We read God's Word this afternoon from 1 John. We will read all of 1 John 2. First Epistle of John, Chapter 2. This is the word of the Lord. My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby, we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith, he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whoso denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and he need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him. Thus far we read in sacred scripture. The text for the sermon is question and answer 32 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Having considered question and answer 31, why is he called Christ that is anointed? Last week, now we turn to question and answer 32. But why art thou called a Christian? Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of his anointing, that so I may confess his name and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to him. And also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in this life, and afterwards reign with him eternally over all creatures. Can it be said of us that we stick out? From a certain point of view, that's exactly what we don't want. Most of us, probably, don't particularly enjoy being the center of attention. And we all have a desire to be accepted and to fit in. But in a much more important way, from a different point of view, This is exactly what we ought to desire, that we would stick out. That's because to be a Christian is necessarily to stick out in this world. The believing child of God is, in this life, a complete foreigner. The Bible speaks of us as pilgrims. who are wandering along through this life knowing that we have no final home here, continuing to press forward toward our final destination on our way to our real home. But all the people around us who do not believe view this world as their only home. And so they live like it too. So for us to stick out is for us to experience exactly what we would expect as those who live in a world of unbelief with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A world that is completely opposed to the Christian faith leads us to stick out. So it's true in theory. But again, I ask, could it be said of us that we stick out? It's true in theory, but is it true in practice? Is that true of you? Is that true of me? Is that true of our church? Is that true of our denomination of churches? If we are justified in taking the title Christian upon ourselves, it will be obvious So is it? Would a stranger who could see into your home, or would a visitor who wandered into one of our worship services here, someone who had never heard of our churches or even heard the gospel before, be able to tell immediately that there's something different about him. There is something different about her. There is something different about them. Ah, that's the difference. They're Christian. In that connection, I want to speak briefly about Article 29 of the Belgic Confession as we introduce this sermon. Belgic Confession Article 29 is on the distinction between the true and false church. But there is, in Article 29, an important paragraph on true Christians as well. We confess this. With respect to those who are members of the church, they may be known by the marks of Christians, namely by faith. And when they have received Jesus Christ, the only Savior, they avoid sin, follow after righteousness, love the true God and their neighbor, neither turn aside to the right or left, and crucify the flesh with the works thereof. But this is not to be understood as if there did not remain in them great infirmities, but they fight against them through the Spirit all the days of their life, continually taking their refuge in the blood, death, passion, and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they have remission of sins, through faith in Him. Just like the true church, so true Christians have identifying marks, and above all others, They are identified by this mark. They have faith. Other things are listed there that confirm that identification. They sorrow over their sin. They fight against it. They love God. They love the neighbor. And there are a few others, too. But first of all, These people called Christians are those to whom God has given the gift of faith. Faith is of such a nature that we will stick out. Faith looks at all the world's hatred for the church and all the efforts of the people of the world to destroy the church and all the pressures that come to forsake the church and forsake the true gospel And faith says, I won't give up. I believe. I trust in Jesus Christ. And that makes us different. So it's entirely fitting that as we progress through our development of the Apostles' Creed in this series of Lord's Days of the Catechism, that statement of what our faith believes entirely fitting that we stop to acknowledge that we are only Christians at all by the gift of God. Confessing ourselves to be Christians is the theme for the sermon. Why we are called Christians, how we therefore live, and what we hope for. We are called Christians. The word Christian began to be used already in the New Testament era, but it's not very common in the scriptures themselves. In fact, the word Christian appears only three times in the Bible. Likely, the word originated with Gentiles, probably as a derogatory term, a mocking term for these people. whom these Gentiles saw around them converting to this new religion as they saw it. But eventually God's people embraced this term and they willingly took it upon themselves. What a fitting title to have because it means simply someone who follows the Christ. It is one who adheres to his teachings, who even belongs to him. And so, to be able to be called, to be able genuinely to be called a Christian is a badge of honor. Obviously though, not everyone who takes the title upon themselves ought really to do so. There are a great many professing Christians today who don't actually have any interest in the things of God. There are many who claim themselves to be Christians, but by a life of wickedness expose their claim as a lie. There are many who claim themselves to be Christians, but the Christ that they claim to follow is not the Christ of the scriptures. There are many who claim to be Christians who have only an intellectual sort of interest in the Christian faith and don't have any sort of living connection to the Christ of the gospel. That's not surprising because even in John's day that was true. So that he had to say this, Little children, it is the last time. But they were not of us. If they had been of us, They would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." There are those who profess Christian faith for a time and who eventually, in some way, expose themselves as those who do not follow Jesus Christ and who go out and depart the church. So who can rightly claim this title of Christian? These sorts of people that we were just considering a moment ago, these are not the sorts of people who genuinely meet the description of what a Christian is and what a Christian does. They might claim to follow Christ, but in reality, such people are walking down a path of their own choosing. They are not following Christ. They are following whomever and whatever they desire. Or is it 12? In question and answer 32 shows us who it is that actually fits the description. Who it is that is a genuine Christian. So why? Why are we called Christian? The first reason that the Catechism gives is that we are members of Jesus Christ by faith. Faith, of course, is first of all that bond of union between Jesus Christ and us. So that even before it becomes conscious and active, God unites us to his own son and we become members of him. But then we can also say that faith as an activity is in focus here in question and answer 32, as it relates to our own conscious experience. Because the question is, why are you called a Christian? Why are you called a Christ follower? And as far as our own sense is concerned, we experience that we are Christians when we put our trust in Christ and when we begin to follow Jesus Christ. We can rightly be called the followers of Christ because we have done that. Those who do not trust in Christ, even if they are elect children of God, who will one day put their trust in Christ. If they have not yet done that, then they are not following after Christ yet, and they are not yet Christians. When we say that we are the members of Jesus Christ by faith, we are not merely saying that we are part of the local church. Of course, that's still true. God does, in his grace, draw to himself all of his people, and as he draws them to himself, he also draws them to the local congregation, and he draws them to become a part of the local church. But the focus is on the living connection that we have to Jesus Christ as the members of his body. Because we are his members, his life flows through us. Because we are his members, we belong to him, just as your arm is your arm. It belongs to you, and your life flows through that arm, so too with us as the members of Christ's body. And it is Christ of whom we are members, the anointed one, ordained and anointed as prophet, priest, and king. And because that is so, we share in, we partake of His anointing. And that's the other reason that the catechism gives for why we are called Christians. It is because we partake of His anointing. The Holy Spirit, who anoints Jesus Christ, therefore also anoints us. The same Spirit rests on us and richly dwells within us. Meaning, that as Jesus Christ was anointed and ordained to hold a specific position, the office that God gave to Him, so too with us. We are ordained and anointed to hold a specific position. It could not be otherwise, because we are united to this anointed Jesus Christ. Of course, that's not to say that we are then ourselves anointed to be Christ's. There could only be one Christ. There could only be one who would hold that great position. No one else can. but we are still given anointing, and so we have office. We have a position that God has given to us as His people, and that office, you know, is the office of all believer. For some, that office of all believer is joined to also being someone who holds official office in the church, a deacon or a pastor or an elder. But not for all. But regardless, every single one of us holds office. Every single one of us has this glorious position given by God, anointed unto it by God. That position, a believer. And because we are office bearers, just like those who hold official office in the church, so too even those who do not, every one of us is called to serve God and to serve on behalf of others, even to represent God and represent Christ to those around us. 1 John 2 indicates these things. We read this in verse 6. John addresses those who are abiding in Jesus Christ, and that means they are united to him, exactly as verse 5 indicates when it says, Hereby know we that we are in Him. We're in Christ, united to Him. Similarly, verse 24 speaks of remaining in the Father and in the Son. Then we have verse 20. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Unction It's the same word that's translated anointing in verse 27. You have an anointing from the Holy One, from God, through the Holy Spirit. Just as Christ is anointed with the Spirit, so are we who are united to Christ. And then there is verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Again, verse 27 says you are anointed. And the point of both verses 20 and 27 is to say that because you are anointed with the Holy Spirit, you can know and understand the truth. And so, we are Christians, those who adhere to Jesus Christ and to his teachings and who follow him and those teachings. This is, everything we've been saying so far, profoundly important for us because of our own sinful weakness. Whether you have before or not, The day may come, even if you have not yet had such a day, when those questions enter your mind and suddenly you can think of nothing else but the question, am I, am I actually a Christian? How do I know? How can I be sure? that question is there, the devil immediately wants us to go to our own works as the way of evaluating ourselves. And the reason is that we will inevitably come to see the weakness of those works. We will see their sin stains. And so we will be led to conclude, okay, I'll try harder. Tomorrow I'll be better. And then the next day comes, and we do just as poorly as we did the previous day, if not worse. And so we say, I'll try harder tomorrow, and so on. The process continues until we become so utterly disillusioned that we give up, and we say, I guess I'm not a Christian after all. The devil can never snatch us from the hand of Jesus Christ. Let that be plain. He can't. But he can work very, very hard at robbing us of our assurance. And he does everything that he possibly can to reach that goal. So when that question is there, am I really a Christian? How do I know? Think of the words of Belgic 29 again and say, by God's grace, I have faith. I have the gift of faith. If we can say that, we are Christians. Our faith is not perfect, it never will be, because we remain sinners all throughout this life until we enter into glory. But it's not about that. It's not about how good your faith is. It's about the object of the faith, Jesus Christ, God's Son. And it's about the simple fact that that faith is there as the gift of God unto us. And seeing that it is, we then live out of it. And we put our trust in Jesus Christ all the more. We sink the roots of our faith down deeper into Christ. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to say, I have faith. And by faith, I am a member of Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 23 of the chapter we read says this. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Those italicized words ought not be italicized. In the King James, the italics indicate words that have been added, that are not there but are given to help us understand the sense. That's not really the case here. Those words should not be italicized because they belong. They are there in the original language. He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father, Also, the one who acknowledges or confesses the Son has the Father. Confessing the Son is the fruit of putting our trust in Him by the gift of faith. And that gives evidence that we have the Father too. All of us hold the office of all believer. the office of a Christian, a Christ follower. But then we all also have specific tasks and specific responsibilities that we carry out as those who hold this office of believer, according to our own individual station in life. So that some are mothers, some are husbands, some are employees, some are single members of the church, some are office bearers, installed into office in the church. And the list could go on. And of course, more than one of these things can apply to a person at a given time. And in each case, living out the Christian faith means living like the office bearer that you are in the particular station which God has given to you. Serving God, serving on behalf of others, even representing God and representing Christ his son to those around you, so that husbands are called to love their wives and to give themselves for their wives in that way, reflecting Christ's own love and care for his bride. And single members can use the added time that they have and the various God-given abilities that they have in the life of the church, reflecting Christ's devotion to the church and his love for her, for all of her members. And that really brings us into the second point, doesn't it? Why are we called Christians? We've answered that. How then shall we live? How we therefore live is set forth in most of the content of Answer 32. Three things, really. Confessing Christ's name as living sacrifices and fighting sin. Those three things come out in Answer 32. How we therefore live first by confessing Christ's name. That, you recognize, is the work of a prophet. Prophets speak God's word to others on God's behalf. Christ is our chief prophet and teacher. We saw last time in answer 31, revealing God's will regarding our redemption, our salvation. And because we partake in his anointing, that anointing then flows down to us and we too are prophets. speaking God's Word to others, even saying some of the exact same things that Christ says as God's own prophet, speaking of God's will regarding redemption, regarding our salvation. As prophets, we can and we do confess the name of Jesus Christ to those outside, to those who do not profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We witness We evangelize as prophets of God, not merely meaning that we use the name Jesus a lot while we are speaking, but that we speak of all of the things relating to His person and His work. We are prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking about Him. But then we can also say that we are prophets in such a way that we confess to those around us within the church. We confess Christ's name to them, too. That's speaking of spiritual things. Speaking of what God has done for you. Speaking of what you have seen Him doing in your life of late. Of course, it's good that after church, we gather in the other room over there and we speak about one another's lives. The work of the last few days has gone. How the week went. What the kids have been up to of late. But shouldn't we want to, and in fact especially want to, shouldn't we also be speaking about the worship service that just concluded? Speaking about how the sermon impacted us? Speaking about questions that we might have in relation to the sermon? asking one another questions about their own spiritual lives, reflecting on a favorite Psalter number that we sang during the worship service, asking what others have been doing lately to grow spiritually, and all these sorts of things. And so, in our specific callings, we can see clear examples of how we might do these sorts of things. Speaking to those within the church A mother can very clearly find ways to do that with her own children. She can speak with them as she's caring for them in the home of the great things that God has done for us. She can find opportunities to teach spiritual lessons to the children as the day goes along and be always pointing them to Christ. And then, as regards those outside the church, Others have all the more opportunity to speak, confess Christ's name in that setting, too. Employees, for example, can speak to their co-workers or to their clients, or even they can just work in such a way that it's clear that they're different and eventually others are going to ask what makes them different and now here's a door of opportunity that's opened. An opportunity to speak, to confess the name of Jesus Christ and to speak of His grace and our salvation through Him. Remember, The language of the Catechism is that we are made partakers in Christ's anointing, that we may do this in order that we can. God's purpose is that we would. We've been given the ability both to witness to others and to speak to one another about spiritual things. We are God's prophets. Multiple verses in 1 John 2 speak of knowing God or having or knowing His Word, or having that Word within us. Verses 13 and 14 and 24 all hint at, or even very explicitly state, that idea. And if that Word is in us, it is by God's grace. If it's in us, then it will come out of us. Jesus said, Luke 6, 45, out of the abundance of the heart, The mouth speaks. We live as prophets confessing Christ's name. We also live as living sacrifices, and that you understand. is the work of a priest. Priests offer sacrifices before God. Christ is, we saw last time, our only High Priest, interceding for us and also offering Himself up in His body as our one sacrifice for sin. And then His anointing flows down to us, and we partake in that anointing. And so, we too are priests, and we offer up ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The difference, of course, is that our sacrifices are not atoning sacrifices. They couldn't be, because Christ did that already. All of our sins have been taken care of. We don't need to offer up a sacrifice that will pay for sin. But instead, our sacrifices are only thank-offerings in response to the salvation that we have. In thanksgiving, everything about my life I now lay down as an offering. We say, I give myself to Him. It's all His. My job, my friendships, my parenting, my recreation time, everything. We lay it all down. We're saying in every area, I will live for God and I will live for His Christ as a living sacrifice of thanks. And if I'm sacrificing my own life, that will mean making Sacrifices, too. You might not be able to take all those expensive vacations that your neighbor or your coworker is able to take, going on long backpacking trips and visiting other countries for weeks on end and so forth, because that would take me away from the church. I lay these things down. I lay myself down as a living sacrifice. And I'm not going to take myself out of the church for an extended period of time like that. You might not be able to afford that update for your kitchen that you've been wanting because you're giving to the general fund, laying yourself down as a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ and to our God. Christian mothers, Lay it all down. Applying themselves to raising their children as best they can. Sacrificing rest. Sacrificing personal pleasures. And so forth. And they do that because they're Christians. Because they're priests of God. Sacrificing themselves as thank offerings. Husbands. Dwell together. with their wives, they lay it all down, they give up some of their personal comforts and some of their personal pleasures, things that they might like to do with their own spare time or their time off work, and they do it because they're Christians. They dwell with their wives according to knowledge, as 1 Peter 3, verse 7 puts it, because they are the priests of God, sacrificing themselves, their own bodies, as living thank offerings to God. And single members in the church, Christian singles, lay it all down. They look for ways to use all their many gifts in the service of the church because they are Christians, because they're priests of God, sacrificing themselves as living thank offerings. Verses 3 through 11 speak of keeping God's commandments. That's living for God and not living for self. Laying it all down, offering ourselves up to God, offering ourselves up to Jesus Christ in thanksgiving for the anointing that we have in union with Christ. Notice especially verse 6, "...he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." One who abides in the Lord Jesus Christ will follow Him, will lay down his own life as a living sacrifice and will follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. will walk as Christ walked, which is to say, self-sacrificially as the priest of God. Finally, as regards how we then live, we live fighting sin, and that is the work of a king. Kings defend their people, even in times of war. Christ is our eternal king, answer 31 says, defending and preserving us in the enjoyment of that salvation that he has purchased for us and doing that eternally. In his anointing, then flows down to us, and we partake of that anointing. And so we, too, are kings going to battle every day, fighting with a free and good conscience, Answer 32 says, with a free and good conscience, because we know that even when we fall, We can't be totally overcome. Christ has already defeated the devil and defeated all of our sin by his cross. So our conscience is free as we fight. Sin and Satan battle us hard, they do. But we are kings, men and women alike in the church, all of us, we're kings. sharing in the anointing of Jesus Christ, the King. And so we fight back. We fight to the last man, as it were. And so mothers face temptations to speak harshly toward their children when they are misbehaving and when they're being difficult. Husbands face temptations to forsake their wives for another. Employees face temptations to be unfaithful with the time that they have in the workplace while they're on the clock. Singles face temptations to discontentment with God's way for them. Office bearers face temptations to allow false doctrine into the church. So many temptations against which we must fight, but we are kings. And because we are kings, we can fight with a good conscience. We're Christians. And so we follow hard after King Jesus. Christ the King who conquers all our enemies and gives us the strength to fight on every day. Verses 15 through 17 clearly show the calling that we have to fight against sin and Satan. Love for the world. can be a temptation, and it often is a temptation to every single one of us, regardless of the station that we have in life. But there's also encouragement here, isn't there? Verses 13 and 14 both say this, I write to you, young men, I have written to you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. And it's not just the young men among us who get to hear that commendation and that glorious promise. Every one of us hears it. Ye have overcome the wicked one. By God's grace, we already have. And in the end, we will, too, because we are members of Christ. because we partake of His anointing. At the last, every one of us Christians will overcome the wicked one. And that leads us into what we hope for. We hope for reigning with Christ eternally. There is a future dimension to our kingship. We don't, at present, have the full, final, glorious reign. It's true that man was given dominion over the creation, but that was corrupted because of the fall. And even now, it is not perfected. It is not complete. It's still corrupted on account of the sins that we commit and that others commit. But one day, we will have that reign in perfection. will be kings over all creatures, with God reigning as king over all. Canons of Dort say this, Head 5, Article 2, after the bulk of the article speaks of the fact that we have daily to battle sin, and it gives us all the more cause to flee to Christ in true humiliation and repentance, then this, We press forward to the goal of perfection. Till being at length delivered from this body of death, we're brought to reign with the Lamb of God in heaven. That's not to say that our battle goes perfectly in this life. That's why we need this lasting hope. But we have that hope. And we look to that. So fully united are we to Jesus Christ that we even partake in His eternal kingship. And that's encouragement for us. To mothers who are burdened, burdened by the trials of motherhood, so often not very glamorous, not very comfortable, You partake of Christ's kingship eternally, too, and you will one day rule over all creatures in a far more glorious place than any palace that this world could possibly afford you. To office bearers, right now, You exercise your rule in the church imperfectly because of sin. But the day is coming when we will reign perfectly together with Christ. No more will our work on behalf of the church be stained by sin. That hope, that glorious hope, governs our lives even right now as prophets. We can be sure that we will reign with Christ in glory. And so we speak about that, too, when we confess the name of Jesus Christ. We prophesy of that. And then as priests, we offer ourselves as sacrifices because we are thankful that we have salvation through his sacrifice, including our final salvation in glory when we reign together with him and as kings. We battle sin imperfectly all throughout this life. What a comfort to know that one day we will reign in perfection. We will have full victory. As Christians, as office bearers, every part of this for us stands in service to Jesus Christ. It's all because we're His, and it's all to His glory. We're Christians, we're Christ followers, Only by faith in Him. And so, people of God, live as the Christians that you are. Speak as prophets. Sacrifice as priests. Fight sin as kings. And all with the hope of eternity. Because, after all, that's God's encouragement to us. 24 and 25. And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life. Amen.