Those who grope around in darkness (see Deut. 28:29) cannot praise Jehovah for they see Him not. Light in the context of Genesis 1, John 1, and myriads of other verses says to believers that if they want to understand the world around them, be at peace, and receive all the goodness which comes to the those who love the Lord than they best be abiding in the light and seeking out the light wherever He may be found.

There is a call to love the light that reverberates throughout the Bible. The marking out of darkness as the realm of evil is an image which is meant to evoke for us the vanity of seeking after wicked things, for they lead us astray from the good and they actively take us away from the truth. Darkness has always, in every culture, been the domain of the dead. Your grandaddy’s old saying that nothing blessed happens after midnight has been shared by old men to their progeny in Romania as much as Mongolia. It is a universal knowledge. It is part of the reason why the color black is the shade chosen by those who which to be seen as transgressive, non-conformist, and those who wish to let everyone know they mean trouble. The silver and black of the Raiders was chosen on purpose.
In the beginning (no pun intended) when we are first introduced to our God it is mentioned that darkness was on the face of the deep. The Holy Spirit is seen hovering over the waters. Then God makes light which comes neither from the sun nor the moon, but from the command of His voice. Why was it made? It is not as if the Third Person of the Holy Trinity needed it to see. Our God does not have eyes like men. Also darkness isn’t meant to imply the absence of God, and light the presence of God (more on that in a minute). It can seem as if there is a deeper thing going on here that we are not quite ready to comprehend completely, especially if you are coming to Genesis with preconceived notions of what to expect. However, as we think about what the Lord is doing we need to remember that as the patriarchs gave us testimony, they knew that one was to come who would give light to the answers we seek.
The Apostle John as he writes his gospel will mimic these opening words of Genesis and apply them directly to Jesus Christ. He writes:
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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
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If your faith is in your good deeds, the idea that being a “good person” is enough to get you into heaven, than that faith is worthless. It has no power, nor worth, to gain you entrance into the celestial kingdom. True saving faith will show itself in the obedience the redeemed give to the revealed testimony of the Lord found in the Scriptures. 

After a little break due to some sickness on my account we are back at it with our Thursday looks at the Larger Catechism. We’ve gone from considering Church membership and the advantages of the body of Christ for the believer to now contemplating some of the aspects of the work of the Lord in our redemption. The first thing we are going to look at is the way God grants forgiveness of sins to the believer. Yet, as we will discover, justification is about a lot more than merely the slate being made clean, because what was wrong with us in our depravity cannot be reduced to the fact we broke some commandments. The totality of our sinfulness should never either be undersold or ignored when it comes to the salvation we have received wholly by the grace of our Heavenly Father.
In today’s help (and next week’s) we’ll explore more about how justification particularly sets the stage for all the other benefits which come from our union with Christ. Here’s todays Q/A’s:
Q. 70: What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which he pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in his sight; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.
Q. 71: How is justification an act of God’s free grace?
A. Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet in as much as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.
As with their Shorter Catechism counterparts these questions make abundantly clear that justification is in every way an act that God performs, not a cooperating effort between the deity and the sinner. As Paul says if it was not of grace, then it would be of works. (Rom. 11:6). Grace by definition is freely offered and provided. (Eph. 2:8-10). The freeness of the act has its genesis in the reality that God at no point was required either by justice or fairness or any other type of attribute to relieve us of our condemnation due to us because of sin.
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True justifying faith will always be accompanied with good works, or fruit which comes from it. There is a natural change to the being as the image of God is restored that moves the justified to seek to be sanctified. However, we are never to confuse the graces which are born out of faith for faith itself. For it neither creates nor sustains it. That alone is the gift and grant of Christ always by free grace.

As noted last week we are back at it in our Larger Catechism lesson with another look at the doctrine of justification. Whereas we were more in the ordo part of the conversation today we are going to be thinking on the historia portion. When it comes to the way justification “happens” in real life to the sinner what measures of application and preparation are involved? We’ve talked before how the preaching of the gospel is the means by which men and women come to faith and what we will discover is that this coming to a knowledge of the truth is unsurprisingly moved in the treatment of the soul through the righteousness of Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are a Trinitarian people and it is important for us to always give proper due to every member of the Trinity when it comes to the big, and small, things that are done for us in being made right in the eyes of God. So today here are our Q/A’s as we get started:
Q. 72: What is justifying faith?
A. Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.
Q. 73: How does faith justify a sinner in the sight of God?
A. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it, nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification; but only as it is an instrument by which he receives and applies Christ and his righteousness.
As a special gift of God we receive this justifying faith through the regenerating work of the Spirit in applying to us the righteousness purchased by Christ. (Titus 3:5). In this renewal we then respond by hearing in the depths of our souls the offer to come and be welcome in the bosom of our Savior.
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All proclamations of God’s word in our context should contain within them a gospel call, freely offered to all present in that place. We are never to be under the assumption that every person in the hall that day knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, even, or maybe especially, if it is the officers, elders and ministers, of His Church. An ARP Church must be a gospel, fire-breathing, house of hope for sinners. Not a lecture center of Reformed theology, but a place where men and women can come with the assurance that they will hear, with no strings-attached, the free offer of life eternal found alone in the Redeemer.

For the next couple of months in this space where we have been taking some time to consider ways to help our prayer and worship life we are going to begin a spring series thinking through some of the unique things that were, and still should be, the identifying markers of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. I am ARP on purpose. I am an ARP minister for the same reason I am not a Baptist, Methodist, or Lutheran, because I believe that the warp and woof of the heart of the ARP, found in its history and confessions is the most Biblical form of the Church found on this side of Heaven. I also am firmly convicted that you should be ARP as well. If I didn’t believe that I’m not rightly sure I could keep my vows. Pragmatism or its dastardly cousin, convenience, have no place really in my soul or when it comes to what I’ve been called to do, nor should it in your heart. That may seem rude, but it is not.
To fulfill that mandate I will give y’all some history and background, quotes from ARP men, either Scottish Seceders, or American-born ministers from our denominational past and explain more about whatever subject is on tap for that week. We’ll take a look at matters like how the gospel is preached, how we understand the biblical covenants and their relation to life today, and the manner in which Presbyterianism is practiced. I hope you find the time we spend on this helpful. The goal here is also to help people within and outside the ARP know more about why we are and who we are.
It makes sense that to start this we need to begin with what is most important, and that is the gospel. Christ dead for sinners, raising them from the spiritual darkness, washing them in His blood, forgiving their trespasses, and making them new creatures in the restored light of Jesus’s countenance. That’s the main message our Lord gave to His infant bride in Matthew 28.
To begin let’s consider first what it is we mean when we say that in the ARP we believe in the “free offer of the gospel”. One of the earliest charges against Ebenezer Erskine and others rallying at Gairney Bridge was that they were being fundamentally “Arminian” in the way they presented the good news of Jesus to the lost.
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Our hope and peace in Christ is in an eternal throne where the believer’s Sovereign sits this very day. Here in this passage we see one way we can be sure to encourage the downtrodden in our covenant family: by reminding them of God’s promise in Jesus. It is a powerful word of truth for any man or woman who seems lost amidst the chaos.

The Lord’s blessings on you as you wake up and get ready to face the day. Be encouraged and know Christ is with your every moment in His grace. For today’s worship and prayer help we are going to look at a couple ways we encourage one another through Jesus, especially when our lives have us so busy in the daily by-and-by.
I’ve never been one that’s good at conversating about feelings. Particularly when we are talking about an emotion that is more like a rush of energy than anything else. Encouragement is almost like a shot of endorphin that pushes the struggle bus forward and knocks it back in gear, which makes it now the go-forward machine. It’s interesting how sometimes something so innocuous as a random text or message can affect the whole of our countenance, but that is what we are describing when we take on this subject. Encouraging words or actions are rarely major events. Most of the time the best kind of support is what you receive when you are not looking for it. There’s something to be said as well about the small, regular, routine stuff that may not seem like much until it is no longer present. One of the things we need to be watchful for is that it is not communicated that inspiration must take on only a feminine feel. I know it’s somewhat gauche to say this nowadays, but men and women can have different needs on this front, and neither should be neglected. That being said since this is a spiritually-focused Tuesday devotion there are several places in the Bible we can go to find what we need to look for all our benefit.
The first place to go is 1 Samuel 23 and the way Jonathan provides care for David.
In this scene David is on the run from Saul. The current king of Israel has heard of the promise made to the son of Jesse and is determined to not let the plan of God came to pass. He figures if he kills David then he can’t be king. Sound logic, bad idea. As David is out running around with his merry band of men putting out fires and taking care of things Saul should be doing, the future king of Israel is drawn low by the incongruity of the situation. In life even when we are doing the right things we can be in a position where we know things ain’t the way they are supposed to be.
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Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is not a blind leap of hope into darkness, but a very tangible realism. That’s one of the reasons why it is so vital for a believer to read the Bible, be conversant with its claims, for the more one does the more the evidence that Russell cried out for will inhabit your soul and give it peace and comfort. Many times in life we allow doubt to flourish because we don’t take the time to nourish faith with truth, truth about God, truth about forgiveness of sin, and many other aspects of our Christian religion.

There’s been a theme developing the last week or so in our evening service on the Lord’s Day and in adult Sabbath School, that wasn’t intentional on my part. However, that’s how God in His providence works all the time. Sweetly complying things with one another in order to show forth His glory. We’ve been looking at Romans in the morning and our topical series on Sunday nights has explored the question “How God Works”. If you know anything about either of those then it makes sense why they make a good pair. One of Paul’s main concerns is how is it that our perfect and holy God was reconciled with fallen, sinful humanity if He is the all-powerful mighty one? As we have seen as we’ve spent time considering Jehovah’s attributes it is because He is the God of mercy and grace that this is the case. In today’s prayer and worship help we will speak a little bit on the topic of the practicality presented to a believer by the great truths offered in a better understanding of the nature of our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We’ll see how the Trinity especially is of great help to Christians everywhere, at all times.
In the passage we looked at this most recent Sabbath morning, Romans 9, we have these famous words. “…for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls.” In that discussion of Jacob and Esau the apostle makes clear that the establishment of Jacob as the son of promise, and not Esau, was grounded in nothing about them as individuals. But that’s too narrow in a sense. We need to understand something concerning the reality that election is neither about Jacob nor Esau. The former was the beneficiary of the sovereign love of God in a way the later was not for sure, but what should that then result in for those of us on Team Jacob rather than Team Esau?
Considering the truth that Jehovah through His great benevolence towards men as sinners has sent His Son to lay down His life for the ungodly, and how the Father and the Son send the Spirit to make effectual that which was decreed by the Triune God it should drive us not merely towards obedience, but something higher than that, pure worship and praise.
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If you really want to see the glory of God and the power that comes with it there needs to be a growing love for the person and work of Jesus, and that begins with resting in how He shows Himself to be our Savior, both in His work of humiliation at the cross, and His exaltation to the throne room of Heaven where He reigns this day for our benefit, our future, and our present peace.

Today in the grace of our God we are blessed to talk about what our Lord Jesus Christ is currently doing for us in our present time and place. It’s easy for us to make perfunctory motions towards Christ being Prophet, Priest, and King, but it is another thing to actually live in that truth. As you look at the Catechism questions below one of the key points that should jump out at your soul is the active work our Redeemer is engaged in daily, regularly on our behalf in each of those offices. His exaltation in His resurrection and ascension is where His ministry for the Church really hits the road. The more and better we see that, the more comfort we will have in our faith. However, if we refuse to take advantage of it either by apathy or through disregarding its importance then we should not be surprised when we remain infants in understanding, and continue to fight the daily urges to just get through the next moment. The men and women of Israel who persevered through the exiles were those who knew God, and as David says in Psalm 119 when he meditates on the law, he builds strength upon strength. That is one of the goals of things like the Larger Catechism. It is a help for us to see more clearly the benefits of being a believer both in this life and in the life to come. Let’s look at our Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 51. What was the estate of Christ’s exaltation?
A. The estate of Christ’s exaltation comprehending his resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and his coming again to judge the world.
Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death, (of which it was not possible for him to be held, and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof, but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life,) really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.
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If we know ourselves at all we are fully aware that our sentiments can change like a chameleon’s skin. It is not a good barometer of things. If faith is a tangible reality it cannot be shaken or disturbed either by the winds and rains on the lake or by whatever circumstances may be around us, yet if it is merely a blind ephemeral concept it can never be of much help in the day of trouble. There is much more to be learned in how the Scriptures define the word than what cannot be brought forth by emotional manipulation.

In my devotional time yesterday morning I was reading through Luke 8 when I came to the healing of the women who “…having an issue of blood twelve years” came to see Jesus. Y’all know the story well I am sure, and how at the end our Lord says to her, “…Daughter be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” Every time I read that there are a couple of emotions that well up within me (yes, Presbyterians have emotions). First is just joy. The whole scene is worth its weight in gold. She’s been to doctors, faith healers, the works, yet the simple words of Christ is all that it takes for her to be made whole. The picture here of a poor lady, suffering immensely only by providence to see the consolation of Israel present, running to Him, and being relieved of all her pain and anxiousness, is really the story of all of God’s covenant people, and should move us to see a kindred spirit. Second, is a feeling of loss in a sense. I am sure there were many more people in that crowd who may have had similar needs as this woman, and their answer was right in front of them, however, they did not “see” nor seek that which could be found only by looking in the right direction.
There is some irony of course in that Luke 8 also includes the tale of the disciples on the waters freaking out because of a storm. There after Christ has calmed the seas we hear Him testify to the men, “Where is your faith?”. Talking about feelings again one of the ways in which our religion has been watered down in the past couple of centuries is by how the word faith has gone from being a sure and certain rock to being an emotional state. If we know ourselves at all we are fully aware that our sentiments can change like a chameleon’s skin. It is not a good barometer of things. If faith is a tangible reality it cannot be shaken or disturbed either by the winds and rains on the lake or by whatever circumstances may be around us, yet if it is merely a blind ephemeral concept it can never be of much help in the day of trouble.
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Our natural man within us is very selfish and self-indulgent. We need to be on guard at all times to put to death the inclination to seek our own above that of others, especially when it comes to the difficulties of sinful men and women working together for God’s purposes. We may not always realize how we come off. But if our heart’s goal is to put the Lord’s will above all things we have the assurance that it will all come out in the wash.

As we continue to walk through the Larger Catechism one of the blessings of God’s grace that we see in them is the way in which our Lord has provided for us in His life, death, and resurrection to be strengthened by Him and through Him Alone. Every part of the Christian life is what it is because Jesus is the foundation of faith and the source of our obedience to His word. Whenever we start to talk about the things Christ did in His earthly life it is important for us to remember that there were no wasted movements, words, and actions as He walked and talked for three solid years. Each thing Jesus did in His ministry was for a purpose that had long-standing implications for His mission and for the future of His Church. A key aspect of this for today’s study is His coming to this world from Heaven itself.
The monumental work of the Son of God taking on flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity becoming man is a rich place for us to go in helping us to see more clearly, and worship more distinctly and openly and less selfishly as we put ourselves last, and Christ first. Here are the Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 46. What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?
A. The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of His glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and after his death, until his resurrection.
Q. 47. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
A. Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth, in that, being from all eternity the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased in the fulness of time to become the son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.t
Q. 48. How did Christ humble himself in his life?
A. Christ humbled himself in his life, subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition.
Q 49. How did Christ humble himself in his death?
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It wasn’t until Peter stopped running his mouth that Christ could teach him something. Our own arrogance, and embarrassment, stops us many times in life from learning what we should. It isn’t until we are willing to admit that we don’t know that we can find out what is we don’t know. Seems pretty obvious, but why is that so hard for us to do?

Been an exciting few days around these parts. Between the holidays and a wedding there is much reason to be thankful for the mercies of the Lord. This next coming Sabbath Day we’ll be going back to our walk through the Sermon On the Mount at Bethany. Our first dab back into those waters is a little on the interesting providential side, Christ’s teaching on divorce from Matthew 5:31-32. Seems a bit daft to have that be next on the rotation, but God’s providence is always correct. The following passage after that is a word from our Redeemer on the question of vows, which of course have a lot to do with marriage and the responsibilities and duties which follow from it. So for today’s worship and prayer help we are going to take a moment to meditate on what a man’s word means and why it matters for all areas of life, regardless of your marital status.
Of all the things that grant us solace in the Christian life there is probably no greater comfort than the knowledge that God is a God of truth. There is no deceit in the throne room of grace. If Jehovah tells Daniel that he is going to see the day of the return to the promised land regardless of what designs Belshazzar or Darius had for him he was going to see that day. As Robert Burns would say, “The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!” Or as Jesus tells it, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” So much of the trouble we face, if we are honest, is of our own making. It often is sourced from the fact that we seek to find wisdom in the cart before the horse. If Darius, for instance, had merely taken counsel from the words of Isaiah then he would have surely known his folly. One of the reasons why Christ in His mercy quotes so much from the Old Testament is to witness to us of the inestimable value of knowing that what is to be known is already revealed for our benefit.
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