Date: 3/26/2025

Questions / Topic

• Question on spiritual gifts – How should we pray for them? Should we pray for the gifts that we think we have already – that they may be strengthened and more evident? Should we pray for the gifts that we want to have but don’t possess today – maybe the ones that we feel would fill the most need within the church? Should we pray more generally for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us our spiritual gifts? Maybe it depends on how much we think we know already about our spiritual gifts, but any guidance on praying for our gifts would be helpful.
  • Yes to all of the questions. 
  • Pray for the gifts you have to be strengthened.
  • Pray for gifts that you desire but currently don’t see in your life.
  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the gifts he’s given to you.
  • In one sermon, I mentioned praying for the gift of faith and now it’s one of the clearest ways the Holy Spirit uses me.

• Matthew 24:10 says many will fall away. A footnote is the ESV as well as the amplified Bible say “stumble” could be used in the place of “fall away.” So people who fall away (stumble) from the church, now or in the end times, psalm 27 or 37 interpretation? Are these the wolves in sheep’s clothing that were never true followers of Christ?
  • Other Bible translations have “led into sin” (NET) or “turn away from the faith” (NIV; NLT) instead of “fall away”.
  • This most likely is referring to apostasy which means “A public denial of a previously held religious belief and a distancing from the community that holds to it. The term is almost always applied pejoratively, carrying connotations of rebellion, betrayal, treachery, or faithlessness.” (Lexham Bible Dictionary)
  • I don’t know if this is referring to Psalms 27 or 37. The stumbling/falling in those psalms refer to the enemies, not to apostasy.
  • Finally, not necessarily wolves in sheep’s clothing, though they could be. There are sheep, undershepherds (who are also sheep), wolves, and goats. We tend to only think of sheep and wolves, but goats are people who aren’t believers but are part of the visible church. 

• Many evangelistic endeavors across the unreached world seem to include the use of audio Bibles-of course this is for many reasons like concealment, literacy, etc. However, it makes me think about how, in our western world, there is strong emphasis on “reading” Scripture. Most worship services in my life have started with “turn in your Bible to…” instead of “hear the Word of the Lord…” However, it seems that much of the intake of God’s Word described in Scripture focuses on hearing, listening, knowing, or meditating on God’s Law/Word. Literacy of course has fluctuated throughout the ages, but even in a very literate society, should our focus be on other means of intake? Have we elevated reading, assuming that because it takes more training it is a better means of intake?
  • If you haven’t read my “how to make the most of your devotional time” booklet, I’d encourage you to go check it out. Copies at your campus Resource Center and on our church website.
  • I mention the booklet, because in the first chapter — which is on the Bible — my first suggestion is to listen to it.
  • Like the questioner mentioned, we live in a much more literate society than people in biblical times or in many countries in the world today. That’s why our emphasis is on reading. 
  • But know that reading God’s Word is a privilege not to be undervalued. 

• In Nehemiah 8:2 it says that Ezra read from the Law. I assume this refers to just the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Do you think that Nehemiah and Ezra taught the people just from these books or would they have read more from the Old Testament too such as the prophets and the writings? For by this time in history they would have had some of these as well.
  • Nehemiah 8:1 tells us that Ezra brought “the Book of the Law of Moses” which is then referred to as the “Law” in verse two. 
  • By this time in history, they definitely had other parts of what we call the Old Testament, but — as far as I know — we only have evidence that Ezra/Nehemiah refer to the Law of Moses as what was being read and taught to the people.

• In a recent sermon, you mention that faith alone, not works, will be the reason for our salvation. You then said that our faith is a gift from God. In the question of whether God is fair or unfair, is this more about whether or not we utilize the faith given to us by God vs whether or not God has actually given us faith? We are all created in His image, so I assume we should all be equipped with faith from the start, but then we make conscious decisions to utilize or not utilize that faith. If everyone receives faith, is it really considered a gift?
  • I need to make a clarifying point right at the start of my answer to this question:
    • Being made in God’s image does not mean that we have faith from the start.
    • Which means, not everyone receives faith.
  • This is why faith is a gift given to some by God.
    • Ephesians 2:8-10 — For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 
    • WCF 14.1 — The gift of faith makes it possible for the souls of the elect to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ. This gift is the work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of the elect1 and is ordinarily accomplished by the ministry of the word. It is also increased and strengthened by the word, by prayer, and by the administration of the sacraments.
      • See episode 194

Release date: 3/26/2024

Chapter 34: The Holy Spirit

1. The Holy Spirit is God and it’s OK to worship him!

2. Activities of the Holy Spirit:
   1. He guided the authors of Scripture.
   2. He regenerates spiritually dead hearts.

3. Continued activities of the Holy Spirit:
   1. Convicts us of sin
   2. Comforts us
   3. Prays for us

4. Continued activities of the Holy Spirit:
   1. Unites us to Christ
   2. Calls pastors
   3. Spiritual gifts
   4. Preserves the church

Chapter 35: The gospel of the love of God and missions

1. Nothing to add other than the gospel is to go out to all people.

2. We’re Reformed — and believe in God’s sovereignty in salvation — and we believe that God desires for all to be saved. 

3. Those who don’t believe the gospel will be judged for their unbelief.

4. Why our mission is to “glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ.” And why this is the mission not just of the church — corporately — but of every follower of Jesus — individually.

Release date: 3/19/2024

Chapter 32: The condition of man after death and the resurrection of the dead

1. Heaven and Hell. Those are our only options.

1. Sproul 643
2. Sproul 644
3. Sproul 649 (both quotes)

2. Aka — the rapture

3. All people — Christian or not — will be raised to eternal life (or eternal death).
4. Sproul 651

Chapter 33: The last judgment

1. This is the last judgment.

2. The last judgment will also be a time of God’s mercy (for those who believe in Jesus).
   1. Sproul 656 (all quotes)

3. Eternal judgment should keep people from sinning. It should also reassure us that injustice will not go unpunished.
   1. Sproul 660

Release date: 3/12/2025

Chapter 30: Condemnation by the Church

1. Sproul 631

2. Sproul 632

3. This paragraph tells us the purpose of church discipline.
   1. Often people are more concerned about the individual who is sinning (are we being mean to them?) rather than Christ’s reputation.
   2. Think of all of the recent church scandals. To a degree, all of them are due to a lack of church discipline.

4. Church discipline is to match the offense that’s taken place. 

Chapter 31: Synods and Councils

1. This is the purpose of the various denominational meetings I go to.

2. Notice how important worship is.
   1. Sproul 638-39

3. Denominations can be wrong / error. 

4. As we’ve seen in earlier episodes, the church and state should not meddle in each other’s affairs. Yet, the church has a responsibility to be the religious conscience of its nation.
   1. Sproul 640-41

Release date: 3/5/2025

Chapter 29: The Lord’s Supper

1. A
   1. A couple of things to highlight:
      1. The church is to continue the sacrament of communion until Jesus returns. It’s an act of remembering.
         1. Sproul 613-14
      2. Communion is spiritual nourishment for the Christian.
      3. It’s a sign of our being part of Christ’s body.
   2. Sproul 614 (don’t be surprised if we start or have started doing this)

2. Jesus isn’t sacrificed again and again — every time the Lord’s Supper takes place. His sacrifice was “once for all.” 

3. This is the part that happens before we take communion. Usually verses from 1st Corinthians 11 are read.
   1. Elder discussion: comfortable changing “wine” to “juice”
   2. Elder discussion: there is room in our church constitution to take communion to shut in and homebound folks. 

4. This is a statement against some of the ways that communion was being abused when the confession was being written. 

5. Read paragraphs 5 and 6 together
   1. This is getting into the theology of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said, “This is my body. This is my blood.”
      1. Roman Catholic view – transubstantiation (bread and wine become the literal/physical body and blood of Christ)
      2. Lutheran view – consubstantiation (bread and wine have the physical body of Christ “in, with, and under” them)
      3. Zwingli – memorialist (nothing happens to the bread and wine; communion is merely a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice)
      4. Calvin Reformed view (the bread and wine do not change physically, but spiritually are the body and blood of Christ)
   2. The differences arise because of a misunderstanding of the nature of Christ.
      1. Jesus was both fully God and fully man.
      2. Sproul 624
         1. For the bread and cup to physically be the body and blood of Christ is to give Jesus’ humanity the divine characteristic of omnipresence (being everywhere at the same time). Humanly speaking, Jesus is one place right now — at the right hand of God.
         2. Yet, memorialists make the opposite mistake. They take Jesus’ deity and confine it to his human location (meaning it’s as if Jesus is not omnipresent in his divinity). Thus communion is only about remembering.
         3. The Reformed view keeps Jesus’ humanity human and his divinity divine. Thus the bread and wine do not become the physical body and blood of Jesus (for he’s only in one place, humanly speaking), yet see Christ — in his divinity — being spiritual present in the bread and wine (thus it is his body and blood).
   3. Elder discussion: Someone may want to soften the language, but must agree that the Roman Catholic view is incorrect.

7. Said everything I need to say above.

8. There is and will be judgment on those who take communion not in faith.
   1. Sproul 629

Release date: 2/26/2025

Chapter 28: Baptism

1. Key sentence: By baptism a person is solemnly admitted into the visible church.
   • Baptism is the doorway of entrance into the church family. It’s what separates those who are part of the church from those who are of the world.
   • Look at all that baptism represents (second sentence of paragraph)
   • Sproul 596 (second quote)
   • Sproul 593 (a little biblical baptism history)

2. No comment.

3. Let’s do a word study for the Greek word translated as baptize/baptism in the New Testament. (Josh needs to have Logos opened for the Scripture readings.)
   1. Matthew 3:1, 6-7 
   2. Matthew 28:19 
   3. Matthew 26:23 
   4. Mark 1:8 
   5. Mark 7:4 
   6. Mark 14:20  
   7. Luke 11:38  
   8. John 13:26 
   9. Revelation 19:13  

4. Paragraph 4
   • Sproul 569
   • Sproul 571 (second quote)
   • Sproul 596 (first quote)
   • Sproul 599
   • Sproul 601
   • Sproul 602
   • Resources we have about infant baptism:

5. Baptism is not necessary for salvation nor is it a guarantee of one’s salvation.
   • Sproul 603

6. This is where things start to get a little funky for folks who’ve only thought of baptism as a symbol of our decision to follow Jesus — where it’s nothing more than a memorial rather than an actual means of grace.
   • In the Reformed tradition, the sacraments are means by which God’s Spirit confers grace to us. The same is true for how the Spirit uses the Word. Reading God’s Word and hearing it preached are not just mental exercises. They are means by which we experience God’s grace. And the same is true for the sacraments: in them we see signs of God’s faithfulness to us which the Spirit uses to impart grace to us.

7. A continual controversy in the church — regardless of infant baptism. The kid who got baptized at eight years old — whose parents thought he was ready — has a spiritual awakening in his twenties and wants to get baptized again. What do we do?
   • Remember baptism’s Old Testament equivalent? Circumcision. Would that twenty year old want to be re-circumcised if we were still under the old covenant? I think not! So let’s not allow the pain free-ness of baptism turn it back into something about our faith in God rather than his faithfulness to us.

Release date: 2/12/2025

Chapter 27: The Sacraments

1. I mentioned this in the last episode — in regards to children — and here we see that sacraments distinguish those who belong to the church and those who belong to the world. Again, more food for thought before we get to our episode on baptism and the implications of who should be baptized.
   • Sproul 565

2. The sacrament points to something (it’s a sign).
   • Baptism points to the death and resurrection of Christ and our being united to him.
   • The bread and cup point to Christ’s body and blood.

3. The water used for baptism — and the bread and juice used for communion — are not significant or powerful in and of themselves. Nor is the one instituting and administering them. 
   • Sproul 575

4. There are only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

5. This final statement will lead to our next few episodes where we’ll look at baptism and the Lord’s Supper separately.
   • Both New Testament sacraments have an Old Testament counterpart.
   • Circumcision to baptism.
   • Passover to the Lord’s Supper.

Release date: 2/5/2024

Chapter 25: The Church

1. Catholic — here — means universal. Not Roman Catholic.

2. We’ll get to the sacraments in a later chapter. But — right away — we see the issue of children and the church come up. A great question for our listeners to wrestle with is this: What is the relationship of the children — who come to Gateway — and the church family known as Gateway? Do we consider them as guests? Regular attenders? Members? Children in this faith family of ours or something else?
   1. Sproul 541 and 542 (quotes have nothing to do with children, statement above, but connect back to the WCF paragraph)

3. The Scriptures, and the sacraments — baptism and the Lord’s Supper — have been given to the church to continue the ministry that Christ began when he was here on earth. For the church is who Christ came for. Far too often, we’ve allowed others to do what God has ordained the church to do.

4. Like Christians, churches come in various degrees of sanctification and faithfulness.
   1. My football field analogy works for churches just like it does for individual followers of Jesus.

5. What hope: God will always make sure that a remnant remains.

6. Jesus is at the top of the org chart. That’s why we practice a plurality of elders (as opposed to me — Josh — being the president/CEO of Gateway).

Chapter 26: The Fellowship of the Saints

1. This statement shows the importance of every believer in a local church.
   1. Sproul 558 (both quotes above #2)

2. Notice the use of the word “bound” in this paragraph.
   1. By our profession of faith (“I’m a Christian”), we are bound to maintain a holy fellowship in the worship of our God.
   2. By our profession of faith (“I’m a Christian”), we are bound to help meet each other’s needs.
   3. Both of these, without using the word, highlight the importance of church membership. Otherwise, which Christians are you bound to worship with and meet the needs of? 
   4. Sproul 558, 559, and 560

3. Our communion/fellowship with Christ doesn’t make us divine.
   1. Our communion/fellowship with fellow Christians doesn’t make us socialists.