Let's turn now to Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1. We'll begin reading at verse 20 and read through chapter 2, verse 5. 1 20 through 2 5. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Thus far the reading of Sacred Scripture. January 22, 2015. marks 42 years of legalized abortion and a disregard for the sanctity of human life in this land. Back in 1973, the United States Supreme Court voted seven to two. Its infamous decision that abortion should be legal throughout all 50 states At the time, the decision was heralded as a solution to problems facing women, families, and nation. But it has failed, tragically failed. Today, we're on the verge of doing something very similar with homosexuality, and that will fail equally badly, and will be equally disastrous for this nation. May God have mercy upon our land. Today, the statistics are grim. Since 1973, we have killed 57,542,413 babies as of yesterday. 57 million. That's close to 20%. of the population of this land. The percentages are about exactly the same in the world. 1.5 billion babies have been killed in the mother's womb since 1973. Every single day in the United States, we average 3,000 abortions. More than 50,000 babies have been killed already in January, the first half of January this year. Planned Parenthood has been responsible for killing more than six million babies. And they are funded, at least one third of their funds comes from our taxpayers' pockets. This is tragic. The blood is on all of our hands. And things have gotten worse, better in some ways in terms of numbers going down, but worse in terms of what man thinks he can take into his own hands. There has been some 35 million illegitimate births in the same time that abortion has killed over the 57 million mark of unborn babies. Child abuse has risen 500% since the legalization of abortion on demand. Infanticide, euthanasia, all forms of killing are part of the progeny, the outgrowth of this dreadful decision. And today, there are only 16 adoptions for every 1,000 abortions. Only 3% of babies born to unmarried women are placed for adoption. One baby dies every 20 seconds from abortion in our land. The average adoption takes two or more years to work through. We are in dire need. It is amazing that God even tolerates this nation. The blood of 57 million is on our hands. France is going through a rough time this week, this past week, understandably so. But I do ask in all honesty, as bad as it is to lose 15, 16 lives, what is 16? compared to 57 million. We've desensitized our consciences. We need to awake. We need to flee to the prince of life. We desperately need what I'm called to preach about this morning. And we don't only need it, but our nation needs it, the world needs it. We need to be able to rise up and cry out. Our only hope for this life and for a better is our Lord Jesus Christ. We need the prince of life to conquer death, to show us the way of life. So we want to look at that this morning with God's help from 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. These words, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And we'll look at that in conjunction with Lord's Day 6, questions 16 through 19. Why must he be very man and also perfectly righteous? Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has 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 real righteous man? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Whence knowest thou this? 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, as fulfilled it by his only begotten Son. Our theme then, our Lord Jesus Christ, mediator. Mediator with an exclamation point because our instructor has been building up to this for weeks. Now he unveils him. This queen, as it were, is taken off and we get to behold him. through the lens of the word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. We look at this theme in four thoughts. First, what he must be. Second, who he is. Third, how he covenants with us. And fourth, how we know him. What he must be, who he is, how he covenants, and how we know him. Some years ago, Many of you will recall we had a blind student in our seminary, took our full four-year program, and he had a wonderful computer. That computer was like his right arm. He could read faster than most students could because there was a Braille thing attached somehow to his computer. He could talk to his computer, his computer could talk to him. He could scan an entire book into the computer, entire textbook for a class in 15 to 20 minutes, just turn pages, scan that thing in just one second or so, next page, next page, and all that information would go into the computer. He would call publishers and ask them, could you send him because he's blind. Could you send him e-books? Or could you send him PDF copies of the books you're publishing, our textbooks?" And every single publisher cooperated. And they'd give it to him only, no one else. Well, one day, his computer broke, and he had to send it away. We had earnest prayer in the seminary that the computer wouldn't get lost in the mail. This computer was designed for him. This computer was perfectly made for this particular young man. He depended on it very, very much. Well, a thousand times more. Jesus Christ is perfectly designed for sinners. to meet their every need, and he never breaks down, and he's always faithful, and he does far more than this computer did for this student. Actually, I like to compare it to a hand. You know, you've got four fingers, right, boys and girls? And then you've got a thumb that helps you function, helps the other fingers function. It sort of like applies, you might say, what the other fingers are doing so you can go through and carry things through and assimilate them and receive them. That's sort of like what we have before us in Lord's Day Six with the mediator. You've got four absolutely essential things this mediator must do, and then you've got something that applies it. You've got your four fingers and you've got a thumb. So let's walk our way briefly through these fingers and thumb. First of all, Jesus must be a real man. That's one finger. He must be a real man. Why must he be very man? He must be very man, not only in appearance, but in actuality, because the justice of God requires that the same human nature that is sin should make satisfaction for sin. We can't make satisfaction ourselves. We saw that back in Lord's day five. And so only the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming real man, obeying the law perfectly, paying for sin totally in our nature, can make a satisfactory mediator, that is, one who stands between God and us, to reconcile the two unreconcilables together. And so we call that, in theology, passive and active obedience. He suffers passively to pay for sin in our nature, and actively he obeys the law in our nature perfectly so we can have a right to eternal life. That's one finger. The second finger is that Jesus must be a perfectly righteous man. Perfectly righteous. He can't have one sin. No original sin, no actual sin. You see, that's why the virgin birth is so important. Because if Joseph had taken his seed and Mary's seed, if that had been brought together, pollution would have been passed on to the child. But rather the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary with divine perfection so that there was no impurity and sanctified her womb. So Christ could be born without any original sin. You see, if Jesus had any sin, any sin at all, he'd have to stand before God one day on his own account and he couldn't stand on our account. But because he's perfect and never sinned at all, no original sin, no actual sin, he always loved God above all, always loved his neighbors himself perfectly for 33 years, passed every test of God, he can now take his obedience and impute that to us when we by grace believe in him. Then the third finger is he must also be very God, very God. Our instructor tells us for a number of reasons. Let me run them by you very quickly here. Number one, he has to be very God in order to sustain the burden of sin. In his human nature, he never could have sustained all the hell that all God's people deserve forever and ever. It was all cast upon him. His undergirding deity sustained that. And then secondly, the severity of the battle that had to be fought. He had to fight against Satan, the powers of the devils, the hell, evil, sin, death, grave. He never could have conquered all of these just in mere human nature. But because of the severity of the battle, he had to be very God so that he could cry out by his mighty strength, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? And then third, he had to be God to obtain infinite value for his satisfaction. You see, Jonathan Edwards said long ago, and it's a powerful thought, no finite creature can ever satisfy the justice of an infinite God. Only infinity can satisfy infinity. And so Jesus had to be infinite God in order to satisfy infinite God. So he didn't have to just be man and perfect righteous man, but also God. And then fourthly, as our instructor says, to merit righteousness and life, to obtain for us righteousness and life. If he weren't God, you see, he never could have obtained for us an eternal righteousness and an eternal life. But now, because he's also God, he could say on the cross, it is finished. There's an infinite value to what I've done. I've drunk the cup of my father's wrath to its bottom dregs. I've made complete satisfaction. It is all done, and the temple rail can be The temple veil can be rent in twain, and the entire Old Testament ceremonies, the laws, the rituals, the temple, its furniture, can all be abolished because Jesus Christ has brought satisfaction once for all. And today, you can walk right into this church building. Nobody had to bring a pigeon or an animal today and shed blood outside and stay outside. You can come right into the church service and you can receive this message of a free and open way of salvation for sinners through a God-man mediator. And then, too, Jesus had to be divine. He had to be God in order to be the object of true worship. You can't worship him if he's only man. He has to be God. Our Savior has to be God to receive our heartfelt worship so that we can praise him and trust him and surrender to him. He has to be co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. to be our object of worship. And then the fourth finger, he must be all of this in one divine person. He's not two people. He can't be bifurcated. He can't be dichotomized. He's one person. And so our instructor says in question 17, why must he be in one person, also very God? You see, we have one mediator between God and man, says 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. Jesus Christ the righteous can have two mediators. One alone can do it. And so the Council of Chalcedon in 451 came to this four-fingered approach when they said this, that Jesus must be real righteous man and very God in one divine person. And that has become the established convicted settlement of Christology of the church of all ages. That is exactly the kind of savior that you and I need. So where does the thumb come in? Well, this Savior must now be applied to us. He must be applied to us. Our instructor says this righteousness in life must be applied to us, must be restored to us, he says. You see, Jesus must not only be almighty to bring in righteousness, but also almighty to apply it, and he does that by his Holy Spirit. And so by the Spirit of Christ, You see, He conquers our hearts, He reveals that He's the Savior for lost sinners, He pardons our souls, He shows us He's our continual intercessor in heaven, our everlasting advocate, and He'll be the God of all grace who will come in the clouds to fetch us back unto Himself. And so this Savior being Man being righteous man, being God, being one divine person, sending His Holy Spirit, He provides for us a glove that fits our hand perfectly. He's exactly the Savior you need and I need to travel to eternity. And so by this time, you see, our instructor, having built us up over several weeks now, showing us our need for a savior, then showing us no one else can save us, it's almost like it bursts from him now in question 18. Well, who then, who then is that mediator who is in one person, both very God and real righteous man? And the answer is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a victorious, it's an exclamation point answer. This glorious, glorious Redeemer, the only mediator, the only one who can stand between God and us, is our Lord Jesus Christ. So we come to an apex. in this Lord's day, don't we? With subdued words, he first gave us to see the blackness of our sin and misery. With well-chosen words, he's outlined where we are and what we need and what the mediator must be, but now with great joy. He joins in with the Apostle Paul in our text this morning and says, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God, of God, thank God it's not of man, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. What an answer. Short, beautiful, rich, pulsating with life and excitement. And that's exactly what a poor sinner feels when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to his soul, be it more gradually, be it more suddenly. There is this wonder, this awe, this glorious sense of excitement, this beautiful reception by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ as my only hope, freely offered to me, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, what a beautiful answer. And this answer means, dear friends, that you and I must know this Savior personally and experientially. He must be ours, fully, completely, exclusively, and we must have no other mediators. We must annul every other form of idolatry in our lives and worship Him alone, and through Him, the triune God. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our, it's personal. You know, Luther said most of religion consists of personal pronouns. Lord, it means master, possessor. He possesses me. This is my comfort in life and death. Back to Lord's day one, that I don't belong to myself. He is mine. I am his. He's my master, my king. I belong to him. He's Jesus, Jehovah Salvation, abbreviated. That's his personal name. It means he's savior. He delivers me. He does everything for me. I need to have done for me to spend eternity with him in heaven. And he's Christ, which means Messiah, the anointed. the office bearer of God, par excellence, to me, my prophet to teach me, my priest to sacrifice and intercede for me, my king to rule and guide me. He meets all my needs, you see. Man, righteous man, God, one person, Holy Spirit, there's one hand. Other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ, applied again by the thumb, the Holy Spirit, this is a double-handed, this is a rich and full and glorious answer of salvation. There's nothing lacking in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's like a pair of gloves that fits both hands. This same God, this same God, has made unto us the God who forgives our sins when by faith we receive this Lord Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. This Savior who is prepared for us by God, who's made suitable for us by God, who's presented and offered to us by God, by the God who gives us the faith to receive Him, by the God who we heard is our righteous judge that could send us to hell, this same God gives to us the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Savior of rebels, sinners, the Savior of hell-deserving sinners. What an amazing thing. He's our go-between. He's the day's man who lays his hands upon both, God and sinful man, holy God, hell-worthy man. And he brings us together. And he does it willingly. He made himself of no reputation and emptied himself and went the way of the death of the cross. He who, for whom it was not robbery to declare he was equal with God. became crucified so that he could work in your heart, dear sinner, this glorious answer, our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's no need, there's no need that the Savior can't meet. Are you foolish? He's wisdom. Are you weak? He's strong. Are you sinful? He's sinless. Are you unrighteous? He's righteousness. Are you lost? He finds the lost. Are you full of pollution? He's holy, harmless, and undefiled. Are you stained with original sin? He had none. Are you stained with actual sin? He had none. In everything, at every place, where the sinner comes short, the answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. He never comes short anywhere. That's our comfort. That's why every one of these words is packed with comfort. From our side, there's no answer. From his side, there's total answer. There's nothing left from our side but to say, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? In my flesh dwells no good thing. But from his side, the answer is, our Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything, dear friend. You needy sinner. who know you need salvation. This is your total, exclusive, 100% answer. He's Deliverer, He's Savior, He's Redeemer, He's Lord, He's Kinsman, He's all in all, He's given to you for wisdom, for righteousness, for sanctification, and for redemption. And in these four words, If we had a third hand, I'd give you a third hand, because there's four more things, and that too needs to be applied by the Holy Spirit. But here's another way of just summarizing the other two hands. Everything is in Christ, everything. Wisdom, wisdom. He's the great wisdom of Proverbs 8. We're foolish, we're ignorant. He's the instructive prophet to teach us, to lead us, to guide us. He's our righteousness. There's no word in all the Bible that so summarizes the gospel as the word righteousness. You know, Thomas Boston structured his entire famous book that's been reprinted 125 times, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State. If you've never read it, read it. It's a tremendous book. He structures the whole book around four usages of the word righteousness. Your original righteousness, pre-fall, then your fallen unrighteousness, then your restored righteousness through conversion, and then eternal righteousness in glory. All of human nature, all of our life, we're always relating to righteousness. And you see, the beauty is that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. His white robe righteousness replaces our filthy rag righteousness. And when His Holy Spirit comes, what His Holy Spirit does is He shows us our own unrighteousness so that we own it, so that we regret it, so that we grieve over it, hate it, sorrow over it, and so that we flee to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which can cover our every iniquity. And then He's our sanctification. He's not only our prophet of wisdom and our priest of righteousness, he's also our king of holiness. And what a beautiful thing this is. As exalted king of kings, he sanctifies us, he cleanses us, he leads us, he guides us, he keeps us, he preserves us, he perseveres in us and with us as his child. He makes us more and more conformed to his image. What a king! He takes control through every affliction, through every trial, through every disappointment. He's purging us that we may be more like Him. And so again and again, things in life don't go the way we want to, want them to go. But it's all to sanctify us. It's all that we would lose our own ownership, our own name, our own lives, as it were, and that we would learn to trust in Him alone, learn to take refuge in Him alone, learn to trust His kingship alone, learn to turn the reins of our lives over into His hands, that He'll be in the driver's seat and we'll be the passenger. He's our sanctification. And then, says Paul, He's our redemption. Redemption is sort of a term that summarizes all three together. It means to buy back. He just purchases us. He buys us back from Satan in our self-made ways. We've been enslaved because of sin. He sets us free. He's our ransom price. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. The Greek word there, loutron, is a wonderful word. That means a substitutionary ransom price. He's coming to give his life in exchange for our life. He takes our hell and gives us his heaven. And so God does everything. It's one-sided grace, amazing grace. He redeems us from the curse of the law, from sin, from guilt, from the enslaving power of sin, from the tragic consequences of sin, from Satan. He buys us back from all these things, and he redeems us to a life, a new life of obedience, a life in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the answer for everything. It's the answer for everything in Lord's day two, three, and four, and five, as we plunge deeper and deeper into our sin and misery. He's made into us wisdom, that's the answer for Lord's Day 2. Our foolishness in the face of the law. He's made into us righteousness, that's the answer for Lord's Day 3. Our inability to be righteous in God's sight. He's our sanctification, that's the answer for Lord's Day 4. When there's absolutely nothing in us that can produce one thing acceptable in God's sight. And he's our redemption. That's the answer for Lord's day five. How shall I find a God in whom I may escape divine punishment and be restored into favor? And then notice our text says this, is all these things of God unto us. Of God unto us. It's beautiful. It just underscores the one-sided character of God's grace. He's the initiator. He draws us. We run. He's the God of free and sovereign grace. Of God, Christ is our wisdom. Of God, Christ is our righteousness. Of God, Christ is our sanctification. Of God, Christ is our redemption. It's all of God. I owe everything to God. of Him, and through Him, and to Him, be all the glory forever. This is a full Lord Jesus Christ. Zacharias Ursinus, the major author of the Catechism, does something quite remarkable. in his 500 page or so exposition of the catechism, which is the main book a minister goes to if he wants to try to understand exactly what the catechism is saying, because this is a commentary on it by the author himself. And what Ursinus does right at this point, as he's expounding question 18, He suddenly has a section of several pages called the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Grace. Doesn't really comment on it here. And probably the reason why not, most scholars think, is that in his larger catechism, you know, he wrote another catechism of 350 questions and answers for adults. And there he does mention the covenant of grace several times, but perhaps he felt it a bit difficult material because originally the catechism was written more for teenagers and young people. And later then it became, of course, a preaching tool. But in this section on the covenant of grace, he reflects the reformed position that later on was put so succinctly in the question book that almost all of us had been raised on by Abraham Helenbrook. In that wonderful chapter, I'm sure you remember your teachers teaching you about it, on the covenant of grace. And what both men are saying, of course, which is what Scripture is saying, is that it's wonderful having this Savior, it's wonderful that He does everything for us, that He fits all our needs like a pair of gloves fit our hands, but exactly how do we become one with Him? How do we have union with Him? It's one thing to say it's one-sided grace, But how does it become a two-sided thing in terms of the actual experience of my reality? How do I respond and receive this Savior? And you see, that's what Ursinus deals with right in this context. And of course, he goes on in Lord's Day 7 to talk about faith and how that is the means by which we receive Christ. But here in this section on covenant of grace, he says so much more. And that is reflected in Helen Brook's question book, in this wonderful question, question three, what is the covenant of grace? Now, the covenant of grace is, of course, an agreement made between God and man in Christ, Christ as the head, in which you agree to have mutual stipulations, mutual conditions, mutual obedience. You see, God establishes the covenant in a one-sided way. He doesn't ask us, do you want to enter covenant with us? He makes us willing in the day of his power. It's all free grace. But we do respond. And God does expect a response and compels a response. And so the covenant is one-sided in its initiation, in its origin, but it's two-sided in its life, in its living, breathing reality. And Helen Brooks says that this covenant of grace is this, it's the way by which God through Christ becomes the property of the sinner, and the sinner in turn becomes the property of God. And he's just about quoting here, Jeremiah 31, where God says, in this new covenant, I will bring you to know one another and to belong to one another, Savior and sinner. Then Helen Brook goes on to say, what does the God then require of us in this covenant? And the answer is that which God requires, faith in Jesus Christ is also a promise of the covenant. You see, what Helen Brook is doing here and her assignments as well is something very fascinating They're saying salvation is all of grace, it's received by faith, faith itself is a gift of God, but that faith must be exercised. God will write these laws into our minds and hearts, he will be to us a God, we shall be to him as a people, and we receive that by no other way than faith only. So there are two parties, there are mutual promises and conditions, and we receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. But Helen Brook then goes on to say in question nine, how does a sinner then enter into this covenant of grace? And notice this beautiful answer. God first comes to the sinner, inviting and beseeching him into this covenant with much earnestness and uprightness, thereby resolving all his difficulties. And he then draws them with the cords of a man with bands of love. I just think this is a beautiful answer. God comes to us first. He kindly and beseechingly invites us in the preaching of the gospel. He sets before us the fullness, the greatness, the richness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is what I tried to do again to you this morning, and that thereby resolves all his difficulties. What difficulties? Oh, the difficulties of Romans 7. The good that I would, I find myself not doing. The evil that I would, I find myself doing. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? There's no hope for me. I'm a lost sinner. God, through preaching a rich and glorious and full Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, resolves a sinner's difficulties. So the sinner, by the drawing power of the grace of God, receives the Lord Jesus Christ by a true and living faith and believes in his heart of hearts, there's no hindrance for me. I see in the Bible, I hear from the preaching that he's willing to be the savior of the greatest of sinners. He fits my hands like a glove. There's nothing more for me to do. It is finished. Oh Lord, I come just as I am. So then he goes on in question 11 and says, what in turn does the sinner then do who is thus called, that is called invitingly, beseechingly, earnestly, uprightly by God? What does the sinner then do? Answer, this is Reverend Hellenbrook again, he accepts the Lord as his God and surrenders himself to God. Song of Solomon 2 verse 16. He just surrenders. That's what faith does. It just receives it. and says, it's too good to be true, but it is true, and so I bow unto the truth, and I receive this only Savior as my all and in all, as a poor, needy sinner. But how do you do that? Well, that's question 12. What are the characteristics of such acquiescence? What are the characteristics that is of such submission, such surrender to receive the Savior? The sinner consents. Calmly? Isn't that interesting? Calmly. He just is persuaded. Jesus Christ is the total savior for a total sinner. I just receive it calmly. I've heard it out of his mouth. It's a beseeching invitation. I can do no other. I can go nowhere else. To whom else shall I go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Calmly. I receive it. The sinner consents calmly, willingly, made willing in the day of God's power, I can't resist anymore, I've got no place else to turn to. Then says Helen Brook, humbly, humbly, claiming no worthiness of myself, I receive the gospel, knowing it is totally the free and sovereign gift of God, faithfully. I come believing that God is who He says He is, that He says He's open and founted for sin and uncleanness, and He invites sinners to drink. I drink, O Lord, faithfully believing what Thou hast said, uprightly. Hallenberg goes on, fifthly, uprightly, that is, with a full assenting to the demands as well as the promises of the covenant, I come leaning on the promises of God alone. So here's the whole answer. What are the characteristics of such acquiescence? That is, when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, how do you do it? The sinner consents calmly, willingly, humbly, faithfully, uprightly, fully agreeing with the demands as well as the promises of the covenant. That's it. And what are the consequences? That's his last question, 13. What are the consequences of this consenting? The consequences of this consenting are that God remembers his covenant forever. And the partakers of that covenant have the right to request all things necessary for life and salvation from Him forever. And so my question to you this morning, dear congregation, is have you ever entered personally into covenant with God? Have you ever received His offered salvation? freely, calmly, humbly, willingly, faithfully, uprightly, agreeing with everything he says about himself and about yourself, and discovering to your joy, he's a savior who fits my needs, my every needs, like a pair of gloves fits my hand. Well, how then is that revealed? Well, We know him, we know him. We go through this, we experience this in conjunction with the word of God. That's what question 19 says. 19, whence knowest thou this from the holy gospel, which God himself first revealed in paradise, afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets, represented by the sacrifices of the ceremonies of law, and lastly is fulfilled by his only begotten son. That is covenantal language. But the covenant gradually unfolded. First, it was revealed, Genesis 3.15. Then it was published by the patriarchs, got broader, deeper. Then it was represented by the sacrifice of the ceremonies of the law. And finally, it was fulfilled by His only begotten Son. And when it was fulfilled, you see, that's what we call the new covenant or the New Testament. New Testament, it's not a different testament than the Old Testament. The New Covenant's not a different covenant than the Old Covenant in terms of its essence. The two covenants are one in substance, but they are different in their administration. Or Sinus puts it this way. The Old Covenant contains promises of specific blessings such as the land. The New Covenant contains a general promise of preservation and salvation. The Old Covenant looks ahead to the coming and work of Christ. The New Covenant looks back. The Old Covenant used sacraments, circumcision, and Passover. The New Covenant uses Lord's Supper and baptism. The Old Covenant revealed the good things to come in obscure types and shadows. The New Covenant comes in more clarity as the types are fulfilled in Christ. The Old Covenant, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, were more narrow and sparing. The New Covenant, they are large and plentiful. The Old Covenant was made only for a time until the Messiah came. The New Covenant lasts forever. The Old Covenant bound men to the whole Mosaic law, moral law, ceremonial law, civil law. The New Covenant binds us only to the moral law and the New Testament sacraments. In the Old Covenant, the church was limited to the nation of Israel, but in the New Covenant, the church is scattered among all believers around the world throughout the nations. Whence knowest thou this? My dear friend, has the preaching of the gospel, the reading of the word, has it opened to you the wonderful covenant of grace? And have you received God's free, one-sided, gracious terms in that covenant? Have you come to him as a poor, needy sinner to find all your riches in him? And through that thumb of the Holy Spirit who applies it to you, have you been able to cry out, Our Lord Jesus Christ is my mediator. That's the only way to salvation. That's the only way to true happiness. That's the only way to the gospel, the good news, the glorious news, the solemn news. but also the divisive news. The gospel is divisive. Some of you have come, some of you haven't. But I say to you who have not come, you're missing what life is all about. And do please remember, One day you will stand before this gloriously, earnestly, beseeching Savior, and you'll have to tell Him why you refused your own happiness and His glory and His wonderful covenant. and you will not have a single answer to a thousand questions. How could you possibly turn away from this Savior? And that day you will understand that being unconverted is totally unacceptable with God, and that there are no excuses for it, because he has come to you personally, earnestly, beseechingly, inviting you into his covenant with much earnestness, much uprightness, says our forefather, Reverend Helen Brook, to resolve all your difficulties, What difficulty do you still have that is not resolved? The answer to it is our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the answer to every difficulty. Bow under Him. And if you say you can't bow under Him, then go to Him and plead Acts 5.31, He's a Savior who gives repentance and remission of sin to Israel and say, here I am, Lord. I take with me words and I come to thee just as I am. Fulfill thy own promises. Draw me. I will run after thee. Amen. Gracious God, How rich, how full, how free, how simple, how profound, how beautiful is the gospel? And I pray, Lord, that every unconverted boy or girl, teenager, adult, senior, here today, may see their need for this gospel, their dire need, but also may bow and receive the fullness of this glorious Savior proffered to us once again. Oh, let none of us rest until we too can say, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is given of God unto me to be my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen.