https://open.spotify.com/episode/5JdQsZpRhSguoT7EL6Zzyx?si=dcYo3aeeTCOhKcZJSvCX4A The New City Catechism is divided into three parts. The first part focuses upon God the Father, creation, the Fall, and God's law. The second part concerns Christ, redemption, and grace. The third part instructs us on the Holy Spirit, our restoration to God, and our growing in His grace. Although this is the …
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:1-3 …
A few weeks ago, my wife reminded me of an experience early in our marriage that set the stage for my love of catechisms. We were speaking with a husband and wife who were Jehovah's Witness in our home, and the wife shared her testimony of why she left her Methodist upbringing to join the …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4M3WQ8BtkuGKoDfZLplB9I?si=FNEWPYbrTViwoH7JThg9Ng This question is a subdivision of the previous but is also a further explanation of the first part of Question 9. The First Commandment (which reads, “You shall have no other gods before me”) is, at its core, God denouncing idolatry, condemning it as sin. He will not have us trusting in created things …
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two …
Continue reading If We Go on Sinning Deliberately | Hebrews 10:26-31
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6hWHVZcKXsVMBYelVlOgoa?si=d7a9d16631384c39 Although God’s law is good and although obedience to God’s law leads to a life of joy and blessing, we are unable to keep His commandments because of the sinful nature that we have inherited from our forefather, Adam. When he committed the original sin, he plunged all of humanity into a world of …
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart …
Continue reading Draw Near, Hold Fast, Stir Up | Hebrews 10:19-25
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6eEKU3zR5vVdM9Ua1QpOxx?si=cdfa310b70754ff0 The first clause of this question effectively summarizes Questions 13 and 14. Because Adam's original sin as the father and representative of all mankind, we are each born in sin and corruption, who no longer possess the ability to keep God's law. You will notice, however, that the Bible repeatedly praises and rejoices in …
Continue reading Question 15: Since No One Can Keep the Law, What Is Its Purpose?
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fuGsUPnIZNRUX9h2Oiy0K?si=e92b5c42e56c4dc2 This question was forecast in the opening phrase to Question 13's answer: "since the Fall." No human has been able to keep God's law since the Fall. Thus, we can imply that before the Fall humans were indeed able to keep God's law, and now our present question makes that implication explicit. No, God …
Continue reading Question 14: Did God Create Us Unable to Keep His Law?
B. C. Newton 