God's word. Remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words which does no good but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. And among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal the Lord knows those who are his and Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity So far the reading of God's Holy Word let us turn also in forms in prayers book page 281 and Article 15 of the Fifth Head of Doctrine, the final article. And then we'll make some reference to rejections of errors six and seven. And this will be our final week here in our study on the 400th anniversary of that Synod of Dort. These kinnahs were first adopted So let us read, and again, it's a lengthier article. I will read it. Article 15, Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance. This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints and about their assurance of it, a teaching which God has very richly revealed in His word for the glory of His name and for the comfort of the godly which He impresses on the hearts of believers, is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The Bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure, and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, The official seal, sometimes called the Great Seal of the state of Wisconsin, has a lot of symbols on it. It has two workers, a coat of arms with a number of symbols on it, and then a beaver and some other things on it as well. It has only one word, the one word motto of the state of Wisconsin. Forward. The official seal of the United States is not quite as busy and a version of it appearing on the penny and the motto of it appearing other places. Perhaps you're a little maybe even more familiar with the national seal than you are with the state seal. So what is on the official seal or the great seal of the United States? Well, it is an eagle with the flag, the American flag on its breast, holding an olive branch in one talon and 13 arrows in the other talon. And then you could think about what the symbols mean, but we're focusing tonight on the words of seals, the motto of seals. So what are the actual words on the seal of the United States? E pluribus unum, one out of many. Seals are used to authenticate official government documents. They're used even particularly for documents of passage to this day. The seal of the United States, and you might be familiar with it from the penny and other places, including your passport. It's on the front cover of every U.S. passport. And seals did similar things in the days of Jesus. An official seal would mark something as authentic, something as true and would mark someone as being officially able to pass from one place to another and also There might be seals, this is even very particularly appropriate in the context of 2 Timothy 2, there'd be seals on buildings sometimes left by a builder declaring who built it, what the building was built for. And so we think tonight about seals, a word which is, I hope and trust familiar to many in the churches. It's something we think about often when we think about the sacraments, but we think about it here also. It's used as an illustration of what's going on, of how God marks his people, of how God marks the church, of how God marks the faith in that broad sense. And we'll see that the seal on God's people inscribes both our comfort and our obligation. for this evening are first the impression of the seal or the actual words of the seal and then second the abuse of this seal and then third the beauty the beauty of this seal well this is what is the impression of this seal and and and what is this where is it impressed what is it oppressed upon well we have the words foundation there at the beginning of 2 Timothy 2.19. But God's firm foundation stands. What is this firm foundation? Again, we've already mentioned that seal is perhaps familiar to us because we think about the seal as it relates to the sacraments. Well, now we have a seal here. We can say the same thing about foundations. Scripture uses the illustration of a foundation for more than one thing. So that can actually be a little bit confusing. We can talk about the foundation of God himself. We can talk about the foundation of God's word. We can think of how Jesus Christ calls the apostles, the foundation of the church. Or we can think about the foundation here. What is the foundation here? Well, the foundation here, it's the context of the church, the faith standing against false teaching. God's firm foundation stands. But more broadly, the context runs like this. There are those who are swerving from the faith. There are those who are leaving the faith, teaching false doctrine, but stand on sound doctrine and God's firm foundation will stand. His church will stand. There will be those who swerve from the truth. There will be those who leave the church, attack the church, support false doctrine, but the church will stand because God knows his own. and his own are faithful. So foundation is used for a number of things in scripture, but it's an illustration. They're not contradicting one another. It's just the same illustration used for different things. You are to stand firm in the faith as it says in 1 Corinthians 16, and the faith itself is firm. We could think of 1 Timothy 3.15, which says something very similar but a little bit different. 1 Timothy 3.15, what does 1 Timothy 3.15 say about the church? If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." 2 Timothy, the faith, the church is itself God's foundation. which will stand firm in the world. In First Timothy, the church is a pillar and a buttress. A pillar, a buttress, they're not the same thing as a foundation, but they're two different illustrations expounding upon the same basic truth. It will stand sure. It is firm. It is strong. So scripture uses the same illustration to speak about different truths and so sometimes it's confusing to mix metaphors for this reason. At the same time, It can be fruitful to meditate upon these things and think about what some of the terms from the New Testament can be combined together. So we might think of it this way. God himself is the bedrock. His eternal decrees stand underneath everything. And then his church is a foundation with pillars in the world that stand strong. Though there will be those who are hypocrites and apostates, and though the world will attack it, it will stand strong. And this building has many stones, which are individual members who are a part of that building. And Christ himself is the chief cornerstone of this building. See, scripture gives us many metaphors. to think of the faith, to think about what the faith is, to think about who we are as a part of God's church, as the faithful ones who are a part of the faith. And what is the motto on the seal, on the foundation of God's building? It is simply this, words of comfort, the Lord knows those who are His, and words of obligation. Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart. from iniquity. That word there, depart, it's the strong word. It's literally apostatize, apostatize, depart from, have nothing to do with. And sometimes you can leave something, but you're not apostatizing from it. Think of someone who moves from one place to another. So you move from Wisconsin to Iowa. That happens sometimes, right? Sometimes people move from Wisconsin to Iowa. Well, are you apostatizing from Wisconsin? Are you leaving Wisconsin and now you have nothing to do with it? It would be wrong to go back. It would be wrong to wear a Wisconsin Badger sweatshirt. You have to apostatize. No, that's not what someone does when they move from one state to another. And you don't think of it that way. But what is apostasy? What's the strong word there? It's to leave iniquity and have nothing to do with it anymore. Don't wear the sweatshirt. Don't think about going back. Depart from it entirely and be in a new identity completely. Depart from it. Have nothing to do with iniquity. This is how. the people of God are sealed. This is to be the very motto of the faith and of individual faithful members. And this is true throughout scripture. We can think of many places we can turn. We can turn to Numbers chapter 16 and we see this basic pattern that the Lord knows His, He chooses His own and those who are His own must depart from iniquity. Now it's in narrative form so it's not said so explicitly although some commentators have noted that there's some almost direct quotes from the Old Testament Greek. Paul most likely has this on his mind and if we think about the context of 2 Timothy 2, he's talking about those who have, they're spreading false truths and he even names Himenaeus and Philetus. And what is number 16 about? It's about a rebellion. Those who are swerving from the truth and those who are false teachers are named. It's Korah and his rebellion. Korah and Dathan and Abiram and those following them. And so we see in the beginning, towards the beginning of this narrative in number 16, verse 5, and Well, beginning at verse 4, when Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, In the morning the Lord will show who is His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Him. The one whom He chooses He will bring near to Him. What's the theme we see there? The Lord chooses, will show. Surely the Lord knows those who are His. Again, this is in narrative form, so we'll jump forward some verses to verses 23 and 24, but even those who are younger here, can you pick out the language of departing from ungodliness? And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, now verse 24, say to the congregation, get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The Lord will show who is his, the Lord will choose who is his, the Lord knows those who are his. Depart from the tense of Korah and Dathan and Abiram. Depart from the tense of, again, not the most common names, but Hymenaeus and Philetus. Depart from iniquity and false teaching. And that's the Old Testament. The New Testament says it more clearly, more obviously. John chapter 10, verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Do you hear the same pattern there? The Lord knows who are his. I know my sheep, and my sheep depart from iniquity. They follow me. That's what it means to depart from iniquity, to follow God. So, people of God, let us reflect on these truths. Let's reflect on these many symbols, sometimes overlapping, and in that sense, we can't think of them as contradictory just because the same illustration is used for two different things. Sometimes, complementary, and even combining together when we meditate upon them, when we think upon them. God is the bedrock. The church is on that solid foundation and it has a seal which even has a motto upon it. We know what that motto is. We know what the motto of our country is. We know what the motto of our state is. What is the motto of the church? The apostle tells us. Sealed upon us. Impressed. Inscribed. upon us. Now, are there some who abuse this seal that surely has attacks from all sides? It is something which the flesh does not understand. The middle of article 15, Satan hates the world, ridicules the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse and the spirits of error attack. Notice this is this is this is every side in the spiritual realm. Satan hates it. Does does Satan hate the teaching that God knows who are His and that we must depart from iniquity? Satan surely hates these things. He does not want us to know this seal. He does not want us to reflect upon this seal. What about within the church? Spirits of error attack. It is, there are those who, rejection of error, turn back a couple pages. There are those who teach rejection of error Number seven, there are those who teach that the faith of those who believe only temporarily does not differ from justifying and saving faith except in duration alone. What's going on there? They're saying every faith is the same. It's just some people fall out of it and some people don't. No, no. Scripture tells us that there are different kinds of faith. They are fundamentally different. And so the answer to that error we read for Christ himself in Matthew 13 20 and following Luke 8 13 and following clearly defines these further differences between temporary and true believers and then what is that that's the parable of the seed which falls on rocky ground which falls on true soil that they're different they're different there are there are those who came in of us but they were never really of us because the seed fell on rocky ground. They never really had true faith or they were choked out by the thorns of the world. So some reject this. They are simply ignorant. They hold up false teachings then. there there are others who within the church at out of ignorance abuse it by using it as an excuse for sin and uh... we see this in uh... rejection of errors six but really it says the same thing as article thirteen because there are those who say that assurance is an inducement to carelessness and so that's answer their article thirteen well you know were saved so that we can sin, right? No, no, this is an error spelled out in Article 6, spelled out in Rejection of Error 6, answered in Article 13 as well. It's within the church attacked in these different ways. And then also, so in the spiritual realm it's attacked, within the realm of the church it's attacked in different ways, within the world it is attacked. How does the world attack trust in God, assurance of faith? The world attacks us in all kinds of ways. One of the ways is, you know, there are those in the world who say, well, you know, we're just going to die, and some people don't like to think that, and so they believe in religion. And so then religion is called, right, a crutch for weak minds. That's how Jesse Ventura said it, Richard Dawkins says basically the same thing, but Sigmund Freud was teaching the same kind of thing before them and false worldly wise men were teaching the same kind of thing centuries before that. It's a tact. in all kinds of ways, but with the growth of atheism today, it's basically attacked in this way. Well, you just believe in God because you want religion because you're scared of death. Well, yes, I am scared of death, but you should be too. But no, this life is not all there is. You see, it's a completely false ridicule of the faith. They say that it's weak-minded because they do not know the truth. So it's really just a way to elevate man up. Well, look, I acknowledge I'm going to die, but I'm not scared of it. Really? Really? No, people of the world are scared of death. They just don't want to say it. So there are many attacks, there are many abuses on this seal, and there are many who abuse the truth of this seal, but we must hear them not. God's foundation is sure. His word is sure. This is the seal of the faith. It is taught so clearly It is said so explicitly. We might say this, sometimes the illustrations could get in our way if we think about too many illustrations at the same time, but just clear that out and just hear the word said so clearly, the Lord knows those who are His and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Both of these things are true. In balance, Do not be afraid to stand on this firm foundation of what God has clearly sealed against the devil and his whispers, against false teachers and their arrogance or carelessness to follow God's commands, or against the ridicule of worldly wise men. Stand firm. Memorize the motto of the faith. which leads us directly to the beauty of the seal. Know that the Lord knows you and calls you to live for him. This is beautiful. After that middle section, Article 15 says, again, the Bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly. We have every right to defend it steadfastly. It is taught clearly. God will ensure that the church, she will continue to do this. Why can we be so confident that the church will always believe this doctrine, that the true church will always believe this doctrine? How can we be so confident? Well, we might remember John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. What about the author of the Scriptures? What does he do? Romans 8, 16, and 17. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Lord knows who are His. And then let us be driven to godliness. What does Romans 6 say? What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means? Let us stop at this point, people of God, and simply say this. The ignorance, the abuse, the attacks against this teaching are not because scripture is not clear. The motto of the faith is said directly in our passage. The question itself is answered directly in Romans 6, explicitly, clearly. You know, sometimes, sometimes we ask, right? Sometimes we ask this, you know, why didn't God just say this more clearly? And we say that sometimes, right? And understandably so. Maybe we say it even about something as essential as the Trinity. Well, Scripture teaches it so clearly, but why didn't it just use the word Trinity? That would have been nice. It didn't have to. Scripture is sufficient. It's taught clearly. Maybe baptism, we think of this, right? Why couldn't it just say it explicitly? Why couldn't Acts 2 be even more clear? Why did it have to be possible to divide up the sentence in this other way? There are a number of things we can say this about, right? Yes, we know it's true, but it would have been nice if it was just said right there. People of God, we have no excuse. This debate, the fact that there have been those who have attacked, that there have been those who have lived carelessly in abuse of this seal, makes it very clear that even when God does speak explicitly, we still mess it up. How more clear could God be? How many more ways could He say it? Should we send that grace by him out? By no means. What is the very seal, the very motto of the faith? The Lord knows those who are his and those who are his depart from iniquity. It's in balance. It is in beautiful balance. It is said with explicit clarity. We really have no right to come to God and say, why couldn't you say this or that more clearly, even when God says things with open clarity, church still debates it and abuses it. Of course, the world still ridicules it. The world ridicules all that is God because the cross itself is seen as foolishness. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means? How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know, Romans six, verse three, that all those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? In other words, we participate in Christ. We are to be his godly servants. Let's go to one more explicitly clear statement from, again, Romans 8 could be the chapter explicitly on comfort. 1 John could be the book explicitly on comfort. John 3, verses 2 and 3. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. We are God's children. What do God's children do? God's children seek to be pure as he is pure, departing from iniquity, apostatizing from it, having nothing to do with it. You see, we should, we must, we can rightly believe and love this doctrine. This is a beautiful seal. It is a beautiful motto. And so, Following the pattern of scripture, Article 15 ends with words of doxology and praise. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. First, Peter begins with words about God's foreknowledge and then those who then walk in his sanctification. 1 Peter moves towards its conclusion, again with this pattern of praise to God. 1 Peter 5, verses 10 and 11. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, make us indeed to be those who know the motto of faith, which is so sure that you know your own, and that your own are those who confess sin, look to you, depart from iniquity. Make us to love this foundational and beautiful and so clearly stated truth, even making it lead us to come in praise, glorifying your name. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. People of God, our song of application number 484. Let us stand to sing. Lay upon God's altar Good and loving deeds ♪ And supply your needs ♪ ♪ Anxious and despairing ♪ ♪ Any walking night ♪ ♪ But to those that fear him ♪ ♪ God will send his light ♪ In God's love abiding, I have joy and peace. For in all the wicked, though there will be peace. In His care confiding, I will sweetly sleep. For the Lord my Savior will in safety keep. People of God, it is time now for our evening gifts and offerings. This evening is for the General Fund. Following that, our benediction. Finally, our doxology number 563. Yeah. People of God, if you would stand, if able. Let us receive God's parting blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. The Christ, our Savior, and the Father's boundless love, with the Holy Spirit's favor, rest upon us from above. First may we abide in union with each other and the Lord, choice which earth can not afford. Amen. you