It is a dangerous way of thinking to consider ourselves outside the need of the means of grace, outside the call to sanctification. Often we do not take advantage of worship, prayer meetings, the Sabbath Day, singing, etc… because we don’t think we need it. Brothers and sisters, if this catechism question teaches us anything it is the simple message that we need Jesus, and to especially experience the free offer of His forgiveness, daily, weekly, regularly, through the reminder offered in the Holy Spirit’s ministering labors.

Today is going to be the last post for 2023. I am taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s off and we’ll come back with WLC Q.150-151 on January 4, 2024, and then the Tuesday devotion will return January 9, 2024. As we continue the Tuesday/Thursday blogs I want to thank you for reading them. I never talk about it in this space, but over the last year the readership of this Substack has doubled, and that doesn’t count the folks who take this in other forms and places. I am grateful, and humbled, you consider the reading of the Tuesday/Thursday posts worth your time and it is my goal to continue to write these for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at your leisure. Likewise, after we conclude the Larger Catechism in August (d.v.) this Thursday space will be taken up with a to-be-determined confession, same chronological format. It has been without a doubt helpful for me as a pastor and as a Christian to be reminded of the richness of the Reformed faith as it has been summarized by our forefathers.
Again, thank you for reading. The responses and commitments I have already received from people are a blessing in and of themselves. Y’all have a blessed rest of 2023.
Now to the Q/A:
Q. 149: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A. No man is able, either of himself, or by any grace received in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God; but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
Having completed the ten our Divines now come to the first use of the law. They have, in various ways, mostly by the what/why/how structure of the catechism’s take on the commandments, already in some sense done this. However, they want to always ensure that as we as believers are molded and formed into the image of God so that we do not forget that at its base the law acts as a mirror for us. In other words, the more the law is in our eyes the more we see the glory and perfection of the person of our Lord, and by that our inability to either match-up with Him in His holiness or keep the law perfectly in order to be saved is made known to us.
It is important for believers to never fail to recall that we are sinners, even after the historical application of the redemption purchased by Christ. Read Romans 7, or Romans 3 for that matter. We still struggle with the old man within us and when we cease to fight, we will be crushed by the weight of it. Romans 6 of course is taken up with recoiling against the idea that the free grace granted in justification (Romans 5) means we no longer need to follow the law, that we can be antinomians, that is outside the law. We are never away from the content of the ten commandments.
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Second Timothy 3:16–17 calls us to handle the truths of Scripture in a way that results in a constant pattern of personal self-examination that leads to honest and humble confession, which produces a commitment to repentance, resulting in a life of increasing spiritual maturity and joyful obedience. Not just your thinking is being changed, but every area of your life is being brought into greater and greater conformity to the will of the one who created you and recreated you in Christ Jesus.

The Word is a Gift of Grace
The doctrines of the word of God were not intended just to lay claim on your brain, but also to capture your heart and transform the way you live. Those doctrines are meant to turn you inside out and your world upside down. Biblical doctrine is much more than an outline you give confessional assent to. Doctrine is something you live in even the smallest and most mundane moments of your life. Biblical doctrine is meant to transform your identity, alter your relationships, and reshape your finances. It’s meant to change the way you think and talk, how you approach your job, how you conduct yourself in time of leisure, how you act in your marriage, and the things you do as a parent. It’s meant to change the way you think about your past, interpret the present, and view the future.
The doctrines of the word of God are a beautiful gift to us from a God of amazing grace. They are not burdensome, life-constricting beliefs. No, they impart new life and new freedom. They quiet your soul and give courage to your heart. They make you wiser than you had the natural potential to be, and they replace your complaining heart with one that worships with joy. God unfolds these mysteries to you because he loves you. He is the giver of life, and every doctrine in his word plants seeds of life in your heart. And as those seeds take root and grow, you too grow and change.
God isn’t just after your mind; he’s after your heart. And he’s not just after your heart; he’s after everything that makes up you. His truths (doctrines) are the ecosystem in which the garden of personal transformation grows.
No passage captures this better than 2 Timothy 3:16–17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and 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.” This passage is so important for understanding how the truths (doctrines) of Scripture are meant to function in our lives. It gives us not only four ways that Scripture (and each of its doctrines) is meant to function in our lives but, more importantly, it provides a process by which Scripture is meant to function. Here are the four steps in the process.
1. Teaching: The Standard.
The truths of the Bible are God’s ultimate standard. They establish for us who God is, who we are, what our lives were designed to be, what is true and what is not, why we do the things we do, how change takes place, what in the world has gone wrong, and how in the world it will ever get corrected.
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But because Mark’s is one of the four Gospels, this is one of the ways we should think about Jesus’s beginning. He had a royal herald smooth the way before him and let everyone know of his greatness (Mark 1:7). Jesus was anointed for his kingly mission with water and the Spirit, and he was declared the beloved Son of God, the king (Mark 1:11). He was victorious over the devil in the wilderness and ministered to by the angels (Mark 1:13).

As the calendar flips to December, many Christian churches turn to the birth story of Jesus in their teaching and preaching. And though there are four Gospels, one is far underrepresented from the pulpit during this season.
Matthew and Luke both contain the narratives about Jesus’s birth, so the early chapters of these Gospels are in heavy rotation for sermons. We hear from the opening verses of John as well, as the lyrical description of Jesus as the Word made flesh practically jumps off the page. All the while, Mark’s Gospel seems to stay closed.
Beginnings Matter
Beginnings matter, particularly the beginnings of books of the Bible. There the author has the chance to frame their work and set up their argument.
For the sake of this article, let’s refer to “Act 1” of each gospel as all that precedes the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry. What does Act 1 of each gospel look like?
In Matthew, Act 1 stretches through Matt 4:11, a total of 76 verses. There, we read Jesus’s genealogy (Matt 1:1–17), his birth (Matt 1:18–25), the visit of the magi (Matt 2:1–12), the flight to Egypt to avoid Herod’s murderous decree (Matt 2:13–23), John preparing the way for Jesus (Matt 3:1–12), Jesus’s baptism (Matt 3:13–17), and Jesus’s temptation by Satan (Matt 4:1-11). Along the way, a careful reader will notice just how much Matthew’s narrative is driven by fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.
Act 1 of Luke is the longest of all, lasting until Luke 4:13, a total of 183 verses. After his dedication (Luke 1:1–4), Luke writes about the predictions of John’s (Luke 1:5–25) and Jesus’s (Luke 1:26–38) births, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and song of praise (Luke 1:39–56), John’s birth and his father’s prophecy (Luke 1:67–80), Jesus’s birth and the immediate reaction (Luke 2:1–21), Jesus’s presentation at the temple (Luke 2:22–40), his twelve-year-old venture to the temple (Luke 2:41–52), John preparing the way for Jesus (Luke 3:1–22), Jesus’s genealogy (Luke 3:23–38), and Jesus’s temptation by Satan (Luke 4:1–13).
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