Let us ask the Lord to bless the reading and the proclamation of his word. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we have just sung about how we have enemies, but they are your enemies. And we do this with a prayer, just like the psalmist, that you would also search us and know our hearts, try us in every thought. If any sin holds sway, lead us in the everlasting way. Lord, we pray that you will bless us as we hear your word, that you will speak to us. Pray that you will graciously grant strength to your servant. He may be used of you. And that by the power of your spirit, we may hear you speaking through him. May you be praised. May we say glory as we hear you speaking to us again this morning. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. As you see, we're going to read three relatively short passages of scripture. So if you would like to kind of keep your fingers or papers or something in each of these, in Romans 10 and Hebrews 11 and Psalm 18. Obviously, there is a particular reason for the order and also the reading of each of these. So first of all, Romans 10. Verses 8 to 13. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's Holy Word. Romans 10, starting at verse 8 through verse 13. But what does it say? Well, we have to understand what we're talking about here. When it says, what does it say, it's referring to, actually in verse 6, when it says, but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. And so it says, do not say in your heart, so on. then it says but what does it say so it's talking about the righteousness that is of faith all right what does it say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus and believe in your heart that god had raised him from the dead you will be saved Verse 10, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. In other words, will not suffer under God's judgment. Verse 12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's read then from Hebrews 11, just verses four through seven. Hebrews 11, four through seven. Continuing on in the reading of God's word, Hebrews 11, verse four. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch, was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And then verse seven, by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared the ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. And then finally let's read a few verses from Psalm 18 verses 31 to 36. Here again we read this and as in our call to worship We just say glory. Psalm 18 starting verse 31. For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war. so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. May the Lord bless the reading and the proclamation of his word to us. Again, we hear God's Word as summarized in Belgian Confession Article 1. Dear brothers and sisters, beloved congregation, and the Lord Jesus Christ, have you ever heard someone say, you know, who claims to be a believer, that we have no creed but Christ? So they don't have creeds or confessions. Well, I used to be one of those. And I know that this is true for some of you as well. Well, first of all, we should understand that terms like creed and confession, they are very similar. The word creed literally means I believe. So a creed is a statement of what I believe. And confession is I confess. So it is about what I confess to be truth. So you see, to say, no creed but Christ, yeah, that sounds kind of nice after all, just believe in Jesus, right? But this is a very poor creed, to say, no creed but Christ. It's a poor creed, why, why? Well, because you haven't said what you believe about Jesus Christ. As you know, I'm sure, many false religions, in fact, probably most false religions, they also believe in Jesus Christ. So you see, a creed, a confession, or a catechism explains what we believe the Bible to say, for example, about Jesus. And in this way, creeds and confessions, they become a standard for biblical faith. Well of course the Bible is the standard, but confessions summarize what the Bible teaches. But also some say it's enough to have God's Word as our standard. So we don't need confessions and creeds as a standard. We have God's Word as a standard. Well, that too sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? But is it really helpful to only say, our standard for who Jesus Christ is, that's the Bible, and we don't say anything more? We haven't said what the Bible says. So again, for example, the Mormons, they also believe the Bible. I know they have the Book of Mormon, but they say they believe the Bible. And they also claim to believe in Jesus Christ. Of course, it's a very different idea, very different truth from what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Well, then you might say, okay, here are some things which the Bible says about Jesus Christ. And you have to believe these in order to be a true Christian. You see it? you do that of course you have already declared you have stated you have written down a creed a confession right the point of all this is brothers and sisters that we see that creeds and confessions are our response to scripture our response to the inspired and infallible word of god And that's why we call creeds and confessions forms of unity. They show, they declare the unity of true faith. And again, the basis for them is the Holy Scriptures. So in creeds and confessions, we are saying, this is what the Bible teaches. And we are saying, this is what you have to believe to be one with us and the faith. And in this way, brothers and sisters, we are bound by our creeds and confessions. This is what we must believe as true believers, as Christians, and this is how we must live as Christians. And so the Belgian Confession is such a statement of faith and of life. And this morning we will hear God's Word as summarized in Article 1 on the theme, The Church Confesses the Truth to the World. Well, we sang for our Song of Preparation about this, and it's in our first point. Because when we consider the Church confessing the truth to the world, we have to first of all see something very important. Our first point. We see the enmity or the conflict between the church and the world. Well, brothers and sisters, you have heard it often, that there is an enmity, a conflict, a war between the church and the world. And that's established by God himself. Already in Genesis 3.15, You know, when God first promised salvation in Jesus Christ, who is called the seed of the woman, then God also said that he would put enmity, he would bring a conflict between the world and the church. In Genesis 3.15, it is described as between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. That's about the world and the church. So the point is enmity or conflict is a basic reality and truth about the church's existence in the world, your and my existence in this world. Enmity. But is it not true that we often think that the world is kind of out there apart from us? We need to see that the world is also deep within our hearts as a remnant. Remember, we often repeat this. We have a threefold sworn enemy, the world, the flesh, and the devil, right? And these are all an unholy trinity. They all work as one. So that flesh is that remnant that's left over within our own hearts. In fact, when Genesis 3.15 speaks of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, well, we have to see that both of these, sadly, are in the church too. In the church, there are those who, and this spins off of what we read in Romans 10, yes, they confess with the mouth, but they do not believe with the heart. They have no true work of God's grace in them. So as the apostle wrote by the Holy Spirit in verse 10, with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Here he is giving an important order of events, if you will, that the true believer confesses with the mouth what is already present in the heart. I said the true believer does that. And I say that because there are many examples, many examples in our experiences, many examples also in the Bible that there is such a thing as an outward confession with a mouth that is apart from the heart believing unto righteousness. By the way, that's why this article in the Belgian Confession begins with, we all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth. So we are saying what is in our hearts. And you see, this matter of an outward confession, being apart from what the heart believes unto righteousness, that brings the true Church into conflict, into enmity with the There are those who are in the church, but they are not of the church. And as a result, yeah, some of those who signed this confession, Guido de Bray and others, they eventually gave their lives for the right to serve God according to his word. And we have to see that while the details may differ, the same conflict still exists today. The Church lives in a world of unbelief and disobedience. And the Church is continually confronted with the problem of unbelief. Again, not only outside of the Church, but also within the Church herself. So we come to this article, where true faith believes and confesses that there is only one God. Well, we read in Hebrews 11, he who comes to God must believe that he is. That's what it says. He who comes to God must believe that he is, that he exists. Well, of course, there are those who openly deny that God exists. You know, Psalm 53 verse 1, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. But also, it's probably more common that there are those who simply ignore the fact that God exists. Many may not say God does not exist, but they think and they live as if God did not exist. And maybe you ask, how is that possible? Well, we should consider how easy it is to actually ignore that God exists. For example, We may do something like drink too much and get drunk, lie, cheat, gossip, any of the commandments, and we will never admit that that was sinful or it was wrong until we find out that others know. That's living as if God did not exist, as if he doesn't see. So we only care if man sees. It makes us think of Romans 3.18, where it says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. So this morning, the Spirit asks you to ask yourself, look around yourself. Do you fear God? More than you fear man? It is sadly common that people fear man much more than they fear God. How is it possible? Because they simply ignore that God exists. So do you see how this brings us into enmity? Into a conflict? Think of it. Think of it. A true believer, He knows deep in his heart that God is. And he knows that God watches all the affairs of man. Nothing is hidden from his eyes. And therefore the true believer will not remain comfortable with sin. Now be careful. I didn't say he will not sin. And I did not even say he will not be comfortable with sin. I said he will not remain comfortable with sin. Sadly, sadly, and how about to grieve us? But there are times in our lives where we are comfortable with sin. But a true believer, because he knows God is, cannot remain comfortable with sin. And if you're a true believer, you know that testimony in your own heart and in your own life. Well, such a true believer. You know, he can be close to someone who, again, with his mouth may say he is a believer, but it's not a belief with a heart unto righteousness. So it is just an outward confession again. And you see, he may say, yeah, God exists, but He's convinced himself that God somehow overlooks stuff. He does not see. And as a result, he will be comfortable with sin. And he will continue to be comfortable with sin until the Holy Spirit works a deep conviction in his heart. The point is these two people will be at enmity with one another. It's inevitable. there will be a conflict. And again, this is a conflict that God created. God created it to preserve us from the wrong kind of friendships, if you will. You know it, I'm sure. Before Genesis 3.15, man had made friends with the world, that is, with Satan and with sin. And God declared this had to be stopped. And to do it, he made a conflict between believers and the world. So think of what we read in Hebrews 11 about the enmity, the conflict. Abel, he offered to God, he worshipped. And Cain did too. But there was enmity. So that through his worship, it says Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. And God accepted the worship of Abel, but not of Cain. And so Cain, in enmity, killed his brother, right? Or we read of Noah. Noah did not become comfortable with the world. He did not find friendship with the world something to hold on to. How could Noah do that? He was moved with godly fear. And that godly fear drove him to do what God called him to do. And you notice, we read it, it says, in doing it he condemned the world and he became heir of righteousness which is according to faith. Not according to works, but according to faith. So, brothers and sisters, the Church lives in this kind of a world that is in conflict. And yet, at the same time, we are to love our enemies, right? And we love them by confessing the truth to them, as we see in our second point. The church's duty to confess the truth to the world. We read in Psalm 18, where the psalmist says, God arms me with strength. God teaches my hands to make war. And then right away, we should think of Ephesians 6, which tells us about that war. And you know it, you know it well, in Ephesians 6, that our fight is against spiritual hosts of wickedness. And to make that war, we need the whole armor of God. And that whole armor of God, as you study that in Ephesians 6, it's all about the word, it's all about the truth. So here in Article 1, we all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth. Here is a body of confessors, a unity of men who are so deeply convicted that this is the truth. That in the introduction they declare they will indeed obey the government in all things. All things that are according to God's law. But They will rather, and this is their words, they will rather offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their bodies to fire, than to deny this truth. Obviously, they believed this with the heart. This was more than just words. They feared God more than they feared man. And we should remember, it is with such a heartfelt confession that the Church becomes the pillar and ground of the truth, like it says in 1 Timothy 3.15. And what follows in the next verse is an early creed. And that's why we have in our bulletin above our creeds and our confessions, unless we don't have room for it, it says the Church is called to be a confessing Church that she may be a pillar and ground of the truth in our bulletin, right? A long while ago, we agreed as a session to put that there so that everyone who would be here worshipping with us including we ourselves would understand why we part of our worship is to have confession of the truth. So the point is clearly if all that was here and this Belgian Confession was just about personal opinions. Well, these men would never have taken such a stand as they did. Why would you put your life out on a line like this? They had a deep conviction. They firmly believed that this was God's truth. And it was worth, if God will, It was worth dying for. They could say, thus says the Lord. And brothers and sisters, that's what the church is called to do. We are called to know the truth, to confess it, and to take a stand for it. Again, against the world that is in enmity with us. The common problem we face today is that the Church lacks this kind of unity and truth. And many of you know that that can cause some hurt. I once read an article about a seminary. You know, a seminary is a school to train ministers. And the author said this seminary was producing ministers, listen to this, he said, who were trained to doubt everything and convinced of nothing. And I must sadly say that I witnessed that very thing. Trained to doubt everything and convinced of nothing. Obviously that does not promote unity and truth. And the result is that the church basically, well, is left with basically a man-centered gospel. And by that I mean that, well, just some examples. The church has a lot to say about things like the environment, you know, to save the world from man. Church has a lot to say about poverty. It's amazing how in a man-centered gospel there's so much, I'll use the expression, I hope you understand it, socialism. They talk of poverty but they never talk about the sinful practices that create poverty. Or the church has a lot to say about feminism. Lately, amazingly to me, even defending homosexuality and being trans and on and on. A man-centered gospel, that's all that's left. Well, when you hear all of this, you may be in full agreement because you think this has nothing to do with you. If you are a true believer, It has everything to do with you and with me. Because as believers we are members of one body, right? You and I too are called to confess the truth to the world around us. You and I are called to work and to live for that unity of the truth. To see how it is in conflict with that which does not love the truth. as we've heard already. But of course, you and I can't do that if we don't know the truth. And sadly, there is often very little knowledge of basic truth. And I know truth is a general term. And we can easily say, what all do we need to know? Well, that's why we have creeds and confessions. We can easily say, where do we begin? Well, it's very helpful to see how the Belgian Confession begins by talking about the one only living true God. And we see that in our third point. The church begins by confessing her heartfelt faith in a wonderful God or a God of wonder. You know, the Belgian Confession has 37 articles in which it teaches God's truth about, well, the scripture, God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creation, providence, sin, salvation, sanctification, the church, the sacraments, civil government, final judgment. Those are just a few examples. Brothers and sisters, we need to know and we need to be convinced about the truth of each one of these. For each of these, it's always, it's always, we believe, we know, we confess. So there is no doubt about what the Bible teaches and we accept it and we openly declare it to the world. We show it in how we live. So yeah, before going into each of these, the confession begins with this heartfelt confession of faith in a God of wonder. You know, even though this is first of all addressed to King Philip of Spain, and he is addressed as, this is a direct quotation, I, Lord and Invincible. King Philip of Spain, high Lord and invincible. Yet right away, here's a confession from the heart of a higher Lord, of a God of wonder, of grace, of glory. It made me think of the call to worship again. Give unto the Lord you mighty ones. How mighty are you? All strength is in the Lord. So you are only mighty as the Lord gives you might. And this we need to see. Here is a knowledge that is deep within the heart and soul of man. It is a heart that is fed with the Word of God. A heart that has received faith as a gift from God. Faith that is worked by the Holy Spirit using the Word. And that all means that The heart drives us, at all costs, to confess and live according to this truth. In other words, here is a deep-seated conviction. There's no living by convenience here. There's no confessing as it's convenient. It is a conviction. So, we confess this one only God, is a simple and spiritual being. Now be careful, this does not say that God is simple. It says that his being is simple. So that means he is not like man. Man is not a simple being, he is made up of parts, particularly body and soul. God isn't. In his being, in his existence, God is simple and spiritual. That is, pure spirit. See, that's how he has revealed himself in the Bible. So just a few examples for us to think about of God as a simple being. Examples from the Bible. God is love. He is completely and perfectly loving. Very simple. God is light. It doesn't say God has light, but He is light. 1 John 1 verse 5, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Very simple. God is gracious. He is completely filled with mercy and grace. That is what he is in his being. And God is also a God of wrath. He is completely filled with wrath against what is sin and evil. Very simple in his being. And it's so important. God is all of these together without any contradiction between them. So it's not as if, you know, grace contradicts wrath or love contradicts wrath. We've discussed this many times, that without His wrath there would be no grace. Again, we need to know this. His grace is in fact that he brought his wrath, which we deserve, he brought that wrath upon his son in our place. That's true grace, right? I hope you see, you can't even understand grace apart from wrath. And the same is true of God's love. His love is always of grace. It's always undeserved. So that's why we say here is a God of wonder. And we go on here and we see His wonder in Article 1, that He is eternal. So He has no beginning and no end. Well, doesn't that fill us with wonder? Have you ever just kind of Contemplated, thought somewhat about eternal, no beginning, no end. When you do, you never can be, you can never stop being amazed at the very idea of what is eternal. Because we're just so bound by time. And in fact, we only know the eternal by God's revelation, by the Bible. God has told us about it. And Lord willing in the future we'll see this in Article 2. So we see His wonder in the eternal. We also see His wonder in that He is incomprehensible. That means we cannot fully understand Him. That doesn't mean that we can't understand or know Him. We can. We can through what He makes known to us through His revelation, right? but we cannot fully understand Him. He is incomprehensible. See, that's why in the Bible you will not find any definition of God. As if you could learn that definition and then say, well, I know God, because you can recite that definition. You won't find that. Instead, we grow in our knowledge, we grow in our understanding of God, we learn of Him, by holding before us what he tells us of his works and of his words. And that's why we read a little part of Psalm 18. If you read that whole chapter, that whole Psalm, it's really about the glory and wonder of God in his words and in his works. And you see, when we really know God this way, then it's like the psalmist says in psalm 18 verse 49, I will give thanks to you among the gentiles. In other words, I will confess you to the world. In our assurance in psalm 36 verse 9 we heard it, for with you is a fountain of life. With you is a fountain of life. And article 1 echoes this when it says he is the overflowing fountain of all good. this too makes us say glory think of it you know kind of like an artesian well just keeps running over and over a fountain of good but not just of good but overflowing of all good so what happened to you last week what happened to me last week That was all good. God is the overflowing fountain of it all. Oh, may we rest in that. May we glorify God. Just say glory when we think of him being the overflowing fountain of all good. And it goes on in the Belgian Confession here in this article. fill us with wonder as we see him described as invisible can't see him he's not a physical being he is immutable that means he never changes he keeps on being what he is and has always been i am the lord i never change god said He is infinite. No limitations. All that God is, He is without limit or without end. He is almighty. No power, no authority is above Him. The mighty ones of the earth have to give strength and glory to Him, right? He is the Almighty Father of Heaven and Earth. Oh, we can go on and on and just contemplate, invisible, immutable, infinite, Almighty, a God of wonder. Don't let the world get you thinking of God like man. Again, from Psalm 18, verse 1, I will love you, O Lord, my strength, my God, my strength in whom I will trust. See, that means I'm not going to trust myself. I don't have strength in myself. You are my strength, O Lord. And as the Belgic Confession says, you are perfectly wise, you are perfectly just, you are perfectly good. And when it says perfectly in all of those, that means always and in everything. Well, in conclusion, brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit wants you and me to more and more see the wonder of God. And when we do, well, we just can't help but see we can't go along with the world. The world has a very different idea of God, and even of God's works. I'm sure you know it, that the world thinks about God in terms of man. I've had occasion to talk several times with those who are unbelievers, and because they know my calling and my position and so on, they want to talk about God. And they always talk about God in terms of man. And I show them that that's exactly what the Bible says they will do. Romans 1 says it, right? They talk about God as made unto like man. So you see, for the world, and I'm sure many of you have experienced this. I know I have. For the world, God is either a monster when he shows his wrath, even in natural things like a hurricane or other natural causes, which are under his laws, by the way. He's either a monster or God is to be like a grandfather, like a Santa Claus. That's the world's idea of mercy and love and grace. Give me good stuff. But when we know God according to His Word, and when we know God according to His works, then we come to see more and more that in His perfect and just wrath, He is gracious. And we come to praise Him for His grace, by which He punished His own Son in our place. Brothers and sisters, the more we truly know the living God of the Bible, the more you and I will grow in godly living. We more and more see that we are so sinful, we are so weak, we are so helpless. And here is the living God, who is trustworthy, He is reliable, He is unchanging, like a rock. psalm 18 31 we read it who is a rock except our god solid foundation i pray you see god is not just a great comfort and strength to you know the guido de braise of this world who paid for this confession with their lives he is also a comfort and a strength for you dear brother and sister in christ And yes, you and I, we live in the midst of a great enmity, a great conflict. And the more we see it, the more helpless we can feel. But we should not look to ourselves. We must look to the one and only living God, in whom we trust, in whom we have strength. He is the one we believe in with the heart and confess with the mouth. He arms us with strength. And may He personally, yeah, personally, by His Holy Spirit and by His Word, comfort you and give you strength to live and confess His name before the world around you. Amen. Let us pray. Our loving and gracious Father in heaven, we thank you that you have made known your truth and your holy word that we stand on generations of the Church that has confessed that truth, what it means, what it says, how we ought to live. May we see that in this way you are our strength. This is for our good. Father, we pray that you would graciously Bless your word and may it accomplish the purposes for which you have given it to us here this morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.