For our Scripture reading this morning, turn with me to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63, as we read together verses 7-19. Isaiah 63, beginning at verse 7, as we give our attention to the Word of God. I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord the deeds for which He is to be praised according to all the Lord has done for us. Yes, the many good things He has done for the house of Israel according to His compassion and many kindnesses. He said, Surely they are My people, sons who will not be false to Me. And so He became their Savior. In all their distress, He too was distressed and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them. Then His people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and His people. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who set His Holy Spirit among them, who sent His glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them to gain for himself everlasting renown, who led them through the depths. Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble. Like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name. Look down from heaven and see from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us. For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, or Israel acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer, from of old is your name. Why, O Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary. We are yours from of old, but you have not ruled over them. They have not been called by your name. This morning we return to our consideration of the Heidelberg Catechism as well. We turn to Lord's Day 8. Lord's Day 8, page 15 in the appended pages of the Psalter Hymnal. As you recall, we are in the section of the Catechism, the second section, called Deliverance. The heading says, the top of page 12 before Lord's Day 5. Lord's Day 7, some weeks ago we considered question and answer 21, what is true faith? And then what then must a Christian believe in question 22? And then we are introduced then to the articles of what we call the Apostles' Creed. Now, Lord's Day 8, we consider this further. As I read the questions and together we respond by reciting the answers. Question 24 asks, How are these articles divided? Into three parts. God the Father and our creation. God the Son and our deliverance. 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. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you this morning, did you know that by the very fact that you have gathered together this morning in this place, that you confessed something? By the very fact that each one of us drove up the street and pulled in this parking lot and entered this church building for worship, You and I confessed something to the world. You see, we declare by our presence in this Christian church that we worship the God of Scripture. Now, unfortunately, that's not to say that your confession in worship and my confession in worship is genuine and sincere, although I hope and pray that it is for each one of us. But even our very actions of gathering together for worship Make a confession of Him whom we worship. But then who is He? How would you defend Him? Or how would you describe Him? Or how would you proclaim Him to others? What is it that you believe about God? And is this something that is important? Well, it's a matter of life or death. Again, you know we are in that second section of the Catechism, that section called Deliverance, as is inserted in our catechisms. We might know it better with the words grace or salvation, guilt, grace, gratitude, sin, salvation, and service. And we now specifically begin to consider what we call a summary of our Catholic, undoubted Christian faith. Now, boys and girls, Catholic here is not talking about the Roman Catholic Church that we are familiar with. But Catholic, with the small c as we use it here, means universal. That's what Catholic means. Universal. We're talking about a summary of our universal, undoubted Christian faith. This is a fundamental truth of Scripture. That all true Christians, the entire holy, Catholic, universal church has confessed together throughout the ages. and it has been brought together in summary form in the articles of the Apostles' Creed. Now remember, the creeds and the confessions of the Christian church are the fruit of the church's struggle against heresy and false teaching. They are the result of the defense of the biblical Christian faith, the result of the church's careful study of the Scriptures. Our confessions, as you know, are the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, the Belgic Confession, As well, there are other wonderful Reformed confessions that we hold dear. And then there are our creeds. The Apostles' Creed, but along with the Nicene and the Athanasian Creed. And these creeds carefully, beautifully, and accurately promote and defend that which is foundational to the faith, and even more than that, foundational to all of life, and that is who God is. Those three creeds. Consider that. You see, beloved, that God is. That He exists is not in question. That's not the question. The first words of the Bible tell us, in the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. God doesn't explain to us where He came from, only that He is from eternity. As the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 11, verse 6, For he who comes to God must believe that He is, that He exists. God doesn't make a defense for His existence because He doesn't have to. But He does reveal Himself. He reveals Himself in creation as Romans 1 and other passages clearly tell us. He reveals Himself in His inscripturated Word. Ultimately, He reveals Himself in Jesus Christ. In congregation, we cannot know Him apart from His revelation of Himself. And He reveals Himself as the triune God. Now, boys and girls, you have heard the word Trinity. It's not a word that you will find in the Bible anywhere. We confess, as God has revealed Himself, that He is one God but three persons. As the Catechism rightly says, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And from the days of the early church fathers, our early church fathers used that word Trinity then to rightly and beautifully describe this God, one God, three persons, Trinity. Now people of God, this revelation of God, of course, has caused much controversy throughout the ages. If you consider the early councils in the first couple of hundred years A.D. In many respects, the creeds were the fruit of these councils. They dealt with heresies dealing with the conception of God. Heresies fighting against the Trinity. This revelation of God has caused much controversy because man cannot fully understand this doctrine. I can't. I'm sure you can't. It's far above us. And I read somewhere that trying to understand the Trinity has been compared with trying to empty the ocean one teaspoonful at a time. Now, boys and girls, you can understand this, I'm sure. Next time you go to the beach, take a teaspoon. Try it out. It cannot be done. No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you work, you cannot empty the ocean with a teaspoon. You cannot empty it any other way either, I'm sure. But the teaching of the Trinity, beloved, is not something you understand fully with your head, but something you accept by faith. You see, God reveals Himself by His works, what He does, and by His words, what He says about what He does. Now, after this long introduction, it will not be our purpose this morning to prove from Scripture that God is one God in three persons. There are plenty of proof texts listed for you in the Catechism after question and answer 25. As well, it's not our purpose this morning to take the time as would be appropriate in maybe another setting to talk about how the three relate together within the one Godhead. And also, I'm not going to say much about that which others claim, that the three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, split up the Godhead into thirds. That the Father is one-third, the Son is one-third, the Holy Spirit is one-third, and each share one-third of the divine attributes, simply not true. Each person of the divine Godhead is 100% complete, fully God, who each shares 100% fully in the divine attributes of God. But because God is triune, as Scripture teaches us, I want to consider with you the riches of the triune God. Again, this confession of the triune God as we find it in the Apostles' Creed is considered in the section of deliverance, redemption, or salvation. And what that reminds us right away is that we cannot, the believer cannot think of God apart from salvation. We cannot. We must not. Because to the believer, God is salvation. And of this salvation, we could simply say that the Father is the fountain, God the Son is the effector, and God the Holy Spirit is the applier. In other words, beloved, apart from the truth of the doctrine of who God is, that He is triune, that He is three in one, apart from that truth, there is no salvation. And also, having a right understanding of the Trinity, as many of us were reminded in Sunday school this morning. The Athanasian Creed in Article 28 says, He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. And we could add properly. The Trinity, beloved, brings us face to face with the truth that the whole of our salvation, from beginning to end, belongs to God. He does it all. Therefore, no triune God, no true God at all, and therefore, no salvation. Simple as that. The riches of the triune God is complete, full, and free salvation, which we want to consider this way this morning. The Father's creation, the Son's redemption, and the Holy Spirit's sanctification. And I hope that as we read together that portion of Isaiah 63, that you saw this truth somewhat reflected. But we want to give a general consideration to these three points. And I say general because, as I trust you recall, each of these riches is given more careful and complete consideration in the Lord's days to follow as the balance of this second section deals with expounding the Apostles' Creed. Notice question and answer 24 again. How are these articles divided? Into three parts. God the Father in our creation, God the Son in our deliverance, God the Holy Spirit in our sanctification. The comfort of the riches of the triune God is that all of this is very personal for those who believe in their heart. Our creation. Our redemption. Our sanctification. It's mine as a believer. It's yours as a believer. Now notice too that this version of the catechism with regard to the Son says, God, the Son, and our deliverance. The older version of the Catechism says God, the Son, and our redemption. Redemption, a much more beautiful word, a much more appropriate word, a much more broad term. Deliverance is included in the term redemption, but redemption goes beyond that and explains why or how that deliverance is accomplished. There was a cost, a price which had to be paid. A substitution had to take place. But beloved, if you believe in the one and only triune God by grace through faith, these riches are your possession. First, the Father's creation. We confess, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. So what does that mean? Well, very simply, it means that God is the source of all things. Even me. I am His creation, and so are you. Each and every one of us. There's nothing that has been created that does not bear the mark of His Almighty touch. Absolutely nothing. When I confess this, I am saying that this God, the God of the Scripture, the God that I worship by the power of the Holy Spirit, that this God is my Father who made all things, even me. And therefore, I trust Him to deal with me as only a loving Father can. And because He is my Father, I am saying that I owe my very life to Him. He is my Maker. He is the One who has given to me my very being. And I am completely dependent upon Him for my very existence. Now, beloved, do you believe this? Do you? And if you say yes, then listen to the next question very carefully. Do you live like this? Does your life reflect this complete dependence upon this God for your very existence? In this day of genetic engineering and cloning and high computer technology and movies with artificial intelligence where bugs and animals and aliens walk and talk and think and reason and love like human beings, we are surrounded, congregation, by a denial of the one and only Creator. As I shared this morning, yesterday I received an email from a pro-life group that sends out information of this type dealing with cloning. Maybe some of you have seen this as well. Let me read just a couple of lines. A biotechnology company called Advanced Cell Technology announced that it has created the first cloned human embryo. They are trumpeting this news as a major breakthrough. Then it goes on. And listen to what Advanced Cell Technologies CEO says. Scientifically, biologically, the entities we are creating are not an individual. They're only cellular life. They're not a human life. I suppose, therefore, to make it more palatable for people to accept the reason for this, to help out in sickness and disease and so forth. And then one more sentence with the caption virgin conception. These same researchers are also trumpeting what the media is calling a virgin conception in which they have caused a human egg to advance to the embryo stage without any fertilization. Beloved, this world lives as if its existence is the result of a big bang and that the existence of people is only an accident by way of our parents or, of course, in the laboratory these days. Generations of people, of children, are being taught to live without thinking about the simple and the profound fact that we would not be here except that God in His power made us. You know, we often think that we have a right to be here. That we have a right to another day of life. That we have a right to live a full, orbed, healthy life. That we have the right to control our own destiny. And of course, we claim our possessions, don't we? My house, my family, my car, my job, it's all mine. But the truth is that as Christians, we are called to live according to this fact, that I am only because God made me. Beloved, isn't that humbling? We depend totally upon Him. We have no rights in truth except the right to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the right to trust and obey. But then when we confess the Father's creation, we also confess that if He made all things, that He also made the laws by which this world and we in it operate. He is the sovereign lawgiver who runs all things. And therefore, we don't live by our own will. We don't live by our own rules or set of rules. We live according to God's law. His moral law. But also He made the laws of nature and of the universe like gravity and the rotation of the earth governing the day and the night. He made the laws of the human body. And that means that whether we realize it or not and whether we believe it or not, we live by His laws. He rules me because He is my source. He is my owner. He governs me. And therefore, I must give my life to Him because it's already His. And I am called to acknowledge that by faith. This rich treasure belongs to the child of God, given by God's grace and received by faith. And therefore, congregation, to live in a way that rejects this truth is foolishness. As the psalmist says in Psalms 14 and 53, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. But for those who truly believe, this rich treasure is most comforting Because if my Father, who created all things, is the source, ruler, and governor of all things, then nothing happens outside of His will. There is nothing that can or does happen to me in my life that our God cannot and does not control. And that means, of course, that the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are not in control. And believe it or not, that means that the United States of America is not in control. God is. That means, as we found out a couple of years ago, that our future was not held captive by the fate of Y2K. God is in control. This means that when we face a deadly disease or a terrible situation, the most terrible situation of life, we do not have to despair. We often do. But we don't have to worry. The people of God held captive in Isaiah's day needed to be reminded of this. They were punished for their sins. They were driven away from their land, from their temple, from their God. And they needed to learn once again whose they were and what it means to be children of God. In verse 8, the Lord refers to them as My people. And in the portion we read, they are reminded of the covenantal lovingkindnesses of the Lord and that He alone is able to bless them and restore them because He is their Father. And as the end of the chapter points out, Abraham cannot help them. Israel or Jacob does not acknowledge them. They are punished by their father and only their father is able to return to his servants. In the second place, the riches of the triune God also includes the son's redemption on behalf of God's children. Now congregation, this is the greatest blessing. It really is. Is it to you? Is this redemption the greatest blessing to you? When we consider the cross of Jesus, and not only what we have been given, namely eternal life, but also that which we have been delivered from, namely eternal death, when you consider that, then is this rich treasure precious to you? Because it will only be precious to those who truly believe. Boys and girls, I need to try to make something clear at this point. We speak here, as the Catechism sets it forth, of the Father's creation, the Son's redemption, and the Holy Spirit's sanctification. But that doesn't mean, for example, that the Son and the Spirit were not involved in the Father's creation. They were. John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. A reference to the Son, Jesus Christ. And Genesis 1 says, And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. We need to understand that creation, redemption, and sanctification, complete salvation is the work of God, of the one God. All three persons of the Blessed Trinity were and are involved in these riches. These are the riches of the one God. But the Father stands out in creation because He is the cause and the origin of all things. The Son, Jesus Christ, stands out in redemption because He became flesh and accomplished that specific sacrifice of redemption. He is the applier, or He is the effector of salvation. And the Holy Spirit stands out in sanctification because He dwells in the church and in the hearts of God's people, leading God's people. He is the applier of that salvation. The three persons of the blessed, the one Godhead have one mind, one goal, and one purpose, and that is to bring about the complete redemption of believers. But then what are we saying when we confess the Son's redemption or deliverance of His people? Again, redemption is really a most beautiful word, especially for those who are captives, those who are prisoners. It means freedom, with the idea of exchange. It means to be purchased, to be bought back. From what? From sin, death, and hell. From the clutches of Satan. From the everlasting torment of body and soul, from suffering, the wrath and punishment of God. But to say, I believe in Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, is then to say that I needed saving from these things. Why? Because I had rebelled against the Father who made me and His law which He had given to govern me. I had offended Him. I had called down His anger upon myself. But by also saying I believe in Jesus Christ, I am saying that this One and only this One is the One I needed to save me. And only He could save me, and He did so by His love and by His justice. By His love, because if it was left up to me, I would not have loved Him. He had to love me first, even as 1 John 4 verse 10 says, In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. But His justice was also necessary. You may recall from last week, seminarian Mike Brown gave a beautiful, concise definition of justice. Getting what is deserved. Mercy, not getting what is deserved. Justice, getting what is deserved. You see, God had to be satisfied. I had to get what I deserve for my sin, but Jesus Christ got that for me. He took that upon Himself in my stead. He took my place. but if Jesus had not gone all the way to the cross, no matter how good His intentions may have been, my sins would not have been paid for, and neither would have yours. As the lovingkindnesses of the Lord are recalled in Isaiah 63, it becomes clear that although the coming of Christ was far off into the future, yet the Israelites knew God as their Savior. As verse 8 says, So He became their Savior. And then the exodus out of Egypt is rehearsed. Beloved, this Savior is my Redeemer. This confession testifies to the whole purpose of Scripture that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Does this truth grip you with that fear and trembling? Does this truth cause you to live in both the humility and joy we spoke of earlier that the Christian is to live in? You see, that's what's even more wonderful about this rich treasure. That it's not just a future, but it's a reality to be lived even 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. Congregation, all that is left of death is its shadow. But even then, in confidence, the child of God can confess, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me. God the Son and our redemption or deliverance. Beloved, how comforting. And with this assurance, all of the distresses and pressures, all of the effects of sin that surround us in this life, even the sin that clings to us against our will, all of this serves to make our redemption from sin the more precious. The more we understand our sin and misery, the more this redemption must be precious to us. And the more ungodly the world around the church becomes, the more precious must our redemption be as we longingly hope for the complete redemption when He comes again to make all things new. And that confident assurance comes by grace through faith, by the Holy Spirit's sanctification. I believe in God, the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification. Now first of all, we're not saying here, we're not limiting the work of the Spirit strictly to what we call sanctification. The Holy Spirit is the applier of the work of Jesus Christ. And that means that the Holy Spirit takes that Gospel call that we hear. He makes it effectual. He makes it inside. He makes it effective in our hearts and in our lives. The Holy Spirit removes that heart of stone from His people and replaces it with a heart of flesh. The Holy Spirit causes us to be born again. And the Holy Spirit of God gives us that faith by which we understand and believe that we are saved by grace through faith, justified that we are adopted sons and daughters of our God. But I believe in God, the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification. That means I confess that God doesn't quit on me. The Holy Spirit is with me for the long haul. God doesn't reach down and pull me out of the pit of miry clay to leave me to myself, only to fall back in, which is exactly what every one of us would do if left to ourselves. God doesn't do that. The God who saves me in Christ is the same God who comes to live in my heart and lead my life day by day in a way that honors God. Paul says in Philippians 2, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, does that contradict what we've said so far? No. Listen again and listen to the following verse. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. God the Son redeems His people. He accomplished that work on the cross, paying the debt of our sin, that payment being received, accepted of God the Father. But the work is not finished in you and me. God the Holy Spirit renews, sanctifies, and makes holy God's people. To be sanctified, we could say, means to no longer be the same kind of people as before. The Holy Spirit makes believers new and different. He creates a clean heart within me. He renews a right spirit in me. He does this daily, bit by bit, chipping away the remnants of the old man and uncovering and revealing more and more the new man. Beloved, daily He burns away something of our willfulness, selfishness, pride, worldliness, lust, and everything else that belongs to the old man. And daily He makes us more forgiving and tolerant and humble. He makes us more humble, more holy. And each one of us, as we examine our lives, must confess that He's got a long way to go. He's got a long way to go with me. I trust He does with you too. It's a growth process that becomes more and more evident through the Christian life, like the seed, to the stalk, to the bud, until one day in glory the flower will be perfectly revealed. Congregation, God does not leave His people alone. Jesus Christ said, of all the Father gives Him, how many does He lose? Not even one. Not even one. He not only brings His own into being, but redeems them from sin and lives in them, recreating us more and more in the image of God. These riches are the riches of the grace of our triune God. Apart from Him, these riches don't exist. And apart from true faith, congregation, these riches don't exist for me and for you. But because God is my Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. These riches then are eternal riches. And therefore, should I worry, beloved, should I be filled with anxiety, walk in anxiety day by day, worrying that I will fall out of grace, back into sin? Should I worry about that? You see, if I believe in God, the Holy Spirit, and my sanctification, then I believe that the Christ who saved me once is not going to allow me to be lost a second time. If His saving sacrifice was perfect, and it was, then not even such a worm as I, followed by God's grace, can mess it up. Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14 says, In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. Isaiah reminds the people that in sin they grieved the Lord's Holy Spirit. The one who, as verse 13 says, led them through the depths. And verse 14 says, gave them rest. The same God, the Holy Spirit, who led the Israelites day by day through the wilderness to the promised land works today in the life of the church and leads believers in their daily walk. The Spirit who was there at creation, who led God's people in the wilderness, who was poured out upon the church at Pentecost, who lives in you and me today is one and the same God, the Holy Spirit. Yes, I sin and you sin, but by the grace of God, not willfully and unbelievingly as unbelievers. And my confidence in the Spirit is that if I am saved once, He will not let me go to hell. But God safeguards His possession by His Spirit. And this congregation is indeed wondrous love. And this congregation gives you and me strength for today. And this congregation does not allow us to live as some claim in all kinds of flippancy. That we can live like we want because we're saved anyway. We can go out and sin. We can eat, drink, and be merry. for tomorrow we die and we go to heaven anyway. No. This truth will not allow us to do that. This truth gives us confidence for life. Because if my salvation depends upon my Father who made me and upon my Savior who paid my price, then my present and my future is in the hands of His Spirit who guarantees to complete that which He has started. Jesus commanded us to baptize into the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with all of these riches. And beloved, do you see the beauty of that sign placed upon the head of our children and what that sign means? And young people, do you understand the riches of the promise of the triune God which you are called to claim in your heart by grace through faith and publicly before God and His people? People of God, is this triune God the God that you serve? This God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Because only in Him is there true and complete salvation. The riches of the triune God means eternal life. True life means to believe and confess the God who gives life, who redeems life, and who sanctifies life. This triune God is the God of all grace and all glory without any one of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity, there is only eternal death. Without any one of the three. Your confession must begin, my confession must begin, and can only begin here. That I believe in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Beloved, your life depends upon it. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we praise You for the truth of who You are. We would be the first to confess that we do not fully understand what we call the doctrine of the Trinity. God in three persons. Blessed Trinity. We cannot comprehend each person being 100%, fully, completely God, enjoying all of what we call the divine attributes. We could easier understand that each is a third God, but that's not how it is. We praise You, O Lord, that You have given to us the faith to believe that which we cannot fully understand, the God of salvation, this triune God. Father, if there is anyone here this morning who has not yet believed by Your grace in the God of Scripture, this triune God, we pray that You would work in their heart that You would give them that faith to believe that which indeed they cannot see, that which they cannot fully understand. Give them that faith that gives them bright hope for today, strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow. Father, we thank You for hearing our prayer. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.