Today, I'm going to read a text which
is a strange one to read at Christmas
time.
You know what Christmas stands for, where we
remember the birth of our Lord Jesus.
Now, I had a message which I prepared
and I was ready to give it this
morning.
But I experienced something this morning where I
then decided, no, I'm not going to speak
on that text, I'm going to bring this
message.
Even though it is Christmas time, let's
now read our text from Luke chapter 12.
From verse 1, under these circumstances, after many,
so many thousands, after so many thousands of
the multitude had gathered together, that they were
stepping on one another, he began saying to
his disciples, first of all, beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
But there's nothing covered up that will not
be revealed, and hidden that will not be
known.
Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark
shall be heard in the light, and what
you have whispered in the inner rooms shall
be proclaimed upon the housetops.
And I say to you, my friends, do
not be afraid of those who kill the
body, and after that, have no more power
that they can do.
But I will warn you whom to fear.
Fear the one who, after he has killed,
has authority to cast into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Read so far.
And then also from 1 Corinthians chapter 5,
1 Corinthians chapter 4, from verse
3.
But to me, it is a very small
thing that I should be examined by you
or by any human court.
In fact, I do not even examine myself.
I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet
I am not by this acquitted.
But the one who examines or judges me
is the Lord.
And I say to you, my friends, do
not be afraid of those who kill the
body, and after that, have no more power
that they can do.
Now to the important verse here.
Therefore do not go on passing judgment before
the time, but wait until the Lord comes,
who will both bring to light the things
hidden in the darkness, and disclose the motives
of men's hearts.
And then each man's praise will come to
him from God.
We will stop reading there.
Now let me just tell you now why
I am reading this text on this day,
during this week of Christmas.
This morning I woke up, I was awoken
by a dream.
In this dream, we were at a funeral.
It was the funeral of a woman that
I know.
I was standing at the feet of the
coffin.
You know, normally when someone is buried, the
coffin is there, the minister stands at the
head.
There were many people at this funeral.
There were blacks, but also whites, in fact
more whites, and I found myself there too.
I don't know who actually took the funeral.
But as I stood there and I looked
at the deceased, the corpse, I saw that
the mouth had been closed.
At the top there was an iron plate.
And also at the bottom.
They had taken
then these two plates and they had clamped
them, screwed them together, that the mouth was
firmly shut, that nothing could come out.
And then I thought, well, they probably had
done that because she had died two weeks
ago, and because of the state of decay,
that closed the mouth, that no bad smell
would come out the mouth.
And as I looked, I thought, well, they
had done a very good job of closing
this mouth properly.
But then I remembered that there were things
in this person's life which had not been
right.
And then the thought came to me that,
well, or maybe they had closed the mouth
in this way, clamped it shut, that the
things that she had done would not come
out now and be revealed.
But then when I looked next to her,
I noticed there was another corpse there.
But that was covered with a blanket or
a slipper.
I couldn't see who that was lying there.
And so the service, the funeral service, continued.
And that was still in the church.
They had not yet gone to the cemetery.
And then the service came to an end.
The time came to go out to the
cemetery.
And then I, I don't know how, but
I spoke to this person, who I didn't
know who it was, and I said, well,
is there something you still want to say
before we go?
And then this person, when I said that,
I don't know how, jumped up, very suddenly
stood up straight in front of me at
such a speed that I thought this person
would actually bash into me.
And then I noticed that it was still
a young person.
I don't know, maybe between 16 and 20
years old.
Yesterday it happened to me, when our friends
from the Eastern Cape came, there were some
small children.
And then there was, to me, I thought
it was a girl who was looking after,
I thought she was the nanny looking after
the little children.
And I came in and I said, hello
girl.
And then she answered and said, I can't
speak Zulu.
Yes, I'm not from here.
Well, from where are you?
Oh, I was born in Nigeria.
I studied in England and in the States.
I'm a scientist.
And then it came out that she's a
doctor.
Is that young girl still here?
Is she here amongst us today or not?
Maybe she hasn't come to the service.
Are you here?
Just get up that they see I'm not
lying.
All right, thank you.
You see, she looks like a young girl.
That's her mistake.
I said, you look so young.
I thought you were a 16-year-old
girl.
I didn't know that I was speaking to
a doctor and to a scientist.
I said, all right, come along.
We go to my office and there we
can talk.
So I'm just telling you that my judgment
in age is sometimes wrong.
I made a mistake the other day.
There was a Lutheran minister here.
I greeted him and then I asked him,
how old are you?
I like to know the age of people.
What is 69?
He said 69.
I said, oh, then I'm still a kid.
You are nine years older than what I
am.
He says, how old are you?
I said, I'll be 70 now.
So he says, well, then you are older
than what I am.
I said, what did you say?
He said 69.
Luckily, I didn't tell him that.
So I said, I apologize.
I thought you said 79.
So when I think you are older than
what you really are, don't be upset or
that you are younger.
That's my weakness.
So this young girl in my dream, maybe
she was older.
Maybe she was even younger.
But she didn't have a bad face.
She looked very nice.
So I don't know why.
What prompted me to ask her her age
or ask her the question, is there something
you want to say?
Suddenly, she threw the blanket down and she
sat straight up in the bed.
But she didn't speak.
So I thought, maybe she's coming back from
a terrible place.
Maybe she's been in hell.
She's come back to warn us.
That's how I'm trying to come over.
Like the Lord Jesus here, there were thousands
of people milling around him.
And then suddenly he spoke to his disciples
and he warned them of hell.
He says, beware of hypocrisy and of the
one who can reveal himself to them after
death and cast them into hell.
That's what he told his disciples.
And I stood there.
She was facing to me.
I stood close to her feet.
And I was waiting that she should tell
us what she wanted to say.
But she didn't say a word.
Then she looked down.
As if she wasn't only ashamed, but shocked.
And she didn't speak a word.
You know, sometimes when you have a dream,
it's as if it is real.
As if it is real.
That's why I said, I'm going to leave
my Christmas message and I'm going to tell
you this.
And then two ministers that stood at the
side of her head behind her.
And they told me, they said, in such
a case, this girl has got to be
taken to where she comes from.
And when she's there where she lived and
where her home is, then she'll start speaking
and revealing all that she and her family
has done and said.
She won't speak here.
Take her back to where she comes from.
And there she'll bring to light every secret
thing.
Every word that was spoken there.
And everything that was done there.
Take her to her home.
Then her mouth will be open and then
she can't but speak and reveal hidden things.
The undertaker was an African speaking fellow.
And he said to me, When this girl
will start speaking, what will become of my
wife and my family?
And she'll know what she has done, when
all those secrets come to light.
The undertaker then told me, if this girl
should start talking and reveal hidden things or
such a thing should happen in my family,
and he mentioned his family's surname, he says
we will be cut to pieces, we'll be
slaughtered, and all the things of this family
shall be revealed.
It will be a terrible day and terrible
time when all our hidden things, and then
he said the name of his family, if
those things shall be revealed.
He says I don't know what will happen
to us if our secrets will be brought
to light.
It was a new cemetery, they were to
be buried there, there was one tombstone on
top and a few further away, so I
said to myself I'm in the meantime I'm
just going to look at those names that
are buried here because their things will be
brought to light as well.
And as I look to the other graves,
said yes your dead bodies are here.
I don't know where you are now, where
your soul is, in heaven or burning in
hell, but one day when Jesus comes you'll
come out of the grave, your body will
come out and then your spirit will join
with your body and then it will be
heaven or hell for all eternity.
Then your body will burn there as well.
I don't know where you are now, where
your soul is, in heaven or burning in
hell, but one day when Jesus comes you'll
come out of the grave, your body will
come out and then your spirit will join
with your body.
Now back to the undertaker, when it was
mentioned that she should be taken back to
where she comes from, then the undertaker quickly
said but my that's going to be impossible
because it's so far away, it's such a
bad road as well that goes to her
place, it will not be possible, it's about
one and a half hours drive just to
get there, we'll never be able to go
back there now.
It's too difficult, we won't get there.
And then these two ministers said, sir there's
no other way out, some things we'll have
to face whether we like or we don't
like it, this is a must.
They took her and they went with the
vehicle to go there.
And then I said to those who were
with me at the funeral, I said let
us go along to see what's going to
happen there.
They had travelled for quite a distance.
Before we had travelled very far we caught
up to them.
And I said well let's follow them.
And so we went with them.
And that's when I woke up.
Well I got a shock.
It was not like a dream, it was
like real.
And then I said well what does the
Bible say about men and about God?
I said what does the Bible say about
the works and the deeds of a person
and also what he says, his words?
And when I looked in the Bible I
found far more than what I had experienced
in the dream.
But when the Lord comes or before he
comes he will bring to light all the
hidden things of darkness.
And will also disclose the motives of men's
hearts.
And then each man's praise will come to
him from God.
So when the Lord comes he will not
just reveal the deeds of men and his
words but even the motives of his heart,
even his thoughts.
In Luke 12 the Lord Jesus said to
his disciples don't fear men even if men
can kill your body.
But he said fear him who after he
has put you to death can cast you
into hell.
Do we really understand this?
Do we take note of it or does
it go in one ear and out the
other?
Do we know what that implies when the
Lord says nothing that is hidden will not
be revealed?
Imagine what it will be like when our
motives, our thoughts and our words that we
have spoken there where we come from and
all that we have done, when all that
comes to light.
What will it be like when it goes
into fulfillment?
When Luke chapter 12 goes into fulfillment.
That girl had to face it squarely and
we've got to face it squarely.
Everyone here present.
Maybe you will remember what Dr. Koch wrote
about once, that story.
There were three young boys, they were naughty
and up to mischief.
In those days there were no faxes or
emails yet so they sent telegrams.
They
sent
three different telegrams to three different people, very
important, high ranking officials.
They sent the first telegram just with a
few words, everything has come to light.
They didn't sign who it came from, just
an anonymous letter.
Everything has come to light.
So the first important, well known person got
that telegram.
Then the second one
got that telegram.
And then the third man got the telegram.
The first man who got that telegram immediately
committed suicide.
He killed himself.
The second
man
when he got the telegram, he got his
wife and children together, they packed their bags.
No, he had a wife and children, he
just packed his clothes, he did it.
Not without the knowing of his wife and
children.
He didn't tell his wife and children, one
doesn't tell the wife everything.
He packed his things and he went to
the airport and off he went.
Nobody knows in the world where he landed,
what happened to him.
The third one just vanished.
What happened to him one doesn't know.
To them it was something terrible that what
they had done had come to light.
What must these men have been up to?
What did they do?
That they said, I'd rather kill myself, I'd
rather leave my children and my wife, my
home, my business, everything.
I just vanished.
And the other one vanished.
Now you don't get a telegram this morning.
You don't get my dream, you get God's
word.
Luke 12, 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5.
What does it do to you, what does
it mean to you?
In Hebrews 4, verse
13.
For there is no hidden thing from his
sight, but all things are open and laid
bare to the eyes of him with whom
we have to do and to whom we
have to give account.
If this doesn't touch you deep down in
your heart, then I pray that God will
also give you a dream that will shock
you.
There is no created thing, nothing that is
not open to him and for him to
see.
Nothing in your life, you, your very self,
are open and clear, naked before him, your
whole life.
All things are open and laid bare to
his eyes, to whom we have to give
account.
We'll have to give account to God of
everything, even our thoughts.
Every word we have spoken.
Why that girl had to go home and
speak in the presence of her family and
the people with whom she lived, I don't
know.
But there's a possibility that at home, if
you're with your wife, your children, your friends,
that you can speak a lot.
But remember this, you'll have to face it
squarely, one day before heaven and earth, you'll
have to give account of everything.
You'll have to give account to
God
of
everything.
When that woman at Jacob's well met the
Lord and said to the Lord, give me
of that water that I may not need
to come and draw water all the time,
but that I may have that water of
living water, that I may no longer thirst.
Then he says, go and call your husband.
She says, I've got no husband.
He said, yes, you're speaking the truth.
You've had five already.
And the one with whom you are living
now doesn't belong to you.
He's got his wife and his children.
He doesn't belong to you.
But you are living with him as if
you are married.
And then she ran, she ran to her
town.
And she said, come and come and see.
There's a man who told me everything.
Come and see whether he isn't a Messiah.
I said, he was on, was on.
The very fact that he told her everything
of her past life brought her to the
place where she says, that must be the
Messiah.
Have you met the Messiah?
Have you met with Jesus?
When you met with him, did he reveal
to you everything of your past?
Were things exposed?
Did you have the feeling everything is laid
bare before him?
Nothing hidden that hasn't been touched and dealt
with.
Is that true of your life?
Is your Jesus the genuine one?
Is it this one?
And there's a translation that says, this is
the one about whom we talk.
When you meet the Messiah, you say, this
is the one about whom we talk.
But when you meet Jesus, you say, this
is the one about whom we talk.
This is the one about whom we talk.
Let one stone, leave one stone unturned.
And you turn it as well.
Because when he comes, he'll even reveal the
thoughts.
Is this the Jesus that we know?
Is this the Jesus that we find?
In his light.
Is this the Jesus with whom you walk
and talk?
With whom you have fellowship?
That you are walking in his light.
One John 1, verse 9.
If we walk in the light as he
is in the light.
As he is in the light.
There's no darkness in him.
Then we have fellowship one with another.
With him and with each other.
And then, and only then, the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all
sin.
The
blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us
from
all sin.
Now you can also go through life with
your mouth, your lips clamped shut.
And where you say, I will die without
revealing this thing.
I'll go into the grave with it.
But remember you'll meet the one then who
will open those clamps and open those lips.
I've told you about this dream.
Which isn't of great importance.
The word of God is of greater importance.
But still, it's a pointer and a reminder.
That when you are dead, Jesus will say,
is there something you want to say?
And then hidden things will come to light.
The things which you've spoken with your best
friends or your greatest enemies.
Whether you've spoken in confidence.
You'll have to give account for those things.
Are you walking in perfect fellowship with the
Lord?
You see what it entails?
You see what it means?
You see how you get there?
Are you walking in that light?
But we
don't
know.
Time has gone.
Let me close with a story that you
know.
You know the story of that king of
Persia who had a prime minister who
was a Jew.
They had a very good relationship.
They got on very well together.
They were almost like twins even though they
were from different nations.
And then after some years suddenly that friendship
just ended.
There is unfortunately such a thing that friendships
end.
You know
that
even married couples, they promise each other, take
an oath that they will stick together through
thick and thin.
They get married even if the parents weren't
in agreement.
And everything just seems to be wonderful, like
in a dream.
All the heavens are filled with violins and
harps, etc.
Just marvelous.
But after some time, they hate each other.
They want to kill each other.
And they divorce each other.
The one buries the other while he or
she is still alive.
Such things happen.
They end up fighting each other like cat
and dog and they have to get other
people to come and mediate.
So friendships do end, even among Christians.
And so
the
king, when this man was no longer in
favor with him, spoke to his counselors and
he said, this Jew, he now could refer
to him just as a Jew, he said,
this Jew, I'm sick and tired of him.
Don't want to see him anymore.
He just spoils everything.
When he's around, I can't enjoy a thing
anymore.
He said, I just don't know what I
can do with him.
And the counselor said, oh king, that's not
a problem.
Just chop off his head.
Just finish him off.
Kill him.
Just kill that dog.
And the king then said, but it's not
so easy.
Because we were good friends.
The whole nation knows it.
And they also like the prime minister.
So if I just execute him, then the
people won't understand it.
And I'll get into trouble for it.
But he said, well, I'll give it some
thought anyway.
So after a while, he went to this
Jew and he said to the Jew, you
know, you Jews are a clever nation.
You get anything right and you also get
anything right.
And I know that you'd also do anything
for me.
Everything that you are able to do.
You're a nation that can do wonders.
Didn't your ancestors go through the Red Sea?
And Pharaoh and his army were drowned there?
And then he said, my friend.
So he still refers to him as my
friend.
He says to him, my friend, he's just
hypocritical.
It's like some people also say to people,
God bless you.
But they actually mean the opposite.
You do put on a very friendly face,
but your heart is quite different.
And the king said to his prime minister,
to the Jew, he said, look, you know
my dog who accompanies me wherever I travel
and wherever I am.
Could you please teach my dog to talk
like a parrot?
He said, show me how capable you are.
And he said, look, I'll give you a
whole year to do this.
I'll give you 12 months, but after 12
months, this dog must talk.
And so the king made a public announcement
for everyone to hear that he had given
his prime minister this commission to teach his
dog to talk.
For 12 months.
But the king said, I expect him to
teach my dog to speak within a year.
If he doesn't, he'll be executed.
The whole nation was shocked.
They couldn't believe that the king could be
so unreasonable.
And they saw through it.
They saw through it.
They could see that the king's motives were.
So the people had much sympathy for the
prime minister and they spoke to him.
They said, but what are you going to
do now?
How are you going to get this right?
How are you going to get out of
this one?
He said to them, don't you worry.
The king's given me a whole year, 12
full months.
So much can happen.
They noticed.
King.
And the prime minister was not perturbed in
any way.
He said to the people, anything can happen.
It's 12 months, 365 days.
So much can happen.
The king can die.
I can die.
The dog can die.
After three months with only nine months left,
they went to the prime minister and said,
well, are you making any progress?
He said, no, the dog still doesn't talk.
After six months.
Can the dog talk?
No, it doesn't talk yet, but he was
quite happy.
They said, but can't the dog at least
say one word?
Can't it even just say no?
Or yes.
And they said, well, it can't say a
word.
Well, and then they thought, well, it's such
an old dog.
It's also difficult to teach an old dog
new tricks.
And then one month was left.
Can it talk?
No, it can't.
And they said, well, we also noticed that
it can't talk yet.
And then eventually one day was left.
The king called the man and said, prime
minister, can my dog talk now?
He said, no, it can't.
He said, well, it's such an old dog.
It's also difficult to teach an old dog
new tricks.
Can it talk?
No, it can't.
The king said, tell me, does my dog
talk?
And the prime minister said, oh, king, the
dog is talking non-stop, like some woman.
It says he just doesn't stop.
He just talks non-stop.
The king was surprised.
And then the prime minister continued.
He said, but king, there's one problem.
Which shocks me.
The king said, well, it's such an old
dog.
The dog is now talking to such an
extent it doesn't want to stop.
And the problem is, oh king, that the
dog is talking about all the disgraceful things
that the king has done.
Everything the king has done, he's talking about.
He says, king, for example.
He says, king, for example, when you went
to Paris, in France, and you went to
those prostitutes, those brothels, wherever you went, the
dog was with you.
And now he's talking about everything you did
and every detail.
And the king got angry.
He said, kill the dog.
If you can't get the dog to stop
talking right now, then kill it.
Kill it.
And the prime minister said, oh king, don't
worry.
I've already killed it.
I've killed the dog this morning already.
We are born.
You see, a person doesn't like it when
the things he's done come to light and
are revealed.
He says, have you come to the Lord
Jesus Christ with all the hidden things in
your life?
Have you come to the cross for him
to forgive you, that you be cleansed in
his blood?
The Bible says, if
you hide your sin, you will not prosper.
You can stand on your head.
You will not prosper.
And if you covet, but if you confess
that sin and forsake it, you will receive
mercy.
Do you see how you receive mercy?
But if you come to Jesus and you
say, Lord Jesus, I come to you and
I want to confess that I have had
four husbands, four men in my life.
But he knows that you've had five.
Do you think you'll receive forgiveness?
Aren't you now a liar?
You are now sinning again.
Now I'm closing.
Everything, but everything, have you brought it to
the light?
Jesus said, do not fear man who can
just kill the body, but fear him who
can kill the body and then has the
authority to cast you into hell.
That's what he spoke when thousands were milling
around him, but then he addressed his disciples.
This is what I'm telling you.
He looked at you.
Well, I'm Now
I'm thankful I've given you a wonderful Christmas
message because now you can come to the
child to the Christ child with your sin
confess it and receive mercy and grace.
I hope that now you know what you've
got to do.
I hope that this is plain enough.
We have to face it squarely.
Whether we like or not, those untouched things
have got to be touched.
Unturned have got to be turned.
Those unconfessed sins have got to be confessed.
If you want to prosper in the future,
if you want things to go well with
you, if you want to experience revival in
your life, that is the way.
There's no other way.
If you don't go that way, undoubtedly you'll
end in the wrong place.
Then things will be exposed before the judgment
throne, which is not the throne of grace.
Let us pray.
Lord, I pray that through your Holy Spirit
and through your Holy Word, you will touch
every heart, that all hypocrisy will stop now,
and that the truth will come to light.
Amen.