I'm going to read just one verse. We will reference others, of course, as we do. I'm going to read John 1, verse 14. And then after that, we will—you have it there in the bulletin again— We're looking at the Shorter Catechism, number 21, and so I'll read the question and we'll go through the answer, or just read the answer together. So, let's start in John chapter 1 and I'll read verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace. and truth. Our topical consideration this evening is Westminster Shirley Catechism question and answer number 21. I'll read the question together. I'll say the answer. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect? The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man. It's like Christmas in February, I suppose. And I was tempted to include a Christmas hymn. I may do that next week when we have one more question similar to this. Except there's no Santa Claus, there's no gift exchanges, so we get a better, clearer look at the Incarnation. But we arrive here at a very challenging place in our Christian doctrine. Probably second only to understanding the Trinity, we consider the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It may be better we consider the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God who took on flesh to then be the Lord Jesus Christ. We know Him as the only mediator that is between God and man. We know that when we have seen Him, we have seen the Father, and as John will actually go on to say, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who exegetes or makes known the Father to us, explains Him to us. And as we consider this answer in our short Catechism, I do want to note up front that it is probably a very big challenge to separate the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, although we have to do that both for brevity and clarity's sake. Next time we will consider more of the work that he does, but even here we see that he is the Redeemer of God's light, and that is, in brief, His work. But, we should only see the work of Christ, I'm sorry, we should only see Christ's person displayed in His work, and the other way, His work displayed in His person. Who He is is what He came to do. He is our Redeemer. He took on flesh, and now is incarnated and continues as God of man, as our Catechism answer says. And so, in short, what we want to say is this, that the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, took on flesh. He's incarnated in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has two natures, divine and human. and one person. And from there, things generally get more complicated. Now, we're going to make this sermonic, but this is what I want to have in mind. A couple of things. One is, we have been dealing in some form on Wednesday nights with evangelism. And one of the things that we found as an objection to our evangelism is This wasn't everybody and it wasn't all the time, but one of the things we found was that in particular, we sometimes suffer from not knowing the answers to questions. Now, I didn't say it quite like this at the time, but we could say probably there's at least two things that we would want to consider when we say we don't know the answers to questions. One is we are not all knowers. We can take refuge in nobody knows all the answers to all the questions. There are some people that are advanced and know a lot of the answers to a lot of questions, but no one knows every answer to every question. So we can take comfort in that, but we shouldn't hide there. Sometimes we don't know the answers to questions because, quite frankly, we don't really want to learn the answers to the questions. In other words, one of the things, you know, we talk about it back around a little bit, is that we're very well taught, but it seems like that well-taughtness is not come out or manifest in any way, that then you can say, well, sure, I'm confident to talk about my faith. I would hope that our well-taughtness, I'm just pointing words as we go here, that our well-taughtness would then manifest in, well, then I'm confident to, among other things, share our faith. That's not the only thing we do. I understand evangelism, but putting it into that context, here, in our catechism, we have a very succinct answer to a question. that would be probably asked in an evangelistic setting. And it gives us the answer. It would be cool of us, I think, to know the answer, if you want to just simply memorize the shorter catechism answer, that would be fine enough to at least help us. But we should be able to explain some of this as well. So my intent tonight, my aim, is to set it into that kind of context. I want to deliver to you what it is that we believe. But I want to explain it to you, and hopefully you'll be able to, if you don't already have this understanding, explain it to others. Or, if it's something that you already have, to enhance your worship a bit. So that's my aim for tonight, and we're gonna, as we've done, since it's topical, find our way working through the Scriptures and turning to some passages. So that's what we're going to do this evening. Just a note, because we're following the pattern of the answer itself as the arrangement of the sermon. We want to begin with the names of the Lord Jesus Christ. The answer begins that the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. And since we're dealing with who that person is, not so much with redemption or God's elect, but with the Lord Jesus Christ then being the eternal God became man. We want to first set out these names. I'm going to give you these names, Lord Jesus Christ, and maybe one or two others that would help us, I think, to understand this. Now, again, my hope and desire is that this is review for all of us, but if not, it should certainly then help us in a couple of ways. One of them, if you put it in that large context, So, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just begin with His name, Jesus. We know that that is just simply the Greek way of saying the Hebrew word Joshua, that that means to save, or something along those lines. It's not always great to etymologically do your name, but that's kind of how it's associated with Matthew, that He will save His people from their sins. So, in other words, the Yeshua name has an understanding of saving, or to save. And Matthew 121 is that place when the angel says to Joseph, you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Of course, it becomes a little play on the words there. You're going to name him the thing that he is. Which is why I said that it's hard to separate out his person from his work because who he is, incarnated, is then what he does. He will save his people. from their sins. A couple of other folks bore this name. Of course, Joshua in Joshua 1.1, Joshua the son of Nun, and then also Joshua the son of Jehoshaphat. We see that in Zechariah and Ezra. We see that there are these other ones, and both of them are linked up to salvation in some way. So the name takes on something very particular. So when Jesus gets that name, so when Joseph and Mary both hear that, and they know to name him that, they also are given some insight into what it is that he will do for his people. It designates for us that it is his work. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So that's Matthew chapter 121. We want to be able to say that, that calling him by his name is also identifying what it is that he does for us. He saves us. Christ, not so much name as it is a title, means of course the one who is anointed, The Hebrew is Messiah, so you see these anointed things happening in the Old Testament. You'll see prophets anointed, priests anointed, and kings anointed. Most recently in our study in 1 Samuel, chapter 10, we saw the anointing of Saul, and then a little bit later, in chapter 16, we saw the anointing of David. Generally some kind of oil poured over their head and came down. The same was done for kings with prophets and for priests. And so this anointing symbolized that they were endued with the spirit. Sometimes the spirit would come upon them in ways that would identify that the spirit would come rushing upon them. not simply the oil itself, but the Spirit would be manifest in that way. Jesus, of course, is anointed to his threefold office, a prophet, priest, and king, at his baptism, and it is when the Spirit comes down like a dove. That is in Matthew 3, verse 16, and then it parallels in Mark, and Luke, and John, the Spirit comes upon him. One of the other titles that Jesus holds us here is the Son of Man. And the reason I'm bringing this up is that we understand that it's going to also tell us he's the Son of God and both of these designations have been given to identify Jesus. The term Son of Man derives from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13. Daniel sees in a vision that heavens are open and thrones come about and the ancient days is on the throne and then one Like the Son of Man comes riding on clouds, and when he rides on clouds, the Ancient of Days gives to him a kingdom that is an everlasting kingdom and sets up thrones, and among other things, he begins judgment. Jesus, in most of the ways, not every single way, in most of the ways that he self-identifies, he self-identifies as the Son of Man, which, from our perspective, we think of that as his humanity. And it may, in fact, at least recognize the incarnated status of the second person of the Trinity. But more than likely, it actually references Daniel chapter 7, verse 13, in which he is identified as this one who receives a kingdom and rides on the clouds and he receives it from the ancient days. So without going too much there, We simply recognize that this vision has a lot into it that is going to explain to us about the incarnation. That this second person of the Trinity becomes incarnated, so it takes on flesh, and in doing that, from the Ancient of Days, receives a kingdom that's an everlasting kingdom that smashes all of the other kingdoms and sets up judgments. Now, it can also contain, like I said, an indication of his humanity, but more than likely references his divinity. Jesus uses this several times. I think most famously, he uses it as triumph, in which he makes the St. Lutheran nearly apoplectic, because they ask him if he is the Messiah, and he says, Well, I'm the son of man riding on clouds, and he gives the references back to Daniel chapter 7, verse 13. That they all didn't die of heart attacks at that point is probably just to sustain, you know, God's sustaining grace to keep them. They were not a plethora, and they were because what he identifies is, I am God, and the Heavenly Father has given to me the kingdom. And now I'm going to come riding in the clouds, bringing judgment on all of you. So it was quite a statement for him to make. We also see that he is the Son of God. Matthew 11, verse 27. This name signifies that he is the second person of the Trinity, and thus he is God. We are there in John. We haven't flipped too many. I just simply referenced them. But Matthew 11, 27, he says, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. So we have here him identifying as the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. He's appointed as the Messiah, and he owes his birth, that is, his incarnation, his conception, and his birth, to the activity of the Holy Spirit. We see that, of course, in chapter 1 of Luke. And then, lastly, the last title that we would see is that he has the title Lord. Again, this is used in our Catechism, so he is the Lord Jesus Christ And then later it references the Son of God. So I've given you one extra, the Son of Man. Most of the time in the Gospels when folks address him as Lord, he was probably being addressed more in the polite address, something akin to our use of Sir. But after his resurrection, then, it takes on the meaning that he is now Lord of all things. It is no longer just simply polite address. It certainly references back to the Old Testament. And their understanding of God as Lord, so in the way that they manipulated the Old Testament name of God, you know, pointing it with the Yahweh name, with the Adonai, the Lord, vowel pointing, to do that so that they would say the word Lord. Of course, in the New Testament, then, we see a couple of times where Jesus' Lord is a stand-in for the name of God. So it's identifying backwards in that way. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 34 is a good place to see that. But also we see in his own Christ as Lord, as the owner and the ruler of all things, and particularly the church. So in Romans chapter 1 verse 7, it says to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he has just referenced previously, verse 4, verses 3 and 4, that the Son of God, so he was declared to be the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. So there, he's referencing this second way that Christ is the owner and ruler of the church. But then we also see in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that it serves as a stand-in for John's name. So 2 Corinthians 7, verse 3-4. And his interests are divided, and the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord. how to be holy in body and spirit. So there, Paul uses it more in terms of reference to God's name. He has an interest of the things of God. So we have these names and titles for the Lord Jesus Christ. So very simplistically, I've given you some very basic ways of understanding and defining them. It should serve us in terms of our own understanding, so what it is that we believe when we say Jesus is this name. Or when you're studying the Bible and you come across Jesus saying to us that he is the Son of Man and he is the Son of God. Or that he is Lord something along those lines. But then also if you find yourself in a situation where you are then Forced to answer a question, or you are called upon to answer a question about that which you believe, this should be part and parcel and most basic to our ability to answer. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. If we believe that, if that is true for us, we have to have the content of understanding, and that is that we need to know what it means, that who Jesus is, and what these titles that are surrounding his name So I've given you a few of those to help us then when we get to the place where we're going to talk about Him as Redeemer. Now for the more challenging part, which is the second part of the question and the greater part of the answer, we want to consider the natures of Christ. The first thing we want to do is reference 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. And particularly, we want to begin with the verse. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. Speaking of Jesus, He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in the world. Paul starts there by simply acknowledging something that is true as we begin to think about the two natures of Christ. Great indeed is the mystery of God in us. We will be able to penetrate into the answer some. But we can't go beyond what the scriptures tell us. But we're going to recognize at the outset that there is something mysterious about this. That is to say that the person One person holds two natures. And as we'll see in a moment, one of our own creeds, the definition of Chalcedon, tells us that we cannot do certain things with them. And among them, we can't separate them, nor can we blend them together. So we are left to recognize that one person has two natures, divine and human. The early creeds, especially, as I just mentioned, the definition of Chalcedon, says a couple of things. So it tells us and explains to us this dual nature of one person that the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in his deity, of course, and in his humanity. We also want to recognize that as the second person of the Trinity is incarnated, he is incarnated with a rational soul and a body. In other words, When we think of the human nature that he took on, and we're very careful to say this technically. We're not very careful to say this informally. But we are careful to say that he did not take on human personhood. He took on human nature. And human nature in this case is defined as a body and a soul. So a real body and a rational soul. And he takes that on. His person is his divine person who takes this on. So he retains all the properties of his divinity while at the same time adding or I like to say putting on flesh and a rational soul. And so for his divinity then He is of the same essence as God the Father and God the Spirit, but he and his humanity is like us in all ways, except sin. So he has a rational soul and a body like ours. And so then in terms of two natures, we do not, and here's what the definition of Chalcedon tells us, is that we do not confuse them. We don't transmute one nature into the other. We don't divide them into separate categories. We don't contrast them according to area or function. That is, we treat and understand Christ as one person. So that the distinctiveness of each nature then is not nullified by that union. What we mean by that is to say that even though at times we'll say that we is hungry, which would be towards his human nature, making that distinction from his divine nature does not nullify the union of the person himself. So we have to be very cautious that we don't divide Christ. Everything that he does, he does as one person, not as a schizophrenic. Again, we run up against the air of mystery. So this is how we talk about it. And it would be probably, again, wise for us to be familiar enough with the scriptures so that we may be able to explain it to others. Again, this is the heart of what it is that we believe. He's the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God. So the Old Testament speaks to it. Most of you are familiar enough with Isaiah chapter 9. It speaks forward towards the Incarnation. Or Micah chapter 5, verse 2. Again, both of these we've looked at recently in, you know, it's Christmas and we generally tend to think about these kinds of things. The New Testament speaks to it as well. That is to Christ's divinity. We mentioned Matthew chapter 11, verse 27. We read it this evening in Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1-3. And then, of course, there's a host of other places. But a couple of places that we're very familiar with speak directly to us to tell us that Christ is divine. We recognize that it was necessary for Christ to be divine, for our mediator to be divine. Because our human nature, given over to sin, would not be able to sustain the sacrifice that was needed to make it effectual to the forgiveness of our sins. It would not have been able to endure the sufferings. It couldn't obey. And so our Mediator had to be divine to give worth to the humanity that He took on so that His obedience, His active obedience, that is obeying the law and His passive obedience in sacrifice would be of any worth to us to then even be effectual for mediation in our case. And then this second person of the Trinity takes on flesh. We call this the incarnation. And by doing so, it takes to itself a body and a soul, a reasonable soul. He's conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit into the Virgin Mary, and then he is born. nine months later. And then, of course, there's abundant proof for his humanity. Maybe we can just look at one or two of them. John, chapter 8, verse 40, speaks to his humanity. But now you seek to kill me. a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did." So Jesus is in the middle of this conversation with the Pharisees and debating them about being children of Abraham and so forth. Here he self-references as a man. I'm a man who told you these things. Later on we see in Acts, Peter and a few others, in Acts 2.22 particularly, refers to Jesus as a man. So speaking to his humanity. And then he has all the essential elements of a human nature. We recognize that, among other things, the king should speak to it, that he gets hungry, he gets tired. We recognize, of course, that his flesh comes to an end, that is, it dies. So he's put on the cross, and he is killed on the cross. So we recognize all those things as being part of the essential nature of humanity, particularly the body. So he suffers. He does all of these things, and yet He does them without sin. Of course, it was necessary for Him as mediator to be human. It is necessary because it is humanity who sinned against our Heavenly Father, and that the only thing that would make the sacrifice worth anything would be that a human life was taken. None of us were qualified to do that, and so the second person of the Trinity comes and He takes on that flesh. And then lastly, we will just bring it to a close by saying that these two natures, the human and the divine, are in unity in one person. Christ has a human nature, as I mentioned. He is not a human person. He is divine. And it is the person of the mediator that is the unchangeable Son of God. That is his person, having taken on flesh, and he acts then always in the unity and the similarity of being divine. I'm sorry, in one person. But in its personhood, in its divine nature. And then we'll just end it by saying that it is a mystery, of course, that we cannot fathom completely. Nonetheless, it is important for us to grasp the particulars of it, so that when, among other things, we are either questioned or we are asked to make a reason for our faith, we have something that we can say of substance more than something about just Jesus. Yes, we get it. It's Jesus. But his name and his work is very important, and particularly who he is as the second person of the Trinity to take on flesh is essential to our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. To deny that as a carnal doctrine is to bring faith to a failure that is that we no longer believe. To deny that, or to not understand it, I would say that we need to go back and we need to develop a good and right understanding of who Jesus is in terms of his divine and human natures and his personhood as God. When we pray, we will sing. Heavenly Father, challenging for us, of course, tonight to consider the second person of the Trinity who takes on the flesh. We're grateful that we've received him in your grace and that we've received your mercy through him, that he, our Lord Jesus Christ, has done what we couldn't do, that he has served as mediator for us when we were damned in our trespasses and sins. I pray that you would bolster our faith by helping us to gain and know the particulars, both the scriptures, but also what it is that the second person has taken on flesh. And so I pray that you would bolster us in that way and give us confidence to answer questions of our faith should we be asked those questions. Lord, we thank you again for your grace to us in Him and to ask that you would help us