A series of sermons which is currently underway. Sermons will be added when available.
Series Theme:
This series looks at the doctrines of Scripture while following the outline of the Heidelberg Catechism.
This catechism is divided into 52 Lord’s Days as it was intended for one Catechism Lord’s Day section to be covered each Sunday in the worship of the congregation.
The first question and answer deals with the theme of what is our only comfort in life and death. The answer given centres on the fact of ‘belonging to Christ’. It is this focus that provides the title for this sermon series.
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
Hebrews 7:11–28 (NIV84)
11If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come—one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
12For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law.
13He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.
14For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears,
16one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.
17For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
18The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless
19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
20And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,
21but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’ ”
22Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office;
24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
28For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Text
Hebrews 10:1–18 (NIV84)
1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
7Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”
8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).
9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.
10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
17Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Heidelberg Catechism
Lord’s Day 30
*80 Q. How does the Lord’s Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?
A. The Lord’s Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which He Himself finished on the cross once and for all.1
It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ,2 who with His very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father3 where He wants us to worship Him.4
But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests.
It also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshipped.
Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.
1. John 19:30; Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 25-26; 10:10-18
2. 1 Corinthians 6:17; 10:16-17
3. Acts 7:55-56; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1
4. Matthew 6:20-21; John 4:21-24; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1-3
* Question and answer 80 were altogether absent from the first edition of the catechism but were present in a shorter form in the second edition. The translation here given is of the expanded text of the third edition.
