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37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.

38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgement and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God for all eternity.

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35. What is sanctification?
Sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.

36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

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33. What is justification?
Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

34. What is adoption?
Adoption is an act is God's free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

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31. What is effectual calling?
Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

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29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit.

30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

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27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Christ's humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross, in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

28. Wherein consisteth Christ's exultation?

Christ's exultation consisteth in His rising again from the death on the third day, in ascending up to heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world on the last day.

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25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

Christ executeth the office of a priest in His once offering up of Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God and in making continual intercession for us.

26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

Christ executeth the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.

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23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation.

24. How doth Christ execute the office of prophet?

Christ executeth the office of prophet in revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

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21. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ who, being the eternal Son of God, became man and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever.

22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived be the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin.

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19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

God, having out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

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17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

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15. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit.

16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression.

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13. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

Our first parents, being left to freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God.

14. What is sin?

Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

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11. What are God's works of providence?

God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.

12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?

When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.

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9. What is the work of creation?

The work of creation is God's making all things of nothing by the word of His power in the space of six days and all very good.

10. How did God create man?

God created man, male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with domain over the creatures.

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7. What are the decrees of God?

The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the council of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

8. How doth God execute his decrees?

God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and providence.

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5. Are there more Gods than one?

There is but one only, the living and true God.

6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Westminster Shorter 3 and 4

3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

4. What is God?

God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Go West, Young Man

I'm going to try a new experiment. In order to help myself go through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, I'm going to post 2 questions a day from the WSC. Today we'll start with questions 1 and 2:

1. What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?

The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

This Says It Better Than I Can

I mentioned in my blog before last my opinions on Christian music. In a sermon I heard recently, the following Dorothy Sayers quote was given:

It is the business of the church to recognize that the secular vocation, as such, is sacred. Christian people, and particularly perhaps the Christian clergy, must get it firmly into their heads that when a man or woman is called into a particular job of secular work, that is as true a vocation as though he or she were called to a specifically religious work.

The example used was of a carpenter. If he works hard at building a table, that table is a Christian table. It doesn't have to have Scripture verses carved into it. The same goes for music. This is what I have been trying to say, and Sayers says it better than I could.