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Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q21.1

WSC Question 21, Part I:  Who is the only Redeemer of God’s Elect?

Answer: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person forever.

An explanation: This is an important catechism question and answer to put to memory! What beauty and glory in the content, and what succinctness and accuracy of Biblical teaching concerning Jesus Christ our Redeemer (the immense depths of true biblical, reformed catholic, Chalcedonian Christology is squeezed and “zipped up” in this one). The only and sole redeemer, there is no other (1 Tim. 2:5), is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who loves and saves God’s people from their sins by His precious blood on the cross (Rev. 1:6; Col. 1:19-20), is a unique person in that He has two distinct natures, both God and Man. “For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9).

From before the ages, according to God’s purpose and grace in His electing mercies, He chose a people to be redeemed and called to a holy calling, not because of works, but all because of His grace (2 Tim. 1:9-10). God the Father, according to the purpose of His will, and for the praise of His glorious grace, chose His people to be holy and blameless before Him, and in love He predestined us for adoption as sons (Eph. 1:3-6).

The Father covenanted with the Eternal Son to provide for Him a body, a true human nature, to perform all perfect obedience on their behalf, and to die as true man on their behalf, taking their sins upon Himself. (Heb. 10:5-17). The Eternal Son willingly, out of love for His own, agreed to this covenant, saying “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God…” (Heb. 10:7; Psa. 40:6-8). And “by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). Through this Covenant of Grace that the Father made with the Son and the Spirit on behalf of all believers (Heb. 13:20-21), He has now put His laws in our hearts and written them on our minds by His Spirit (Heb. 10:17), and has remembered their sins and their lawless deeds no more (Heb. 10:17). Because of the only redeemer of God’s elect, “there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb. 10:18).

God’s elect are now forgiven, because the Eternal Son of God took upon Himself in permanent, personal, union and subsistence unto Himself our nature! Jesus Christ is one Person, with two distinct natures, both God and Man. The man Christ Jesus, enthroned at God’s right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords, is God Himself in the flesh, and a faithful and powerful and good and compassionate mediator for sinners (Heb. 2:14-18; 4:14-16). As God, He has goodness and power to bestow forgiveness to sinners, and His sacrificial offering on the cross was inestimably valuable as a payment for sins, because He is God (Acts 20:28); as man, He is a fit representative for sinful man, a faithful second Adam (Rom. 5:12-21), and performed all obedience required of a man as covenant head and representative and head in the place of the elect. God imputes Christ’s perfect righteousness to His elect, and gives them the Spirit to renew and renovate them into the image of God, revealed perfectly in the man Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:17-24; to be continued). More in Part II…

A Prayer: Glorious God-Man, Savior of the Elect, perfect Savior, and perfect man, thank you for your willing condescension to take upon my nature, and to live, die, and be resurrected and ascended in heaven for me (Phil. 2:5-11)! Thank you for taking my nature up into heaven, and giving me perfect righteousness before your Holy Father, and now my Holy Father! Thank you for your Spirit to help me to live holy before you.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Affectionately Desirous of Him | Part III: Tasting and Experiencing God’s Love in Christ

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” – 1 Peter 1:2-3

Why do we have affections? We have affections that move us like this because we are made in God’s image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-28). God has built into our souls a desire for communion and fellowship with Him. As our forefather Augustine (354-430) said warmly about our hearts: “Thou [O God] movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.”1Aurelius Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, ed. Whitney J. Oates, in The Basic Writings of Saint Augustine 2 Vols. (New York, NY: Random House Publishers), II:3. Similarly, Puritan forefather Richard Sibbes wrote that the soul is “never at rest till it rests on Christ. Then it is afraid to break with Him or to displease Him, but it grows zealous and resolute, and hot in love (my emphasis)…”2Richard Sibbes, The Saints’ Happiness, in Works, VII: 69.

God has placed affections in our souls similar to His own affections. We were created to desire Him and to be satisfied in Him. As God delights in Himself as the Triune God, so He “built us” to delight in Him and find a similar complacency, joy and happiness. Apart from God, the soul can never be completely happy and content. Our affections are enflamed with passion as our hearts seek to be satisfied and happy in God. Richard Sibbes in his affectionate and gracious sermon entitled “The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire” described fellowship and communion with the Triune God in these ways: Fellowship with God was a “sweet banquet”, a time for desires to be satisfied and to desires to be increased, a “sweet taste of the love of Christ,” a “longing desire”, “love tokens” from God, and a love that was “sweeter than wine”.3Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 200-208. Notice the use of language of delicacies and delights, of food and drink and love and fellowship. Some of the sweetest of created pleasures and treasures from God are used to lift up our eyes and hearts to the Living God, in order to understand the joy and delight we can have in Him alone. In other words, we are to taste with our souls the goodness and kindness and mercy of God from deep within our hearts!

Sibbes uses this descriptive language that conjures up in our imaginations the aromas of a delightful banquet, the warm embrace and loving fellowship of friends and family, the morsels of delicacy that are tasty in our mouths and satisfying in our bellies, and are beautifully described so our soul’s will be affected as God’s people to enjoy our Glorious Bridegroom and to see His loveliness in all of His beauty! (cf. Psa. 45). Because of God’s love for sinners in Jesus Christ, He has formally and finally betrothed Himself to us in love (Hos. 2:14-21). We are to respond as redeemed lovers (said with all reverence) to our Lord and Husband, with the quiet, gentle and content submission of a loving wife.

Thomas Shepard (1605-1649) wrote of Jesus Christ our desirous Bridegroom who is a “match made in Heaven”: “Here is a match for you; choose Him, get your affections, if entangled [with worldly, mere created objects and things that do not satisfy], to come off if ensnared.”4Thomas Shepard, The Parable of the Ten Virgins, 41. Once we taste of God’s love in the Bridegroom, these desires are to a certain degree satisfied, and once satisfied, the soul desires much more of Him. Richard Sibbes wrote:

“If there were but a taste, there would be a further desire of growth in that love. In fact, Christ will have the whole heart and the whole affections, or He will have neither heart nor affections. We are to be undivided in our hearts, and wholly devoted unto Him for His pleasure—for our pleasure!5Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 205-207.

What will motivate us to seek this love in Christ? Simply, the motive to seek Him will begin when we realize His unfailing and unrelenting and untiring effort to seek us out and find us even while sinners—to condescend to live and die for us, even while His enemies (Rom. 5:6-11; 1 Jo. 4:7-19). His amazing and unbelievable love for sinners makes us love Him. The Bible teaches us that we love because God first loved us (1 Jo. 4:19). This love is an electing love that is rooted in eternity past in the affections and love of the Triune God. In other words, our love, affections, and desires that we have for God is because He first set His affections and desires upon us in Jesus Christ. This was because God desired to glorify Himself through us, in and through our affections and desire for Him. “To the praise of His glorious grace” in Jesus (Eph. 1:6).

This love was made complete by the Eternal Son willingly taking our nature unto Himself in personal, permanent, and holy subsistence and union to live and die for sinners; to be raised for His own, and to be enthroned at God’s right hand, having made purification for our sins (Heb. 1:3-4; 2:11-16). Jesus is the glorious God-Man who was given a people by the Father (John 17), who would be His beautiful and holy Bride. The Holy Spirit unites the sinner through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and gives to us His love, and His joy, and fellowship with God, who pours out God’s love into our hearts so that we get a “tang of the transcendent upon the heart” or taste of delight and joy in God’s love in and through the means of grace He has provided for us to grow (Rom. 5:5).6C. S. Lewis, Pilgrim’s Regress, 1933; quoted in J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, Il.: Crossway Books, 1990), 15. Lewis wrote: … Continue reading

This love of God stirs us up to seek after God, and His glory and honor, and or inward communion with Him from the heart.7Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 220. This love is the fountain from which all the affections toward God flow. We are to be convinced by the Holy Scriptures, and through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit that we are loved in Jesus Christ. From this love, flows forth all of our desires to come nearer to God, find our all in Him, and to commune with Him, to be like Him. John Owen valued the experience of communion with God as sweeter than life itself. For him, it was for him the ultimate delight.8John Owen, Works, II:24ff. John Owen taught that we must have this taste, or experience of God’s grace, in order to grow and flourish. He wrote:

Experience [of God’s love in Christ] is the food of all grace. Every taste that faith obtains of divine love and grace, or how gracious the Lord is, adds to its measure and stature.9Owen, Works, III:447-49.

Owen in particular, and the Puritan forefathers in general taught that if we are to make progress as Christians, we must have proper experiences or tastes of God’s love in Christ, or we will not grow. In fact, when times get difficult, one who has not tasted God’s goodness by the Spirit through the Word, will not endure; the “good fight” or daily, spiritual conflict in Christ will not seem to be worth the effort and sacrifice. Owen wrote:

Get an experience of the power of the Gospel, and all the ordinances of it, in and upon your hearts, or all your profession is an expiring thing; –unless, I say, you find the power of God upon your own hearts in every ordinance, expect not any continuance in your profession [of faith]. If the preaching of the word be not effectual unto the renewing of your souls, the illuminating of your minds, the endearing of your hearts to God,–if you do not find power in it, you will quickly reason with yourselves upon what account should you adventure trouble and reproach for it. If you have an experience of this power upon your hearts, it will recover all your recoiling, wandering thoughts, when you find you cannot live without it. It is so as to every ordinance whatever; unless we have some experience of the benefit of it, and the power and efficacy of the grace of God in it, we can never expect to abide in our profession of it (my emphasis).10Owen, Works, IX:237

By nature our affections are tainted and marred by sin, deformed and depraved, along with our minds and wills. By nature, sin has kept us from seeing the bright and wonderful light of God, and we cannot feel the warmth of the truth, nor are we inclined to move toward God. We cannot taste and see the Lord is good; we do not believe God is good in our sinful estate. Holy affections and desires are given to us in our regeneration as a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit that is implanted in our souls. We can grow by God’s Spirit, through His Word, as we do not merely know that God is faithful, but taste His faithfulness as we respond to His grace through His Word by our obedience. As we taste God’s faithfulness, we grow in our experience of God’s faithfulness, and so our faith continues to grow. We must taste and see the Lord is good toward us, and we must know the love of God in Christ that “surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:17-19). The Apostle prays for the Ephesian Christians in this way:

“…So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (my emphasis).

John Owen wrote that a true Christian should have the “most intense affections of our souls on the Person of Christ, being overcome until we are sick with love. He wrote importantly that the normal, growing Christian has “constant motions…toward Him with delight and adherence.”11John Owen, Christologia: Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, in Works, I:167. Jonathan Edwards wrote in his excellent sermon “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” that a man who has had the work of the Spirit upon his soul has, “…A sense (taste) of the gloriousness of God in his heart…a sense (taste) of the loveliness of God’s holiness….Thus there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense (taste) of that loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace.”12Jonathan Edwards, A Divine and Supernatural Light, in Works, II: 16-17.

We can be thankful to God for this gift of communion with Him, to be able to taste and experience God’s goodness, because when we desire this, we can act upon these truths of Scripture by praying, and they can be increased.13Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 207. Richard Sibbes wrote that if God gives the desire, He means to give the thing desired—therefore pray earnestly for it!14Richard Sibbes, Breathing After God, in Works, II: 225. One way that we can grow in our affections toward God and His Holiness revealed in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ is to stay fixed and focused in our communion with God through prayer until we experience a taste, or sense an enjoyment, or ravishment of our hearts, deep in our souls as we engage in our duties. Thomas Brooks wrote of fellow Puritan John Bradford,

“…That he could not leave a duty until he had found communion with Christ in the duty; he could not give off (quit) a duty until his heart was brought into a duty frame; he could not leave off confession until he had found his heart humbled and melted under the sense of his sin; he could not give over petitioning until he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired, and strongly carried out (“carried away”) after the enjoyment of them. Neither could he leave thanksgiving until he had found his spirit enlarged… (my emphasis)”15Thomas Brooks, The Necessity, Excellency, Rarity, and Beauty of Holiness, in The Works of Thomas Brooks (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2001), IV: 148.

As we have learned, there is an important experiential element in obtaining a taste of God’s goodness in our duties and privileges such as prayer and the seeking after God in worship and means of grace.16The experiential element might be called “the ‘tang’ of the transcendent in the everyday that hits the heart,” as C. S. Lewis aptly put it! Quoted in Packer, Quest for … Continue reading We are to expect great things from God, and to seek Him until our hearts are merry with the reality and truths of how God is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Our souls are responding with delight—we are delighting in the LORD! This may not happen every time we go to perform our duties in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is good to seek to taste and experience these things, and ask each time for the Holy Spirit to be pleased to give them. It motivates us to want to have more of Jesus, and thus also to be more like Jesus. Thomas Shepard wrote: “Labor to find out the true sweetness [in Christ’s love]…a man’s affections, like streams, must run some way…It is a rule in theology, stop the affections from running to the creature [or mere created things], and in a sincere heart it will run unto Christ.”17Thomas Shepard, Parable of the Ten Virgins, 94.

John Owen, always the eminently practical believer and pastor, gave to us a summary of how we might contemplate and meditate upon Christ, so that He would dwell in our thoughts and affections. He taught that we are to engage in intense prayer for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation (see Eph. 1:15ff); to diligently study God’s Word to behold Christ by faith (see 2 Cor. 3:17-19); to have a sincere love and delight in these things revealed by God’s Spirit until our hearts are affected and we rejoice with ‘joy inexpressible and full of glory’ (1 Pet. 1:8); these meditations and contemplations ought to be attended with thankfulness and praise.18John Owen, Epistle to the Hebrews, III: 316-18. This will help us to taste and see the LORD is good! To say with Job: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…” (Job 42:5).

Have you tasted that the LORD is good? More of this privilege in our next study!

Part IV: The Affections and the Beauty of Holiness

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

References

References
↑1 Aurelius Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, ed. Whitney J. Oates, in The Basic Writings of Saint Augustine 2 Vols. (New York, NY: Random House Publishers), II:3.
↑2 Richard Sibbes, The Saints’ Happiness, in Works, VII: 69.
↑3 Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 200-208.
↑4 Thomas Shepard, The Parable of the Ten Virgins, 41.
↑5 Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 205-207.
↑6 C. S. Lewis, Pilgrim’s Regress, 1933; quoted in J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, Il.: Crossway Books, 1990), 15. Lewis wrote: “That tang of the transcendent in the everyday that hits the heart like a blow as one experiences and enjoys things, revealing itself ultimately as a longing not satisfied by any created realities or relationships, but assuaged only in self-abandonment to the Creator’s love in Christ.”
↑7 Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 220.
↑8 John Owen, Works, II:24ff.
↑9 Owen, Works, III:447-49.
↑10 Owen, Works, IX:237
↑11 John Owen, Christologia: Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, in Works, I:167.
↑12 Jonathan Edwards, A Divine and Supernatural Light, in Works, II: 16-17.
↑13 Richard Sibbes, The Spouse, Her Earnest Desire After Christ, in Works, II: 207.
↑14 Richard Sibbes, Breathing After God, in Works, II: 225.
↑15 Thomas Brooks, The Necessity, Excellency, Rarity, and Beauty of Holiness, in The Works of Thomas Brooks (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2001), IV: 148.
↑16 The experiential element might be called “the ‘tang’ of the transcendent in the everyday that hits the heart,” as C. S. Lewis aptly put it! Quoted in Packer, Quest for Godliness, 31.
↑17 Thomas Shepard, Parable of the Ten Virgins, 94.
↑18 John Owen, Epistle to the Hebrews, III: 316-18.

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q20.2

Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

An explanation: “…Did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery…by a Redeemer…”  What is the Covenant of Grace? In the Covenant of Works, God made a covenant with Adam and all those he represented. Adam, and all of his seed (all humanity) fell into sin and rebellion in this covenant (Gal. 3:10ff). But God, who is rich in grace and mercy, also made another covenant, the Covenant of Grace, with Christ, the Second Adam, and all of His seed or offspring (the elect).

“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).

As in Adam all die because of Adam’s sin and transgression, so in Christ all live and receive grace because of Christ’s perfect obedience: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). This Covenant of Grace was first announced in history after the fall of man into sin in Genesis 3:15.

Those who are represented by Christ Jesus in the Covenant of Grace, who are His offspring, true sons o Abraham (Gal. 3:8-10), are those God has elected (Rom. 8:29-31). This election that God decreed from eternity past (Eph. 1:3-14) is realized in history when someone is acted on by the Holy Spirit, regenerated, or made alive, and responds in faith and repentance before God, receiving Christ as their Savior! (Eph. 2:1-10; Acts 4:12). “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” (2 Th. 2:13; cf. 1Th. 1:5). “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

The foundation of the Covenant of Grace is the covenant made between the Father and the Son as Meditator of the elect in eternity past, or “before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 13:20-21, this covenant sometimes also called the Covenant of “Redemption” or “Peace”, see Isa. 54:10; Ezek. 37:26). Thomas Vincent (1634-78) wrote: “God did covenant and promise to Christ, as the representative of the elect, that, upon condition He would submit to the penalty which the sins of the elect did deserve, and undertake in all things the office of a Mediator, He should be successful, so as to justify and save them” (see Isa. 53:10-11).

The glorious promise of the Covenant of Grace is:

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb. 8:10).

God has promised to all of His elect that He will provide for them in Christ all that they need to embrace the covenant: Spiritual regeneration, knowledge of God, faith, repentance, justification, sanctification, and glorification! “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30; Ezek. 36:25-27; Heb. 8:10-11; Eph. 2:8; Jude 24-25).

A Prayer: Dear Kind King and Heavenly Father, Salvation is from you! All that I have in Christ Jesus, has been given to me as a gift because of your grace that was provided for me from eternity past, before the ages began! My embracing of Christ Jesus as my Savior from sin was a gift from you. I am yours, not my own, I’ve been bought with a price, and owe my life to you. Let me live faithfully before you in instant, exact, and joyful obedience by faith.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Affectionately Desirous of Him | Part II: Understanding the Affections

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” – KJV Colossians 3:2

What are the affections? Are they our “hearts”? Are they our “wills”? Are they our “emotions”? Our affections include all of these, but our affections might be described more specifically as the intersection between the mind or understanding, and the heart and will of man whereby our souls are embraced by God’s love, and are ignited to burn with love to live righteously for God in delight and joy. The affections are our soul’s understanding and embracing God’s truth, and our wills moving us to love and live for Him.

We speak of  being affectionate toward others, but our Puritan forefathers meant more than merely a kind and loving feeling toward another, although it is not less than this. To use a mechanical illustration, the mind and affections are like two cogs or gears that fit together that then move the body into action in a particular direction, with a force, and a goal of obtaining what is sought after. John Owen, in his work on the Holy Spirit in sanctification says that the sanctifying work of the Spirit “inclines and disposes the mind, will, and affections, unto acts of holiness…to make us meet to live unto God…It does not only incline and dispose the mind, but gives it power (Owen’s emphasis), and enables it to live unto God in all holy obedience.”1John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in Works, III: 473.

John Owen (1616-1683) taught that our mind is the guide that leads the soul with light from God. He taught that our will is the governor who rules over the soul through conviction from the truth or light through the mind. With our minds we receive and are informed by truth; the mind receives truth and gets understanding by the light of God’s Word. The affections are not just receivers, but the part of our souls that is warmed by this light as the truth is received. There is light from the truth, but there is also fire, or warmth that comes forth from this truth. This motivates, or inclines our will toward the object of our desires, who is God, the glorious Creator and Redeemer of our Souls! Our souls find what they are looking for and seeking in Him. The mind and the affections move the will with a gracious force to pursue God.

Affections are very similar to what we would call desires or passions of the heart. Affections cause our hearts to be inclined in a particular direction toward something or someone, and then when it is attracted and is fixed, it will be disinterested and even repulsed by anything that would hinder the obtaining of the desire. Affections incline our wills, move our souls toward something, place our spiritual lives on a certain trajectory, to pursue after passionately, and desire vehemently.  Affections can make us have a passion or desire after God, and to desire after God is to desire passionately to be like God. This is why that a truly converted person, one who has been influenced by the saving work and power of the Holy Spirit will demonstrate a certain degree of loving desire and passion to not only know God, but to be with Him and to commune with Him to know Him, and to serve Him, producing works for His glory. Antinomianism cannot long exist in the heart of a true Christian that desires passionately to know and serve God!2For a recent excellent study of Antinomianism and it’s dangers for us, see Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed … Continue reading

Affections are like emotions in that there is an emotional element to them, and they cause the soul to feel a certain inclination and love toward something or someone. Holy affections move us to love, rejoice, seek delight, and rest in God from the heart. When speaking about our affections toward God they describe the soul’s desire and inclination to know God, to meet with Him, to commune with Him, to have more of Him, to know that only God can ultimately satisfy and bring us complacent rest. John Owen wrote concerning love as a chief holy affection, that the “principle end why God endued our natures with that great and ruling affection [of love], that hath the most eminent and peculiar power and interest in our souls, was, in the first place, that it might be fixed on Himself—that it might be the instrument of our adherence unto Him…No affection hath such power in the soul to cause it to cleave unto its object, and to work conformity unto it.”3John Owen, Christologia, in Works, I:150. Our affections, when they are desirous of God in Christ, are never satisfied until they have obtained a certain degree of pleasure and communion with and in God.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), often considered the last of the great Puritans, wrote in his excellent treatise On the Religious Affections wrote making distinctions between passions, or mere emotions and what affections are:

The affections and the passions are frequently spoken of as the same; and yet, in the more common use of speech, there is some difference…Affection is a word…that seems to be something more extensive than passion, being used for all vigorous lively actings of the will or the inclination…As all the exercises of inclination and will, are concerned either in approving and liking, or disapproving and rejecting; so the affections are of two sorts: they are those by which the soul is carried out to what is in view, cleaving to it, or seeking it; or those by which it is averse from it, and opposes it. Of the former sort are love, desire, hope, joy, gratitude, complacency. Of the latter kind are hatred, fear, anger, grief, and such like.

The Puritans were experts in understanding the workings of man’s soul. If the mind understands, and it understands by the help of the Holy Spirit that something is true and a truth that is good, then the soul will feel it, it will be affected by this understanding, and that will engage the affections to move and incline the will toward God; the will will vehemently (even violently) seek after God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that the violent take the Kingdom by force (Matt. 11:12). If the mind has been satisfied and saturated with the truth of God, it will mean sanctification of the soul by God’s grace. As our Lord Jesus prayed to the Father on the night of His betrayal: “Sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth” (John 17:17).4Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), I: 237.

To put it another way, truth received by the soul as true and good, should always be transformative. The truth as received by the power of the Holy Spirit is particularly “transformative truth”; it will not, it cannot leave the soul unchanged. As Richard Sibbes wrote thoughtfully as an example of Puritan thinking on the mind affecting the heart and the will of the soul of man:

Desires are the issues of the heart. Thoughts and desires are the two primitive issues of the heart, the births of the heart. Thoughts breed desires. Thoughts in the mind or brain, the brain strikes the heart presently. It goes from the understanding to the will and the affections. What we think of, that we desire it, if it be good. So thoughts and desires, they immediately spring from the soul; and where they are in any efficacy and strength, they stir up motion in the outward man. The desires of the soul, being the inward motion, they stir up outward motion, till there be an attaining of the thing desired, and then there is rest…When motion comes once to rest, it is quiet (satisfied). So desire, which is the inward motion, it stirs up outward motion, till the thing desired be accomplished, and then the soul rests in loving contentment, and enjoying of the thing desired.5Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 218.

The affections are powerful in this way. If possessed by God and ravished by His holiness, and satisfied in His love, then our affections will cause us to be motivated to seek Him, to pray to Him, to seek the means of grace, to love Him and others as ourselves, and to produce an abundance of good works for the glory of God.

Here are some questions to ask our souls to better understand our affections and what we are moving toward and desiring to determine what direction our wills are inclined. I invite you to ponder these questions slowly: “What do I find to be most lovely in my life?” “What is trying to fill me?” “What is my heart desiring to feed on?” “What do I daydream about?” “What arouses the passions within me?” “What am I being drawn toward?” “When I am doing nothing else, what direction does my mind (and heart!) tend to move?” “What brings me happiness?” “Where do I seek joy?” “What things possess me?” “What has caused my heart to ‘thrill’, ‘exult’ and ‘hope’ in lately?”     If one is a Christian, desires are helpful to discover our spiritual state and level of maturity. Sibbes (1577-1635) wrote that desires issue from our affections, and they show the frame of the soul more than anything in the world. He encouraged our souls to ask: “What is thy desire?” “What is the bent of thy soul?” Sibbes wrote “the bent and sway of the soul shows what a man is.”6Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 220-21.

Having a better understanding of our affections and how they work, should help Christians to understand why idolatry is so common, and so very deadly. If our minds are under the impression that evil is good, and good is evil, and we do not hear or heed God’s Word, but do what is right in our own eyes, our affections will love what is wrong, and ungodly; this will move us to love sin and be repulsed by what is good and true (cf. 3:19; Phil. 4:8). As William Greenhill wrote in Stop Loving the World, “When our affections are set on something, we love that thing.”7William Greenhill, Stop Loving the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011), 8.

In the regenerate person, there is a constant conflict to love the good, and to hate evil (as we see in Paul in Romans 7:15-26), but the mind must meditate upon the great and precious truths of Scripture, so that by the help and power of the Holy Spirit, the affections will be set upon doing good for the glory of God (Psa. 63:6; 77:3, 6, 12; Rom. 6:11, 17; Col. 3:1-4; Heb. 12:2-3). By nature, the will is bent toward and inclined to evil “always and continually,” said Owen.8John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in The Works of John Owen, D.D. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2006), III: 238-39. “True grace fixes the affections on spiritual things,” and produces a new bent “toward the spiritual” in regeneration.9John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in Works, III: 240. He wrote: “Saving grace fills up the affections with spiritual things, fills the soul with spiritual love, joy, delight…”10John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in Works, III: 240.

The Spirit must be sought for enlightenment in our souls; we must have eyes to see with our minds and hearts the goodness of God’s truth for us! (Eph. 1:15ff; 3:17-19; 2 Cor. 3:18; Psa. 119:18, 37). There will be a response of our souls to what we find most lovely, that draws our affections to it (Psa. 119:32, 34-37; Phil. 4:8). There will also be feelings and emotions, but more than that. Once we experience this, it begins not only to make us feel a certain way, it is more than an emotion, it has drawing power; it has a power to transform us, to assimilate us; it possesses us, and makes us live a certain way. This is not only knowing that God loves you, but knowing that He loves you in way that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:19); it is not only knowing God is good, but a “tasting and seeing that God is good”! (Psa. 34:8).

As Christians, we want to resist ungodly evil influences, and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age because of the grace of God that has set our souls free to understand the truth (Titus 2:11-14). We want the truth of God, by the Spirit’s help, to cause us to love the truth passionately, being obedient to God from our hearts. We want to say with the Psalmist: “It is good for me to be near to God” (Psa. 73:28) and “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psa. 119:34).  May our affections be kindled and set aflame by God’s holy Word, so that we have a passion for Jesus Christ! As John Bunyan (1628-1688) exulted in his excellent sermon ‘Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ,’:

Oh, the heart-attracting glory that is in Jesus Christ, when He is discovered, to draw those to Him who are given to Him of the Father…There is a heart-pulling glory in Jesus Christ.11John Bunyan, Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, Puritan Paperbacks (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2004), 73.{[(|fnote_end|)]}

Affections have great power in compelling us to love and to serve God in order to please Him. Affections of gratitude and warm devotion to Jesus will move us to seek Him, to pray, to want to share ourselves with Him. Our affections as they are drawn spiritually toward God and find satisfaction in His holiness, will find more desire and an earnest “breathing after” or “longing” or “seeking after” more of God and to please Him more and more! Let us seek a taste of this in Christ. As the Psalmist says: “Taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psa. 34:8).

Part III: Tasting and Experiencing God’s Love in Christ

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

References

References
↑1 John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in Works, III: 473.
↑2 For a recent excellent study of Antinomianism and it’s dangers for us, see Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, 2013), particularly pgs. 89-96.
↑3 John Owen, Christologia, in Works, I:150.
↑4 Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), I: 237.
↑5 Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 218.
↑6 Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God, in Works, II: 220-21.
↑7 William Greenhill, Stop Loving the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011), 8.
↑8 John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in The Works of John Owen, D.D. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2006), III: 238-39.
↑9, ↑10 John Owen, The Holy Spirit, in Works, III: 240.
↑11 John Bunyan, Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q20.1

WSC Question 20, Part I: 

Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

An explanation: A glorious truth is made known in the Scriptures! Although man has fallen into sin, and by nature he is unable to do any good, or perform righteousness as God requires, and he is totally helpless to save himself from his predicament, God has sent hope for rescue and redemption. God has not left mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery!! Romans 3:21-22 says: “…Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” God provides a perfect righteousness for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ for all who believe!

Man’s salvation is nothing deserved, but only by grace. Only by grace, because of God’s “mere good pleasure” is salvation possible in Christ (Matt. 11:25-26). God’s good pleasure is something that He alone decided to do, in order to show forth His goodness and power, and to save and redeem a people for Himself, for His own glory! (Eph. 1:3-14). Jesus gives hope to HIs people by saying to them, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

The Covenant of Works with Adam and the entire human race had been broken; there was no hope to attain salvation through works of the Law (Rom. 3:20). Though the Law of God is holy, righteous, and good (Rom. 7:12), there was no power in the Law to transform man’s sinful heart, no power in the Law to give life, and there was nothing good that dwelled in man by nature to do the works of God (Rom. 7:18; Gal. 3:10, 21). Only God, and God alone could give hope in this hopeless predicament of sinfulness (cf. Eph. 2:12).

And He did!! Two of the most glorious and hope-filled words in Scripture declare it: “But God…” (Eph. 2:4a). Although man was sinful, enslaved, dead in trespasses and sins, unable in himself to do any good for God, God who is rich in mercy, saved a people through the Covenant of Grace, because of the perfect righteousness found in Christ (Gal. 3:16)! It is by grace we have been saved, and not of works—no one can boast—salvation is of the LORD, and the LORD alone!! (Eph. 2:1-10; Tit. 3:4-7). What man could not do, what the Law could not do, “God has done…”

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).

A Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, my salvation is only because of your good pleasure and grace. Let me be ever thankful for your mercies in Christ Jesus. Thank you for rescuing me from your just wrath and what my sins deserve, and to give me salvation and a perfect righteousness in Jesus! Thank you for revealing this to me, and giving me all the power and grace needed to take hold of the promises of the Covenant of Grace in Christ. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to teach me your ways, to cause me to love your Law, and to walk NOT according to the flesh, but by the Spirit!

More in Part II…

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Affectionately Desirous of Him | Part I: Affectionately Anointing

“I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! …Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways” – Psa. 119:32, 37

There is nothing in this world that will draw a person’s heart and soul more vehemently to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to embolden them toward faithful obedience to Him than a heart full of love that is affectionately desirous of Him. There is a beautiful, Gospel example of this in Mark 14:1-9, that describes a woman (probably Mary of Bethany) who has one thing, one aspiration on her mind, and she pursues the Lord Jesus with all of her heart, and is affectionately moved to serve the Lord!

The woman in Mark 14 pushed past social constraints for women of her day, entered a room full of men, and took the most expensive heirloom in her possession to break it lovingly, and poured the fragrant, sacrificial offering over the head of Christ. This was an affectionate anointing of devoted love to Jesus. What undivided and wholehearted devotion this woman had, to give herself and all she had unto the Lord Jesus in that way!? This woman desired Jesus more than anything else; she needed Him; she wanted to serve Him. In fact, it was this woman’s affections for the Lord Jesus moving her to holy actions and devoted works that is still remembered today (Mark 14:9).

“And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” – Mark 14:9

This woman doesn’t say a word, but her affections influenced by the Gospel love and holiness of her Savior, shows to us what affections can and will do when influenced, enamored and empowered by Jesus and His love: Our affections will desire, they will seek after, they will serve, and they will produce an abundance of good works (John 15:10; Eph. 2:10; Tit. 2:7,11-14).

This is a beautiful Gospel picture of what our Puritan forefathers taught us concerning the affections. If our affections have been spiritually ravished by the holy love of God, and the soul desires more of that love in Jesus Christ, then that soul will pursue Christ, His holiness, and heaven with earnest desire and desperate passion (Col. 3:1-4). The Puritans taught that a soul cannot get a true saving sight of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by faith and remain neutral or indifferent; we will to drawn to Him, we will desire to be like Him (2 Cor. 3:18).

Can we have this kind of whole-hearted devotion as Christians living today? Yes! By the work of the Holy Spirit we will desire Christ and recognize our desperate need for Him, and deep emptiness apart from Him. By God’s grace and through the Spirit’s work, we can begin to move toward Christ in closer communion. When we learn to delight in Him, to please Him, and to desire to be like Him, we will grow fuller and fuller, and increasingly desire to be with Him. Yes, we will struggle against our flesh, and against the temptations that are in the world, and will often be assaulted by the devil, but the Holy Spirit can help us with even the least amount of faith in Jesus Christ to progressively grow in our love and devotion to Jesus Christ; our affections for Him can grow. Though we have indwelling sin remaining in believers, we also have indwelling grace to help us as we keep in step with the Spirit, and seek to grow in Him (Gal. 5:25; 2 Pet. 1:3-11).

Believers are drawn by the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ. This is one of the Spirit’s blessed desires and works on our behalf. In fact, in our union with Christ, the Spirit’s work is involved in renovating our minds, wills, and affections so that we will grow in Christ (John 16:13-14; Eph. 4:22-32). We can be drawn to and ravished by the Lord Jesus’s love for us. The Savior delights to give Himself for His people and to His people.  The Psalmist says unto God:

“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” – Psa. 27:4

The Psalmist’s prayer to the LORD is his holy desire to delight in God. He desires nothing more than to seek after and fulfill this longing, or desire within him. What does he desire to do? He wants to dwell in God’s holy presence, and to worship and adore God, and to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD all of his days, beholding God with eyes of faith. He desires to meditate upon God in His holy presence.

This is a holy, Spirit-driven desire to delight in God. This is a singular, undivided, wholly devoted desire that has been given to him by the Lord God Himself. In Richard Sibbes’ (1577-1635) classic devotional sermon “A Breathing After God,” which is an exegesis and application of Psalm 27:4, he described the loving affections of one seeking God as a “breathing after God” and he used these endearing and sweetly devoted terms to describe the soul’s affections or longings that results in seeking after and finding contentment, joy, felicity, happiness, and satisfaction in God.

Sibbes described our affections that have been emboldened by the Holy Spirit as the “searchings of the heart” because the heart will seek until it finds rest and satisfaction; true “felicity” because in God true joy and happiness is found; “desire and expectation” because God is what our souls desire, and who they were created to wait upon as servant-creatures dependent upon their Lord; “beating of the pulse of desires” because our heart beats for who we love the most; the “sweetest manner”, a “sweet experience”, “the sweet, alluring, beauty of God”, “delightful and sweet”, “ravished” to “relish spiritual things”; these terms Sibbes used to gloriously and affectionately describe our hearts’ desires for God in Christ as given strength and direction by the Holy Spirit.1Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God in The Works of Richard Sibbes (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, reprint 2004), II: 210-48.

For the Puritans, our hearts’ affections should cause us to desire after God, to desire to live for God, and to think sweet, loving, and beautiful thoughts of God (Phil. 4:8). When our affections have been acted upon  by the Spirit, believers will seek to delight our souls in the LORD (Psa. 37:4), to desire to singularly seek and “gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Psa. 27:4), to seek to behold the “power and glory” of God (Psa. 63:2), to behold the king in His beauty with spiritual eyes of faith (Isa. 33:17), to see by faith that He is “altogether desirable” (Song of Solomon, 5:16 ESV), or “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon, 5:16 KJV), to be “satisfied as with fat and rich food” in God (Psa. 63:5), to realize that God is our portion (Psa. 16:5), and that there is nothing else in heaven or upon earth that we desire more than God, and that it is good to be as near to Him as possible (Psa. 73:25, 28)!

In God, we can find, by His grace and mercy, all of our desires fulfilled. We can behold, by faith, the sweet, alluring, beauty of God! The “beauty of God”!? Is this something the soul can now behold by faith? Yes! This is a wonderful blessing of seeking after and finding fellowship and communion with God. But this is only by God’s grace as it is found abundantly in Christ. Jesus is fullness of grace for all of us! From His fullness He desires to saturate our affections with His love (John 1:16; Col. 2:9; Rom. 5:5).

Do you know of these kind of longings for Christ? Do you have these desires for Christ? God will gladly grant you this (Luke 11:13; 12:32). “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psa. 37:4). Have you asked Him for this kind of love and affection for Christ? Have you understood your need of Him? Take a moment to ask God to fill your soul with His love, granting you joy and satisfaction in your life today.

Remember, the Spirit of God loves to take from Christ’s love and make it known to us; He loves for us to be enamored and smitten by the love of Jesus, to set our affections on things above where Christ is at God’s right hand, and to grow us in Christ-likeness. Ask Him now to grant this to you, and live by faith in Jesus, a friend of sinners. Christ, by His Spirit has given us an anointing to know the truth of His love for us, and to serve Him affectionately.

Part II: Understanding the Affections

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

References

References
↑1 Richard Sibbes, A Breathing After God in The Works of Richard Sibbes (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, reprint 2004), II: 210-48.

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q19

WSC Question 19:  What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Answer: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever (Gen. 3:8,10,24; Eph. 2:2-3; Rom. 6:23).

An explanation: What is the estate of misery that sin has brought mankind into? We have lost our communion with God. We see this from the very beginning of our rebellion in Adam, when God came seeking fellowship after Adam, he and his wife hid from their Creator-Lord (Gen. 3:8ff). We still have a disposition to seek to hide from our Creator, and seek to avoid Him in our fallen condition (although we cannot in reality, Psa. 139:7ff). Now, we are miserable in that we have lost fellowship with our God, and thus have lost the communion with Him we were created to enjoy.

Although we are made in God’s image, we have lost the sweet fellowship with God that brings peace and comfort to our souls. We have lost His gracious presence and kind favor toward us by nature. The Bible speaks us of being hopeless by nature, “without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). We should understand that we can find no other satisfaction and lasting hope for our souls. We have been made for God, and there is no true satisfaction except in Him (Psa. 63:1-5; 73:25,28). God is man’s chief good, though in his sin He suppresses this truth and seeks after idols (Jer. 2; Rom. 1:19-32). Man has lost his way and his true identity as a creature and servant of God.

Another aspect of our misery is that we are now under the wrath and curse of God. The Bible tells us that we are “children of wrath, even as the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:2-3), and condemned to eternal punishment, and that the wrath of God even now abides upon us by nature (John 3:18; 36). God’s favor and mercy is wonderful and life-enriching, and to be without it makes us miserable by nature.

We also must struggle against all kinds of sicknesses, evils, diseases of body and mind, and living in turmoil and conflict with other human beings for most of this life. And on top of that, we must also face death. Romans 6:23 says: “The wages of sin is death.” Because of our sins against God, we will suffer death because of the fall (unless Christ returns first), and this brings great sadness and misery to our lives in at least two ways: 1. In the sad loss and helpless estate it brings to us when we lose loved ones (1 Thess. 4:13ff); 2. In the fear and threat of it that hangs over our lives all of our days (Heb. 2:14-16). The fear of death is a chief reason for many psychological and spiritual problems in this present age.

Let us be thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ who willingly came to take our sins upon Himself; to be made a curse for sinners on the cross; bto bring reconciliation with God and other men. Jesus came to bring us hope, holiness, happiness, and spiritual health in Him. What a Savior! Although we struggle, there is no longer condemnation and wrath hanging over us, death has been defeated, and Christ has made it a doorway of hope to eternal life with God. We yet live in an estate of sin and misery on our pilgrimage until heaven, but we are being rescued from it daily as the Life-Giving-Spirit of God brings change, comfort, rest, peace and power from the Age to Come into our present circumstances as we walk by faith!

A Prayer: Lord and Father, thank you for the hope you bring in a world of sin and misery. Though we still suffer and experience death, and oftentimes struggle in our relationships, nevertheless, you have begun our healing. We have been justified by the righteousness of Christ, and have been adopted into your family, and in our sanctification, you are renewing us, and giving us hope, and filling us with the love of Christ to help us to live joyfully in this fallen world. Forgive us for our ingratitude. Let us live joyfully before you!

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Confidence and Courage for Our Pilgrimage

Dear Beloved Flock of Jesus,

With the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriages, there is potential persecution coming for Christians who seek to be faithful to the Gospel, and who long to see Jesus glorified in the salvation of sinners enslaved to sin. With this landmark decision, how should we then live as Christians? It is easy to be tempted to fear the worst, to overly worry, and to feed on unhealthy opinions and the words of men.

We should remember to feed first on Christ and His Word, to seek to hear His Word preached, to study, meditate upon it, and digest it (watch your diet of talk radio and news and social media—especially if you are prone to worry, and to get angry (er, “passionate”). Note how much you’re feeding on God’s Word, and how much your feeding on the wind?! We should remember to continue feed on Christ in the Word, the Sacraments, and pray…pray a lot! We should remember to continue to be faithful to the end as a congregation (2 Tim. 4:7-8). These times should cause ever soul at our congregation to fast and pray, to daily seek and communion with God, and to show up for every prayer meeting! In fact, our next prayer meeting on Sunday, July 5th will be dedicated to praying for these things below!

We must remember at KCPC, dear ones, Jesus tends His flock like a shepherd, and he carries you in His bosom with love and gentleness; nothing can separate you from God’s love to you in Christ (Isa. 40:11; Rom. 8:31-39). Let us hear the words that God spoke to Joshua as he was living in a confrontational time of conflict in making the Gospel known in the midst of entrenched evil and an ungodly, idolatrous culture:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
– Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Our confidence is in the God who is with us! Our Immanuel, our God with us, will never leave us nor forsake us, but strengthen us, sanctify us, teach us, love us, conform us to Christ! Amen.

How then should we live in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to make legal same-sex marriages?

  • God is Sovereign. Let us remember that God is sovereign king over heaven and earth! All that happens in our lives is perfectly according to God’s good will and purpose for history to glorify and exalt His King, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3-11; Acts 4:28). Let us not say: “My way is hidden from the LORD,” but let us remember that God is the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, his understanding is unsearchable, and He will give strength to those tempted to be faint and weary (Isa. 40:27-31). His thoughts are higher than ours, His ways are not our ways, but He is sovereign, good, and faithful.
  • Pray. Let us remember to pray for our leaders and authorities that they would be shown mercy from our God, and that we can live at peace to make the Gospel known (1 Tim. 2:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Pray specifically for boldness, yet with tender love and compassion for sinners, especially for Ministers of the Word and ordained teachers and elders of the Gospel (Acts 4:23-31; 5:42; Eph. 6:18-20). Note how the disciples in Acts 4 go to prayer for boldness immediately when they are experiencing persecution…and the church increases, grows, and they preach with power!
  • Faith, NOT FEAR. Let us remember not to fear and worry, but to trust our faithful God! Let us have faith and be fully persuaded that God is able to do what He has promised to do for His people! (Rom. 4:19-21; Eph. 3:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:20-22). God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. It is easy to feed on fear during these times. Fear and worry sell, and so be careful of your news and social media influences on your mind and thinking that can lead you to worry and fear (2 Tim. 1:7). Always be praying and worshipping God, but don’t give way to fear. Remember how often we are told to not fear, but to believe (Isa. 40:9; Matt. 6:30; 8:26; Luke 12:28; John 11:40). Remember how often God’s people were to march forward by faith, trusting God in whatever confrontational situation, no matter what the conflict! (Deut. 1:21; 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:9).
  • Grace. Let us remember grace and mercy from God the Father, that has been meditated to us graciously through the Son, by His Spirit! (Titus 2:11-14). We have been called out from darkness, into His marvelous light (Col. 1:13-14; 1 Cor. 6:9-11). We are recipients of God’s grace, and from Jesus, there is a fountain, a fullness of grace and power for all of us—let us just touch the hem of His garment with the least amount of faith, and we shall know this grace in its fullness! (John 1:16-18; Col. 2:9; 2 Tim. 2:1). “…Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1).
  • “For All the Saints”. Let us remember that saints before us have been persecuted and have lived under far worse cultural and political situations, and the Gospel has thrived and souls have been abundantly sanctified! (Acts 2:27; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; Heb. 11:32-40). Let us remember the happiness or blessedness that Jesus says characterizes disciples who stand for the truth in times of opposition, and the full reward that Jesus will grant us by His grace for being faithful (Matt. 5:10-12; Rev. 6:9-11; 14:12-13; 22:12; cf. Isa. 40:10; 62:11). “Well done! …Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:21, 31-34). Get your hymnal out today and sing ‘For All the Saints’ to remind you of your privilege of being in such a glorious family!
  • A “Pilgrim’s” Progress. Remember that you are only guests here–pilgrims, sojourners on this earth with eternal life and treasure safely preserved for you in heaven by the Lord Jesus Christ! Remember that although you have callings and a stewardship to tend to faithfully here in this world as pilgrims on the way in the wilderness, your ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and from there you are patiently awaiting a Savior who will restore all things! (Gen. 23:4; Psa. 39:12; Psa. 119:19; 1 Pet. 1:5ff; 2:11; Phi. 3:20-21; Rev. 21:1-7). Remember that the nations (including the USA) are “like a drop from a bucket” (Isa. 40:15). Remember that as members of Christ’s Church, you are part of the only true and holy nation under God that will never perish, nor pass away! (1 Pet. 2:9-11).
  • Be Holy. Remember to live holy lives before the world, glorifying God in your bodies, watching and praying, communing with God, fulfilling your calling or work with joy, gladness and obedience to God’s commandments. Remember that we have all we need in Christ for life and godliness, and let that be evident in our lives. Remember to live the Gospel, to speak the truth in love, to avoid falsehood, sinful and angry passion, stealing, but rather showing mercy, tenderheartedness, humility, and forgiveness (1 Thess. 4:3-5; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Eph. 4:25-32). Remember you who teach others to live godly lives, and to do God’s commandments, do you teach yourself? (Rom. 2:21). Especially in times of persecution, we need to live in reliance upon God’s grace showing the truth of Titus 2:11-14, and that while we are not perfect, we nevertheless, are growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord! (2 Pet. 1:3-12). Watch and pray for your battle is not against flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle, and the Accuser of the Brethren seeks to devour you and expose your secret sinful heart and life (Rev. 12; 1 Peter 5:8; Eph. 6:10-18). Go now to the Searcher of Hearts, confessing your sin and walking uprightly (Psa. 139:23-24; 1 Jo. 1:7-2:2).
  • Mercy. Remember to pray for God to have mercy on many enslaved, sinful souls who cannot be happy in their lifestyle because they’re made in God’s image, and will never find satisfaction or fulfillment in their sinful behavior. Pray that God doesn’t give them completely over to their sins, and lost sinners will acknowledge that they know God’s righteous decree against such behavior (Jer. 2:19; Rom. 1:26-32). Be merciful, knowing that only God can free those enslaved to sin! (John 8:32; Eph. 2:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:24-26). Pray that you will have Jesus’s love for sinners combined and balanced with a love and zeal for righteousness and truth (contrast Jesus as well with Samaritan woman and Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem). Jesus was merciful, but also vehemently zealous for what was right!
  • Wisdom. Pray for wisdom and the fear of God for your church leaders and elders in our congregation and denomination (Prov. 1:1-7; James 1:5-8).
  • Glory to God! Pray that Christ would be glorified and enjoyed daily in our lives! Pray that God would bring great glory to Himself through this major historical event in the life of our country.

Beloved, these are just a few things that come to mind to encourage us and to guide us in times like these. How shall we then live? Knowing God is God, and has a purpose to glorify Jesus Christ and to sanctify His saints through every difficulty. Let us know that He is with us and will never leave us nor forsake us! Let us say with courage, fearlessness, faith and great confidence:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
– Jude 24-25 (ESV)

In Christ’s love, I am praying for all of you this day! Your elders have been praying and thinking about these things, and I am confident that we will have further encouragement and guidance for you, God’s congregation at KCPC, as the Lord Jesus leads us through this next stage of our pilgrimage.

Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q18

WSC Question 18: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein man fell?

Answer: The sinfulness of that estate wherein man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it (Rom. 5:12-21; Eph. 2:1-3).

An explanation: All men are under two kinds of sins: Original and Actual (“…Want of original righteousness, and the corruption…with all actual transgressions…”; see Psalm 51). The Bible teaches that all men are conceived and born into sin and iniquity. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says: “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” God chose Adam as a public person to be the representative head of the human race; Adam was the best and wisest choice, chosen by God. His offence and sin led to our corruption because God imputed the guilt of the sin to all mankind (“…Adam’s first sin…”). The Bible describes it thus: “…Many died through the one man’s trespass” (5:15); “…The judgment following one trespass brought condemnation…” (Rom. 5:16); “…Because of one man’s trespass, death reigned…” (Rom. 5:17). Adam’s sin brought an estate characterized by sin, trespass against God’s Word, judgment, condemnation and death.

Sin and condemnation is manifested in our enmity toward God and our aversion and powerlessness from doing good and righteous things. The Apostle Paul describes this:

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Rom. 7:18).

We are prone to do evil, enslaved to sin: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14); “…Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:3). This condition is summarized in Romans 3:10ff: “…As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one…”

Every aspect of man has been tainted by sin (“…Corruption of his whole nature…”) (Gen. 6:5, mind and imaginations; Rom. 3:13-15, 6:12ff, body as an instrument of sin); there is a great need of a regeneration and renovation of the whole man, body, soul and spirit (see 1 Thess. 5:23). As sinners, let us be humble before the Lord, and realize that only by His grace in Christ can we be set free from sin. Only in Christ, can we be forgiven and fully restored to God, renovated back into God’s image (Eph. 2:14-18, 4:17-25). Let us confess our sins and not fool ourselves thinking to hide our sin and corruption from God or others! (Psa. 139:23-24; 1 Jo. 1:7-2:2). We must be born again! There is no hope for mankind apart from Christ! (John 3:3, 16-18, 36)

A Prayer: Lord and Father, we are undone, miserable, fallen, and unable to help ourselves from our sinful predicament. We are conceived in sin, born into iniquity; we are far from you by nature, and do not good, only do evil continually. We cannot eve desire the good apart from your initiating and saving grace to us in Christ! Thank you for your grace in Christ! Thank you for making us alive while dead in sin, and beginning the restoration of our whole selves into the image of Christ! Glory to your name! Thank you that we love the good now. We delight in your commandments! (Psa. 119:15-16).

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q17

Question: WSC 17: Question 17: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

Answer: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

Scripture memory: ESV Romans 5:12-14: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” (also Rom. 8:20-25).

An explanation: There is a lot of unhappiness in the world. As the blues song says, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen”; this is the sad testimony of many souls in this world. In the Bible, we learn that true happiness (or “blessedness”) and contentment for man comes from holiness (Deut. 8; Ecc. 8:12, 12:13; Matt. 5:3ff). Holiness is God-likeness in our person and hearts. We were created upright and holy, and so we were happy (Gen. 2; Eph. 4:23ff; Ecc. 7:29). But mankind has fallen into an “estate of sin and misery”. The opposite of holiness and happiness is sin and misery: “…My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is” (Lam. 3:17).

Mankind has been crippled and made sorrowful by sin. God’s image in man has not been wholly been lost in the fall, but it has been defaced and deformed. Like a beautiful statue that has fallen and crumbled into pieces, or a magnificent painting that has been sprayed with graffiti on a bathroom wall. There remains some beauty in the pieces and painting, but because man is incapable of healing himself from this awful predicament, there is much sorrow and misery.

Because of sin, man’s heart is deceitful above all things and sick (Jer. 17:9), unable to do good (Jer. 4:22), self-satisfied (Hos. 13:5-6; Rev. 3:17), full of futility and vanity, and darkened in understanding, dead in trespasses and sins,  and aliented from the life of God (Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-18).

But not only was mankind effected by the fall into sin and misery, but all creation, all nature, this entire world in which we live deeply feels the subjection and bondage. As the Apostle Paul puts it, the creation has been subjected to terrible sin and misery because of Adam’s sin, and now longs for the full restoration of all things:

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies…” (Romans 8:20-25).

Every deer that runs from your presence, every lion that roars at you, every snake that seeks to bite you, is a reminder that you have single-handedly made a mess of creation in your rebellion against God, and been unfaithful in caring for creation and nature as you were created to do, and the animals’ behavior toward you can be healthy reminders of your sin against God (and them! Thank God, that in his kindness, he gives us loving Labradors who love us silly in spite of our sins!! Pets are evidences of God’s grace).

Let us thank God that Jesus Christ has come into this world of sin and misery, not only to bring man restoration and hope in His salvation, but to begin the New Creation with the sending of His Spirit. Christ in His sorrow, misery, forsakenness, and brokenness on the cross, has come to bring us joy, hope, reconciliation to God, healing through His love—and a new world for us to live in characterized by holiness and happiness!

God in Christ is reconciling sinners through the Gospel, restoring the image of God in them, and preparing the cosmos for a full and restoration and blessedness! As the Apostle Peter teaches us:

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:13-14).

A Prayer: Father, thank you that you sent Christ to bring a new creation into our hearts (2 Cor. 5:17); that you have begun the process of restoring us into your blessed image, and to give us a foretaste of joy and bliss of the New Heavens and the New Earth (Eph. 1:14; Heb. 6:4-6). Thank you that you have begun the restoration of the sons of God and the whole cosmos (Rom. 8:22ff)! Let us live as those who hope with great faith and patience for the full realization of all of your powerful promises to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you have come to bring forth in our hearts the power of the Age to Come, and the immeasurable great resurrection power that we need to be holy and sanctified and blameless on the Day of Christ’s appearing (Eph. 1:19ff)! Amen.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs