The word of God that we read this morning is Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews half chapter 6. When our children were small, I would write two or three key words that I knew were coming in the sermon so that when they heard them during the course of the sermon, they could put a little mark by each of the words, and that would help them listen. Well, you're not children. most of you, but listen for the concepts of hope and promise and patience and comfort as we read Hebrews 6, and then we'll go to the catechism in Lord's Day 6. This is God's Word in Hebrews chapter 6. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, that is, to the goal, to completion, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth, which drinketh in the rain, that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns, and fists, and briars, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherited the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, that is, God did, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so after he, Abraham, had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's the reading of the scripture this morning. Now we turn to the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 6. You find this in the back of the Psalter on page 586. You'll recognize in questions 16 and 17 familiar truths that Lord's days 4 and 5 have already treated. We're going to focus this morning on 18 and then especially 19, but let's read all of them in Lords Day 6. Why must He, that is our mediator, be very man and also perfectly righteous? Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which hath sinned should likewise make satisfaction for sin. and one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others, why must he in one person be also very God, that he might by the power of his Godhead sustain in his human nature the burden of God's wrath, and might obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life? Who then is that mediator who is in one person, both very God and a real righteous man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Once knowest thou this, that is, where do you have the knowledge of that truth from? Answer, from the holy gospel. which God himself first revealed in paradise, and afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets, and represented by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and lastly has fulfilled it by his only begotten Son. The holy gospel, gospel is good news, and we have this morning Good news in the midst of all kinds of bad news. You think about your own bad news in a moment, but think about everybody else's. Bad news in the world, in politics, wars, countries at each other's throats, Bad news in our country, politically, financially, at least on the horizon. You don't know what's coming. Just because the way it went in the past is the way it went in the past does not mean that that's the way it's going to go in the future. Bad news with regard to climate. Hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, Bad news with regard to the conduct of men, just read the news. You can't read the news without reading of violence and wrecks and assaults and home invasions and what next. And what bad news is out there spills over into the church, and we are not, as the people of God, immune from all that bad news with regard to our country. and climate and finances and sickness, all of which really climaxes in, as well as is rooted in, death. The day you eat, God said at the very beginning, you'll die. And all of the bad news that we have in the world, whether that's bad news politically or with regard to the earth or conduct of men, is rooted in and in the end ends in death. Bad news. And you understand where I'm going. I want to get to the point that the catechism is making, and Hebrews 6 emphasizes, there's good news for us. And the good news for us is in the gospel, and only in the gospel. And so I urge you today, though this is basic truth of Christianity, don't try to find good news anywhere but in the gospel. Don't set your hopes on Trump's policies. Don't set your hopes on his ability to negotiate peace. Don't set your hopes on the advances of science that maybe the disease that your parents died of and some of your family members are sick with will finally be conquered because of medicine. Don't set your hopes on that. We're going to live until the day we die, until the day Christ returns, in the midst of death. And the only hope and the only comfort, and it's a great consolation, it's a strong comfort. Think of the apostle in Hebrews 6. The only hope we have is in the gospel. Let's hear the gospel. Question 19 of the Catechism asks, where do you know this from? And the answer is the gospel, the gospel. There's only one escape from all of the bad news, and it's not by medicine or politics or finances or global climate change. There's one source of good news, and that's the gospel. The good news that we preach that raises us up above all of the bad news, the good news of Jesus Christ that outshines all of the darkness of the bad news, and the good news that brings saving comfort to all of you in distress, and we are in distress, the gospel of God. Or to put it in the language of the catechism at the very beginning, let's not forget the context. How are you able to live and die happily? And the answer is the gospel, the knowledge of the gospel, that we who are in misery have a deliverance for which we may be very, very thankful. And at the very beginning of this second main part of the Heidelberg Catechism, let's remind ourselves what the theme of the Catechism is and what the theme of the Gospel is, Jesus Christ. So let's look at the Gospel's good news, and especially in the light of Hebrews chapter 6, emphasizing the last part of Lords Day 6, promise and hope. The gospel's good news is promise, God's promise, and when we hear that promise, we may have hope. Hope. Let's see what that is, when it was heard, and how we ought to respond. What is that gospel of promise and hope? When was that gospel heard of promise and hope, and how we ought to respond to that good news? So what is it? Question 19, as I said, asks the question, whence knowest thou this? That is, what's the source of your knowledge of the fact that justice must be satisfied? How do you know that no mere man can satisfy God's justice? Where do you get your information that it needs to be a perfectly righteous man and one who's more than man, who's a very God, to do this work of saving God's people? How do you know all of that? And the answer of the catechism is from the gospel, from the holy gospel. So we need to define gospel, and we can do that by saying very simply it's the word that's translated other places among us as evangel. And if you look at that word evangel, and we have that word in our evangelism committee, you see that in that word evangelism is the little word angel, which is a messenger of God, and that first two letters of evangel, in the Greek it's E-U, and we transliterate that E-V. But that Greek eu means good message. The gospel is simply that. It's a good message. And when the angels came to speak to men, they brought a good message. They brought the gospel. And it's almost too bad that we lost that word evangel and instead have in the English language gospel. But however that may be, when you ever hear the word gospel in the Bible too, just remember it means good news. It's what the apostle was speaking about in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 5, when he speaks of tasting the good word of God, the good word of God. And now bring yourself back 2,000 years or so to Joseph and Mary and the appearance of the angel to Joseph and Mary. and how he said to them, fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. That word good tidings is gospel. Or think of what the apostle Paul talked about when in Acts chapter 13, preaching at Antioch of Pisidia, he said to the people, we declare to you, glad tidings, How that the promise which was made to the fathers, God fulfilled in the same unto us, in that he raised up Jesus again. Gospel, they're always preaching the gospel. And when you read, and maybe you can use your computer or some tool to find where that word gospel is found, find those books and those chapters that have that word repeated so often. And one of the places you will find is Romans chapter one. where Paul says, I'm separated to the gospel of God. And I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. And I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome. And then lastly in that chapter, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of God. And every time he talked about the good news. That was what his occupation was. He was a servant of the good news. And so when you get to Romans chapter 10, Paul says, how beautiful are the feet of them, and I want to come back to this at the very end of the sermon this morning, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring the gospel of peace and preach the glad tidings of good things. Very same word used both times in that verse, translated differently in the English, gospel, evangel, a good message. That's what we're all about. Now, I want to bring to your attention this morning that that word gospel is almost identical, but for one letter, to the word in the Bible that we translate promise. If gospel is E-V, angel, Promise is E-P, angel, and you don't need to know Greek to understand that. One little letter distinguishes gospel from promise, which shows to us that they're very similar. In fact, we might even identify the gospel as God's promise. Isn't that what Paul did at Antioch when he said, we declare to you the gospel and then define that by saying how that the promise of which was made to the Father, God fulfilled the same to us that He raised up. We declare to you the gospel, how that the promise was fulfilled. This morning I want to connect promise and gospel so that you never think of the one without the other. Now go back to Hebrews chapter six. The chapter that we read is introduced back in chapter four, verse two. where the apostle says, unto us was the gospel preached. The word didn't profit others, but it did profit us, being mixed with faith in us who heard it. The gospel was preached. And now in chapter 6, he's explaining the gospel and brings up the subject of promises. And especially in verse 12, he says, be patient Don't be slothful, but follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. The promises. The promises. And then reread chapter 6 of the book of Hebrews and see the promises and see how it all centers in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit was promised. Look at verse 4. They were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. And then, having been given the Holy Spirit, we have all of the heavenly gifts also referred to in verse 4. We have verse 14, blessings from God, and then you think of the Old Testament language that he uses here and think of the land, Canaan, as it is a picture for us of heaven and life and fruitfulness. All of that was for the people of God promised. Let me make the point this way, the gospel is the promise of God, and I need to say negatively, just for a little while, the gospel is not an offer of God. The gospel is not to be defined as the message from the minister to everyone that God has a marvelous plan for all of you if you would only accept it and believe that Jesus died for you. That's the free offer of the gospel, or more accurately defined as the well-meant offer of the gospel, which is one of the reasons for the origin of our denomination. There were three ministers, as you know, who rejected the teaching of their mother church that in the preaching of the gospel, God had a well-intentioned, expressed desire to save everyone who heard, The gospel, they said then, is an expression of God's love for everyone who hears. He wants to save you. That's the root error of that teaching. The teaching that the gospel is an expression of God, of a desire to save everyone. Now, implied in that, and some took another step and said that man is able to accept that offer on his own, And that's but a small step from an expression of God's desire to save everyone. Man has the ability to accept that offer. And then it's but another small step, and many took that step, of saying, logically, that means that Christ died for everyone. If God loves everyone and offers salvation to them, and man is able to accept the offer of salvation, logically conclude, you legitimately do, that Christ died for all. And all of that we have rejected. We don't believe it teaches biblical truth. And it comes back to this teaching of the Bible that the gospel is not an offer. It's not a holding out to everyone that salvation is available to them, but it's the promise of God. The gospel is God's promise, and that promise is not conditional. That promise is not for everyone who hears. The promise is for God's people. Now, having rejected that, perhaps you wonder why I bring that up this morning. Having rejected that, there's another error that we must be careful that we do not fall into, and that is the error that says because the promise is not for all, we're not going to preach to all. Because God does not desire to save everyone, we need to say there's only a few of you that God desires to save, and that would be an error almost as great. This is the gospel. Read the book of Acts and listen to the apostles preaching the gospel. God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe. He commands you to come and be saved. And that implies that everyone stands before the responsibility. We don't know whether they're elect or reprobate. Everyone who hears the gospel stands before the responsibility, having heard to believe and first to repent of sin and confess that he's a guilty sinner before God and fly for refuge. That's the language of Hebrews chapter 6. To Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ. You see, Hebrews 6 and the preceding chapters are written to warn the people who imagine that just because they heard and tasted the good things to come, heard the good word of God, that everything's okay with them. And in the book of Hebrews, behind the comfort that's on the foreground is very, very sharp warning to people who've heard and reject the gospel. The Word calls you today to believe. The Word calls you to believe the promises, and the Word calls you to believe the promises that are in the future for you in large part. Wait patiently for God to fulfill the promises. Gospel equals promise. Gospel is the preaching about that promise, which commands all men everywhere to repent and believe and says, everyone who repents shall not perish. That's what we preach. But let me just review that before we go on to the second point. or clarify that, the gospel is the message of good news when you are sitting in the middle of bad news. That's the context of the book of Hebrews. They were suffering. They were suffering so badly they were tempted to give up. They let their hands hang down Their knees became weak, and they were tempted just to go back to Judaism and reject Christianity. They were suffering, and they were suffering deeply. In the middle of that suffering, the apostle says, have hope and be patient. Wait, he says, in verse 11, to the end. We desire that every one of you to show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. And then through faith and patience, he says in verse 12, you will inherit the promises. There they are out in front of you. You have not obtained all of the promises of God yet for you. Through faith and patience, you will obtain those promises. You need patience because we are sitting in the middle of all kinds of troubles. Troubles of body, troubles of mind, troubles of heart, troubles in the church, troubles in the world. And we are tempted, too, sometimes to give up. Hang on to the promises of God. in patience and faith. Remember what Jesus did for you. Remember what Jesus does for you. And remember what Jesus will do for you. Just for a moment, divide Jesus' work into those three categories. Look at what he did for you who believe. He suffered as a substitute so that you never have to face the wrath of God. He took your place and lived a life of utter agony as a substitute for you. Because of that, what he did, think about what he does. Every day he testifies to you, you are righteous in him. and God does not look at you as guilty but innocent. You have His life in you. You have God working by His Holy Spirit in you. Sanctification. He's by faith united you to His own Son. This is what He's doing to you. Every day He calls you. Every day He preserves you. And every day He speaks in your ear of His testimony that everything is yours. What He did, what He does, and what He's going to do. Now we focus on what He's going to do. You're going to inherit the fullness of all of the promises of God. He's going to lift you up out of the misery of this life and bring you home. Home. And how do you know this? by the very same gospel that was spoken in paradise, that was spoken by the patriarchs and the prophets, that was spoken by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law. All of those times and in all of those things, that gospel was preached from the very beginning. Hope for you in the middle of all kinds of suffering. So when was that gospel heard? That's the point now, from the very beginning. Just think of some examples of the Old Testament and think of how long the people of God had to endure in the middle of darkness. Go back to the very beginning, the very beginning, and see the bad news that Adam and Eve heard when God said to them, out now. This was Tis in the garden. Now you must go out and I'm going to put flaming swords so you can't come back in and what's out there is thorns and thistles and suffering and death. Can you imagine the fights that Adam and Eve had? The trouble they had with their children who were unbelieving? And then this, their one son, in anger, killed their other son. Gone. Darkness. Suffering. Heartache. Bodily pain. Heartache. Mental anguish. And then don't forget this for 900 years. I think perhaps if I live as long as my mother, I've got 20 more years of suffering. My life is pretty good, but I think of 20 more years of suffering as a long time. How long do you have before the end of your life will come? Sounds like a long time, doesn't it? Now think of Adam and Eve. 900 years. And all of the trouble they saw came from their own loins, with their eyes. They saw it. With their ears, they heard it. Those are our children. and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren for 900 years. How did they survive that? God buoyed them up with the promises of the gospel. And in two respects, think just of two sermons that God preached to Adam and Eve that must have carried them all of those 900 years. Number one, when God stood before that serpent who instigated their fall and in righteous indignation said to that serpent in their hearing, I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, it will bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. The promise of God, the mother promise, the promise out of whose womb came all of the other promises. that God gave to them in the Old Testament. That was sermon number one. And sermon number two, when God in that same time led them to their flock of sheep and took one out or two and slaughtered them in their presence so that blood would shed. And he took the coats of skins from those innocent animals who died as a substitute for them to cover their shame. and embracing both of those sermons of the gospel, Adam and Eve were able to endure patiently all the way to the end without giving up, without becoming bitter, without losing hope, and ending it all themselves. Through faith and patience, they inherited the promises. That's what the catechism means, that the Holy Gospel, God himself first revealed that Holy Gospel in paradise, and then the catechism goes on and says, and afterwards published it by the patriarchs and prophets, and time would fail us to tell of all of the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. and all of the early father rulers, that's what patriarch means, and all of the prophets who stood and declared to the people of God the promises of God. Just take Moses for an example. He was one of the patriarchs. Moses came to Israel in the midst of all kinds of suffering. They were miserable. They were slaves in Egypt. Their life was harder, infinitely harder than any of our lives are. And Moses came to them and said, I'm going to be a mediator for you. Don't look at me personally, but look at the one I represent. I'm going to preach to you in my person and in my work the gospel. And he delivered them from the land of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, took them to the land of Canaan right up to the border, and it was nothing but trouble from beginning to end. For Moses, for the people of God, they sat in the midst of darkness and trouble and sin and misery. And then you project into the kings and the time of the judges and kings and the land of Canaan. Read the Old Testament. It's full of trouble and sorrow and death and misery and disobedience and tension and fighting. And in the midst of all of that trouble, they're buoyed up by the testimony of the gospel of God. Moses preached that gospel. Noah and Enoch preached that gospel before that. The prophets and the priests preached that gospel with their words and with their sacrifices. Gospel, gospel, gospel. And all it was was this, the promise of God shall be fulfilled for you. Wait patiently and wait in faith because God is true to his word. The gospel. Wait patiently for the fulfillment of the promises. But then focus on what Hebrews 6 focuses on when he says specifically God made promise to Abraham. Now think of that patriarch. Because God could swear by no greater, God swore by Himself, saying to Abraham, surely, blessing I will bless thee. And that was the Hebrew way of saying, I am going to bless you immeasurably. And multiplying, I will multiply thee. That's the Hebrew way of saying, I'm going to multiply you beyond what you can imagine. I'm going to bless you and I'm going to multiply you. And Abraham said, when? When? Well, I'm going to give you a son. And Abraham said, When? God said, Believe the promise. Don't doubt me. My word is true. And Abraham kept saying, When? And he got old and older and older. And he passed 90. And Sarah passed 80. And he got to 100. And Sarah was 90. And still they didn't have a child. And God said, I'm going to give you a baby. I'm going to give you a promise. The one I spoke to you many years before. Seventy years they waited and didn't see the fulfillment of the promises. Now it's not surprising that the Apostle says right before that example of Abraham, through faith and patience, we inherit the promises. Believing God's Word and waiting in trust. Enduring the troubles that God sends to us. Ever waited in a hospital waiting room for the news? You're sitting in the middle of bad news. Surgery. Trouble. And every time that door opens, your heart leaps and you hope that it's the doctor or someone who's going to give you some message that's good. And how your heart is lifted up when that news comes, we got it all. They're alive. There's hope. And if that's what that kind of good news means to us with regard to earthly life, now plug into that dynamic, this reality. The people of God were holding their breath for 4,000 years. We looked at individuals in that 4,000 year history. You have to remember that that was the church waiting, waiting, waiting for the gospel promise to come. And for 4,000 years, they through faith and patience endured until God fulfilled that promise in his son. And that's why the angels came down and gave a word that was so good. Today is fulfilled in your ears the promise. A son has come. God fulfilled what he said he would do 4,000 years ago. Good news. Jesus is here. So that what Paul says or whatever apostle wrote in the book of Hebrews, at the very beginning makes sense now. I'll paraphrase Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. God, who at various times and in various manners spoke to us in time past by the prophets, he did. In all kinds of different ways, he spoke to us a good word, the good word of God by the prophets. has in these last days spoken to us by his Son. His Son is the brightness of His glory. His Son is the express image of His person. His Son upholds all things by the word of His power. His Son purged all of our sins, and His Son now sits at the right hand of God, ready to come again. And the waiting that the people of God had 6,000 years ago, starting with Adam and Eve, all the way up to Christ, the waiting continues for 2,000 more years. But in the midst of that patient waiting, people of God have hope and believe the promises of God. His Word is true. He's a good God. His promises aren't going to fail. And all of that brings us to how we ought to respond, and we could spend a long time, let me make just four or five points, how we ought to respond to that good news of the gospel that says, through faith and patience, we will inherit the promises which are the gospel. Number one response, don't be ashamed of that gospel. Don't ever hire a minister who's ashamed of that gospel and is embarrassed to talk about a number of things in connection with that gospel. Don't ever ask a man who's ashamed of the gospel to stand behind this pulpit and preach to you. We're not ashamed of the gospel, are we? The good news that someone died in order that we might live? It was 2,000 years ago, and we can't prove it by any physical evidence, but here's the Word of God that we believe. Don't be ashamed of that. Preach it, and God will use it to bring others to faith. Don't be ashamed. Number two, believe the promises that you hear every week. Don't doubt them. No matter how astounding they may appear and sound, don't ever doubt one of the promises of God through faith. Verse 12 says, you inherit the promises. Faith is believing. Believing is saying what the Word of God says is true. Believe these promises of God. That's how we respond. You don't think God can lie, do you? You don't think that God doesn't want you to believe what He says. He can't lie, the chapter that we read says. And He's so determined that you believe what He promised that He confirmed His promise by an oath. He couldn't swear by any greater. Men swear by God, men swear by Peter, men swear by other things and people. God couldn't swear by anyone greater than Himself, so He swore by Himself and said, surely, and don't doubt this, I will bless you immeasurably. Three, flee for refuge. Now we use the language of verse 18, to the hope that's set before us. By your eyes of faith and your hand of faith, reach all the way out behind the veil. and hang on to Jesus Christ. That's where He is. And when you hang on to Him by faith, you may trust that in the end of your life, you're going to go to be with Him. Your faith and hope are like an anchor. Fly every day for refuge in the middle of your trouble to the hope of Jesus Christ. Four, and then receive all of that as a strong consolation That's a very unusual expression in the chapter that we read. Verse 18, strong consolation. There's comfort. We give comfort. We want to hear comfort. The Word of God says we have a comfort that is mighty. And last, a response to this truth. Let's pray for preachers. And remember again what we said that Paul teaches in Romans chapter 10, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring this gospel. I look at you young men now, and I look at the parents of you young men, and ask, how carefully have you thought about the prospect of being a preacher of the gospel? Let me press that on you by asking you to imagine that when you become the age of your parents, and you have your own children, and you come to church on a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening again in such a way that you don't want to come again because there's no good news there. Why isn't there good news there in this hypothetical situation? Because there aren't any preachers. How do you know, young men, that God isn't calling you to the gospel ministry? You may turn that back to me, as some young men have, with a question that's legitimate. How do I know that they are called? And my answer is, I don't. But the responsibility is yours, young men, to consider the call to the ministry. If God gives you even modest intellectual gifts, and if he's implanted in you a heart that truly loves Jesus, why would you not study for the ministry? And of course you say, but we don't need that many ministers, that all of us would become ministers. And my response is, yes, but maybe you, maybe you. How do you respond to this beautiful truth of the gospel, of the promise of God that buoys us up every single day? This way, God grant us preachers of that gospel, and may many of them come from grace Protestant Reformed Church. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father which art in heaven, The gospel is such good news, and we are so weak to speak it and to hear it. But we beseech thee that it may be, that through weak means thou dost fulfill thy will, and that our hearts today may have been buoyed up in the midst of darkness, and that that may be a light that sustains us, and not only directs our feet but gives us warmth, in the midst of the cold and dark world, and that we are able to speak that word to others around us, glad as we are to have heard that message ourselves. So may we now sing with joy and leave this sanctuary with happiness and a desire to be a blessing to everyone around us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.