Real Life Catechism

Part II - Deliverance

The Lord’s Day 5

  • God requires that his justice be satisfied.1

    Therefore the claims of this justice

    must be paid in full,

    either by ourselves or by another.2

    1 Ex. 23:7; Rom. 2:1-11

    2 Isa. 53:11; Rom. 8:3-4

  • Certainly not.

    Actually, we increase our debt every day.1

    1 Matt. 6:12; Rom. 2:4-5

  • No.

    To begin with,

    God will not punish any other creature

    for what a human is guilty of.1 Furthermore,

    no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.2

    1 Ezek. 18:4, 20; Heb. 2:14-18

    2 Ps. 49:7-9; 130:3

  • One who is a true1 and righteous2 human, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.3

    1 Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:17

    2 Isa. 53:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26

    3 Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Jer. 23:6; John 1:1

The Lord’s Day 6

  • God’s justice demands

    that human nature, which has sinned,
    must pay for sin;1
    but a sinful human could never pay for others.2

    1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16

    2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18

  • So that the mediator,
    by the power of his divinity,

    might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us
    and restore to us

    righteousness and life. 1

    1 Isa. 53; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21

  • Our Lord Jesus Christ, 1

    who was given to us
    to completely deliver us
    and make us right with God. 2

    1 Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:5

    2 1 Cor. 1:30

  • The holy gospel tells me.

    God began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;1 later God proclaimed it

    by the holy patriarchs 2 and prophets 3

    and foreshadowed it
    by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; 4

    and finally God fulfilled it through his own beloved Son. 5

    1 Gen. 3:15
    2 Gen. 22:18; 49:10
    3 Isa. 53; Jer. 23:5-6; Mic. 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1-2 4 Lev. 1-7; John 5:46; Heb. 10:1-10
    5 Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:4-5; Col. 2:17

The Lord’s Day 7

  • No.

    Only those are saved who through true faith

    1 Matt. 7:14; John 3:16, 18, 36; Rom. 11:16-21

    1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16

    2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18

  • True faith is

    What is true faith?

    not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; 1

    it is also a wholehearted trust, 2
    which the Holy Spirit creates in me 3 by the gospel, 4 that God has freely granted,

    not only to others but to me also, 5 forgiveness of sins,
    eternal righteousness,
    and salvation. 6

    These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ’s merit. 7

    1 John 17:3, 17; Heb. 11:1-3; James 2:19 2 Rom. 4:18-21; 5:1; 10:10; Heb. 4:14-16

    3 Matt. 16:15-17; John 3:5; Acts 16:14
    4 Rom. 1:16; 10:17; 1 Cor. 1:21 5 Gal. 2:20
    6 Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:10
    7 Rom. 3:21-26; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-10

  • All that is promised us in the gospel, 1

    a summary of which is taught us in the articles of our universal and undisputed Christian faith.

    1 Matt. 28:18-20; John 20:30-31

  • I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

    I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
    and born of the virgin Mary.
    He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

    was crucified, died, and was buried;
    he descended to hell.
    The third day he rose again from the dead.
    He ascended to heaven
    and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

    I believe in the Holy Spirit,
    the holy catholic church,
    the communion of saints,
    the forgiveness of sins,
    the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Lord’s Day 8

  • Intro three parts:

    God the Father and our creation;
    God the Son and our deliverance;
    and God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

  • Because that is how
    God has revealed himself in his Word:2 these three distinct persons
    are one, true, eternal God.

    1 Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6
    2 Matt. 3:16-17; 28:18-19; Luke 4:18 (Isa. 61:1); John 14:26; 15:26; 2 Cor. 13:14; Gal. 4:6; Tit. 3:5-6

The Lord’s Day 9

  • That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

    who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them,1

    who still upholds and rules them
    by his eternal counsel and providence,2

    is my God and Father because of Christ the Son.3

    I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide

    whatever I need

    for body and soul,4 and will turn to my good

    whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world.5

    God is able to do this because he is almighty God6 and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.7

    1 Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11; Ps. 33:6; Isa. 44:24; Acts 4:24; 14:15 2 Ps. 104; Matt. 6:30; 10:29; Eph. 1:11
    3 John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:15-16; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:5
    4 Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:25-26; Luke 12:22-31 5 Rom. 8:28
    6 Gen. 18:14; Rom. 8:31-39 7 Matt. 7:9-11

The Lord’s Day 10

  • The almighty and ever present power of God1

    by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven

    and earth

    and all creatures,2 and so rules them that

    leaf and blade,
    rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness,

    77

    prosperity and poverty—3 all things, in fact,
    come to us

    not by chance4
    but by his fatherly hand.5

    1 Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-28
    2 Heb. 1:3
    3 Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2 4 Prov. 16:33
    5 Matt. 10:29

  • We can be patient when things go against us,1

    thankful when things go well,2
    and for the future we can have
    good confidence in our faithful God and Father
    that nothing in creation will separate us from his love.3 For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand

    that without his will
    they can neither move nor be moved.4

    1 Job 1:21-22; James 1:3
    2 Deut. 8:10; 1 Thess. 5:18
    3 Ps. 55:22; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:38-39
    4 Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov. 21:1; Acts 17:24-28

The Lord’s Day 11

  • Because he saves us from our sins,1
    and because salvation should not be sought and cannot be found in anyone else.2

    1 Matt. 1:21; Heb. 7:25
    2 Isa. 43:11; John 15:5; Acts 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 2:5

  • We can be patient when things go against us,1

    thankful when things go well,2
    and for the future we can have
    good confidence in our faithful God and Father
    that nothing in creation will separate us from his love.3 For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand

    that without his will
    they can neither move nor be moved.4

    1 Job 1:21-22; James 1:3
    2 Deut. 8:10; 1 Thess. 5:18
    3 Ps. 55:22; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:38-39
    4 Job 1:12; 2:6; Prov. 21:1; Acts 17:24-28