What is the Law of God (HC 92-93)

What is a Good Work (HC 91)

A good work is one which meets the right standard, for the right goal, with the right motive.

I.    THE RIGHT STANDARD
    A.    The Threat of Relativism
    B.    The Demand for Autonomy
    C.    Man or God? (Acts 4:19-20; 1 John 3:4)

II.    THE RIGHT GOAL
    A.    The Right thing for the Wrong Reason
    B.    All for the Glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)

III.    THE RIGHT MOTIVATION
    A.    Anything not of Faith, is Sin (Romans 14:23)
    B.    Delight in God
 

Invigorating the New Man (HC 90)

HC Q. 90. What is the making alive of the new man?
Heartfelt joy in God through Christ, causing us to take delight in living according to the will of God in all good works.

Invigorating the New Man, means taking joy in the things of God, so that we obey him more and more.

I.    WHAT AN INVIGORATED NEW MAN LOOKS LIKE
    A.    Would the New Man Please Stand Up
    B.    Made Alive Together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7)
    C.    Walking in Good Works Prepared Beforehand (Ephesians 2:8-10)

II.    THE POWER BEHIND THE GOOD WORKS
    A.    The Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24; Romans 8:13)
    B.    The Renewal of the Mind (Ephesians 4:19-24; Romans 12:1-2)
    C.    Learning to Take Joy in the Things of God (Colossians 3:1-8)

Killing the Old Man (HC 88-89)

To be united to Jesus is to break ties with Adam.

I.       Would the Old Man Please Stand Up?
        A.     The Typical Understanding (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9)
        B.     Not Self, but Man (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45-49)

II.     The Living Dead (Ephesians 2:1-3)
        A.     Dead by Nature (Ephesians 2:1-3; cf. Romans 5:12-21)
        B.     Doing What is Evil (Ephesians 2:2-3; 4:19-21)

III.    Killing the Old Man
        A.     The Challenge (Romans 8:13)
        B.     At War with Adam (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-8)

Repenting into the Kingdom (HC 87)

Repentance is a necessary work of God in us to bring us into his kingdom.

I.       The Work of Repentance
         A.      Defining Repentance
         B.     Repentance is a Work of God
         C.     Repentance is our Work, too (cf. Phil. 2:12-13)

II.     The Necessity of Repentance
         A.     Faith and Repentance (cf. James 2:14, 18-20; Acts 11:18)
         B.     Struggling with Repentance (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

The Necessity of Good Works (HC 86)

Because God is the one who begins and completes salvation, good works are a necessary consequence of his work in us.

I.       A Necessary Consequence
         A.     Not Necessary to Save (a Condition) (Romans 3:28; Galatians 5:3)
         B.     Necessary if Saved (a Consequence) (Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:29-30)

II.     Also Necessary for….
         A.     Assurance of Salvation (Luke 6:43-45; cf. James 2:14-26)
         B.     A Faithful Testimony (John 13:35; Matthew 5:16)

Closing the Kingdom (HC 85)

Discipline is loving correction through which sinners are called to repentance and others are warned against falling into sinful patterns.

I.       What Discipline Addresses
         A.     Conduct (1 Corinthians 5; Revelation 2:1-7; 3:1-6; Titus 3:10-11; 2 Peter 2:1-2; Acts 20:28-31)
         B.     Doctrine (Titus 3:10-11; 2 Peter 2:1-2; Acts 20:28-31; Revelation 2:12-17; 3:14-22)
         C.     Private (Matthew 18:15-20)
         D.     Public (1 Timothy 5:20; 1 Corinthians 5)
         E.     Those Inside the Church (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

II.     What Discipline Looks Like
         A.     Different “Kinds” of Discipline
                  1.      Instruction / Training
                  2.      Self-Discipline (1 Timothy 4:7; Titus 2: 6; Proverbs 12:1)
                  3.      Corrective Discipline (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
         B.     Goals of Discipline
                  1.      Correction of the Sinner (Matthew 18:15; 1 Corinthians 5:5)
                  2.      Protection of the Congregation (1 Timothy 5:20)
                  3.      Protection of God’s Honor (Romans 2:23-24)

Opening the Kingdom (HC 84)

HC 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the Holy Gospel?
In this way: that, according to the command of Christ, it is proclaimed and openly witnessed to believers, one and all, that as often as they accept with true faith the promise of the Gospel, all their sins are really forgiven them of God for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, to all unbelievers and hypocrites, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them so long as they are not converted. According to this testimony of the Gospel, God will judge men both in this life and in that which is to come.

The Kingdom of Heaven is opened through the authoritative public and private proclamation of God’s word.

I.    HOW GOD SPEAKS IN THIS WORLD
A.    Word (1 Peter 1:23–25; Romans 10:14-17)
B.    Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14; John 3:5–8)
C.    Public and Private (Acts 20:18-27)

II.    GRANTING AND WITHHOLDING FORGIVENESS (JOHN 20:23; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:19)
A.    The Authoritative Pronouncement (John 20:23; 1 Corinthians 11:17-19)
B.    The Pastoral Benefits

The Keys of the Kingdom (HC 83)

HC 83. What is the Office of the Keys?
The preaching of the Holy Gospel and Christian discipline; by these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers.

The Keys of the Kingdom are the authority God has given to leaders in the church to admit people and remove people from its membership.

I.    THE KINGDOM OF GOD
    A.    An Important Concept
    B.    Manifested in the Church
    C.    The Great Threat of Removal (Genesis 17:14; Leviticus 17:14; Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13)

II.    THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
    A.    The Importance of Leaders (Numbers 12:8; Hebrews 13:17)
    B.    The Danger of Presumption (Numbers 16)
    C.    The Entrusting of Keys (Isaiah 22:17-23; Matthew 16:19; 18:18)
 

How Jesus is Present in the Lord's Supper (HC 78, 81-82)

What the Lord's Supper Signifies (HC 75-77)

WHAT THE LORD’S SUPPER SIGNIFIES
HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 75-77

75. How is it signified and sealed to you in the Holy Supper that you partake of the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross and all His benefits?
Thus: that Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and to drink of this cup in remembrance of Him, and has joined therewith these promises: first, that His body was offered and broken on the cross for me and His blood shed for me, as certainly as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup communicated to me; and further, that with His crucified body and shed blood He Himself feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, as certainly as I receive from the hand of the minister and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, which are given me as certain tokens of the body and blood of Christ.

76. What does it mean to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ?
It means not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby to obtain the forgiveness of sins and life eternal; but moreover, also, to be so united more and more to His sacred body by the Holy Spirit, who dwells both in Christ and in us, that, although He is in heaven and we on earth, we are nevertheless flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, and live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as members of the same body are governed by one soul.

77. Where has Christ promised that He will thus feed and nourish believers with His body and blood as certainly as they eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup?
In the institution of the Supper, which says: “The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had eaten, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He come.” And this promise is also repeated by the Apostle Paul, where he says: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, so we being many are one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.”

The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper represent the bodily death of Jesus, but as food they remind us that Jesus only benefits us if he is in us.

I.    WHAT IS PICTURED IN THE BREAD AND WINE (HC 75)
    A.    Body and Blood
    B.    Given (Broken?) and Poured Out
    C.    The Need for this Picture

II.    WHAT IS PICTURED IN EATING (HC 75-76)
    A.    The Command to Eat
    B.    (Spiritual) Nourishment

III.    WHAT IS NEEDED (HC 76-77)
    A.    The Need for Faith (John 6:35, 40)
    B.    Why the Lord’s Supper Should be Important (to You)

FOR NEXT TIME
HC Q. 78. Do, then, the bread and the wine become the real body and blood of Christ?
No, but as the water in Baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ, nor becomes the washing away of sins itself, being only the divine token and assurance thereof, so also in the Lord’s Supper the sacred bread does not become the body of Christ itself, though agreeably to the nature and usage of sacraments it is called the body of Christ.
HC Q. 79. Why then does Christ call the bread His body, and the cup His blood, or the new covenant in His blood; and the apostle Paul, the communion of the body and the blood of Christ?
Christ speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby, that like as the bread and wine sustain this temporal life, so also His crucified body and shed blood are the true meat and drink of our souls unto life eternal; but much more, by this visible sign and pledge to assure us that we are as really partakers of His true body and blood by the working of the Holy Spirit, as we receive by the mouth of the body these holy tokens in remembrance of Him; and that all His sufferings and obedience are as certainly our own, as if we ourselves had suffered and done all in our own person.
80. What difference is there between the Lord’s Supper and the Pope’s Mass?
The Lord’s Supper testifies to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself once accomplished on the cross; and that by the Holy Spirit we are ingrafted into Christ, who, with His true body, is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is there to be worshipped. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is still daily offered for them by the priests, and that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and is therefore to be worshipped in them. And thus the Mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.
81. Who are to come to the table of the Lord?
Those who are displeased with themselves for their sins, yet trust that these are forgiven them, and that their remaining infirmity is covered by the suffering and death of Christ; who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to amend their life. But the impenitent and hypocrites eat and drink judgment to themselves.
82. Are they, then, also to be admitted to this Supper who show themselves by their confession and life to be unbelieving and ungodly?
No, for thereby the covenant of God is profaned and His wrath provoked against the whole congregation; therefore, the Christian Church is bound, according to the order of Christ and His Apostles, to exclude such persons by the Office of the Keys until they amend their lives.