, they have won the battle, they
have promised that they have already the promise for winning
the future battles. They will be won as well. Who
will be hopeful? Second group, isn't it? Don't
you think? Here Paul says that the believers
in Christ are more than conquerors. They have battles to fight, but
they fight in Christ Jesus and they know the battle is already
won. Isn't that encouraging? Isn't
that encouraging? Have you ever noticed that in
Ephesians 6, the Lord says us to struggle, to wrestle against flesh and blood,
but the only thing that He commands us to do is take all those pieces,
hope, love, breastplate of righteousness, to take them, put them on, and
to stand there. That's the only thing that the
Lord commands us to do. He doesn't necessarily command,
we have this battle against flesh and blood, but that's what He
says we should do. We should dress ourselves with
the perfect righteousness and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and stand. And when we will do that by faith,
we are able to kill sin and live in growing holiness. Just as
the Lord promises also in Ezekiel, in our text, verse 27, And I
will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and ye shall keep My judgments and do them. It's possible. It's possible through the power
of the Lord alone. The Lord has promised to do it
and to strengthen us when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
also for sanctification, when we draw from His perfect work
and dress ourselves with that as it were. And we can keep His judgments. Walk in accordance with His Word.
Walk according to His Word. Walk in a holy life. Believer,
see how rich you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, often
we feel poor in ourselves. And that's not wrong. Your weakness
is only there in yourself. And it makes you realize how
weak you really are and that you are nothing in yourself.
Look then away. Realize that you then look away.
You need to look away. Look at His work. Believe that
His Holy Spirit indwells you. Be assured that Christ's power
against sin is in you. Embrace those promises for yourself. Live by them. Enjoy what you
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is the reality
behind baptism. This is what it's all about.
This is what it pictures. Let's ask ourselves honestly,
are we among those in whose life it's evident that God is alive
and working and active through the power of His Spirit? Can
we humbly say, yes, I believe, I know something of power against
sin, to put sin to death? What a joy! What a joy! Praise the Lord for His goodness
to the children of man. And please, let us not live under
our privileges. Let us please not think that
God is somehow stingy and is never with us. Yes, life can
be difficult. Yes, life can be so confusing
sometimes, the things that happen around us, but we can make it
even harder for ourselves when we think ill of our gracious
Lord. Let's enjoy what we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the promises that He gives to us in baptism.
Congregation, this is what every true believer has in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you who are outside of the
Lord Jesus Christ, wouldn't you desire to have this too? Wouldn't
you desire to have this too? It's truly enjoyable life. Yes,
painful in the sense of killing sin. That's not nice. Dying to
self. Dying to your idols. No, that's
not nice. But really, There is no better
life. There is no better life than
to live as a true Christian. True Christians are really alive.
Not only here, but forever, because they have eternal life. Oh, come
then, plead God's promises given to you in baptism. Plead them.
Pray that God makes them real. Forgiveness. Eternal life. Changed hearts. Shouldn't we fear the Lord together?
Don't you want to be changed? Don't you want to be saved by
the Lord? He's able to do it. Plead those promises, I will,
I will, I will. He's so worth it. Come to the
Lord. As we conclude, we would like
to turn back where we began. The Puritans believe that we
should improve on our baptism. And one of the ways they said
was that you should be thankful for baptism. Thankful for baptism. Let me remind you, whether you
are enjoying the reality of baptism right now or not, God is worthy
to receive your thankfulness for baptism and for His promises
that He makes to you. So let us do that together as
we close this service. that we might experience also
the reality in sanctification. Let's pray to the Lord. Amen.
Enjoying the Reality of Baptism
Series Heidelberg Catechism
- By receiving salvation
- By renewed spirituality
- By renouncing sin
| Sermon ID | 2517152407 |
| Duration | 51:58 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Ezekiel 36:25-27 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.