Our scripture reading comes from Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and 33. Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and 33. This is the word of the living God. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Amen. Now let us read the Belgian Confession of Faith, Article 1, which you can find on page 153. in your forms and prayer books, page 153. Article 1, the only God. We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being whom we call God, eternal incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty, completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good. This evening, we are beginning a new sermon series, the Belgic Confession of Faith. This sermon series will be a short sermon series. Unfortunately, we are not going to cover all 37 articles. However, I hope and trust that the articles we are going to cover will be instructive and encouraging you all. So today, we are starting with looking at the history of the Belgian Confession of Faith and what it means to confess and to testify. As an international student, I didn't have any opportunity to learn about Belgian Confession of Faith when I was a kid because I wasn't raised in a Christian home. I read the confession before, but I had never purposely studied it nor somebody taught me. However, I was introduced to the confession in my first year at the seminary, and it quickly become one of my favorite confessions of faith. It is not just because it is very well rooted in the scripture, or not just because how it deals with false teaching, but because of its historical background. Guy Debray, the writer of Belgian Confession, was a son of a textile worker in Belgium. He was converted around when he was 20 years old, and he heard two preachers that John Calvin sent from Geneva. At that time, Debray was a painter of stained glass windows as an apprentice under his father. But God had something else in store for him. At that time, Belgium and Netherlands were under the rule of Philip II, Spanish Roman Catholic king. He was a ruthless king, especially against Protestants. And he went bankrupt. To recover, he taxed people heavily and intensified the persecution. His advisor, Duke of Alva, killed around 100,000 people, more martyred for their faith in Netherlands during this time than the first 300 years of the early church. Yet the Reformed faith continued to spread. Many people continued to be convinced and saved. These were the times that Deborah was living in. Yet Deborah was a simple man, but God used him gloriously for the kingdom. The radical change that Deborah had gone through reminds us the change of Peter. Peter was ordinary fisherman, yet God used him mightily. And Deborah, who was just an ordinary painter, was empowered by the same spirit and testified the power of the gospel to the whole world as Peter did. We read this in 1 Corinthians. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human beings might boast in the presence of God. This statement is not just true for Deborah or Peter, brothers and sisters. This is also true for our lives today. We are not saved because we read the Bible. We are not saved because we go to church, we take catechism classes. Or we are not saved because we were wise. God saved us to shame the wise and strong. If we ought to boast about something, there is only one thing that we can boast about. Our weaknesses. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, I will not boast except my weaknesses. Deborah wanted to be a pastor. So he had to go to England. He had to leave his country to receive reform education. At some point in his life, he met with John Calvin. Then he returned to Netherlands. Deborah realized the need for a confession. People needed to train and unite around the biblical doctrines. And there were also many troublemakers. Troublemakers in Protestants. They called themselves Anabaptists. They were against paying taxes and serving in military. According to them, physical work was evil. And they had to isolate themselves from it. Reformers and Anabaptists were accepted as one group because they were both Protestant. So Spanish king, Philip II, thought that they are the same group. Because of the Anabaptists, Reformed Christians suffered as well. But de Bret wanted to display that Christian, Reformed Christians were not Anabaptists. They were not against government nor paying taxes, even though it was an evil government. Deborah wrote the Belgic Confession of Faith in 1561. He wanted the king to read the confession, so he added a letter to Philip II alongside the confession and threw them over the courtyard wall of the castle of Tournai. In this letter, he wrote, quote, Your Majesty, we are simply trying to fear and serve God as the early church did. We will obey in all things lawful, but we would rather offer our backs to stripes, our tongues to knives, our mouth to gogs, our whole bodies to fire, rather than to deny the truth expressed in this confession, end of quote. However, Philip II only became more furious against Protestants. As I mentioned earlier, there were great massacres all over the Netherlands, 100,000 people. And Debref finally was caught after six years in 1567. In his last letter to his wife, he wrote, quote, Remember that I did not fall into hands of my enemies by mere chance, but through the providence of my God, who controls and governs all things, the least as well as the greatest. It pleases God to give me the martyr crowns. This is such a great honor that God does not even show to angels. I am joyful. My heart is cheerful. Nothing is missing in my sorrows. I am filled to the overflowing with the riches of my God." End of quote. The life of Debre is one of the many embodiment of the scripture. When we look his life, we see God and his promising coming true. Debre boasted on his weaknesses because he knew that God was his strength. Debre did not fear the man but feared the Lord because The man only could kill his body, but the Lord could destroy his body and his soul. The Spirit of the Lord spoke through him in the times of suffering, as he promised to do. Brothers and sisters, the Belgium Confession of Faith is not a document written by highly sophisticated Christian theologians living in palaces and were paid fortune to write it. Thousands of Christians paid the price with their own lives for this document. Christians that love the Lord more than the world and said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Whenever you read the Belgium Confession, think about them. Think about these people. These people could live in peace in their own country if they accepted not living according to Bible. They could live a peaceful life in this world. They all had families, jobs, wives, children. But rather than compromising with the world, they were convinced that the gospel was worth living and dying for. They testified the truth and their testimonies are still speaking to us today through the pages of the Belgium Confession. People of God, what is your testimony? Are you testifying the same truth or are you compromising with the world? What are you willing to sacrifice for God? I hope that the time we spend today on the history of the Confession will continue to shed light on our hearts and minds as we study the Confession together on Sunday evenings. Now let us turn our attention to Scripture, the fountain of the promise of God, where we are being equipped to do every good work that God has prepared for us. Let us read Matthew 10, 32, and 33 one more time. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. At the beginning of chapter 10, we read that God the Son commissioned 12 disciples and sends them to proclaim the gospel all over the land. Jesus talks about the reality of their call. He doesn't promise them a wonderful life. Instead, Jesus tells them that they will be persecuted and even hated by their own families. for his name's sake alone. And he encourages them to have no fear of man, though they're going to be persecuted. Jesus reminds us that God has absolute authority and never leaves his people. And he reminds them to be faithful and confess the truth in verses 32 and 33. Towards the end of chapter, Jesus talks about the division that will take place because of the gospel and finishes the chapter by talking about the great rewards given to those who accept the gospel. But verses 32 and 33 are the center of the chapter. This is the heart of the message of Jesus, to confess Christ or to deny Christ. One commentator says, Bible doesn't beg us to believe. It commands sinner to believe. Bible doesn't beg us to believe. It commands sinners to believe. The existence of God is a reality outside of us. It is we believe and confess. It is not we think. The existence of God is a reality outside of our thinking process. It is not something we can reveal or discover with our own reasoning. Jesus commands us to believe in him, not to discuss God's existence. Brothers and sisters, the world expects us to believe anything except God. It wants us to believe that. Everything came to be after a big explosion. It wants us to believe that order was born from chaos. It wants us to believe in science and human mind. It wants us to believe in existence of an afterlife without God. but it does not want us to confess God. When the world fails to convince, it starts to feed us with half-truths about God and His words. These are the most dangerous lies, half-truths about God. This is how Satan deceived Adam and Eve, and this is how he tested Jesus. The half-truths are so dangerous because they are human products. So they're so attractive to believe. People create their own gods rather than confessing the Lord of the Bible. They make gods after their own understanding. They use several Bible verses as ornaments. They seem to be at peace with everyone around them and love everyone. The world seems that it's their friend. They don't like God of the Bible because He is either too harsh, unloving, or judgmental. They trim the scripture until it takes the shape of a God in their mind. They think that they are Christian and carry the name of Christ in their lives. But in fact, as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. People who like half-truths are the ones who have no fear of God, but have fear of men. But Jesus tells in verses 28 to 31 in the same chapter, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul, body in hell. are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more wily than many sparrows." We are called to believe in God himself as he proclaims in the scripture, nothing less, nothing more. We must stick to the truth of the Bible and pray fervently to the Spirit to help us to live in the truth of the Scripture. As Deborah wrote, there is only one God, and He is God of the Bible. There is only one Savior who revealed Himself in the Scripture. If we cannot and don't want to accept the doctrine of God, we will end up in heresy. We will surely end up in heresy. People of God, even though in this church you have the right doctrine of God, do you confess it in your life today? Do you confess it in your business? Do you confess it in your school? Do you confess Christ when you are alone and nobody sees what you do? What happens if you do not confess? Jesus, what happens if you do not confess Jesus as your Lord? And this is Jesus' answer in verse 33. Whoever denies me before man, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. I want to ask you again, brothers and sisters, do you see a third option for us? Does Jesus talk about anything else except confessing him or denying him? You don't see a third option because there is not a third option. Jesus says, whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. There is nothing whack in the statements we just read. It is clear. You are either with Jesus or against Jesus. There is no gray. There is no middle ground. Spurgeon says, what Christ is to you on earth, that you will be to Christ in heaven. I shall repeat that truth, Spurgeon says. Whatever Jesus Christ is to you on earth, you will put to Him in the day of judgment. If He be dear and precious to you, you will be precious and dear to Him. If you thought everything of Him, He will think everything of you." Beloved, there is a spiritual battle and there are only two sides that you can be part of. God will surely be victorious over his enemies on the day of judgment. Where do you want to stand? Do you want to stand by God or against God? If you are by God, you are going to hear the voice of the King, as Spurgeon wonderfully described for us, quote, Stand back, ye angels, the king will say. Stand back, ye seraphim and cherubim. Make way for him. He loved me in the days of my scorn. He suffered for me on the earth. I know him. My father, I confess him before thee in heaven amidst the glories of my throne. I confess him before thee. He is mine. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Almighty God, graciously grant that your word, which we have heard, may be inscribed inwardly on our hearts. As we receive your word, meekly, with pure affection, may our hearts be filled with love and reverence for you. All this we pray for the honor and praise of your name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Let us respond to this glorious gospel by singing hymn number 270. 270. StSq2 2.60 Why, my poor love, shall we not fear, when in heav'n we are there? When my wife, love, shall be gladness, and the joys of our Lord. Joyful children, sons and daughters, shall come a day, O dear, of the plentiful beauty of our Lord. Lord, Jehovah, the water's lion, shall to thee his blessing send. Let us pray. May the strength of God sustain us. May the power of God preserve us. May the hands of God protect us. May the way of God direct us. May the love of God go with us this day and forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. ♪ You're the one I've been looking for ♪