Month: September 2009

I am his and he is mine…

Q45 What benefits come from justification, adoption and sanctification?

A The benefits are assurance of God’s love, peace, joy and perseverance to the end.


Pleased as man with man to dwell…

Q. What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?
A. The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection.

Q. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A. Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fulness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.

Q. How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A. Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition.

(Questions XLVI, XLVII and XLVIII of the Westminster Larger Catechism.)


Being saved…

Q.44. What is sanctification?
A. It is God making sinners holy in heart and conduct.


Born of God

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds,
And drives away our fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms each heart opressed;
it’s manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.

Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
My Shield and Hiding Place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!

By you my prayers acceptance gain,
Although with sin defiled;
Satan accuses me in vain,
since I am God’s own child.

Jesus! my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.

Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see you as you are,
I’ll praise you as I ought.

Till then I would your love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of your Name
Refresh my soul in death!

John Newton


To all who believed in his name…

Q.43. What is adoption?
A. It is God taking sinners into his family and treating them as his children.


Justification

Q.42. What is justification?
A. It is God forgiving sinners, and treating them as righteous, for the sake of Christ.