The great Charles Haddon's version in his book, All of Grace, wrote these wonderful words, quote, When I was under the hand of the Holy Spirit, under conviction of sin, I had a clear and sharp sense of the justice of God. Sin, whatever it might be to other people, became to me an intolerable burden. It was not so much that I feared hell, but that I feared sin. I knew myself to be so horribly guilty that I remember feeling that if God did not punish me for sin, He ought to do so. I felt that the judge of all the earth ought to condemn such sin as mine. I sat on the judgment seat, and I condemned myself to perish. For I confessed that had I been God, I could have done no other than send such a guilty creature as I was down to the lowest hell. All the while, I had upon my mind a deep concern for the honor of God's name and the integrity of His moral government. I felt that it would not satisfy my conscience if I could be forgiven unjustly. The sin I had committed must be punished. But then there was the question, how God could be just and yet justify me, who had been so guilty? I asked my heart, how can He be just and yet the justifier? I was worried and wearied with this question. Neither could I see any answer to it. Certainly, I could never have invented an answer which would have satisfied my conscience. The doctrine of the atonement is, to my mind, one of the surest proofs of the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture. Who would or could have thought of the just ruler dying for the unjust rebel? This is no teaching of human mythology or dream of poetical imagination. This method of expiation is only known among men because it is a fact. Fiction could not have devised it. God himself ordained it. It is not a matter which could have been imagined." End quote. So to start with, I've been listening to All of Grace on Audible by Charles Spurgeon. It's his best-selling book that he ever wrote. I was listening to the old archives of what's called the MARS podcast. It stands for Mid-America Reform Seminary, MARSCast, it's called. It's on Spotify and Apple iTunes podcast has it. I went all the way back to the beginning, and I've been listening to their podcasts, and they're so good. They're just excellent stuff. And they were talking about question 60 and then question 77 of the Huddlebury Catechism and the Westminster Larger Catechism, respectively. And I was so moved by how wonderful their exposition of it was, I thought, I want to do a whole podcast on question 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism and then question 77 of the Westminster Larger Catechism because they are so good and so much biblical information is pulled together and summarized in these wonderful doctrinal statements, which we would do well to go back and review and look up the proof texts and meditate on them, soak them in, and let our hearts rejoice in the wonder. of the grace and the mercy of God. Now, I am going to try in this program today to get to, Julian asked a really good question about question 85 of the Shorter Catechism. That's actually a question I've heard before. It makes it sound like more than faith is needed for salvation. So I am going to try to address that. And Susan asked a question about how Hell is eternal punishment for our sins if we die in our sins. How is it that Christ was able to suffer the Father's eternal wrath in a finite period of time? That's an excellent question, and it actually is brought up and kind of answered. in the Heidelberg Catechism, and it's also, as I recall, I got the Heidelberg question in my notes here, and the Westminster Larger Catechism answers that, too. So we'll try to get to those before the end of the program, but thank you for those questions. Those are really good questions. Okay, question 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks the all-important question, how are you righteous before God? Now, up to that point in the catechism, it's already gone through how we come to know our guilt, our sin, our misery before God. We know it because the law of God tells us that our conscience shows and the Holy Spirit convicts that we have failed to keep God's commandments to the satisfaction of His righteousness. We know that God is holy, that God is perfect, and that He requires and demands from us perfect righteousness if we are to be declared righteous before Him on the Day of Judgment. But as sinners, we can't do it. There's nothing I can do to become righteous. So that is the key question. How are you righteous as a sinner before God? How can that be done? And the answer is, only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. And we're going to talk about what faith is here in just a minute. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ am I righteous before God, even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, of never having kept any of them, and of still being inclined toward all evil. Nevertheless, without any merit of my own, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner. And as if I had been perfectly obedient, as Christ was obedient for me, all I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart. Okay, now, let's talk about what faith is. There's an incredible amount of confusion, unfortunately, these days. There's no need for this confusion because the word faith, the Greek noun pistis, belief, and the verb pistou, I believe, when it's being used in the New Testament in Romans and Galatians and Philippians and Ephesians 2 and Titus chapter 3 and 2 Corinthians chapter 5, when those passages speak of faith or belief, what it is to have faith in Christ, What that is referring to is what you are relying on to get you to heaven. We're justified by faith in Christ. What that is shorthand for saying is you're justified before God by relying on Christ, not relying on your works. So if a person says, well, yeah, I believe in Jesus, and I believe that my faith is an obedient faith, and obedience is part of faith, that person does not believe in Jesus then. That person doesn't understand Christianity, does not understand the gospel, and is really in their sins and under God's just condemnation. The person who believes in Jesus is the person who does not believe in their works anymore. They're not trusting in or relying upon anything wrought in them by the Holy Spirit, supposedly, or anything done by them. Any works that they do, any obedience to the law, any obedience in their life, any pursuing of holiness, any sanctification, they don't believe in any of that. Now, are they being sanctified? Yes. Will they do good works? Are they going to be conformed to the image of Christ? Yes. Is that what they believe in though? Is that what they're relying on? Is that what they're trusting in? No. Not at all. Not ever. And I love, I love the fact that when God effectually calls someone and teaches them how to put their faith in Christ, their reliance will only be on Jesus until they die. And you know, this really came home to me. I'm not going to break down on you here, but Two Saturdays ago and then two Sundays ago, laying in bed before that procedure, before they discovered there was a 90% blockage in my right coronary artery, I felt for the first time in my life that I felt like I know what it feels like to be dying. I've been pretty sick before. I've been real sick a couple times, but I've never, never thought I was dying. I never thought I was going to die. That was the first time in my life, two Sunday nights ago, I was actually fearful of going to sleep, because I thought, I might die. Because my chest was hurting me so bad, and I probably should have gone to the ER right then. But as I was laying there, all I was thinking about was, all I have is Jesus Christ's righteousness and His shed blood. Have I tried to love my wife and been faithful to her and love her and be a good husband to her? Yeah, I've tried to. I've tried to be. Have I loved my children? I've tried to. Have I tried to be faithful to this congregation here and love the people here as best I can? Yeah, I've tried to. Have I done any of those things perfectly? No. But as I was thinking about that feeling, that sensation of, am I dying? And I was praying. I was asking God, please, please see me through the night and let me get this procedure done. If they can fix it, please let them fix it. Don't let me die. But I thought, if I die, my confidence for going to heaven is in none of my fruit, none of my obedience. I'm not looking to the obedience of faith, not looking to my works of faith. But looking to the shed blood and the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, that robe of righteousness that clothes me all day, every day, no matter how much, no matter how well I do or how badly I fail, the righteousness of Christ is mine, credited to my account before God. That's how I'm righteous before God. When we talk about justification by faith alone. What that really is saying is justification is by the righteousness of Christ alone, without any of my merits, without any of my fruit. Have I borne fruit? Yes. Am I relying on it at all? No, not at all. My fruit can no more save me than a spider's web could catch an avalanche. My fruit cannot play any role whatsoever in the eschatological vindication of my faith and all the other fun, creative ways that the Judaizing heresy is being taught today. Here's how the new Reform Judaizers teach the Galatian heresy. Are you ready? Here's how they teach it. Look, you're saved by grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone. It's all grace, it's all Christ, His imputed righteousness. But then there's this judgment of works. and your works are spread out before you to see if there's enough evidence to convict you of having saving faith. That's a lie. There is no eschatological judgment of your faith to see if there's enough works to convict you of having saving faith. There's a judgment of works for rewards, 2 Corinthians 5, 10, 1 Corinthians 3, 1-17. It's spoken of there. There's a judgment of works for rewards. That reward is not eternal life. It's not justification. Justification is by faith in Christ. It's by relying on Jesus, trusting in His personal righteousness, His cross work, not by works lest anyone should boast, apart from law, apart from works, apart from works of law, apart from deeds of righteousness, not by works lest anyone should boast, where then is boasting? It is excluded. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Isn't it amazing that heretics, false teachers, and smooth talkers will find a way, find a way to get our works into that equation? I bless the name of Jesus Christ. I bless the name of the Lord that He taught me how to put my faith in Christ. You know who I learned that from in the Word of God, John 6, 44 and 45? You know who teaches us, who teaches the elect how to believe in Jesus? God the Holy Spirit does. He teaches them how. He enlightens their mind. John Owen and his great book, it's like, you know, I probably read the first 300 pages of it like 20 years ago. So good. His book on justification by faith alone. Owen says, many will bring up the idea, well, you know, no one taught this as clearly as Luther did and, you know, until the 16th century, and so many people died not fully understanding it, and Owen explodes that myth. And he points out, the fact is, all of God's elect have always known how to put their faith in Christ alone, because God teaches them how. And I was thinking, even before I'd ever even heard the word justification, when God converted me when I was 18 years old, my confidence for entering heaven has always and only been in Jesus' personal righteousness, not my works or my growth or my fruit or anything wrought in me or done by me. At no point have I ever trusted in my works, ever. Not even a little bit, ever. Why? Because God taught me how to believe in Jesus. Christians are not going to trust in their works to get them into heaven. We praise God for the progress we make, praise God for the victories over sin that we experience, praise God for all the ways we've been changed, but perish the thought that I would rely on that, even partially, to get me into heaven. Please think of John Brown of Haddington in his little book, Counsel to Gospel Ministers. He says to these young ministers, if you do not preach Jesus Christ's personal righteousness and cross as the sole basis upon which sinners enter heaven, you are a minister of death, he says. And he also says, if you even make it possible that someone might think that their works are even the smallest ingredient to get them into heaven, you are a minister of death. They think, yep, he's right. And my goodness, how people are messing this up today. Well, our initial clothing in white is by faith alone, and then our future justifications are by works done with the help of—that is a lie. That is the Galatian heresy. Don't believe that. You want to go to heaven? Trust in Jesus. How are you righteous before God? Only by true faith in Christ, not by works, lest anyone should boast. And always remember too, I want to warn y'all, I want to warn you, if you hear people put temporal qualifiers in front of justified, things like initial justification, run for your life! You're looking at, listening to a Judaizer. There is no initial justification. Justification is the final eschatological verdict, brought backwards in time and applied to us the moment that we believe in Jesus and are united to Him by faith alone. And God, when I believe in Him and I'm not trusting in my works anymore, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner. That's what forgiveness means. Ephesians 1 verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And as if I had been perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf. That's the cross. He was made sin in our behalf, legally, judicially. That's why he was forsaken at the cross, crushed. The wrath that was to fall on me fell on him in my place, so it would never fall on me. What a blasphemy it is to try to include our works of faith, our obedience of faith, our sanctification, our fruit, as part of what saves us. That is to spit in the face of Christ, to even imagine such a thing. Your righteousness cannot play any role in getting you into heaven, and there is not anything in Scripture about a judgment of our faith by our works to determine whether our faith—the faith which alone justifies—was real. That's how the Judaizing heresy is being taught today. Oh, it's faithful, it's graceful, it's faithful, and it's Christ's own. But then there's the judgment of works, and your works are evaluated. Are there enough good works here? To convict them of having saving faith, that's a lie. That's not taught in Scripture. That's not true. How were you righteous before God? By trusting in the finished work of Jesus and not trusting in your works anymore. Because to trust in Jesus means to let go of anything else you ever trusted. Remember Paul goes through that in Philippians chapter 3? Everything he used to think was in his credit column, he actually comes to realize was in his debit column. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to zeal persecuting the church. But whatever things were gained to me, all this fruit and works and good things I had done, I have regarded as lost for the sake of Christ. In order that I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ." You see how in Paul's mind it's one or the other? It's righteousness by faith or righteousness by law. And that's why at the end of Galatians he says, I solemnly testify to you. If you start believing in or trusting in anything you've done—your fruit, your sanctification, your putting sin to death, your pursuit of holiness—if you start believing in any of that at all, Christ will be of no benefit to you, and you are a debtor to keep the whole law by yourself. It's either Christ does it all, or He's not in the equation at all for you. And oh my, how many people are there? How many people are there on the last day who are going to say, Lord, Lord, I believed in you. Oh, I thought it was faith alone. I just didn't want to be an antinomian, so I included my works and was going to, you know, I mean, isn't sanctification part of salvation proper? And it's part of, I mean, there's a vindication. Depart from me, I never knew you. To come to God means you come on His terms. You either trust in God's righteousness, the righteousness that was achieved and performed by Christ, or you're lost. What did Paul say about the Jews? He says, I bear them witness in Romans chapter 10, verses 1 and following there, my most earnest prayer to God for Israel is that they would be saved, for I bear them witness they have a great zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. In other words, they're ignorant of the imputed righteousness, personal obedience to the Ten Commandments given to us by faith alone, apart from works. They're ignorant of that. And thus, they're always seeking to establish their own righteousness. Therefore, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God." Isn't that so sad? You see, anyone that's relying upon their works, anyone who says, yes, Jesus, Jesus makes it all possible, but, you know, you've got to be sanctified. You know, you've got to be sanctified. And I'm just, you know, it's my obedience of faith. That person doesn't know Christ then. A confusing gospel, I no longer use that excuse. I guess I'm getting old and kind of crotchety about it. I no longer use, well, I think they're just a little bit ambiguous. I'm not real sure about N.T. Wright or Doug Wilson or the Federal Vision. They're a little confusing. No, a confusing gospel is heresy. A confusing gospel is heresy. The gospel is actually pretty easy to get right. It's easy in Scripture. I mean, how many ways does the New Testament tell us that our works do not save us? How many different expressions could possibly be used to say that? And yet these guys will still find a way to confuse it. Why? Because they don't really believe in Jesus. They don't believe in Him. So there's question 60. All right, question 77 of the larger catechism. This is such an important question. Now, there's a lot that goes before this in the Catechism, but listen to this. This is one of the things that was recovered during the Reformation and spelled out real clearly in all the Reformed confessions. Each of the confessions has a whole chapter, typically, on justification and sanctification. But it's essential for us to know wherein they differ. Wherein do justification and sanctification differ? J. Answer. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ. In sanctification, His Spirit infuses grace and enableth to the exercise thereof. Okay, so stop there for a minute. Justification, God's act of saving us judicially, justifying us before His law, listen carefully, it does not change us subjectively at all. The judicial forensic legal act of justification does not change the believing sinner in any way, shape, or form subjectively. It only changes their legal status. Their legal status goes from condemned before the law to justified before the law. Okay, is that clear? I hope that's clear. Why is it saying that expired? So, justification changes our status. It does not change us subjectively in any way, shape, or form. Okay? So, in justification, God imputes Christ's righteousness. In sanctification, His Spirit infuses grace and enables to the exercise thereof. Okay? So, sanctification does change us progressively subjectively. Okay? I'm going to pull up some here real quick. So, sanctification changes us subjectively. Justification doesn't change us at all. Justification only changes our status. In the former, in justification, sin is pardoned. Now, what is pardon? That's a legal term. A judge can pardon a person who's on trial, right? They pardon someone who's on trial. In the other, in sanctification, can you guys hear me? Rich, can you comment on there if you guys can hear me? Okay, there's still nine people watching. Can you all, am I coming through in internet land right now? Somebody over there say something. Brian, Norman, Paul Garvey? Can you guys comment over there real quick just so I know someone's listening? Okay, let's see. You're back. Okay, Paul, Paul Garvey says I'm back. All right. Hey, Paul, do you remember the last thing I said that came through? I don't, I don't know where. Okay, so question 77, question 77 of the larger catechism. I'm going to pull this. I'm going to make sure I can at least see if I'm still. Rich, you don't see me? You don't see me? We can hear you. OK, yes, you're back. I don't see him. Now I do. OK, so Rich, you can see me too. OK, and it looks like we still caught the stream here. I might be able to, I bought some software that I can actually download the videos from YouTube and edit them. So I might be able to edit that dead air out later. So, okay, Robert Bogler, I'm back. All right, cool. Okay, so let me talk about Question 77 of the Westminster Larger Catechism. This was one of the great victories of the Protestant Reformation, is the distinction between justification and sanctification. Now, those two things always go together. They always go together. But it is absolutely essential. It is essential to your eternal life. to distinguish the two things from one another. Now, question 77 of the larger catechism, wherein do justification and sanctification differ? Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, in other words, they're always together in a person, yet they differ. in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ, in sanctification His Spirit infuses grace and enables to the exercise thereof. Okay, so let me summarize what the real difference is. Justification does not change us subjectively at all. It only changes our status before the law. Sanctification does change us subjectively, and that's the only thing that it does. And sanctification plays no role in the change in our legal status. Okay, are y'all tracking with that? Think of Romans 5, verse 9. much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Once my legal status is changed from guilty to pardoned, from guilty to righteous because of Christ's righteousness that covers me, that's what my status will always be from now to eternity. When I stand before God, I'm justified. I'm righteous in His sight. Sanctification changes us subjectively. It makes us more like Christ. It enables us to become more holy, more godly. Okay, that question goes on. The answer goes on. In the former, in justification, sin is pardoned. Okay, that's the legal aspect. Legally pardoned of the guilt by the judge. I'm pardoned of my sin by the judge. In sanctification, sin is subdued. The One, justification, equally frees all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation. Okay, so justification is equal in everybody. Sanctification is not equal in all. So you will meet people who are holier than you, and people who are less holy than you. Nor is it perfect in this life, but it grows up to perfection. And I always think of that great B.B. Warfield quote when he was critiquing the idea of Christian perfection. He said, anytime a man tells me he's attained sinless perfection in this life, I quickly push him aside and begin conversating with his wife. Let's see if she thinks you're perfect in this life. I promise you she doesn't. Okay, so justifications changes our legal status. Sanctification changes us subjectively. And folks, if you mess that up, you're not going to get uh the gospel right so let me give you some quotes i don't know if these came through last time or not peter lightheart lightheart is one of the worst of the federal vision heretics he says in his book the baptized body justification is not so much a point but a process wrong justification is a point when god god does the judicial act of changing our legal status from condemned to justified We don't live out the process of justification, because justification is not a process, it is not a work, it is a divine act. A punctiliar, one-time act, whereby the righteousness of Christ is put upon us, and our verdict at the last day is permanently changed from condemned to justified, praise God. So, no sir, justification is not a process. James Jordan says this, quote, good works are in some way instrumental to our final justification, end quote. Wrong. Good works play no role in final justification, because there's no such thing as final justification. And please don't start quoting from chapters 15, 16, and 17 of Book 3 of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, because what John Calvin is talking about there is not a second justification of our person, but rather the justification of our works for rewards. That's all. So don't give me any more quotations from Calvin out of context. The Federal Vision guys have done that for 23 years, and Dr. Joseph Paipa and other good Reformed theologians have been pointing this out, Richard Phillips pointing this out for 23 years. You guys are taking Calvin out of context. He did not teach a second justification of our person, but rather a justification of our works for rewards. Doug Wilson in his book Reformed is Not Enough says, Covenant faithfulness is what justifies us at the last day. And my answer to that is, no, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. And what a travesty that is. Covenant faithfulness is what justifies us at the last day. No, it's not. No, it's not. Okay, another question that was asked. Julian had asked the question over there in the chat thing, what does God require of us? This is question 85 of the Shorter Catechism. What does God require of us that we may escape His wrath and curse due to us for sin? And the answer given is, to escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with a diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption. Now, at first glance, someone might worry that this answer contradicts justification by faith alone because it lists repentance and the use of the other outward means along with faith. However, this answer does not deny justification by faith alone for several reasons. Number one, faith as the sole instrument of justification is spelled out explicitly clearly in many places in the Confession, in the larger catechism, the shorter catechism. And chapter 11.2 of the Confession says, Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification. Okay? Repentance and the using of the means of grace are not instruments of our justification. Also, repentance is a necessary fruit, not a necessary cause. Chapter 15.3 states explicitly that repentance is not to be rested in as rendering any satisfaction for sin, but it is of such necessity to all sinners that none may expect pardon without it. Yet, repentance is not what justifies us or saves us. It is like sanctification, something that always goes with justification by faith alone, but it's got to be distinguished from it. Okay? Means of grace as a means of growth, not justification. The diligent use of the outward means, such as the Word, sacraments, and prayer, are necessary for Christian growth, perseverance, as receiving the ongoing benefits of redemption, but they do not justify us before God. So, Question 85 is really aimed more at what conversion really is, not really at the means or the instrument of justification. So, Question 85 of the Shorter Catechism does not teach justification by faith plus repentance or works or anything like that. Now, Susan asked the question, how can a moment in time, one afternoon, the infinite debt load of sin actually be taken by Christ on behalf of sinners? Question 15 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks, what kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? And the answer there given is one who is true and righteous man, and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also truly God. Question 16, why must the mediator be a true and righteous human? Answer, God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for it. But a sinful human could never pay for others. 17. Why must the Mediator also be true God? So that the Mediator, by the power of His divinity, might bear the weight of God's wrath and His humanity, and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. And so, the divinity of Christ is what enables him, is what keeps the human nature from sinking under the wrath of God. And so, his being fully God is what enables him to take that infinite debt load of sin. I'm going to pull up the Westminster Larger Catechism here too on why mediator must be truly gone. I can't recall what, yeah, the Larger Catechism It says, "...it was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death, give worth and efficacy to His sufferings, obedience and intercession, and to satisfy God's justice, procure His favor, purchase of peculiar people, etc." So, His divine nature being joined with the humanity is what keeps the humanity from sinking under the infinite wrath of God. So, Jesus not only takes that infinite debt load, because He Himself is infinite, being God, But he actually conquers it when he rises from the dead. Jesus has destroyed death. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Listen to this passage. Let me pull it up here. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Now, the BibleVerse doesn't work. I have to use this other Bible software. 2 Timothy 1 verse 8. It says, Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death. and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. So Jesus abolished death by rising from the dead. When He took the infinite debt load of sin away and fully satisfied that infinite punishment at the cross, He died. And then when He was raised from the dead, He has abolished death. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection. the firstfruits to rise from the dead, and when he returns, all who are in him will either be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, conformed to his glorious, glorified resurrection body, or be raised from the dead incorruptible, and all the last remnants of sin will be done away with for good. Okay. So that's probably a good place to stop for the day. And we were able to refresh it. That didn't lose the live stream. So it'd be interesting to see what that little middle section looks like there. But hopefully that helped answer some of your questions. And we'll see you all next time. Love you all. Thank you all for watching or for listening.