Shall we turn together to John 1, as we read together John 1, verses 1 through 18, this morning. John 1, beginning at verse 1, as we give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God, his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through Him all men might believe. He Himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world. And though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision, nor a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning Him. He cries out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But God, the one and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. And also, if you would turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 13. as we consider over the past couple of months the cross of Jesus Christ we took a bit of a break from the catechism and as you recall we've been in that second section of the catechism salvation and we have been considering now the Apostles' Creed the articles of the Apostles' Creed specifically about the second person of the Trinity in Lord's Day 11 we considered why is the Son of God called Jesus meaning Savior. Lord's Day 12, why is He called Christ, meaning anointed? And now we continue on with that which we confess in the Apostles' Creed about our Savior. As I read the questions, and together we respond with what we believe, reciting the answers together. Question 33 asks us, why is He called God's only begotten Son when we also are God's children? Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are adopted children of God, adopted by grace through Christ. Why do you call Him our Lord? Because not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil. He has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I think it's true to say that today, probably more than ever before, we live in an age of personal autonomy. And what I mean is we live in a day when we as individuals are to be independent, self-sufficient, self-ruling, and self-governing. We don't need anyone over us. Boys and girls, to be autonomous means, we could say, to be on our own. That we don't need anyone else. We are to be the captain of our own ship, as the saying goes. The master of our own fate. The Lord of our own life. And it's true, isn't it? How many of us haven't said, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. But as Christians, we know better by the mercy and grace of God, don't we? We know what happens when we are left to fend for ourselves. There is nothing but sorrow and pain and disappointment and self-destruction all because of our sin. But we also, by God's grace, know and we have the comfort that those who believe have full salvation in and because of the one we believe in, and that is Jesus Christ. There are different ideas about who Jesus is, or in some cases, as some think, was. Some say He was just a good moral example for us to follow. He was kind. He was compassionate. He was helpful. He loved. That's the way we ought to be. Others say that He was just a man like you and I who became God. Who became God when the Holy Spirit came upon Him in order to accomplish God's work. Still others say that He wasn't really real, but He is the idea of the perfect ideal we must strive for. Throughout history, man has concocted many different theories about this Jesus. And it seems, I think, that even today that's becoming even more true. I talked with a couple visiting after the first service who said that up before the Easter time that their minister was preaching on the book, is Jesus really real? And it was really a disappointment to even have to ask the questions. So many different theories have been concocted about this Jesus. But again, we as Christians have the comfort of the truth. The truth from God Himself, His very Word, the Scriptures. And God has revealed to us that this Jesus whom we serve is the Savior, and He is the Savior. We consider that He is the Savior. That's what Jesus means. And He is the Savior because He is the Christ, remember? Ordained of God the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit for His threefold office unto full salvation. And now as our confession continues and our confession of the identity of the second person of the Blessed Trinity, we need to go a step farther, confessing the truth that He could only be Jesus Christ because of who He really is. the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. Jesus Christ, God's Son, is our Lord. Lord means master, ruler, owner, commander. And as our Lord, Jesus Christ takes away any thought for the believer of independence, of self-sufficiency, self-ruling, self-governing. It takes away any thought of autonomy. A truth which, again, is to be comforting because our need was so great that we were helpless even in our own strength. But as Lord's Day 13, beautifully reflecting the truth of Scripture as it teaches us, full salvation is accomplished by Christ's divine lordship. And as we consider this Word of God this morning, notice, first of all, the authority of Christ's lordship. Secondly, the activity of Christ's Lordship. And finally, the accountability to Christ's Lordship. In the Apostles' Creed, we confess that we believe in Jesus Christ, His, that is God's, only begotten Son. The Bible makes it clear that the Savior is God's Son. Something we need to remember. Even though we know it well, we have to bring it back to mind. The Word of God says in John 3, verse 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. In Hebrews 1, verse 2, the writer says that God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Paul says in Romans 8, verse 32, that God did not spare His own Son. Peter confessed, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The truth of this fact that Jesus is the Son of God led to His crucifixion and death at the hands of sinful men. You remember that Caiaphas, the high priest, said to Jesus, I put you under oath. Imagine that, putting the Son of God under oath. I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, it is as you said. And in John 1, verse 14, it speaks of the glory of the one and only who came from the Father. Again, because even today, who Jesus is is being attacked. We cannot take this for granted. We must consider the Word of God that He is God Himself. Boys and girls, we must never forget that long before Jesus became the son of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, In time, in history, long before that, He is eternally the Son of God. There is never a time when the second person of the Blessed Trinity was not the Son of God. And of course, we find the wonderful stories of our Lord's birth recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And indeed, at Christmas time, and yea, throughout our lives, throughout every day of our life, we have a reason to celebrate, to be sure, the birth of our desperately needed Savior. But Jesus didn't begin in Bethlehem. He didn't even begin when He was conceived in His mother's womb. The Gospel of John is different from the other Gospels in that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John brings us back way before Bethlehem to the beginning. He says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. In fact, John points back before the beginning as he says the Word already was in the beginning. Before time as we know it. That Word is Jesus Christ. And John makes sure that we know who He is before we know what He did. We need to know who He is. John 14 begins, The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. The Word. The Catechism seems then to follow John's arrangement. As in Lord's Day 13, it talks about who He is. Then in Lord's Day 14, it talks about that He came. And then after that, it talks about what He did. Before He came in the flesh, we learn who He is. And don't forget, who He is already tells us about what He has done. Yes, we have great reason to celebrate that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, became flesh. but what makes it the reason to celebrate, beloved, is because of who He is. He is the only begotten Son of God. Answer 33 explains this, that Jesus alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We can't hardly say it any better than that. Hard to describe, yes, but we can't hardly say it any better. In other words, He shares in the divine nature. He is divine. And just as every child has something of the being of his father, his or her father, so Christ possesses the very same being, the same essence as his father. He is only begotten. He is unique. He is one of a kind. In our creeds, which were written to defend against the different ideas, false ideas about who Jesus is, we confess that he is God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, the Nicene Creed says. And then in the Athanasian Creed, our Lord is described this way, uncreated, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, the very attributes of God. And of course, John says it plainly in verse 1, and the Word was God. Then notice verse 18, no one has ever seen God, but God the one and only who is at the Father's side has made Him known. He is God. He is equally 100% God, just as the Father is 100% God and the Holy Spirit is 100% God. Why is this so important again for us to remember? Because His authority to be Jesus Christ our Lord is that He is God. He has the authority, He alone has the authority to accomplish full salvation because He is sovereign, holy, majestic, glorious, all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly sinless, eternal. All that can be said of God can be said of Jesus Christ our Lord. He accomplishes full salvation for His people only because He is God. And the means of doing that was becoming flesh to carry out His work. Question and answer 33 also points to Christ's authority by dealing with a question of comparison between His Sonship and believers being children of God. Notice again, because Christ alone is the eternal natural Son of God, we, however, are adopted children of God, adopted by grace through Christ. You see, God's Word makes clear that believers are also children of God. Verse 12 of John chapter 1, Yet to all who receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Romans 8 verse 16 says, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Paul says in Galatians 4 verse 6, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. There can hardly be no more comforting verses of Scripture than to hear about us as believers being none other than children of God. These same Scripture passages that talk about that then make a distinction. They point out a difference, just as the Catechism does, between Christ's Sonship and our Sonship. Again, the Catechism says that Jesus is eternally and naturally the Son of God, but we are sons and daughters of God by adoption. And we know what that is. That's not a foreign concept to us. Even the boys and girls are familiar with adoption. Maybe some here have been adopted. When we think of being adopted, we think of taking one in that does not belong naturally. Of a husband and a wife. Taking a child into their home that was not born naturally to them, but taking that child in, making that child a part of their family, as if that child were a natural child of theirs. You see, before being adopted, that child has no claim on those who adopt him. No claim to their name. No claim to their inheritance. No claim to the rights of being part of that family. Before, the child is outside of that family. And the same is true for you and me as believers. As Christians, we were once outside. We needed to be changed. We needed to have a new position given to us. The position of children. We had no claim on God. We had no claim on His mercy and grace. We had no claim on His inheritance. Nothing was owed to us from God. Boys and girls, God does not owe us anything. Some people think that He does. But He doesn't. We were, as the baptism form says, children of wrath. But through that adoption, we have become children of God. Part of the family of God. And as Paul says, if children, then heirs. Remember the inheritance? Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. The privilege of being adopted by God into His family is an honor so wonderful, beloved. It is a picture of grace. Having been given something so undeserved, we are given the rights and privileges of natural children. The rights and privileges of Christ Himself, the only begotten Son of God. You see, Christ's Father is my Father. His heaven is my home. His full salvation which He has earned is given to me freely. And now I have access to the Heavenly Father through Him. How does this adoption take place? By new spiritual birth. By the grace of God. John says again in verses 12 and 13, Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. And of course, Paul speaks of those who received the Holy Spirit of adoption Himself. You see, even though it's true that God has chosen His people in Christ before the foundation of the world, yet we can say that we become children of God in time, not by nature, like Christ, but by grace, not by birth, but by rebirth. By birth, we become children of our parents, but by regeneration, we become children of God brought out of darkness into His marvelous light. Why does God adopt us as His children? The catechism says, adopted by grace through Christ. The older version of the catechism says, for Christ's sake. Because of all that He has merited. Jesus has revealed His Father to those who become the Father's children. He said to His disciples, you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. And He became like us in order to make us like Him and bring us to the Father. You see, He fills His Father's house by building His body, the church. And all of this, again, is not because we were deserving. Not because we had a right to this glorious life. Again, we were children by nature. We were children of wrath. And that means in the family of Satan and sin. Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God. Therefore, God Himself earned this adoption for us. Why do we enjoy adoption into God's family? Why are we as believers able to claim the full salvation of Christ as our own? Because He is the only begotten Son of God. Because of the authority of His Lordship. You see, beloved, that's the foundation of the church's confession. That He is the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. Take that away and the church dies. Why are we children of God? Only because He is the Son of God. And He accomplishes all of this for us in the second place through the activity of His Lordship. Question and answer 34 once again. Why do you call Him our Lord? Because not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil and has bought us body and soul to be His very own. I've made it no secret that I really prefer the older version of the Catechism, which I believe says it better, which in the place of He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil says He delivered us. Delivered. Those who needed to be delivered. And has bought us body and soul. The older version says He redeemed us. Yes, it means to buy, to purchase. But a beautiful word. To be His very own. The older version says to be His very own possession. This is how Christ's full salvation and our adoption is accomplished. This is what Christ did as the God-man in order to make us men and people of God. And notice that this is a question of ownership. Why do you call Him our Lord? Again, Lord means master, ruler, owner, commander. This is a confession that Jesus Christ is our master, our ruler, our owner, and our commander. The opposite, you see, is to bow in submission to Christ's enemy, the devil. This answer clearly displays the antithesis already begun in the Garden of Eden. Sin versus redemption. Captivity versus deliverance. The devil versus God. And of course, this has been the struggle throughout the ages for the heart of every person. Who owns me? Who owns me? Is it sin, captivity, and the devil? Or is it Christ through His redemption and deliverance? Because He bought me and set me free. Well, again, by nature, each one of us must confess that we are owned by the devil and sin and captivity. And that means, congregation, that even apart from Jesus Christ, we're not autonomous. We serve the devil. But this same struggle of who owns me applies to everything around us. You see, our schools are owned by either God or the devil. The same is true for our businesses. Our government, the music we listen to, the fun and the activities we participate in. Who owns us? Yes, we know that ultimately God owns all things. He controls all things. He is sovereign. He ordains all things. Nothing happens by chance. But the point is, where is your allegiance? Where do you place your allegiance? Who is being honored in your school? Who is being honored in your business? Who is being honored in your music? Who is being honored in your relationships? Beloved, who is being honored in your life? You see, by the grace of God, the believer can claim redemption, deliverance, and new ownership. As our Lord, Jesus Christ has redeemed His people, purchased, bought us back, given something for us. From what? The catechism says from sin. The older version, again, says it more specifically. From all our sins. Paul says, for the wages of sin is death. But Jesus Christ took those wages and paid the penalty for our sin, as the catechism says, not with silver or gold, but with His precious blood. No doubt if each one of us were brought into a room filled from top to bottom and from wall to wall, filled with shiny gold and silver, man, our eyes would light up. Wow! Wouldn't that be something to see that? We know, you see, that money means power in this life. We're told that money talks. It creates opportunities. It opens doors. And indeed, we know that we need finances, even in the church. And God provides finances for us to provide for us our daily bread and so forth. The lottery sells itself by promising to make dreams come true. Oh, really? But you see, money cannot buy our health. Money cannot purchase the loved one back from death. And it certainly cannot pay the ransom from sin and buy freedom from the devil. If it would have been a money fine charged against our sin, What would that have been to our Lord? You see, all the silver and gold belong to Him. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. So if it would have been His physical wealth, if that would have been sufficient, it would have been no great price. But you see, what was needed was the wealth of who He is. The wealth of His very being. His very life. His precious, uninfected, free from guilt and pollution, blood was needed. christ's blood is precious boys and girls that is costly expensive valuable because souls which would still show the imprint of god even though it may be ever so faint souls are costly and nothing less than than the blood of christ could redeem lost souls and that's why the church is called to preach the gospel to every nation baptizing them into the name of the father son and holy spirit that's why we as parents are called to to teach our children as they grow the meaning of their baptism that for those who believe they have the assurance without a doubt that all of their sins are forgiven them for jesus sake believers are delivered from all the power as the catechism says the tyranny of the devil he has no dominion over me he has no claim on my life. The shackles have fallen off of me and have been put on Satan and He cannot eternally harm His people. Why? Because our comfort is not simply, it is this, but not simply that Christ redeemed us from sin and delivered us from all the tyranny of the devil, but our comfort includes that He brought us under His own power and His own authority. He did this to make us His very own, as the catechism says, His own possession. Boys and girls, you know what possessions are. Your toys are your possessions. Your valued possessions. You love them. You don't want to give them up. Believers are Christ's valued possession. We sometimes lose a toy. We lose a possession. Or it's taken away from us. But Christ's possession will never be lost. it will never be taken away from Him. We belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And by the grace of God, we are His eternal possession. Because the gates of hell shall not prevail against His body. Our Lord says, I bought you. The contract was carved in the wood of the cross and the adoption papers were signed with the blood of the Lamb. I own you. Now, live like my possession. Live like my possession. You are accountable to my lordship. Congregation, we enjoy the greatest freedom of all. Freedom of body and of soul. And that freedom is not only to be confessed with our lips, but it is also to be confessed and demonstrated in our life. Children of God are called to live consciously in all aspects of our lives. To live consciously in the constant awareness that whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. And of course, we know that most children reflect certain characteristics of their parents. Some walk the same. Some talk the same. Some look the same. Some pick up the habits, whether good or bad, of their parents. But as children of God, we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds and therefore we are to conform and be conformed more and more to the image of God which is being restored in us by the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 3, verses 9 and 10 says, Whoever has been born of God does not sin. For his seed, God's seed, remains in him. And he cannot sin because he has been born of God. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Those who live in the blessedness of full salvation accomplished by Christ's divine lordship are accountable to live in obedience to Christ's lordship. We have to answer to Him. And we are called to be obedient. And that means that Christians are called to have the same mind as Christ. so that we think and speak God's thoughts after Him. That means that our will is to be bent according to the will of God, so that our actions reflect the mind of Christ. That means that we are to be selfless, no longer selfish. Christ has freed us. He owns us. Therefore, our lives are no longer to revolve around ourselves with me being the center of my universe. But Christ is the center. and young people therefore as teenagers are living and are dating and having fun is not bound in slavery to peer pressure we're not slaves to that or slaves to the latest popular opinion of the day everybody's doing it but our lives with every decision and every circumstance belongs to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ our owner. And as husbands and wives, we are not disciplined by the popular marriage concept that is being taught today that we are to get what we can out of our marriage and when we are no longer satisfied, we just get out of it because after all, we really weren't meant for each other anyway. Instead, my marriage partner, my husband or my wife, who as a believer, like me, is saved by grace through faith, he or she is an adopted child of God. And he or she is Christ's servant, not mine. As business owners and workers, our motivation is not to be held captive to the almighty dollar or the push for success up the corporate ladder, but it is to reflect love for God above all and our neighbor as ourself. In all that we do, beloved, we must always ask the same question that Paul asked on the road to Damascus when he was blind. The question, what shall I do, Lord? What shall I do? And this also means that as those who confess Christ's lordship, we may be faced with situations in which as Christians we have a duty to make the unpopular choice. Young people, are you prepared for that? To make the unpopular choice where we as Christians go against the grain of the common sense of the world. We go against the public opinion polls of the day. We don't do it just because everybody's doing it. We may suffer persecution for bowing before King Jesus instead of giving in to the philosophy of the world, but our comfort is that Jesus said, Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And of course, each one of us could give a multitude of examples for that which we have been talking about. From what job should I do to who should I hang around with. But the simple truth is this. As Christians, we are the property of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, we are to reflect, reflect positively our owner. We are to reflect Him positively. We are His property, and therefore He has complete say-so in and over our lives, and we must recognize His Lordship over the entirety of our lives. Do you listen to Him in all things? Or is this message of truth simply falling on deaf ears or selective ears? Remember, Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. We must confess that often we have been disobedient, self-willed, and runaway children, yet, By the grace of God, we are still children of God for Jesus' sake. Indeed, if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. That's why Jesus Christ accomplished full salvation. By His perfect righteousness and His perfect obedience all the way to death on the cross. He is the one who accomplished full salvation because of His authority as the only begotten Son of God. He accomplished it by His activity of redeeming and delivering us and making us His very own possession. And therefore, He has a right to our accountability to His Lordship. Because it's not enough. It's not enough simply to say with the lips to call Him, Lord, Lord. Jesus said, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in heaven. Is Jesus Christ your Savior? Your Lord? Is He your God? Do you have the comfort of being an adopted child of God, that you are not independent, that you are not self-sufficient, that you are not autonomous? And is there evidence of that through your words and your deeds? If not, then one day He will declare to you, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. But what comfort for those who are brought to repentance and faith by the grace of God and who know themselves by the Holy Spirit to be children of God for the sake of the Lord. Completely dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, congregation, Jesus Christ, God's Son, is our Lord. The one to whom all authority has been given. But you know what? He's also our brother. He is also our brother. And therefore He says, I own you. You are mine. But guess what? I give you what is mine. I give you all of it. And that's eternal comfort because children always have a room in the house, even for us. Even if we have wayward children, there's always a room waiting for them in the house. Children always have a room in the house. And Jesus said, In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. What does it mean to be a part of the family of God? It means to believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, our Lord, the One who got salvation right. Our adoption is settled and binding forever in Him. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for this beautiful truth. This reminder of something that so many of us have known for so long. But maybe it's become commonplace. And maybe there are those here, including boys and girls, that have never heard this before. And this is the first time. The blessing of being adopted into your family. Of having been given all the rights and privileges. of natural children, of having that inheritance that does not fade, that will not perish, that is kept in heaven for those who believe. Father, we pray that You would increase our faith. We pray that if there are those, even one here today, who does not yet have that faith, that You would open their heart and give them that faith, That they might recognize their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that, by nature, every one of us is an outcast. But we are included only for the sake of Jesus Christ. We thank you for this comfort. We thank you for this assurance. We thank you for this truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.