If you still have your Psalters out and you'd like to join me, I will be reading on page 74, Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 10. Page 74, top of. We're still looking at the idea of the Trinity, and Article 10 focuses in and emphasizes the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is true and eternal God. We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made nor created. For then he would be a creature, but coessential and coeternal with the Father. The very image of His substance and the effulgence of His glory equal unto Him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses says that God created the world, and St. John says that all things were made by the Word, by that Word which he calls God. The Apostle says that God made the world by His Son, likewise that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore, it must needs follow that He who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ did exist at that time when all things were created by Him. Therefore, the prophet Micah says, His goings forth are from of old. from everlasting. And the apostle, he hath neither beginning of days nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God whom we invoke, worship, and serve. And that ends our reading of the Belgic. And turning to our text, or at least one of them, Zechariah chapter three. So in the Old Testament, right after Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai, and Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him And the Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke you Satan the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem Rebuke you is this not a brand plucked from the fire? now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the angel and Then he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes. And I said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. the angel of the Lord stood by. Then the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, If you will walk in my ways, if you will keep my command, then you shall also judge my house and likewise have charge of my courts. I will give you places to walk among these who stand here. Hear, O Joshua the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you. For they are a wondrous sign. For behold, I am bringing forth my servant, the branch. For behold, the stone which I have laid before Joshua. Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree. And that ends our reading of the Word of God. Let's ask God's blessing on His Word. Father, once again, having read your holy, infallible, and inspired word, a word that we know has been fulfilled in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the angel and the branch, which comes and is the servant. And, Lord, we know that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. He came from above. He came from eternity. He came from your bosom, where he was with you from eternity. And he came in to this world and took upon himself human flesh. And when the time was right, Lord, he became that sacrifice that takes away all the iniquity in one day. Lord, just an amazing, amazing blessing that you have given To all those who hear your words and by the working of your Word and Spirit turn and repent in the name of Jesus Christ that we are forgiven, that we are encouraged, that we are strengthened, that we are filled with your Holy Spirit. and Lord that we are given eternal life. Father, we pray, bless this time and bless me and bring together the thoughts of my heart and mind in such a way that are pleasing to you. And we pray too that you'd give to each one here and each one listening the portion it is that they need to strengthen them, to encourage them, so that we might stand firm in the day of testing, that we might stay on that narrow pathway. Lord, all these things we ask in Jesus' name alone, amen. So in our study of the Belgian Confession over the last couple of weeks, we've been looking at the doctrine or the teaching of the Trinity as it's found and explained to us in the scriptures. In Article 8, the Confession speaks of what the doctrine is. We believe in one only God who is one single essence in which there are three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. In Article 9, the Confession speaks of where we can find it in the Scriptures. And again, even though it was a full page and gave us several references, it's not even close to what's actually in the Scriptures. The Scriptures are literally full. reference text of proofs of the plurality of the Godhead and so this doctrine is found in the Old Testament but with the coming of Jesus Christ the doctrine of the Trinity is fully seen and declared And tonight, in Article 10, the Confession speaks specifically of the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully divine and fully God. And so without a doubt, again, brothers and sisters, and I mentioned this before, but the identity of Jesus Christ is really at the heart of most of the battles over the Trinity. In fact, if we look back to the battles that the early church fought concerning the identity of Jesus, we find it was just the opposite problem that we have today. 2,000 years ago, when this declaration that was coming through Jesus Christ that he is part of the Godhead, that he is the Son, and that he is divine, he has a divine identity that is eternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, That was problematic for some people. They understood his divinity, but they did not understand how a divine person could come down in real human flesh and live as a real human being with all the weaknesses of humanity sin accepted. Today, the enemies of the Trinity are exactly the opposite, and that is that they have no problem. In fact, like I mentioned, I think this morning, many of the atheists, many of the people that are very dead set against God and his word will confess that the identity of Jesus Christ as a real human being, as a real historical figure, is accurate, that's true, that's a reality. There's too many witnesses to deny, and they know it. But the sticking point is on whether or not he's actually divine. Was he really raised from the dead? And is he really with the Father even right now? And so the B.C. Article 10 isn't dealing with the two natures of Christ. That will come later in Articles 18 and 19. But Article 10 focuses on the fact that Jesus is truly divine, that he's of the same essence with the Father, that his existence is eternal like the Father, that he's equal to the Father in all things, and that he is God, and that he is one of the persons of the Trinity. So, as I said, There are many who are quite religious and quite willing to believe in the heavenly God, but when it comes to Christ, they believe he was a real man, a good man, but not divine. They believe that we should emulate or imitate his life. but they can't wrap their mind or won't wrap their mind around the biblical fact that Jesus had a real existence with the Heavenly Father before he came into this world with a real human body. And brothers and sisters, I was thinking about this, this is a really critical thing, and this is really where we see the value of the Belgium Confession being taught in our churches yet today. Because the fact is is that there's at least three groups Two of them, which are very active, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons, and then also a group called the Unitarians. The Unitarians don't proselytize near as much, but both the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses are out there. They're active. And they go from door to door. And they're very decent, nice people. And they come and they have a care for you. And there are so many people that confess Christianity and confess Christ. But once they start talking to these folks, these people that are caring for them and visiting them and being a good neighbor to them, which is something, maybe a little bit of a rebuke to some of us, that we don't go out and do the same kind of thing. But they do this, but too many people do not know the deep, deep roots of the Trinity and the fact that Jesus Christ is divine. And so what happens is that when they come and they start spinning a little bit, because they use the scriptures and they use it very well, but they've also changed things. They have certain things that they've changed and twisted and corrupted, but if you don't know your word, if you don't know the word of God, if you don't know our confession, it's very easy to get turned upside down. And here's the problem, right? The issue is, is that you cannot have a real and living relationship with God if you've got this wrong. And what I mean by that is that God knows us. He knows how ignorant we are. He knows that we're not too bright on a lot of things. He's not looking for perfect knowledge on every point of doctrine in the word of God all the time. But when the Scriptures get bent, twisted, or perverted, and you come to start following after these people, they have teachers. And they're very skilled at what they do. And they don't lead you toward knowledge of God, they lead you away from knowledge of God. And just like Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven, that there will be many who come and they will knock and he will say, who are you? And you know, we did this in your name, we did that in your name, we cast out demons in your name, we did many wonderful works in your name. And he says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. So knowing what the Word of God says about Jesus Christ and knowing that He is God, one of the key things about the identity of Jesus Christ as divine is the fact that we worship Him. Okay? The Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses, the Unitarians, they all think very well of Jesus. They speak highly of Him. So do the Muslims, by the way. In fact, I'll just throw this out as an aside. But in the Quran, the Quran, if you actually know it, what happens is you can actually find places where the prophet, Muhammad, is actually revealed as a sinner. I mean, that's a fact. It's a reality. It's in the text. But Jesus, who is also in the Quran, is revealed as a perfect human being without sin, which is kind of mind-blowing. But the bottom line is that even the Muslims look at Jesus as a very good man, a very good teacher, the highest of saints, but not worthy of our worship. So when you go away from believing that Jesus is divine, you're not worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior anymore. And the word of God reveals that he is indeed divine, he is indeed God, and he is indeed worthy of our worship. And so this is why this thing that we're looking at is such an important point. So, in the end, it's of eternal importance that we believe in Jesus being God and being equal with the Father in reference to His essence and all His attributes. In John 16, verses 27 through 30, I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." His disciples said, "'See, now you are speaking plainly and using no figure of speech.'" Right? Because a lot of times Jesus was, in their minds, speaking over their heads. And it was later on that more and more of what He said began to make sense to them. Now we are sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you by this We believe that you came forth from God and when they say that they're saying that we know that you're eternal That you were with the Father forever and that you are indeed divine Believing that Jesus is divine and divinely equal with the Father in his essence and attributes is necessary according to the word of God. And Jesus himself tells us why in Matthew chapter four, verses eight through 10. And this is the devil with the third temptation. Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. So if we worship Jesus Christ and He's not God, then the Word of God itself says that you're wrong. We can only worship Jesus Christ if he is God. That's a fact, that's a reality. In Matthew 2, verse 11, and when they had come into the house, and they saw the young child, this is the wise man with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him, even as an infant. In John 9, verses 37 and 38, Jesus said to him, this is the blind man that he healed and gave sight. And he comes back and he's and he's talking to Jesus, but he doesn't know he's talking to And he says you have both seen him and it is he who is talking with you Then he said Lord, I believe and he worshiped him This is the proper conduct of a child of God that we worship our Lord Jesus Christ because he is God if Jesus is just a good man and a great teacher and a saint to be emulated and imitated Then we don't worship him We worship God and him alone, and Jesus Christ is revealed in the scriptures as God. So there's obviously many, many more texts that show that Jesus is worshiped. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ. Only one who has the perfection and glory of God can fully enter into the presence of God without being consumed. Only someone that is God himself can enter in into the Father, into the perfection of the light of the Father, and not be consumed. Only one can mediate between God and man, that He was fully pleasing in all ways to the Father. So the Bible, Old Testament and New, reveal that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is the God-man who stands and mediates between God and men. And so this evening I want to take us through a quick journey into the Old Testament to show us how the Holy Spirit reveals the second person of the Trinity. And again, there are so many more texts. And this has been a learning curve for me. I've really enjoyed it, too, because every time I get into this, I learn a little bit more about the depth and the breadth of the scope of how this is revealed in the Word of God. So in the Old Testament, before the Son of God came into the world in a fully human body made of a woman, the Old Testament Scriptures prepared the way by speaking of God in a way that revealed that although God is one, he is more than one person. Excuse me. We already saw that in Genesis 1, mentioned a couple of times already, that when God prepares to create man, let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness. Later on in the life of the patriarchs, the angel of the Lord is introduced. We see him very clearly in Genesis 22. where we read, just as Abraham was about to strike Isaac, he's got the knife raised, and then this voice, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. Now listen to this in verses 15 through 17. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, which is on the seashore, and the sand of the sea, which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice and so this is the angel the Lord Speaking you have obeyed my voice and therefore all the blessings of God will be upon you So here we see the angel the Lord speaking as the Lord same thing Genesis chapter 31 with verses 11 through 13 with Jacob Then the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. And he said, Lift your eyes now and see all the rams which leap on the flocks, which are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. Now listen carefully. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return. to the land of your family. So here the angel of the Lord says, I am the God of Bethel. So while there are several more instances of the angel of the Lord in Genesis, in fact, in Genesis 48, when he's talking to Joseph and his sons, he speaks about the angel of the Lord who has been with him. and shepherded him his entire life. And he speaks, again, very specifically of the angel of the Lord who has done this. But if we look forward into Exodus, in Exodus 23, verse 20, and this is like 300 years later, this is what we hear. Behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you in the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice. Do not provoke him for he will not pardon your transgressions. Now listen to this, for my name is in him. But if you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. Now here, this is to me such a kind of a mind-blowing text. Here we see that God and the angel of the Lord are so closely bound together that they are as of one. If you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, And so here's, it seems, the Father speaking, God is speaking, but also the angel of the Lord. And they're being bound together, united together in such a close, in such a tight way. that obey his voice and do all that I speak. In other words, whatever he says is coming from me as if it's coming from me. And again, we think about Joseph, you know, that he who hears Joseph hears the Pharaoh. He who sees Joseph sees the Pharaoh. He who hears the angel hears God. He who sees the angel is seeing God. So God says something peculiar about his angel. Now, I only took one commentator on this because I thought his text, what he said, was so excellent that I didn't need to add anything to it. But this is a quote. The phrase, since my name is in him, signifies the divine authority and presence within the angel. biblical terms a name represents character and essence. So this is a profound statement of the angel's identity, suggesting a unique unity with God, even as we just saw about obey his commands and hear my voice. And this quote, okay, I already said that. So in the book of Joshua, in chapter five, at the end of chapter five, we find the angel appearing as an armed warrior. And Joshua says, who are you? He says, I'm the commander. of the host of the Lord's army. In the book of Judges, the angel appears again to Samson's parents. In Judges 13, verses 17 through 18, we read this, then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, what is your name? and that when your words come to pass, that we may honor you. And the angel of the Lord said to him, why do you ask my name, seeing that it is wonderful? Remember, Isaiah chapter nine, when the prophet spoke these words. Verse six, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Okay? So why do you ask my name? Seeing that it is Wonderful, the angel of the Lord, now we have over here in Isaiah 9, verse 6, this child that is being born unto us, this son that's being given, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So here we begin to really see what the divine writer is revealing again and again, all through. There's a whole revelation that's pulling through the whole Old Testament. In this text, The prophet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is declaring that the angel of the Lord will be the son of the virgin. This angel's son is Almighty God. And this brings us to Zechariah 3, where we find the angel of the Lord forgiving sins, right? In verses one through three, then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to rebuke him. And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, which by the way is just a horrendous thing, right? Because Joshua is the high priest. And so with him wearing filthy clothes, which was something that like in the high priest, they washed like on the day of atonement, like five different times. and their garments had to be spotless, because they were representing something. But here he stands, and he's just covered with filth, and it represents the sin, not just of himself, but all the people. And he's clothed with filthy garments, standing before the angel. Then he, that is the angel, answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, take away the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, see I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with rich robes. And so here we see the angel of the Lord as God himself taking away sin and removing iniquity, and I'm going to leave the rest, I had some more stuff on that, on the rest of what's said here, but it's a little bit convoluted and it's not clear enough and so I'm just going to skip that and then conclude this. But in Luke 5, verses 17 through 26, we find the story of Jesus healing the paralytic, right? His four friends bring him, and the house is so crowded, they can't get near Jesus. So what they do is they put a hole in the roof, and they lower him down so that he's in front of Jesus. And it says in verse 20, when he saw their faith, he said to them, man, your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? And they're absolutely right. That's what the word of God reveals is that only God can reveal or can remove sin and take away sin. But yet we see in the Old Testament, we see the angel of the Lord who is somehow different from the Lord himself, but yet he is God and he can forgive sin. And this is who Jesus now in the flesh He is the angel of the Lord, come in the flesh, and now is the son of man. And so their problem is that they didn't understand that the angel of God was to come in human flesh, and he would be known as my servant, the branch. And he, having the name of God in him, Had and has the power to forgive sin if you jumped over to Luke chapter 7 at the end of that 36 through 50 you have the story of the woman who is a sinner in the city and of course, you know Simon the Pharisee and they go back and forth and then he says near the end of that story his he says because of your faith your sins are forgiven you and again you have again scribes and Pharisees that are present and they start reasoning and questioning this who can forgive sin but God alone and they're right but they're wrong about Jesus because his identity is that of God he is truly divine and as God he has the power to forgive sin as a man He has the power to mount the cross and become the perfect sacrifice, which he must be, he must be one like us. And Job, when he looks for a mediator, he says, can we find a mediator, one who can put his hand on both of us? And Jesus Christ is the only one who can span that gap. He is able to identify 100% with God the Father. And he's also able to identify a hundred percent with men Because he is a man and so therefore brothers and sisters Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God and he is the one who has come and he is the one who who can and has forgiven sin. And so with that, brothers and sisters, we will pray that the Lord will continue to give us insight and understanding of Jesus Christ and so that we would come to know him better because it's actually through Christ that we come to know the Father. And it's through Christ that we receive the Holy Spirit. And so Christ is the key to our growing in grace and in truth. as Christians. Amen. Father, once again, we come before you this evening hour, and we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the doctrine of the Trinity, which is so amazing, and there's so much good fruit in there. And we know that there are parts of it that are beyond us. And we understand that. But we also understand that you have revealed it all through Scripture, that you are more than one person. You are one God, one essence, and tied together so tightly that you are one, but yet at the same time revealed in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Father, this has such deep implications for us. But we know that really the key to revelation is Jesus Christ himself, for it is Jesus who came into this world. It's Jesus who reveals the Father to us. And Father, we know too what the Word of God says, that our Lord Jesus Christ says, that you will hear Him, and you will answer Him. So Father, we pray. We don't pray in the name of the Father, and we don't pray in the name of Jesus, we don't pray in the name of the Holy Spirit, and we hear different people doing that, that they pray to the Father, they pray to the Son, they pray to the Holy Spirit, but Jesus Himself has revealed that we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ through the power the agency of the Holy Spirit and so father receive our prayers cleanse us and we pray that you continue to continue to educate strengthen and encourage us in your word in your spirit and that we would be able to stand that when when those detractors those those very Oftentimes, ignorant people themselves, but people that have been trained to come and to attack the second person of the Trinity, to come and attack the divinity of Jesus Christ, Father, that we'd be able to stand and gently show them from the Scriptures Jesus Christ is divine and that he must be worshipped and he is the key to knowing you the father He is the key for us to grow in grace and truth. He is the key Lord for all things that that Those that do not know Jesus Christ father in the end will be rejected. So father we pray Continue to reveal Christ to us even as Christ continues to reveal you to us Lord all these things we ask in Jesus name alone Oh.