LORD’S DAY 3 – June 6, 2010

6. Did God create man thus, wicked and perverse?

No,^[1] but God created man good and after His own image,^[2] that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify Him.^[3]

^[1]Gen. 1:31.  ^[2]Gen. 1:26-27.  ^[3]II Cor. 3:18;  Col. 3:10;  Eph. 4:24.

7. From where, then, does this depraved nature of man come?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise,^[1] whereby our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.^[2]

^[1]Gen. 3 (The whole chapter).  Rom. 5:12, 18-19.  ^[2]Ps. 51:5;  *Ps. 14:2-3.

8. But are we so depraved that we are completely incapable of any good and prone to all evil?

Yes,^[1] unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.^[2]

^[1]Jn. 3:6;  Gen. 6:5;  Job 14:4;  Isa. 53:6.  ^[2]Jn. 3:5;  *Gen. 8:21;  *II Cor. 3:5;  *Rom. 7:18; *Jer. 17:9.

LORD’S DAY 4 – June 13, 2010

9. Does not God, then, do injustice to man by requiring of him in His Law that which he cannot perform?

No, for God so made man that he could perform it;^[1] but man, through the instigation of the devil, by willful disobedience deprived himself and all his descendants of this power.^[2]

^[1]Eph. 4:24.^[2]Rom. 5:12.

10. Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?

Certainly not,^[1] but He is terribly displeased with our inborn as well as our actual sins, and will punish them in just judgment in time and eternity, as He has declared: “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”^[2]

^[1]Heb. 9:27.  ^[2]Deut. 27:26;  Gal. 3:10;  *Rom. 1:18;  *Mt. 25:41.

11. But is not God also merciful?

God is indeed merciful,^[1] but He is likewise just;^[2] His justice therefore requires that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul.

^[1]Ex. 34:6-7.  ^[2]Ex. 20:5;  Ps. 5:5-6; II Cor. 6:14-16; *Rev. 14:11.

SECOND PART: OF MAN’S REDEMPTION

LORD’S DAY 5 – June 20, 2010

12. Since, then, by the righteous judgment of God we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, how may we escape this punishment and be again received into favor?

God wills that His justice be satisfied;^[1] therefore, we must make full satisfaction to that justice, either by ourselves or by another.^[2]

^[1]Ex. 20:5; 23:7.  ^[2]Rom. 8:3-4.

13. Can we ourselves make this satisfaction?

Certainly not; on the contrary, we daily increase our guilt.^[1]

^[1]Job 9:2-3; 15:15-16;Mt. 6:12; *16:26.

14. Can any mere creature make satisfaction for us?

None; for first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man committed;^[1] and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin^[2] and redeem others from it.

^[1]Heb. 2:14-18.  ^[2]Ps. 130:3.

15. What kind of mediator and redeemer, then, must we seek?

One who is a true^[1] and righteous man,^[2] and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.^[3]

^[1]I Cor. 15:21-22, 25-26. ^[2]Jer. 13:16;  Isa. 53:11;  II Cor. 5:21;Heb. 7:15-16.  ^[3]Isa. 7:14; Heb. 7:26.

LORD’S DAY 6 – June 27, 2010

16. Why must He be a true and righteous man?

Because the justice of God requires^[1] that the same human nature which has sinned should make satisfaction for sin; but one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others.^[2]

^[1]Rom: 5:15.  ^[2]Isa. 53:3-5.

17. Why must He also be true God?

That by the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath,^[1] and so obtain for^[2] and restore to us righteousness and life.^[3]

^[1]Isa. 53:8;Acts 2:24.  ^[2]Jn. 3:16;  Acts 20:28.  ^[3]I Jn. 1:2.

18. But who now is that Mediator, who in one person is true God and also a true and righteous man?

Our Lord Jesus Christ,^[1] who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and righteousness. ^[2]

^[1]Mt. 1:23;I Tim. 3:16;Lk. 2:11.^[2]I Cor. 1:30;*Acts 4:12.

19. From where do you know this?

From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise,^[1] afterwards proclaimed by the holy patriarchs^[2] and prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law,^[3] and finally fulfilled by His well-beloved Son.^[4]

^[1]Gen. 3:15.  ^[2]Gen. 22:18; 49:10-11;Rom. 1:2;Heb. 1:1;Acts 3:22-24; 10:43.  ^[3]Jn. 5:46.  Heb. 10:7.  ^[4]Rom. 10:4;  Gal. 4:4-5; *Heb. 10:1.