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The Bread You Can't Buy Prosper Christian Reformed Church The Bread You Can't Buy Come And Eat Mitchell Leach Sunday, July 12, 2026 Audio The Bread You Can't Buy Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 39:12 Sermon Transcript John 6:22-40 Three thousand years ago, Solomon set out to answer one question: how can I be satisfied? This man was given every possible avenue to answer that question — money, power, pleasure, work, achievement, notoriety, family. He had it all. Solomon is one of the scariest figures in the Bible — not because of what he did, but because of what he wrote at the end of his life. He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, and at the end he writes, 'It was all vanity. It was all meaningless. It was all vapor.' This is a man who had everything at his disposal to satisfy himself, to be a fully actualized person, and he gets to the end of his life and doesn't say, 'If I'd only had a little bit more, I would have been fine.' He says, 'None of it meant anything.' Three thousand years later, another rich man, J.D. Rockefeller, was asked, 'How much money is enough?' His famous answer: 'Just one more dollar.' Two men, different centuries, and yet the same hunger. For them, every finish line was just a new starting line. And if we're honest, that's the same hunger we have too. No matter how full life becomes, something inside us keeps asking for another bite, needing more — which raises our big question for today. Big Question Why are we still hungry? Almost every high school has some version of an assignment where you write a letter to your future self, making goals for your life — we do this all the time, especially right before New Year's, making resolutions. And sometimes we really do get the things we hoped for: the job, the relationship, the pregnancy, the vacation, the promotion. In the moment, as Christians, when we get these, it's a gift from God — we're delighted, we rejoice. But usually, about a month later, this gift becomes the new baseline, the new normal, and what once was something we rejoiced in now becomes something we take for granted. We grow hungry for more. This is exactly where Jesus meets the crowd in this passage. They're convinced their deepest need is another meal. But Jesus knows the real hunger isn't tied to bread, isn't tied to something physical. We're going to see three major movements in this section: the bread that leaves you hungry, the bread you cannot earn, and the bread you cannot lose. Jesus had just fed 5,000 people, then walked on water to prove to his disciples that he is God, that he is divine. The sea calms, they get to where they're supposed to go, and people go looking for him. If I were to summarize this passage in one sentence, I would say this: Jesus is the bread of life that will not perish, and everyone who comes to him will never be cast out. Outline The Bread That Leaves You Hungry (John 6:22-27) The Bread You Cannot Earn (John 6:28-33) The Bread You Cannot Lose (John 6:34-40) The Bread That Leaves You Hungry (John 6:22-27) If we're going to understand why we're still hungry, we first have to understand what these people were actually searching for. At first glance, it looks incredibly faithful — here are a bunch of men who saw Jesus, and now they're going out on a boat, trying to look toward him. They even call him by the right name. Look at verse 25: when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?' They call him teacher. This looks like faith, looks hopeful. But now Jesus is going to confront and address the heart motive of these people. What looked like honest devotion is actually selfishness. Look at verse 26: 'Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."' The crowd was willing to follow Jesus. The point of having a big crowd there was to show a couple things: one, Jesus was supposed to be their Messiah figure, a king who would conquer whoever was oppressing them. This group of 5,000 people, who eventually tried to make him king, would have been an awesome army to start off with, an awesome group of people to start a kingdom with. They're willing to sign on the dotted line, willing to go all in after Jesus — except it's not him they want. They want food. They're willing to follow Jesus as long as it's easy, as long as they've got enough to eat. What they wanted was a useful savior. They didn't care for a glorious savior, a savior worth worshiping. We think we would never do that. But in our lives, when we depend on God and our comfort disappears, if we're honest with ourselves, it makes Jesus way less appealing — it makes it seem like, why should I devote myself to him? Which can reveal something uncomfortable within us: maybe we never actually wanted Jesus. I think in our minds we create a version of Jesus that we manufacture, but as soon as the real Jesus confronts that view, it makes us uncomfortable. They wanted a Jesus who could provide, and Jesus is not pleased with that. They wanted a Jesus focused and centered around what they could get, the benefits of Jesus. Many people will follow Jesus if there's an emotional response — I see that so much today. Whole churches manufacture worship services to try to get you to feel emotional, to muster up something inside of you, so that if you continue to feel this mountaintop experience every single Sunday, you'll always show up. The problem is, our faith, the Bible, doesn't talk about that. We're not supposed to have a mountaintop experience every Sunday. We're supposed to have communion with God, communion with other believers. I'm not saying mountaintop experiences are something to avoid — praise God for the times when he moves in and through you, when you can feel his nearness. The problem is chasing Jesus for the benefits of having those incredible experiences — what we do is turn Jesus into an idol, turn those feelings into an idol, when Jesus is the source of those. We try to use him to get those emotional feelings, and in a sense we're perverting who and what Jesus is. That's not what we live for. We live for Christ. Augustine said it best: 'Jesus is scarcely sought after for Jesus' sake.' So rarely do we come to worship because all we want is him — whether he confronts us, challenges us, or encourages us. We often want a Jesus we can manage, a Jesus who fits within our understanding, who makes us feel good. If we cannot be satisfied with all of who Jesus is, then his gifts will turn sour in our mouth. That's what Jesus is talking about when he says 'the food that perishes.' You could be a zealous person running after Jesus, just like the men in the boat, and be doing it for all the wrong reasons. This is a time to take an honest look at ourselves — I can't answer this for you, maybe not even your spouse or your kids or your parents could answer this for you: why do you want Jesus? What is it you actually want? Do you want to follow him to try to get something from him, or do you want him? Do you delight in just having him? I think there are too many people who call themselves Christians yet use Jesus as an accessory for their best life now. Jesus exposes our appetite, exposes what we truly seek after. That's what he's done with the people here, and now the crowd asks a question every religious person eventually asks: what do I need to do? The Bread You Cannot Earn (John 6:28-33) What must be done? That's what we see in this next section, the bread you cannot earn. Jesus had just told them not to work for the bread that perishes, so let's see their response. Verse 28: 'Then they said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?"' Their immediate response to 'do not work for bread that perishes' is, what works can we do, what is the course of action we must take? They're not asking for one specific action to earn this eternal bread — they're asking what kind of program they need to be a part of, what curriculum they must use. Can you give us a checklist we can run through to make sure we're okay? They're asking the only question they know how to ask. Up until this point in history, I think every religion outside of Christianity asks this question: how can I be good enough, what must I do to be good enough? Every religious teacher up to this point had been there to offer a new philosophy, a new set of rules you must follow to be good. That's what they're asking. They're saying, 'You're the teacher, you're the one who just gave us this miraculous bread, you must know what we must do, you must know the curriculum, you must know the checklist. Tell us this new program you can put us on so we can inherit this goodness.' They wanted Jesus to be their teacher, to tell them how they could climb up to God — and they forgot to realize they were standing in front of the God who had come down to meet them. They could not make their way to him. We cannot make our way to him. We want to assume that we can make it, that we have the power to save ourselves if only we had the right instructions in front of us. But Jesus responds in verse 29: 'Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."' The work, the works, is no work at all. Jesus answers, 'Believe.' Because Christianity isn't fundamentally about climbing towards God — it is about trusting the God who climbed down to meet us. They ask for works, plural — 'what works must we do?' — and Jesus gives them the work of God, singular. God requires one thing, not a thousand, and even that one thing is given to us. God gives us this gift of grace, this ability to believe. Their response was to ask, then prove it — prove that you're someone worth believing in. Essentially they say, 'Moses gave us bread too and fed all of Israel, every single day. If you're better than him, maybe you should do something better than him.' They're trying to bait him into another miracle, trying to trick him into proving himself again. You would have thought that feeding the 5,000 would have been enough — but even miracles aren't enough for people when they're trying to serve themselves. So Jesus responds, verses 32 and 33: 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' What these people wanted was a spiritual ziggurat — a Babylonian structure, a huge pyramid with a shrine at the top for the gods to come down and stay, so the harvest would be good or the plague would subside. They would leave offerings to try to trick the gods into coming down and giving them favor. This goes back to the Tower of Babel — almost certainly a ziggurat, a way for people to make a name for themselves and try to get God to come down, to trick God into doing what they wanted. They didn't realize they had the answer to the Tower of Babel standing in front of them. God had already descended, God was already there, and they didn't have to trick him. He came on his own accord, of his own voluntary nature. Trying to trick God into doing what we want, or trying to earn enough good to earn his favor, does not work. Trying to use God is like pretending he's some cosmic slot machine — if we do the right amount of things, order things properly, he'll give us the jackpot. The other way is trying to earn God for yourself, essentially saying, 'God, I've done the right things, I've done good, therefore you owe me — now you must do what I ask.' Either way, you're trying to exert your will over God, trying to force God to do what you want. This open rebellion minimizes your own humanity and makes you almost superior to God. Both are impossible. The bread that gives eternal life came down for us. The Bread You Cannot Lose (John 6:34-40) After hearing all of this, the crowd still misses it — still thinking about bread, still trying to get another miracle — which leads us to a verse where Jesus says one of the most profound things in all of the Gospels. He says, 'I am the bread of life.' Their response to this is upsetting. Look at verse 34: 'They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."' Their response is essentially, 'Why haven't you given us this bread the whole time? Why have you been holding back the good stuff?' What they're saying to Jesus is, 'We want the bread guy back. We want the one who feeds us — all this stuff about eternal bread, I don't know, it's just a lot. It was nice when it was simple, when you were just the bread guy who gave us what we wanted. Can you just give us another sign, some more bread?' I think often our approach to Jesus is similar. We want a Jesus we can contain, that we can put into a box, that we can control — a Jesus who never calls us out on sin, who's really just there to uplift us and make us feel good, that we can add into all the other things we use to feel good about ourselves — the guy who says, 'You're forgiven, it's all good, you're not a bad guy.' Isn't that simpler? That kind of manufactured Jesus. But Jesus will not allow us to reduce him to something lesser, something weaker, something less beautiful than he actually is. That's why he says what he says next — a sentence that shatters all of our worldviews. Verse 35: 'Jesus then said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst."' They asked what the bread was, and the answer was who. Bread isn't a substance handed out by God — it is God himself being handed out. This is the first of seven 'I am' statements Jesus will make in the Gospel of John, each one building on another. For us, Jesus saying he's the bread of life might go over our heads — bread is an option for us, in our pantries, whether we have it with a meal or not. But for a first-century Jew, bread was life itself — bread was survival when survival wasn't guaranteed. People genuinely died of starvation; bread sustained life. Jesus isn't offering to be another option, another blessing alongside all the others. He is saying, 'I am the only way. I am the blessing.' And suddenly, the manna in the wilderness makes sense. The bread in the wilderness was a foretaste of the true bread that would come. In the Old Testament, manna rained down from heaven every morning for the Israelites to sustain them, to teach them that God operates on grace, not works. The manna was a 40-year lesson in daily dependence on God. But every piece of manna was pointing beyond itself — it wasn't the destination, it was a preview of what was to come. The true bread was still coming. God did not merely send food from heaven — he sent heaven in the flesh. The wilderness bread would postpone death, but the Bread of Life comes to defeat death itself. And because he defeats death, everyone who comes to him will remain. That's what he says in verses 37 through 40: 'All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.' Think about who he's talking to here — the people who questioned him, doubted him, wanted to use him for the benefits of what he has to offer. And his response isn't, 'Go away, and when you've changed your attitude, come back,' or 'I'll think about it,' or 'Prove that you're sincere.' His answer is, 'Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.' There may be people who are convinced that everyone has given up on them, that their family, their friends, even they themselves have given up on them. But Jesus never grows tired of seeing a sinner transformed. Jesus never grows tired of receiving a sinner. This is one of our foundational beliefs as Christians: it does not matter what you have done, previously, either bad or good — Jesus receives us. And Jesus is the one who makes the way, and because of that, he holds us to himself. This is another foundational belief for us as Reformed people: when Jesus saves, he's the one who holds salvation, he's the one who owns it — we cannot run away from him once he's truly saved us. He holds us to himself. The language in the Greek here is that he will never drive us away. The one who would not waste a scrap of barley bread will not lose a single one of his own. He is the only one who has the power to save you, and the only one who has the power to hold you to himself. Jesus has overturned the way we think about life with God. The world says buy, religion says earn your way, and Jesus says come. That's the heart of this passage — our main idea for today: come to the bread you cannot buy, you cannot earn, and once you come, you cannot lose. You cannot buy it. Jesus, out of love, will not allow you to buy it, because if you could own it, you'd be able to lose it. You cannot buy it because you don't have the capacity to. This is why he's been talking about his deity leading up to this point — that he is God himself, because he's the only one able to purchase it. And because he purchases us on the cross, we cannot lose it, because he owns it. God owns everything — we know that, we believe that, we profess that God is sovereign, that he holds the whole world in his hand. But he also owns our salvation. There isn't a part of us that he doesn't have a right to, even our own salvation. He owns it, and because he owns it, we can never lose it. That's why we sing 'He Will Hold Me Fast' — when we say that, we're saying that he holds us to himself, that he can never let us go, and that if we come to him, we can never be lost. Because he owns our salvation, we can never lose it, and there's a kind of rest that comes with that — not licentiousness, not 'well, God, I said a prayer at summer camp so I can do whatever I want now,' but a kind of rest that leads to delight, to belonging, to obedience. As parents, you probably see fractions of this — there are slivers of time where you can see your kids trust you, feel secure, and know that whatever you ask next is going to be for their best. There's trust. This is a deep longing we need — to sit on our Father's lap and say, 'Abba, Father, we trust you,' to be held, to know we're safe, to know that whatever God asks of us next is going to be good, that we can trust him, that we don't have to put the whole weight of the world on our shoulders, don't have to pretend to be the sovereign one who holds the stars together, don't have to try to order our future because he's already ordered it for us. When Jesus says, 'I am the bread of life,' what he's saying is, 'Stop looking to created things, even within yourself, to keep alive what only I can keep alive.' He's asking us to rest in him. So what does this rest look like? Two points of application. First, stop chasing what cannot satisfy. All of us are hungry, all of us are searching for the next thing. Whatever God has given us becomes our new baseline, and we become numb to it, no longer see it as a gift, and start searching for anything that would make us feel alive again. The danger is what Ecclesiastes calls chasing the wind — we will never be able to be satisfied. The crowd tried to live this out in real time: one night of fullness, and the next morning they're hungry again. You can spend your entire life working for a food that never stays eaten. You can throw yourself into your job, and when you retire they will buy you a cake and forget you. You can spend your whole life trying to be the perfect parent, and one day your children will move out. Our identity cannot be in what we do, because what we do can always be taken from us. Our identity must be founded in Christ Jesus — something we can never lose, and someone who promises we will never be lost from him. Chasing after things that will not satisfy will not lead to life, but to the grave, and you will run your whole life and have nothing to show for it. Our second point of application is this: stop earning what God freely gives. I think oftentimes we're exhausted from trying to chase God, trying to run after what he has promised he will give us. We spend years trying to become the kind of person that God would finally love, finally approve of — climbing a ladder of trying to do good things, to be a moral person, wondering every day if we've done enough. The gospel of belief blows apart that kind of meritocracy. Acceptance comes first, as a sheer gift. The works flow out of that acceptance, never toward it. That is the fault line between mere religion and the gospel. Religion says, 'I obey, therefore I am accepted.' The gospel says, 'I am accepted — I have been accepted by Jesus Christ — and therefore it is my delight, my desire, to obey him.' One produces either pride or despair. The other produces gratitude and rest. But everything we've been talking about this morning hinges on this: how can Jesus say this? How can Jesus look at a sinner and say, 'I will never lose you, I will never cast you out'? The answer is not found within ourselves but on the cross. On the cross, Jesus was cast out. On the cross, Jesus experienced the only hunger that really mattered — separation from the Father, from the Father's love. The one who said, 'I will never cast you out,' was cast outside the city, hung on a cross, rejected, forsaken, and condemned — not just by men, but by God himself. Because of that, everyone who comes to him will never be condemned, forsaken, rejected. One day, everything in your life will become meaningless. One day you will sit on your deathbed, and there will no longer be thoughts about the promotions you've had, even the grudges you might have held against other people — all of that will be meaningless. Every avenue we seek satisfaction from will be exhausted and will lead to no more life. The promotions will be over, the applause will stop, the vacations will end, the money will belong to someone else. Even our last meal on earth will be just that — our last meal. But there is another table being prepared for you right now, a wedding feast where the Bread of Life himself will be the host. He has a seat for you with your name on it, and all you have to do is come. Come to the bread of life — you cannot buy it, you cannot earn it, and once you come, you cannot lose it. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Crowned Sermon Series Description Crowned follows Jesus on the road to Jerusalem and through the events of Holy Week, showing that his kingship is unlike every worldly vision of power. He does not seize a throne by force, flatter the crowds, or preserve himself from suffering. He reigns by obedience. He is praised by the people, rejected by sinners, humbled unto death, and then vindicated by the Father in resurrection glory. This series helps the church see that Easter is not merely the happy ending to a tragic story. It is the public revelation that Jesus truly is King. From his resolute march toward Jerusalem to the empty tomb, every scene reveals a King who rules with purpose, receives praise, embraces humility, bears shame, and triumphs in glory. As we walk through these passages, we are confronted with a searching question: what kind of King do we want? A King who serves our expectations, or the King who saves through sacrifice? Crowned calls us to bow before Jesus as he truly is—the crucified and risen Lord—and to follow him on the path of obedient discipleship. Behold the crucified and risen King, and follow him in humble, joyful allegiance. Crowned With Thorns Matthew 27 Watch Crowned with Humility Matthew 26 Watch Crowned with Praise Matthew 21 Watch Crowned with Purpose Luke 9 Watch

Faith or Works? Prosper Christian Reformed Church Faith or Works? Christ Alone Mitchell Leach Sunday, February 15, 2026 Audio Faith or Works? Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 45:53 Sermon Transcript Introduction/Big Question Are you a hard enough worker? That question's everywhere. It runs our life. At work, are you producing enough? Are you valuable enough? At home, are you doing enough? Or are you showing up at home at the right time? In your head, are you keeping up? Or are you falling behind? The trap is this. We don't keep that question in workplace or on our own effort in our physique or in how we're keeping up with ourselves. We often drag this question into our souls. We start asking it spiritually, Am I a hard enough worker for God? Am I consistent enough? Am I obedient enough? Am I disciplined enough? Most of us don't doubt that God exists, but we doubt whether we've done enough for him. It feels like a humble question. It feels like a A reasonable one because if you ask that question, you always know if you've tried hard enough. You always know that you've tried, but you never know if God is pleased. Is it healthy for us to ask this question of our spiritual life? And fortunately, the Bible has answers for us. So keep your Bibles open to Galatians 3, as we'll look at three movements through this passage. Outline The Galatians experience The spiritual pattern The law's function Verses 1 through 14 are going to show us something important here, that God justifies and blesses his people by faith alone, not by works of the law, as shown in the Galatians' experience, Abraham's example, and in Christ's curse bearing death. Where we are in the series: Where we're at in this series, we're in an eight-week series right in the middle of it. We're in week four. So far, what we've been seeing is this is a letter written from Paul to churches in Galatia, that this is a letter unlike all the other letters that Paul writes. This is Paul fighting for the gospel, trying to bleed with the Galatian churches that our faith is not based on works, that it's not Jesus plus anything. That doesn't make or improve Christianity. In fact, it takes away from it. That there's a crisis identity also within the church. There's this tension between who is in and who is out, who belongs in the church? Is it based on performance or is it based on faith? Paul has defended his message up until this point and his mission proving that he was an apostle, really trying to say that this gospel is not from man, but from God, and that he's going to confront anyone with it, even if that means confronting the apostle Peter. Week in and week out, what we've been seeing so far in Galatians is that life with God comes by faith in Christ and not the law. The Galatians experience faith, not law, brings the spirit Galatians 3:1-5 Paul comes back to the false teaching that he addressed at the beginning of this letter. He doesn't start with a lecture. He starts with something that is meant to shock the Galatians. He's saying, This is so absurd that you have forgotten the gospel, that you've left it, that it must be that you've been put under some spell. The word here that we see in verse one is the word bewitched, and literally the way that that translates in the Greek is to cast an evil eye. Really, it means to confuse so badly that you can't see what's obvious. This was a superstitious language that was used in the Greco-Roman culture. They believe that they could catch a curse. They could catch being cursed by someone or being being bewitched by someone. Paul is saying, How did you get the gospel so clear when I was with you? Then, How did you get it so wrong? Galatians 3:1 really could be translated this way, "O foolish Galatians, who has cast an evil eye on you. It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly, publicly portrayed as crucified." Paul is trying to use a play on words here. He's not calling them stupid, but what he's saying is, You're acting like people who can't see. You're acting like people who have been put under a spell. And what should have been the thing that kept them clear was the end of this. It was before your very eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. The Galatians didn't personally see Jesus crucified. So what does this mean? It means that Jesus's death was public, not in the sense that they watched it. In the sense that Paul's preaching put the cross right in front of them, like a billboard, like a public portrayal. The cross was not a footnote. In the faith of the Galatian church, it was the center of it. Paul moves from this verse into the rest of this section, Galatians 3:2-4. He's going to ask four important questions, four rhetorical questions, not because he doesn't know the answer, but he wants them to remember what they've already experienced. So Galatians 3:2 says, Let Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by works of law or by hearing with faith? He's going to ask these questions, How did you receive the spirit? How did you meet God? How did you experience the life of God? Was it through works? Was it through the law? Was it through faith? Paul is forcing one question through this. Did God come as a boss, paying you a wage, or did he come as your father, giving you a gift? There's one thing as hard workers we hate. It's a thing that's hard for us, especially in our culture, to deal with. It's being a charity case. Paul is saying that we need to be a charity case. It is not by works of the law, but it is through faith, something that we cannot earn. Paul is asking, did you work the spirit up? Is it you that mustard this Did the energy up? Or did the spirit come down to you like a gift? Paul's point is simple. We don't receive God as a wage. We receive him as a gift. He's not a paycheck. He is a blessing. He is something that we've gotten, we've received without any effort, without any of our earning towards it. Grace makes you a charity case before it makes you useful. In other words, Christianity begins the moment you stop asking, What do I deserve? And start asking, What can I receive? The spirit comes to you in the way that charity comes. It's never something that you purchase, but it's always something that you're given. He presses that same question on into sanctification as we look at verse three. Are you so foolish? Having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh? He's saying, God started this. He's the one who initiated this. Are you then going to be the one who perfects yourself, who finishes it? Religion says, I obey, therefore I am accepted. But the gospel says, I am accepted, and therefore I obey. Religion wants to give us performance first and then a verdict later. But the gospel gives us a verdict. It declares us righteous. It declares us justified. We obey out of that. It was God who began the work in you. Who do you think is going to complete it? Are you really that convinced that your effort can outdo Can we outdo what the Holy spirit can do? This is not just a question that Paul is asking the churches in Galatia, it's a question that we should ask ourselves. Can we outdo with our own effort what the Holy spirit spirit can do in us? Paul continues on to Galatians 3:5, Does he who supply the spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Again, God is the one who supplies the spirit. God is the one who works. God is the one who moves. And God is the one who gives life. He doesn't do it because we've earned it. He does it because we needed it. He does it because he's gracious. Paul is saying that there were some some miraculous things that were happening, some amazing things that were happening in the church in Galatia. And he's saying, Who did that? Was it the Holy spirit or was it you? I think it's a humbling question. For us as a church, if God's going to move us to where he wants to move us, if he's going to call us to where, or if we're going to go to where he's called us to be, we can't be like the church in Galatia that says, Well, this is on us now. This has to be led by the spirit, perfected by the spirit, communally, but also individually. Think about times in your life where God has moved. Why did he do it? Why did God move in and through your life? Whether it was the moment that you became a Christian or just a moment where the Holy spirit did something miraculous in and through you. Was it a time that you cleaned yourself up, that that you got yourself together, that you perfected yourself in the flesh? Or was it exactly the very moment that you needed his grace, that you needed him to step up and do something amazing? God is the one who supplies the spirit. God is the one who works the miracles. God is the one who works in and through us. Paul's begging them, Don't you see church in Galatia? It was never with you to begin with. Our works. Our works can never save us. I think oftentimes we think about our good works, our righteousness, even as Christians, even as people who aren't trying to earn our salvation, we think about our works as on par with the works that God does. In terms of righteousness, if we could give our righteousness or our righteous works a number on a scale of one to 100 or whatever, we would say, often wrongly, That our righteousness and what God does, his righteous works, are about the same. Our good works are on the same level with him, and we think about it that way. When we do something good, it's about as good as what God does, those good works. And yet our righteousness and his righteousness are not even on the same playing field. When we do something, it is not the same level of what God is doing. In fact, for us to use our good works in order to try to manipulate God into receiving blessing or to receive salvation or to receive anything from him is something that disgusts God. It is something that is repulsive to God. In fact, in Isaiah Isaiah 64. Isaiah says this, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. This is a very charitable and a very kind way to interpret this passage. This passage, the word polluted garments, is really so much more foul than what is translated here that I really don't want to give you what exactly it says. But it is disgusting. Our righteousness and God's righteousness are not on the same level. I think about it like this, like children's artwork. When you get artwork from a young child who loves you, it is something you want to put on your refrigerator. It's beautiful. It's Wonderful. It's an expression of their love for you, and it's amazing. But if we're going to be objective about it, it's bad art, right? We can all say that, right? It is. It's not the quality of the art that we love. It's the heart behind it. It's the same with our works, our righteousness, our good. If we do them as an act to try to manipulate God, to try to get something something from him. It's bad art. It's objectively no good. But when we do it out of a heart of love, when we respond to the gospel and want to obey him, we want to do his will, he loves it. It is beautiful in his sight. I don't want to minimize that God doesn't like obedience. He absolutely loves obedience. But an obedience in trying to get something from him is like a polluted garment. If we're going to try to use our righteousness against God, God sitting there going, if you're trying to twist my arm by doing good works, good luck, you and me are not the same. Our righteousness is not leverage that we can use against God. God's love for you is independent Love your obedience to him, which brings us an incredible amount of freedom. When we understand that God loves me, when God loves us, we don't have to perform for him. Just try that this week. Feeling, embracing that freedom that you have. You don't have to earn his favor. He loves you. He is proud of you. You don't have to You don't have to be the one who is perfect in your devotional time, is amazing at your prayer life. Those things are great and good. But if you're doing them to try to make God happy with you, God is already happy with you. Live in the freedom that comes with that. The gospel does not say, work harder. It says, Stop bargaining. When we realize the love that God had for us and has for us, It allows us to go from, Man, I have to obey. I get to obey. There's this great hym by John Newton. He was the one who wrote Amazing Grace. This was a hym that was never put to music by him, but it's one of my favorite, I don't know, hymns or poetry that I've ever experienced in Christian literature. It says this, Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, since we have seen his beauty, are joined to part no more. To see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear his pardoning voice, transforms a slave into a child and duty into choice. When we see the beauty of Christ, our pleasure and our duty aren't Two different things. They are the same. Our duty is something we choose to do. Our obedience to God is something we love to do. Transforms a slave into a child. God loved you before you were born. He loved you before the world was created. He wanted you to trust and follow him, not because of your works, not because of your obedience, but because of your faith. This is always the pattern. And Paul starts off with an experience. He This is how you experience God, Galatians church. The Scriptural Pattern in Abraham: Abraham was Justified by Faith (Galatians 3:6-9) It comes down to a question of belonging, question of who gets in, who are God's chosen people. Paul's move here is brilliant. It really is. He picks someone out of the Bible that no one can argue with. Paul picks Abraham. Everyone agrees on Abraham. Galatians 3:6 says this, Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, Why does Paul bring up Abraham besides that nobody can argue with him? Abraham was the first Jew. He is the family tree. If anyone could be saved by their bloodline or got in by effort, it would have been Abraham. And yet, here's the shocking part. Abraham was not justified by works of the law. He is justified by faith. Genesis 15:6 says this, And he believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham didn't bring a record. He didn't bring his credentials. He brought empty hands. He believed, and God counted it to him as righteous. This was always the pattern. This was always the plan. And that's what we'll see next week in our passage. If you actually want to be part of the chosen group, part of the sons of Abraham, which is what verse seven says, it cannot be based on works. It cannot be through law keeping. It must be through faith. The truest Jew is not the one who has the right DNA. The truest son of Abraham, the truest member of the chosen people, is the one who has Abraham's faith. Belonging always has been a promise. It has never been about performance. Then Paul goes deeper in Galatians 3:8, he says this, And in scripture, Forseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham. Do you hear how bold this is? Paul is saying the gospel does not start with Paul. It was preached beforehand with Abraham. And what's the message that we see here? The message is this, that in you shall all the nations be blessed. God's plan was never to keep God's blessing to one people. From the foundation, from the birth of God's people with Abraham, it was all about being a blessing to the nations, to every family, to every person. The problem is the way that the Judiaizers or the circumcision party, when they read that passage, how they would have read that passage is like this, when they heard in you, they would have heard in your line, in your blood, in your family. To get into Abraham's blessing, they would have said you had to become a Jew first. But in you does not mean in your DNA. It means by you, from you, through you. Abraham's family was meant to be an instrument, not a fortress. The Jewish people, Israel, were meant to be agents of the blessing, not hoarders of it. It's one of the wonderful things about the Christian faith. Did you know Christianity was the first religion to say, you don't have to belong to this certain people group or this nationality or this ethnic tribe or be a part of this region, you can belong no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, what language you speak. Have Have you ever wondered the difference between our Bible, our sacred text, and a lot of other sacred texts? If you're a Muslim, you have to read it from the Arabic. The reason why is the official language of Islam is Arabic. Why can we say that this English Bible is still God's word, even though obviously Jesus did not speak English? It's because the first language, what was the first language spoken at Pentecost? It was every language. The gospel does not belong to one group of people. That was intentional. The blessing comes to all kinds of people, and the blessing is this. You can have God. You can belong to God by believing. You can be justified by faith. If all the other nations had to be justified, had to be justified by their works, they had to be Jewish first, it would have absolutely guttied the gospel. The promise to the nations would have been erased. And even Abraham's own story would have been negated. Galatians 3:9 continues on, So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Not the man of works, the man of faith. Paul knew what our hearts do next when we hear faith. He wants us to respond truly, but he knows as humans, we hear faith and we want to grab the closest measuring stick. We want to make sure that we're doing it right, that we can be good Christians, that we can obey, and that we can belong. He shows us the other side of reliance, that it does not bring blessing, but it brings curse. The Law's function: It Brings Curse, not Blessing (Galatians 3:10-14) Galatians 3:10 says this, All who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide in all things written in the Book of the law, and do them. Before we go on, what is a curse? We need to answer that question. I think oftentimes when we hear the word curse, we think of curse words, we think of witches, we think of magic, right? But the biblical idea of cursing is so much more than that. A curse is God's judgment. It's a failure to live up to his covenant requirements. A curse always comes from a covenant. Anytime a covenant was installed in the life of Israel, there were blessings and curses promised for those who believed it and would do it and those who wouldn't. You might think, Well, that's not so bad. It doesn't sound so bad. God's judgment from a curse means that it's his judgment without mercy. It means he weighs He gives up everything that you've done every time you've broken the law, and he judges you without his mercy. He gives you what you deserve. He gives us what our wages demand. Romans 6:23 says this, For the wages of sin is death. Our works earn us death unless you can keep the whole law, unless you can keep all 613 Commandments in the Old Testament all the time. This is a contract. It's not getting paid, half paid for half work. You have to do it all, all the time, keeping every commandment. You either keep all of it or you're cursed, judged, hopeless, dead. The law to use it like it can save us leads to death, to curse, to brokenness. Right here, the gospel becomes more evident than ever. It becomes more than advice, it becomes a rescue because God doesn't just tell us that we're under a curse. He sends us someone to stand under that curse for us. The good news is that Jesus has saved us. And that's why we can't work hard to fix things. Grace makes you a charity case before it makes you useful. Galatians 3:13 says this, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. It all comes back to the most important moment in the life of any Christian, the crucifixion. That something amazing has happened in our place, something substitution. We should have lived and died by the law. We are lawbreakers. We are cursed. And yet Christ became a curse for us. In our place, Jesus was condemned. He was cursed. That's why Athanasius says this, He became what we are, that we might become what he is. The cross is where your earnings go to die. The law tells truth about you, but it cannot save you. And all of this happens for a very important so that in Galatians 3:14. So that in In Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. So that is so important. If you write in your Bible, circle those two so that. Paul is telling us the intent of this passage, what he intends the Galatians to understand by it. The goal of the covenant of Abraham was Jesus, that all kinds of people would come into the family, this beautiful family of God, so that we could have God, so that we could have the promised Holy spirit with us, so that we could have God himself, not through works. Part of this is that God wanted to make sure that we knew that we could never have the delusion of controlling him. If we earn our salvation, if we earn his favor, it means that we can control him. If our righteousness, if our good works can make him like us more, means that we have control over him. And yet all we can do is respond. We can reflect his glory. The beautiful part about that is that we get his glory. That's the blessing here. Is that we get him. That's the freedom in all of this. Is that God is not someone we manage. God is a glory to behold. We are made to be mirrors, not marketers, not people who earn his love, people who reflect his glory. When you stop trying to control him, you finally get what you were made for. That you were made for his presence, that you were made for his favor, that you were made for himself. Mirrors do not strive. They do not achieve, they don't bargain, they receive light and reflect it. And that is the Christian life. Main Idea Faith brings blessing, law brings curse - Christ redeems us. This is the foundational reality of what we believe as Christians, that we are people who are redeemed, that we cannot save ourselves. That word redemption is an economic term. It means to purchase, to buy back. One of the pictures that the Bible paints of our spiritual reality is one of debt, that we owe a debt that we have no ability to repay, incapable, and that we have to admit that we are spiritually bankrupt. That's hard. That's hard for us. We're blue collar, middle class people. Working hard is one of the greatest virtues we can have. Wives, if you didn't get your husband a gift today, you can. You can tell him that you're so proud of how hard he works. There's nothing as a husband that... There's very few things as a husband that you love to hear more. We love to hear this. This is such a good part of who we are. It's part of the reason I love being a part of this church. We have tons of people who wake up early, who work hard. I love that about us. But God is telling us that that cannot be true of our spirituality. Jesus did not get up on the sermon of the mount and say, blessed are the middle class in spirit. ' He said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit. ' We have to be people who recognize that we are spiritually bankrupt, that there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves, that we are charity cases. There's a scene in a book that I love. It's called The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. The This book is about a bus full of people coming from hell and going to heaven, having the ability to stay there if they'd like. They all encounter someone from their life on earth who is in heaven now. A scene Seans between saints and ghosts play out. And that's one of the scenes I'd love to read for you here because I think it absolutely embodies this. If you can't read that, I'm going to read it aloud to. The ghost says this, 'Look at me now, ' said the ghost, slapping his chest, but the slap made no noise. I've gone straight all my life, don't you? I don't say I was a religious man, and I don't say I have no faults, far from it, but I've done my I've done my best all my life, see? I've done my best by everyone. That's the chap I was. I never asked for anything that wasn't mine by rights. If I wanted a drink, I paid for it. If I took my wage, I'd done my job, see? That's the I was, and I don't care who knows it. It would be much better not to go on about that now. Who's going on? I'm not arguing. I'm just telling you the chap I was. See, I'm not asking for nothing but my rights. You may think that you can put me down because you're dressed like that, which you weren't when you worked under me. I'm only a poor man, but I got to have my rights. Same as you. See? Oh, no. It's not so bad as that. I haven't got my rights, or I shouldn't be here. You will not get yours either. You'll get something far better. Never fear. There you go. That's what I say. I haven't got my rights. I've always done my best, and I never done anything wrong. And that's what I don't see is why I shouldn't be or why I should be put below a bloody murderer like you. Who knows whether you will be. Only be happy and come with me. What do you keep arguing for? I'm only telling you the chap I am. I only want my rights. I'm not asking for anybody's bleeding charity. Then do so at once. Ask for the bleeding charity. Everything here is for the asking, and nothing can be bought. Grace makes you a charity case before it makes you useful. That's the question. The question isn't whether you've done enough, whether you're religious enough, whether you've obeyed enough, whether you've done enough good works. The The question is, have you asked for the bleeding charity? Have you asked for the bleeding charity today? Christianity is not a marketplace. It is a mercy seat. If you believe that you're too good for charity, you're saying that you're too good for Christ. How do we respond as charity cases? Application: Receive charity This week, allow someone to help you. Allow someone to serve you. Do not be so prideful that you can't accept someone's help. I think it's easy for us I think for many of us, it's hard to see people on the same level. We always want to feel superior to people. We don't want to let people help us. When we let people help us, we become equals with them. If that's something that causes you to be unsettled in your heart, to be equals with people, we don't understand the gospel. We are. Receive charity. The second point is this. Practice charity This week, find one way to give, given a way that you can't be paid back. As people who have been redeemed, bought, been given charity, we must give graciously and generously. Look for someone. Look for a way that you can help someone, not because you're trying to be better than them, not as a power move, but you're trying to embody the gospel in a tangible way. So find a gospel-centered charity that you can give generously to. Maybe one of our missionaries, if you need help finding that on our website, we have a new web page that allows you to find their a living platform that you can give right to them. If you're not giving here, I challenge you to pray about what it would look like to tithe, not because we necessarily need the money, but because you need that in your spiritual life to trust God with your money. Maybe you're asking, what if it's going to be hard for us financially? Or it might not be the right time to do that. The truth is, that's the point. Gospel-shaped generosity hurts. Look at the cross. If generosity from God was something that didn't hurt, God wouldn't have went to the cross for us. He went to the cross. He suffered for us. Our generosity ought to cost something. It ought to make us feel uncomfortable. What would it look like for you to embody the generosity of the cross in your daily life? Landing As we come to a close, there's a danger here. Even in this, we can turn generosity into a new ladder, into a way to try to work the curse off of us. So how do we have the power to both receive charity and to practice charity without trying to earn something, without trying to try to take control? The only place Christ is the cross. Is that Christ became a curse for us. The curse that he bore was so much more than physical. I think sometimes we think about the physical nature of what Christ took, the lashes, the nails in his arms and his hands. The cross was infinitely more painful because it was spiritually torturous. It was the first time in the history of the Trinity, in the relationship of the Trinity, that Jesus was not loved, but he was hated. On the cross, Jesus heard what we should have. Depart from me. I never knew you. He was told that he was not loved. He became a curse for us. Because of that, we get what he deserves, that we get to become children of God. We get the blessing that Jesus received, the words that Jesus received at his baptism. This is my son or daughter in whom I'm well pleased. As a Christian, you get to hear that over you, not because of what you've done, but because of what Christ has done for you. We are already loved. That is the blessing that we get to receive. Hear this, faith brings blessing, law brings curse, and Christ redeems us. Prayer Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for who you are, that you are God who is rich in mercy, that you allow us to be saved, not by our works. That we do not have to muster enough effort up in us to be pleasing to you, but you are already pleased in us because you are pleased in your son. God, we thank you that he became a curse for us so that we do not have to try to pay for the wages of our sin, which would have been death. Thank you for the gift that we have in Christ, the free gift that we have. God, help us to sing as people who have been redeemed. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

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The Canons of Dort The First Main Point of Doctrine Divine Election and Reprobation The Judgment Concerning Divine Predestination Which the Synod Declares to Be in Agreement with the Word of God and Accepted Till Now in the Reformed Churches, Set Forth in Several Articles Article 1: God’s Right to Condemn All People Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: “The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God” (Rom. 3:19), “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Article 2: The Manifestation of God’s Love But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16). Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends messengers of this very joyful message to the people and at the time he wills. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Rom. 10:14-15). Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel God’s wrath remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do accept it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God’s wrath and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life. Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in humanity. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: “It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ” (Phil. 1:29). Article 6: God’s Eternal Decree The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decree. For “all his works are known to God from eternity” (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decree God graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of the elect and inclines them to believe, but by a just judgment God leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us God’s act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decree of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word. The wicked, impure, and unstable distort this decree to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words. Article 7: Election Election is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following: Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, God chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. God did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so God decreed to give to Christ those chosen for salvation, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit. In other words, God decreed to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify them. God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of God’s glorious grace. As Scripture says, “God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). Article 8: A Single Decree of Election This election is not of many kinds, but one and the same for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God’s will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in. Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of every saving good. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, “He chose us” (not because we were, but) “so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph. 1:4). Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve God’s choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as God’s own possession. As Scripture says, “When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad . . . , she (Rebecca) was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Article 11: Election Unchangeable Just as God is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can God’s chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced. Article 12: The Assurance of Election Assurance of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on. Article 13: The Fruit of This Assurance In their awareness and assurance of this election, God’s children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of God’s mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to the One who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God’s children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God’s just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen. Article 14: Teaching Election Properly By God’s wise plan, this teaching concerning divine election was proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, in Old and New Testament times. It was subsequently committed to writing in the Holy Scriptures. So also today in God’s church, for which it was specifically intended, this teaching must be set forth with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High. This must be done for the glory of God’s most holy name, and for the lively comfort of God’s people. Article 15: Reprobation Moreover, Holy Scripture most especially highlights this eternal and undeserved grace of our election and brings it out more clearly for us, in that it further bears witness that not all people have been chosen but that some have not been chosen or have been passed by in God’s eternal election—those, that is, concerning whom God, on the basis of his entirely free, most just, irreproachable, and unchangeable good pleasure, made the following decree: to leave them in the common misery into which, by their own fault, they have plunged themselves; not to grant them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but finally to condemn and eternally punish those who have been left in their own ways and under God’s just judgment, not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins, in order to display his justice. And this is the decree of reprobation, which does not at all make God the author of sin (a blasphemous thought!) but rather its fearful, irreproachable, just judge and avenger. Article 16: Responses to the Teaching of Reprobation Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us—such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to count themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace, and to wait for it in reverence and humility. On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to God alone, and to be delivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like—such people ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since our merciful God has promised not to snuff out a smoldering wick or break a bruised reed.* However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh—such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God. *Isaiah 42:3 Article 17: The Salvation of the Infants of Believers Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy. Article 18: The Proper Attitude Toward Election and Reprobation To those who complain about this grace of an undeserved election and about the severity of a just reprobation, we reply with the words of the apostle, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Rom. 9:20), and with the words of our Savior, “Have I no right to do what I want with my own?” (Matt. 20:15). We, however, with reverent adoration of these secret things, cry out with the apostle: “Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36). Rejection of the Errors by Which the Dutch Churches Have for Some Time Been Disturbed Having set forth the orthodox teaching concerning election and reprobation, the Synod rejects the errors of those I Who teach that the will of God to save those who would believe and persevere in faith and in the obedience of faith is the whole and entire decision of election to salvation, and that nothing else concerning this decision has been revealed in God’s Word. For they deceive the simple and plainly contradict Holy Scripture in its testimony that God does not only wish to save those who would believe, but that he has also from eternity chosen certain particular people to whom, rather than to others, he would within time grant faith in Christ and perseverance. As Scripture says, “I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me” (John 17:6). Likewise, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48), and “He chose us before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy . . .” (Eph. 1:4). II Who teach that God’s election to eternal life is of many kinds: one general and indefinite, the other particular and definite; and the latter in turn either incomplete, revocable, conditional, or else complete, irrevocable, and absolute. Likewise, who teach that there is one election to faith and another to salvation, so that there can be an election to justifying faith apart from a nonconditional election to salvation. For this is an invention of the human mind, devised apart from the Scriptures, which distorts the teaching concerning election and breaks up this golden chain of salvation: “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). III Who teach that God’s good pleasure and purpose, which Scripture mentions in its teaching of election, does not involve God’s choosing certain particular people rather than others, but involves God’s choosing, out of all possible conditions (including the works of the law) or out of the whole order of things, the intrinsically unworthy act of faith, as well as the imperfect obedience of faith, to be a condition of salvation; and it involves his graciously wishing to count this as perfect obedience and to look upon it as worthy of the reward of eternal life. For by this pernicious error the good pleasure of God and the merit of Christ are robbed of their effectiveness and people are drawn away, by unprofitable inquiries, from the truth of undeserved justification and from the simplicity of the Scriptures. It also gives the lie to these words of the apostle: “God called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of works, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim. 1:9). IV Who teach that in election to faith a prerequisite condition is that humans should rightly use the light of nature, be upright, unassuming, humble, and disposed to eternal life, as though election depended to some extent on these factors. For this smacks of Pelagius, and it clearly calls into question the words of the apostle: “We lived at one time in the passions of our flesh, following the will of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive with Christ, by whose grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with him and seated us with him in heaven in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages we might show the surpassing riches of his grace, according to his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God) not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:3-9). V Who teach that the incomplete and conditional election of particular persons to salvation occurred on the basis of a foreseen faith, repentance, holiness, and godliness, which has just begun or continued for some time; but that complete and nonconditional election occurred on the basis of a foreseen perseverance to the end in faith, repentance, holiness, and godliness. And that this is the gracious and evangelical worthiness, on account of which the one who is chosen is more worthy than the one who is not chosen. And therefore that faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, godliness, and perseverance are not fruits or effects of an unchangeable election to glory, but indispensable conditions and causes, which are prerequisite in those who are to be chosen in the complete election, and which are foreseen as achieved in them. This runs counter to the entire Scripture, which throughout impresses upon our ears and hearts these sayings among others: “Election is not by works, but by him who calls” (Rom. 9:11-12); “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48); “He chose us in himself so that we should be holy” (Eph. 1:4); “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16); “If by grace, not by works” (Rom. 11:6); “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son” (1 John 4:10). VI Who teach that not every election to salvation is unchangeable, but that some of the chosen can perish and do in fact perish eternally, with no decision of God to prevent it. By this gross error they make God changeable, destroy the comfort of the godly concerning the steadfastness of their election, and contradict the Holy Scriptures, which teach that “the elect cannot be led astray” (Matt. 24:24), that “Christ does not lose those given to him by the Father” (John 6:39), and that “those whom God predestined, called, and justified, he also glorifies” (Rom. 8:30). VII Who teach that in this life there is no fruit, no awareness, and no assurance of one’s unchangeable election to glory, except as conditioned upon something changeable and contingent. For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain assurance, but these things also militate against the experience of the saints, who with the apostle rejoice from an awareness of their election and sing the praises of this gift of God; who, as Christ urged, “rejoice” with his disciples “that their names have been written in heaven” (Luke 10:20); and finally who hold up against the flaming arrows of the devil’s temptations the awareness of their election, with the question “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” (Rom. 8:33). VIII Who teach that it was not on the basis of his just will alone that God decided to leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common state of sin and condemnation or to pass anyone by in the imparting of grace necessary for faith and conversion. For these words stand fast: “He has mercy on whom he wishes, and he hardens whom he wishes” (Rom. 9:18). And also: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11). Likewise: “I give glory to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and have revealed them to little children; yes, Father, because that was your pleasure” (Matt. 11:25-26). IX Who teach that the cause for God’s sending the gospel to one people rather than to another is not merely and solely God’s good pleasure, but rather that one people is better and worthier than the other to whom the gospel is not communicated. For Moses contradicts this when he addresses the people of Israel as follows: “Behold, to Jehovah your God belong the heavens and the highest heavens, the earth and whatever is in it. But Jehovah was inclined in his affection to love your ancestors alone, and chose out their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day” (Deut. 10:14-15). And also Christ: “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! for if those mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matt. 11:21). The Second Main Point of Doctrine Christ's Death and Human Redemption Through It Article 1: The Punishment Which God’s Justice Requires God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. This justice requires (as God has revealed in the Word) that the sins we have committed against his infinite majesty be punished with both temporal and eternal punishments, of soul as well as body. We cannot escape these punishments unless satisfaction is given to God’s justice. Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ Since, however, we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction or deliver ourselves from God’s wrath, God in boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee his only begotten Son, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, in our place, on the cross, in order that he might give satisfaction for us. Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death This death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world. Article 4: Reasons for This Infinite Value This death is of such great value and worth for the reason that the person who suffered it is—as was necessary to be our Savior—not only a true and perfectly holy human, but also the only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Another reason is that this death was accompanied by the experience of God’s wrath and curse, which we by our sins had fully deserved. Article 5: The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel. Article 6: Unbelief, a Human Responsibility However, that many who have been called through the gospel do not repent or believe in Christ but perish in unbelief is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross is deficient or insufficient, but because they themselves are at fault. Article 7: Faith God’s Gift But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved by Christ’s death from their sins and from destruction receive this favor solely from God’s grace—which God owes to no one—given to them in Christ from eternity. Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son’s costly death should work itself out in all the elect, in order that God might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation. In other words, it was God’s will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that Christ should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit’s other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death). It was also God’s will that Christ should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle. Article 9: The Fulfillment of God’s Plan This plan, arising out of God’s eternal love for the elect, from the beginning of the world to the present time has been powerfully carried out and will also be carried out in the future, the gates of hell seeking vainly to prevail against it. As a result, the elect are gathered into one, all in their own time, and there is always a church of believers founded on Christ’s blood, a church which steadfastly loves, persistently worships, and here and in all eternity praises him as her Savior who laid down his life for her on the cross, as a bridegroom for his bride. Rejection of the Errors Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those I Who teach that God the Father appointed his Son to death on the cross without a fixed and definite plan to save anyone by name, so that the necessity, usefulness, and worth of what Christ’s death obtained could have stood intact and altogether perfect, complete and whole, even if the redemption that was obtained had never in actual fact been applied to any individual. For this assertion is an insult to the wisdom of God the Father and to the merit of Jesus Christ, and it is contrary to Scripture. For the Savior speaks as follows: “I lay down my life for the sheep, and I know them” (John 10:15, 27). And Isaiah the prophet says concerning the Savior: “When he shall make himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:10). Finally, this undermines the article of the creed in which we confess what we believe concerning the Church. II Who teach that the purpose of Christ’s death was not to establish in actual fact a new covenant of grace by his blood, but only to acquire for the Father the mere right to enter once more into a covenant with humanity, whether of grace or of works. For this conflicts with Scripture, which teaches that Christ “has become the guarantee and mediator” of a better—that is, a new—covenant (Heb. 7:22; 9:15), “and that a will is in force only when someone has died” (Heb. 9:17). III Who teach that Christ, by the satisfaction which he gave, did not certainly merit for anyone salvation itself and the faith by which this satisfaction of Christ is effectively applied to salvation, but only acquired for the Father the authority or plenary will to relate in a new way with humanity and to impose such new conditions as he chose, and that the satisfying of these conditions depends on human free choice; consequently, that it was possible that either all or none would fulfill them. For they have too low an opinion of the death of Christ, do not at all acknowledge the foremost fruit or benefit which it brings forth, and summon back from hell the Pelagian error. IV Who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which God the Father made with humanity through the intervening of Christ’s death is not that we are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it accepts Christ’s merit, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law, counts faith itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith, as perfect obedience to the law, and graciously looks upon this as worthy of the reward of eternal life. For they contradict Scripture: “They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, whom God presented as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:24-25). And along with the ungodly Socinus, they introduce a new and foreign justification of humanity before God, against the consensus of the whole church. V Who teach that all people have been received into the state of reconciliation and into the grace of the covenant, so that no one on account of original sin is liable to condemnation, or is to be condemned, but that all are free from the guilt of this sin. For this opinion conflicts with Scripture which asserts that we are by nature children of wrath. VI Who make use of the distinction between obtaining and applying in order to instill in the unwary and inexperienced the opinion that God, as far as he is concerned, wished to bestow equally upon all people the benefits which are gained by Christ’s death; but that the distinction by which some rather than others come to share in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life depends on their own free choice (which applies itself to the grace offered indiscriminately) but does not depend on the unique gift of mercy which effectively works in them, so that they, rather than others, apply that grace to themselves. For, while pretending to set forth this distinction in an acceptable sense, they attempt to give the people the deadly poison of Pelagianism. VII Who teach that Christ neither could die, nor had to die, nor did die for those whom God so dearly loved and chose to eternal life, since such people do not need the death of Christ. For they contradict the apostle, who says: “Christ loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20), and likewise: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died,” that is, for them (Rom. 8:33-34). They also contradict the Savior, who asserts: “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15), and “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13). The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine Human Corruption, Conversion to God, and the Way It Occurs Article 1: The Effect of the Fall on Human Nature Human beings were originally created in the image of God and were furnished in mind with a true and sound knowledge of the Creator and things spiritual, in will and heart with righteousness, and in all emotions with purity; indeed, the whole human being was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil’s instigation and by their own free will, they deprived themselves of these outstanding gifts. Rather, in their place they brought upon themselves blindness, terrible darkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in their minds; perversity, defiance, and hardness in their hearts and wills; and finally impurity in all their emotions. Article 2: The Spread of Corruption Human beings brought forth children of the same nature as themselves after the fall. That is to say, being corrupt they brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by God’s just judgment, from Adam and Eve to all their descendants—except for Christ alone—not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of their perverted nature. Article 3: Total Inability Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin. Without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform. Article 4: The Inadequacy of the Light of Nature There is, to be sure, a certain light of nature remaining in all people after the fall, by virtue of which they retain some notions about God, natural things, and the difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstrate a certain eagerness for virtue and for good outward behavior. But this light of nature is far from enabling humans to come to a saving knowledge of God and conversion to him—so far, in fact, that they do not use it rightly even in matters of nature and society. Instead, in various ways they completely distort this light, whatever its precise character, and suppress it in unrighteousness. In doing so all people render themselves without excuse before God. Article 5: The Inadequacy of the Law In this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For humans cannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it does expose the magnitude of their sin and increasingly convict them of their guilt, yet it does not offer a remedy or enable them to escape from human misery, and, indeed, weakened as it is by the flesh, leaves the offender under the curse. Article 6: The Saving Power of the Gospel What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, God accomplishes by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministry of reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it has pleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testaments. Article 7: God’s Freedom in Revealing the Gospel In the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a small number; in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) God discloses it to a large number. The reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God. Therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts. On the other hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God’s judgments on the others, who do not receive this grace. Article 8: The Earnest Call of the Gospel Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are called earnestly. For urgently and most genuinely God makes known in the Word what is pleasing to him: that those who are called should come to God. God also earnestly promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who do come and believe. Article 9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life’s cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13). Article 10: Conversion as the Work of God The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to human effort, as though one distinguishes oneself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity God chose his own in Christ, so within time God effectively calls them, grants them faith and repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness, brings them into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare the wonderful deeds of the One who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture. Article 11: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Conversion Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in the elect, or works true conversion in them, God not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, God also penetrates into the inmost being, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. God infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant. God activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds. Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God’s work is done, it remains in human power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not less than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God, but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, people themselves, by that grace which they have received, are also rightly said to believe and to repent. Article 13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration In this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs; meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that, by this grace of God, they do believe with the heart and love their Savior. Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is offered by God for people to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on them, breathed and infused into them. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent—the act of believing—by human choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that God who works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people and produces in them both the will to believe and the belief itself. Article 15: Responses to God’s Grace God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to those who have nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to those who have nothing of their own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore those who receive this grace owe and give eternal thanks to God alone; those who do not receive it either do not care at all about these spiritual things and are satisfied with themselves in their condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boast about having something which they lack. Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them. Article 16: Regeneration’s Effect However, just as by the fall humans did not cease to be human, endowed with intellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and—in a manner at once pleasing and powerful—bends it back. As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. In this the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, we would have no hope of getting up from our fall by our own free choice, by which we plunged ourselves into ruin when still standing upright. Article 17: God’s Use of Means in Regeneration Just as the almighty work by which God brings forth and sustains our natural life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by which God, according to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise that divine power, so also the aforementioned supernatural work by which God regenerates us in no way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which God in great wisdom has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. For this reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed them taught the people in a godly manner about this grace of God, to give God the glory and to humble all pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep the people, by means of the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the administration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline. So even today it is out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating what God in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together. For grace is bestowed through admonitions, and the more readily we perform our duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God working in us usually is, and the better that work advances. To God alone, both for the means and for their saving fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever. Amen. Rejection of the Errors Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those I Who teach that, properly speaking, it cannot be said that original sin in itself is enough to condemn the whole human race or to warrant temporal and eternal punishments. For they contradict the apostle when he says: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death passed on to all people because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12); also: “The guilt followed one sin and brought condemnation” (Rom. 5:16); likewise: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). II Who teach that the spiritual gifts or the good dispositions and virtues such as goodness, holiness, and righteousness could not have resided in the human will at creation, and therefore could not have been separated from the will at the fall. For this conflicts with the apostle’s description of the image of God in Ephesians 4:24, where he portrays the image in terms of righteousness and holiness, which definitely reside in the will. III Who teach that in spiritual death the spiritual gifts have not been separated from human will, since the will in itself has never been corrupted but only hindered by the darkness of the mind and the unruliness of the emotions, and since the will is able to exercise its innate free capacity once these hindrances are removed, which is to say, it is able of itself to will or choose whatever good is set before it—or else not to will or choose it. This is a novel idea and an error and has the effect of elevating the power of free choice, contrary to the words of Jeremiah the prophet: “The heart itself is deceitful above all things and wicked” (Jer. 17:9); and of the words of the apostle: “All of us also lived among them” (the children of disobedience) “at one time in the passions of our flesh, following the will of our flesh and thoughts” (Eph. 2:3). IV Who teach that unregenerate humanity is not strictly or totally dead in sin or deprived of all capacity for spiritual good but is able to hunger and thirst for righteousness or life and to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit which is pleasing to God. For these views are opposed to the plain testimonies of Scripture: “You were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1, 5); “The imagination of the thoughts of the human heart is only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). Besides, to hunger and thirst for deliverance from misery and for life, and to offer God the sacrifice of a broken spirit is characteristic only of the regenerate and of those called blessed (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:6). V Who teach that corrupt and natural humanity can make such good use of common grace (by which they mean the light of nature) or of the gifts remaining after the fall that they are able thereby gradually to obtain a greater grace—evangelical or saving grace—as well as salvation itself; and that in this way God, for his part, shows himself ready to reveal Christ to all people, since God provides to all, to a sufficient extent and in an effective manner, the means necessary for the revealing of Christ, for faith, and for repentance. For Scripture, not to mention the experience of all ages, testifies that this is false: “He makes known his words to Jacob, his statutes and his laws to Israel; he has done this for no other nation, and they do not know his laws” (Ps. 147:19-20); “In the past God let all nations go their own way” (Acts 14:16); “They” (Paul and his companions) “were kept by the Holy Spirit from speaking God’s word in Asia”; and “When they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to” (Acts 16:6-7). VI Who teach that in the true conversion of men and women new qualities, dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into their will by God, and indeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we receive the name “believers” is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only a human act, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the power of attaining faith. For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing of his love: “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33); “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring” (Isa. 44:3); “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the Church, which prays with the prophet: “Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted” (Jer. 31:18). VII Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a gentle persuasion, or (as others explain it) that the way of God’s acting in conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral persuasion even by itself from making the natural person spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral persuasion, and that the effectiveness of God’s work by which it surpasses the work of Satan consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises temporal ones. For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in human conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26 puts it: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. . . .” VIII Who teach that God in regenerating people does not bring to bear that power of his omnipotence whereby God may powerfully and unfailingly bend the human will to faith and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the works of grace which he uses for their conversion, they nevertheless can, and in actual fact often do, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and will to regenerate them, that they completely thwart their own rebirth; and, indeed, that it remains in their own power whether or not to be reborn. For this does away with all effective functioning of God’s grace in our conversion and subjects the activity of Almighty God to human will; it is contrary to the apostles, who teach that “we believe by virtue of the effective working of God’s mighty strength” (Eph. 1:19), and that “God fulfills the undeserved good will of his kindness and the work of faith in us with power” (2 Thess. 1:11), and likewise that “his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). IX Who teach that grace and free choice are concurrent partial causes which cooperate to initiate conversion, and that grace does not precede—in the order of causality—the effective influence of the will; that is to say, that God does not effectively help the human will to come to conversion before that will itself motivates and determines itself. For the early church already condemned this doctrine long ago in the Pelagians, on the basis of the words of the apostle: “It does not depend on human willing or running but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16); also: “Who makes you different from anyone else?” and “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7); likewise: “It is God who works in you to will and act according to his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). The Fifth Main Point of Doctrine The Perseverance of the Saints Article 1: The Regenerate Not Entirely Free from Sin Those people whom God according to his purpose calls into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, God also sets free from the dominion and slavery of sin, though not entirely from the flesh and from the body of sin as long as they are in this life. Article 2: The Believer’s Reaction to Sins of Weakness Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the best works of saints, giving them continual cause to humble themselves before God, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death more and more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, and to strain toward the goal of perfection, until they are freed from this body of death and reign with the Lamb of God in heaven. Article 3: God’s Preservation of the Converted Because of these remnants of sin dwelling in them and also because of the temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end. Article 4: The Danger of True Believers’ Falling into Serious Sins The power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh. Yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions they cannot by their own fault depart from the leading of grace, be led astray by the desires of the flesh, and give in to them. For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by the flesh, the world, and Satan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God’s just permission they sometimes are so carried away—witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins. Article 5: The Effects of Such Serious Sins By such monstrous sins, however, they greatly offend God, deserve the sentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith, severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time—until, after they have returned to the right way by genuine repentance, God’s fatherly face again shines upon them. Article 6: God’s Saving Intervention For God, who is rich in mercy, according to the unchangeable purpose of election does not take the Holy Spirit from his own completely, even when they fall grievously. Neither does God let them fall down so far that they forfeit the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin which leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit), and plunge themselves, entirely forsaken by God, into eternal ruin. Article 7: Renewal to Repentance For, in the first place, God preserves in those saints when they fall the imperishable seed from which they have been born again, lest it perish or be dislodged. Secondly, by his Word and Spirit God certainly and effectively renews them to repentance so that they have a heartfelt and godly sorrow for the sins they have committed; seek and obtain, through faith and with a contrite heart, forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator; experience again the grace of a reconciled God; through faith adore God’s mercies; and from then on more eagerly work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Article 8: The Certainty of This Preservation So it is not by their own merits or strength but by God’s undeserved mercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in their downfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not only easily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God it cannot possibly happen. God’s plan cannot be changed; God’s promise cannot fail; the calling according to God’s purpose cannot be revoked; the merit of Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified; and the sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out. Article 9: The Assurance of This Preservation Concerning this preservation of those chosen to salvation and concerning the perseverance of true believers in faith, believers themselves can and do become assured in accordance with the measure of their faith. By this faith they firmly believe that they are and always will remain true and living members of the church, and that they have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Article 10: The Ground of This Assurance Accordingly, this assurance does not derive from some private revelation beyond or outside the Word, but from faith in the promises of God which are very plentifully revealed in the Word for our comfort, from the testimony of “the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are God’s children and heirs” (Rom. 8:16-17), and finally from a serious and holy pursuit of a clear conscience and of good works. If God’s chosen ones in this world did not have this well-founded comfort that the victory will be theirs and this reliable guarantee of eternal glory, they would be of all people most miserable. Article 11: Doubts Concerning This Assurance Meanwhile, Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in this life with various doubts of the flesh, and that under severe temptation they do not always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty of perseverance. But God, the Father of all comfort, “does not let them be tempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides a way out” (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assurance of their perseverance. Article 12: This Assurance as an Incentive to Godliness This assurance of perseverance, however, so far from making true believers proud and carnally self-assured, is rather the true root of humility, of childlike respect, of genuine godliness, of endurance in every conflict, of fervent prayers, of steadfastness in crossbearing and in confessing the truth, and of well-founded joy in God. Reflecting on this benefit provides an incentive to a serious and continual practice of thanksgiving and good works, as is evident from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints. Article 13: Assurance No Inducement to Carelessness Neither does the renewed confidence of perseverance produce immorality or lack of concern for godliness in those put back on their feet after a fall, but it produces a much greater concern to observe carefully the ways which the Lord prepared in advance. They observe these ways in order that by walking in them they may maintain the assurance of their perseverance, lest, by their abuse of God’s fatherly goodness, the face of the gracious God (for the godly, looking upon that face is sweeter than life, but its withdrawal is more bitter than death) turn away from them again, with the result that they fall into greater anguish of spirit. Article 14: God’s Use of Means in Perseverance And, just as it has pleased God to begin this work of grace in us by the proclamation of the gospel, so God preserves, continues, and completes this work by the hearing and reading of the gospel, by meditation on it, by its exhortations, threats, and promises, and also by the use of the sacraments. Article 15: Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, and about their assurance of it—a teaching which God has very richly revealed in the Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly, and which God impresses on the hearts of believers—is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that the church will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Rejection of the Errors Concerning the Teaching of the Perseverance of the Saints Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those I Who teach that the perseverance of true believers is not an effect of election or a gift of God produced by Christ’s death, but a condition of the new covenant which people, before what they call their “peremptory” election and justification, must fulfill by their free will. For Holy Scripture testifies that perseverance follows from election and is granted to the chosen by virtue of Christ’s death, resurrection, and intercession: “The chosen obtained it; the others were hardened” (Rom. 11:7); likewise, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not, along with him, grant us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised—who also sits at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:32-35). II Who teach that God does provide believers with sufficient strength to persevere and is ready to preserve this strength in them if they perform their duty, but that even with all those things in place which are necessary to persevere in faith and which God is pleased to use to preserve faith, it still always depends on the choice of human will whether or not to persevere. For this view is obviously Pelagian; and though it intends to make people free it makes them sacrilegious. It is against the enduring consensus of evangelical teaching which takes from humanity all cause for boasting and ascribes the praise for this benefit only to God’s grace. It is also against the testimony of the apostle: “It is God who keeps us strong to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:8). III Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again not only can forfeit justifying faith as well as grace and salvation totally and to the end, but also in actual fact do often forfeit them and are lost forever. For this opinion nullifies the very grace of justification and regeneration as well as the continual preservation by Christ, contrary to the plain words of the apostle Paul: “If Christ died for us while we were still sinners, we will therefore much more be saved from God’s wrath through him, since we have now been justified by his blood” (Rom. 5:8-9); and contrary to the apostle John: “No one who is born of God is intent on sin, because God’s seed remains in him, nor can he sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9); also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: “I give eternal life to my sheep, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). IV Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again can commit the sin that leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit). For the same apostle John, after making mention of those who commit the sin that leads to death and forbidding prayer for them (1 John 5:16-17), immediately adds: “We know that anyone born of God does not commit sin” (that is, that kind of sin), “but the one who was born of God keeps himself safe, and the evil one does not touch him” (v. 18). V Who teach that apart from a special revelation no one can have the assurance of future perseverance in this life. For by this teaching the well-founded consolation of true believers in this life is taken away and the doubting of the Romanists is reintroduced into the church. Holy Scripture, however, in many places derives the assurance not from a special and extraordinary revelation but from the marks peculiar to God’s children and from God’s completely reliable promises. So especially the apostle Paul: “Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39); and John: “They who obey his commands remain in him and he in them. And this is how we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:24). VI Who teach that the teaching of the assurance of perseverance and of salvation is by its very nature and character an opiate of the flesh and is harmful to godliness, good morals, prayer, and other holy exercises, but that, on the contrary, to have doubt about this is praiseworthy. For these people show that they do not know the effective operation of God’s grace and the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they contradict the apostle John, who asserts the opposite in plain words: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he is made known, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Moreover, they are refuted by the examples of the saints in both the Old and the New Testament, who though assured of their perseverance and salvation yet were constant in prayer and other exercises of godliness. VII Who teach that the faith of those who believe only temporarily does not differ from justifying and saving faith except in duration alone. For Christ himself in Matthew 13:20ff. and Luke 8:13ff. clearly defines these further differences between temporary and true believers: he says that the former receive the seed on rocky ground, and the latter receive it in good ground, or a good heart; the former have no root, and the latter are firmly rooted; the former have no fruit, and the latter produce fruit in varying measure, with steadfastness, or perseverance. VIII Who teach that it is not absurd that people, after losing their former regeneration, should once again, indeed quite often, be reborn. For by this teaching they deny the imperishable nature of God’s seed by which we are born again, contrary to the testimony of the apostle Peter: “Born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable” (1 Pet. 1:23). IX Who teach that Christ nowhere prayed for an unfailing perseverance of believers in faith. For they contradict Christ himself when he says: “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32); and John the gospel writer when he testifies in John 17 that it was not only for the apostles, but also for all those who were to believe by their message that Christ prayed: “Holy Father, preserve them in your name” (v. 11); and “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you preserve them from the evil one” (v. 15). Conclusion Rejection of False Accusations And so this is the clear, simple, and straightforward explanation of the orthodox teaching on the five articles in dispute in the Netherlands, as well as the rejection of the errors by which the Dutch churches have for some time been disturbed. This explanation and rejection the Synod declares to be derived from God’s Word and in agreement with the confessions of the Reformed churches. Hence it clearly appears that those of whom one could hardly expect it have shown no truth, equity, and charity at all in wishing to make the public believe: that the teaching of the Reformed churches on predestination and on the points associated with it by its very nature and tendency draws the minds of people away from all godliness and religion, is an opiate of the flesh and the devil, and is a stronghold where Satan lies in wait for all people, wounds most of them, and fatally pierces many of them with the arrows of both despair and self-assurance; that this teaching makes God the author of sin, unjust, a tyrant, and a hypocrite; and is nothing but a refurbished Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, and Turkism*; that this teaching makes people carnally self-assured, since it persuades them that nothing endangers the salvation of the elect, no matter how they live, so that they may commit the most outrageous crimes with self-assurance; and that on the other hand nothing is of use to the reprobate for salvation even if they have truly performed all the works of the saints; that this teaching means that God predestined and created, by the bare and unqualified choice of his will, without the least regard or consideration of any sin, the greatest part of the world to eternal condemnation; that in the same manner in which election is the source and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and ungodliness; that many infant children of believers are snatched in their innocence from their mothers’ breasts and cruelly cast into hell so that neither the blood of Christ nor their baptism nor the prayers of the church at their baptism can be of any use to them; and very many other slanderous accusations of this kind which the Reformed churches not only disavow but even denounce with their whole heart. Therefore this Synod of Dort in the name of the Lord pleads with all who devoutly call on the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to form their judgment about the faith of the Reformed churches, not on the basis of false accusations gathered from here or there, or even on the basis of the personal statements of a number of ancient and modern authorities—statements which are also often either quoted out of context or misquoted and twisted to convey a different meaning—but on the basis of the churches’ own official confessions and of the present explanation of the orthodox teaching which has been endorsed by the unanimous consent of the members of the whole Synod, one and all. Moreover, the Synod earnestly warns the false accusers themselves to consider how heavy a judgment of God awaits those who give false testimony against so many churches and their confessions, trouble the consciences of the weak, and seek to prejudice the minds of many against the fellowship of true believers. Finally, this Synod urges all fellow ministers in the gospel of Christ to deal with this teaching in a godly and reverent manner, in the academic institutions as well as in the churches; to do so, both in their speaking and writing, with a view to the glory of God’s name, holiness of life, and the comfort of anxious souls; to think and also speak with Scripture according to the analogy of faith; and, finally, to refrain from all those ways of speaking which go beyond the bounds set for us by the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures and which could give impertinent sophists a just occasion to scoff at the teaching of the Reformed churches or even to bring false accusations against it. May God’s Son Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and gives gifts to humanity, sanctify us in the truth, lead to the truth those who err, silence the mouths of those who lay false accusations against sound teaching, and equip faithful ministers of God’s Word with a spirit of wisdom and discretion, that all they say may be to the glory of God and the building up of their hearers. Amen. *Islam

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Prosper Christian Reformed Church was founded in 1894 by Reformed believers who desired to worship God faithfully, raise their children in the promises of the covenant, and live out their Christian calling in a close-knit rural community of northern Michigan. From the beginning, the church has been shaped by a love for God’s Word, a commitment to the Reformed confessions, and a deep conviction that Christ builds His church through the ordinary means of grace. Our History Rooted in the Reformed Faith The story of Prosper Christian Reformed Church begins long before the church building itself was ever constructed. Our roots reach back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and the teachings of the Reformers who sought to bring the church back to the truth and authority of God’s Word. Prosper CRC stands within the Reformed tradition shaped especially by the ministry of John Calvin. Central to this tradition is the sovereignty of God — the truth that God rules over all creation with wisdom, grace, and power. The biblical teachings of God’s providence, election, and covenant faithfulness gave believers confidence that nothing can separate them from His care. These truths sustained generations of Christians through hardship, persecution, migration, and the challenges of frontier life. In the Netherlands, Reformed churches flourished for many years. Over time, however, many believers became concerned that the state church had drifted toward theological liberalism and away from biblical faithfulness. During the 1800s, a grassroots movement arose among ordinary Dutch believers who desired a simple, earnest, Bible-centered faith rooted in historic Calvinism. When church authorities began persecuting leaders of this movement, several groups separated from the state church under the leadership of Rev. Hendrik de Cock. This movement eventually became part of what would later develop into the Christian Reformed Church. A New Beginning in America Another key figure in our story was Rev. Albertus Van Raalte, who led many Dutch immigrants to America seeking both religious freedom and opportunity. In 1848, Van Raalte and a group of settlers established the community of Holland, Michigan. These immigrants carried with them a deep commitment to biblical truth, practical godliness, strong families, Christian education, and the desire to glorify God in every area of life. As Dutch communities in western Michigan grew, many families began searching for farmland elsewhere in the state. During the 1860s, settlers began exploring northern Michigan, including the area that would eventually become Prosper. John Vogel was chosen as a scout for the group. On November 7, 1867, Vogel and several companions claimed homesteads in Missaukee County. The following year, more family members and relatives arrived, and a small but determined Dutch farming community began to take shape. The Founding of Prosper CRC As the settlement grew, the need for a local church became increasingly clear. In 1894, when plans were being made for a new church building in the area, the believers living near Prosper recognized the importance of establishing their own congregation. Originally known as North Clam Church the congregation was officially organized on September 13, 1894, with approximately twenty families. From the very beginning, the church was more than simply a place for Sunday worship. It became the spiritual center of the community. Worship services were held faithfully, catechism classes were taught to the children, and plans were made for a parsonage even before the congregation had its first full-time pastor. For the first four years, the congregation functioned without a settled minister. Then in 1897, the church called its first pastor, Rev. M. DeBoer. During his ministry, plans were made for the church building that still serves the congregation today. When Rev. J. VanderWerp accepted the call in 1903, the congregation had already doubled in size to forty-three families. During this period, the church purchased its first organ, and the name was officially changed from North Clam Church to Prosper Christian Reformed Church . Growth Through the Generations As the years passed, God continued to bless Prosper CRC with steady growth and faithful leadership. During the ministry of Rev. A.J. Rus, the congregation became strong enough to organize a daughter church in Aetna, demonstrating Prosper’s desire not only to grow internally but also to help establish and encourage other congregations. Like many rural churches, Prosper CRC weathered difficult seasons throughout the 20th century — including economic hardship, changing communities, world wars, and shifting cultural values. Yet through every generation, the congregation remained committed to the preaching of God’s Word, the discipleship of families, and the fellowship of believers. The church building itself also changed over time to meet the needs of a growing congregation. Improvements and additions were made through the faithful labor and generosity of church members who desired to provide a welcoming place for worship, ministry, and fellowship. During the ministry of Rev. Ron Klimp, significant remodeling and expansion work was completed. A large fellowship hall was added, and the sanctuary interior was redesigned. The pulpit, altar, and organ were moved to the south end of the church, and new pews were installed facing south. The remodeled sanctuary was dedicated on November 6, 1988. These physical changes reflected something deeper: a congregation committed to preserving its heritage while continuing to serve future generations. A Legacy of Faithfulness Since its founding in 1894, Prosper Christian Reformed Church has been served by many faithful pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, musicians, volunteers, and families. Through every era, God has preserved and guided this congregation. For well over a century, Prosper CRC has proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in northern Michigan. Generations have been baptized here, professed their faith here, been married here, raised families here, and been laid to rest in the sure hope of the resurrection. Today, Prosper Christian Reformed Church continues its mission of glorifying God through worship, discipleship, fellowship, and outreach. While methods and ministries may change over time, the heart of the church remains the same: to know Christ, to love one another, and to faithfully proclaim the truth of God’s Word. We thank God for His faithfulness throughout our history, and we look forward with confidence to the future He has prepared for our congregation. A special thanks to Bonna Baas for doing the research that went into this history page.

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Crowned with Praise Prosper Christian Reformed Church Crowned with Praise Crowned Mitchell Leach Sunday, March 29, 2026 Audio Crowned with Praise Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 42:16 Sermon Transcript This morning's scripture reading comes from Matthew 21:1-11. This will be our second part of our 5-sermon series, our 3-week series that we're going to be going through. We are going to have 2 midweek services this week, one on Maundy Thursday at 6:30 and another on Good Friday at 5:30. So if you have the ability to come out to that, it will be something that you don't want to miss. And then obviously on Easter Sunday we'll have that. Scripture Reading Matthew 21:1-11 Hear this, the word of the Lord. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, 'Who is this?' The crowd said, 'This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.' This is the word of the Lord. Big Question Who is Jesus? As we enter into this Palm Sunday, the question that comes from the text, the question that we need to answer, and the question that everyone must answer is this: Who is Jesus? Every person on earth has to answer this question, whether Christian or not. If you've ever talked with anyone who doesn't believe in Christianity about Jesus, you'll notice that they have an answer for Jesus. They have to. Jesus is too important. He is too controversial. He is too persistent for people to simply ignore. To simply not have an answer for who is Jesus is something that we can't do. Every major world religion has a way to explain him. Islam says that he's a prophet, a great prophet, but simply a prophet. Buddhism says that he's a teacher, that he's moral, that he's wise, he's worth listening to. Secular historians say that he's a revolutionary, a man who changed history. And even inside the church, you ask 10 people, 'Who is Jesus?' you'll get 10 different answers. Maybe he's a personal therapist who helps you feel better about yourself. He's a fire insurance policy there to ease your conscience. A moral example that you can admire, or a social activist who was ahead of his time. We have been asking this question, 'Who is Jesus?' for 2,000 years. Kings, scholars, philosophers, historians, skeptics, all answering this question and we still cannot agree. Who is Jesus? Which either means one of two things. Either it means that we can't answer this question, that the answer is not knowable, or that we've been getting it wrong. Who is Jesus? The Bible has an answer for us, and Matthew writes this chapter, writes this section, because he's saying we have been getting this wrong. We are prone as human beings to get this wrong. So keep your Bibles open with me as we look at Matthew 21:1-11. Outline He Presents Himself (Matthew 21:1-5) They Shout His Praise (Matthew 21:6-9) They Still Don't See (Matthew 21:10-11) He Presents Himself (Matthew 21:1-5) This passage will show us this: Jesus enters Jerusalem as the promised king, receiving public praise while revealing that his kingdom comes in humility and peace and not in worldly power. Where we're at in this series — last week we saw that Jesus had this defining moment in his ministry. In the Gospels, there's really two halves of each Gospel. The first half is his ministry on earth, the first 2 years and some change, and then the rest of it is the last week of his life. A predominant amount of the gospels are focused on the last week of his life. That turning towards Jerusalem that we saw last week starts this last week where he's walking towards Jerusalem, walking towards his crucifixion. Matthew 21 is one of the most public moments in Jesus's ministry. It's designed to force us to ask and answer the question, 'Who is this?' The way that Jesus presents himself matters here. In the next series of events that unfold in this passage, we see imagery that proclaims the greatness of Jesus, not just as a king, but as something more. In this section, Jesus shows us and the world that he is God, and yet he has come in humility. Matthew 21:1-3 says this: 'Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, "The Lord needs them," and he will send them at once."' Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, on this march towards his final destination of his ministry on earth. He stops at the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is significant for a couple of reasons. One, just in terms of where he is topographically, the Mount of Olives is the only peak in all of Israel that is higher than Jerusalem. Jerusalem is on a mountain itself and the Mount of Olives is slightly higher. So Jesus is on this march towards Jerusalem and he's stopping here, able to see all of the city — the city where he will be persecuted, where he will be arrested, tried, and just outside the city walls where he will be crucified. The Mount of Olives is also where the Garden of Gethsemane is. On Good Friday, we'll talk a lot more about that, but this is the place where Jesus sweat blood. The Mount of Olives has a ton more historical significance tying back to King David and different things like that. But Jesus essentially, by stopping here, is one subtle way of saying that he is king. But this is where they stop to make a plan for what will happen. I think this is an interesting point to just stop and think about. Jesus doesn't just do things willy-nilly. Jesus has a plan. I think oftentimes when we think about Jesus, or spirituality, we think it needs to be authentic, it needs to be in the moment, we can't really have anything planned out. But Jesus is deliberate here. He stops and makes a plan. The sovereign God of the universe is orchestrating what will happen. I think oftentimes when we think of our own spiritual life, we think, well, if I pray, it has to be something that just comes to me in the moment, but prayer can be something that we even write or rehearse. It can be deliberate. It can be planned out. There are a lot of things in our Christian life that should be planned out. Jesus teaches us that we don't need to only live in the moment. So Jesus, in this planning, he goes and asks the disciples to go get a donkey and a colt. An interesting thing about this — why this would have been strange to any first-century Jewish person reading this — Passover was a celebration, a festival that you were required to walk to. Jesus, up until this point, had walked 100 miles to get to the Mount of Olives. The choice to ride a donkey in on the last 2 or 3 miles in a pilgrimage full of pedestrians is not convenience, it's not coincidence. He's doing something incredibly theological. He is setting himself up as the Messiah. He wants everyone to see him as the Messiah. The time for hiding behind the miracles and saying, 'Don't tell anyone,' is over. As he rides a donkey into Jerusalem, he's proclaiming himself as the Messiah. When we hear that word Messiah, there's a lot of connotation that comes with that. We think of Jesus, we think of the Lord. But when a Jewish person would have heard the term Messiah, they would have never connected that with this fully God, fully man person. When they hear Messiah, they think this is going to be a king, an anointed king like David, who's going to set up another 200 years of prosperity and blessing for the kingdom of Israel. He's going to come and conquer all of their enemies and he will defeat them. He will allow them to have their own nation back, their own kingdom. They were expecting Jesus to be a conquering king, a king who would destroy Rome. It makes sense to us now when we look back on the Old Testament and see all of this prophecy about the Messiah being God. But this was not their expectation. So Jesus, by doing this, is making a statement just by getting on the donkey that he is the Messiah. Every Jewish person watching this knows that this is what Jesus is intending to do. He says, 'If someone's giving you trouble, say that the Lord has sent you.' There are two ways to interpret this, and I think both are equally valid. Either Jesus was intending to say the Lord needs them in terms of Yahweh needs them, or the Lord needs them in terms of a medieval lord — a title of lordship. Either way, whether it's a boss or Yahweh himself, what Jesus is saying is, I'm sovereign over everything. All things belong to me. If it's Yahweh, this is God himself needs your donkey. Or if it's a lord, yes, you might be the rightful owner of that animal, but the true owner needs it back. And all this happened to fulfill what the Old Testament said. Matthew 21:5 says: 'Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden."' Matthew wants us to see something here. He wants his readers to see that Jesus is the king but came in a new way. The passage quoted here from the Old Testament is actually two passages, one from Isaiah and one from Zechariah, both about the Messiah. The main reason Jesus uses them is to highlight something that would not have been popular in the ancient world of leaders and kings — Jesus's humility. Jesus's humility, the humility of a leader, of a king, would have been so foreign to anyone outside of Israel. To describe a king as humble would have been an insult to any king. It described someone who lacked the power or will to assert themselves — essentially a weakling. But the Old Testament said that the Messiah will be meek, will be humble, because he will be like Moses. Moses was described as being meek, but his meekness was because he laid down his own agenda in submission to God's. Jesus's meekness is not the absence of power, it is the presence of power held back. It is the sovereign choice not to conquer with force. Jesus could have rode in on a war horse. He owned all the war horses. But he didn't. He chose a donkey. And yet Jesus' meekness is not niceness. This is not wimpy Jesus. This is not passive Jesus. What he's doing is saying, yes, I absolutely could come in with force and yet I'm choosing to go and suffer instead. Dorothy Sayers has this amazing quote. She says this: 'We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him meek and mild, and recommended him as a fitting house pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.' Dorothy Sayers wrote this in 1949 and I think within the church, this notion of a weak and emascified Jesus has only grown stronger. We've sanded down all the sharp edges of Jesus, everything offensive from Jesus. We've made him palatable, agreeable, pliable, safe. But meekness was never meant to be the same thing as niceness. Niceness avoids conflict. Meekness walks straight into Jerusalem knowing exactly what needs to be done there. This is not a house pet that we see here in this passage. This is a sovereign God choosing suffering over power. This is a king who has already decided what his power is for. They Shout His Praise (Matthew 21:6-9) So Jesus has staged this moment purposefully, deliberately. He has given every signal and the crowd sees it. They respond to everything that he said with everything that they have. The problem is they believe they're certain of how they're supposed to respond and what they are responding to. So the disciples get the donkeys and Jesus rides the colt, an animal that's never been ridden before. They throw their cloaks down. This act of throwing cloaks down seems kind of like a footnote, but this was important. This is not just an improvised action. This was a coronation ritual. It goes back to Jehu in 1 and 2 Kings. Jehu was coronated as the king of Israel and they threw cloaks down in front of him. This was a way to say, this is the one who we want to save us. The problem is they wanted to domesticate him. Jesus is presenting himself as Messiah, but they wanted to define what Messiah meant for them. Matthew 21:9 says this: 'And the crowds that went before him and the crowds that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"' Hosanna is a word that means save us. Essentially, this thing that they're saying to Jesus is, we need saving. Here is the authorized one by God who can save, and we need saving. This is the gospel framework, right? Crying out that we need saving, a recognition of our own sinfulness. Seeing who our Savior is and rejoicing that this is the one who can save us. The crowds shout, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' They are simultaneously praising and pleading for him to save them. The distinction between prayer and praise has collapsed. It is both. The king himself is the answer to the prayer. And Jesus' response to this is worthwhile noting. It's incredibly important. All throughout Jesus' ministry, he tells people not to talk about what he has done. In Matthew 9:29-30, he heals two blind men and he says, 'See to it that no one knows about this.' And now, the whole crowds are shouting and what does Jesus do? He doesn't turn them away. Jesus understands the time for secrecy is over. This worship is appropriate because he knows that he is going to die. The truth is that what the crowds are doing is actually right, it's just in a wrong heart posture. They aren't hypocrites in a technical sense; they are actually saying all of the right things. They are praising Jesus and inviting him to be their king. Hosanna and 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' both derive themselves from Psalm 118. These psalms would have been sung by the king with the people as they were marching through the streets in a festival in worship. They're crying out to him saying, 'You're our king.' They're even using the right liturgy, the right terms to worship God, and this is real worship. Yet they miss who Jesus truly is. They want a king that they've invented in their own minds. They want another David, another king who would destroy their enemies but not destroy their true enemy, liberate them from Rome but not liberate them from sin, restore the kingdom of Israel but not inaugurate the kingdom of heaven. It is entirely possible to praise Jesus loudly, liturgically, and sincerely and to be praising a Jesus of your own imagination. The danger in this text, in our own hearts, is not rejection, not rejecting Jesus. It is Scripture-quoting worship of a domesticated Savior. It is worshiping God truthfully from the pages of Scripture and yet worshiping one that we've invented, one that truly isn't there, one that fits in a box that's convenient for us. Not the true infinite God of the universe. That is a Jesus that's nice, that's kind, that's easy for us, that's palatable for us, that we can grasp our arms around, one that we can control, the actions of whom we can predict. A Jesus that has the same morals as I do, who's concerned with the same social justice issues as me, who votes the same way that I do. And that, I think, is a real danger for us especially in our world today. The belief that the right leader, the right party, the right coalition, the right policy, the right revolution will finally fix what is broken — this is political idolatry. Political idolatry isn't the problem of caring so much about politics, but that we ask politics to do what only God can do for us. This is clear and evident in our text. They want a political king. They want someone who will come and make a nation for them, a kingdom for them. Jesus has something far superior for them. These visions of Jesus that we impose on him — we can find passages in Scripture that support our own version of Jesus. That's why we have churches on far ends of political and theological spectrums. We have churches that affirm homosexuality and they bring up passages to talk about Jesus as a social justice warrior. And we see also very legalistic churches who use passages of Scripture to justify their legalistic views. They're not hallucinations. We can find bits and pieces of them. The problem is with a curated Jesus, a Frankenstein's monster sort of Jesus where we take parts and pieces that we like from the gospels and mash them together. That is no longer Jesus. We can quote Scripture that supports our monstrosity but it isn't truly, fully the Lion of the tribe of Judah. One of the most dangerous things that we can say is, 'If Jesus were here today, he would...' whatever it is, fill in the blank. Unless we're saying Jesus would be truthful, or he wouldn't sin, we can say those things. But if we're trying to say, 'Here's a problem in our culture, if Jesus were here today he would do this, he would vote for my candidate, he would be Reformed, he would be Presbyterian, he would be Methodist' — it's one of the most dangerous things we can say. Nobody could predict what Jesus was about to do next. Not his disciples, not the people traveling with him, not the Pharisees. For us to believe that we can wrap our minds or our arms around Jesus, to contain him in a box that fits neatly in our worldview — it's to be as silly as Peter when he rebukes Jesus. C.S. Lewis says this: 'We want not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven, a senile benevolence who, as they say, likes to see young people enjoying themselves and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, "A good time was had by all."' We want a God who will make our life better. We become like the people in the crowd. C.S. Lewis nailed it. We don't want a king, we want a benefactor. Someone who smiles at our choices and picks up the tab. A God who is endlessly supportive and never inconvenient. But that God does not exist. And deep down, we know it. Because a God small enough just to make you happy is not a big enough God to save you, and ultimately not a big enough God worthy of worship. They Still Don't See (Matthew 21:10-11) Matthew 21:10-11 says this: 'And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, "Who is this?" And the crowd said, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee."' The whole town after hearing this parade of Jesus coming into Jerusalem asks the question, 'Who is this?' The town is stirred up. Actually, a better translation of that word 'stirred up' would be more closely tied to an earthquake — shaken would probably be a better word for this. Every time the true identity of Jesus presses in on those who do not recognize him, the whole world shakes. This word 'shaken' is consistent throughout Jesus's life. When Jesus was born, Bethlehem shook. When Jesus enters into Jerusalem, Jerusalem shook. When Jesus is crucified, the veil is torn and the earth shook. And on the third day, the tomb rolled away, the earth shook. History itself is being seismically reoriented around this man, the God-man, Jesus Christ. The only question is whether you will let him reorient your life. Who is this? This is the question they ask. Who is Jesus? The fragments of the truth have been laid throughout the gospel narratives leading up into this point. Some say king, some say the coming one, some say Jeremiah or Elisha. The people in Jerusalem say, 'A prophet.' To say, to call someone a prophet like they're calling Jesus is the highest thing that they can call someone. Spiritually, this is the greatest honor you could give someone in a title. This is the most glorious thing you could call someone. So are we overreacting that these people are just calling him a prophet? No, this is not an overreaction at all. To call Jesus merely a prophet is the greatest slight in human history. Categorically getting the person of Jesus wrong, putting him in an altogether different category. It would be like calling a man and a fish the same thing because they both have a heartbeat. Calling him a prophet is not just an error that's harmless. What you think about Jesus determines what you expect him to do. The crowd called him a prophet. But prophets don't rise to overthrow Rome. Prophets don't sit on thrones. So when he didn't do what a king would do, they turned on him. The Jesus that you expect determines the response that you give to the Jesus you get. The world has an answer for Jesus, each answer insufficient or wrong. There is only one answer. Main Idea Praise the humble King who comes to save What do we do when we see our king humble and riding on a donkey? We praise the humble King who comes to save. We have to praise Jesus for who he truly is, not the Jesus we want, but the Jesus who is truly there. The crowd goes from praising him to condemning him in a week. The Jesus they wanted was the one who would defeat Rome, but Jesus becomes the one who allows Roman guards to arrest him and crucify him. When this happens, they feel betrayed. The Jesus that you expect determines the response that you get from Jesus. A Jesus of your own imagination will disappoint you. I don't want you to miss that. When we imagine Jesus, when we create our own version of him, the Jesus that we can fit into a box, the Jesus that really has to be smaller than us if we're going to comprehend him, that Jesus will disappoint you. Oftentimes as a pastor, one of the most prominent questions I get asked is, 'Pastor, how do I get through a season of hardship? How do I get through a season of spiritual drought? I just don't feel a connection with God anymore.' Oftentimes, the answer to this is that we have brought Jesus so far down to our level, in fact, beneath us, that this is a Jesus that we don't even feel like we should worship. It's not a Jesus that we can connect to. An invented Jesus is not a Jesus worth worshiping. And so, honestly, we don't. We have to let go of the Jesus we like, the Jesus that we want to worship, and embrace the true and rightful King. The King who does things that we cannot predict, riding in on a donkey. The King who comes in sometimes with power, sometimes with anger, as we see if you just kept reading, as Jesus cleanses the temple. This Jesus we can't predict, this Jesus who is beyond our human capacity for reason. What do you do when you find a Jesus who scares you, who confronts you, who challenges you, who calls you out to something different, who calls you to something greater? Do you retreat to the Jesus that you knew, that you can hold in the box, that feels comfortable, or do you embrace a Jesus who might just scare you? If you become a Christian and none of your views shift, you've most certainly created a Jesus of your own imagination. True Christianity, the true Christ, challenges you. If you were very conservative before coming to know Christ and none of your views change, you've missed the very liberalness of Jesus that we see in the gospels, who cares about social justice, who cares about oppression, who cares about the poor. And if you're liberal and you become a Christian and nothing changes, you don't see the moral fortitude that Jesus has — the morality that is far more conservative than maybe you're comfortable with. The moral nature that says not only can you not commit adultery, but that you can't even lust. Far more conservative than maybe you'd care to admit. If Jesus doesn't challenge your paradigm, challenge your worldview, I guarantee that you're seeing a Jesus that you're inventing. True Christianity challenged the true Christ. He pushes us beyond our beliefs and changes everything that we do. The crowd thought that the donkey was the beginning, a humble entrance before the real display of power. Surely, riding in on a donkey was his entrance to take Jerusalem's throne back. The donkey was just the opening act before the war horse came out. But they had it exactly backwards. The donkey wasn't the prelude to his kingship; the donkey was his kingship. Don't you see? The donkey is the gospel. He comes in not to conquer but to be humiliated. It is the clearest possible announcement of the kind of king Jesus came to be. Not the king who rides out against his enemies, not the king who conquers by force, but the King who came to take the blows himself. Not the King who makes others suffer so he can reign, but the King who suffers so we can live. The road from the donkey leads straight to the cross. This was always his destination. He rode into Jerusalem not to take a throne, but to take a wound. The humility of his entry and the humility of the cross are the same thing. The voluntary surrender of a king who had all the power in the world and chose instead to spend it on you. That's what the prophet saw. Behold your king riding on a donkey, humble. Not humble until the real power shows up, humble as the very shape of our salvation. And that changes everything we know about God and every way we go before him. We want a king whose power looks like the world's power — force, dominance, victory over enemies. But Jesus said, I have given you something better. I have given you a king whose power looks like a donkey, looks like a cross, and looks like a tomb that could not hold him. This is not weakness dressed up as theology. This is the only power in the universe strong enough to defeat sin, to defeat evil, and to rise victorious over the grave. He is coming back. And this time he will not ride in on a donkey. Jesus will ride in on a war horse, on a blood-soaked robe, one that was bought with the humiliation of riding in on a donkey and being crucified on a cross. Through the humility that the world would call defeat, heaven has called victory. Application Bring someone to Easter You were handed a card on your way in and if you weren't, you need to grab one on your way out. All of Jerusalem asked, 'Who is Jesus?' And church, we know the answer to this. Let this week be a reminder to you as you have this card. This isn't a card to invite you to church, this is a card for you to give someone else. Hand this card to someone else. In fact, before you leave this morning, before you leave the doors to go out to your car, I want you to put a name to it. Know who you're going to give that to. Because I know how it works — you get home, you get in your car, and you start thinking about everything else you have to do. Have a name before you walk out. Easter is one week away. Invite someone to come and see, to come and ask the question, 'Who is Jesus?' And for us to be able to say, 'Jesus is the most glorious, risen God-man in all of human history, and he's our Savior who's alive and seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.' Audit your expectations of Jesus What are you asking Jesus now to do? Not a theological question, but a personal one. Are you asking him to fix your finances, your marriage, asking him to get you a better job? None of those are wrong prayers, absolutely not. But beneath them, what kind of king are you expecting to show up? A war horse king who comes in to overpower every obstacle in your path? Or worse, a king who is there only to serve you, to make your life more comfortable? Because I think oftentimes we turn Jesus into a concierge. He's there when we need something and he's invisible when we don't. We pull him out when life gets hard and we put him back when things are manageable. That is not a king, that is a spiritual vending machine. Jesus came on a donkey, not because he couldn't ride in on a war horse. He owned everything. Not because he couldn't afford a war horse, but because he held back power in order to serve others, and that's the whole point. Yes, Jesus came to serve, but he came to serve your deepest need. Not your most comfortable request. He didn't come to make your current life easier. He came to give you new life. He came to make you new. His meekness is not weakness. It is strength, strength that chose the cross over a crown. The King you have is better, I promise you, is better than the king that you wanted. Church, as we leave today, praise the humble King who comes to save. Closing Prayer Father God, we thank you and praise you for who you are, that you came in humble, riding in on a donkey, and that your humility, your humiliation did not end with that. But you humbled yourself in the form of a servant, humbled enough and obedient enough to die on a cross on our behalf. Father, we have no hope without you. We have no hope to save ourselves. Thank you for coming to save us, being wounded for our transgressions, stricken for our iniquity. God, you are good. Let us sing in response to how good you are. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Why the Lord's Supper Does What Believer's Baptism Doesn't Reformed Christians do not wait for baptism to profess faith. Baptism marks God’s covenant promise; public profession and admission to the Lord’s Table become the ordinary way believers confess Christ before the church. Heading 5 Why the Lord's Supper Does What Believer's Baptism Doesn't Mitchell Leach August 3, 2026 Theology One question naturally comes up whenever Baptists and Reformed Christians talk about baptism. If Baptists publicly confess Christ through believer’s baptism, how do Reformed Christians publicly confess Christ if they were baptized as infants? The answer is that Reformed Christians ordinarily make a public profession of faith before being admitted to the Lord’s Table. This does not mean that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are interchangeable. They are different sacraments with different purposes. But public profession followed by admission to the Table occupies a somewhat similar place in the Reformed tradition that believer’s baptism occupies in Baptist churches. Both traditions believe faith must be personal. Both believe Christians should publicly confess Christ. We disagree about when baptism should happen and what baptism means. Different Sacraments, Different Timing Baptists believe baptism should follow a person’s profession of faith. The person repents, believes the gospel, and is then baptized. Baptism becomes the public sacramental declaration that this person belongs to Jesus. Reformed churches believe baptism is the sign of God’s covenant promise, given to believers and to their children, just as circumcision was given to believers and their children in the Old Testament. Baptism speaks first about what God promises before it speaks about what we have done. That does not mean personal faith is unnecessary. No one is saved because his parents believed. No one is saved simply because water was placed on his head. Every person must repent of his sins and trust in Christ. But if a child has already received baptism, when does that child publicly confess Christ? The Reformed answer is public profession of faith followed by admission to the Lord’s Supper. God Acts Before We Respond Part of the reason this discussion can be difficult is that we live in a culture that places enormous value on personal choice. The moments that feel most meaningful to us are often the moments when I decide, I speak, and I publicly express who I am. This helps explain some of the emotional appeal of believer’s baptism. It is a beautiful public declaration of faith. A Christian stands before the church and says, in a visible way, “I belong to Jesus.” Baptists do not practice believer’s baptism merely because our culture is individualistic. They believe their position comes from Scripture. But believer’s baptism fits naturally within a culture that places great weight on personal decision and public self-expression. Reformed theology emphasizes something different. Salvation does not begin with our decision for God. It begins with God’s mercy toward us. Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Paul writes that God chose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4–5). Salvation depends not on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy (Romans 9:16). Both Reformed Baptists and paedobaptists believe God acts first in salvation. The disagreement is whether the sign of the covenant should also be given before the child is able to respond personally in faith. For the Reformed, infant baptism is not an unfortunate practice we need to explain away. It is a fitting picture of God’s covenant grace. None of us chose our birth. In the same way, a covenant child does not choose his baptism. This reminds us that God acts before we respond. He promises before we profess. He places His name upon His people before they have anything to offer Him. Our profession of faith is not the beginning of God’s work. It is our response to the God who first loved us. Public Profession and the Lord’s Table Historically, Reformed churches have not treated covenant children as though no personal response were necessary. A baptized child is taught the faith, catechized, examined by the elders, and called to repent and believe the gospel. When that child makes a credible profession of faith, he stands before the church and publicly confesses Christ. The church then admits him to the Lord’s Table. That profession is not merely a testimony about a private religious experience. It is a public confession that the promises signified in baptism have been embraced by faith. The Lord’s Supper then becomes the repeated sacramental expression of that faith. Each time a Christian comes to the Table, he is publicly saying: Christ is my only hope. I belong to His people. I receive Him by faith. I intend to walk in repentance and obedience. The Supper is not simply a private moment between an individual and Jesus. It is a covenant meal shared with the church. Paul writes that whenever the church eats the bread and drinks the cup, it proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Supper is both reception and proclamation. We receive Christ’s promises by faith, and we publicly confess that His death is our only hope. Baptism and the Supper Belong Together The Heidelberg Catechism calls baptism and the Lord’s Supper “holy signs and seals.” They belong together, but they do not do the same thing. Baptism is the once-for-all covenant sign that marks our entrance into the visible church. The Lord’s Supper is the repeated covenant meal through which believers are nourished, strengthened, and assured of Christ’s promises. Baptism marks us with the name of the Triune God. The Supper nourishes us as those who belong to Him. Baptism declares that cleansing from sin is found in Christ. The Supper declares that Christ’s crucified body and shed blood are our only food for eternal life. One sacrament marks the beginning of covenant membership. The other repeatedly confirms and nourishes those who embrace Christ by faith. A Helpful Comparison This is why I sometimes say that public profession followed by admission to the Lord’s Table functions in Reformed churches somewhat like believer’s baptism functions in Baptist churches. The sacraments are not the same. They should not be confused. But they occupy a similar place in the believer’s public identification with Christ. For Baptists, the first sacramental act following a profession of faith is baptism. For the Reformed, the first sacramental act following public profession is participation in the Lord’s Supper. Both traditions insist that faith must be personal. Both believe Christians should publicly identify with Christ. Both connect personal faith to membership in the visible church. We simply place that public sacramental expression at different points in the believer’s covenant life. Why This Matters The Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial. It is Christ’s covenant meal. Whenever believers gather at the Table, they proclaim His death until He comes. They confess that they belong to Him, receive His promises by faith, and are united not only to Christ but also to His church. This is why admission to the Lord’s Table has historically been treated seriously in Reformed churches. The church is not merely giving someone permission to eat bread and drink wine. The elders are recognizing a credible profession of faith and welcoming that believer to Christ’s Table. This also helps explain why infant baptism does not remove the need for personal faith. Reformed theology does not teach that baptism saves someone apart from faith. It does not teach that a baptized child has no need to repent, believe, and confess Christ. It teaches that God’s promise comes first, and faith responds. God claims us before we can claim Him. God speaks before we can answer. God marks us before we can understand the mark. Then, by His grace, we come to embrace Christ personally, confess Him publicly, and take our place at His Table. The difference can be summarized like this: Baptists make believer’s baptism the ordinary sacramental expression of personal faith. The Reformed make public profession of faith, followed by admission to and continued participation in the Lord’s Supper, the ordinary sacramental expression of personal faith. Both traditions are trying to honor Christ. We understand the relationship between God’s covenant promise and our response differently. For the Reformed Christian, the story does not begin with, “I chose God.” It begins with, “God, in His mercy, chose me.” The proper response is not passivity. It is not presumption. It is not reliance upon baptism while living without Christ. The proper response is repentance, faith, public profession, and a lifetime of coming to Christ’s Table with empty hands. Read Learn More About What We Believe Prosper Christian Reformed Church holds that the Bible is the inerrant, divinely inspired Word of God and the highest authority for faith and life. We believe in the centrality of the gospel: that all people are sinners in need of salvation, which comes through Jesus Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, by grace alone through faith alone. We practices infant baptism as a sign of covenant inclusion and uphold traditional biblical teachings on marriage, gender roles, and sexuality. We affirm Reformed theology, including the five points of Calvinism, and embrace an amillennial view of Christ’s reign and the end times. What We Believe

Heading 3 Whitney Scholten Winning At Home