The portion of God's Word that we read this morning is Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, we read in connection with Lord's Day 30, question and answer 80, which concerns the Roman Catholic Mass. This chapter teaches us concerning the one perfect, complete sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross. This is the Word of God in Hebrews 10. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hath pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering hath He perfected forever them that are sanctified. whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near. with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. For He is faithful, that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despot unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that has said, Vengeance belongeth to me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The call to remembrance the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions. Partly, whilst you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly, whilst you became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. So far we read God's holy and inspired Word. It's on the basis of Hebrews 10 and in harmony with all of God's Word that we have the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lordsday 30. And this morning what we do is just consider the first question and answer of Lordsday 30, question and answer 80. Question and answer 80. What difference is there between the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass? The Lord's Supper testifies to us that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross. and that we by the Holy Ghost are engrafted into Christ, who according to His human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven at the right hand of God His Father, and will there be worshipped by us. But the Mass teaches that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests, And further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them, so that the mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ and an accursed idolatry. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as I stated in the introduction last week, Sunday morning, we're covering the Lord's Supper as it is taught in the Heidelberg Catechism under four sermons. Last week we considered the opening Lord's Day on the Lord's Supper, dealing with the basic idea of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This week, we consider just question and answer 80, dealing with the Roman Catholic Mass. Next week, Sunday evening, the Lord willing, we will finish this Lord's Day by looking at for whom the Lord's Supper is instituted. And we'll do that for our preparatory service. And then the week following, we'll go back and consider Lord's Day 29. This morning we deal with just question and answer 80. The one question and answer in this section that deals with the contrast between the biblical and reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper with the heretical Roman Catholic Mass. Question and answer 80 of the Heidelberg Catechism very clearly and sharply condemns the Roman Catholic Mass for what it is. And that is summarized in the very last words of the answer to question 80, where it says that the Roman Catholic Mass is nothing less than a denial of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and is nothing less than an accursed idolatry." Beloved, let those words sink in. Those words are just as true today as they were some 400 years ago when they were written. Nothing has changed with respect to the Roman Catholic Church and the Mass. And just as much today as then, is this the description of what it truly is? A denial of the Lord Jesus Christ and His one sacrifice, and an accursed idolatry. I call your attention this morning to the Roman Catholic Mass. In the first place, What I'd like to do is consider the fact that this is an important subject for us to look at this morning from the Heidelberg Catechism. And then in the second place, we will see from the Catechism that this is truly a cursed idolatry. And therefore, in doing that, we will see the truth concerning the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross. The Roman Catholic Mass, an important subject and a cursed idolatry. I begin the sermon this morning by simply explaining the fact that it is worthwhile for us as a congregation to deal in an entire sermon with the Roman Catholic teaching concerning the Mass. I imagine there may be some today who would question whether or not that is necessary for us. They would question it maybe along these lines. Yes, maybe 400 years ago when the Heidelberg Catechism was written, was it necessary to hear sermons? And probably multiple sermons in the course of a year on this subject of the difference between the Reformed teaching of the Lord's Supper and the Roman Catholic Mass. But today is it? Today, is it for us as Reformed Christians living in West Michigan in 2016, do we really need to hear a sermon in our present context on the Roman Catholic Mass as it is set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism in Lords Day 30? And the answer to that question is yes, we do. This is an important subject for us to consider this morning. And so we do that looking at question and answer 80. The question is why? Why is this significant for us? And when I explain these reasons, They apply more generally to the place of the Roman Catholic Church in the world today. But understand that as you think about Rome, What is so tightly linked to it is the subject of question and answer 30, which is the Mass. This is the fundamental teaching concerning the Roman Catholic Church and the doctrine that stands behind the Roman Catholic Mass and what it does to the people in holding them in bondage. as it relates to their sin and their supposed life with God. The Roman Catholic Church generally is intimately linked with the subject of this question and answer dealing with the Mass. This is why it's important for us. Here are some reasons why we need to be aware of these things as a congregation today. In the first place, this is an important subject to consider because by considering the heretical view of the Lord's Supper, the Roman Catholic Mass, we will by that have a better understanding of what is the truth. That's our purpose in the end. We want to know the truth. We want to exalt God. We want to glorify Jesus Christ for who He is and for what He has done. And one of the ways to do that is by seeing the error and the heresy and by understanding the heresy over against the truth. And when we do that, the One that shines all the brighter in that is God, His truth, and the Lord Jesus Christ. When we see the abominable nature of the mass and what they teach concerning Jesus Christ, It exalts the teaching of Hebrews 10. The teaching of the entire Word of God, which is our comfort and hope. And that is that our salvation is fully accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross. I mention that reason first for a reason. That needs to be in the forefront of our minds. All of what we say concerning the Mass as it relates to you and me this morning, fundamentally serves that purpose. To further exalt and to further glorify the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ. In the second place, this is an important subject to consider because of the simple fact that the Roman Catholic Church is significant and influential Not only religiously, but the Roman Catholic Church is influential and significant socially and politically. The Roman Catholic Church is made up of 1.2 billion people spread over the length and breadth of this world today. In the United States alone, there are 85 million members of the Roman Catholic Church. And the influence and significance of Rome, as it has been for centuries, is far reaching. And we understand that simply by being observant of what goes on around us in the world. Anything the Pope does, carries with it national and world news. When the Pope makes a visit to America, as he did not so long ago, it is a huge deal, not just by those who are part of the church, but by those who are part of the secular media. So that just in the past week, when Pope Francis makes a significant decision that now the priests are able to forgive on their own the sin of abortion, That headline makes world news. We see today the significance and the influence religiously, socially, and politically that the Roman Catholic Church has. And that makes understanding Rome all the more important. And this, in Lord's Day 30, is the heart and center of what Rome is. In the third place, it is important for us to consider this subject because this is our heritage. This is what we trace our roots back to as a Reformed congregation. And that in and of itself makes this a worthy subject. We need to know where we came from. And we need to know how we got to where we are today. And we need to understand that our Reformed fathers gave their lives in a literal way for upholding the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism, and for having the boldness and the courage worked in them by God to say what they did concerning the Roman Catholic mass, that it is a denial of Christ, and that it is an accursed idolatry. Those are our ancestors. And that's where we came from. And if we are ignorant of that history, We do not fully appreciate what God has done for us as a Reformed congregation today. And to go even deeper than that, as we trace our heritage back to the deliverance from Rome, it leads us to see the grace of God in our lineage. We have been delivered from this. And it's not too strong to say that as those who trace their line back to the Reformation. We, we who are the sons and daughters of these Reformed fathers have been delivered from the bondage of the Roman Catholic Church. And that by the grace of God, I say again. Because it is nothing less than bondage that those who are in Rome experience. And it's not the freedom of being delivered in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the comfort of knowing while we are living and after we die, that we have forever life with God in Jesus Christ. Not to know this. is to disparage the very history and work of God in our generations. And so it's important for us to know these truths. In the fourth place, this is an important subject because not only in the past is it significant for us thinking religiously, but understand that presently, Presently, all roads we can say lead back to Rome. And there are developments over the past couple of decades that indicate that. Evangelicals and Lutherans and even those who are part of the Reformed and Presbyterian camps want to get back together again in certain respects with the Roman Catholic Church. All roads, we can say, lead back to Rome. And that's even true today. And that makes knowing these truths and being able to defend the Reformed faith over against them absolutely necessary. And then last, it's important for our personal witness. We're living in an increasingly diverse community. And as time goes on, our interaction with those who are members of the Roman Catholic Church will become greater and greater. And it may be that you have interaction with those who are steeped in Roman Catholic theology and doctrine and practice, but it may be that you have interaction with those who are simply nominally Roman Catholic, but either way, to know the basic tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, to be able to explain what the Roman Catholic Mass is at its heart, is beneficial. And so it's important for us to understand what is wrong with it, how it denies Christ, and over against that, what is the truth. And so thinking about our witness, thinking about our ability to proclaim the truth over against the air in our everyday practical life with others, we hear a word this morning concerning the Roman Catholic Mass. And standing behind all of this, Contrary to what others will say, is that Rome has never changed. That's important for us to understand before we get into the specific reasons that it is an accursed idolatry and a denial of Christ. Some may want to say, that the Roman Catholic Church of today is different than the Roman Catholic Church of the Reformation. But understand that that is the farthest thing from the case. The decisions of the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, the decisions of Vatican I in 1870 and Vatican II in the 1960s, those bodies that have binding decisions concerning the teaching of Rome are just as much true then as they are today. And Rome will never change. The same doctrines concerning salvation, Christ, the Pope, and Mass are exactly the same now as they were hundreds of years ago. So that the teaching of the Catechism in question and answer 80 is spot on. to say, what is the air? And over against that, what is the truth? The Roman Catholic Mass, beloved, is a denial of Christ and an accursed idolatry. The Roman Catholic Mass is based upon the false teaching of transubstantiation. The reason it is a denial of Christ and a cursed idolatry is exactly that. They believe in what they refer to as transubstantiation. And that is the idea that by the words of the priest, and by his actions, The bread and the wine actually change into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. Trans means change. Substantiation, substance. It is a change in substance. Contrary to everything you see. Contrary to everything you feel. Contrary to what you would taste. The Roman Catholic doctrine is that that bread and that wine are truly the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. This is my body, Jesus said. And when He said, this is my body, the Roman Catholic Church interprets that to mean that this has become my body in the very realist sense of the word. Transubstantiation is simply false. Jesus said, this is My body. He did not mean that the bread and the wine become His body. No more than when He said, I am the door. Does Jesus mean that He Himself has become a physical door? For them to be consistent, they would have to say the same thing about the cup. This is the cup of the New Testament. Drink ye all of it. They don't say drink the actual cup. The cup represents the wine. The wine represents the blood. And that's how we understand the words of Jesus. This is my body. This represents and signifies my body and my blood. But not according to Rome. According to Rome, when the priest says those words and performs those actions, he changes. by a miracle of God, the bread and wine to the very body and blood of Jesus. And that fact influences what they do and how they act in relation to that bread and wine and why it is a denial of Christ and an accursed idolatry. The Heidelberg Catechism gives two reasons for the abominable nature of the Roman Catholic mass. The Heidelberg Catechism is very clear in this respect. And it does a good job of getting down to the heart and center of what is wrong with the mass. There are so many things that are wrong with it. The fact that for many years it was done in an unknown tongue, Latin, changed I believe in the 60's. But for centuries, everything that the people would hear they wouldn't be able to understand because it was in Latin. The fact that it is a complete disparaging of the Word of God as it is proclaimed. The fact that they don't give the wine to the people. The fact that it is filled with pageantry and all sorts of superstitions. A pagan philosopher said that the Roman Catholic Mass is but a Grand opera for the poor because of everything that went into it. All of the superstition and the pageantry going from the dress to the actions that they have to perform. There is so much that is wrong with the Roman Catholic Mass, but the Catechism gets to the heart and to the center of it by pointing to two points especially. And the first is this. It is a denial of Christ because the Roman Catholic Mass teaches the continual sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Council of Trent declared concerning what the Mass is. The sacrifice of the Mass is identical with the sacrifice of the cross. inasmuch as Jesus Christ is a priest and a victim both. The only difference lies in the manner of the offering, which is bloody upon the cross. and bloodless upon the altar. The Catechism says, but the Mass teaches that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests. That in the first place is what makes the Mass a denial of Christ. They believe That because the bread and wine is now changed into the body and blood of Jesus, by the actions of the priests, He is actually sacrificed. The same sacrifice on the cross. On the cross it was bloody, but now, as we stand before the people in an unbloody way, He is sacrificed on that altar. And just to point ahead a little bit, which means that that sacrifice on the cross wasn't enough, and that's the point. They have to continue to sacrifice Christ and believe that that is what is leading to the forgiveness of their sins. And this is what they believe. This is what the priests believe. This is what the people believe is taking place in front of them. That Jesus again is being sacrificed. And the language And the identification of what they are seeing indicates that. Number one, it's a priest. We're pretty familiar with that. We know that the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church are called priests. But don't lose sight of what the significance of that is. A priest brings us back to the Old Testament. A priest is one who is engaged in a fundamental work, and the work of a priest is to sacrifice. So that just as the Old Testament priests sacrificed the Roman Catholic priests in an unbloody way, sacrifice in the Mass because of the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. And then the language of an altar. What we have in front of church is not an altar, beloved. It's a table. And never must we think of what we have in front of church as an altar, or refer to it as an altar. An altar is on which you sacrifice. And in the Roman Catholic Church, they don't have a table. They have an altar. Because on that altar, the body and blood of Jesus is sacrificed again. And now here is the point. They have to do that for the forgiveness of their sins. They have to do that time and time and time again, not only while they are living, but even after they are dead, for the forgiveness of their sins. I'll read the Catechism again, but the Mass teaches that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins, through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests. The sacrifice on the cross was not enough. And this is the way in which the members of the Roman Catholic Church are held in bondage. You need to keep coming back. And come back again. And come back again. in order for your sins to be forgiven. And then when you die, those who are still living have to continue to offer sacrifice of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins. A sacrifice in an unbloody manner in the Roman Catholic Mass. To use an illustration, it's like the doctor who is corrupt, who says to his patients, Never the truth, but always the lie. And the lie is always this, you're never healed. So you need to keep coming back for more procedures. For more medicines. For more prescriptions. For more surgeries. When in reality, that's not needed. And it's all to gain for the corrupt doctor himself. And in the end, it's all to gain for the system that is the Roman Catholic Church. The power and the money that is involved with what stands behind the Roman Catholic Mass. That's the point. They have to keep doing this. time and time again for the forgiveness of their sins, even after death. And you see very quickly, Why this is a denial of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And why it is against what is the very heart and very center of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the cross of Calvary. That's why I read this morning Hebrews 10. You can look at other passages in Hebrews that say the same thing. Here are a few of them. Hebrews 7. Verse 27, "...who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's. But this he did once when he offered up himself." Hebrews 9, 11, and 12 as well. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come, By a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And then verse 26, For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then Hebrews 10 especially. Hebrews 10, the first four verses of the chapter, explain the fulfillment of Jesus Christ over against the repeated and yearly sacrifice that was offered in the Old Testament. That's what the book of Hebrews does. It demonstrates Christ to be the fulfillment, the greater and better fulfillment of the Old Testament tithes. And standing at the center of that are the sacrifices. And the first four verses of Hebrews 10 explain the Old Testament. Listen to verse 1, the second half. "...Can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." Year by year. Continually even within that year. They had to offer sacrifices, but it never made them perfect. If it did, would they not have ceased to be offered the beginning of verse 2? If they truly had their sins forgiven, they would have stopped offering those sacrifices. But they didn't. They had to keep coming back. Not because those sacrifices truly took away sins, but it was for the remembrance of sins. It was for the pointing to Jesus Christ. It was the way in which in the Old Testament they placed their faith in Jesus Christ because verse 4, it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. All of that in the Old Testament It was useful. It was a reason God had them do it. To confess sin, to remember sin, to point to Christ. But they never truly took away sin. And then in contrast to that, in fulfillment of that really, we have Christ. And that's verses 10-14. but by which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Not for all men. For all of God's people. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. And then verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Beloved, you cannot find words that more clearly and sharply condemn the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Mass. They say time and time again you have to keep sacrificing. That one sacrifice wasn't enough. The Gospel is this. Christ offered Himself once. And because He was Christ Jesus, The only begotten Son of God who was truly God and truly man. That one sacrifice of Christ was sufficient, was complete, was powerful to take away the sins and guilt of all His people. It's because of who He was. He was the Son of God. who was therefore able to bear the infinite wrath of God for the sin and guilt of His people. And He was truly man, so that He could truly represent us on that cross of Calvary. To deny The cross and Jesus Christ is exactly what Rome does when they say that He must continually be sacrificed in the Roman Catholic Mass. Beloved, that's not the Gospel. The Gospel is that our salvation is full, and it is free, and it is completely accomplished by Christ on the cross. Listen to the language. of those verses, by the which will we are sanctified. Not we are partially. More needs to be done, but we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 14, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. It's done. Verse 17, And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And then the summary in verse 18, Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. This is the Gospel. This is the Gospel that we believe has reformed Christians. This is the Gospel of grace. This is the Gospel that exalts Christ. as the only begotten Son of God who truly has removed our sin and guilt. Beloved, believe this Gospel and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And believe that unto the full salvation which He has accomplished on the cross. What is our response to this? Keep going in the chapter. Verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Draw near to God, beloved, with full assurance of faith. That's what the Gospel affords us. A full assurance in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a, we need to continue to do something. Not a, we will never know if we are fully saved from our sins. But in absolute assurance, we draw near to God because of the one sacrifice offered on the cross. Verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful, that promise. Hold fast to this. It's striking to see and to hear, and sad to see and to hear, those who are brought back into the bondage of Rome, who came from the Reformed tradition, Not so long ago, one of the saints in the fellowship in Limerick, where Rev. McGune is, that's exactly what took place. A serious blow to the small group there. But not just departing slightly from the Reformed faith, which happens, but this was something so much stronger than that. Going back into the bondage of Rome. Let us hold fast to the profession of faith. Let us hold fast, because we know the promises of God are sure. Let us hold fast to this gospel of Jesus Christ and His one sacrifice offered on the cross. And let us, therefore, in verse 24, Provoke unto love and to good works. Not in the bondage of Rome to do something to earn, but good works because this is the Gospel. And we want to, out of love and thanks, live for God. And v. 25, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but come together for worship. Come together. Not so that you can be engaged in a mass and so that your sins can be forgiven since the last time you were there. Can you imagine if that's how we had to come to church? That we had to come in order to in some way receive the forgiveness of sins of things we just did since the last time we did something together as a congregation? What an abominable way to live your life. What a bondage to be in. We come as those who hear Not the declaration you need to do something, even after you're dead. But we hear the Gospel. It's done. It's finished in the work of Jesus Christ. And through that, we come and we worship and we fellowship with God. What an astounding gospel of grace that we have, and that we have been given by God. All of this is summarized in the beginning of the answer. The Lord's Supper testifies that we have a full pardon of all of our sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross. Then we can conclude by seeing that this isn't a cursed idolatry. Because what the Roman Catholic Church does is truly worship that bread and that wine. If you read about what actually takes place in a Roman Catholic Mass, that's exactly what they're doing. They're worshiping the bread and the wine that is in front of them. And all of their actions indicate that. How many times the priest has to bow? Literally. They are bowing literally because they believe that bread and wine are actually Christ. Before the priest gives to the members of the church the bread, they come up to him at the front of the church and they bow in front of the priest because they are bowing in front of The actual body and blood of Christ, they say. It's idolatry. It's no different than the Old Testament. Pagans and even Israelites at times building idols of wood and stone and bowing to those things built of wood and of stone. But they substitute for the wood and the stone, the bread and the wine. It's idolatry. And with that comes so much superstition and pageantry. And all of it is nothing less, as the Catechism says, than accursed idolatry. We worship God. We worship the spiritual triune God this morning. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who in His human nature is in heaven. and whose human nature is confined to heaven and not, as the Catholics teach, in the bread and wine of the mass. That's an accursed idolatry. By the grace of God, what we engage in is a blessed, a blessed worship of God's name. We believe in the triune God in heaven, and in the name of Jesus Christ, spiritually from our hearts. Through the preaching of that Gospel which we hear, we worship that God. Let us continue in the full assurance of faith, worship, to God in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us continue to do that, holding the truth which glorifies Jesus Christ, and holding the truth by refuting the error, the error as it is seen, specifically today in the Roman Catholic Mass. And let us do that. All to the glory of God's name. Amen. Father in Heaven, bless Thy Word. Help us to see this morning the finished, perfect work of Christ. and work in our hearts a faith, a strong faith in that Christ, so that we believe all of our sins were satisfied on that cross of Jesus Christ, so that He endured Thy wrath against our sin and guilt, and it's finished, as He cried out those words on the cross of Calvary. We pray, Father, that Thy Word may work powerfully To convict us of the truth and to lead us to glorify Thy name, for Jesus' sake. Amen.