Please turn with me tonight to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 as we read together the first 14 verses. Ephesians 1, 1-14. We read that in connection with our confession of the Triune God in Lord's Day 8. Page 15 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, the bottom of page 15. two short questions and answers there for us to recite. We'll first give expression to what we believe looking at Lord's Day 8, the bottom of page 15. Question 24 asks, how are these articles, of course the articles of the Apostles' Creed above, How are these articles divided into three parts? God the Father and our creation. God the Son and our redemption. God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because that is how God has revealed Himself in His Word. These three distinct persons are one true eternal God. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will. To the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. There ends the reading of God's holy word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, do you believe in God? Now that may seem like a strange question. Boys and girls, you might say, well, here we are in church, it's God's house, and here we are assembled as God's holy people and we're asked this strange question, do you believe in God? But you see, I'm not asking you, do you believe in a God? But do you believe in the one and only true God? Now last week in connection with Lord's Day 7, we considered true faith. and true faith, you remember, is knowing what the Bible says, it's believing what the Bible, the Word of God says, and then that very, very personal aspect, trusting what the Word of God says. And now the catechism moves to that which is foundational with regard to that Word of God, which we are called to know, to believe, and to trust. It moves to that which is foundational, which is, whose is it? And the God of the Word. You see, beloved, the most basic foundational confession of the true church is, I believe in God. Plain and simple. You see, apart from that basic foundational confession, there wouldn't be a church. But that's the basic confession of the true church. I believe in God. However, if you ask many people on the street today, They will say, well, yes, I believe in a God. I believe that there is a God. But sadly, to confess means to say the same thing. And when we confess what the Bible says, we are saying the same thing about God that God says about Himself. But sadly, not all people are saying the same thing when they make that confession to believe in God or to believe in a God. When it comes to this conception of God, There are some who believe that there is a superpower, a supreme being who is greater than man, and he's called God. There are all kinds of views with regard to that. And there are others who follow what's called polytheism, belief in many gods, some good, some bad, maybe, and maybe even a hierarchy of gods. There are some who say that God is in everything. God is in a tree. A tree is God. The grass is God. God is in you and me in a particular sort of way. So others name their gods, there's Allah, there's Buddha. There's all kinds of ideas, conceptions of God. But for most, the God that they think of is a God who is far away. Not a God who is personal. But a God who is inactive with His people. Unless you make Him angry, then of course He's going to come down upon you with His fierce judgment. Most people believe in their idea of God that this God is unknowable. And maybe we ought to ask ourselves, is that how we treat the God that we claim to believe on Monday through Saturday? Do we treat him as unknowable? Do we treat him as impersonal, far away? But you see, beloved, the God of Christianity is not like that. The God of Christianity is unique. He is one of a kind. He is living and active. He is personal. He is involved in the lives of his people with whom he has established communion in his covenant of grace. The God of Christianity is also the God of history. He is the God who has revealed himself in creation and in his mighty works, in his word, as the catechism says. The God of Christianity has revealed himself as one God. There's only one. deuteronomy 6 verse 4 hear o israel the lord our god the lord is one he is not many and he has also revealed himself as the only god there are not many isaiah 42 verse 8 i will not give my glory to another he says but he has also revealed himself in another way that this one god this one divine essence, this one divine being, is yet three distinct persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is Trinity. He is triune. Now, boys and girls, this is not a surprise to you because you've been taught this from a very early age. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But you see, many people reject the Trinity simply because they cannot understand it, simply because they cannot explain it. And we would have to agree with him that we cannot fully understand it, we cannot fully explain it, but that is no reason not to believe it. Because the truth of the Trinity, beloved, is not something that we understand necessarily with our head, but it is something that we accept by faith. Why? Because this is what God says about himself again in His Word. That Word which we are to know, that Word which we are to believe, that Word which we are to trust. He has revealed Himself in His Word as these one God, three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We think of the baptism of our Lord, for example. The Father spoke from heaven. The Son incarnate was being baptized. And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. In Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts chapter 2, after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, he speaks clearly about the triune God. Verses 32 and 33, God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. We think of that beautiful Trinitarian benediction in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, talking about the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, the portion we read tonight, Ephesians chapter 1. A beautiful portion of Scripture, Paul opening up this letter with a beautiful explanation and teaching of salvation, full and complete. And he makes it clear there that full and complete salvation is none other than the work of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, beloved, historically, the doctrine of the Trinity has caused much division. It has caused the church in history to examine and clarify what the Word of God teaches. And the church's studied response to the teaching of the Word of God is that the Word of God beautifully teaches and confesses the truth of the triune God. And that has beautifully explained and confess in our creeds the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and what we consider tonight the Athanasian Creed. These are the fruit of the church's labors, confessing this triune God that He alone is the God of salvation and that there is no salvation without Him. And especially the Athanasian Creed. You said it. Maybe you heard it. He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Why is that so important? because with regard to the truth of the triune God, we confess the Father's work of creation, the Son's work of redemption, and the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification. Now, boys and girls and young people, we understand that creation and redemption and sanctification is the work of the one God. But the Father stands out in creation because He is the origin and the cause of all things. The Son stands out in redemption because He is God come in the flesh who has accomplished redemption. And the Holy Spirit stands out in sanctification because He has come to dwell in the church and in the hearts and lives of God's people. But these three persons of the Blessed Trinity have one mind, one goal, one purpose, and that is to bring about the complete salvation of believers. In the triune God, beloved, we have the beginning, the continuation, and the perfection of our lives. Now, it's not our purpose tonight to prove the existence of God or to prove the existence of the Trinity. God has done that himself in his word. And it's also not our purpose tonight to consider these three points exhaustively. We can't even begin to do that. The catechism itself, as we continue on in our study, will more exhaustively consider the Father's work of creation, the Son's work of redemption, and the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification. But for a few moments tonight, we consider first of all the Triune God. We consider first of all the Father's work of creation. And as we consider the Father's work of creation, we know that His creation is a creation of all things. He is the origin and the beginning of all things. In Genesis 1, verse 1, we read, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And very simply, that means that nothing and no one exists apart from His sovereign will, apart from His sovereign work. In Job 38, verse 4, the Lord says to Job, Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? In Isaiah 40, verse 26, we read, Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He goes on to say that I put all the stars in place and not one of them is missing. I know them all by name. You see, creation didn't simply happen somehow and some way. But creation is the work of God, the Father, and it happened specifically by the word of His mouth, according to His plan, as Paul makes clear. He had a plan. And he knows each detail. As he told Job, go back and read, beginning at Job chapter 38, and read what the Lord says. He knows the details of the ocean banks, of all things. But not only is God's creation a creation of all things in a general way, but it's also a creation of me. Of course, I'm part of all things. You are too. But this is very personal. God the Father, and our creation. We owe our personal existence to God. He didn't just simply create the world, the universe, in a mass sort of way. But He called each and every person into being. Each one. He placed each one of us on this earth. Even me. I owe my very existence to God. And the beauty of this, as Paul makes clear, is that God knew us even before creation. Verse 4, For He that is the Father chose us in Him, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. And of course we know that's true of all of mankind. God knew each one before He created them, but Paul is speaking specifically of believers. God chose those that He knew beforehand that He would create for what? To be holy and blameless in His sight. That's part of what Paul calls predestination. Predestined. God determined beforehand. That means God had a plan. And implied in that plan was creation. And implied in that creation was His creation of you and His creation of me. And that means that we are completely dependent upon Him. You see, the world rejects God. The world claims that we are here by accident. by some sort of a big bang. But the truth is, beloved, I am nothing. And I have nothing apart from Him. I owe Him my very breath of life. And of course, that flies in the face of the world, doesn't it? Of mankind today who wants to be autonomous. Man is the measure of all things. I think of some of those Hollywood Awards programs. I think there's one even going on tonight. Or music awards programs where these Hollywood stars, and if you've ever seen one, you know, you've got this little person standing on this huge stage, this little tiny person in this big building with heaps of glory being put on that person, and that person is taking on that glory, not really understanding that he or she is nothing apart from God. And owes their very existence to God alone. How humbling. And how humbling this is to be that I am, I exist only because God made me. Only because of God's sovereign choice. And along with his work of creation then is included his work of governing and providing. You see, boys and girls, our God is not a hands-off God. He didn't simply create the universe. He didn't simply create you and me and leave us to ourselves to fend for ourselves. But He governs His creation with His laws of nature. He governs mankind with the laws of the human body. And Paul even says that each person has a knowledge of right and wrong. And for believers in particular, He governs His people with His holy law. And His governing also includes the fact that He knows all things. In Psalm 139, the psalmist says it beautifully that our God, He knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our words before we say them. He knows our every action when you sit down, when you rise up, when you're on the path. He is before us. He is behind us. He hems us in. The psalmist says there's no place that we can hide from His presence. And how wonderful that is. Because His government of us also points to His providential care of us. He cares for His people. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that we are more valuable to our Heavenly Father than the birds of the air. He says that our Father clothes us even as He clothes in splendor the lilies of the field. Jesus says the Father knows what we need. What we need to eat. What we need to drink. He is my Creator. And that also means, beloved, that He is my Owner. He has the patent rights. He is my Owner. and because He is my owner, therefore I am called to give my life to Him because it's His already. And to live in a way that rejects that and rejects Him is foolishness. As the psalmist says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. But beloved, what a comfort. What a comfort for you and me that our Heavenly Father created all things and that He is the source and the ruler and the governor of all things. That means He has an intimate knowledge of all things. Boys and girls, He knows everything about you. And when we know that, then we must also understand that nothing happens outside of His will. That my life is controlled by Him. And although there may be surprises to me, nothing is a surprise to Him. It's not a world situation. It's not the stock market or politicians. It's not material things that are in control of my life. although sometimes it might seem like I let them be in control. But ultimately, God, my Creator, my Owner, is in control of my life. Our God created then also for a purpose, especially His people. As we see specifically with the Son's work of redemption or deliverance. Now, how in the world can we limit, how can we summarize our comments on the Son's work of deliverance? We could write a book about it. But we don't have to because God already has. It's called the Bible. And the Son's work of redemption is to be considered a precious blessing to you and me because if it means, very simply, redemption has the idea of freedom. We've already considered freedom, this freedom that we're talking about in some of the previous Lord's days. But freedom, redemption, to be purchased, to be bought back, a price was paid. Redemption, you see, is such a comforting word to one who is a captive, one who is a prisoner? Why the need for redemption? From what is this freedom and this purchase? Very simply, very directly, from the curse of sin and death and hell, from the clutches of Satan, from the everlasting torment of body and soul, from suffering the wrath and punishment of God. You see, beloved, to say as we do in the Apostles' Creed, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord. To make that confession is to say that I needed saving from these very things. Why? Because I rebelled against the Father who made me. I offended Him. I called down His anger upon myself because of my sin. I cast myself into the very depths of hell because of my sin. But to make that confession is also to say that Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to accomplish my redemption or my deliverance. Because, as the catechism has already considered, He is truly human and truly righteous and He is true God. In Him lies my only help and my only hope. He came to open and unfold the loving heart of our Father in heaven. The loving heart of our Father in accepting the work of another for me and for you. Jesus says in John 14, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. And this One who came to open, to unfold the loving heart of the Father went all the way to the cross apart from which our sins would not be paid. Apart from which we would not be delivered. There would be no redemption. And the result, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, verse 7, is that in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace. He paid the price for you and me with His precious blood. More precious than gold, the Bible says. And because of that, we enjoy the forgiveness of all of our sins. and therefore as God's people. We are able to live with the comfort of Isaiah chapter 43 where our Lord says, I have redeemed you, you are mine and therefore we can confidently confess I belong body and soul in life and in death unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, that is to grip us with humility and joy because this is real today. It's not just something for the far off future. But this truth is real today. As someone has said, sin still agitates within me, but I am no longer under its dominion. Satan does still cause me much trouble, but I am no longer his slave. Death is still my enemy, but it has lost its dangerous sting. Beloved God the Son, in our redemption, our deliverance, again, how comforting. As we continue to live in a world of sin and shame, surrounded by sin and shame, knowing what we deserve and knowing our redemption from sin, just like the criminal that we considered this morning, how he must have fell. Knowing this in the midst of sin and shame is to be all the more precious to us. And ours is to be a grateful longing for the completion of it when Jesus Christ comes again to make all things new. And that comfort that is ours and that longing that is to be ours then belongs in the third place to the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification. Now, sanctification, very simply, we could summarize that by saying sanctification is applying that which has been accomplished. Sanctification is applying the riches of Christ's redeeming work. We can think of sanctification in two ways. On the one hand, those who are justified. Justified, as answer 21 says, including having sins forgiven, being made forever right with God and being granted salvation, those who are justified are sanctified. They are set apart from the world as holy. They are given new birth. They are converted with repentance and faith. But they are also being sanctified. And that's generally what we think of as we think of the work of the Holy Spirit and sanctification, that ongoing work, that ongoing process in which the Holy Spirit is constantly separating us and cleansing His people more and more from the pollution of and the desire for sin. So that is answer one of the catechisms says again. Because I belong to Him, Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly ready and willing from now on to live for Him. That's sanctification. and Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1 and says in verse 14, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. To those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He has given His Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit is a deposit of eternal glory. And that Holy Spirit is also a deposit working, accomplishing God's plan that we be holy and blameless in His sight. He is making us to be as God declares us to be in justification. And, beloved, that work of sanctification is an ongoing work. To confess, I believe in God the Holy Spirit and His work of sanctification is a confession that God doesn't quit on me. God doesn't quit on me. He leads me back into the service of the Father. He restores my life unto the glory of God. You see, boys and girls, God doesn't reach down and pull us out of the miry clay only to leave us to ourself that we might fall back in again. Instead, the God who saves me in Christ is the very same God who comes by His Holy Spirit to live in my heart and to lead my life day by day in a way that honors God. And His work is indeed a powerful work. Paul says in chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. It's a powerful work of bringing us from death to life. And it continues on powerfully in verse 10, for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. You see, beloved, the Holy Spirit makes believers new and different. As the Bible says, He creates a clean heart within me. He renews a right spirit in me. And He does this daily, bit by bit, with the Word of God, His tool, chipping away the remnants of the old man and sometimes that's painful. But even as He chips away the remnants of the old man, He is uncovering more and more the new man. And the Holy Spirit in His blessed work of sanctification gives me a conscience that accuses me of my sin. He gives me a sorrow for my sin. He gives me a repentant spirit. He gives me a desire to please God and to be holy. He gives me a delight in the holy law of God. And through all these things, he gives me an assurance that my faith is real, that I truly am a child of God. His work is daily, daily, burning away something of our willfulness and our selfishness and our pride and our worldliness and our lust and all those things that properly belong to the old man and in its place bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. And to our comfort, beloved, the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification is a work to be completed. As Paul says in Philippians 1, verse 6, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion. Beloved, God does not leave us alone. He not only brings His people into being and redeems us by His Son from the curse of sin, but He also lives in us by the Holy Spirit recreating us more and more in the image of God. If I believe in God the Holy Spirit and my sanctification, then I must also believe that the Christ who saved me once will not allow me to be lost a second time and to prove that he has given to me the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing that eternal inheritance that Peter says is kept in heaven. It will not perish, spoil, or fade. Oh, beloved, what a glorious truth. The truth of the triune God. And that truth, you see, contains the believer's entire life. Take away one and we have nothing. Take away the Father and we do not exist. Take away the Son and we are still under the curse of sin. Take away the Holy Spirit and we never begin to serve God. But this glorious truth is a truth that is to be more than confessed. It is a truth to be lived. As someone has said, we are to live under the Father through His Son and in this Spirit to the glory of God. And precisely because of the triune God, we are enabled to live consciously and confidently as children of the Father who cares for us and in whose law we find a light. We are unable to live as servants of the Son who has redeemed us from all the power of the devil. And we are unable to live as temples and instruments of the Holy Spirit who fills us that indeed we might be holy unto the Lord. Beloved, there is comfort only in this triune God. all those other conceptions and ideas of God out there give absolutely no comfort. Only false comfort, if any. Only temporary comfort, if any. But this triune God is the one and only God of salvation. To deny this God is to live without Him. And that is eternal death. But to know this God by faith is life forevermore, all and only because of the work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Is this the God you confess? Is this the God you serve? This God in three persons, blessed Trinity, only in Him is there true and complete salvation. And the riches of the triune God means true life. It means eternal life. What is true life? It means to believe and confess the God who gives life, who redeems life, who sanctifies life. And there is only one God that does that, the triune God. To this God alone be the glory, both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as you bring us face to face with the truth of Your Word and specifically the truth of who You are. We confess, O Lord, that it's beyond our comprehension. It's beyond our understanding. We cannot even begin to explain it in a way that others are able to understand. And therefore, we praise Your name for that precious gift of faith. That gift of faith by which we accept that which you have said in your word and believe that it's true and trust that the triune God is for us too. And that in you alone lies our complete salvation from beginning to end. And Father, we pray that you would continue to watch over us by your loving kindness and your tender mercy. Continue to keep us in that forgiveness which is ours in Christ Jesus. Continue to bless us by the work of your Holy Spirit are drawing us ever closer to Yourself more and more each day. We praise Your most holy name. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.