Well, last week, Rev. Steve Overman preached on Lord's Day 29 and whether or not the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper become the actual body and blood of Christ. And of course, as Reformed Christians, we do not believe that. We believe that, yes, Christ is fully present in the sacrament by the power of the Holy Spirit. But not that the physical bread and the physical wine turn into or change their substance or transubstantiate into the very body and blood of Christ. We believe that Christ's body is in heaven and by the Spirit we have communion with him in the Lord's Supper. Well, this evening we want to consider Lord's Day 30, and in particular question, an answer number 80, which asks, how does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass? And the answer, as I will read, the Lord's Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself finished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ who with his very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where he wants us to worship. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshipped. Thus, the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry. Those are very strong words by our catechism. And it's important for us to consider this this evening and especially in our day where many would seek to minimize the difference between what we confess as Reformed Christians as it regards the Lord's Supper and what the Roman Catholic Church teaches regarding the Mass. And the thought is that perhaps maybe in the end, they're not all that different. In the end, maybe essentially there's more agreement than we have thought. The thought is that maybe the Reformed have been too harsh and too critical in their judgment against the Roman Catholic Church and her tradition and her teachings and practices. But it's also very important that we realize that this is not merely about theological hair-splitting or being too precise in our dogmatic formulations. This is very much about pastoral implications. This is not so much about pointing out where the Roman Catholic Church is wrong as much as it is very much about how you, Christian, as you who continue to deal with and struggle with your sinfulness, who continue to have to wrestle with that sense of guilt because you continue to sin, how you can sleep at night before God. Yes, it is very much about our forgiveness and Christ's sacrifice being once and for all. And that you, in the Lord's Supper, that is what we are being told. That is what is being sealed to us. That we have a full pardon of all sin by the only one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But how do we know that? How can we be sure of that? Is it just the catechism that teaches us this? No, it is very much God's Word that teaches us. And so our scripture this evening is from Hebrews 10. And starting at verse 1 and going on to verse 18, let us hear the Word of God. Hebrews 10, starting at verse 1. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would have no longer had any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his sacrifice offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time on until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, There is no longer any offering for sin. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. The writer to the Hebrews here is basically bringing one point. And he's saying that Christ's sacrifice was once for all. It's over. He's done it. It's complete. It is finished. Any other way that we can say it, it's accomplished. Christ has done it. And what that means is that there can no longer be any other sacrifices for sin. And the implications of that is that any other sacrifice for sin at all, even the smallest and slightest thought about a sacrifice for sin, immediately turns our faith away from Christ and His finished and perfect work for us. And in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, this would be nothing less than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Christ and a cursed idolatry. So, let's look at this a little bit closer, and we'll see it in three points. First, we'll see Christ in the shadows. Second, Christ in the flesh. And third, Christ in heaven. So Christ in the shadows, Christ in the flesh, and Christ in heaven. Let us look at these things this evening. Christ in the shadows. In verse 1, we read that since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of a true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near. A shadow. Now, what is the writer to the Hebrews getting at when he says shadow? Children, maybe you can think about when the sun's setting and you go outside and you see your shadow up against the wall or maybe against the ground. And especially when the sun gets lower and lower, your shadow gets longer and taller and taller. And ultimately, you might start looking a little taller than you usually are, which I always liked that part of it because I need help in that area. So, but you see the shadow and say your friend comes along and he stands next to you and you see his shadow, but you don't look over at your friend and you just look at his shadow and you could, could you tell that it was your friend by just looking at the shadow? Maybe you could see some form of resemblance. Maybe you could see his shoulders or maybe his chin or his hair or no hair, but you might be able to see some resemblance, but not very much. A little bit, perhaps. And then you look over and you say, oh, that's your friend, and you can see. But the shadow shows you some similarity. Or maybe a better example, and this I get from Calvin, is that of sketching out a picture. Oftentimes, a painter or an artist will, before they paint their picture, they will draw it in with pencil, draw out outlines, and maybe stencil in various forms. And sometimes this can be very detailed and you can have a lot of shades of gray and different forms. But is that the finished product? Not at all. Eventually they will bring the oil paint or the color, water-based paint or whatever they use, and all those shades of black, all the penciled sketches will be covered up completely. You won't see them anymore. And all the shadows will disappear and be overwhelmed with the color. Well, that's what the writer to the Hebrews is getting at here, but what is he calling a shadow? Here he's calling all the Old Testament law, and especially the Old Testament worship in the tabernacle, a shadow. It's all just a shadow, he says. Now, the tabernacle worship, it's important for us to think about because sometimes it's very hard for us as modern Americans, modern people, to really appreciate how much detail was in the Old Testament worship and Levitical priesthood and the tabernacle worship. It was very detailed and it was extremely elaborate. It was hardly the thing that an Israelite would think to call a rough sketch or a shadow. No, this was, there was a lot of color. It was a masterpiece. And you had the curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns. You had precious stones. You had everything encased with gold. But it wasn't just color, it was also the sense of smell. You had incense that was wafting. You tasted meat, and you heard the sound of music. Yes, it was a multi-sensory worship experience, par excellence. And it was actually very beautiful and awesome. And the writer to the Hebrews calls it a shadow, a shadow. How can he do that? Well, we also need to realize it was beautiful. It was awesome. But it was also very awful. Yes, an Israelite would have to bring their stinky and smelly animals. And then they would place their hands on the head of the animal and slaughter it. And there would be blood. Blood all over the place. but why why not only was it beautiful was it awesome why was it why was there blood you might ask why would god do this why would he go to such lengths to sketch out such a detailed and dramatic picture why the blood is god just a a bloodthirsty deity who likes the thought of blood or is there something more to it than that? Well, in Leviticus 17.11, God says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. In the Old Testament, all throughout the Old Testament, we have basically two kinds of sacrifices. One was a thank offering, and the other was a guilt offering. A thank offering, or a sacrifice of praise, or a guilt offering, and that would be a sacrifice for sin, or a burnt offering. And a thank offering was very much in response to God's provision to us, to His people. God would give good things every year. And so people would give a tithe or people would give in response and in gratitude to God. And this was a thank offering. But a guilt offering was different. A guilt had to do with sin. And when man sinned, there had to be blood. And this idea that there is blood that signifies life. Blood that signifies life. And it's not just about the blood, but it's about the life itself. that when there was sin, there had to be blood because of this reason. And it's not much different than actually what we understand in most cultures. We believe that if somebody kills another man, he sheds his blood, well then it is right that his blood also be shed. That he die for taking the life of another. And this is inherent to the way God created us to have this sense of justice. To not deal death to the one who killed the other would be worse than that justice would be satisfied. And it's not that society's just delight in killing murderers. That's not at all it. But that there's a justice that has to be dealt. A life for a life. And so all of this is getting pictured in this dramatic story and this dramatic sketch, as it were, in the Old Testament law and tabernacle. And the writer to the Hebrews calls it a shadow. But why? Why is it just a shadow? Because we read in verse 4, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Yes, this was a rough sketch. And the Israelites saw these shadows. And by faith, they might see, they could see, that ultimately, this was a shadow pointing to someone who would come, their Messiah. And he would come eventually, in reality, if only they had faith. Which brings us to our second point, Christ in the flesh. Christ finally came. And in verse 5 we read, Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. You see, there had to be a real human body for there to be atonement. It had to be a true substitution. There had to be a real representative relationship. A man, a true man, had to be given. It couldn't be the blood of bulls and goats. He had to have a true human body and a true human soul. He would have to be a true man, a perfect man, an obedient man, unlike Adam or any of us. And so, he says, in burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. But then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written to me in the scroll of the book. You see, when Christ came into the into the world, he realized that all of scripture from the beginning to the end, all of it was a testimony about him and what he would end up doing. It was about him. And the sad thing is that when Christ came, nobody realized that here comes the reality. Christ himself. There's the shadow. And yet nobody sees the resemblance. Nobody can see, okay, this is actually the reality. This is who all these shadows point to. And it was the hardest thing for the Jews to think, this beautiful picture that we have here, this awesome whole setup of worship, could just be set aside that it's not actually the real thing. And that Christ is the real thing. They were caught up in their sights, in their vision. They walked by sight. And how often is that not the case with us? Where it is very difficult for us to walk by faith. We are so much moved by what we see or cannot see. What we feel or cannot feel. But Christ wasn't like that. He said, I delight to do your will, O God. Your law is within my heart. Your law, your word. Christian, even when so many things in our lives don't make sense and we can't see how it's going to work out, we can't feel that it will work out at all. But there's one thing that ultimately we can hang to and it's God's word. That's the one thing that we do have. But what was that will? What was that law in Christ's heart? What was the will of the Father? That will was that Christ would die for the sins of His people. All this blood, this blood all over the place, And this guilt, but especially this death, and all of this that we're seeing pictured, comes down to this one thing. And this is why Christ came. And that is our guilt. Our guilt before God. And Christ came to obliterate that guilt. For you and for me. To totally take it away. To nail it on the cross. Because everything that brings death, How death comes into the world is because of that guilt. A guilt before a holy God, a righteous and just God who has been offended. And that justice of God has to be dealt with. And Christ came to deal with that guilt for you. To destroy that guilt for you. To obliterate that guilt for you. But how do we know? How can we know that? Christ came and He went to the cross and He took His own blood and went into the Holy of Holies and presented that blood to the Father to pay the ultimate penalty. And how do we know that it was accepted? How can we know that this is true for any of us? How do we know that this is what actually turned the tide? How do we know that this was once and for all? Because Christ didn't stay dead. He rose again. He ascended. And he sits at the right hand of God the Father, which is their third point. Christ in heaven. And we read in verse 11 that every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time A single sacrifice for sins. He sat down at the right hand of God. You see, this is the difference between the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass. Christ offered a sacrifice once and ascended into heaven. That means that there can no longer be any more sacrifices at all. Not even a bloodless sacrifice like the Roman Catholic Church would teach. That somehow it is a sacrifice for sin, but not a bloody one. But the scriptures say, no, if there's going to be a sacrifice for sin, if there is, it has to be bloody. And if there's no blood, then there's no atonement for sin. But this means that there cannot be any sacrifices. And it means that Christ cannot be on earth in his body, but that he has ascended into heaven. And if he's not ascended into heaven... then His atonement is not accepted and we're still in our sins. What the Mass teaches, that the living and the dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests. How terrible! How terrible that is for our consciences, for that sense of forgiveness. Am I really forgiven? And we're left hanging if this is true. We're left hanging in doubt. Maybe it is, but there still has to be this sacrifice continually offered. And further, the Roman church believes that Christ is bodily under the form and bread of wine. And therefore to be worshipped on earth. How is this not a denial of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ? How is this not an accursed idolatry? Because Christ's body is in heaven. And there we await a Savior to come. to judge the living and the dead. This is the Catholic faith. This is the apostolic faith. And the Roman Mass would deny it. In the Lord's Supper, we worship a Christ who is ascended. And it's because He's ascended that we worship Him rightly. Because if He has not ascended, then we don't have the Holy Spirit. And we cannot worship God. Because Christ says in John 16 to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And then after Christ did rise from the dead and before he ascended, he also told his disciples, Behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And Paul says that when Christ ascended into heaven, he ascended on high and he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Brothers and sisters, that is what the Lord's Supper is about. We worship Christ who is ascended by the Holy Spirit. We worship and we lift up our hearts. to Christ who is in heaven. And by the Holy Spirit we commune with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and everyone, all the fellowship of the saints. Christ has sat down. And this means there's no more sacrifices for sins. He says, I will remember your sins and their lawless deeds no more. Verse 18. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. So, the Lord's Supper is not at all about man offering a sacrifice of sin to God, a sacrifice for sin to God. Nor is it about Christ anymore offering up himself even a bloodless sacrifice to the Father. Rather, it is about God giving us a gift. It's about God's gift to man. And that gift is Christ himself. Christian, God has given Christ for you, but he's also given Christ to you. You're part of a gift exchange between God and yourself. And everything that is Christ's, including his guiltlessness, including his absolute peace with the Father, is now given to you and you enjoy that. And you have that sense of favor, that God's face shines upon you, and that you are no longer guilty. You cannot be guilty, because Christ isn't guilty. That's what the Lord's Supper confirms to us. That the forgiveness of sins is ours. That Christ sacrifices once for all. And that we have life eternal. God is not a bloodthirsty deity. No. He is a God who loves life. A God who is life. Christ is life. And He gives life generously and liberally. And the only reason that we are here this evening is because God is the living God. And a God of the living who generously gives these things. And what a good God we worship and serve. But there is a sacrifice that we do bring. But it's not a sacrifice for sin. It's not a guilt offering. Burns offering. But it is a thank offering. A sacrifice of praise. the fruit of lips that prays his name. So let us praise our God together this evening. Let us pray. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word and for your gospel. Thank you for Christ who has died for us and risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. Thank you that he is ours and we are his. May those who feel much guilt be assured of your forgiveness and peace toward them. May those who fear be calmed by your presence, by your word, spirit. And may all who love you be comforted by your spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.