Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer
That I with body and soul, both in life and death, (a) am not my own, (b) but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; (c) who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, (d) and delivered me from all the power of the devil; (e) and so preserves me (f) that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; (g) yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, (h) and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, (i) and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him. (j)
Caleb,
In the previous post we began to look at the consequences (privileges) that accrue to us because we are owned by God. We left off with the idea that when God owns someone He never un-owns. God never loses what He has claimed as His own.
John 6:39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
As we continue to consider the consequences and privileges of being owned by God as ratified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for ours we see not only are we delivered from the power of the devil, and not only are we preserved to the end of our days in God’s keep, but we also see that God’s providence (His governance over all that happens in life) directs our steps and accounts for our paths taken. God’s providential care (His governing oversight) includes minutia such as your hair count.
Matt.10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered
Of course God’s providential care (governing oversight) is over all His creation. The Sparrow does not fall apart from God’s Providence. The Lily’s grow according to God’s providence.
However, for those who belong to Him His care and oversight is the care and oversight of a Benevolent Father, while His providential care and oversight for those not claimed by Him is that of a condemning Judge. Some vessels have been made for wrath.
Next the Catechism teaches that God has a purpose in all of His providential oversight (governing care) over His people. We are to embrace the fact that whatever comes into our lives as God’s people is something ordained by our governing God for the furtherance of His intent to keep us owned in His salvation. This informs us that all that comes into our lives in the course of our everyday living is something sent by God to further the course of His and our salvation.
As being owned by God because He has benevolently provided for us Christ as our legal representation, we can now know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Two more privileges come to us as a result of being friends with God because of the spilled blood of Christ.
First, we are told that God sends His Holy Spirit to work in us an assurance that, because we are owned by Christ, we have eternal life now. There was a time in history when Christians found it hard to accept the fact that they were owned by Christ. They struggled with the reality of their sinfulness to the point they found it hard to believe that they had eternal life. Christians typically don’t struggle with this so much in the 21st century since we are more inclined to believe in a God who owes us forgiveness then believing in a God who is severe against our sinfulness. However, there are still those who find it hard to believe that they really have eternal life and so one of the benefits of being owned by Christ is that we are given His Holy Spirit as one who guarantees the eternal life we have now and the eternal life that is to come.
Eph.1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Rom.8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God
The final benefit (consequence / privilege) mentioned in being owned by God, atoned for by Christ, and sealed permanently unto God by the Holy Spirit (notice the Trinitarian character of the first question) is that we live in terms of His authority and of who He is. Because we are owned by God the inevitable consequence is that we will live in light of His light, we will, in a ever increasing epistemologically self conscious fashion, live and move and have our being in Him, and we will live in terms of His law and testimonies. God has not redeemed us so that we might live in defiance of His character but He has redeemed us for particular works that God has prepared from eternity past for us (Ephesians 2:10).
Rom.8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
In order to simplify as much as possible,
I. ) Where do we find Comfort (Strength)?
A.) In the fact that we are not our own
B.) In the fact that we are owned by God in our complete totality
II.) How is it that we are owned by God?
A.) Because Jesus Christ spilled His blood
B.) Such a substitutionary death satisfies the Father’s just wrath against sin
III.) What are the consequences of being owned by God?
A.) The Devil has no hold upon me
B.) I am preserved to the very end by God who loves me and call me the apple of His eye.
C.) God’s providential (governing) care as a Father orders all my life
D.) All things that come into my life are serving the purpose of seeing me kept by God
E.) I am granted assurance that I really do have eternal life
F.) I am equipped so that my ongoing life story is a telling of the Greatness of my Lord Christ
Allow me to close that the consequences (benefits / privileges) of being owned by Christ should yield to us great confidence. What have we to fear? If all this is true that we have looked at, if it really is the case that God is for us, who can be against us? If all this is true why would you or I ever fear anyone or anything but God?
Tomorrow, we will look at Question #2
Awesome. : )