I'm, as Pastor Chris likes to say, I'm going to call an audible tonight. I'm preaching the same sermon I was going to preach, but I'm just going to read the one verse to start, but relax. We've got lots and lots of scripture here to read tonight. In fact, I'm a little concerned that we're going to get it all done in the time that we have. Dr. Godfrey always tells me that we should preach the whole Lord's Day when we do a catechism sermon. And it just dawned on me, because I'm just a kid from Nebraska and I'm kind of slow, that when we used to preach the whole Lord's Day, we had an hour. That was pretty much the minimum. And we don't have that now. Pastor Gordon sometimes does, but the fill-ins don't get an hour, So we'll see how this goes. Well, I'd like to read with you from Romans chapter 10, which is page 1203 in your Pew Bible. I'm probably not going to give you page numbers for all these passages, but I'll give you that one. Page 1203 in your Pew Bible, Romans 10, verse 4. This is sort of going to be the guiding text for this evening. As the sermon sort of structured by Heidelberg 19, Romans 10, verse 4, the Apostle Paul here is talking about his desire that his brothers in the flesh would be saved. And he says in verse 4, for Christ is the end, or we could translate this purpose, might be a little clearer, of the law. for righteousness to everyone who believes. And when he says law here, it doesn't necessarily mean just the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew word for law is a broader term that is a way of saying really God's revelation. And we think of it particularly in terms of the Old Testament, the law, the prophets, and the writings. So I think Paul's making a broader point there and not just talking about the Ten Commandments, but rather talking about what we might think of as the types and shadows of the Old Testament. Question 19 says something really amazing, and I think perhaps that it gets overlooked. This is quite a remarkable summary of the Christian faith. And what I want to, I guess, press you with tonight a little bit is that question 19 teaches us how to read the scriptures. In other words, this isn't just a summary of doctrinal truth. It certainly is that. But this is an indication of how the Reformed churches were, when the Heidelberg Catechism was published in 1563, how the Reformed churches and the pastors and the theologians were supposed to read the Bible. One of my teachers when I was in seminary was J.I. Packer. And Dr. Packer said that we should read Calvin's Institutes because the Bible, he says, is a very big book. And that's just so, isn't it? 66 books, two testaments, three different languages, written over 1,600 years. So it's not only a very big book, it's a complex book with lots of authors, lots of different settings. And how do we make sense of it all? How do we make sense of the big story, the big picture of scripture? Is the Bible a book about something? And if it's about something, what is that something? jerry seinfeld you might remember it's getting to be i guess that show's getting to be an oldie now it's in but it's in reruns you can still hear it and jerry seinfeld said that his show was a show about nothing in fact it was a derivative show about nothing the first show about nothing was the jack benny show i mean if you know old-time radio and old-time television if you go back and watch if you can find jack benny or listen to jack benny if you listen to it you'll you'll think you're listening to the seinfeld show because that's in fact what he did he basically ripped off jack benny which was the first show about nothing there was no big point just some goofy people having fun is the bible like the seinfeld show is it a book about nothing or is it a book about a million things sometimes the way bibles get printed for example the new american standard every at least the way it used to be printed every verse is indented and every verse is set apart from every other verse which sort of creates the impression that you have a million distinct things and then other people say well yeah the bible is about something it's about national israel and their whole way of reading the bible is to focus on what it says about national israel and particularly they look forward to in this approach it's it's called dispensationalism they're looking forward to the rebuilding of the temple and a thousand year kingdom in which our lord jesus is sitting on a throne in the temple watching levitical priests offer literal sacrifices. And that the point of the Bible is the restoration of national Israel. In fact, Jesus came and he offered them an earthly millennial kingdom and they turned him down. That's the center of the Bible for them. The center of the Bible for us is one thing. One person, really. It's Christ. So we want to say the Bible is about someone, it's about something, yes, the gospel, and about someone, Christ. There is a thread that ties all of Scripture together. And then, of course, here we are in Lord's Day 6, where are we in the Catechism? Well, Lord's Day 6, well, what does that mean? Well, questions 3 through 11 are the law, that is, the first use of the law, the pedagogical use, where it teaches us the greatness of our sin and misery. And then now in Lord's Day 6, questions 16, 17, 18, and 19, we're in the gospel. And from question 12 to 85, that's the gospel part of the catechism. And then the last part of the catechism is the gratitude part. Guilt, grace, and gratitude following the structure of Romans. So we're in the gospel part of the catechism. And what question 19 tells us is that, and quite accurately, quite rightly, is that the gospel is gradually revealed, right? It's about the gradual unfolding of the good news through history that God the Son is coming to save his people by his obedience, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His reign, and His return. The story of the Bible is the gradual unfolding of the good news through history. Have you ever wondered, why is there so much stuff? Why is two-thirds of the Bible the Old Testament? Why didn't right after the fall, why didn't God just come? Well, I can't answer that question, but I can tell you what he did. He arranged history so that the people that lived under the types and shadows, types and shadows are illustrations and suggestions under the form of sacrifices and laws and ceremonies. Shadows are foreshadowings, illustrations, looking forward to the reality. And the Bible is, two-thirds of the Bible is foreshadowing, anticipations, suggestions, illustrations. One way I have been known to put it is to say that the Old Testament, that is from Genesis to Malachi, is one giant sermon illustration. It's a bloody, violent sermon illustration leading to one thing, one person, that is Jesus Christ in the announcement of the good news. But the good news is announced all through Scripture and not just in the New Testament. It's one of the things that we say in question 19. The law is all throughout Scripture. The law says, Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything which is written in the book of the law. The law says you must love the Lord your God with all your faculties and your neighbor as yourself. And the gospel says, I will come, I will save you, or I have come, or here I am. Come to me, all you are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So question 19 says, from where do you know this? And we answer, from the gospel. That's important. We don't know this from the law. We know this from the gospel. Now the law is also revealed all throughout scripture. But we don't know how to be saved from the law. The law only tells us what God demands. The gospel tells us what he has done. If you leave here tonight with only one thing, you should leave here tonight with that thing. The law tells us what God demands. The gospel tells us what God has done. You need to get that distinction. Dr. Luther said, if you know that distinction, you are already a PhD. You're already a doctor in theology. If you don't, Theodore Beza, who worked with Calvin and succeeded Calvin, said, if you don't understand that distinction, you don't understand the Bible. William Perkins, the great English Reformed theologian, said, you can't even begin to preach a passage of Scripture until you know the difference between the law and the gospel. It's so basic. We know the gospel not from nature, but from Scripture. That's why it's so important for you to know the Bible, for you to know Scripture, because it's in Scripture that you know the gospel. There was a great American Presbyterian pastor and leader who used to preach a sermon regularly called The Gospel in the Stars. Maybe you've seen that booklet. Maybe you've seen that on television. That's not true. The gospel is not in the stars. The gospel is in the scripture. What's in the stars is a revelation of God's existence, His omnipotence, His power, and His righteousness. you don't learn the gospel in the stars you learn the gospel from scripture that's very important so what is the good news well that's what we learned really in questions 16 17 and 18 question 16 we learned that the the gospel is the incarnation of god the son that he must be a true and righteous man and in 17 we learned that he must be true God those are the two things that you need to say about Jesus or three that he's one person not two that he's true God and true man that's what you need to say that's what you need to know by the way we don't say that he's a hundred percent God and a hundred percent man we don't use quantitative language in the church we don't use that language in our creeds but we do use an adjective we don't use always adverbs sometimes truly perhaps but mostly adjectives true man and true God whatever God is that's what Jesus is whatever a human is that's what Jesus is he's true God and true man you can't split him apart There are not two persons. He's one person. And he became true God and true man. Not for an exercise, but for you and for me because he loved you for all eternity. And because it was not he who sinned, it was not God who sinned, it was we who sinned. We humans. And so it had to be a human to make satisfaction to God's righteousness. But we're not capable of making satisfaction. First, because we're finite and God is infinite and His justice is infinite. But second, because we're sinful. And we're born dead in sins and trespasses. And we're not capable of satisfying His righteousness. And yet His righteousness has to be satisfied. If His righteousness is not satisfied, then we would be destroyed. Because the righteousness of God is relentless. You need to appreciate that tonight. the righteousness of god is relentless god doesn't play and i call as my witness the entire old testament what happens when people take gold that they're not supposed to take and hide it under the tent what happens when people bring strange fire before the lord what happens when when moses is away the old testament mediator is away and we make a god and we say this is the god who brought you out of Egypt. What happens? Well, children, it's not good. It's not good at all. God unleashes his holy and righteous judgment. What happens when all of the earth disobeys God? He destroys the world that that then was, and he saves eight people. That's the righteous judgment of God. The apostle John says in 1 John chapter 1, that which was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, which we've touched with our hands. Why does he say touched with our hands? Because there were people saying, well, Jesus looked like a man, but he wasn't really a man. The apostle John says nonsense. He didn't just look like a man, we touched him with our hands. He's a true man. he's true man and true god concerning the word of life the life was made manifest you can all you can hear echoes of john 1 here can't you in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the life was made manifest and we've seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and his son jesus christ true god true man not looks like man is man. And by the way, is man still right now? Glorified man, but true man. Why is that important? Because he's your mediator, which means he makes your prayers known to the Father, which means he understands when you're tired. He understands when you grieve. He understands when you suffer. You don't need another mediator. The Blessed Virgin is blessed, but she can't hear you. The saints can't hear you. They're busy. Mary is busy. You know what they're doing? They are praising Jesus. You know who can hear you? Jesus. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He's your sympathetic high priest who has been tempted as you are in every respect. Sin accepted. Mary didn't die for you. The saints didn't die for you. They weren't raised for you. Jesus was. 1 Timothy 2.5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. That's the gospel. When was it revealed? Well, it was first revealed in Genesis 3.15. You know this. You've heard this a million times. Or maybe you haven't. Maybe you're new here. As we understand scripture, the gospel is a golden thread that runs through all of the Bible. And it begins in Genesis 3.15. I mean, in a sense, we could say it begins already even before. But certainly in Genesis 3.15. I will put warfare between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He, right, your seed and her seed. And he, that seed, will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. That's a promise that God the Son would come. He would be born of a woman. He would do battle with the serpent and the serpent would strike his heel. And even as the serpent struck his heel, that seed would crush the serpent. That's the gospel. That's the gospel in types and shadows. It's not spelled out. It's intimated. It's hinted. It's suggested. But this gives us a program for reading the Bible, Which means to say the Bible is not about national Israel. Moses, a national Israel, they work for Jesus. Moses is a worker in God's house. Jesus owns God's house. That's not my opinion. That's Hebrews. That's the word of God. There are ways of reading the Bible that make Jesus a worker in the house and Moses the owner of the house. that's just backwards don't do that don't read the bible that way there are ways of reading the bible that make it all about me i had a a devout friend and parishioner many years ago not here in another place another time long ago far far away who came to me and said pastor i just want to know what the what the apostle paul would say if he were driving down the street that's how i want you to explain the bible and what he was saying is he wanted me to take the bible out of its time and put it in our time and what theologians call doing theology in translation or what sometimes missiologists call contextualizing that's just wrong i'm not saying that all contextualizing is wrong all translation is wrong but no what we ought to do what we need to do what heidelberg 19 wants us to do what the word of god wants us to do is to take ourselves out of our time in our place and to find ourselves in the in the scriptures the bible's not fundamentally about you i hope that's not a shock the bible's not fundamentally about you it's about christ it's about you as you are in christ but it's not about you when you read the bible you ought to ask how does this lead me to Christ and how ought I to live in light of who I am in Christ but it's not about you the Bible's probably not going to tell you whether you should take this job or that job or whether you should marry this person or that person or whether you should do this or do that it's not a book of secret code with secret messages for you to decode It's not like you can pour water on a page or take a sponge and put it on a page and secret code arises out of the text of scripture. It's not a secret. It's not a Gnostic trick. The story of the Bible is plain on the pages, leading you, drawing you through the story, through the history that really happened to a culmination. Like I said, when the catechism was written, they got an hour. and I don't have an hour, so. We can look at Genesis 15, 6, right? The catechism mentions in the patriarchs, in the sacrifices, right? In the types and shadows, in the prophets, and finally fulfilled in God's well-beloved son, in the patriarchs, Genesis 15, 6. And Abram believed Yahweh, and Yahweh imputed it to him for righteousness. There's the gospel. Abraham was not justified. He was not saved because he was good. He was a pagan in Ur of the Chaldees. And God sovereignly reached out and into history and gave that pagan in Ur of the Chaldees in Iraq, gave him new life and true faith in Jesus. You say, Pastor, how do you know that? Because Jesus says in John 8, verse 56, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. Read Romans 4. Paul says that Abraham was looking forward to Jesus, that Abraham believed in Jesus. Hebrews says that Abraham took Isaac up the mountain and was prepared to slit his throat like a lamb because he believed in the bodily resurrection. Abraham was a Christian. He was a Christian before he was a Jew. Paul says he was a Christian. He believed in Jesus before he was circumcised. So that he's the father of all who believe. Gentiles, which is most of us, and Jews who believe in Jesus. We're all Abraham's children because we believe in the same Savior in whom Abraham believed. That's Jesus. Genesis 15, 7 is the gospel when the sun had gone down and it was dark. Behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. That's the gospel. God passed between the pieces and took a maledictory oath on himself and he said, May it be to me as it is to these pieces if I don't keep covenant. And it was to him. Do you know who passed between those pieces? God the Son. The same Son who became incarnate in the womb of a virgin. Do you know in the ancient church, in the ancient creeds, we confess that in the womb of the virgin, or that the virgin was God-bearer, Theotokos. God the Son was incarnate in her womb. And he was born. And he went up the hill and he passed between the pieces. He is the fire pot. He took the curse that belonged to you and you and you and to me. He took that curse because he loved you for all eternity. Genesis 49, Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now listen to verse 11. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, verse 11 tells you. This is Genesis 49, verse 11. Binding the fool to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. This is God the Son. When did he wash his garments in blood? In the blood of grapes. When they stripped his garments off and they beat him. And you could see this back as they stripped away the flesh. And his figure, Isaiah says, his visage was marred beyond that of any man. Jesus is Shiloh. We just have to pay attention. We just have to pay attention. Yeah, the first part's difficult, but the second part's not. And the second part explains the first part. Romans chapter 4. I just mentioned that. Paul says that's why it depends on faith, in order that the promise might rest on grace and might be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the Jews, right, but to the Gentiles. I've made you the father of many nations. I don't have time to read the whole passage. But this is how Paul reads Genesis 15. This is how Paul reads Genesis 49. It's in the sacrifices. Look at 2 Chronicles 29, verses 20 through 30. Go home tonight and look at 2 Chronicles 29, verses 20 through 30. And what do you see there? Priests offering sacrifices. Priests playing instruments. The sacrifice of seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, seven male goats. Come on, what does God have to do? Seven lambs, seven goats, seven bulls. Perfection, perfection, perfection. I'm sacrificing animals like crazy. Why do you think I'm sacrificing animals like crazy? Why do you think we're shedding all this blood? Why do you think we're playing these musical instruments? These are all types and shadows pointing forward to the coming reality. That God's going to come. He's going to save his people. The Bible's not about Israel. The Bible is not about nothing. Well, we could say it's about Israel. Well, who's the Israel of God? You know, children, you know the answer to this question. Little ones, who's the Israel of God? What's the answer to every Sunday school question? One word, starts with a J, ends with an S. Jesus, who went down to Egypt and came back up and out of Egypt have I called my son, Matthew says. Jesus. It's in the prophets. I already alluded to this. Isaiah 52, 53, behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, his form beyond that of children of mankind. So he shall sprinkle many nations, types and shadows. His visage is marred. He sprinkles many nations. What is this? Cross, burial, resurrection, ascension. kings shall shut their mouths because of him. Well, kings did shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told, they see. That which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what he heard from us? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty, that we should look at him, no beauty, that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, And as one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Peter ran away when a little girl challenged him. Big, muscular, rugged Peter. Who carried a sword, and who was skilled, and who cut off Malchus' ear with one swoop. Children, don't try this at home. That takes some practice. Peter had killed some things. He'd killed some things with sharp objects and with his bare hands. And a little girl questioned him, and he ran away, and he abandoned Jesus. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, afflicted. Jesus? I don't know who Jesus is. They all ran away from him, and he was alone on the cross. We ran away from him. We sold him out for 30 stinking pieces of silver. You know, I've got a plan, Jesus. I've got a big plan. I'm going to transform society. We're going to feed the poor. We're going to heal the lame. We're going to build big buildings. We're going to do big things. Yeah, but getting arrested and getting crucified, that's not part of the plan. I don't want any of this. He's clearly not the Messiah we were looking for. Sure, 30 pieces, I'll tell you where, I'll tell you when, I'll wear a wire. That's why we talk about a Judas kiss. He kissed him. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that has led to the slaughter. Like a sheep that is before its shearer silent. So he opened not his mouth by oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off. Out of the land of the living stricken for the transgression of my people. and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death i could go on it's almost like you're reading the gospels i heard a story i don't know if it's true i i wish it was if it wasn't that at a at the passover someone read from this portion of isaiah the jewish family and and the patriarch got upset and told whoever was reading from isaiah to stop reading from the New Testament. This is a Jewish family and a Jewish household. It was so clear. It was so explicit. He knew. He was literate. He could see the connections right away. This is clearly about Jesus. But he wasn't reading from the New Testament. He was reading from the gospel of Isaiah. And finally, in perfection. It's in the paradise, it's in the prophets, it's in the priests, and it's in perfection. And again, we could do a whole message just on these two verses, but in Luke 24, we read about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus catches up to them, and they said, Don't you understand what's been going on? How dumb are you? Don't you read your email? Don't you follow Twitter? Don't you know all the craziness that's been going on? And Jesus says, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe. Luke 24, verse 25. O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And look at verse 27. This is Luke now. Listen to what Luke says. This is the inspired and errant, infallible word of God. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, meaning the Old Testament, he, Jesus, interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. It's not the case that some of the Bible is about Jesus, And some of the Bible is about Israel, and some of the Bible is about that, and some of the Bible is about the other. Listen to what the Word of God says. And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. You think Pastor Gordon goes long? You think the Apostle Paul goes long? How long did it take Jesus as they walked to Emmaus to explain all of the Old Testament? It took a while. The Bible is not like the Seinfeld show. It's not a book about nothing. It's not a random collection of sayings. It's not a million indented verses that are not connected to each other. It's one coherent story inspired by one Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep. The same Holy Spirit who hovered over the virgin. The same Holy Spirit who indwells the church, the temple of the living God, the Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 4. The same Spirit who spoke through the prophets. The same spirit inspired the apostles. The same spirit is telling one story in three languages, multiple places, multiple times. One story. God the Son who said from all eternity, I will go, Father. The father said, I will give you a people. And the son said, I will save that people. I will be their representative. I will be their mediator. I will be their substitute. I will do what they will not do. I will do what they could not do. I will bear the price. I will pay the penalty. And he did. Remarkably, he did, and he did it for you who believe. And if you're here tonight and you don't believe, why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you? Have you ever heard a better story? Have you ever heard anything so marvelous, more marvelous, more wonderful than this? That God loved you from all eternity. That he manifested himself through types and shadows for 1,500 years and before, really. And finally came and said, here I am. And he took the worst that we had to offer. Scripture really does have a unifying thread. And it's the thread of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. God the Son incarnate. our only mediator our only savior but he is your mediator and he is your savior let's go to him now lord jesus we give you thanks tonight that you loved us from all eternity that you came for us that you obeyed for us that you suffered for us that you were crucified for us that you were buried for us you sanctified the grave for us that you were raised for our justification that you have ascended that you're interceding for us in your glorified true humanity true god true man at the right hand of the father even now you are with us in this place we give you thanks we praise you we bless you and we do so in your name Amen