-- But how can you partake of Christ and His benefits?
Q: Why is Christ a Prophet?
A: To reveal to His Church the way and means of salvation, and He does this outwardly through the Ministry of His Word and inwardly through the teaching of His Holy Spirit.
Q: Why is He also a King?
A: So that He might generously bestow upon us and convey to us all the aforementioned means of salvation.
Q: How does He demonstrate His role as a King?
A: By being raised from the dead after being buried, by quickening His lifeless body, by ascending into heaven, and now sitting at the right hand of His Father with full power and glory in heaven.
Q: In what other ways?
A: By continually inspiring and guiding His servants through the divine power of His Holy Spirit, in accordance with His holy Word.
Q: But to whom will this blessed King offer all the means of salvation?
A: He offers them to all mankind, and they are sufficient to save all mankind. However, not all shall be saved because they will not receive them in faith.
IV. But how can you partake of Christ and His benefits?
Q: What is Faith?
A: Faith is a wonderful grace of God by which a person apprehends and applies Christ and all His benefits to themselves.
Q: How does a person apply Christ to themselves, given that we are on earth and Christ is in heaven?
A: This application is achieved through assurance when a person is truly convinced by the Holy Spirit of God's favor towards them individually and of the forgiveness of their own sins.
Q: How does God bring people to truly believe in Christ?
A: Firstly, He prepares their hearts so that they are capable of faith, and then He works faith within them.
Q: How does God prepare people's hearts?
A: By breaking them, as if one were to crush a hard stone into powder, and this is accomplished through humbling them.
Q: How does God humble a person?
A: By instilling in them a realization of their sins and a sorrow for them.
Q: How is the awareness of sin brought about?
A: Through the Moral law, the essence of which is found in the Ten Commandments.
Q: What sins may I discover in myself through them?
A: Ten.
Q: What is the first?
A: Making something your God that is not God, by fearing it, loving it, and trusting in it more than the true God.
Q: What is the second?
A: Worshiping false gods or worshiping the true God in a false manner.
Q: What is the third?
A: Dishonoring God by misusing His titles, words, and works.
Q: What is the fourth?
A: Breaking the Sabbath by engaging in the work of one's occupation and of the flesh, and by neglecting the works of the spirit.
Q: What are the six remaining?
A: Doing anything that may harm your neighbor's dignity, life, chastity, wealth, good name, even if it's only in the secret thoughts and intentions of your heart, to which you give no approval or consent.
Q: What is sorrow for sin?
A: It occurs when a person's conscience is deeply affected by a keen sense of God's displeasure for any of these sins, to the extent that they are thoroughly disheartened, acknowledging that they deserve eternal shame and confusion.
Q: How does God work this sorrow?
A: Through the dreadful curse of the law.
Q: What is that curse?
A: Whoever breaks even one of God's commandments, even if it's only once in their entire life, and that only in a single thought, is at risk of eternal damnation.
Q: When people's hearts are thus prepared, how does GOD instill faith in them?
A: By creating certain inner movements in the heart, which are the seeds of faith, from which faith grows.
Q: What is the first of them?
A: When a person, humbled under the weight of their sins, acknowledges and feels a great need for Christ.
Q: What is the second?
A: A strong desire and longing to partake of Christ and all His merits.
Q: What is the third?
A: Seeking refuge at the throne of grace, escaping from the judgment of the law that pricks the conscience.
Q: How is this done?
A: By praying, with earnest cries for God's favor in Christ and the forgiveness of sin, and with fervent perseverance in this until the desire of the heart is granted.
Q: What follows after all this?
A: Then, according to His merciful promise, GOD allows the poor sinner to experience the assurance of His love, with which He loves them in Christ, and this assurance is a living faith.
Q: Are there diverse degrees and measures of true faith?
A: Yes.
Q: What is the least measure of true faith that any person can have?
A: When a person of a humble spirit, due to the smallness of their faith, does not yet experience the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins. Nonetheless, they are convinced that their sins are pardonable and, therefore, they desire them to be pardoned. With their heart, they pray to God for pardon.
Q: How do you know that such a person has faith?
A: These desires and prayers serve as evidence of the spirit, whose role is to ignite a longing and yearning for heavenly things, accompanied by sighs and groans for God's favor and mercy in Christ. Now, where the spirit of Christ resides, Christ Himself dwells, and where Christ dwells, there is true faith, no matter how weak it may be.
Q: What is the greatest measure of faith?
A: When a person is fully convinced of GOD'S love in Christ towards themselves individually and of the forgiveness of their own sins.
Q: When will a Christian heart attain to this full assurance?
A: Not at first, but after a period of time, when they have been wellpracticed in repentance and have had various experiences of God's
love toward them in Christ. Then, following these experiences, the fullness of persuasion will manifest in their heart, which is the maturity and strength of faith.
Q: What benefits does a person receive by having faith in Christ?
A: Through faith, they are justified before God and sanctified.
Q: What does it mean to be justified before God?
A: It encompasses two things: first, being cleared of the guilt and punishment of sin, and second, being accepted as perfectly righteous before God.
Q: How is a person cleared of the guilt and punishment of their sin?
A: Through Christ's sufferings and death on the Cross.
Q: How are they accepted as righteous before God?
A: Through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them.
Q: What benefit comes from being justified in this way?
A: Through this, and through no other means in the world, the believer will be accepted before God's judgment seat as deserving of eternal life based on the merits of Christ's righteousness.
Q: Do good works then make us worthy of eternal life?
A: No, because GOD, who is perfect righteousness itself, finds in the best works we do more grounds for condemnation than for salvation.
Therefore, we should condemn ourselves for our good works rather than expect to be justified before God by them.
Q: How can a person know if they are justified before God?
A: They do not need to ascend into heaven to search for God's secret counsel. Instead, they should look within their own heart to see if they are sanctified or not.
Q: What does it mean to be sanctified?
A: It comprises two aspects: first, being cleansed from the corruption of one's own nature, and second, being endowed with inner righteousness.
Q: How is the corruption of sin purged?
A: Through the merits and power of Christ's death, which, when applied by faith, acts as a remedy to reduce, consume, and weaken the power of all sin.
Q: How is a person endowed with inherent righteousness?
A: Through the virtue of Christ's resurrection, which, when applied by faith, serves as a restorative to bring a person who is spiritually dead to newness of life.
Q: In which part of a person is sanctification carried out?
A: In every part of their body and soul.
Q: At what point in time is sanctification initiated?
A: It commences in this life, where the faithful receive only the firstfruits of the spirit, and it is not completed until the end of this life.
Q: What spiritual graces typically manifest in the heart of a sanctified person?
A: Hatred of sin and love of righteousness.
Q: What results from these graces?
A: Repentance, which is a firm commitment in the heart, with a diligent effort, to forsake all sins and live a Christian life.
Q: What follows along with repentance?
A: A continual battle and resistance against the temptations of one's own flesh, the schemes of the Devil, and the allurements of the world.
Q: What follows if a person gains victory in any temptation or trial?
A: An experience of God's love in Christ, leading to increased peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Q: What follows if a person is overcome in any temptation and falls due to weakness?
A: After some time, godly sorrow will arise, characterized by a person's grief solely for having displeased GOD through their sin, even if there were neither heaven nor hell.
Q: How can this sorrow be recognized?
A: The true sign of it is when a person grieves over their disobedience to God in their evil words or deeds, even if they were never to be punished and even if there were no heaven or hell.
Q: What comes after this sorrow?