All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ
From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 31 to 34
Q31: What is effectual calling?
A31: Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
Q32: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A32: They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which, in this life, do either accompany or flow from them.
Q33: What is justification?
A33: Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
Q34: What is adoption?
A34: Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the Sons of God.
Today we will be going through verse 27. We are still dealing with John the Baptist and him stating for the record who he is and who he is not.
John 1:27
It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. The Pharisees were convinced of their righteousness and I think a bit puzzled as to why they would need to repent. Our present day, it is the same. I meet people all the time who are convinced they are a good person and repentance is not something they need to worry about. After all, they say that their sins have been forgiven. If you are true of heart and believe that Christ has risen from the dead and is Lord of all, that is true. However, it is incumbent upon us to repent of our daily sins. Yes, they are forgiven, but we must acknowledge the sin and forsake it, lest our blessings be withheld.
Acts 17: 11
Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Now let’s play the part of the Bereans and look at what was said.
We’ve talked about who is good several times during various bible studies and I’ve gotten the impression of “there he goes again” from this group. Do any of us here really think of ourselves as good people? And why would you think that? We are told all through our lives that we’re a good boy or girl. Or you’ve done a good job and this reinforces the “I must be a good person” idea. And if you’ve not read the bible, you would persist in thinking this. This is the work of satan. Does that shock you? It should. Luke 18:19 has Jesus saying there are none good but God alone. The great deceiver would like you to think differently. God is Holy and does not take any sin lightly. If He alone is good, when we think we are good, we are sinning against God. I want to make this as simple as possible to let you understand something so small but so important.
So let’s figure out what I said. I used “you are true of heart” as a qualifier to the rest of what I said. To review: “If you are true of heart and believe that Christ has risen from the dead and is Lord of all, that is true. However, it is incumbent upon us to repent of our daily sins. Yes, they are forgiven, but we must acknowledge the sin and forsake it, lest our blessings be withheld.”
So what am I talking about? There is head knowledge of scripture and God and there is heart knowledge. You may know certain things about the bible, but if you have not taken them into your heart, it will do you no good. Your blessings will be of those that all get as general Grace. God’s grace abounds to all the earth. Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
So examine yourselves to know if your heart is true.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test?
We’ve got that covered, now on to Christ has risen from the dead. You’ve heard this countless times I’m sure. But how do you know this? This is an important idea. Where did you get this knowledge? Did you read it or just hear it in Sunday School? This can be for many people, head knowledge. If you have not taken it into your heart and truly believe, it is of little value. Just another one of those things you know, that you can say to one another, but that’s about it. We find proof of it in the scripture.
Mark 16:14
Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.
So the scripture tells us so and we know the bible is good from 2 Timothy 3:16 and here we have Jesus coming to the disciples, those that were told He would be raised from the dead, but that apparently was just head knowledge.
Now why is Easter and Him who was crucified and now raised important? Laughably simple questions to those whose hearts have been examined and found true, but not all know this.
The Good News is if you are still breathing, you can still repent and accept the Lord as your savior. Now onto proof.
John 3:16-18
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 1:9
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
What I am doing here is breaking down everything I had said, and proving up on it with the scriptures. Yes there is context involved, but I don’t want to muddy the water up with that just yet.
Let us finish out parsing my statement. The last part was to repent your sins daily or you’ll not be blessed by our Father as He would like to bless you. The simple of it is, obey God and you’ll be blessed, disobey God and you’ll be cursed. Deuteronomy 28 where Moses spells this out to those stiff necked Jews quite clearly.
1 John 1:8
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 JOHN 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Hebrews 10:26-27
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Revelation 3:3
Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
That covers everything I said. Now what I want you to do is think about what you know, really think about it and think about how you came to know that. Were you just told it or did you read it somewhere? Is this head knowledge or do you hold it in your heart? And now follow up on that. The internet is very good for this task but your very own bible is all you need. Sit down in a quiet place with the bible in your lap and ask God to help you find what you are looking for. None of you here can tell me you don’t have time for that. How will you know God and what he wants from you if you don’t read what he wrote? Take an interest in your salvation, for none of us knows the span of our days.
Just like John the Baptist when he said that he was not worthy of untying the sandal of Him who was crucified so that we might have eternal life. We are not worthy of God’s love, but God loves us anyway. Glorify Him in all that you do.