For our scripture reading this morning, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we read together verses 18 through 31. Our confessional reference this morning is Lord's Day 6. Once again, you find the four questions and answers inserted in your bulletin, typed out on the opposite side that you find the outline for this morning, the theme and points. We read together 1 Corinthians 1 beginning at verse 18 as we give our attention to the Word of God. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. For to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God. that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. And if you would turn to that insert, Lord's Day 6, the four questions and answers. As I read the questions and together we confess what we believe by reading together the answers. Question 16 asks, Why must he be a true and righteous man? Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should make satisfaction for sin. And because one who himself is a sinner cannot satisfy for others. Why must he withal be true God? That by the power of his Godhead, he might bear in his human nature the burden of God's wrath. and that He might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life. But who is that mediator who is at once true God and a true righteous man? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Whence do you know this? From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise, afterwards published by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and lastly fulfilled by His only begotten Son. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, So far, as we have considered the catechism in its beginning, we have considered the justice of God. And we have been taught that God's justice demands extreme, everlasting punishment of body and soul for the sin which has been committed against Him. And as we consider that then, as believers, we are to be in awe of Him, but for the very fact that in His grace, God satisfied His own justice. on behalf of His people. He demanded that extreme everlasting punishment of body and soul against you and me, but He Himself satisfied it. He took care of it because we couldn't. You see, far be it from us, even as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ who share the same sinful nature, far be it from us to do this for one another. But as Paul says in Romans 5, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now how could this be? Because He is God's miracle of salvation for His people. We asked in question and answer 15, what manner of mediator and deliverer then must we seek? And the answer, one who is a true and righteous man, yet more powerful than all creatures that is one who is with all through God. Now, to the natural man, this, of course, what we just read doesn't make sense. It's impossible. What was just stated in this answer is foolishness. It's the foolishness that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 1. Christ crucified. It doesn't make sense. But to those who have been illumined by the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe by faith that God has indeed provided such a manner of mediator and deliverer as this. Of course, we don't understand how that could be. We don't understand how one could be both human and divine. One person with two natures except to say all we can say is that it's a miracle of God. And isn't it true that many of us could simply leave it at that? We could be quite content knowing that the God-approved mediator had to be this way. We're told that. And that God provided Him for us. And so let's move on. You see, but the Catechism won't let us do that. For a very good reason, Scripture won't let us move on quite so quickly. Indeed, we are to be content with that. However, even though the Catechism cannot explain how this could be, one person, two natures, it does lead us necessarily to ask why this had to be. The writers of the catechism wanted this one and only salvation to be so precious to us that before we study Scripture's teaching of what Christ did, the writers lay before us Scripture's teaching of why He had to be true and righteous man as well as with all true God in order to accomplish this work. You see, we ought not be satisfied, beloved, until we know all that God has to teach us about our salvation. And it's for that reason that we consider this morning the miracle of the God-approved mediator. Let's consider these three things. First of all, His humanity. Secondly, His deity. And then finally, His identity. Those three things. Simple as that. Notice, question 16 asks again, why must He be a true and righteous man? Now, obviously, there are two things at stake here. First of all, the mediator must be a true man, that is, true human with body and soul. but he must also be a righteous man perfect and holy and the fact that he must be a perfectly holy, righteous man proves to you and me that we can't provide him we can't just for example take one from our number here this morning and provide that one for each other he must be provided for us he must be provided to us but first of all he must be truly human why? because as the catechism answered It rightly says, the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should make satisfaction for sin. Man sinned, man must pain. It echoes what we considered last week with answer 14 when it says, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man has committed. Now it's interesting, as I trust you recall, when we considered question and answer 9 some weeks ago, that in that question and answer, we accuse God of being unfair. By requiring of us in His law that which we absolutely cannot perform. That's not fair. But now we are being taught that He is fair. He is completely and perfectly fair. God, you see, had a claim against the human nature. Not against the animal nature. Not against the angel nature. But the human nature. And His claim was, the soul who sins shall die. The human soul sinned. Therefore, the human soul and body must die. And the mediator must share that human nature with body and soul because if he didn't, that satisfaction could not be accomplished. He had to be flesh and bones, body and soul, so that he could pay for the sins of body and soul. And that, of course, we know meant physical death as well. The Bible says life is in the blood. Boys and girls, you know that if our heart stops beating, That means the blood no longer flows through our veins. And that, of course, means that we are dead. Life is in the blood. And since death was required because of sin, that meant that blood had to be shed. For as Hebrews 9, verse 22 says, without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Now, beloved, the Bible gives us much proof that Jesus was indeed truly human. He was born as a baby in Bethlehem. He was a small child, totally dependent upon His earthly parents. He grew up. He learned to talk and to walk. He became tired. He slept. He was hungry and thirsty. He wept. On the cross, His blood visibly flowed. He was like us in all things, even temptation. The Bible says He was tempted in every way as we are, yet there was one life-changing difference, as we all know. He was without sin. But Jesus Christ was a man of flesh and blood like us. Now, throughout the history of the church, those who have argued against His humanity say that being human takes away from Christ's majesty and it strips Him of the glory of His name and of His work. His humanity, they say, makes Him something less than what He truly is. But this is completely false. His humanity doesn't lessen Him. It doesn't make Him less than what He is, but it makes Him more precious because He is one of us. We needed a human substitute and we find Him only in Christ Jesus. Yet He had to be human with that one life-changing difference. He must also be righteous because as the catechism also says, one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others. And Hebrews 7, verses 26 and 27 clearly teaches that. Such a high priest meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. Beloved, that difference was for us. Because we needed that life change. In fact, we needed to be brought from death to life. Again, as the Catechism says, and I paraphrase, one who is himself a sinner is caught up in the trap of death and cannot bring about his own life change, let alone bring about a change for anyone else. And as we said last week, even if one could be perfectly obedient and love God perfectly beginning today, throughout the rest of his life, He would simply be doing what God has required all along from the beginning and continues to require today. There would be nothing extra with which to pay off his debt up until today. And if there isn't anything extra with which to pay off his own debt, then we can be assured that there's nothing left to pay even a bit of your debt or my debt. Only Jesus could truly ask, as He does in John 8, verse 46, which of you convicts me of sin. Beloved, we must rejoice in the humanity of our mediator because in Him, God and man came together once again. He opened the way from earth to heaven for the believer. He has taken the fear of the grave away for His people because He entered it and He overcame it. And because He rose from the grave, all of His brothers and sisters can see the eternal light of glory at the end of the tunnel of this life. Then He had to be more than a true and righteous man. Not less than that. But He had to be more than that. This mediator and deliverer also had to be true God. The two, humanity and deity, had to be together. Why? Answer 17 says that by the power of His Godhead, He might bear in His human nature the burden of God's wrath, and that He might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life. People of God, our mediator, had to be God in order to do what needed to be done as a true and righteous man. Even our Lord's human shoulders, apart from His deity, were too weak to bear the burden of God's wrath. All alone, His humanity would collapse under the weight of the divine wrath because a finite man, which is what he would have been apart from his deity, cannot lift an infinite burden. You see, one human lifetime would not be sufficient to carry away the everlasting punishment of body and soul. But Jesus Christ was able to endure the burden of God's wrath in His human nature because that nature was supported by His deity, His Godhead. His divinity gave Him the strength and power that He needed as a man to bear the eternal punishment in time on the cross. without being crushed under the load. In His divine strength, Jesus suffered and endured an eternity's worth of hell for each one of God's elect children. He paid the debt for you and me as believers. He paid it in full. Now again, this is foolishness in the mind's eye of the world. Complete foolishness. But the Catechism puts before us in question and answer 17 a beautiful display of give and take. Jesus Christ took for us and away from us through His passive obedience of suffering and death on the cross, He took away the punishment and burden of God's wrath. And along with that, through His active obedience to the law of God, He has obtained for us, earned for us, and restored to us righteousness in life. Congregation, what a gift. What a precious gift. Yes, He suffered the punishment for our sin. He took that on Himself away from us. That wiped our slate clean. But we needed more. Man was created good in the image of God with true righteousness and holiness to live in perfect obedience and love to His Maker. But these were lost in sin and in order to have hope for the eternal future, these needed to be restored. And beloved, what amazing grace. Jesus took eternal death exclusively upon Himself for believers and gives the eternal life He obtained, He earned. He freely gives that to His people. Isaiah 53 verse 11 says, By His knowledge the righteous one, My servant, will justify the many as He will bear their iniquities. Congregation, He had to do this in His humanity and He was able to do this by His deity. the incarnation of christ is the most wonderful miracle of god and and with that miracle god provided for all believers the one and only god approved mediator and this eternal give and take is to be most precious to you and me because this is what really matters but the truth is isn't it that often we would rather have some sort of a temporary give and take because we are so earthly mind that at times we would rather have God take away from us the bad things of this life as we see them, like grief and affliction, adversity, persecution, poverty, sickness, and that list can grow and grow and grow. And instead, we would prefer that He replace all these so-called bad things of life with the good things of this life, again, as we define them, like food and clothing and more money and luxuries and prosperity and success. And of course, that list is never ending. You might want to ask yourself, are my temporary needs more important to me than my spiritual needs? Many, if not all of us, have witnessed a small child opening a gift. And that small child often is more interested in the gift wrapping or the box that the gift comes in than the gift itself. That which will be thrown away is more important. And one who considers his temporary needs as more important than His eternal needs is the same way. And treasures that which will perish over that which will last forever. Congregation, when the things of this life don't turn out as we would like or as we expect, our God calls us to remember that our Savior has taken away that which is eternally the most terrible and given to us that which is eternally the most wonderful. With this miracle of the God-approved mediator, kingdom citizens are redeemed from eternal death and the never-ending weeping and gnashing of teeth, redeemed from the torment of always dying, yet never really dying, never being released from that torment, released from the burden of God's wrath and given in the place of all of this is the everlasting enjoyment of happiness in the presence of God where there is no sin, no sorrow, no pain, no struggles. No doubt. Can you imagine that? A time when we will no longer doubt. You see, congregation, when we graciously understand the wealth of salvation granted to us through the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ only then and not a second before, can we confess with Paul in Romans 8, verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. And that confidence then gives us, gives to us, gives strength to us not to simply drag, but to take up and carry the heaviest cross by the grace of God and to do this joyfully. Finally, then, what is the identity of the God-approved mediator, that one who bridges the separation between earth and heaven? Question 18 asks, but who is that mediator who is at once true God and a true righteous man. Our Lord Jesus Christ who has made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Yes, by the grace of God, we know His name, don't we? Jesus Christ. We've been using His name already throughout this sermon, but the answer taken from 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 speaks of His intimate identity with those who confess Him. It's a little bit different translation used. The NIV uses a different translation than the one quoted in our answer, but verse 30 in the NIV says, It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Beloved, we violated God. We sinned against Him. He didn't sin against us. And therefore, we should have brought a mediator to Him to speak for us. We should have brought an advocate, one to speak on our behalf, but we couldn't do that. Only God could provide in His miraculous way one who is true and righteous man as well as true God. But again, notice the intimate identity between the One whom God has provided and those who confess Him by His grace. He was made unto or became for us. Through redemption, those for whom Christ died become one with Him. Believers are an inseparable part of His body. He is our salvation. And salvation in Christ, then, is to own Christ by faith. And therefore, as our wisdom, He takes away our blindness and our foolishness. He takes away our ignorance and error and gives wisdom in the knowledge of God and ourselves and in the way of salvation. His wisdom opens our eyes to see the things of the Spirit so that in His light we see light. By faith, Jesus becomes our righteousness. Paul says in Philippians 3 that by grace through faith, He is found not having His own righteousness, but having Christ's righteousness, which is from God. Apart from Him, we are godless, we are cursed, but by grace through faith, we stand right and guiltless before God as if we had fulfilled all righteousness. But He must also be our sanctification. That's the word the catechism uses from a different translation of Scripture. The NIV says holiness. The two are the same, mean the same thing here. Sin still clings to us in this life. Not one of us can sanctify ourselves or make ourselves more holy, even though we might sometimes think we can. Sanctification is a lifelong process which will not be completed until glory. A process of the Holy Spirit. yet it's accomplished in time by Christ who lives in the believer through His Holy Spirit. Jesus said, without Me you can do nothing. He is the vine. And believers are the branches. And a branch that has been cut off loses all nourishment. It loses all strength. It loses the ability to bear fruit. And beloved, if we are not in Christ, if we are not a branch that abides in the vine of Christ, then there is nothing in us that can ripen us or will ripen us for heaven. For with Jesus as our sanctification, we confess it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And this righteousness complete with wisdom, this redemption complete with wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification of Christ points to the image of God man was created with. That's the goal of salvation, to restore in us what was broken by sin to the glory of God. And all of this is what Jesus accomplished for His people as a human and divine mediator by His death and resurrection. That's what Christ accomplished for us. But on the other hand, all of this is what is foolish to the world. A stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. You see, to the darkened mind, the mind darkened with sin. It makes no sense at all that one who was seemingly defeated by his enemies, who died on the cross, who had his life stripped from him, it makes no sense that he could be considered the victor. Come on, that's not practical. We all know that it's not the one who dies who wins, but the one who lives. But you see, they don't understand that no one took Christ's life from him. He says, no one takes my life. I lay it down willingly. He willingly, freely gave it. And therefore, they don't understand that He also had the power to take it up again. And He lives and reigns today. And they will bow before Him one day along with every knee. They don't understand that God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached, the message of the cross of Christ, to save those who believe. They don't understand that His identity has been given throughout history from the very beginning of the world in the Garden of Eden. Question 19 says, Whence do you know this? From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in paradise, afterwards published by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and lastly fulfilled by His only begotten Son. Our mediator's identity is seen in shadowy form from the beginning, but made clear to the regenerated mind in Christ Himself. And the only way we can know this, beloved, is because God Himself has revealed it to us. Man did not discover this truth himself. Instead, man suppressed the truth and changed it into the lie. But notice that answer again. He was revealed in paradise, published, foreshadowed, and fulfilled. Some beautiful words, a beautiful message there. God gave His own word about Him. He was written about. The prophets spoke about Him. There were visible signs and ceremonies that pointed to the truth of Him and of His great final sacrifice. And then the crowning moment was when He came in the flesh and He Himself proved His identity. Jesus Christ is the content of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Shadowy in the old, a promise, but clearly revealed in the new, the promise is fulfilled. God's revelation runs throughout history and begins as a flower seed and grows and grows until the flower blooms. And Jesus Christ is the full blossom of the flower of the history of revelation who Himself said, Today is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Beloved, we have in our hands, by the inspiration of God, the revealed, the published, the foreshadowed, and fulfilled history of the Savior, the Word of God, the Bible. God in His grace has given it to us to be used. This is God's Word of salvation. It is the bread of life which we are to feed on regularly. Because apart from the Word of God, there is no life. Apart from the Word of God, there is no God-approved mediator. And beloved, the goal here is not that we all become theologians, but believers by grace through faith. People who do not say, well, I know a lot about the Bible. But those who can confess from their heart, I know that my Redeemer lives. We are called to diligently search the Scriptures, indeed, to know the Word of God. And the Holy Spirit takes that and applies it to our hearts and lives. And therefore, I ask, what role does God's Word play in your life? I trust we would all agree that if we no longer read from and preached from the Bible in church, that would be considered nothing short of pagan. Well, it is no less pagan to allow your Bible to sit on the shelf and collect dust. Or to simply read it for five minutes a day after a meal. Isn't it true that many of us read novels for hours on end? When is the last time you spent a quiet hour reading the Word of God? We also study thick books and memorize them to learn in order to earn a degree and to get a good job. But how much Scripture have you committed to memory? Is the Bible a forgotten and a closed book in your life? We are to heed the prophecy of Jeremiah when he says, the wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the Word of the Lord. And Isaiah makes it clear that there is no light without the Word. Beloved, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The name of Jesus. He alone is God's approved mediator. He is the bridge from earth to heaven because He is a true human being. and He is the bridge from heaven to earth because He is truly God. The wisdom of the world foolishly glories in itself, but those who have that wisdom which is from God glory only in the cross of Christ. If you don't know the Word of the Savior, then I can confidently say that you don't know the Savior of the Word, and if that's the case, then this kind of mediator and deliverer that the Bible teaches will be nothing but foolishness to you. But if you believe on Him by grace through faith, then He has already become to you wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He is your salvation. Amen. Let's pray. Father, again with grateful hearts, we thank You and praise You that You give to us this necessary knowledge that we might understand in part more clearly the salvation that You have earned for us through Jesus Christ. Of why it had to be the way it was. And Father, indeed, we pray that You would keep us from looking elsewhere, whether to ourselves or someone else or something else for our salvation, that we might be fully content in the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only effective, the only true salvation. Father, we pray that You would increase our knowledge daily. We pray that You would cause our faith to grow moment by moment. That You would keep us in Your care, that we might rejoice in the God of our salvation. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake. And in His name, Amen. Thank you.