Understanding our Great Salvation – (Part 1) The Bad News

October 28, 2020 by wpcdrive

Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 1) The Bad News

What is salvation? How does one “get saved”? To put it quite simply, to be saved we must truly know ourselves and we must truly know God. I have bad news and I have good news. The bad news deals with who we are in God’s sight and the good news is what God has decided to do about it. I am going to give the troubling news first because that will make the good news all that sweeter when it comes. Well then, here is the bad news. You are not perfect. Now, that was not so hard. Everyone will readily admit that he is not perfect. “Sure,” we say, “I have my faults and weaknesses; I am not perfect.” But the problem is that we do not ask why we have faults and weaknesses. The old 49er’s, the gold hunters would pan for gold in a mountain stream. They would find a few specks of gold dust, a small nugget or two. Then they would look for the mother lode, the place where all the gold dust and small nuggets had originated. They were looking for the source, the fountain of that stream of gold. We should do the same thing with our faults and weaknesses, our sins and imperfections. Where do they all come from? Is there a source, a fountainhead, or a mother lode for these sins? Yes, there is. “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen. 6:5) The thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually. We are sinful to the very core of our beings. Now that is bad news. What would you think of a doctor who treated only the obvious symptoms and not the dreaded disease? If he said, “You have a terrible infection; I will give you something for the searing pain and something for the burning fever, but nothing for the infection,” I think that you would be looking for another, more competent, doctor. Friend, your sins are not merely mistakes, or bad judgments, or a temporary slip of your moral compass; but rather your sins are the evidence of a disease called sinfulness. We are sinners by our very nature. Just as a bird flies because he is a bird, we sin because we are sinners. Now don’t misunderstand. Every man is not as bad as he can possibly be. But every part of man, his mind, his body, his emotion, has been devastated by sin, like a hand mirror that falls to the ground. It is not shattered into as many pieces as possible, but every part of that mirror is broken and useless. Every faculty of our human nature has fallen. Because of our sins and sinfulness we cannot do anything good in the eyes of God. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) Now don’t misunderstand again. All men can do good things in the eyes of their fellow men. They can built a sturdy bridge, they can bake a delicious French silk pie. But they cannot do spiritual good in the eyes of God. They cannot save themselves. In other words, they cannot do anything to earn the favor and smile of God anymore. We cannot clean up the mess that we have made of ourselves. Have you ever hiked along a mountain trail in the autumn? It is beautiful to behold God’s hand in nature. Have you ever noticed a fallen tree? Somehow it seems fitting and appropriate in the middle of the woods. But have you ever rolled that fallen tree over to notice the caterpillars, and roaches, and rolly-pollies as they scurry for darkness? You are like that fallen tree. On the outside you can look alive and attractive, but inside you are full of all uncleanness. I have bad news for you today. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. And we cannot save ourselves nor do anything good in the eyes of God. We are rebels against the God who has given us life. That truth, when acknowledged, will cause a man to cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as we close. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Here is hope for sinners in Jesus Christ.

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Understanding our Great Salvation (Part 2) God Decides to Save Some

October 28, 2020 by wpcdrive

Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 2) God Decides to Save Some

What has God decided to do about man’s sinfulness? Earlier we heard the bad news. All men are sinful from birth and they cannot cleanse themselves. The thoughts of their hearts are only evil all the time. There is no one who does good, not even one. Today we begin with the good news. The Good news in a word is God. God has decided to do something spectacular, something that thrilled and surprised even the unfallen angels. God has looked down on the mass of sinful humanity and said, although they all deserve to die for their sins, I am going to save some. I am going to make a way of salvation for fallen, helpless sinners. God has decided to save some.

Romans 9 is called by some the most neglected chapter in the Bible. It is a difficult chapter but the basic message is plain; we do not decide to save ourselves, God decides. Salvation does not depend on our efforts, but on God’s mercy. “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15-16) It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. God has decided to save a multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and nation to the praise of his glorious grace. Some are uncomfortable with this teaching. They claim it is not God’s decision but theirs. “It is my choice,” they say, “not God’s. I decide, not God.”

There were once three scuba divers that were exploring in an underwater cave. They all became lost in the cave and could not find the way out, and their air was running out. They all willed to be saved, and they searched for a way out of the cave. But they could not find the way. They needed someone to show them the way, to dive down into the cave and save them. They could not save themselves and they could not simply decide to be saved. They needed someone to decide to save them. Remarkably, two of the three did come out alive, because someone decided to save them. So, too, you are lost in your sins, and you cannot decide to save yourselves. You need someone to decide to save you. “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

A second objection claims that it isn’t fair to everyone unless they all can decide to be saved. It isn’t fair of God to save some and not all. What is really fair? If all men have sinned and are guilty before God, what is fair or just for them? They must die for their sin and rebellion against God. We do not want God to be fair with us; we want him to be gracious. We do not want God to give us what we deserve; we want him to save us. And that is the good news, God has in grace decided to save. The marvelous truth that often seems to be missed, is the astonishing mercy that God has shown in saving any at all. There is a way of salvation through the astonishing abundance of the mercy and grace of God. That is why I began with the bad news that you are a guilty sinner and you cannot save yourself, because if you truly believe yourself to be a sinner, you will not object to God’s decision to save some. Instead you will marvel in the great grace and kindness of God in saving anyone.

This is good news; this is the gospel. God has made a way of salvation for his chosen people. What a great comfort this is to all those who believe. God has decided to save me, to place me in the never-ending care of Jesus Christ. I am in the hands of Jesus Christ and no one shall ever take me out of his hand. How do I know that I am one of the some that God decided to save? I will answer your question with a question. Do you believe in Jesus the Christ and rest in him alone for salvation? If so, you are saved. God has decided to clean up the mess that we have made because of sin. That is the good news. Are you searching for God? Do you want to be saved? Jesus invites you to believe in him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

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The Heart of the Catechism of the Heart

October 28, 2020 by wpcdrive

The Heart of the Catechism of the Heart

Heidelberg Catechism

Q and A 1

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,1but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—2 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10

1 1 Cor. 6:19-20

2 Rom. 14:7-9

3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14

4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2

5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11

6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5

7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18

8 Rom. 8:28

9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14

10 Rom. 8:1-17

“Faith is more than knowledge, but it is, nevertheless, also knowledge; and without the knowledge of faith, the confidence of faith is impossible. You cannot make a Christian by instruction, but the Christian can be indoctrinated, and by growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ may increase in the conscious possession of the true comfort in life and death…

What is comfort?

We think of a fluffy pillow, a good movie, and a ice cold drink after a hard day’s work. Comfort is ease, rest, self-indulgence. But that is not what it means here.

Comfort comes from two Latin words that mean “with strength.” What comforts is what gives strength, or fortifies. It is the courage to life by grace in this fallen world.

“Comfort is that which results from a certain process of reasoning, in which we oppose something good to something evil, that by a proper consideration of this good, we may mitigate our grief, and patiently endure the evil. The good, therefore, which we oppose to the evil, must necessarily be great, and certain, in proportion to the magnitude of the evil with which it is contrasted.” Zacharias Ursinus

This comfort is equal to anything that life or death can throw at us.

“Faith is more than knowledge, but it is, nevertheless, also knowledge; and without the knowledge of faith the confidence of faith is impossible. You cannot make a Christian by instruction, but the Christian can be indoctrinated, and by growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ may increase in the conscious possession of the true comfort in life and death…

Assurance of Salvation – It is one thing to have sufficient strength to do something and another to actually do it. To have comfort, fortification, given to you, you still must know that it is yours, and you still must use it. To be assured that we belong to God means that we can draw on his all-sufficient bank account. We can sign the check and draw it from his account.account.ations in this world in opposition to God. I am no longer a slave to sin. I can walk in newness of life. hold upon the promise of God, is certain of that promise, contemplates that promise so that the believing heart embraces the thing promised and esteems it so great and gracious, that the sufferings of this present times are not worthy to be compared with it.” Herman Hoeksema

Only comfort. This is not one way of coping with the difficulties of life, but the only way. It is the only comfort that is equal to the task. There is only one comfort in a fallen world. The promised grace of God embraced by a living faith.

This is a personal comfort. What is your comfort? Everyone tries something to cope with a fallen world. Drink to deaden the pain, the exercise of power to try to control something, the diversion of entertainment. We do need to ask ourselves what is our comfort? How are we trying to cope with the evil of human life?

The answer is that I belong to Jesus Christ, and I am not my own. We have been told to be true to ourselves, to listen to the voice within, to be authentically yourself and to do what you think is best. The secular answer is to go deeper into yourself for your define your own morality, and you shape your own identity. This is Friedrich Nietzsche Ubermensch, “an overman is someone who can establish his own values as the world in which others live their lives, often unaware that they are not pre-given.”

The Bible, and the Catechism which summarizes its teaching points away from self, to God in Christ. We belong to a faithful savior. This savior, saves. Saves us from our fallen condition, our fallen world, and saves us from ourselves. Jesus, the savior, Christ, the anointed promised messiah is my certain and only comfort.

We are redeemed by God the Son

He is faithful. True to his word. He will do what he has said. Most of the promised given in the Bible have already been realized, especially those promising the coming of the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent and deliver us from our fallen world. He is faithful. His word is our comfort, our strength in this broken world.

What is the source of all my discomfort? If you trace your dis-eases back to their source, it is sin. The underlying issue is always sin. Sin is our biggest problem.

What does this faithful God and Savior do for me that provides such unshakable comfort? Three things. He forgives my sins, he protects me in this fallen world and he leads me home, to a prefect place.

Forgiveness. Jesus pays for my sins with his precious blood. The Son of God has taken away my guilt and shame. He hasn’t merely overlooked my sins, but he has paid for them in full.

We are preserved by God the Father

Protection. The tyranny of the devil. The devil has hidden himself in our day. So much so that many think of the devil in the same category as the tooth faerie, mother nature, and Santa Clause. It is a pleasing fiction. But, the devil is real and his tyranny and destruction can be seen everywhere. My faithful savior shields me from the evil that is in the world, the temptations in this world in opposition to God. I am no longer a slave to sin. I can walk in newness of life.

Not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my heavenly father. God is near. Everything that happens is preparing me for glory, for perfection. God promises that all things work together for the good of those who love him.

We are Renewed by God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit grants us the well-founded certainty that we belong to God. He gives us assurance of salvation. This is confidence that we have eternal life and that we are heading into life eternal. We are living the heavenly life, in some sense, now. The future blessing is also assured. This provides comfort in life and in death.

Wholeheartedly Willing to live for Him – We do not live for ourselves, for that is a leaky, unstable bucket to invest in. We live for the glory of God. We seek to make his name great in all the earth, not our own. We are willing, with all that we are, to live for him.

If this is not your conviction you really don’t understand your only comfort.

Ready, equipped, to live for Him. The Holy Spirit makes us ready to live for him. Equips, enables and empowers us to walk with God in this life and to follow the path he weaves to glory.

Christian Doubt and Source of Assurance

October 28, 2020 by wpcdrive

Christian Doubt and the Source of Assurance

In a biblical view of knowledge, God’s word is the ultimate criterion of certainty. What God says must be true; for, as the letter to the Hebrews says, it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18; compare Titus 1:2 and 1st John 2:27). His Word is Truth (John 17:17; compare Psalms 33:4, 119:160). So God’s Word is the criterion by which we can measure all other sources of knowledge.

When God promised Abraham a multitude of descendants and an inheritance in the land of Canaan, many things might have caused him to doubt. He reached the age of one hundred without having any children, and his wife Sarah was far beyond the normal age of childbearing. And though he sojourned in the land of Canaan, he didn’t own title to any land there at all. But Paul says of Abraham that “no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21). God’s Word, for Abraham, took precedence over all other evidence in forming his own belief. So important is this principle that Paul defines justifying faith in terms of it: “That is why [Abraham’s] faith was counted to him for righteousness” (verse 22).

Thus, Abraham stands in contrast to Eve, who (in Genesis 3:6) allowed the evidence of her eyes to take precedence over the command of God. Abraham is one of the heroes of the faith, who (according to Hebrews 11:13), “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar…” They had God’s promise, and that was enough to motivate them to endure terrible sufferings and deprivations through their earthly lives.

I would conclude that it is the responsibility of the Christian to regard God’s word as absolutely certain, and to make that word the criterion of all other sources of knowledge. Our certainty of the truth of God comes ultimately, not through rational demonstration or empirical verification, useful as these may often be, but from the authority of God’s own Word.

John Frame