KCPC Blog

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q16

Question: WSC 16: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?

Answer: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression

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– 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come (also Gen. 2:16,17; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21,22).

An explanation: All mankind sinned in Adam, except one: The Lord Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, of the substance of the Virgin Mary, descended from Adam (Luke 3:38; Heb. 2:14-18), and was kept from the taint and contamination of sin from the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35; Heb. 7:26). Only He was not corrupted by sin, nor has he sinned in corruption. He is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners…” (KJV, Heb. 7:26).

All other men are born and conceived in sin, and are guilty and deserving of God’s just judgment upon sinners (Psa. 51; Rom. 3:23). All men have sinned, but also do truly sin experientially in their daily lives. As the Apostle Paul testified on behalf of all sinners: “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” We are guilty before God for our sins in Adam, as well as guilty for our actual sins. We must remember that we are not sinners merely because we sin; we sin because we are sinners by nature. “Because all sinned…” (Rom. 5:12b). We are at root sinful: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit” (Matt. 12:33; Eph. 2:1-3).

How did all mankind sin in Adam? God made a covenant with all mankind in Adam as His chosen representative of the whole human race. God chose the best representative for all mankind. Adam’s descendants were not only in him as a father, or as “in his loins” (Heb. 7:10), but Adam was the common Head and Representative chosen by God for all mankind. This covenant was called the “Covenant of Works” (Hosea 6:7; as we have learned in earlier lessons, see also Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 7) and life was offered not only to Adam but also to his posterity. If Adam had stood, his posterity would have stood in obedient faithfulness; but Adam fell, and so all fell in and with him (Heb. 2:6-11).

Let us thank God for infinite wisdom and unsurpassing love for sinners in that He would send His Beloved Son in our nature to bless with salvation all those who believe in Him, those elected by Him before the foundation of the earth (Eph. 1:3-11), all for the praise of HIs glorious grace! What we could not do as fallen sinners, God could do, and did do, in our nature ‘for us’!! (Rom. 8:3-4; Heb. 2:14-18). Christ did not take the nature of angels, but of Adam, of Abraham–our nature!! In our union with Jesus Christ, His perfect righteousness is made our righteousness! (Rom. 3:24-26). Christ is our Head, our Covenant Keeper, who makes us alive and gives us eternal life and hope in Him!! “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

A Prayer: Though fallen in Adam by nature, without God and without hope in the world (Eph. 2:14-18), you redeemed us, O Savior of our Souls, O lover of sinners, Blessed Redeemer of God’s elect! Thank you for willingly being our covenant head, and saying to the Father: “Behold, here am I and the children God has given to me!” (Heb. 2:13). You have freed us from our sins, from the fear of death and from slavery to the devil. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5b). Let us live for you! Amen.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

John Owen on the Mortification of Sin

ESV Romans 8:6-13 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

What is mortification? A habitual weakening of sin. Although we are united to Jesus Christ by faith and sin has lost it’s dominion, or rule and reign over believers, nevertheless, sin remains in us, and is hostile to our spiritual growth (Romans 6-8).

Mortification consists in constantly fighting against sin. We must understand that the Christian life is a conflict, it is a great spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-20).

  • Know that God hates sin and will judge it.
  • Know that you have such an enemy to deal with.
  • Labor to be acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success.

You must be a believer to mortify sin. Without the Spirit of God, you cannot mortify (Rom. 8:13). There must be sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience. Read 2 Cor. 7:1. Consider whether your lust has these dangers symptoms accompanying it:

  • It has long corrupted your heart and it has had power and prevalency over you for some time.
  • Secret pleas of the heart approving of itself and making excuses for why you do it in order to remain in you.
  • Rather than fight the sin, you seek to find evidences of good things you do to give you peace, rather than dealing with the sin that is corrupting you through its power.
  • Has it had a frequency of success in you?
  • You have sought to mortify the sin simply by being frightened of judgment or the consequences for you and your reputation.
  • Has God dealt with you about your sin, particularly through the discipline of affliction?

Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, dangers and evil of your sin. Load your conscience with the guilt of your sin. Bring your lust to the Gospel, not for relief (yet!) but for further conviction of its guilt; you might say:

“What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Spirit for his grace Do I thus treat the Lord in this way?! Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, that the blessed Spirit has chosen to dwell in? …Do I account communion with him of so little value? …I daily grieve that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of redemption?!”

Constantly long and breath after deliverance from the power of sin (Rom. 7). Consider whether the distemper is rooted in your nature and increased by your constitution/temperament (Psa. 51; 1 Cor. 9:27). Rise mightily against the first actings and conceptions of your distemper. Use and exercise yourself to such meditations as may serve to fill you at all times with self-abasement and humility before God and thoughts of your own vileness.

  • Think on the majesty and holiness of God and His infinite distance from you.
  • Think much of how little you yet know Him and seek to commune with Him.

Do not speak peace to your soul before God speaks it to you; but hearken to what God says to your soul. Raise your heart by faith to an expectation of relief from Christ. Consider Jesus’ mercy, tenderness and kindness to sinners, as He is particularly Priest at God’s right hand. Consider his faithfulness to help you as he has promised. Act faith on the death of Christ: Have an expectation of power and expectation of conformity to Him by His Spirit.

  • The Spirit of Christ alone reveals unto us the fullness of Christ for our relief.
  • The Spirit of Christ alone establishes the heart in expectation of relief from Christ.
  • The Spirit of Christ alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power.
  • The Spirit of Christ is the author and finisher of our sanctification.

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q15

Question: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

Answer: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

Scripture memory: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate…[Adam said]: The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” – Gen. 3:6,12

An explanation: We should understand that there was nothing intrinsically evil in the fruit of the forbidden tree. What made the eating of the fruit evil was that it was forbidden by God. God forbade Adam and Eve from eating the fruit to try their obedience. God desired to test their obedience to His Sovereign Lordship as their King. Their eating was a great sin because it was a transgression of God’s specific and clear and holy Law (“Sin is lawlessness,” 1 Jo. 3:4). The sin was against a holy and perfectly just God, who had shown great kindness in His condescension to enter into a covenant with Adam (Hos. 6:7). “By the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19a). The sin was also against Adam himself, his soul, body, estate, upon his family, and his posterity. “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…” (Rom. 5:12).

     Thomas Vincent lists seven specific sins that were committed in this terrible act that brought mankind into depraved darkness: 1) Rebellion against God as their Sovereign King; 2) Treason, in conspiring with the devil, God’s enemy, against God; 3) Ambition, in aspiring to a higher state, to be as God; 4) Luxury (Greed and Discontentment), in indulging to please the sense of taste, in inordinately desiring the fruit over fellowship with God; 5) Ingratitude to God, who had given them everything in the garden for their enjoyment; 6) Unbelief, in not believing God’s warning that I they disobeyed they would die; 7) Murder, in bringing death by this sin, upon themselves, and their posterity.

Let us soberly remind ourselves that ever sin we commit is no small matter; there are no “peccadilloes!” The smallest sin deserves God’s just wrath and eternal punishment. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (James 3:5, KJV). In breaking the Law of God through disobedience in these points, our first parents (and we in them! Psa. 51:5; Rom. 5:12-14) were guilty of breaking all of the Law: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” – James 2:10. But God in His mercy, sent His Beloved Son to keep the Law in our place, and to die under the curse of it!

“For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works” (Tit. 2:11-14).

A Prayer: Lord God, and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, Please forgive me for my sins. Thank you that you are faithful and just to forgive me when I transgress your law ( Jo 1:9). I deserve to die, and to be condemned under your just wrath, but you have provided Christ a Mediator for me, an Advocate, and He has died in my place as a holy propitiation (1 Jo. 2:2). Thank you, dearest and kindest King! Let me live faithfully and obediently to you according to your Holy Law (Rom. 8:3-4). In Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q14

Question: What is Sin?

Answer: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. (1 John 3:4)

Scripture memory: “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” (1 Jo. 3:4).

An explanation: Sin is described in so many descriptively deplorable ways in Holy Scripture. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jo. 3:4); sin is disease; sin is an enslaving master (John 8:34); sin is poison (Num. 21:8); sin is like leprosy; sin is evil; sin is a formidable foe against righteousness (Rom. 7:7ff); sin is a reproach to people (Prov. 14:34); sin is constantly threatening mankind (Gen. 4:7; Rom. 7:18-20); sin brings God’s wrath and condemnation upon it (Rom. 5:13); sin brings death (Rom. 6:23). God hates sin (Jer. 44:4; Zech. 8:17).

Everyone in this world does it, and has been tainted by it, but no one knows how to really define what it is. Unless the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinful heart, a person will not even take much notice of it, let alone seek to define it. The Confession teaches us that sin is defined not first in relation to one another as creatures, but is defined in our relation to God the Creator! “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God” means that God makes clear what His perfect righteousness is, and what He demands of every human being in His Most Holy Law, and sin is that which does not conform to this righteous law, and would transgress against it. God defines what righteousness is by His very own character, as the Perfectly, Holy and Righteous God. When a human being does not live up to this righteousness, and actually transgresses God’s righteous law, he is guilty of sin, and without grace and hope in a Mediator, will be condemned and eternally damned under God’s just judgment (Matt. 5:17-20; 7:23).

We must remember that the evil of sin is not first in what it does to mankind (although this is unimaginably and heartbreakingly evil!); the evil of sin is that it has the proud audacity to offend a Holy and Kind Creator and God.

     The Law of God is “the commands and rules flowing from God’s sovereignty, whereby His will is manifested, and the creature bound to obedience” (J. Flavel). We should remember that God condescended to clearly reveal His will, His righteous commands and law to Adam in the beginning,  has written that law on all men’s consciences (Rom. 2:14-16), and has clearly revealed them in His Word. All creatures are to give perfect conformity (Matt. 5:48; Mark 12:30) to God’s Law from the heart, and evidenced in their lives. When we sin, we transgress this Law. The Law is not sin (Rom. 7:7), it reveals sin (Gal. 3:21-24). The Law is good (Rom. 7:12), but it is powerless to change sinful hearts and give them the ability to keep it. That is why Romans 8:3-4 is such glorious news!

“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.”

     Thanks be to God for sending His Son, the sinless Lamb of God, Holy, Harmless, Undefiled by sin (Heb. 7:26), to be our sin-bearer (2 Cor. 5:17-21). God the Father condemned sin in the flesh in Jesus Christ on the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus is where the evil of sin is manifested! Jesus underwent death, the terrors of his conscience, and the torments of hell under God’s wrath in order for us to be able to live by HIs Spirit, and so to be justified by faith alone through the righteousness of Christ alone (Rom. 3:21-26), and sanctified by faith in Christ as we seek to live God’s law out of love and gratitude in our union with Him.

A Prayer: Dear Father, in Jesus’ Name, let me be further rid of sin and conformed more in the image of my Savior, your Beloved Son. Lord, let me be freed from both the penalty and the power of sin. Let me love what you love, O LORD, and hate sin as you hate it! Thank you, Jesus, that you have redeemed me from all lawlessness (Tit. 2:14). Amen.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

What is Genuine Repentance?

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…- 2 Corinthians 7:10a

How do we know that we have truly repented from our sins, and turned by faith to God in Christ?

William Perkins (1558-1602), one of the Pioneers of Reformed Spirituality wrote with clarity on this topic. He  defined repentance as “a work of grace, arising from godly sorrow; whereby a person turns from all her sins unto God, and brings forth fruits worthy of an amendment of life by faith in Christ.”

Genuine Repentance Consists of Seven Things:1From William Perkins, “Two Treatises: Of the Nature and Practice of Repentance, and Of the Combat of the Flesh and the Spirit,” quoted in The Works of William Perkins (Grand Rapids, MI: … Continue reading

  • The knowledge of the law of God, the nature of sin, the guilt of sin, and the judgment of God. One realizes what God requires, that one’s sins has offended God and transgressed his commandments; there is a realization of guilt and condemnation, and that punishment from a Holy God is deserved.
  • The application of this knowledge to the heart by the “Spirit of bondage” (Rom. 8:15ff). The Spirit first acts as the “Spirit of bondage” to show how one is enslaved to sin (John 16:8-11; John 8:32; Eph. 2:1-3).
  • The consequent fear and sorrow. There is real godly grief and sorrow accompanied by fear of punishment (1 Jo. 4:18).
  • The knowledge of the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners! God saves repentant sinners by faith alone, receiving His perfect righteousness alone, understanding that Jesus has been condemned in the sinner’s place, and has removed transgressions as far as the East is from the West (Psa. 103; Rom. 5:1-11; 8:1-4).
  • The application of this knowledge to the heart by the “Spirit of Adoption” (Rom. 8:15ff). One realizes that she is no longer a slave to sin, and under the just condemnation of God, but an adopted son who has been redeemed to please her Heavenly Father by faith and obedience (Rom. 6:17).
  • The consequent joy and sorrow. The response is true and deep and abiding joy with sorrow to ever have offended such a Glorious, Gracious, and Wonderful God!
  • The “turning of the mind,” whereby a person determines and resolves with himself to sin no more as he has done, but to live in newness of life. One resolves in reliance upon God’s grace, to avoid sin, and seeks God for new grace and strength each day to put it to death and live a godly life (Rom. 6:1-14; 7:16-25; 8:5-14; Col. 3).

References

References
↑1 From William Perkins, “Two Treatises: Of the Nature and Practice of Repentance, and Of the Combat of the Flesh and the Spirit,” quoted in The Works of William Perkins (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014), I: xxv. I have edited and expanded on his teaching to update and apply to KCPC- Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q13

Question: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

Answer: Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God (Gen. 3:6,7,8,13; Eccl. 7:29).

Scripture memory: “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” – Ecclesiastes 7:29

An explanation:

     “Our first parents…fell…by sinning against God.” God called Adam to be covenant representative of all humanity. He was made upright in holiness and righteousness, but he sinned against God. Adam had not been perfect or completed in his walk before God. Adam was able to sin, and able to not sin. If he had kept the Covenant of Works through obedience, he would have been confirmed in an estate of perfect righteousness.  Adam and Eve sinned, and caused all of humanity to be tainted by sinful guilt, pollution and brought us under God’s condemnation (Psa. 51): “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Gen. 3:6). Our first parents sinned against a holy and glorious God, who is perfect in His nature and must punish sin.

     “…Being left to the freedom of their own will…” The freedom of the will is emphasized here to teach that Adam and Eve are alone guilty and culpable for their sins before God. God did not make Adam and Eve sin. God ordained their sin, but God did not cause them to sin; God is not the author of sin (see WCOF, chap. 3). John Flavel wrote that God did not make man sin, but withheld that further grace which he was not obliged to give to them. The will of man in the Garden of Eden, in the time of man’s probation according to the Covenant of Works, was free to do both good and evil (Eccl. 7:29). After the fall, man’s will was still free, but free only to do what is evil, and will freely choose the evil and sinful above God and His righteous good. Man’s will is enslaved by sin, and so now humanity is free only to sin against God and others.

God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to come and to live perfectly obedient according to God’s Glorious Law! To be condemned for our sins in our place (Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus came to reconcile God with man, and to free up the will of man to be able to do good, and resist evil. The Lord Jesus has sent for His Spirit to change our natures and wills to restore believing man to an estate of uprightness, holiness and righteousness, but comforming us into His image: “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” (Rom. 8:29); “…To be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…” (Eph. 4:23-24). The glory of sanctification in our union with Christ is to be able to will the good for God, and to seek to be sincerely obedient to him by His grace and Spirit!

A Prayer: Thank you, dear Father that you have not left us in our sins without hope: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). You have sent Christ Jesus to earn perfect righteousness for us, and to deliver our enslaved wills from sin (Eph. 2:1-3), and empower us to fight our flesh and keep in steep with the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:16-26).

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q12

Question: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

Answer: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death. (Gen. 2:17)

Scripture memory: “But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” (Gal. 3:12)

An explanation: Our God and Creator voluntarily condescended to His creatures to enter into a covenant with us. Simply stated, a covenant is a mutual agreement and engagement (more permanent and binding than what we call a contract), between two or more parties, to give or do something. There are two primary covenants God has made with man: “The Covenant of Works”, and “The Covenant of Grace”.

The Covenant of Works was made between God and Adam as representative and covenant head of the whole human race in his estate of innocency. In this covenant, life and happiness with God was promised to Adam and all those he represented as covenant head, if he was to perfectly and personally obey God’s commandments. Death was threatened as a consequence of his disobedience: “…In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17; cf. Rom. 6:23).

Because Adam sinned, it plunged the whole human race into sin and rebellion against God: “…Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” (Rom. 5:12). Now, a sinner can never gain life and righteousness through obedience to this covenant: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Gal. 3:10; cf. 3:12, 4:21).

But God was gracious and offered to man the Covenant of Grace, whereby His own Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would take upon Himself man’s nature (Heb. 2:11-16; Phil. 2:6-8), to do the commandments and live by them (Gal. 3:12), and die under the curse that sinful man brought upon himself:“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13).

Where Adam failed the covenant as representative head, Christ, the Second Adam, perfectly kept the covenant by obeying God’s perfect law, on behalf of sinners. As Romans 5:18-19 teaches: “…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.” Let us thank God that we are heirs of a better covenant! “Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises” (Heb. 8:6). “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Gal. 3:11).

A prayer: Thank you, Lord and Father, that you sent Jesus Christ to keep your commandments perfectly for us, as our Covenant Head and Kind King, and He is the “one who does them and shall live by them” (and has, for us!); He is the one who said: “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Psa. 40:8). Jesus’ perfect righteousness has been imputed to us by faith—you are holy and just in upholding your perfect law and punishing sin, but also you are the magnificent and glorious justifier of all who believe in Christ Jesus! (Rom. 3:21-26). Thank you, dear Lord, that we are under a “better covenant” that is established on better promises because we have a better Meditator! (Heb. 8:6).

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q11

Question: What are the works of providence?

Answer: God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Scripture memory:

Scripture memory: “[Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” – ESV Hebrews 1:3

An explanation:

What a glorious God we serve in that He preserves and governs all things by His great wisdom and Almighty power! Glory to His Most Powerful, and Blessed Holy Name! The Bible teaches us that our God preserves both man and beast (Psa. 36:6), and He governs all the nations of the earth whether they recognize His rule over them or not, to direct and guide them for His purposes for history in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:9-10; Psa. 67:4; Prov. 16:9)! God upholds all things in their being; if He were to cease to uphold any creature, any created thing at any time, it would cease to exist! (Psa. 104:30; 119:89-91; Acts 17:28).

All of God’s Works are glorious! (Psa. 104:24). The Lord is not only powerful in His works, but good and kind in and through them (Psa. 145:17). He upholds the universe and all created things in their being, but also provides for their sustenance and enjoyment! (Heb. 1:3; Ecc. 2:24-25; 1 Tim. 6:17). The Bible sweetly teaches that the eyes of all living creatures “look” to God, and God opens His gracious hand to “satisfy the desire of every living thing (Psa. 145:16).

God as a Father to His children, has a special interest in watching over, protecting and blessing them. He causes the sparrow to fall to the ground, but counts every hair on His children’s heads, and cares for us because of His great love to us in Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:29-31). He clothes the grass of the fields with lilies to display His goodness and glory, and this is to remind His children that He will always provide and care for them! (Matt. 6:26-30). Although He allows His dear children to experience great tribulation and suffering in their union with Christ, He will always sustain us, and use these hard circumstances as means to free us more from indwelling sin, and cause us to be more dependent upon Him, and to be ever thankful for His grace and love.

Our Heavenly Father will cause all things to work out for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose in Christ! (Rom. 8:28; Gen. 50:20). As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it: “…That without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation.” No amount of suffering will ever separate us from our Father’s love; it will only make us stronger, like victorious conquerors! (2 Cor. 12:9ff; Rom. 8:35-39).

Let us never forget as God’s people: His providence toward His creatures is Most Holy: “The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psa. 145:17); Most Wise: “O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (Psa. 104:24); Most Powerful: “[God] who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations…” (Psa. 66:7; cf. Dan. 4:35).

A prayer:

Dear Most Holy, Wise, and Powerful Heavenly Father. There is nothing that can happen in this world, nor continue in this world, without your most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all things. All you do is good, and will result in your glorification and worship, and for our good! Thank you. Let us trust you.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Loving the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity

Christus meus est Omnia

“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.”
– Ephesians 6:24

How do you know that you love the Lord Jesus Christ “in sincerity”? What are the genuine characteristics of a soul that loves Jesus in sincerity?

* Sincere Love is Gospel Love: This sincere love for Christ is focused on His Person and His gracious excellencies as He is revealed in the Gospel. Sincere love for Christ is a “Gospel love”. It is a love driven to seek union and communion with Him because of the wonderful grace that He has bestowed on you (1 Jo. 4:7, 16, 19).

* Sincere Love is Love that Surpasses Knowledge: This sincere love for Christ is more than a rational, mere notional love. We must have knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Scriptures, but we must have more than a rational love. Our love should be described as “surpassing knowledge” (Eph. 3:17-19); a love that is felt easier than expressed sometimes.

* Sincere Love is Delighted by God: This sincere love for Christ delights in Him. When the believing soul, having taken a view by faith of the excellencies of God, and its own sweet relation to Him as a gracious Father in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is carried forth in a holy rapture and exultancy of spirit; it is “ravished”. Sincere love wants to delight in and praise God; it is “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).

* Sincere Love Says “Christus meus est omnia: My Christ is My All!”: This sincere love for Christ accounts Christ to be the soul’s greatest treasure. There is a longing desire to enjoy the nearest communion with Him. The soul that loves Christ will love other things, but will describe nothing else but Christ as “Altogether Lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:10, 16). The soul that loves Christ will say as its motto: “Deus meus est omnia!” “My God is my all!” Their confession will be “Whom have I in heaven but You, and what on earth do I desire but You?” (Psa. 73:25). The love-sick soul often says: “None but Christ.” The worthy and noble love values not Christ merely for what He brings, as by what He is in Himself.

* Sincere Love Meditates Upon Christ: This sincere love for Christ desires to be often meditating and contemplating about Him; it is a soul “smitten” by Him. “The soul dwells as much where it has fixed its love, nay, more there, than where it has its most natural operation.” True love will find Christ enthroned in heaven but will be frequently sending up their hearts to Him.

* Sincere Love is Wholly Devoted : This sincere love for Christ is willing to part with all for Him; it is a soul wholly devoted and undivided. This love makes one willing to lay down one’s life for Him (Matt. 10:37ff; Rev. 12:11).

* Sincere Love Serves: This sincere love for Christ will be a willingness to stoop to the lowliest service for Christ to be honored. This love stoops with Christ to serve and wash filthy feet (John 13:5-14).

This sincere Gospel love for Christ manifests the following characteristics particularly:

* “I was lost, but now I’m found—and redeemed!” Where love of Christ is sincere, there has been a conviction of the soul’s undone condition without him, and of the sufficiency, ability and willingness of Christ to recover the soul out of that sinful condition (Isa. 61:1-3; Matt. 11:28-30). If there is no conviction of our sinful condition, there can be no love; if there is no contrition of heart for sin, there can be no affection in the soul for Christ (1 Jo. 1:7-2:2; 1 Pet. 1:5-8).

Behold, the love of Jesus Christ for sinners in His ability and willingness to relieve sinners from condemnation and guilt, and to reconcile us to the Father! Glory, Hallelujah!! (Rom. 5:1-11). It is brokenness of heart (Isa. 66:2b), and a sense of approaching ruin, that gives the soul the first occasion of acquainting oneself with Christ’s goodness and grace (Matt. 9:12; Acts 9:5-6). This love grows by the work of the Holy Spirit as we continue to understand the depths of what God in Christ has done for us, until we are able to say: “I am sick with love for Him” (Song of Solomon 2:5, 5:4, 10). Ask yourself: “Have I ever found myself lost and undone; Not able to bear up against the terrors of an accusing and condemning conscience? And then known under this conviction to put my whole trust and faith in the Lord Jesus?”

* “I cry ‘Abba, Father’!” Where love of Christ is sincere, there has been an experiential impression, taste, and feeling of the Father’s love to the soul in Him; there is some sweet assurance of the Father’s love as it is revealed in Jesus (Rom. 8:15; Rom. 5:5). There has been a realization that the only reason why you have closed with Christ and have become one of His disciples is because of the Father’s love to you, drawing you, and enabling you to come to Christ (John 6:44; 14:6, 9; 2 Cor. 5:19; 1 John 4:19). Do you know that you have been reconciled to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16-18), and has declared you righteous in Christ, and has adopted you as His dear child? Have you felt these bonds of divine love that have been thrown upon you? Do you see God to be your ultimate happiness?

* “I love Jesus the God-Man!” Where love of Christ is sincere, our affections are drawn to Jesus not merely as a historical person who has been historically made known to us, but according to His true character as God and Man in one Person, as one filled with the Spirit of God above measure, as one who laid aside His Divine splendor and majesty to be an obedient servant unto death, raised from the dead and enthroned at God’s right hand (John 1:14; 3:36; 8:58; Phil. 2:5-8; Acts 2:29-34).

These four graces will be evident in our lives if we know Jesus in this way:

* A humble and reverent admiration of Jesus Christ: We will have an admiring love for Him. Though we admire Him, we do not fully comprehend Him (Song of Solomon 5:16; Eph. 3:17). We admire and love Him as God and man (John 1:1,14; 1 Tim. 3:16). As we meditate on His glorious Person, our souls will have a holy rapture of admiration and this admiration will always be increasing.

* Sweet and refreshing delight in Jesus Christ: It is a delighting, rejoicing love (Song of Songs 2:3). Aquinas said: “Love is the rest and satisfaction of the soul in the object loved.” The nature of love lies much in delight (1 Pet. 1:8; Psa. 37:4). If you love Jesus Christ, you will be delighted with Him!

* Deep gratitude and thankfulness: It is a grateful and thankful love begotten in the soul because of the sense of Christ’s unspeakable goodness and condescension toward sinners. Meditating upon this often helps maintain gratitude and increase it for the glory of God. Christ voluntarily undertook our salvation and redemption, even though we were God’s enemies (Rom. 5:8). He took our human nature upon Himself permanently (Heb. 2:16). Christ was unwearied in His diligence, and invincible patience in fulfilling the law of God that He had willingly submitted Himself unto. Although the terror of the Lord was against Him in Gethsemane and on Golgotha, He went quietly and submissively like a lamb to the slaughter for sinners (Isa. 53:7). Christ was willing to communicate to sinners the benefits purchased for us, bidding us to do nothing but to turn to God in repentance and believe in Him (Matt. 11:30; Rom. 10:8-10). Thinking upon His great work for you, will you not now empty your heart into the bosom of the Lord with love and thankfulness for who He is and what He has done for you?!

* Supporting hope and confidence: It is a hoping and condiment love; it is not a languishing affection, but that which brings life into the soul from the fullness of that Christ it feeds upon by faith (John 1:16; Col. 2:9; 1 Jo. 4:18). “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?! …We are more than conquerors in Him who has loved us!” (Rom. 8:35-39). Love gives confidence and boldness of access to Christ, and unto God the Father by Him at the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). This hopeful and confident love will manifest itself in enduring and persevering to the end.

To be continued. Part 2: “How may that love for Jesus be kindled and enflamed? How may it grow and increase in my life?

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q10

Question: How did God create man?

Answer: God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures

Scripture memory:

“God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion… over all the earth… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female…“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over...” – Genesis 1:26-28 (Also see Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24).

An explanation:

Man was the climax and great masterpiece of God’s creation work. As Image-Bearer of the Triune God, man was a mirror reflection of God’s glory on earth (J. Calvin). Man was created to be a covenant creature completely dependent upon God and His Word. Man was made to be God’s vice-gerent (or vice-regent) over creation to serve God as a Servant-Son over the whole earth, having rule or dominion as prophet, priest and king before the face of God.

As the Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 17 summarizes the Biblical teaching: “After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with living, reasonable and immortal souls;(Gen. 2:7; Job 35:11) made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness;(Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24) having the law of God written in their hearts,(Rom. 2:14-15) and power to fulfil it,(Eccl. 7:29) and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.”

Man was made in God’s image, both male and female. God’s image and likeness means that man had God’s knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. Man and woman were to subdue the creation in their proper roles under God’s Covenant Lordship, filling the earth with more image bearers (“godly offspring”, Mal. 2:15), and glorifying God and enjoying their service to Him as their Heavenly Father. Man and woman were to serve God with perfect knowledge of God in their understandings, righteousness in their wills, and holiness in their affections.

Man in His rebellion against God caused sin and death to come into the world (Rom. 5:12), terribly marring and deforming the image of God, and giving himself over to slavery to satan (Eph. 2:1-3). This terrible rebellion and fall into sin caused man’s mind to be darkened in His knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18ff), and sinful in His will and disposition towards God and others (Eph. 4:18-22). Although man was made a little lower than the angels, and was created to be confirmed in righteousness and holiness, and crowned with glory and honor (Psa. 8), because of man’s sin, this glory and honor was not fully realized.

In God’s good and gracious plan of redemption, the Eternal Son of God took upon Himself a human nature, yet without sin, to perfectly attain this glory and honor through obedience to God’s Word (Heb. 2:6-18). Jesus Christ succeeded perfectly in keeping God’s holy commandments, where Adam failed. Jesus is the image of the invisible God; He is the perfect and righteous Servant-Son, the Second Adam, the Prophet, Priest and King, who was crowned with glory and honor in His resurrection and exaltation, who remakes and reforms sinners through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

A prayer:

Father, thank you for not leaving us in our sins under the penalty of the death and the curse. Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to redeem mankind. Grant us righteousness, holiness, and dominion as we serve you as your sons in Jesus. Let us put on the new man, created in Christ Jesus in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24).

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs