If you would also turn in that three forms of union in the Heidelberg to Lord's Day number 12, and this is our normal practice, I will ask a question and if we would all respond together with the answer. Why is he called Christ, that is, anointed? because he is ordained of God the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption, and our only high priest, who by the one sacrifice of his body has redeemed us and ever lives to make intercession for us with the Father. and our eternal King who governs us by His Word and Spirit and defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us. But why are you called a Christian? Because by faith I am a member of Christ and thus a partaker of His anointing in order that I also may confess His name, may present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him. with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life and Hereafter in eternity reign with him over all creatures There is a lot here. I mean this literally could turn into a two-hour study with no problem, but We'll just summarize The first thing we have to recognize is that Jesus is the name of our Lord. The angel Gabriel told Mary that you should name him Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. But he is also called the Christ, that is, the Anointed, the Messiah, would be the Hebrew term for it. That means he's the one that was consecrated and called by God. and empowered by God to do the service that was required for us. And the Scripture and the Catechism picks it up as, number one, He was ordained by God the Father. This was the plan from eternity, that Jesus Christ would come to save His people from His sins. The Scripture tells us that Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In Revelation, we see that He was the only one worthy to open the scroll and break the seven seals. He's the one who was ordained of God by the Holy Spirit, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit to do this for us. But not only for our redemption, but also to be our chief prophet and teacher. He's the one who speaks to us the words of God. He explains the words of God to us. When he was in his earthly ministry, what did he do all the time, regularly? He would go and teach the people, teach them out of the law. And many times, some of the other Pharisees and Sadducees marveled because he was not one who had been educated. And they would ask the question, isn't this the carpenter's son? And the answer is, well, yes, he is. But he is the Lord of glory. He is Emmanuel, God with us. But as our chief prophet and teacher, He has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption. If we read the whole Bible, and we start at the beginning in Genesis, we see the acorn of our salvation plan. We see the fact that the heel would crush the head of the serpent. of the one who would come from Adam and Eve. And as time went on, more information was added to that regarding our redemption. But in the end, and when Christ came, and Hebrews picks this up, He has spoken to us once and for all in Jesus Christ. We see the fullness of the teaching of our redemption through what He has explained to us. And He has given us His word. All the epistles The letters, all those give us the full information of our salvation. We don't need anything more. We don't need any secret revelations. We don't need any new prophecies. We have it all. Now, Jesus also is our only High Priest. There can't be any more priests, if you will, on this earth anymore because there's nothing more to add to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And the only way that the priesthood changed in the Old Testament is by the death of the priest. But Christ is alive. He's a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He's at the right hand of God the Father. So he's the only priest that can be. There cannot be any other priest. And as our high priest, he ever lives to make intercession for us with the Father. And also, the catechism picks up the fact that there's only one sacrifice. He sacrificed His own body, and by that one sacrifice, as Hebrews says, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. There is nothing more that we can add to our salvation. There's nothing more that we can offer God that would take away our sin. In Christ, it is complete. It is done. And that's good news. There's nothing more that you and I can add to it. There really isn't. And if we think that, then we have to clear our minds and have to go back to what the scripture says. And we have to remind ourselves, you cannot add anything to it. If you're trying to add to what Jesus Christ has done, you have not recognized what Jesus Christ has done and the greatness of it. And the fact that it is a sacrifice that was accepted by God. When Jesus was on the cross, he said, it is finished. That's it. There's nothing more to add. Now, He also is our eternal King. The Scripture tells us, therefore, He must reign until all His enemies become His footstool. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He governs us by His Word and Spirit. And notice how the Catechism picks up both Word and Spirit. Many errors occur in Christianity when you split those apart. Without the Spirit, we cannot hear the Word. But without the Word, we cannot hear the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks through the Word. There's a one-to-one correlation to it. You cannot separate them. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the Lord. The Spirit is the one who quickens us to hear the Word. You cannot have one without the other. And so the Lord Jesus Christ governs us by that Word and by His Spirit, whom He sends and defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us. You know, many times we have objections. They say, you Reformed Christians teach that one saved always saved. And I say, yes, because it's the Lord who saves us, and it's the Lord who preserves us, and it's the Lord who makes us holy. He is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He doesn't just give us salvation and leaves us alone. He preserves us and defends us in that redemption that He has obtained for us. The next question, though, is, why are you called Christian? Why are you a little Christ? I mean, that's what Christian means. And it starts out, because by faith I am a member of Christ. The catechism will remind us later on that faith comes by the power of the Spirit through the Word. The reason you have faith is the Holy Spirit quickened you and gave you that faith. It is a gift of God. It's not by works. so that no man can boast. It's given to us by the Holy Spirit. So we have that faith, and by that faith, that becomes the instrument that God uses to unite us to the family of Christ, to be one of His brethren, and thus a partaker of His anointing. So in the same way that Jesus Christ was empowered to live a holy life, a perfect life in His case, we too are empowered to live a holy life. And He tells us, be ye holy for I am holy. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." And so by that anointing, we are declared holy and are being made holy and are working out His plan in time and space. And that by that anointing that we may confess His name. That's what we're here to do. Jesus says, you shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. And that's what we do. As Christians, we confess His name by our words and by our actions. So that we may present ourselves as living sacrifices of thankfulness to Him. We live as a sacrifice of thankfulness. We live, we love God, and we work to keep His commandments, not to keep our salvation, but as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, a thank you to God for what He has done once and for all. And with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life. This may seem like a passing statement, but this is so important. Because my sins are forgiven, because the sins of those people are forgiven, we don't have that condemnation hanging over us. I don't have to walk and say, man, if I don't do this perfect, I'm going to go to hell. If I don't do this perfect, I'm going to go to hell. If I don't do this perfect, no. We have a free conscience. Our sins are already paid for. And so because I have that freedom, freedom of conscience, Now I can fight against sin, and when the devil comes, and he will come regularly, and say, you did that, you did that, what a horrible Christian you are. But with that free conscience, I can say, yes, you are correct, devil, but Christ has already taken care of it. Christ has already paid for it. Christ has already covered it and taken it away as far as the east is from the west. And so we can fight against the devil. The scripture tells us, resist the devil and he shall flee. So, because of what Christ has done, we have that power. And hereafter, in eternity, reign with Him over all creatures. Because of our union with Christ, because He is the Messiah who has been anointed for us, and because by faith we are united to Him, we shall reign with Him for eternity. So even in this life, as Christians, during different time periods, we're in a time period right now where Christians are being regarded lower and lower and lower in the society. They're calling us the ones that are off. They're calling us the ones that are distorted. They're calling us wicked, when in reality, their wickedness is becoming greater. But in spite of that, in spite of how little we may become in our society today, the Scripture reminds us that we will hereafter in eternity reign with Him over all creatures. were told this in Revelation many times, especially in Revelation 3.21. And so that is the good news. So we have a hope that is ahead of us, a hope that is eternal, that is better than anything we can think of in this life.