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.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:7-8)

Question 18: What is the misery of that state whereunto man fell?
Answer: All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.
 
Ultimately, the most grievous condition that was the result of the fall of man is not that he died physically, but that he died spiritually.  Not long after the fall, we read in Genesis 6:5 that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  What a sad commentary on the human condition.  “Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  The Bible makes clear that the unbelieving heart only desires sin.  That is not to say that all unbelievers are as evil as they can be.  It is to say that even when unbelievers do good things, they always do them for sinful reasons—for selfish reasons—to look good to others, to feel good about themselves, to move up the ladder, so that others might owe them.  Put simply, the Bible makes clear that everything we do should be done from a heart of faith and for God’s glory (Rom 14:23; 1 Cor 10:31).  Thus, any good deed we do that does not proceed from a heart of faith in God and is done for his glory is sin.  But even worse, the Bible makes clear that because of the fall of Adam, all unbelievers are blind to the things of God (2 Cor 4:3-4), at enmity with God, unable to obey God’s commands, unable to even please God (Rom 8:7-8), are spiritually dead in their sins, and completely non-responsive to the things of God (Eph 2:1, 5).  This is the state of the human soul apart from the transforming power of the gospel.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Rom. 7:19-20)

Question 17: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state whereunto man fell?
Answer: The sinfulness of that state whereunto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.[i]
 
The fall of Adam negatively impacted every aspect of humanity.  Humans are created in the image of God.  Meaning, humans possess all the qualities and attributes God possesses, but on an finite level. It also means that all that is in man is also in God, minus sin. Humans were created as a miniaturized, finite, representational, version of God. Adam and Eve were perfect in every way. After the fall, humans are still the image of God, but we are a shattered image. Because of sin, the image of God in man has been warped, twisted, and tainted. We are damaged goods.  The apostle Paul says in Romans 7:20-23, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”  He says that sin “dwells within me” and that sin “dwells in my members”; that is, the members of our own bodies.  Thus, sin is not just what we do.  Sin is what we are.  We are sinful.  We are sinful creatures.  Even as saints, sin still indwells us.  It’s for this reason Martin Luther would often say that believers are simul justus et peccator—simultaneously justified and sinner.  Yet, because of what Christ has done for us—for the believer—there is hope.  We can echo the words of Paul who said, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vv.24-25).  Someday when our sanctification is complete, when we are done with this life and enter into the glorious presence of our God and King, we will be free from the sin that plagues us and indwells us and be able to worship Christ in purity and holiness for all eternity. 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5)

Question 16: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Answer: The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery. (Romans 5:18)[i]
  
Adam and Eve lived in a pristine environment.  However, immediately after the fall we see the horrible effects of sin.  Adam and Eve’s firstborn son kills their second born son because of jealousy.  Cain kills Abel.  Parents who have suffered the loss of a child know the incredible pain and suffering that causes.  Now imagine suffering the death of a child at the hands of their sibling who intentionally murdered him.  Adam and Eve learned in a painful way the kind of suffering and misery their actions had brought into the world.  And then it’s not long after this that we read that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen. 6:5-6).  Sin, suffering, misery, and wickedness had become so great on the earth that God decides to wipe out all of humanity and start over with one family—Noah and his family.  We look around at the world today and we are reminded everywhere of the consequences of sin and disobedience to God, not only on a global scale but on a very interpersonal level as well.  The Bible tells us “that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).  We are living in the last days.  But thanks be to God I have read the end of the Bible—and God wins in the end!  For those who have faith in Christ there will come a day when he “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” (Rev. 21:4).  What a glorious day that will be!

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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)

Question 15: 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. (1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12)
 
The Bible makes clear that because of the sin of Adam, because he disobeyed the command not to eat from the forbidden tree, all people suffer the consequences of his actions.  Adam and Eve were designed to live eternally in the presence of God and in harmonious relationship with God.  But sin changed all that.  Not only did Adam and Eve begin to age and eventually die physically, they first died spiritually (Eph 2:1, 5).  These consequences were passed down to all their posterity, not via DNA but via the imputed guilt of Adam.  In Romans 5:15-21, Paul will go on to explain just how and why Adam’s sin and guilt are passed on to all humanity.  He does so by drawing a point of comparison between Adam and Jesus (the second Adam, cf. 1 Cor 15:45) and explaining that the manner in which justification and life come to those who are in union with Christ by faith is the same manner in which condemnation and death come to those are in union with Adam by birth.  In other words, what Paul discusses is the idea of federal representation.  Adam was the federal representative for all humanity.  Thus, we reap the consequences of his actions.  All humanity is imputed (credited) with his guilt, and thus inherit a corrupted soul.  There are some who might think that is simply not fair.  Why should we reap the consequences of Adam's actions?  Should we not each be given the same opportunity as Adam had in the garden?  First, do we really think we would have done better, given the same circumstances?  Second, if we say we disagree with God imputing Adam’s guilt to us, then we must also be willing to say we disagree with God imputing Christ’s righteousness to us and that God should judge us based on our own merit.  I, for one, am not willing to say that.  Thank God we are imputed with Christ’s righteousness at the moment we place faith in him!

Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (Deut. 12:32)

Question 14: What is sin?
Answer: Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God.[i]
 
When we talk about sin, there are two types of sin, two categories of sin.  There are sins of commission and sins of omission.  Sins of commission are when we commit acts or engage in thoughts which are contrary to God’s law, when we do that which God forbids us from doing.  Thou shall not lie.  Thou shall not steal.  Thou shall not covet.  Thou shall not lust after another person in your heart.  Sins of omission are when we omit or neglect to do that which God commands us to do.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Pray without ceasing.  Make disciples of all nations.  Wives, submit to your husbands in all things.  Husbands, love your wives in the same way that Christ loves the Church.  Sins of omission are much easier to commit and much easier to overlook.  It is much easier not steal than to love my neighbor as myself.  It is much easier to not murder than to forgive someone who has cause me emotional pain.  Nonetheless, sins of omission are just as grievous in the eyes of God as sins of commission.  And sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God.  Truths such as this are what led Paul to exclaim, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25).  Thank God we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone! 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" (Gen. 3:1)

Question 13: Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?
Answer: Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against God, (Ecclesiastes 7:29) by eating the forbidden fruit. (Genesis 3:6-8).[i]
 
The sin of Adam and Eve against God, the rebellion of the creatures against their Creator, the partaking of the forbidden fruit, was an act of cosmic treason against God.  It was without a doubt the darkest day in human history.  This was the day on which Adam and Eve plunged the entire world, all of humanity, into the throughs of sin, misery, despair, grief, and sorrow.  What is interesting to note is the way in which Satan tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God.  He says to them, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  Notice: “Did God actually say…”  Satan wants Eve to question the word of God.  This is almost always how temptation begins.  This is how Satan sews seeds of doubt into the minds of the believer.  He first gets us to question the word of God.  ‘Does God’s word really say you have to forgive those who sin against you?’  ‘Is internet pornography really a sin according to God’s word?’  ‘Is that really what God says?’  ‘Is that really what the Bible teaches?’  The woman does not fall for this first trap and responds in defense, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  So then, the devil takes a different approach.  One he still uses today.  He says to her, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:1-5).  In other words, ‘Fine.  That is what God said, but don’t take his words so literally.  "You will not surely die."  You won’t truly die.  Besides, God is just trying to keep something good from you.  God doesn’t want you to have more than what you have now.  God doesn’t want you to be truly happy.’  All of these lies are the same lies the devil uses today with incredible success, wreaking havoc on countless lives, leading people to internet porn addiction, causing them to have extramarital affairs, leading them to cheat on their taxes, and a host of other sins.  Don’t buy into the lies.  Read God’s word.  Take it at face value.  Believe it.  Trust it.  Your life will be the better for it. 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen. 2:16-17)

Question 12: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the state 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 pain of death. (Genesis 2:17; Galatians 3:12)
 
In Hoses 6:7 God condemns the Israelites for their unfaithfulness and says, “But like Adam they [the nation of Israel] transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.”  What we learn from this is that in the garden there was a covenant established between God and Adam. Theologians typically refer to this as the covenant of works. A covenant, in the Bible, is a chosen relationship between two parties consisting of binding promises to one another. What is clear from scripture is that God always relates to his people through means of covenant relationship and God is moving redemptive history forward by means of covenants. The first covenant we see in the Bible is the covenant of work between God and Adam, recorded in Genesis 2:16-17. There, essentially the terms of the covenant are that God will provide for Adam and sustain him eternally, if Adam will obey the one command which God has given. Of course, Adam violates the covenant bringing sin into the human race and causing death to spread to all people (Rom 5:12-14).  What is interesting to note is that the Bible describes Christ as the second Adam who came to do and accomplish on behalf of humanity what Adam failed to do (Rom 5:15-21; 1 Cor 15:45-49). Christ lived a perfect life of obedience to not just one law, but to all of the laws prescribed in the Old Testament, thereby earning righteousness and eternal life for all those who are in union with him by faith. Praise God for Christ, the second Adam!

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (Matt. 10:29)

Question 11: What are God’s 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.[i]
 
When we talk about the doctrine of Divine Providence we are talking about the way in which God directs, governs, and sustains all of creation. The Bible tells us that it is God who causes the rain to fall and the grass to grow (Ps 147:8). It is God who cause nations to rise and fall (Job 12:23). It is God who creates darkness and light, calamity and peace (Isaiah 45:7). The Bible tells us that not even a bird flutters to the ground outside of the will of God (Matt 10:29). The Bible makes clear there is not a single atom outside of the direct and sovereign control of God. All of this is summed up in what theologians call the Providence of God. This truth is at once comforting and humbling. It is comforting to know that someone is in control of this seemingly chaotic world, that our lives are not at the mercy of circumstance or chance but rather, when it comes to the believer, God is working all things for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28). But this truth is also humbling and that it reminds us that He is God and we are not, that ultimately our destiny is not in our own hands. We are not the masters of our own ship. We are not our own dog. Thus, all people are under the authority of God, whether they realize it or not. The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that the believer acknowledges God's authority over his life and rejoices in it and derives great comfort from it.             

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)

Question 10: 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.[i]
 
We read in Genesis 1 that on the sixth day God said, “‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and all the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that keeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, the image of God created him; male and female he created them.” When the Bible tells us that God created man in his own image, part of what that means is that humans are given dominion over creation (v.28). It also means that human beings are relational creatures just as God is a relational being who has existed for all of eternity in the harmonious relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is part of what God meant when he said “It is not good for man to be alone” (2:18).  It means humans are intellectual, creative, and emotional creatures. In some ways, being made in the image of God also means we are representative of God as well as representational of God. We see this in the fact that the same words “image” and “likeness” are used to describe the birth of Adams son (5:3). “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Seth was not identical to Adam, but to a certain degree he bore a striking resemblance to him, functionally, emotionally, intellectually, and physically.  Thus, humans are not identical to God; we are not gods but bear a striking resemblance to our Creator, functionally, emotionally, intellectually, and even physically.  To be sure, God does not have a body.  God is spirit.  But to some degree the amazingness of the human body is representational of the amazingness of our Creator. What is really important, however, and cannot be missed, especially in our current political climate, is that according to Scripture all people, all races, male and female, are made in the image of God. By the very fact that we are human, we all have equal value before God and, thus, we all deserve to be treated with respect and decency. 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exod. 20:11)

Question 9: What is the work of creation?
Answer: The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in six normal consecutive days, and all very good.[i]
 
This is an extremely important question and topic to deal with. In recent decades it has become popular to say that the creation narrative of Genesis 1 must somehow be made to fit into the theory of Darwinian evolution. Although evolution is not provable science, nor is it even reasonable science, it is the culturally accepted explanation for the origins of life. Therefore, many churches, pastors, and theologians feel obligated to kowtow to it and argue for the idea of theistic evolution. However, the Bible makes clear that God created all things, including the heavens and the earth (Ex 20:11), in “six normal consecutive days.” Often the debate surrounds the Hebrew word for day (yōm) which on occasion can mean larger expansions of time. The trouble with that interpretation is that the text tells us at the end of each day "there was evening and there was morning, the first day," then "the second day," and so on for each day. There was one morning and there was one evening each day. Thus, the Hebrew word yōm most commonly means one single 24-hour day. Undoubtedly, this would have been how the people of Israel would have understood the Genesis account. If each day represented thousands or even millions of years to account for theistic evolution, the Hebrew language was developed enough that God could have communicated that. Rather, what the text tells us is that God simply willed all things into existence ex nihilo, out of nothing. This is the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is not on his knees, wringing his hands in frustration over the direction of world history. Instead, the God of the Bible is sovereign, all powerful, and in complete control of everything that is happening in this world. This is the God we serve and worship.          

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ (Daniel 4:35)

Question 8: How does God execute his decrees?
Answer: God executes his decrees in the works of creation, and
providence.[i]
 
What the answer to question 8 is telling us is that God executes his decrees, he causes that which he wills to come to be, both by bringing creation into existence and by moving, governing, orchestrating creation.  For instance, Revelation 4:11 says, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created,” and Hebrews 1:3 tells us that God “upholds the universe by the word of his power.”  Thus, God executes his decrees by simply willing into existence all that is and by sustaining it.  But he not only wills into existence all that is and then upholds it, for we read in Daniel 4:35, regarding God scripture says, “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’”  God “does according to his will” in heaven and on earth.  Passages like these communicate that God is absolutely sovereign over all things.  And when we talk about the sovereignty of God, we mean that God does what he wills when he wills to whom he wills and answers to no one.  The decrees of God are limited or bound by nothing.  The comfort in understanding this is that we serve a very big God.  And when we look out at the world around us, though it may seem as though everything is out of control, the reality is that all things are moving just as God has ordained it.  And because we know God is good and holy and righteous, then we know that everything God does in this world is for a good and holy and righteous reason.  We simply must trust God. 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,... (Eph. 1:11)

Question 7: What are the decrees of God?[i] 
Answer: The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
 
When we talk about decrees, the most basic definition of a decree is any command or order given by a ruler for the sake of carrying out the task of governing or leading.  Thus, when we talk about the decrees of God, we are talking about those commands by which God orders, governs, rules, and orchestrates all of creation and all of world history. The Bible makes clear in numerous places that there is nothing in this world that happens by chance.  Ephesians 1:11 says, "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,…" Note: we are told that God "works all things according to the counsel of his will." The text does not say God works most things or many things, but "all things." This is not to say that we are simply puppets or chess pieces that God is moving around on a cosmic chessboard. Human beings are free moral agents who make our own decisions and bear responsibility for our own actions; however, behind and underneath every human decision, every human action, and every event that takes place in world history, lies the sovereign hand and sovereign direction of God. How the complete sovereignty of God and human responsibility work together is a divine mystery. The Bible never fully explains that for us. But both are contained within holy scripture and thus both are to be believed. The comfort in knowing this is that our lives are not at the mercy of chance or circumstance but that there is nothing that happens in the life of the believer that is not first filtered through the loving fingers of our Heavenly Father.    

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (Jn. 1:1-3)

Question 6: How many persons are there in the Godhead?[i]
Answer: There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.
 
This biblical truth is one of the great mysteries of God. The idea that there is one eternal triune God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these three persons are of one substance, power, and eternity, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. This biblical truth is known by theologians as the Trinity (tri + unity). This foundational truth has had to be defended by the Church over the last two millennia against those who have accused the Church of worshiping three gods. But not so. The Bible makes clear there is one God who exists in three persons. We see this in various passages such as John 1:1-3, 14; 10:30-33, and 2 Cor 3:16. However, the importance of this doctrine is that it helps us understand the unity-in-diversity which we experience in everyday life. God created humans as male and female, yet in marriage they become one flesh. Husband and wife, distinct persons, bound together in holy matrimony. The Church is comprised of Jews and Gentiles, males and females, people of every tongue and tribe, and yet there is only one body. Furthermore, the doctrine of the Trinity helps us understand the importance of roles. God the Father and God the Son are coequal, yet the Son willingly submits himself to the Father’s will. All believers are equal before God, yet wives are to graciously submit to their husbands, and children are to submit to their parents. Unity-in-diversity can be seen in creation itself, precisely because all creation reflects the very character of God and testifies to his existence.                  

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Question 5: Are there more Gods than one?[i]
Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.
 
In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 we have one of the most amazing passages in all of scripture, and in all of ancient history. This passage is known as the Great Shema. Shema is the Hebrew word for “to hear”. Thus, the Hebrews referred this passage as a Great Shema which says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  In the ancient world this would have been an amazing propositional statement to make. The idea that there is only one God was unheard of at the time of the writing of Deuteronomy (ca. 1500 BC). This was a time when every ancient civilization believed in multiple gods who her not much better than a bigger version of human beings. They possessed character flaws, were manipulative, and completely self-serving. Yet here God declares to the nation of Israel that there is only one God from whom all things were created and who sustains the universe by the power of his word. And this is the same God who extended grace to Adam and Eve after they committed cosmic treason in the garden.  There God makes a promise to them in Genesis 3:15 to someday send a Redeemer. The God of creation, the God of the universe, extends grace when he was not required to. He extends grace to those who were not deserving of it, and then he reveals himself in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, and dies on the cross to pay for the sins of people. We created the mess and yet it is God, the one true God, who pays the ultimate sacrifice to repair what man has ruined. This is amazing grace!

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Question 4: What is God?[i]
Answer: God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
  
The answer to question 4 is a head full, but then again how does one sum up God in one sentence?  The difference between infinite and eternal is that “eternal” has do with the fact that God has no beginning or end.  “Infinite” has to do with the fact that God is not limited in any fashion.  Hence, he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and omni-present.  There is nothing God cannot do.  But all the attributes described above can be described with one word.  It’s what theologians call transcendence.  God is transcendent.  It means that God is far above our comprehension or understanding.  In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  God is beyond our human understanding.  This is simply because we have no frame of reference for fully understanding God.  We have no idea what it means to be eternal, to have no beginning or end.  Everything we know of has a beginning, and all things come to an end.  Nothing lasts forever.  We have no idea what it means to be all-knowing.   The idea that God knows every human thought of every mind on the face of the planet, past, present, and future, and that none of it is confused in the mind of God, is a complete mystery to us.  But that is God.  This is the God we serve and pray to, and this is the God who cares about us, so much so that he sent his Son into the world to die on the cross for sinners when he did not have to.  That God is beyond our comprehension is not something that should create fear or uneasiness within us, but should bring us great comfort, knowing that our lives are in the hands of someone who is not just a bigger version of ourselves, but in the hands of the one who spoke the universe into existence by the power of his word.  

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  (​Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Question 3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?[i]
Answer: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
 
In our church statement of faith, we say we believe scripture has “God for its author, His glory for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.  All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.”  For the purpose of this discussion, the point is that all scripture has God’s “glory for its end;” that is, the ultimate goal of scripture is to exalt the glory of God, and that Christ is “the focus of divine revelation;” that is, all scripture is about Christ from beginning to end, Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.  It is all about Him.  Christ walks through the pages of all of scripture.  In John 5:39 Jesus says to his Jewish audience, “You search the [Old Testament] Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”  The Old Testament is all about Jesus.  And to be even more clear, he then says to them that “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (v.46).  Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) and Jesus says those books are about him.  Thus, the scriptures “principally teach what man is to believe concerning God [specifically Christ], and what duty God requires of man.”  Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”  The whole duty of man, the thing that we should strive for most, our main goal and purpose in life, should be to “fear God and keep his commandments.”  Toward this end all our prayers and striving should be.  

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” compiled by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [notice] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Question 2: What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify him?[i]
​Answer: The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him.
 
The Bible makes clear that everything needed for us to know God and to know how to please and glorify God is given to us in the pages of scripture.  This is why it is so vitally important that Christians read, meditate on, and memorize God’s word every day.  We are told in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [notice] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  To be fully prepared, fully equipped, for everything life throws at us, everything we need to know can be found in God’s word.  This is because all scripture is “breathed out by God.”  Those four words in the Greek New Testament are actually just one word--theopneustos.  It is a compound word derived from two Greek words, theos: God + pneustos: breath.  Thus, every word of scripture is the very breath of God.  Scripture is God speaking to us in the here and now. It is for this reason Paul instructs the church in Corinth “not to go beyond what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6).  Everything we need to know about living life in this world and living a life that glorifies and honors God is to be found in the study of God in the pages of God’s word (2 Peter 1:3).  A great example of this is when Jesus successfully fends off the attacks of the devil during his wilderness temptations.  He does so by quoting scripture to the devil.  This works because God’s word is a weapon, “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow” (Heb. 4:12, Eph 6:17).  God’s word is an offensive weapon for the believer against the devil, but we can’t quote scripture to the devil if we don’t know scripture, if we have not hidden God’s word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him (Ps. 119:11). 

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Question 1: What is the chief end of man?[i]
​Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

In Isaiah 43:6-7 God says, “I will say to the north, ‘Give up,’ and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” All people have been created for God’s glory; that is, all people exist and were created by God for the expressed purpose of living a life that honors Him and worships Him as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is the one who has not only saved our soul from hell (if you are a believer), but is the one from whom all blessings come into our lives. It is for this reason Paul writes, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). In everything we do, say, and think, we should strive to glorify and honor God, for that is why we were created and exist. And in light of all that God has done for us, he deserves our worship and honor and glory. But not only were we created to glorify God, but that in glorifying God, we might come to truly enjoy God and find our greatest joy and delight in God. The psalmist says in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God wants us to be joyful. He simply desires that we find and experience fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore in Him. The Christian life is not about obedience to God’s commands, about living your life by a list of rules. It’s about glorifying God and finding your greatest joy and delight in him.

[i] “A Catechism with Proofs” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

​As a young believer, one of the ways I learned a tremendous amount about God and the Bible was through the reading of historical confessions of faith, such as the 1611 and 1689 London Baptist Confessions of Faith and the Westminster Confession of Faith.  I also learned a great deal through the reading of historic catechisms such as the Westminster and Heidelberg catechisms.  One of those I was very blessed by was a Baptist catechism compiled by the 19th century British preacher, Charles Spurgeon.  And in light of the past five Daily Thoughts, I thought I would share my experience with all of you and every day, over the next eighty-two days, take us through each question of Spurgeon’s catechism.  I was greatly blessed the first time I went though it.  I am sure I will be doubly blessed going through it again. If you are not familiar with reading catechisms, you can download Charles Spurgeon’s here.  Many Christians tend to shy away from catechisms, believing they’re a hangover from Roman Catholicism.  But throughout Church history catechisms and catechizing have been used to teach not only children but adults as well.  The word "catechize" simply means to instruct systematically, especially through questions, answers, and explanations.  And scripture makes clear that sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit transforms our minds first, which then leads to a transformation of character.  In Romans 12:2 scripture says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Sanctification occurs by first having our minds informed, and then the Holy Spirit does the rest.  Thus, I hope you will join me in being transformed by the renewal of our minds through the word of God.  

​If you have read the last four posts regarding “Basics of Spiritual Maturity,” then you may be thinking you’re doing all right.  You pray regularly, read God’s word regularly and strive to memorize and meditate on it, and you faithfully attend church every week.  Where many regularly church attending, Bible reading, prayer warriors drop the ball is in the fourth area—serving.  Like church attendance, many Christians think serving within the church, serving the body of Christ, is optional.  Thus, for years they treat church like it’s a spiritual sauna.  They attend church every week for years, laying back, soaking up the worship music, the prayers, and the message preached, all the while giving nothing in return.  It’s for this reason it has often been said that church ministry is like a football game where you have twenty-two men on the field desperately in need of rest being cheered on by 50,000 spectators desperately in need of exercise.  Yet, the Bible commands Christians to be actively serving the body.  First Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (emphasis added).  Notice that Peter assumes every believer has received a gift he can use “to serve one another.”  He says, “As each has received a gift…”  He does not say, “if you have received a gift” but “as each has received a gift.”  Every Christian has a gift (whether they realize it or not), an ability, a talent, they can use to serve the greater body of believers.  Thus, every believer should find a place within the local body to serve the broader body of believers.  But how does this benefit us?  How does serving within the church help us grow in our sanctification and Christian character?  Since we are all members of the same body (1 Cor 12) then as we minister to the body of believers, we are ministering to our own body.  We are ministering to ourselves.  And as each member seeks to serve the body and to help the body become healthy and strong, then we all become healthy and strong together.  It’s a group effort with reciprocal benefits.  If you love yourself and if you love the body, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, then you should want to serve the body and help the body reach spiritual maturity (Eph 4:11-16). 

​As we continue discussing the four basic elements for reaching spiritual maturity, the third element is fellowship.  While this seems very elementary, there is this dangerous idea that has been moving like wildfire throughout evangelical churches during the past half century that seeks to undermine this vitally needed ingredient, that is the idea that we don’t need anyone else to worship God and be in a right and healthy relationship with God, that all we need is a Bible in our hands and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and we’re doing just fine.  This idea has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic with many churches having to provide Sunday services online, now that the pandemic is lifting, many Christians are thinking they’ll just continue “doing worship” at home.  It’s convenient.  It’s easy.  And it works just as well as being in church in person.  The only problem is that it’s not biblical and it’s not healthy.  Attending church in person is not optional. It’s commanded.  However, we never want to follow God’s commands solely out of a sense of obligation.  But it is worth noting that when God issues commands to his people, they are what is best for them.  God’s commands are good and helpful to us.  Thus, in Hebrews 10:24-25, scripture says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  Notice how we are to consider, think about, stirring up one another, encouraging and motivating one another, “to love and good works.”  By “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.”  When the author says, “not neglecting to meet together”, he is not speaking about mid-week home Bible studies or getting together for lunch.  In New Testament times, ninety percent of the population was agrarian.  In fact, the idea of a forty-hour work week was non-existent.  Most people worked their farms from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week.  However, Christians began breaking away from their farms on Sunday mornings to gather for worship.  Thus, when scripture commands us to not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but instead to encourage one another, it is specifically talking about corporate worship on the Lord’s Day.  But this does not mean we should limit our fellowship time with the saints to just Sunday’s.  Scripture tells us in many places that if we walk with the wise, we will become wise (Prov 13:20), iron sharpens iron (Prov 27:17), we should look out for each other (Gal 6:1), and we need and are dependent on each other (1 Cor 12:12-26).  Regular fellowship (i.e., friendship with believers, hanging out with Christians) is incredibly important to reaching spiritual maturity.  

​Among mature believers, prayer most often is the one area they tend to struggle with most.  Having a strong consistent prayer life often eludes them.  If this is true for mature Christians, then having any semblance of a prayer life is usually nonexistent in young or spiritually immature believers.  Yet often this is a prime reason many struggle with life-long nagging sins.  The battle with sin, the battle to mortify our sin nature and become more like Christ in our behavior, attitude, and outlook, is a spiritual battle.  It is a battle of the heart, mind, and soul.  And the only one who has the power to truly fix that is God, and yet so often we fail to go to God consistently and ask for help.  James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (4:2).  It’s a simple concept.  We struggle with certain sins because we do not come to God in prayer and ask him to help us with those sins.  And among those believers who do pray regularly, often they are good at praying for the needs of others but rarely pray specifically for themselves.  Rarely do we pray, “Lord, help me to be more humble.  Help me to possess and display humility.  Help me to be more patient, more loving, more kind.  Lord God, help me to be like Christ in every way.”  Thus, James tells us that our problem is that we do not ask and even when we do ask, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”  In other words, even when we do ask God for help, our prayers are not answered because we ask with sinful motives.  We want to be more like Christ so that others will think better of us, so that we’ll be asked to be an elder or deacon within the church, so my husband will do what I want him to do.  God will not answer those kinds of prayers.  There is only one legitimate reason to ask God to help us mortify our sin and become more like Christ—for the glory of Christ.  That Christ might be honored and glorified on our lives.  To reach spiritual maturity we need to spend quality time in God’s word every day, and we need to spend deep time in prayer every day, pleading with God to help us mortify our sin and make us more like Christ.  

​Whenever someone comes to me for counsel regarding some spiritual struggle they are dealing with, the first question I always ask is: What is your daily Bible reading like?  To my amazement they most often respond with an answer like, ‘Not very good,’ ‘sporadic’ or ‘nonexistent.’  Even though Jesus made clear that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4), many Christians rarely engage in daily Bible reading.  But if we understand the importance eating physical food every day to maintain good physical health, then it stands to reason that we should be consuming spiritual food (God’s word) every day to sustain good spiritual health.  No one would think to eat just two or three times a week, so also we must not read God’s word just two or three times per week—but daily.  Everyday we need to be reading, meditating on, and memorizing God’s word.  The Bible tells us that God has “granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us” (2 Pet. 1:3).  Everything we need to know for living life in this world and for godliness; i.e., for preparing for the next life, comes to us through the “knowledge of him who called us;” i.e., through the knowledge of God.  So also, the Bible tells us that all scripture comes to us from God and is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work”--complete and equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Yet, even those who do read their Bibles every day, often skip around, reading their Bibles in bits and pieces, here and there, as though the Bible were a potpourri of wisdom saying without any rhyme or reason to their order.  However, the Bible is designed to teach us about Christ and tells the story of redemptive history from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.  Thus, the Bible should be read in order.  Not necessarily from cover to cover, but at least from the end of one book to the end of that same book.  I recommend new believers read the gospel of John first, one chapter at a time.  Then they should go to the beginning of Matthew and begin reading one chapter at a time, reading every day, through the entire New Testament.  Then when they are done with the New Testament, they should start in Genesis, but not read the entire Old Testament straight through, but read two books from the Old and one from the New; i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, Leviticus, Numbers, Mark, and so on and so forth.  But whatever method one employs, entire books of the Bible need to be read from start to finish, the Bible needs to be read every day, and one should spend more time in the New Testament than in the Old.

​More and more I come across Christians who have been believers for years and yet have never been given basic discipleship instructions.  The result is that they flounder in their faith, struggling to grow in their sanctification, never moving beyond infantile Christian maturity.  They have been walking with the Lord for years, and yet they live as though they got saved just last week.  Thus, today and over the next four days, my daily thoughts will cover some basic discipleship principles.  And it’s not complicated or difficult to grow in one’s sanctification.  There are really only four basic principles to follow.  Like the four basic food groups (meat, grains, dairy, fruits/vegetables) which keep our physical bodies healthy when consumed in a balanced manner, so also there are four basic spiritual food groups which need to be taken in equal proportions to keep our souls spiritually healthy and growing.  These are God’s word, prayer, fellowship, and serving.  We will talk about each of these over the next four days, but the basic premise is this, when God saves us, when we become born again, we are given new life (John 3:3-8).  Like a newborn babe, we need to eat in order to feed our souls and grow healthy and strong.  But we also need to eat a well-balanced diet.  An infant who is only given milk and is never eventually introduced to proteins, grains, fruits, vegetables, etc., will not grow healthy and will not survive very long.  So also, the baby Christian who only engages in one of the four basic spiritual food groups, to the neglect of the other three, will not be spiritually healthy and will never reach spiritual maturity.  This is what the author if Hebrews discusses when he writes, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (5:12-14).  It is fine to start with milk as baby Christians, but eventually it is necessary to move on from that in order to reach full spiritual maturity.  

​We live in a day and age when Christians can really struggle with submitting to our government.  This is especially true in the United States where the government is becoming more and more anti-Christian and more amoral every day.  I hear Christians talk of refusing to pay taxes, of refusing to wear Covid masks in places where signs are clearly posted, of refusing to register their firearms in states where it is required, and a host of other subtle forms of rebellion.  Yet, the apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:13-14, “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”  What is interesting is that Peter writes this during a time when the Roman government was actively persecuting Christians (see 1 Peter 1:1).  What is also interesting to note is the reason he gives they should be willing to submit to the Roman government— “for the Lord’s sake.”  This is because the fruit of the Spirit, the evidence of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the evidence of the transforming power of the gospel, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23), not hate, anger, rebellion, intolerance, hostility, rudeness, insubordination, harshness, and divisiveness.  When Christians think and behave the way the world thinks and behaves, it brings dishonor to God and discredits the gospel.  Thus, Peter goes on to say, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.  Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”  That is, honor the current President of the United States.  Honor the current Speaker of the House.  Respect and submit to the government God has placed over us.  We do this “for the Lord’s sake.”