Theology Matters

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 20 - Questions 39, 40, and 41

Lesson 20: Questions  39, 40, and 41 In our last lesson we considered the saving benefits given to believers, who partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the benefits of salvation (Q35). We then considered justification as God’s gracious pardon in Christ (Q36), adoption as His receiving us as sons (Q37), and sanctification as His work of renewing us after His image (Q38). Now the catechism asks what flows from these blessings in this life, at death, and at the resurrection. Question 39: What benefits do we get now? 17. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? 1. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.   This question gathers up the fruit of justification, adoption, and sanctification, listing 5 benefits:  1. Assurance of God’s love 2. Peace of conscience 3. Joy in the Holy Spirit 4. Increase of grace 5. Perseverance therein to the end   FIRST, believers receive “assurance of God’s love”. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5, ESV) That passage ties assurance to justification. Assurance is not optimism, temperament, or vague religious confidence. It rests on Christ’s finished work, received by faith, and applied by the Spirit. Our feelings rise and fall, but Christ does not. If you are justified in Him, God’s love is not a fragile possibility, but a covenant reality.   SECOND, believers receive “peace of conscience”. Since God has pardoned (justification) and accepted (adoption) us in Christ, conscience may still convict us, but it cannot condemn those whom God has justified. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17, ESV) We have peace with God through justification (Romans 5:1). Therefore, peace of conscience comes because righteousness has been given as a gift. It does not come from pretending sin is small. It comes from seeing that Christ is sufficient. Tender consciences may ask, “How can I have peace when I still see so much sin in me?” The answer is not, “Look less seriously at sin”, but, “Look more steadily at Christ”. Peace comes from seeing that Christ has satisfied divine justice and that His righteousness is counted to the believer.THIRD, believers receive “joy in the Holy Spirit”. As cited above, Romans 5:5 says that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Christian joy is not mere cheerfulness. It is the Spirit-given delight of knowing God’s love in Christ, even amid sorrow and suffering, because suffering is no longer under wrath, but under the Father’s wise government. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15-17, ESV) The Holy Spirit teaches the adopted to approach God as children received in the Son.   FOURTH, believers receive “increase of grace”. Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” Sanctification is not instant perfection, but neither is it stagnation. Grace grows. This guards us from both perfectionism and defeatism. We should not expect sinless maturity in this life, but neither should we expect no real progress. The Christian life is renewal, more and more, after the image of God. So we should ask: * Am I growing? * Do I repent when confronted by my sin? * Am I quicker to forgive when sinned against? * Do I watch against sin in my life? * Am I seeking conformity to Christ?    Growth may be slow, but it is real.    FIFTH, believers receive “perseverance therein to the end”.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13, ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5, ESV) And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6, ESV) Notice both sides. The inheritance is kept for us, and we are guarded by God’s power through faith. God began a good work in us when He saved us — through our effectual calling, justification, and adoption — and will faithfully and diligently complete that work through sanctification unto glorification (more on that in the next question). Believers persevere because God preserves. Warnings, discipline, preaching, prayer, and fellowship are real means, but our final safety rests on God’s power, not ours. Question 40: What benefits do we get at death? 17. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death? 1. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.   This question matters because every one of us will face death unless the Lord returns first. We will bury people we love and others may one day bury us. So the catechism does not pretend death is harmless. Death entered through sin. Death tears soul from body. Death brings grief. Scripture calls death an enemy. But for the believer, death is a conquered enemy.   FIRST, “the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness”.  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24, ESV) That phrase, “the spirits of the righteous made perfect”, is what the catechism has in view. At death, the believer’s soul is “made perfect in holiness”. Sanctification is completed with respect to the soul. No more indwelling sin, unbelief, pride, disordered desires, or coldness toward God.   SECOND, believers “do immediately pass into glory”.  For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8, ESV) That is immediate comfort. To be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. There is no soul-sleep here. There is no purgatory. There is no uncertain waiting room of purification. Christ has purified His people by His blood, and at death their souls immediately pass into glory. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (Philippians 1:21-23, ESV) Paul says that to die is gain because death brings the believer to Christ. He does not describe death as nothingness for a while. He says that to depart and be with Christ is far better. The believer’s hope at death is not vague spirituality. It is personal communion with Christ. Luke 23:43 gives the same comfort. Jesus tells the repentant thief, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Not eventually. Not after purgatorial cleansing. Today, and with Christ Himself. This is why I have said that — for the Christian — death can be a friend. The Scriptures identify death as an enemy and death IS an enemy, the last enemy, and a defeated enemy, but under God’s sovereign hand, death brings the believer into the presence of God. Therefore, our enemy death also serves us.THIRD, believers’ bodies “do rest in the grave till the resurrection.” This is wonderfully careful. The soul immediately passes into glory, but the body is not abandoned. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, ESV) Paul calls dead believers “those who have fallen asleep”, not because their souls are unconscious, but because their bodies rest in hope. Isaiah 57:1-2 says that “the righteous man is taken away from calamity; he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.” The grave is bodily rest, not punishment, for the believer. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27, ESV) Job expects personal, embodied vindication before God. The grave will not have the last word. Question 41: What benefits do we get at the resurrection? 17. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? 1. At the resurrection believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged, and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed, both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity.   Question 40 brings us to death; Question 41 beyond death to resurrection. The Christian hope is not finally escape from the body. Christ made us, redeemed us, and will glorify us body and soul.   FIRST, believers will be “raised up in glory”.  So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, ESV) This does not mean we receive a different body. Paul’s language of sowing and raising preserves continuity: the same body is raised, but transformed, glorified, and conformed to Christ’s. Christianity is not embarrassed by the body. The body is created by Christ, assumed by Christ, redeemed by Christ, indwelled by the Spirit, and destined for resurrection.   SECOND, believers “shall be openly acknowledged, and acquitted in the day of judgment”.  So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33, ESV) His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:21-23, ESV, emphasis added) Believers may be despised in this life. They may be mocked, persecuted, forgotten, or treated as insignificant. Most saints live quiet lives that never receive public honor. But at the resurrection and judgment, Christ will openly acknowledge His people. He will not be ashamed of them. The catechism also says believers will be “acquitted in the day of judgment”. This does not mean we are justified for the first time at the last day. The justification already possessed in Christ will be publicly manifested and vindicated before all. That should give sobriety, but not terror. The One Who judges is the One Who died, rose, and intercedes for us. The last day will not reverse the gospel for believers. It will reveal it.   THIRD, believers will be “made perfectly blessed, both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God”. This is the summit: not a return to ordinary earthly life, but perfect communion with God, body and soul united and glorified to live in the very presence of our God. 1 John 3:2 says that “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” There is the blessed hope: likeness to Christ and sight of Christ. We shall see Him as He is. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV) The present Christian life is real, but partial. We truly know God, but not yet as we will. We truly love Christ, but not yet as we will. The resurrection brings the fullness.   FOURTH, this blessedness is “to all eternity”.  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, ESV) That is the final comfort: “we will always be with the Lord.”  No more death, separation, sin, curse, weak bodies, dim sight, or interrupted communion.  The great blessing is God Himself. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3, ESV) Conclusion Questions 39, 40, and 41 give us a beautiful progression: what believers receive in this life, at death, and at the resurrection. In this life, grace bears fruit in assurance, peace, joy, growth, and perseverance. At death, the soul is made perfect in holiness and immediately passes into glory, while the body rests in the grave, still united to Christ. At the resurrection, believers are raised in glory, openly acknowledged and acquitted, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God forever. So take this lesson with you this week in two ways: * FIRST, we should believe differently. We should stop thinking of salvation as a thin future hope and see it as Christ’s full provision for life, death, judgment, and eternity. Christ does not merely forgive and then leave us anxious, unchanged, or insecure. He gives assurance now, receives us at death, and raises us to glory at the resurrection. * SECOND, we should live differently. We should pursue assurance by looking to Christ, fight sin as those who expect increase of grace, face death without pretending it is harmless, and comfort one another with resurrection hope. We can face life, death, judgment, and eternity because Christ is sufficient for all of it.

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 19 - Questions 35, 36, 37, and 38

Lesson 19: Questions  35, 36, 37, and 38 In our last lesson we considered how the Holy Spirit applies the redemption purchased by Christ. We saw that we are made partakers of Christ’s redemption by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit (Q32), that the Spirit applies redemption by working faith in us and uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Q33), and that effectual calling is the Spirit’s work of convincing, enlightening, renewing, persuading, and enabling sinners to embrace Christ freely offered in the gospel (Q34). Now we look at what benefits belong to those who have been effectually called. Question 35: What benefits belong to believers? 17. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life? 1. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.   This question is a doorway into the riches of salvation. Once the Spirit has effectually called us, worked faith in us, and united us to Christ, we receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and the benefits that accompany or flow from them. Notice the phrase “in this life”. The catechism will later speak of the benefits believers receive at death and at the resurrection, but here it teaches that salvation is not only future. We are not yet glorified, but already, in Christ, we are justified, adopted, and sanctified. Romans 8:29-30 gives us the golden chain of God’s saving purpose:  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Paul does not treat predestination, calling, justification, and glorification as uncertain possibilities. Those whom God predestines, He effectually calls. Those whom He calls, He justifies. The call reaches its saving end because it is the call of God’s grace and power. Ephesians 1:5 says that God “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”. Adoption is not an afterthought. It belongs to God’s eternal purpose in Christ. God did not merely intend to pardon criminals while keeping them at a distance. He purposed to receive pardoned sinners as sons. Then 1 Corinthians 1:30 gathers the whole matter into Christ Himself: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. Every saving benefit comes to us in Christ. We do not receive justification over here, adoption over there, and sanctification somewhere else, as isolated gifts detached from the Savior. We receive Christ, and in Christ we receive all His benefits. That is why Question 35 belongs immediately after effectual calling, in which the Spirit unites us to Christ, in Whom we partake of what belongs to Him as our Mediator: righteousness in justification, sonship in adoption, and renewal in sanctification. The benefits flow from union with Christ and only from union with Christ. This should keep us from shrinking salvation. Salvation is not only forgiveness, nor only moral transformation, nor only a changed identity. The catechism is more balanced and more biblical: the effectually called receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and all accompanying blessings. So Question 35 gives us the map. The next questions begin to unfold the territory. What is justification? What is adoption? What is sanctification? We need all three. Guilty sinners need pardon and righteousness. Orphans need to be received as sons. Corrupt sinners need to be renewed in holiness. Christ gives to His people the whole salvation that they need.Question 36: What is justification? 17. What is justification? 1. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.   Justification is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. If we misunderstand justification, we will misunderstand the gospel. The catechism defines it carefully. It is “an act of God’s free grace”. That means justification is not a process by which we slowly become acceptable to God. It is God’s act as Judge, declaring the sinner righteous in His sight on account of Christ. …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:23-25, ESV) Justification is free to us, but it is not cheap. It is by grace as a gift, but it comes through redemption in Christ Jesus and through His propitiating blood. God justifies sinners without compromising His justice, because Christ has satisfied divine justice. The catechism says that in justification God “pardoneth all our sins”. Romans 4:6-8 says,  just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Justification includes real pardon. The believer’s sins are not ignored, minimized, or excused. They are forgiven because Christ bore them. But justification is more than pardon. The catechism also says God “accepteth us as righteous in his sight”. That matters because forgiveness alone would not answer the whole problem. We do not merely need our sins removed. We need a righteous standing before God.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, ESV) So in justification, our sins are not counted against us, and Christ’s righteousness is counted to us. That is why the catechism says this happens “only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us”. Romans 5:17-19 contrasts Adam and Christ.  For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The catechism’s word “imputed” is essential. It means counted or reckoned. Justification is not God pretending we are righteous, nor waiting until we become righteous enough in ourselves. It is God counting Christ’s righteousness to us, crediting His representative obedience to believers.Finally, the catechism says this righteousness is “received by faith alone”.  …yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16, ESV) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11, ESV, emphasis added) Faith does not earn justification. Faith receives Christ. It is an empty hand, not a price paid. The ground of justification is Christ’s righteousness. The instrument is faith alone. This should humble and steady us. If you are justified, you are not more justified on your best day and less justified on your worst day. Your standing rests on Christ, not on the shifting quality of your obedience. That does not make obedience unimportant. It makes obedience grateful rather than desperate. The justified sinner obeys not to create peace with God, but because peace has already been made through Christ. Question 37: What is adoption? 17. What is adoption? 1. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.   If justification brings us into the courtroom, adoption brings us into the household. God not only pardons and accepts us as righteous in Christ; He receives us as children. Adoption, like justification, is “an act of God’s free grace”. It is not earned by our worthiness, but granted freely in Christ. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” John does not present adoption as a small thing. He calls us to behold it. “See what kind of love”. That is the language of wonder. The holy God does not merely acquit guilty sinners. He calls them His children. The catechism says that in adoption we are “received into the number” of the sons of God. Adoption brings us into a family, not a private spiritual arrangement between isolated individuals and God. We belong with all those who call upon the same Father through the same Son by the same Spirit. John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. This right does not come by nature. We are not children of God simply because we are creatures. We become children of God by grace, through receiving Christ and believing in His name. Adoption is a privilege given in union with the Son. Romans 8:14-17 opens this further.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Adoption changes how we approach God. We do not come as slaves terrified of rejection, but as children taught by the Spirit to cry, “Abba! Father!” The catechism also says we have “a right to all the privileges of the sons of God”. Romans 8:17 says,  “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ”. That is almost too much to take in. The adopted are heirs. We share, by grace, in the inheritance of Christ. Not because we are naturally worthy, but because God has united us to His Son and received us in Him. This doctrine has deep pastoral sweetness. Many Christians know how to think of God as Judge, and it is right that we do. But believers must also learn to think of God as Father. Not indulgent, not soft toward sin, not like fallen earthly fathers, but holy, loving, wise, and faithful. Adoption means you are not merely tolerated in the house. You are received. This should also shape how we live. If God is our Father, then we should not live like spiritual orphans. We should not be driven by fear, envy, or the need to prove ourselves. We should live as children: trusting the Father’s care, receiving the Father’s discipline, bearing the family likeness (this is sanctification; see the next question), and loving the brothers and sisters He has given us. Question 38: What is sanctification? 17. What is sanctification? 1. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.   Sanctification is closely related to justification and adoption, but it must be distinguished from them. Justification and adoption are acts of God’s free grace; sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace”. In justification, God declares us righteous in Christ. In adoption, God receives us as sons through Christ. In sanctification, God progressively renews us in holiness according to Christ’s image. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul says, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Sanctification is not optional. It belongs to salvation. The same Spirit Who calls us and unites us to Christ also sanctifies us. Grace changes the sinner. The catechism says sanctification renews us “in the whole man after the image of God”. Ephesians 4:23-24 says we are “to be renewed in the spirit of [our] minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Sanctification is not superficial behavior management. It reaches the whole person: mind, will, affections, speech, habits, desires, physical body, and conduct. This renewal is “after the likeness of God”. Sin ruins us; grace restores us. The goal of sanctification is not mere respectability, discipline, or religious appearance, but likeness to God in true righteousness and holiness. God is making His children resemble their Father. The catechism then says we are enabled “more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness”. Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Union with Christ means union with His death and resurrection. His people are brought into a new life. Romans 6:6 adds, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Sin is no longer our master. Believers still battle sin, even painfully, but they are no longer its slaves. Christ has broken sin’s reigning power. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That verse is precious in relation to sanctification. The fight against sin does not begin under condemnation. It begins in Christ, free from condemnation. We do not pursue holiness in order to become justified. We pursue holiness because we are justified, adopted, and united to Christ. This protects us from two errors.  First, we must not confuse sanctification with justification. We grow in holiness, but it is not the ground of our acceptance with God. Christ is.  Second, we must not separate sanctification from justification. God sanctifies whom He justifies. Grace pardons and renews. Again, God makes His children resemble Him. The phrase “more and more” is also pastorally wise. Sanctification is real, but ordinarily progressive. Christians should expect growth, not instant perfection. We should not excuse sin, but neither should we despair because the battle continues. The same God Who pardoned and received us also renews us after His image and enables us to fight sin and walk in new obedience. Conclusion Questions 35 through 38 show us the richness of the salvation given to those who are effectually called. The Spirit does not unite us to Christ and leave us empty-handed.  * Question 35 teaches that in this life, believers partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the benefits that accompany or flow from them. * Question 36 teaches that in justification God pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.  * Question 37 teaches that in adoption God receives us into the number and gives us a right to all the privileges of His children.  * Question 38 teaches that in sanctification God renews us in the whole man after His image and enables us more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.  Taken together, these benefits answer our need beautifully. As guilty sinners, we need justification. As alienated orphans, we need adoption. As corrupted sinners, we need sanctification. Christ supplies all three. There is no deficiency in His salvation.   So take this lesson with you this week in two ways.   * FIRST, let it shape what you believe. If you are in Christ, God has: * Justified you, accepting you as righteous * Adopted you as His child * Begun the work of sanctification to renew you in holiness.    Do not reduce salvation to one benefit only.  Receive the fullness of what God gives in Christ.   * SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do.  * In guilt, rest in justification.  * In fear, remember your adoption.  * In the fight against sin, depend on sanctifying grace.    Do not obey in order to become accepted.  Obey because in Christ you already are accepted, loved, and being renewed.   You are justified in Christ.  You are adopted through Christ.  You are being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ.    And all of it is God’s free grace.

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 18 - Questions 32, 33, and 34

Lesson 18: Questions  32, 33, and 34 In our last lesson we considered Christ’s humiliation and exaltation. He humbled Himself in His low birth, His life under the law, His sufferings, His bearing the wrath of God, His cursed death, His burial, and His remaining under the power of death for a time (Q30). Then He was exalted in His resurrection, ascension, sitting at the Father’s right hand, and future coming to judge the world (Q31). Now the catechism turns from redemption accomplished by Christ to redemption applied to us by the Holy Spirit. Question 32: How are we redeemed? 17. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ? 1. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.   This question is necessary. Christ has purchased redemption. He has obeyed, suffered, died, risen, ascended, and reigns. But how does that redemption become ours? How are sinners made partakers of what Christ has accomplished? The catechism answers: “by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit”. That means salvation is not only planned by the Father and purchased by the Son; it is also applied by the Spirit. The work of Christ is not left suspended in history as a bare possibility, waiting for spiritually dead sinners to activate it by their own native power. The Holy Spirit effectually applies what Christ purchased. That word “partakers” matters. The catechism does not ask merely how we hear about redemption, admire redemption, or understand redemption outwardly. It asks how we partake of it. In other words, how do we come into actual possession of Christ and His benefits? John 1:11-12 says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” That passage holds two truths together.  First, fallen man does not naturally receive Christ. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. The problem is not that Christ lacks glory, but that sinners are blind, proud, and unwilling apart from grace. We see this as we look at Acts 17 and Romans 8: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31, ESV) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8, ESV, emphasis mine) Second, those who do receive Him, those who believe in His name, are given the right to become children of God. Receiving Christ and believing in His name are not empty religious gestures. They are God’s appointed means by which sinners come into the privileges of salvation. But John does not allow us to think that this receiving arises from unaided human strength. John 1:13 says that these children of God “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” We truly receive Christ. We truly believe. But the new birth behind that believing is of God. Titus 3:4-6 teaches the same truth: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior… (Titus 3:4-6, ESV) The Spirit does not bring us another salvation. He applies the salvation purchased by Christ. He does not compete with Christ. He brings us to Christ and makes us partakers of Christ. This is why the catechism uses the word “effectual”. The Spirit’s saving application actually accomplishes what God intends. It is not a weak influence that may or may not succeed. It is not mere external persuasion. It is not a theoretical salvation awaiting a human decision. It is the powerful work of God by which the redeemed are brought to receive the Redeemer. This should keep us from two errors. On one side, we must not think of Christ’s redemption as accomplished but uncertain in its application. Christ did not purchase a salvation that may finally fail to save His people. No, Christ saves His people. On the other side, we must not detach the Spirit’s work from Christ’s finished work. The Spirit applies redemption purchased by Christ. The foundation is Christ’s blood and righteousness. The application is the Spirit’s gracious and powerful work. In this we see the Trinitarian nature of the Gospel: * The Father elected a people and sent the Son to redeem them. * The Son purchased full redemption through perfect execution of the three offices in His humiliation, ascending to the Father in His exaltation in order to send the Spirit. * The Spirit applies to the elect the redemption that the Son purchased, uniting them to Christ and bringing to glory the very people whom God elected to save. If you could lose your salvation, you would, but you cannot, for it is all of God from start to finish. Question 33: How is redemption applied? 17. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? 1. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.   Question 32 told us that the Holy Spirit effectually applies Christ’s redemption to us. Question 33 now asks how He does that. The answer is wonderfully precise: “by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.” First, the Spirit applies redemption “by working faith in us”. Faith is not a natural power fallen man already possesses in himself. Faith is something the Spirit works in us. That does not make faith fake. We really believe. We really receive Christ. We really trust Him. But even that believing is the fruit of grace. It is a gift.  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”. Salvation is by grace through faith, and the whole arrangement is gift. Faith is not a meritorious work that earns salvation. Faith is the empty hand receiving Christ. It is the means by which we receive Him, not the ground on which God accepts us. Christ saves. Faith receives Him. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Notice the order. They heard the word of truth. They believed in Christ. They were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not an optional addition to the Christian life. He is the seal and guarantee of the inheritance. John 6:37 says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” That is one of the strongest comforts in Scripture. All whom the Father gives to the Son will come to the Son. And all who come to Christ will never be cast out. The sinner’s coming is real, but it is grounded in the Father’s giving and secured by the Son’s welcome. John 6:39 adds, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” Christ does not merely make salvation possible and then hope His people endure. He saves His people. He loses none of them. He will raise all of them on the last day. Second, the Spirit applies redemption by “uniting us to Christ”. This is crucial. There is no salvation for those detached from Christ. We are saved by being joined to Christ Himself. Christ is not merely the supplier of salvation, as though He hands us forgiveness, righteousness, life, and hope while remaining separate from us. No, the Spirit unites us to Christ, for only in union with Christ are we saved. Ephesians 3:17 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”. Faith is not bare agreement with facts (though the content of our faith is critical; belief in a false gospel cannot save). Rather, faith is the Spirit-worked bond by which we receive and rest upon Christ. Through faith, Christ dwells in His people and we abide in Him. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Salvation brings us into communion with Christ. God does not merely call us into moral improvement, religious activity, or doctrinal awareness. He calls us into fellowship with His Son. This guards us from thinking mechanically about salvation. We are not saved by association with the church, exposure to preaching, knowledge of doctrine, or outward morality. These are important fruits, but the root of our salvation is Christ’s work of redemption, applied to us by the Spirit working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ. And this happens “in our effectual calling”. The gospel call is preached outwardly: repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But in effectual calling, the Spirit works inwardly so that the sinner truly comes. He works faith. He unites to Christ. He brings the sinner into fellowship with the Son. This should make us humble. If you believe in Christ, Who worked that faith in you? The Holy Spirit did. If you are united to Christ, Who joined you to Him? The Holy Spirit did. Our salvation is the gracious work of God’s Spirit applying the redemption purchased by Christ. Question 34: What is effectual calling? 17. What is effectual calling? 1. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.   Now the catechism defines the phrase it has just used. What is effectual calling? The answer is one of the most pastorally helpful definitions in the catechism. It shows us what the Spirit does in bringing sinners to Christ. He convinces, enlightens, renews, persuades, and enables. First, effectual calling is “the work of God’s Spirit”. 2 Timothy 1:9 says God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”. This call is not rooted in our works, but in God’s purpose, grace, and timing. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 says, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These truths belong together. God (the Father) chose. The Spirit sanctifies. The sinner believes the truth. God calls through the gospel. The goal is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second, the Spirit convinces us “of our sin and misery”. Acts 2:37 gives a vivid example: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” That is the Spirit’s work, not flattering sinners, but convicting them of sin and misery. This conviction is mercy. It may feel painful, but it is kindness. A sinner who does not know his guilt and misery will not flee to Christ. The Spirit wounds in order to heal. He exposes sin so that sinners will stop hiding, stop excusing, and stop pretending. Third, the Spirit enlightens “our minds in the knowledge of Christ”. Acts 26:18 says that Paul was sent “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Jesus].” Fallen sinners are not merely guilty. They are darkened. They may know religious vocabulary, but unless the Spirit opens the eyes, they do not behold Christ savingly.  This enlightening is not new revelation beyond Scripture. It is the Spirit enabling us to see the truth of Christ in Scripture. He opens the mind to understand that Christ is not merely a teacher, not merely an example, but the only Redeemer of God’s elect, freely offered to sinners.Fourth, the Spirit renews “our wills”. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” That is not mere advice. That is transformation. Fallen man’s problem is not that he has a good will but bad information. His will is bound by sin. Therefore, the Spirit renews the will. He does not drag sinners to Christ while they remain hostile. He changes the heart so that Christ becomes desirable. He makes the unwilling willing. Finally, the Spirit persuades and enables us “to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel”. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” That is inability stated plainly. But John 6:45 adds, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me”. That is effectiveness stated plainly. Those taught by God come to Christ. Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God works not only in outward circumstances, but in the will itself. Effectual calling does not destroy the human will. It renews it. The sinner comes freely, for God has made him willing by grace. We should not miss the sweetness of the phrase “freely offered to us in the gospel”. Effectual calling does not make the gospel offer less free. It explains how sinners come to embrace that free offer. Christ is freely offered. Sinners are truly invited. The command to repent and believe is sincere. The promise is real: all who come to Christ will be received; none who repent and believe are rejected. So if you have embraced Christ, give thanks, for the Holy Spirit convicted, enlightened, renewed, persuaded, and enabled you to embrace Jesus Christ. If you have not embraced Christ, He is freely offered to you in the gospel. Come to Him. Conclusion Questions 32, 33, and 34 move us from redemption accomplished to redemption applied. Christ purchased redemption, but we are made partakers of it only by the effectual application of it to us by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit applies what Christ purchased.  * Q32 teaches that redemption must be applied.  * Q33 teaches that the Spirit does so by faith, which unites us to Christ in effectual calling.  * Q34 teaches that effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit:  * convincing us of sin and misery * enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ * renewing our wills * persuading and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel So take this lesson with you this week in two ways. FIRST, let it shape what you believe: redemption must not only be decreed by the Father and accomplished by Christ, but applied by the Holy Spirit. If you are in Christ, you are there because the Spirit brought you to Him. Your faith is not a boast. Your union with Christ is not self-created. Your calling is not because of your works, but because of God’s purpose and grace. SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do. * When you pray, ask God to do what only God can do. Ask Him to open blind eyes, soften hard hearts, awaken dead sinners, and make Christ beautiful to those who now resist Him. Pray this for your children, your spouse, your neighbors, and yourself. * When you evangelize, speak with confidence. Do not manipulate, flatter, or hide the hard truths of sin, judgment, repentance, and grace. Offer Christ freely, knowing the Spirit is able to make the outward call effectual.   The Father elected to redeem a people. The Son redeemed that people. The Spirit applies redemption to that people. And it is all of grace.

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 17 - Questions 30 and 31

Lesson 17: Questions  30 and 31 In our last lesson we considered how Christ executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King for His people. As Prophet, He reveals to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation (Q27). As Priest, He offers Himself once for all and ever lives to intercede (Q28). As King, He subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all His and our enemies (Q29). Now the catechism turns from the offices to the two estates in which He executes them: His humiliation and His exaltation. Question 30: What was Christ’s humiliation? 17. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? 1. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.   This question asks us to consider the depth of Christ’s descent. The eternal Son of God did not merely appear among us in glory, nor did He come as a heavenly visitor untouched by our condition. He humbled Himself. He entered our world, our weakness, our misery, our law-obligation, our suffering, our death, and our grave. His humiliation is the path by which the Lord of glory stooped to save His people. The catechism begins by saying that Christ’s humiliation consisted “in his being born, and that in a low condition”. Luke 2:7 says, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger”. That is astonishing. The One through Whom all things were made was laid in a feeding trough. The eternal Son did not enter the world surrounded by earthly splendor. He was born without riches, in obscurity and weakness. That low condition matters. Christ did not merely become man in some abstract sense. He took the form of a servant. He came down into the ordinary hardships of human life. He was not born in Caesar’s palace, but in Bethlehem. He was not laid on a royal bed, but in a manger. From the beginning, His humiliation was visible. The King came humble and lowly. The catechism then says He was “made under the law”. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law”. That phrase is full of gospel. Christ did not come as One exempt from obedience. He placed Himself under the very Law His people had broken. He was born under its commands, under its obligations, and under its curse-bearing demands as the Surety of His people. This means Christ’s obedience was not decorative. He did not merely show us what righteousness looks like from a distance. He obeyed in our nature, in our place, under God’s Law. Where Adam disobeyed, Christ obeyed. Where Israel failed, Christ succeeded. Where we sin every day, Christ obeyed perfectly before the Father. His humiliation includes not only what He suffered, but the entire life of obedience He lived from His birth in Bethlehem to His death on the cross. The catechism also says that Christ underwent “the miseries of this life”. Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us to “[look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself”. Christ knew the weariness of a fallen world. He knew hunger, sorrow, hatred, loneliness, temptation, opposition, misunderstanding, and grief. He was not insulated from misery. Isaiah 53:2-3 gives us this portrait plainly: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” That is not sentimental language. It tells us that the promised Servant would be familiar with sorrow. He would not merely observe grief from heaven. He would know it by experience. This should comfort suffering Christians. Our Savior is not distant from our afflictions. He knows what it is to live in this groaning world. He knows what it is to be despised, misunderstood, opposed, and sorrowful. Yet His suffering was never meaningless, never faithless, never sinful. He endured the miseries of this life in perfect trust, love, and obedience. But the catechism goes deeper still. Christ’s humiliation consisted in undergoing “the wrath of God”. Here we come to holy ground. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” In Gethsemane, Christ was not merely nervous about physical pain. He was facing the cup the Father had given Him. He was facing judgment, wrath, and curse in the place of His people. The agony of Gethsemane is the agony of the obedient Son willingly receiving the cup appointed by the Father for the salvation of His elect. Matthew 27:46 brings us to the cry of the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We should speak carefully here. Christ is citing Psalm 22, a psalm that moves from suffering to vindication, from anguish to victory, from the mockery of enemies to the praise of God among the congregation. This cry is not confusion, unbelief, or a rupture within the Trinity. The Father did not turn His face away from the Son. The Son did not cease to trust the Father. The Spirit did not cease to uphold the incarnate Christ in His obedience. Yet the Son, as Mediator, truly bore the judgment due to His people. He endured the wrath of God against sin, not as a private person separated from the Father’s love, but as the willing Surety of His people, offering Himself in perfect obedience. He stood where guilty sinners deserved to stand, bearing the curse so that we might receive blessing. This is why the cross cannot be reduced to moral example, political martyrdom, or inspiring sacrifice. It is substitution. Christ bore wrath. He satisfied divine justice. He gave Himself for sinners under the judgment of God. If we soften this, we lose the heart of the gospel. The catechism then says He suffered “the cursed death of the cross”. Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The cross was not only painful. It was humiliating and cursed. Christ did not die an honorable death in the eyes of men. He was publicly exposed, mocked, condemned, and crucified. And yet, in that cursed death, our blessing was secured. The obedient One went all the way. He did not stop short of the finish line, short of death, or short of the cross. The Son of God humbled Himself to the lowest place so that guilty sinners might be lifted up in Him. The catechism also includes His burial. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”. His burial matters because it confirms the reality of His death. Christ did not faint. He did not appear to die. He truly died, and His body was laid in the tomb. Finally, the catechism says He continued “under the power of death for a time.” Matthew 12:40 says, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Acts 2:24 says, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Peter then cites Psalm 16, including the promise, “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 2:27), and explains that David “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:31). So Christ truly came under death’s power, but only for a time. Death held Him truly, but not finally. The grave received Him, but could not keep Him. His humiliation went all the way down to burial and the state of death, but death could not claim Him as its rightful prisoner. He had no sin of His own. He bore ours by appointment and covenant mercy. So in His humiliation Christ went down into our need, entered the depths of our misery, and humbled Himself for us and for our salvation. Note the past tense for all discussions of Christ’s humiliation. It happened, but is over.Question 31: What is Christ’s exaltation? 17. Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation? 1. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.   Question 30 takes us down into the depths of Christ’s humiliation. Question 31 lifts our eyes to the glory of His exaltation. The same Christ Who humbled Himself has been raised, ascended, enthroned, and appointed Judge of all. His humiliation was not defeat. His suffering was not failure. His death was not the end. The Father vindicated the Son; the crucified Redeemer now lives and reigns. The catechism begins with His resurrection: “in his rising again from the dead on the third day”. 1 Corinthians 15:4 says that “he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”. The resurrection is not an appendix to the gospel. It is central to it. The Christ Who died for our sins was raised. The One Who entered death came out of death victorious. This matters because the resurrection is God’s public declaration that Christ’s work was accepted. If Christ had remained in the grave, we would have no gospel. A dead redeemer cannot save. But Christ is not dead. He has been raised. Death did not conquer Him. Sin did not have the final word. The curse did not consume Him. The grave did not keep Him. The resurrection also means that Christ’s people have a living Savior. We do not merely remember a heroic teacher from the past. We belong to the risen Lord. He is alive now. His prophetic word still addresses His church. His priesthood continues. His kingship is active. The resurrection means that all His saving work is living, effectual, and secure. The catechism then says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in ascending up into heaven”. The catechism cites Mark 16:19, but I am choosing to cite Acts 1:9 instead: “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” We should not pass over the ascension too quickly. It is one of the great events of Christ’s exaltation. The risen Christ did not merely come back from the dead and remain on earth. He ascended to the Father. The ascension tells us that Christ’s earthly humiliation is finished. The days of weakness, rejection, suffering, and visible lowliness are over. He has gone into heaven as the victorious God-man. Our nature is now represented in glory. The Son Who took a true body and a reasonable soul (Q25) did not lay aside His humanity when He ascended. He remains God and man in one person forever, and as the incarnate Mediator He has entered heaven for us. Our Redeemer is not absent in the sense of being inactive or far away in indifference. He is ascended in triumph. He is present with His church by His Word and Spirit, and He represents His people in heaven. We have a Man in glory. We have a Brother at the Father’s right hand. We have a Redeemer Who has gone ahead of us. The catechism then says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in sitting at the right hand of God the Father”. Ephesians 1:20 says that God “raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places”. This is royal language. Christ is not waiting to become King. He is enthroned. He sits at the right hand of the Father, the place of highest honor, authority, and rule. This does not mean the Son was ever less than divine. According to His divine nature, He always possessed all glory, majesty, and authority. But as the incarnate Mediator, having accomplished redemption, He is exalted. The One Who humbled Himself is now openly enthroned. The One men mocked as king now reigns as King indeed. This is why Christians should not speak as though history is out of control. We do not yet see every enemy finally subdued, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. He rules now. His kingdom is not fragile. His enemies are not equal rivals. The nations will rage, the church will suffer, and believers will feel weak, but Christ sits at the right hand of God. His rule also comforts us because the seated Christ is our Priest-King. He reigns and intercedes. He now lives in glory. His sitting does not mean idleness. It means His sacrificial work is complete, His authority is established, and His saving ministry continues from heaven. Finally, the catechism says that Christ’s exaltation consists “in coming to judge the world at the last day”. Acts 1:11 says, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” The ascended Christ will return. His exaltation is not only past and present; it also has a future public display. The One Who went up will come again. Acts 17:31 says that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” The risen Christ is the appointed Judge. The Man Who was judged by men will judge all men. The One condemned unjustly will judge righteously. This is both sobering and comforting.  It is sobering because no one will escape His judgment. History is moving toward a fixed day. Nothing will successfully oppose Christ. Every person will answer to Him. But it is also comforting because the Judge is righteous. The world is full of injustice, confusion, cruelty, and hidden evil. Many wrongs are never made right in this life. Many faithful saints suffer quietly. Many wicked men appear to prosper. But Christ will judge the world in righteousness. Nothing will be hidden. Nothing will be crooked. Nothing will be overlooked. No sin goes unpunished. For believers, the coming judgment should not produce terror as it does for those outside Christ. Our Judge is our Redeemer. The One Who will come to judge the living and the dead is the same One Who bore wrath for His people, rose for their justification, ascended for their good, and reigns for their preservation. We do not await a stranger. We await Christ. Christ was not merely humble, but is also exalted. He descended for our salvation, and He has been raised in glory. He lives, reigns, intercedes, and will come again. Conclusion Questions 30 and 31 belong together. If we separate them, we will distort the work of Christ. Question 30 teaches us the depth of His humiliation. Question 31 teaches us the height of His exaltation.  He went down into lowliness, obedience, misery, wrath, the cross, burial, and death.  He rose, ascended, sat down at the Father’s right hand, and will come again to judge the world. Taken together, these questions show us the whole movement of Christ’s saving work. He humbled Himself because He was merciful. He is exalted because His suffering work was finished, accepted, and victorious. So take this lesson with you this week in two ways: * FIRST, let it shape what you believe: Christ’s humiliation was real, necessary, and saving. He truly entered our condition. He obeyed under the law, suffered the miseries of this life, bore the wrath of God, died the cursed death of the cross, was buried, and remained under death for a time. Do not think lightly of what your salvation cost. And believe that Christ’s exaltation is real, present, and certain. He has risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven. He sits at the right hand of God the Father. He will come again to judge the world in righteousness. Do not live as though Christ were still in the grave or absent from the throne. * SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do. In your guilt, look to the crucified Christ for atonement. In your weakness, look to the risen Christ for strength. In your doubt, look to the ascended Christ for certainty. In your fear, look to the reigning Christ for stability. In the face of injustice, suffering, and death, look to the returning Christ for justice. Humble yourself under the One Who humbled Himself for you. Lift up your head because the humbled Christ is now exalted.  And live in obedience to God’s Law this week as one whose Savior has gone down into death, come up in victory, and now reigns until every enemy is placed beneath His feet.

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 16 - Questions 27, 28, and 29

Lesson 16: Questions 27, 28, and 29  In our last lesson we considered the threefold office of Christ as our Redeemer. We saw that He executeth the offices of a Prophet, of a Priest, and of a King, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation (Q26). That answer gave us the frame. These three questions now fill in the substance. They show us how Christ carries out each office for the salvation, preservation, and good of His people, and they also help us see why every Christian home must look to Him as the source and standard of all faithful leadership. Question 27: How is Christ a prophet? 17. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet? 1. Christ executeth the office of prophet in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.   Christ is our Prophet because He reveals. He does not merely offer wise religious reflections, moral advice, or elevated spiritual sentiment. He reveals “to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.” That is necessary because fallen man is not only guilty before God. He is also blind. Left to ourselves, we do not know God savingly, nor do we discover the way of peace on our own. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” That is the prophetic office in its highest form. Christ does not guess at God. He does not speak from a distance. He comes from the Father and makes the Father known. The prophets of old were true servants and messengers, but Christ is more than a servant. He is the eternal Son. He knows the Father perfectly and therefore reveals Him perfectly. This is why Christ is not merely one prophet among many. He is the great and final Prophet to Whom all the others pointed. 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us that the prophets searched and inquired carefully concerning the salvation that was to come, and that it was “the Spirit of Christ in them” Who was indicating the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Even before the incarnation, Christ was speaking. The prophetic ministry of the Old Covenant was already dependent on Him. Then in the days of His flesh, He revealed the Father directly. In John 15:15, Jesus says to His disciples, “for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” That is both tender and authoritative. He does not keep His people at a distance. He makes known to them what He has heard from the Father. His prophetic office is not data transfer. It is self-disclosure for the good of His people. John 20:31 states the purpose of that revelation plainly: “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” Christ reveals the will of God not to satisfy curiosity, but for our salvation. His teaching is saving teaching. He reveals so that sinners may believe and live. The catechism also says that Christ reveals “by His word and Spirit”. We must hold those together. Christ reveals by His Word. The truth of salvation is objective, spoken, written, preached, and heard. But Christ also reveals by His Spirit. The same truth that strikes the ear outwardly must be applied inwardly by the Holy Spirit if sinners are to receive it rightly.  The Word without the Spirit leaves us with outward hearing only.  Claims of the Spirit without the Word leave us chasing imagination and subjectivity.  Christ joins both. That matters for the life of the church, because faithful preaching is one of the appointed means by which Christ still exercises His prophetic office. He is present when His Word is read and preached faithfully. He still teaches His people. He still corrects them, illumines them, and leads them into truth. Husbands and fathers are prophets in the home in a real, though subordinate, sense: not by receiving new revelation or fore-telling future things, but by forth-telling the Word of God and representing Him to their families. Their calling is to bring the voice of God to bear in the household through the faithful reading, teaching, application, and exhortation of Scripture. A husband therefore must not lead by whim, temperament, or mere pragmatism, but by the revealed Word of God. He is not the source of truth, but he is charged to speak it; not a redeemer or mediator, but a covenant head who must declare what God has said. When he teaches, corrects, warns, or leads family worship, he must do so as a man under authority, echoing the voice of Christ rather than competing with it. A faithful husband is a prophet to his family: bearing and declaring the light God has given. So Christ executeth the office of a Prophet in revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. He makes known the God we could not discover, the salvation we could not devise, and the truth we could never find on our own. And every faithful husband and father will reflect this role in the home for his family, “bringing God to His people”, as it were.  Question 28: How is Christ a priest? 17. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest? 1. Christ executeth the office of priest in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.   If Christ as Prophet answers our ignorance, Christ as Priest answers our guilt. Here we are brought to the very heart of the gospel. The catechism tells us that Christ executes the office of a Priest in two great ways:  1. By once offering up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God. 2. In making continual intercession for us. Hebrews 9:14 says, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Christ does not bring another offering. He offers Himself. He is both Priest and sacrifice. He is the spotless One Whom our sin required. Hebrews 9:28 adds that Christ was “offered once to bear the sins of many”. That word “once” matters immensely. His priestly sacrifice is not repeated, because it does not need to be. The cross is not an ongoing offering. It is a finished sacrifice, complete and sufficient. Divine justice has been satisfied by the self-offering of the Son. The catechism says that this sacrifice was made “to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God”. That language is necessary. Our problem is not merely that we feel far from God. Our problem is that we are guilty before a holy God. Sin deserves judgment. On the cross, Christ satisfies God’s justice for His people. Hebrews 2:17 says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” He turns away wrath by dealing with sin, bringing reconciliation made through priestly blood. But Christ’s priestly work did not end at the cross. Hebrews 7:24-25 says, “but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” The Priest Who died for us now lives for us. He appears before the Father on the basis of His finished work. His intercession is not an attempt to persuade an unwilling Father to become kind. The Father Himself sent the Son in love. Rather, Christ’s intercession is the continual presentation of His redemption for His people. This is one of the sweetest comforts in the Christian faith. Our standing before God does not rest on the strength of our devotion, the consistency of our repentance, or the steadiness of our obedience. It rests on Christ our High Priest. He offered Himself once for all; He always lives to intercede.     A faithful husband will act as a priest in his home in a real, though subordinate, sense: not by offering atoning sacrifice or mediating between God and his family, but by interceding for them, seeking their peace, bearing burdens, leading them in and to worship, and giving himself for their good. He cannot make propitiation, but he can pray; he cannot reconcile his household to God by blood, but he can labor to lead them in the peace and order of Christ. He must not use headship as a cover for selfishness, harshness, or mere command, but must lead with tenderness and sacrificial care. In this way, a faithful husband is a priest to his family: not competing with Christ’s unique priesthood, but reflecting it in a creaturely, dependent, and imperfect way. So Christ executeth the office of a Priest by once offering up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God, and by making continual intercession for us. He is the faithful High Priest guilty sinners need. And every faithful husband and father will reflect this role in the home for his family, “bringing His people to God”, as it were. Question 29: How is Christ a king? 17. How doth Christ execute the office of a king? 1. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling, and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.   If Christ as Prophet answers our ignorance and Christ as Priest answers our guilt, Christ as King answers our rebellion, weakness, and danger. He does not merely teach us and cleanse us. He rules us. He gathers a people, subdues them to Himself, defends them, and triumphs over every enemy that stands against them. The catechism begins with Christ “subduing us to himself”. That is exactly where it should begin, because the first enemy Christ conquers in salvation is the rebel heart (think of Pastor Mike’s “glory-robbing rebels” line here). Fallen sinners do not naturally submit to Christ. Acts 15:14-16 speaks of God taking from the Gentiles “a people for his name” and connects that work to the restoration of David’s fallen tent. Christ the King gathers His people and brings them under His gracious rule. This subduing is not the cruelty of a tyrant, but the mercy of a Savior-King. He subdues us to free us from the bondage of sin. Before Christ rules us, sin rules us. His conquest is our liberation. The catechism then says He executes the office of a King “in ruling”. Isaiah 33:22 says, “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.” Christ does not merely claim authority. He actually governs His people. He gives order, direction, law, and discipline. Faith is not mere admiration. It is allegiance. Then the catechism says He executes the office of a King “in defending us”. Isaiah 32:1-2 says, “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness”, and then describes refuge, shelter, and streams of water in a dry place. Christ’s kingship is not only authority over His people; it is also protection for His people. He does not rule and then abandon. He guards what He governs. Finally, the catechism says He restrains and conquers all His and our enemies. 1 Corinthians 15:25 says, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet”. Psalm 110 shows the same glorious reality. He reigns at the Father’s right hand until every enemy is subdued. Some enemies He restrains now. Others He progressively conquers. All will finally fall beneath His feet. Sin, Satan, every hostile power, and finally, death, will not prevail against Him. A faithful husband will act as a king in his home in a real, though subordinate, sense: not by possessing absolute authority, ruling a private kingdom, or demanding reverence for himself, but by providing and protecting, leading and ordering, loving and serving his household under the authority of Christ. He cannot rule as Christ rules, for Christ alone is King of the church, and all human authority is subordinate, accountable, and limited. But he can reflect Christ’s kingly care by cultivating structure, making wise decisions, accepting responsibility, guarding the home from spiritual, moral, and physical danger, and establishing habits of worship, honesty, kindness, modesty, chastity, order, obedience, and repentance.  He must not rule with selfishness or harshness, but must lead with humility and love. He must not rule for his own convenience, but must lead for the flourishing of his family. He must not crush, but protect. He must not demand reverence for himself, but must cultivate reverence for Christ.  In this way, a faithful husband is a king to his family: not competing with Christ’s unique kingship, but reflecting it in a creaturely, dependent, and imperfect way. A husband who abdicates leaves his family exposed. A husband who dominates wounds his family. A husband who leads under Christ seeks their good with steadiness, gravity, and love. He takes responsibility. He does not flee difficulty. He does not outsource spiritual development while retaining only the language of authority. He is first in repentance, first in responsibility, and first in bearing the weight of leadership. So Christ executeth the office of a King in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. He is the enthroned and reigning King His people need. And every faithful husband and father will reflect this role in the home for his family, providing and protecting in a way that echoes Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. Conclusion Questions 27, 28, and 29 show us how Christ executes His offices for His people.  * Q27: As Prophet, He reveals to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.  * Q28: As Priest, He offers up Himself once for all to satisfy divine justice, reconciles us to God, and ever lives to intercede for us.  * Q29: As King, He subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all His and our enemies. Taken together, these questions show the completeness of our Redeemer. He does not save in fragments. He teaches the ignorant (Prophet), atones for the guilty (Priest), and rules the rebellious (King). He answers our darkness, our guilt, and our danger. There is no deficiency in Him. And they also help us think more clearly about the home. Husbands and fathers must never rival Christ in these offices. They are not redeemers, not mediators, and not sovereigns. But under Christ they are called to reflect, in lesser, derivative, and subordinate ways, something of His prophetic, priestly, and kingly care by teaching the Word, praying sacrificially, and leading responsibly. So take this lesson with you this week in two ways. FIRST, let it shape what you believe: that Jesus Christ is the complete Redeemer of His people — our Prophet, Priest, and King. He teaches the ignorant, atones for the guilty, intercedes for the needy, subdues the rebellious, rules the weak, defends the endangered, and conquers every enemy. And believe that Christ’s offices give shape to godly order in the home. Our culture despises this, especially when applied to husbands and fathers. But Scripture is our standard, not culture. A husband is not Christ. He is not the Redeemer, the Mediator, or the lord of anyone’s conscience. Yet under Christ, he is called to reflect something of Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and kingly care. Husbands and fathers, believe your leadership is a holy responsibility, not an optional preference.  Wives and mothers, believe this order is not a threat, but a gift when exercised under Christ.  Children, believe God’s order in the home is for your good. SECOND, let that corrected belief change what you do. Husbands and fathers, do not abdicate, dominate, or drift. Teach the Word. Pray for and with your family. Lead in worship. Protect your household from spiritual, moral, and physical danger. Confess sin first. Repent quickly. Lead as a man under authority, remembering that your authority is never original, never absolute, and never for yourself. Wives and mothers, honor what Christ honors. Encourage faithful leadership. Submit to your husband in everything as to the Lord. Do not despise imperfect obedience, but help with wisdom, patience, prayer, and honest, humble speech. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Honor your father and your mother. Receive instruction, correction, and discipline as gifts from the Lord. We can live this way because Christ, as our Redeemer, is our perfect Prophet, Priest, and King.