Word of Salvation – Vol.12 No.34 – August 1966

 

Perfecting Holiness In The Fear Of God

 

Sermon by Rev. R. O. Zorn on Zechariah 13:1-6

Scripture Reading: 1Thess.5:1-28

Psalter Hymnal: 196; 287 (after Law); 287:3; 27; 440

 

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Zechariah is a prophet of the symbolic message.

It was his task to speak the word of the Lord to the restored exiles of Israel and to bring them the comfort of Christ.  For it was to Christ to whom they were to look, and for whom they were to wait for their full redemption.

Our text is the third part of a message that begins with the twelfth chapter.  Chapter 12, verses 1 to 9 speak of the Lord’s deliverance of His people from all their foes, arrayed against them to destroy them.  The New Testament parallel for the Church may be found in the words of Christ, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Then, chapter 12, verses 10 to 14 speak of a mighty work of God as in grace He pours His Spirit upon His people in a Pentecostal effusion that results in their whole-souled turn to Him in genuine conversion.  And this, in fact, came to pass at Pentecost as the risen and exalted Christ poured the Spirit out upon the Church, with the harvest of 3000 souls ingathered into the Church at that time – being the first-fruits of a harvest that is being reaped from that day to this.

Our text (13:1-6), goes on to speak of the sanctification of God’s people.  Sanctification, of course, is the progressive dying unto sin and living unto righteousness.  Stated from the New Testament standpoint in the words of the Apostle Paul the theme of our text could be, “Perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Let us look at this theme in the light of our text and see how it involves:
first, sin’s remission;
second, sin’s removal; and
third, sin’s repudiation.

I.  Sin’s Remission.

The need for sin’s remission, or forgiveness by God, is clearly taught in the first verse.  “In that day (that is, the day of the Messiah, or Christ), there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”

Here, God’s provision for sin’s forgiveness is described symbolically in terms of a fountain being placed in Zion in which God’s people may wash themselves and be cleansed from the defilement of their sins.  Sin, after all, causes pollution.  Our natural reaction to something polluted or foul is to be revolted by it, whether it be an open sewer or a running sore, etc.  And that’s the way God wants us to understand how He feels about sin.  Isaiah describes the pollution of the people of his day, caused by their sins, in the following manner: “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it: but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Is.1:6).  No wonder he adds later, “Your sins and your iniquities have separated you from your God.”

Yes, we need cleansing from sin if we are to be reconciled to God, the Giver of life eternal and life abundant.

In the Old Testament, sin was symbolically cleansed away by means of animal sacrifice which atoned for sin.  The sacrifice stood for Christ who, as the Lamb of God, would give His life as a ransom for the sins of His people.

But there was also another way by which the Old Testament saint could be cleansed from the ceremonial defilement caused by sin.  We learn of it in Numbers 19:9 where instruction concerning the water of purification from the ashes of a heifer is given.  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.”

David expresses it in his penitential psalm in these words: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  (Ps.51:7).

Obviously, this Old Testament symbolism has been fulfilled by Christ.  He is the Fountain of cleansing from sin which God has placed in Jerusalem, or Zion.  And today, the baptismal font is a symbol of the cleansing which God’s people receive in Christ.  For as the baptismal form reminds us, “Holy baptism witnesses and seals unto us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ.”” The Apostle John puts it this way, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1John.1:7).

How beautifully and eloquently William Cowper has expressed this truth of our text in Hymn 382:
            There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

            The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

            Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

What, then, must our response to this great provision of salvation be?  Our baptism, of course, bears witness to a great blessing of God bestowed upon us.  Very likely, all of us here have been baptized.  And that already when we were still infants.  For our parents, in response to God’s gracious covenant favour which includes His people and their children, brought us to the baptismal font in faith and obedience.  So, in baptism we bear upon our foreheads God’s sign and seal that our sins have been washed away through Jesus Christ.

But great as is this covenant blessing of God already signified unto us in our infancy, to become ours it must be personally appropriated by us by means of repentance from sin and faith in Christ.  This is already made clear in the third part of the baptismal form where we read: “Whereas in all covenants there are contained two parts, therefore are we by God, through baptism, admonished of and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that we trust in Him and love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength; that we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a godly life.”

And that’s why, when we grow up to the years of discretion, we take our stand with Christ and His church, and make public confession of our faith in Him for our salvation.  For in doing so, we publicly vow that we “openly accept God’s covenant promise, which has been signified and sealed unto us in our baptism, and confess that we abhor and humble ourselves before God because of our sins, and that we seek our life not in ourselves, but only in Jesus Christ our Saviour”.  And this is but the beginning of a whole life which we are to live in faith and obedience, for in answer to the third question of the form for the public profession of our faith, we “declare that we love the Lord, and that it is our heartfelt desire to serve Him according to His Word, to forsake the world, to mortify our old nature, and to lead a godly life.”  Not to do this would be to wind up as a covenant despiser in the way that Esau was.  Only such, therefore, who have received cleansing from sin and uncleanness in the fountain of Christ’s blood are true inhabitants of Zion.

II.  Sin’s Removal

If perfecting holiness in the fear of God involves, in the first place, sin’s remission by means of Christ’s cleansing blood; it involves in the second place sin’s removal, taught to us in verses 2 and 3 of our text.

Verse 2 reminds us of the common causes of continuing sin in Israel’s history.  Though the Israelites were the people of God, they were continually led astray by idolatry and false prophecy.  As the people of God, they should have been the foes of all sin.  For God, in forgiving sin, thereafter wants a holy walk in life from His people.  They are to be holy, as He is holy.

But idolatry and false prophecy were as old in Israel as the calf worship instituted by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin.  And the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities had been the ultimate judgment of God as a consequence!

In the day of Christ, however, God promises to root out such causes of continuing sin among His people.  For, “it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”  In other words, after Christ’s coming, there would no longer be any excuse for idolatry or false prophecy.  For the Spirit of God would lead God’s people into all truth from the full light of God’s Word, as God Himself would be worshipped in spirit and in truth through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Does this glorious promise still apply today?  Never have the worship of false gods, such as mammon for example, been more widespread than in our day.  And the false prophecy of Modernism, pseudo-science, and humanistic philosophy are on the increase, if anything!

However, the promise still applies, does it not?  For the means of God’s blessing, since the coming of Christ, are still present and abundantly available to us.  No one has to grope in darkness and seek relief in false prophecy.  For God has given us the full light of His Word.  No one has to search for God, and in despair for lack of finding Him turn to the worship of idols.  For God has abundantly revealed Himself to us in the face to Jesus Christ.  Nor does anyone have to suffer the famine of spiritual starvation as a result of getting Modernism’s stones for bread.  The house of worship in the true Church is still open and offers the Bread of life to whosoever will come.

No, there can no longer be any further excuse for the practice of idolatry or being led astray by false prophecy.  And, so, the prophecy of our text goes on to describe how God’s people will be diligent in the removal of lingering sin in their midst.  For verse 3 tells us, “And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.”

Here we learn that with the coming of Christ the revelation of God’s Word would be completed.  In the Old Testament, God at sundry times and in divers manners spoke unto the fathers by the prophets.  But in these last days, having spoken unto us by His Son (as Heb.1:1-2 tells us), prophetic revelation has now been completed.  Therefore, “if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev.22:18-19).

From this it should be quite clear to us that when Mormonism, Christian Science, or any other sect, adds a further revelation to the Bible, it is nothing else than “speaking lies in the name of the Lord”.  And devotion to the Lord demands, not only a complete break with this sort of thing, but the utter removal of it from our midst, even if it involves the severing of family ties.

A false prophet in the Old Testament was worthy of death.  For as Deut.18:20 points out, “The prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”  Hence, as verse 3 of our text makes clear, even a father or mother, rather than supporting false prophecy from a son who might be a false prophet, must be willing to get rid of it even in the most forceful way possible.

The Old Testament people of God, rather than putting false prophets away, had listened to them.  And this led to their ultimate downfall.  Doesn’t the New Testament also warn about the same thing, especially with regard to the last days?  Christ warned that before His coming again, many false prophets should arise.  And Paul says that “the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2Tim.4:3-4).  Are not such prophecies being fulfilled in our day in the “God is dead” theology and the demythologizing of Scripture, not to mention the multiplication of the sects?

If God’s people are to be holy, they must break completely with all idolatry and false prophecy, and put it away from their midst.  Holiness can be perfected only by abiding in Christ.  And He speaks to His people from His Word as His Spirit leads them into all truth from it as the whole counsel of God.  If the people of God were faithful in this requirement, not only would the idolatry and false prophecy of today have no hold upon them.  But they would also become the means used by God to cause such error to wither and die.  For error flourishes in the darkness where the light of truth does not shine!

III.  Sin’s Repudiation

This, then, leads us to understand the third point our text brings to our attention in the perfecting of holiness in the fear of God.  For sin must not only be forgiven and removed.  Sanctification requires further that sin be utterly repudiated!

So verse 4 and 5 speak of a false prophet who, having been converted, makes a complete break with his past life of sin.  For we read, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’

Whereas before his conversion, this former false prophet had gloried in the vision which he had not received from the Lord, for as a professional false prophet, he had sought the praises of men; now he puts off his former manner of life like the hairy prophet’s mantle he had worn by which to deceive people into thinking him to be what he actually was not.  As a false prophet, he undoubtedly would have received the praises of men more than would be true in his present occupation as a farmer to which he had turned after his conversion.  But this now no longer mattered to him, for the true child of God does not seek the praises of men in what he does.  Rather, he wants his life to be lived to the praise and glory of God.

We see here how sanctification, like conversion, begins from within, from the heart.  And where it is truly an active process in the life of the child of God as a result of conversion, it will lead even to the change of a wrong occupation, where this is the case, as we see here in the case of this former false prophet.  No matter if it necessitates taking up a more humble or lowly position in life.  Glorifying God has become the chief aim in life.

Do we see the application here?  Is it possible that much of our continuing unholiness of life may be bound up with our lingering pride and desire for prestige?  We can’t perform that humble task.  It’s beneath our dignity.  We can’t make that apology.  We might lose face.  And wouldn’t it be nice to have that office in church.  People would look up to us then!

But God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble, When will we learn that true sanctification involves living in such a way that God’s name, and not ours, is hallowed in all our life’s relationships?

There is a remaining point in our text that must not be overlooked.  It is found in verse 6 where we learn that the evil we do has a way of living on to haunt us thereafter.  For the former false prophet, though converted, still bears in his hands the marks of his self-mutilation, inflicted in his former shameful occupation, as for example was true of the priests of Baal in their contest with the prophet, Elijah, upon Mount Carmel.  How terrible the ravages and consequences of sin are!  A drunkard may be converted, as also a sower of wild oats in his youth may be, or a person with a prison record.  But how often the evil that men do continues to live after them!

So it is with this former false prophet.  For in verse 6 we read, “One shall say unto him, what are these wounds on thine hands?” And what can he say?  For the scars of his past life of sin continue to testify against him.

But how imperfect the saints are in the degree of their sanctification.  Why don’t people, even God’s people, let the converted sinner forget his past life?  People will say, “I know something that person did.”  Even if it may have been 25 years ago!  How unlike God this is.  When God forgives sin, He casts it behind His back, and buries it in the depths of the sea, and remembers it no more.  And that’s the way God’s people should be, too.  For they are to be perfect, as their heavenly Father is perfect.

But if the questioners of the former false prophet give evidence of their imperfect sanctification, the reply the former false prophet gives to his tormentors also betrays his imperfect degree of sanctification.  For his excuse for the scars in his hands is that they are, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”  In other words, he says, we were fooling around one day, and you know how it is.  One thing led to another, and before it was all over, I got these wounds.

But this is not true, is it?  For he got his wounds, not in the house of his friends, but in the house of his enemies – the world, the flesh, and the devil – whom he had formerly served with all his heart.

So we see that a real degree of our sanctification is the ability, or grace, to confess our sin rather than to cover it up.  “He that coverteh his sin shall not prosper.”  Let us not forget this.

The saving good that Christ did upon Calvary continues to be the only answer to our need for salvation and sanctification.  Christ was indeed wounded in the house of His friends.  For He came unto His own, but His own received Him not.  Instead, they crucified Him.  But He arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

And there,     “Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary,
They pour effectual prayers, They strongly plead for me.”

His wounds are the testimony of what He has done to save all who look to Him for salvation and sanctification.  And He will not forsake the work of His hands until He has perfected it.

Let us therefore look to Christ, not only for cleansing from sin, but also for our full sanctification.  “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it” (1Thess.5:23-24).

Amen.