This morning we read from Holy Scripture in 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We will read the first 17 verses and notice especially in this chapter the emphasis upon the office of Christ, that is the emphasis of Christ when it speaks of Him according to Psalm 118 as the stone, the cornerstone, that God chose upon which to build His church. And then notice that the adjectives that are used for the members of the church emphasize that they also hold office, hold office. 1 Peter 2, wherefore, laying aside all malice, And all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy, dearly beloved. I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King." We read that far in God's Holy Word. With that in mind, we again consider Lord's Day 12. Our emphasis this morning will be on question and answer 32, but again, we'll read that entire Lord's Day. Lord's Day 12. Why is he called Christ that is anointed? Because he is ordained of God the Father and anointed with the Holy Ghost to be our chief prophet and teacher. who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption, and to be our only high priest, who by the one sacrifice of his body has redeemed us, and makes continual intercession with the Father for us, and also to be our eternal king, who governs us by his word and spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the enjoyment of that salvation he has purchased for us. 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. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, there are two good reasons why, at least this time, through the Lord's Days of the Heidelberg Catechism, we spend an extra Lord's Day on this particular one concerning Christ. The first is that we often assume, since the matter of prayer and a life of obedience or good works is in a separate section of the catechism, namely the section on the knowledge of our deliverance, that because of that it is not treated elsewhere within the catechism. And therefore we can also assume that that does not belong to God's act and work of salvation. for us and in us. That is not true. The material that is in the section on the knowledge of our thanksgiving is an aspect, an important part of our salvation. And that becomes clear in a number of places within the Catechism. We don't intend to pause at all of them, but here is one. And we especially pause here to take note of it because the catechism here emphasizes that our life, the life that we have as God's people, is closely connected to Christ Himself, inseparable. It flows out of Christ and into us. And secondly, that life is exercised within an office, and that office is connected to the office of Christ. So this is one good reason, and this is a good location to pause and take note of the extent of Christ's work of salvation for and in us. This particular Lord's Day emphasizes, as I indicated just a moment ago, that that life we live is not simply an independent life of our own or even one that we exercise by the power of the Spirit independently from everyone else or even Christ, but is related to this notion of office. It has to do with the title that is given to us. Every one of us is given a very important and significant name. It is a part of your name. It's a part of our name that we don't often think of, but we should. That name is actually a title. Imagine if you had a title. Most of us don't because part of the democratic experience is that when we were formed as a nation independent from England and the British Empire, we, by law, rejected the notion of title. No more would there be counts and countesses and dukes and earls and kings and queens. At most, we would have a president and representatives, no titles. And what titles are allowed are mainly academic, doctor, or perhaps even reverend. Think of all the individuals and how they strive for titles, how important those titles are, what these individuals would be without those titles. And you get a sense of how important it is that we are called Christians. That's significant that our Heidelberg Catechism takes note of that. It seems rather insignificant in Scripture. The word Christian was originally a pejorative, a word to slander and demean. You Christians, you followers of Christ, you'll find that in Acts chapter 11, that first The followers of Christ in Antioch were called Christians. Then the church, moved by the Spirit, adopted that pejorative term, took it as a sign and an epitaph of glory and honor, rightly so, so that when Paul stands before the Jewish leaders, especially King Agrippa, notice that title, and gives a defense of himself in Acts 26, that man says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And then in the very book that we read from, two chapters later, we get an indication of how that word had taken hold. For Peter says, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God on his behalf. Well, the church noted that. Took note of that. seemingly innocuous point, and realized something very profound was being taught by the Holy Spirit, namely that that's our title, a title given to every one of us, and a title that has a close connection to Christ himself and his title. So we pay attention to that, especially this morning. We consider the question, who is a Christian? Who is a Christian? And we notice three things from the Word of God in our Heidelberg Catechism here, that first of all, a Christian is a student and prophet of Christ. Secondly, a servant and priest of Christ. And thirdly, a citizen and king of Christ. We begin with this by noting that a Christian is someone who is both a student of Christ and a prophet of Christ. This is one aspect of what we call the threefold office of Christian. Even as Christ holds a threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, so also does the Christian. Each Christian hold a threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. We receive this office by virtue of our connection to Jesus Christ. And that connection is faith. That is what the catechism is teaching. Why aren't I called a Christian? Because I am a member of Christ by faith. And thus, that is, and thus as a member of Christ by faith, I am partaker of his anointing. Take note once again of the importance, even the absolute necessity of faith for salvation. Faith is the explanation for our connection to Christ, our being a member of him and being a partaker of his anointing even here. In fact, the idea is that by virtue of being united to Christ by faith, by believing in Him, we partake in the very same anointing which Jesus Christ received and by which He was qualified for His office of Christ. That anointing is, as we noted last week, the Spirit. We are anointed with the Spirit through faith. And by that anointing, we are qualified for our office of Christian. We don't have time this morning, but take note of that aspect of the work of the Spirit or the importance of the Spirit from time to time in the Holy Scriptures. For example, we read in Scripture of receiving the divine unction from the Holy One. The idea there is the qualifying anointing of the Holy Spirit. And by that, the apostle goes on to say, we know all things. Talking about, again, receiving the qualifications for the office that exercises knowledge. We must understand that. When we receive the Spirit, we receive not only all things necessary for our salvation and all of our salvation that is found in Christ, but even the qualifications of our office. And we receive that office from the Spirit Himself. That is the one who equips us and gives us power to work and labor in that office. Also, notice that this is the office of every believer. The office of every believer. We know that term, but think now where that term comes from. It's saying every believer holds an office, and that office is a Christian. Every believer is a Christian. Everyone who has faith is a Christian. So the answer to the question who is a Christian may be answered in part by saying everyone who has faith, everyone who is truly united to Jesus Christ by faith, everyone who is thus a member of him and a partaker of his anointing is a Christian. There simply is no such thing as a Christian who is not united to Christ. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not hold that title or that name without the offices of that title. It's worth emphasizing because this is how you must see yourself. You may see yourself as a believer. That emphasizes the essential character of faith. But as soon as you do that, you must never forget that you hold an office. You're not simply an individual in a church. You're not just simply an individual that's wandering around this earth aimlessly, without purpose and direction. The salvation that's given to you isn't simply given to you to exercise on your own behalf, but exactly because it is given for purposes of office, it is given for purposes of others. and the benefit of others. We are chosen to that office. Even as in the Old Testament, all the office bearers were chosen. Chosen by God, that's essential to office. We emphasized last time the honor and respect that's owed to office. And I hope we understood that the honor and respect that's due is due to the office, not the individual as such. Although we should have honor and respect for the individuals who hold office, it's hypocritical if we say only I respect the office of elder, but have no respect for the individuals who hold that office. Nevertheless, the idea is that God chose you for that office. And honor and respect is that we recognize that. That's really what submission, an honor of office has to do with. It's simply recognition that this one or that one holds a certain authority and power that God gave them. You're recognizing that essential ache. It's not really even enough that we say, well, I recognize they have certain power and authority, but that God gave that to them. Well, we have to recognize that about ourselves. There is a certain honor. and respect that we owe to our children, just for that reason. You may treat your children just any way that you please, simply because you hold the office of mother and father, or even because you hold the office of prophet, priest, and king. Consider always, when you train and you deal with your children, they've been qualified for an office. May be young in that office, may have a lot to learn in that office, But if they've been baptized by the Spirit, if they've been anointed by that Spirit, then they hold these offices too and must be treated accordingly. Take an individual in the church that perhaps is annoying to you. Their personality is not that of yours, not the kind of person you normally would associate with, but you must admit they have faith. They love the Lord Jesus Christ and they serve him, they hold office. And you owe them a certain respect and honor in that office. And we may never forget that about others or about ourselves. And God has chosen for that office. God doesn't simply appoint us unto salvation, but he appoints us to be Christians and thus have that office. Hopefully when we go through this, we'll see that we honor these offices, and thus we honor Christ who gave us those offices, when we do not minimize them, do not denigrate them, even with regard to ourselves. Again, without at all trying to minimize the danger of pride and the destructive power of pride, On the other hand, neither may we say about ourselves, well, I'm not much in the church. I don't amount to much. I really have no calling. I really have no role. I really have no place. About that time, you should check yourself and by faith believe that you are a Christian. And as a Christian, you hold an office, an office as important and as functional and with the same duties as someone you might consider the greatest. in the church. Always remember that. Positively, we honor the office by carrying out our duties. This adds a dimension to the life of good works and thankfulness that we don't often think of. In fact, we can easily get ourselves into a tremendous trap thinking to ourselves that these are duties that we carry out simply because God tells us to. Or somehow they of themselves please God. Changes things quite a bit when you remember, no, I must carry them out because my calling pertains to my office. God gave me a privilege. God gave me a special place. And in that place, in that office, God says, now do these things. Function as a prophet. Function as a priest. And function as a king. We honor that office when we recognize that we're doing that in every aspect of our life, too. Hopefully we can emphasize that as we go through. But it's not the case that we only function as Christians here on a Sunday. But as soon as you leave this place on Monday, you will be carrying with you, wherever you go, the mantle of prophet and the robe of priest and the crown of a king. And you need to see yourself that way, by faith, of course. Now, back to the fact that a Christian is a student of Jesus Christ, I make a point of that because that follows from the fact that our office is related to Christ and Christ is our chief prophet and teacher. The Catechism, of course, emphasizes that since Christ is a prophet, we also are a prophet. but understand you need to be qualified for that office. We said that qualification is essentially by receiving the Spirit, but the Spirit now goes to work, and he equips you for that office, and he does that by, first of all, recognizing that you're a student. If Jesus is your chief teacher, you ask yourself the question, well, who does he teach? And the answer is you. Thus, you are, first of all, a student of Jesus Christ. What is the content of that instruction? Well, go back to the previous question and answer, and it says that Jesus is a teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and the will of God concerning our redemption. That's the first thing and the main thing that we have to learn. Certainly, as students of Jesus Christ, there is lots to learn. But the fact is, the main thing to learn is the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption. matters that pertain to faith. The fact that we are students of Jesus Christ also means that this may not be separated from anything else that we learn. We may not allow our children to simply learn about the various aspects of this world, call them matters of creation and providence, without also that fundamental teaching of Jesus Christ, His will, and God's counsel concerning our redemption. You may not separate those two. Never may we learn simply biology apart from theology. Never may they learn about the creation apart from the Creator. That's simply what it means to be a student of Jesus Christ. Jesus, of course, is always teaching us. If you ask yourself, where primarily am I a student of Jesus Christ, part of the answer is here in church. We come here to learn. This is why we place great emphasis upon catechism. These aren't just simply things the church does. The church does these things because it understands we are always students of Jesus Christ. And notice that, always students. No more than you can lay down the mantle of prophet. No more than Jesus laid down the mantle of prophet when He ascended to heaven but continues to exercise that office, so also we are always students. You're not done learning when you graduate from Covenant High School. You're not done learning when you conclude your catechism studies by confession of faith. You're not done learning simply because you become a mother and a father who are very, very, very busy. That doesn't mean always that God expects all of us to be great readers as busy mothers and fathers. That's good. We've got to find time to do that. That's an essential part of learning. But Christ is always teaching you about the will of God through your life. Do you look at your life that way? Do you say to yourself, what is Jesus teaching me today? What is Jesus teaching me right now in this hour? And what am I learning? It includes the truth of God Himself, the truth of our salvation. And note, this is part of believing in Jesus Christ. I'm going to go right back to Lord's Day 7. And what did we learn about faith? What is faith? Faith is a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed in his word. What is that? That's learning. So it fits. See how it all ties together? The knowledge that we have by faith is a learning that comes by virtue of the office of Christ as prophet teaching and our role as students of him as the teacher. Now, we don't simply learn for any reason or for our own sake, but we are students of Jesus Christ so that we might function as prophet. That's the primary office. Being students simply serves that office. The more we learn, the more we know, the more we understand, the better we can function as prophets under Jesus Christ brings out an important aspect of learning, and that is to recognize that Jesus exercises that office of prophet in Himself. I know, Jesus is prophet by speaking and teaching, by preaching. But don't forget, there's something about Jesus Himself whereby He reveals the will of God. Ask yourself, what is the secret will and counsel of God concerning our redemption? Ask yourself that question. That's the chief thing God reveals through Christ as prophet. Now, I ask yourself, how do you know that? Well, you look at Christ. God revealed that secret will by bringing Christ into this world, by bringing Him to the cross. There in His crucifixion and in His death and in the shedding of His blood is really everything you need to know What about our redemption? It all focuses on that event. It all finds its goal in Jesus Christ. I bring that up because now we have to function as prophets and part of our prophecy is to also reveal the secret will of God and counsel concerning His redemption. The message don't change. Notice that. Catechism says, as prophet, we confess His name. That's all it says. But that's more than running around saying, I believe in Jesus. It's teaching about Jesus. It's confessing what we believe about Jesus. And here especially, let's emphasize just for a second how that's exercised for the benefit of others. A prophet didn't speak for his own sake. Otherwise, the prophet could have just stayed home and mumbled in his closet. But the prophet was sent out, and sent out to speak to others, and sent out to speak for their benefit. For some, it served as a hardening, exposed them as the reprobates they were. They rejected that word and thus were ripe for God's judgment when it fell upon the nation. But for others, it worked repentance and sorrow of heart, so that they found refuge in the great grace of God in Jesus Christ. You function the same way as prophet. And it's not for your own benefit. Your calling isn't simply as prophet to sit in your house and mumble about what you believe and what you think about Jesus Christ for your own benefit. It's for the benefit of others. That's what a mother's doing when she sits down with her children and reads them a Bible story. When the fathers make sure their children are learning their catechism. You're functioning as a prophet. You function as a prophet when you take the events and circumstances of your life or the lives of your children or your neighbors, and you bring them back to God. We make a grave mistake when we as prophets show up in a hospital room where someone is suffering, and we simply say to them, well, you know, you'll get better. Could be worse. The doctors here are really fine and good. No, take the opportunity to bring them Jesus Christ. Confess the name of Christ. Remind them of the will of God concerning their redemption. Now there's real comfort, you see. That's how we function as prophets. And when we don't, we're poor prophets. We're poor comforters. This is what we do as a church. A church consisting of prophets is a church that preaches Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's a church that reveals the secret will of God concerning redemption. It's a church that prophesies by bringing the truth about God and His salvation. And of course that's what we do as individuals. Now, the other aspect of office is that of priest. But notice, a Christian, therefore, by virtue of the fact that Christ is our priest, our high priest, is also a servant of Jesus Christ. And when he functions as priest, he functions as a servant of Jesus Christ. Got to go back to Christ again. We said Jesus is the high priest. The priest of God and the priest of God's people. in that he functions as a mediator. His chief calling, we read, is to bring the sacrifice of his body. By that sacrifice, he has redeemed us, and he makes continual intercession with the Father for us. We emphasize that the great qualification of that office was the great mercy and pity that God had for his people, and that he functioned as high priest In that, number one, he was the sacrifice and the high priest who brought the sacrifice. And he brought the sacrifice and was the high priest who brought the sacrifice that he might remove the offense between us and God. He removed the offense that makes us enemies of God. That's what a priest did. Function as an intermediary, a mediator, one who stands between the people and God, people who are dirty and filthy with sin, who cannot otherwise stand in God's presence and otherwise would be consumed. And he continually makes intercession. Now, that very fact makes us servants and also friends of God. That's why we always define the covenant in terms of a relationship of friendship and service. We often forget the service part, but it's our history. Always remember that we are friend-servants of God. Both of those are emphasized in the Scripture. First that we're servants. How are we servants? When Jesus made that sacrifice, he redeemed us. That's the word that's even used in the catechism. The secret will and counsel of God concerning our redemption. Redemption is to purchase, to purchase one from another who is over them as Lord, who holds them as slave. So that when Jesus paid the price, he bought us as his own, purchased us. so that we can confess I am not my own, but I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Your body is not your own. Your soul is not your own. Your works are not your own. Your thoughts are not your own. None of your possessions are your own. They all belong, including you and your innermost being belong to Jesus Christ and belong now in the relationship of Lord and servant. You are his slave. That's the actual word in Scripture, slave. You're slave of Jesus Christ. Now that might be onerous and oppressive to us were it not for the fact that our Lord and Master is our friend. And there Jesus emphasized that also. Jesus said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And then he even says this, henceforth I call you no more servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, indicating that God has, as prophet, revealed the secret counsel of God concerning our redemption. I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you. So we're friends and servants, first of all. Only then can we function as priests ourselves. What's our calling as priests? Well, the Catechism says this, to present yourself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him hereto. Amazing thing. What that means, first of all, is that there's nothing that stands between you and God except Christ. If you are a priest, then you function just as those priests did in the Old Testament. Not directly now, not as such, but through Christ. In Christ is God. God is Christ. The point is, nothing stands between you and Christ, ever. Well, you remember that. I don't. The elders don't. Your parents don't. By virtue of the fact that Christ is our high priest and makes continual intercession, you may go directly to him for everything. May communicate with him. Now, as priests, and with that in mind, our work is to present ourselves a living sacrifice of thankfulness to him. Notice about that. First of all, it points out we carry out this office by worship. by praising Him, by glorifying Him. That's what we're emphasizing here this morning as we gather for worship. We're all priests clothed in the white robes of the priesthood given to us by the redemption of Jesus Christ being justified by faith in His blood. You're priests. You're commuting directly with God. That's what you do when you pray. But there's more than that. It's that you present yourself a living sacrifice. Notice again the connection to Christ. You're not a priest that simply brings a third thing, a thing called a sacrifice, to God, but you bring yourself. You present yourself, even as Christ did. Christ on the cross was both priest and sacrifice, and that's reflected even in us. We don't say to God, now here's my worship as some sort of third thing, but here I am. You present yourselves. Now, there is a huge difference between the sacrifice you bring and that which Christ brought. Christ was an atoning sacrifice, a burnt sacrifice, one that redeemed, one that bought, one that purchased, one that earned. You can't bring that. You may bring that, in fact. If you bring that, then you completely destroy the office of Christ. You deny Him, in fact. If you say to yourself this morning, I'm bringing myself and my worship to God, and I am attempting to do that to earn my salvation, to make God pleased with me, to somehow atone for some evil things that I did this week, you deny Christ. But if you're a Christian and you're a priest of Christ, nevertheless, you do bring yourself as a sacrifice, only now a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Again, reflected in the Old Testament. People of God didn't bring simply atoning sacrifices, but sacrifices of thanksgivings. Sacrifices of their first fruits. Sacrifices of their crops. What do we bring ourselves? Ever look at your life that way? What you do in the Kingdom of Heaven? The exercise of these duties and these gifts in the offices that way? I'm doing this because I'm thankful. I'm offering up this to God, this which God first gave me, that never really did belong to me, that I wouldn't have apart from the grace and the pity of God. I return it. I bring it to Him in gratitude. That's what it means to be a priest. It's the only proper priesthood in the exercise of that office. We bring ourselves. Lastly, we consider that a Christian is a citizen and a king of Christ. You see, a Christian is someone who is a citizen of a kingdom exactly because Christ is a king, and that's the kingdom. You cannot, first of all, see yourself as a king under Jesus Christ unless you understand that you're a citizen of his kingdom. When Jesus exercises the office of king, one of the essential qualifications of that office is power and authority comes to the foreground here too. Prophets did speak with authority, thus saith the Lord, but you see that power and authority, especially in the office of kingship. That's why as the life of Christ proceeded on earth, and the state changed from humiliation to glorification, that office came to the foreground. Oh, Jesus flashed it many, many times when he was on earth. Even on the cross, you can see that kingship. But especially there, the priesthood is on the foreground, but then he rises from the dead. And he starts to exercise his power and authority with regard to his disciples on the earth. 40 days later, he ascends into heaven. Where does he sit? At the right hand of God. The very throne of God in heaven is king, showing his power over all things, including us. The power to direct the spirit according to the will of God, to wield the power of God over the whole creation, to exercise that power in the salvation, including the damnation of men. And especially, we're going to see soon, in the gathering of His people into a kingdom. He doesn't simply save us as such, but He saves us by drawing us out of darkness into light. The idea is that light is the light of the kingdom. We're citizens of that kingdom. That's where our citizenship lies, not in this earth, not in this world. You are not fundamentally a citizen of the United States, but you're fundamentally a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And the benefit is that you receive victory, power. Notice that when you get to Christ. He is our eternal king who governs us. How does he govern us? by his word and by his spirit. What does he do in that government? This, he defends and preserves us in the enjoyment of that salvation he has purchased for us. Purchases, of course, his priest. Now as king, he defends us and he preserves us in the enjoyment of that salvation. And you may say now, well, how do I enjoy that? Where do I enjoy that? And the answer is, as a king. As a citizen of the kingdom, but now as a king. Christ makes you king. Under Him, of course, you're completely dependent upon His kingship. But we're Christly kings. And keep that in mind, too. Wherever you have authority, you exercise that authority as a king under Christ, a Christly king. Not an earthly king. Not as a lord and a tyrant and a brute over others. You don't exercise that office of king for your own pleasure, whether it be as an elder or as a father. That's not Christly. Christ makes us kings, he says, look at me. You exercise that office with my power and authority that makes you a servant king. Go back to high priest, see, we're priestly kings. A royal priesthood forever, right? That's what we sing, that's what we find in 1 Peter 2. Priestly kings, that is merciful kings. Kings with pity, kings with great sympathy. Those who exercise an authority for the benefit of others, not ourselves. Remember that, husbands. Remember that. You were made head. You were given a kingly authority in your home, not simply as fathers, but as Christians, to exercise with the same sympathy and pity and love as Christ. Christ, who is Lord of heaven, knelt down and washed all his disciples' feet, went to the cross, took all his kingly power and authority and, as it were, cast it to the ground. He said, I set it aside that I might come under the authority and power of these ungodly, wicked men and rulers and kings. I do that for your sake. That's the kind of kings we are. Catechism puts it this way. We're kings who with a free and good conscience. Notice free and good conscience. Not free and good conscience because you made it so, but free and good conscience because by faith you believe that Jesus has paid the price for all your sins. That gives you a free and good conscience. Notice how Peter brought that up too. That same section near the end. The apostle says you're free, you're at liberty. You're at liberty. Only don't use that liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, to hide behind, to be a hypocrite behind. But nevertheless, you have a free and good conscience. To do what? To fight against sin and Satan in this life. When you're made king, you can do things you couldn't do before. Couldn't fight against sin, powerless against Satan. But as kings, You can fight against sin, don't ever say that. You may say that if by that you simply mean in and of yourself, then I understand what you mean. If the elders come to you and say you need to stop your abuse of alcohol, you need to stop abusing your wife, you need to stop stealing from your neighbor, you need to start working, then don't say well I can't. Well, you can if you don't have faith. You can if you're not a Christian. But if you're a Christian, by faith you can. Catechism says so. As a Christian, you're given a free and good conscience so that you may fight, you can fight against sin and Satan in this life. You're king under Him. And then, what's really amazing about that, we may not forget this, this is the office that especially shows itself in heaven, in the new heavens and earth, just like it did with Christ. When He ascended, then you could see. Paul saw Him on the road to Damascus, in all His glory, in all His power. Saints have been given to see that. The saints in heaven see that now. We don't see that so much. But remember, that's one of the glories of heaven. A child of God who becomes a king and finds indeed many failings. Knows that power now, but knows also many failings. Catechism puts before us that prospect for hope, of course. so that we continue by faith that afterwards we will reign with Him eternally over all creatures. Isn't that an amazing thing? That part of our redemption, part of our salvation is a kingship such that there's not even a battle or war anymore against Satan and against sin. We will simply function in those offices perfectly and gloriously, sinlessly under Christ our King. Amen, let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, O Lord, we thank thee for this great salvation that has been purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ and given to us through the baptism of the Spirit, that belonging to Jesus Christ we are anointed with his office and are given a great privilege, qualified with great powers to be prophets, priests, and kings before him and under him. O Lord, we are weak, but thou art strong, Continue to bless us and guide us and lead us with that which we have been taught by Jesus, our prophet, and to glory and give thanks for what he has done as our priest and for his kingly rule and power in our lives. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.