We turn to God's Word this morning, to the Gospel according to John, to the first chapter of John. We begin reading at verse 19, and we'll read to the end of the chapter. John 1, beginning at verse 19, and this is the record of John Speaking of John the Baptist, this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it. I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh the man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Again, the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, what seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day for it was about the 10th hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip and saith unto him, follow me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael said unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word. It's on the basis of this text and others like it that the Heidelberg Catechism bases its teaching in Lord's Day 12. Lord's Day 12 This morning we're going to consider especially question and answer 31 and then next week or the following week, next week is the Lord's Supper, but the following week after that then we'll turn our attention to question and answer 32. But let's read both of these questions and answers this morning. 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 congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, what a wonderful thing it was, as we read here in John chapter 1, a wonderful thing for Andrew to find his brother Simon Peter and to speak those magnificent words that never were spoken before in all of Old Testament history. When Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter and says, we have found the Messiah. You understand that this was the hope and this was the anticipation of every child of God in all of the Old Testament. when the Messiah would come. And that Messiah was first announced in the Garden of Eden as the seed of the woman. That seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the serpent. And from that point forward, Adam and Eve and all of their godly offspring were fastening their hope upon that seed of the woman to come. And that seed of the woman was the Messiah. And then all throughout Old Testament history, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of the Israelites, the history of Judah and all the time of the kings, The captivity of 70 years and the return of captivity, there's one common theme, there's one common denominator that makes sense of all that history, of all that Old Testament history, and that one common theme is the Messiah. The people of God were waiting and hoping and longing for the coming of the Messiah. And this Messiah, it was revealed throughout the course of Old Testament history, would be born of the line of David, and this Messiah would sit upon the throne, and his reign would be an everlasting reign, and he would be the savior of all of God's people, and he would give them the promised land, so that in Old Testament history, generation after generation after generation, four to 5,000 years of Old Testament history, the people were looking for the Messiah to come. And yet during those days, nobody could say, we have found the Messiah. But here in John 1, now we hear those words. And now somebody can say those words truthfully, and sincerely, and factually. Andrew was with Jesus all that day here in John 1, and now late in the afternoon, it was about the 10th hour, being around four o'clock in the afternoon, Andrew finds his brother, Simon Peter, and says, we have found the Messiah. And there's no doubt in his mind, there's no reservation who this man could possibly be. Andrew was so happy and joyful, he must needs go out and tell his family. He goes and finds his brother Simon Peter, we have found the Messiah. And what a day that was. What a day that was for Andrew, for his brother Simon Peter, for Philip, and for Nathanael, and for all the other disciples in due time to find the Messiah. Because to find the Messiah is to find your salvation. It is to find Him who is the anointed prophet who reveals the secret counsel and will of God concerning your redemption. To find the Messiah is to find the anointed priest who redeems you and makes intercession for you. To find the Messiah is to find the anointed king who governs you by His Word and Spirit, defending and preserving you in that salvation that He has merited for you. And that's something that you and I can say today and we declare it to our families, we declare it to our loved ones, we have found the Messiah, we have found the Christ and in Him we find all our salvation. Last Lord's Day we considered the name Jesus. That was the name God chose to give to His Son. That was His personal name, a very significant personal name, meaning Jehovah Salvation. Now we come to the name Christ, although it's not that It's not that Christ is a name right alongside of the name Jesus, but Christ rather is his title. It's the exact same word used in the Old Testament, Messiah. In the New Testament, it's the word Christ, and both words, Messiah and Christ, designate Jesus as the anointed one. And that's the theme of our sermon, Christ the Anointed. In the first place, declaring God's word. This is his work as prophet. Secondly, sacrificing and interceding. This is his work as priest. And finally, governing and defending his work as king. Christ the Anointed. Now, before we get into the work of Jesus as our chief prophet, I want to spend a few moments emphasizing the importance of this title, Messiah, that's the Hebrew, the Old Testament word Messiah, and then the New Testament equivalent, Christ. The title Messiah and Christ both mean the anointed one. And that ceremony of anointing was a very special ceremony that took place in the Old Testament. That's when a horn of oil would be poured out and poured over top of that man who was installed into office so that that oil would flow down his head and down his garments and even over all of his body, down to his feet. And that anointing symbolized Two things, it symbolized in the first place that that man was chosen by God to occupy that office and in the second place that anointing symbolized that that man was now being equipped for the labor, that he would be given strength by God to do the work of that office. And with all these anointing ceremonies, God was teaching the Old Testament Israelites about the coming Messiah. Because the Messiah to come would be the anointed one. He would be the one chosen by God. and then equipped by God and strengthened by God to do the work that God calls him to do, namely the salvation of all God's people. Now, God did not leave the Israelites clueless as to what would be the work of the Messiah, because in all of the Old Testament, God gave three special offices. and a man must be anointed to do the work of that office, and those three offices were the office of prophet, priest, and king. And now that's amazing, when you stop and think of it, the office of prophet, priest, and king in all of Old Testament history and we're very familiar and we could, the children here can rattle off all different names of prophets and priests and kings. But that wasn't simply an interesting detail in all of Old Testament history that there were prophets and priests and kings and that that just, that's just the way it was. But those three offices were vital. Those three offices were crucial because in those three offices, God was teaching the people what to look for as they were hoping and anticipating the coming Messiah. Because in order to function in one of those offices, as we noted earlier, the man must always be anointed. Aaron must be anointed before he can occupy the office of priest, namely high priest. Elisha must be anointed before he can be a prophet. David must be anointed before he must become a king. And though we don't always read of every single priest, every single prophet, every single king, we don't read of their exact anointing, but that's what would have happened. And if any man would think that he could be a prophet, a priest, a king, without being anointed, then that man takes the office illegitimately and does not receive God's blessing. Well, regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the Messiah, He's the Christ, that means He's the Anointed One Well, that means he was chosen by God from all eternity to do the work of the Father. And then Jesus also was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Immediately after he was baptized, as we read here in John, that John testified that I saw the Spirit. I saw the Spirit descend like a dove. and it came upon Him. And Jesus is the Anointed One. And there's confidence right there for you and for me. It tells us this regarding Jesus. It tells us that Jesus is not a rogue Messiah. It tells us that Jesus did not take the work of the office illegitimately, but He was chosen by God, equipped by God, anointed by God, And therefore, you and I may have every confidence that Jesus took that work, performed that labor, and has fully accomplished all our salvation. Let's now look at the nature of these three offices, prophet, priest, and king. And we start first with a prophet. What was the work of a prophet? Contrary to what many people think, the main work of a prophet was not simply to tell the future. That's something that the prophets did. God gave them words to speak about things that would happen in the future, but that's not the main work of the prophet, is simply to tell the future. But the main work of a prophet was always to declare the word of God. as prophet Jesus declared the word of God. Now I draw your attention to another passage in another gospel account in Luke chapter 4. In Luke chapter 4 verse 43, Jesus was in Galilee performing miracles. The people wanted Jesus to abide with him yet there in that particular place, in that particular city. In Luke 4 verse 43, Jesus says, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. So that the triune God sent the Lord Jesus Christ into our flesh with the express purpose of preaching the kingdom of God. If Jesus would not preach the kingdom of God, If all Jesus were to do would simply to be going around and performing miracles of healing, miracles of resurrection, and whatever type of other miracle, all to the exclusion of preaching the word of God, well then Jesus would not be doing the work of the Father. And he would not be demonstrating that he was the prophet. But Jesus was anointed to be prophet, and as prophet, He declares the Word of God, and He preaches the gospel of the kingdom. And Jesus is perfectly suited to declare that Word of God, because He Himself personally is the Word of God. John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the Heidelberg Catechism instructs us that Jesus as our chief prophet and teacher has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption. That's what Jesus does as our chief prophet. He reveals that to us, reveals that to us by making it known through his word. and through the preaching of the gospel. Now, Jesus doesn't reveal to us everything regarding the secret counsel and will of God. There are many things in the secret counsel and will of God that we do not know now, and that we will not know even in all eternity, but Jesus does fully reveal the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption. And we don't need to know more than that. But everything you need to know concerning the salvation of your souls and of your bodies, Jesus Christ has fully revealed. He hasn't held back. It's not that it's a mystery and it's a puzzle that we somehow have to unravel. It's very clear Jesus came into this world to die for the sins of His people. And now repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Now from John chapter 1, we get a glimpse also of the work of Jesus as prophet. at least the beginning of his work as prophet. John the Baptist slowly drawing the attention to Jesus and pointing out Jesus and then one day Jesus is in the area walking and John says to two of his disciples in verse 36 and then you could be sure that others heard John the Baptist speak this as well. John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God and he's drawing the attention of the people, behold, there's something very important I'm going to say to you. Behold, as it were, look over there. He is the Lamb of God. And then verse 37, and the two disciples heard him speak, that is, they heard Jesus speak, and they followed Jesus. But note that one of the first things regarding Jesus, the disciples regarding Jesus is that they heard Jesus speak. It wasn't something that they saw physically in Him. because Jesus was a normal, ordinary man with regard to His physical appearance. There was nothing in Him that would make men and women desire Him, and to think that He stood out above the crowd. But they heard Him speak. And you remember the reaction of the people after Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7. And at the end of Matthew chapter 7, you have the reaction of the people. The Bible says that the people were astonished at His doctrine. They had never heard a man speak like that, speaking with such wisdom, speaking with such power, not speaking like the Pharisees. Well, that would also have been the reaction of the disciples here in John 1, that they are astonished at the words of Jesus. Never before have they heard a man speak like Jesus and preach like Jesus, and so astonished and amazed are they at the words of Jesus that he speaks, that there's only one conclusion that they come to. in the words of Andrew, we have found the Messiah. And in Jesus calling His disciples then unto Him, speaking to them, it shows us the work of Jesus as prophet, declaring the word of God. Let's pause for a bit here and make some applications that flow from this truth that Jesus is our chief prophet and teacher who declares unto us the word of God. There's this application in the first place. It underscores for us the importance of scripture in our daily lives because in the scriptures Jesus speaks to us and says, come and see. And by that he means come and hear my word. And we have something of that here in John 1 in verse 37 and following. The two disciples following Jesus, they ask him where he lives. Jesus says come and see. But then later Philip finds Nathanael and Nathanael says, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip then says, come and see. And when Philip says, come and see, he doesn't simply mean to Nathanael, come and look at Jesus from afar off and just look at him with the eye of the body, no, but come and see and listen to his words and be attentive to his wisdom. And that's exactly what happened. Nathanael approaches Jesus and Jesus speaks the word to him. Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. But now that come and see is how we approach all the Word of God. Because all of the Word of God is inspired by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we approach all the Word of God we come and see. to see in our mind's eye, but also to read and to hear all the wonderful things regarding God and Jesus, our Savior, and the things of our salvation. Going to the Holy Scriptures in faith, we find what we are looking for. As Jesus says elsewhere, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened. Well, Jesus is our chief prophet and teacher and he teaches us through his word. And the word that God gives us are the sacred scriptures. In the second place, and closely following, the application is that Christ as our prophet declares that word to us now, especially as it's declared through the preaching of the gospel. Jesus says in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. and I know them, and they follow me. But that's interesting. Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice. Are you a sheep? Am I a sheep? We say we are. Have we heard the voice of Jesus? Well, if we are sheep, then we have heard the voice of Jesus. But we weren't with the disciples some 2,000 years ago to hear the literal, actual words coming out of the mouth of Jesus. We weren't there. But nonetheless, we do hear the voice of Jesus. We hear the voice of Jesus every time the gospel is faithfully proclaimed to us. When that word is preached, then we say truly, I have heard the voice of my good shepherd, the prophet, Jesus Christ. And that emphasizes for us the importance of faithful church attendance. Church attendance for us becomes a spiritual priority. We need to come apart and hear the voice of the good shepherd leading us in the pastures of his word and feeding us. This is the work of Jesus Christ, our chief prophet, gathering us by his word and spirit. And one final application that we can make knowing that Jesus is our chief prophet, and there's an application for our own personal witnessing. Now we'll have more to say about that when we consider the second question and answer of this Lord's Day. But right here in John one, we see that the disciples slowly becoming introduced to Jesus, The disciples, very much astonished and amazed at the words of Jesus and of necessity, they feel the need to tell others. Andrew must needs go out and tell his brother Simon Peter. Philip must needs go out and tell Nathaniel. They want others to know. They want others to hear the same gracious words that they are hearing. But what was the word that they brought to others? Was it not simply a repetition of the same words that Jesus spoke to them? Well that means for our witnessing and our testimony of Jesus Christ, that our witnessing and the words that we bring, it isn't the word of man, it isn't anything that originates with our thinking and our understanding, but our witness and testimony is simply bringing the words of Jesus, bringing the words of Scripture, testifying of what Jesus has done to my soul, which is what the Scriptures declare, delivering me from my sins, giving me the inheritance of the Father toward the children. Jesus Christ is our Chief Prophet, and his work is to declare the Word of God. And now secondly, as the anointed, Jesus also performs the work of priest. And the Heidelberg Catechism sets before us the truth of the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the Catechism Jesus is our only High Priest who by His one sacrifice has redeemed us and makes continual intercession for us. And there the catechism underscores the two main elements of the work of the priest. In the first place, the work of sacrificing. So that the priest in the Old Testament would take that animal, whether it be a goat, a sheep, an ox, even at times birds, and would slaughter that animal and put that animal on the altar to be burned and sacrifice. There'd be one special sacrifice every year on the great day of atonement when that lamb, that goat would be offered and the high priest would take the blood of that sacrifice and go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle that blood upon the Ark of the Covenant and for that matter all of the other furnishings of the temple. Sacrificing was a picture of removing sin and appeasing the wrath of God, of taking away the wrath of God that would otherwise come upon us because of our sins. But when a sacrifice is made on behalf of the people, then the people are saved. So that was a very important aspect of the priest's work, the work of sacrifice. But then in the second place, the second major work of the priest was to intercede, which means that the priests must pray for the people. They must pray to God that God will be merciful and be compassionate to the people in all their weaknesses, praying that the people would see their sins, understand their sins, repent of their sins. And that becomes the second major duty of the priest. You would see the priest sacrificing and you would see the priest praying for God's people and interceding for God's people. Now all those Old Testament sacrifices never actually removed sin. We know that from Hebrews chapter 10, which tells us that those sacrifices could not remove so much as one sin, but it did remind the people day after day, year after year, that they are sinners and that those sins need to be removed if they would be right before God. And that's what you need to know and understand as you read John chapter 1. That's what you need to hear in the words of Andrew in verse 41 when he says, we have found the Messiah. What's behind those words? He's saying we've found the priest. who can bring the one and only sacrifice. We found the priest who will make continual and perfect intercession with God on our behalf. That's the excitement and that's the thrill underlying those words of Andrew. So that, even before in John 1, we read of John the Baptist, John the Baptist being a great man. But John the Baptist was not the anointed priest to come, but on the contrary, John the Baptist identifies Jesus. Jesus not only as being the priest, but also being the sacrifice when he says, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." So even John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the one who will function as priest to remove sin and to save God's people. And the application is this, that in our following Jesus and all our confessing Him to be Christ that all arises out of a deep, deep need that you and I have. And that deep need is not that I need more physical possessions, that I need better health, I need a more comfortable lifestyle, and now I have an intercessor who can bring my needs before God and God can bless me and make me rich and make my life easy. That's not the deep need that you and I have, but our deep need is to have all our sins removed, to have them covered, to have them washed away. Because if our sins are not removed, if our sins are not covered, then we are of all men most miserable. especially as we would stand before the judgment seat of Christ with those sins uncovered. If those sins are not washed away, then the only thing that we would have to look forward to is eternal condemnation and eternal misery. But we need a priest. We need the anointed one to deal with the problem of all our sins and all our miseries, to offer the sacrifice of His own body to the death of the cross. And so what a joy, what a joy it was for Andrew to tell his brother and what a joy it is for us to make this confession in our hearts and to make this confession to others we have found the Messiah, the anointed priest, to cover our sins, to make the sacrifice, and to save us from all our sins. Jesus the Christ. So that Christ is our chief prophet, He's our only high priest, and finally He's also our King. And the Catechism says this kingly office of Christ means that He governs us by His Word and Spirit and defends and preserves us in the enjoyment of that salvation that He has purchased for us. Now that was something also the disciples knew and understood. The disciples were looking for the Messiah to come that He would not only be prophet, that he would not only be priest, but that also he would be king. And we see that in this history recorded in John 1. Jesus says to Philip in verse 43, follow me, and Philip follows him. Philip goes out and finds Nathanael and says, we found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael, upon hearing that, he's skeptical. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? That's Nathanael saying, well nothing good comes out of Nazareth. You think the Messiah can come out of Nazareth? And Philip says, come see for yourself. Nathanael approaches Jesus. Jesus says, behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael rather startled, and he says, how do you know me? Jesus says, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Now, for Nathanael, that's enough. He now becomes convinced. He's no longer skeptical. And now he too makes a wonderful confession. He doesn't say it in the exact words that Andrew used, we have found the Messiah, but he virtually uses the same words. When in verse 49, Nathaniel says, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel. So that these disciples, they were not ignorant of the word of God, They were looking for the Messiah and they knew that this Messiah would be prophet, priest, and king. And Nathanael says, Jesus, you are that king, the anointed one. And what does every good king do? Well, a king rules over the citizens of his kingdom. in a very gracious and loving way. A king defends and preserves his citizens, especially when the enemy would come to attack. The king sees to it that the citizens of his kingdom flourish and prosper under his good rule. And that's a description of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. He governs and defends us in the enjoyment of that salvation that He has purchased for us. So that there are enemies who would come and assault us, enemies that would rob us of our comfort, enemies that would work mightily to make us doubt our salvation and to go on in life wondering and moping whether or not salvation could be for me and if Jesus could save such a sinner as I. But our King goes to war and defeats the enemy. And we, under our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And so, beloved, when you read through the Old Testament, remember the significance of the work of the prophets, priests, and kings. Remember that they were anointed, and that they could not function in that office apart from their anointing. And then especially remember that all our salvation is contained in the work of the prophet, the priest, and the king. and that there is only one man who holds all three offices together, who does the work of those offices, the chosen one, chosen by God from all eternity, equipped with the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that and believing that, and then let us declare with the same joy and the same thrill that Andrew declared to his brother. We have found the Messiah and in him we have found all our salvation. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for the instruction thy word gives regarding the work of salvation as being the work of the prophet, priest, and king. And we are so very thankful that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and that he has performed that work and merited all our salvation. May the instruction of thy word comfort us, and turn us evermore to our Savior in love and adoration and thankfulness. And grant us that we walk always as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. We sing Psalter number 367. Psalter number 367. Note there in stanza five, I will cause the might of David ever more and more to grow. On the path of my anointed, I will make a lamp to glow. Let's sing together all the stanzas. All the stanzas, Psalter number 367. ♪ Precious Lord, we love you redeeming ♪ ♪ How we thank you, our hearts we sing ♪ ♪ How we long to sing your praise true ♪ ♪ Tell me of my edition ♪ ♪ Before it's just twenty-one ♪ ♪ Tell me of my edition ♪ ♪ Before it's just twenty-one ♪ God's kindness to thee, praises to thee. Yes, my Lord. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, We were poor and mercilessly blind. Ever gracious and pure. in salvation's warmest breath. I will close my eyes, I'll keep them evermore and more to know of the At this crown shall I her flourish, As still be this holy day, At this crown shall I you Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be and abide with you all. Amen. and an