The Use of Catechisms

Second sentence begins, this knowledge is essential to, but not the same as, personal, intimate, covenantal knowledge of God, which is the essence of eternal life and which awaits us in heaven. It is spiritual information, portions of truth that can be understood, the building blocks of a system of truth foundational to everything in life. And he's pointed out several passages of scripture where a little construction of a phrase clearly means some sort of an organized system of doctrine. I was really blessed by this and challenged by it. And much of what he said is, I think, a prelude and a very good introduction to what I want to say tonight. These are messages that are, I think, tremendously consistent with each other. Because what I've been assigned for this particular topic is the use of catechisms in the church and encouragement for the use of catechisms. And I think that Andy has defined very clearly the specific place that the use of catechisms has in the church and has defined essentially what a catechism is in that sentence. Spiritual information, portions of truth. that can be understood the building blocks of a system of truth foundational to everything in life. And. Many of you may be using catechisms already. But I think it is essential that we understand that throughout the history of the church one of the ways that Reformation has come and that this resuscitation of clear doctrine has been brought about that I was speaking about in my earlier message is through the an approach to Scripture that engages the use of catechisms. We find catechisms in the early church. People were not baptized before they became catechumens and were led through a lengthy doctrinal discussion and they could give precise answers to any number of questions that related to controverted doctrinal areas. They wanted to make sure that they knew the right biblical teachings, they knew truth. The way Roman Catholicism sought to resist Protestantism was the development of catechisms and the way Protestantism established and sought to spread its truth was through the use of catechism. Some of the most beautiful catechisms we have come out of the Reformation and immediate post-Reformation era, the Heidelberg catechism, a wonderful catechism, still marvelous in the language and in the organization of truth, the Westminster catechism, shorter catechism, larger catechism. Each of you is familiar. with catechisms and with their use and with something of the advantages of it. All Christian denominations have used them. I brought some catechisms with me. They can be used for bad things. They can be used for good things. The Anglican catechism, the first three or four questions, are absolutely horrendous. And they try to convince the child that when he was baptized he became a Christian, he became adopted, he received forgiveness of sins, and he's united with Christ and justified. And then, as they go into an explaining of those various things, they give wonderful evangelical answers about what it means to be united with Christ and what it means to be justified. They talk about faith and believing the truth and all of these things. But all of this was promised by our Godparents and Godmothers. And so, it's one of these mixed blessings. A person can see that and learn that catechism and learn the truth by blotting out the errors and really come to a healthy understanding of gospel truth. But there are so many, of course, that just presume upon the early parts of that catechism. They think because they were baptized, they're converted and they don't need to worry about anything. They can teach wherever. I have a Quaker catechism there. A Quaker catechism that was written soon after the Westminster catechism and confessional instruments and it was to refute that now much of what they say is good. Much of it is right but the Quaker catechism doesn't do any real exposition. It just sort of lumps together a lot of scriptures. Now there's nothing wrong with lumping together scriptures. We all should lump them together shouldn't we. And scripture memory is marvelous and this is one of the things that Dr. Davis encourages people to do that is just so principally pure in developing Christian life, but you can lock scriptures together in a way that teaches a false doctrine and make people think that you're just quoting the Bible. And one of the things they do is when they talk about the rule of a Christian life in this Quaker catechism is they quote these passages of scripture like out of 1 John 2 that talk about you have a witness from the Holy One and you don't need anyone to teach you, but the anointing you have teaches you all things. And so this internal operation of the Spirit producing special revelations comes before Scripture in their catechism and teaches them to rely upon things that are not well defined and disciplined by the Word of God. So historically catechisms have been used by all denominations. They are effective and they can be effective for good or ill. There have been many principles in the operation and use of catechisms. They're for different levels. You can have very elementary catechisms. You can have greatly advanced catechisms. One written by a Baptist just had four questions. Henry Jesse had four questions on his catechism for babes or little ones. And it had to do with the fourfold state of man. What were you when you were before the fall? What are all people like in the fall? What are you like now that you're saved? are still in this body and then what will you be like in heaven? Those are the four questions that it relates and they're good answers and serve as a foundation for later things. John Broadus, Southern Baptist, wrote a catechism. They wanted him to write two different catechisms, one for younger children, one for older. He decided to write a catechism and then have a section of advanced questions at the end of that. But anyway, these two different approaches. The Westminster, shorter and larger catechisms. And so they've been catechisms for different levels. Usually catechisms, the instructions about how to use them emphasize exact memorization. Because the catechism has been constructed in such a way as to take into account all different kinds of nuances of language and the meaning of phrases and historical and theological vocabulary. And it usually includes within it a kind of vocabulary that is sort of pregnant with meaning, historical and theological meaning. And Luther insisted that in the catechism that you do not alter a single syllable. You begin to alter syllables, you alter words, pretty soon you're teaching an entirely different thing than is intended about the catechism. Well, we could argue about whether or not that's a good thing, but I think in teaching a catechism that is a good principle. But then this heart knowledge, head knowledge, they make the distinction. Some of the instructions say you don't want to have just head knowledge where a person can say a thing like a parrot. and have nothing about the true heart knowledge of it. But, well, head knowledge has to be there before heart knowledge can. And the point of having head knowledge is because it is truth that the Spirit uses then to make this truth come alive in our heart. It aims at cognitive understanding. It serves as a foundation for an expansion of a large of system of theological truth. And this is a principle that is consistently undergirding the teaching of catechism. Luther Rice, a famous Baptist who was reared as a Congregationalist, was taught the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And his testimony is that when he was converted, then all of those catechism answers began to come back to him and serve as the foundation For the very things that Andy was talking about serves as the foundation then for his action and for his life experience and contributing to more knowledge and for the zeal he had for the propagation of the gospel in the whole world. But it was the Westminster shorter catechism that served as the truth fuel for his life. So these kinds of principles have been involved. Foundationally, for us, we know that the principle that we always want to employ in anything we teach is that we believe the Bible is true. We want to teach the truth. Now, the book of Second John, I think, has for us a picture of the desire that the apostle had for the the people who are friends of people who are in the churches to whom he ministered. And some of the effects that this knowledge of truth would have second John says the elder to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth and not only I but also all who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one which we have from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and antichrist. So here he's talking about truth and love. He's talking about walking in the commandments, walking in truth. And then he encapsulates it in this particular doctrinal idea that Jesus is The Christ, those who do not acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ are not walking in truth, therefore they're not walking in love, therefore they're not obeying the commandments. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Do not give him a greeting, for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face so that your joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you." Now again, reflecting upon the this spiral arrangement of growth that Andy has talked about. You can see that fleshed out here in 2 John. All of these things are mentioned. There is a doctrinal foundation here. There is a truth that must be walked in. And this truth results in action. This truth results in love. This truth results in obedience. This truth results in perseverance. And the test of perseverance is whether or not you're still believing the truth. And still believing the truth will cause you to walk in love. And those who depart from this are those who create evil deeds within the church. How do we conduct ourselves in our churches so we make sure we are teaching the truth? How do we teach the truth so that our people will walk in love? How do we teach the truth? so that we and our people will obey God's commandments. The more we know of the truth, the more conformed to Christ we are, the more we love the truth, the more we see its coherence, the more we see its glory, the more we taste its freedom and its wonder, then the greater is our desire and our affection for living in accordance with it and for tasting more of it. That's just the way it is. But foundationally, How can we place something that is so specific, so particular? How can we place these portions of truth, these building blocks of a system that is of truth foundational to everything in life? How can we do that? One way is Scripture memory. But Scripture memory, I'm convinced, should also be bolstered with other things that sort of put together a large number of Scriptures for us. That is that the service of a catechism. Now the Bible. The function of the Bible in the church. Is. Twofold and is already talked about this. The. Function of scripture. Is. to teach us the truth in such a way that it can be taken by the Spirit to convict us of sin and lead us to Christ. And then it is to operate so truthfully within us subsequent to that moment of conversion that Christ is more and more attractive to us. We're drawn to Him and we're conformed to His image. And Andy was speaking and I was just sweating down there because he was saying so many things that I had planned to say, but I think that it's orchestrated by God because it is This is one of those things that is so clear in Scripture, that this is the function of it. And the practical outworking of this is truth is inculcated to us by preaching, teaching, and meditation. The exposition of the Scripture, which is more of a monologic approach, the exposition and going through large portions or small portions, but doing verse-by-verse expositions so that people come to know what the whole Bible is about and what it teaches specifically on certain topics. And then teaching more of a dialogic approach where people interact and you have someone who is gifted as a teacher that can answer their questions and can lead them to a greater understanding by applying Scripture answers to the questions that they might have. But then there's meditation, and this is where These truths of Scripture are in the mind and the people can think about them when they're running, when they're working, when they're driving, when they have some difficulty that has come up, they can apply a truth of Scripture or perhaps a particular Bible verse to something and this causes them to grow in grace. And so these kinds of activities that we're involved in is that which oppresses upon us the practical outworking of both evangelism and sanctification. in our minds and our hearts. So again, I want to ask the question, what is the way that we can maximize this putting of truth into the heart? I think that we see that the Bible itself is concerned about this. For example, We look at the book of Second Timothy in Chapter 1 where the Apostle Paul is giving admonitions to Timothy about how he is responsible for this deposit of truth that has been revealed to Paul. And Paul says that he is confident that God will guard that deposit of truth until that day. Now, if you look at verse 12, where he says, I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I've entrusted to him until that day. I really think it should be that he is able to guard what he has entrusted to me until that day. It simply says my deposit. He's able to guard my deposit. What Paul is talking about is the deposit that God has given to him. It is this body of truth that he's entrusted to him as an apostle. for which he is responsible, and though Paul is responsible for it and is going to pass it on, he is working under the assumption and with his great confidence that God himself, since it's God's truth, God is going to guard it. And that's one of the things we've talked about tonight, how throughout the history of the church, God will raise up from the ashes this truth in a purer and more powerful form, perhaps in the church understood it in a previous age. God guards his truth. We can have that confidence. I hope that we're living in an age in which we are recapturing some truths out of the Word of God. God is owning his own cause and purifying us and giving us wonderful grace for his own glory by letting us grasp and live in accordance with a purity of truth that perhaps has been smothered for a while. I pray that that's really what's happening. Because God guards his truth. He is able to guard what he has entrusted to us until that day. Then he tells Timothy, retain the standard of sound words or the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. So we have a pattern of sound words. We have doctrines. The whole biblical revelation comes to us to develop within us a deep sense of massive truths that incorporate everything in all of creation and in all things that are not created, meaning the knowledge of God Himself. And the pattern of sound words is intended to inform us about this entire reality. So a part of the task that we have as a church is to find ways to develop these portions of truth that will become a part of the whole that frames the way we think and the way we walk and within which we can understand the specific verses of the Bible that we memorize. I don't advocate just learning a catechism or learning massive systematic doctrines and staying away from the teaching of Scripture. The Scripture is that which is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword that pierces through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrows, that ascerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It opens us up. It lays us bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. You can't read the Bible without feeling the life in it, no matter how many times you've read that passage, it still transforms you. And so we're not talking about creating a system that will keep people away from reading the living, thriving, convicting Word of God. We're talking about a way of helping us understand how these scriptures operate together so that when we read them, we become better readers of the Bible. And so that when you preach, you become a better preacher because you can say things to a catechized congregation and know they will understand it. You cannot say to an uncatechized congregation. And it will make you better listeners because when you hear certain words, you will have a whole theological framework to which you can relate certain things that are being said. It just helps us all the way around to have this kind of a foundation of doctrine. Now, I want to illustrate that briefly as I'm going to close here in just a moment. I want to illustrate that briefly with one question and answer catechetical response after I read several passages of Scripture that contain the idea that I want to talk about. So if you would turn with me up to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, well Romans 8 first of all. Let's look at Romans 8. And obviously I'm not going to exhaust the use of this word. But I just want to show how often it appears in Scripture and the kind of doctrine that we see developing out of it and how having a solid, coherent, synthetic arrangement of this teaching already in our mind can help us grasp this. Romans chapter 8. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those who before knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2. to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who are in every place that call on the name of our Lord Jesus. Verse 9, God is faithful through whom you are called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 26, for consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. Consider your calling. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 7. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, His choice of you, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Look at Second Timothy Chapter 1. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which is granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. Look at Second Peter Chapter 1. Verses 2 and 3, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Then in verses 9 and 10, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted. having forgotten his purification from his former sin. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you or to make your calling an election. Sure. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. Well, you've guessed by now that the doctrine I'm talking about is the doctrine of calling or effectual calling. And when we see the combination of all of these words, the use of the word calling and the context in which It is set forth, we realize that a calling is something that comes from the Word of God. It's a calling that has cognition to it. You're called to repentance, you're called to faith, you're called to believe in Christ as the Son of God. It's a calling that has moral implications. God has not called us to impurities, called us to sanctification. It's something that comes as a result, not only of just the word of God coming, it comes not in word only, but somehow it operates in such a way that the Holy Spirit takes it and transforms us. Our gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power with much conviction with the Holy Spirit. It's something that is a part of the whole framework within how God saves sinners. Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Whom he called, he also justified. Whom he justified, he glorified." And that calling is somehow inextricably, unfathomably, inextricably connected with election. We have this, make your calling and thus election sure. Knowing brethren beloved God his choice of you his election of you because our gospel came not in word only but in power. So all of these things come together to show that there's something that is particular something that is special about calling Paul use the word calling when in first Corinthians 7 he's talking about he uses it as a synonym for being converted to Christ. Stay in the condition you were when you were called were you called as a slave. Stay a slave unless you can get your freedom were you called. In this condition, stay that way. Were you called in this condition, stay that way. Unless your calling is something that intrinsically involves you in sinfulness, then you repent and you turn away from it. But it's used as a synonym in some cases for actually being converted. So, we put all of these together, what does it mean? Well, if a person has learned the Catechism, he learns a question called, what is effectual calling? And the answer comes, effectual calling is a 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. Now that may not say everything and explain every use of the word calling, but that is a fairly good synthesis of how the Bible uses the concept of calling. A calling is something that comes by the Word of God. A calling is something that is a work of the Spirit of God. A calling is something that puts information in our mind and finally results in a transformed heart. But a person who has learned this can begin to put together many things in Scripture that a person that doesn't have the faintest idea about it will simply pass over and not ever recognize even the significance of this biblical language of calling and where it is placed in Scripture. Now, I'm going to suggest something practical and then I want to do just a brief exposition of how rich and wonderful this idea of the catechism is and suggest that at some time, when you're taking a break from doing one of these lengthy expositions of a book of the Bible, take two or three of the theological ideas and introduce a catechism on those ideas to the congregation, have the parents teach the children these catechetical answers and preach a series on some of the catechism, then go back to the exposition of the text. And so you could take a four-week period and do a discussion, a sermon series on calling and have the parents teaching the children to learn this particular response. There will be learning. The parents are learning. The children are learning it. They're here to get preached on, and so it becomes a living reality to them. They're learning that calling is a 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. And so you're going to preach on passages of Scripture that have to do with the work of the Spirit in taking the Word of God and make it real to us. You can preach out of John 14, you can preach out of John 16, you can preach out of 1 Thessalonians 1, many passages of Scripture. You know these better than I do. But you're going to say it is a work of God's Spirit. It is something, this calling is not something that comes merely from the mouth of a man, although we call people to repentance and faith. When a person is called in this way, they're called by God Himself. were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. And this call from the Father, from the Son, comes by the internal working of the Spirit of God. And you'll have an opportunity to explain how the Spirit has inspired Scripture and how the Spirit uses Scripture, and why it is so important for us to teach Scripture, because this is the thing that is used to change our minds and our hearts. It is a work of God's Spirit. And then you're going to preach a message on one of the works of God's Spirit is convincing us of our sin and misery. And again, you're going to show that when the Comforter comes, He will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That a part of the change that must take place in our heart if we're being called of God is we are convinced of our sin and our misery. We're sinful, and as a result of being sinful, we are miserable. We're miserable in ourselves. We're miserable in our relationships with other people. They're all fragmenting. They're falling apart. And we're miserable in our relationship with God presently because we're constantly under the concept of a judgment. And then in eternity, we will be miserable because He will be our enemy. And the Spirit is convincing us of that. We are having a struggle with our own sin and with the implications of it in a way we have never had before, never considered before, blithely walking through life completely unaware that we were walking, as Edward said, over a rotten covering that could break at any moment and we would plunge into hell. We are now aware of that. It is the work of God's Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery. But if it's a calling, it doesn't have just that of convincing us of our sin and misery. If it's a calling to Christ, then a second work that the Spirit is going to be doing at the same time, He will be enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ. And with every deep conviction about the horror of our sin, we're learning something more about the glory of Christ's sacrifice. With every true conviction we have about the justness of God in holding us as children of wrath, we're learning something about the purity and the holiness and the blamelessness of Christ and that He is pleasing to the Father in a way that is infinitely superior to our being obnoxious to the wrath of God. He is enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ. We are learning why Christ alone is our Savior. We are being convinced that none but Christ could save. We are seeing Him as the author of salvation, the one on whom faith depends from start to finish, the one without whom we have no life. We give credit to His words that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by Him. We are learning because of His sacrificial death, because of His perfect life, Then what Peter said is true, there's salvation in no other, for there's no other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. We are isolated to God and we see the only reality that matters is that Christ is a Savior and we flee to take refuge in Him. So you can preach on the work of the Spirit in bringing us under conviction of sin and misery. People are learning this. It's the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery. The next week you're preaching on enlightening our minds and the knowledge of Christ, and they're learning that phrase, enlightening our minds and the knowledge of Christ. And then you say, but all of this would be vain, because even with all of this knowledge we still hate truth, we still hate holiness, unless there is somehow an affection brought about in our heart for the wonder and the power and the glory and the honor of God Himself. And that is the point at which the will is renewed, the affections are changed so that now that we desire to do the will of God. Now we desire to come to Christ. Now we desire to embrace him. Now we want to flee to find hope in him. And so you speak about the changes that are ordered, how when the word comes in this kind of power, it comes not in word only, but with conviction, the Holy Spirit So that a person's heart is changed and they are willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel. They do not think it's strange that they suffer. They count it a glory to suffer. And all of the things that come our way because of believing the gospel become precious to us because we have tasted that the Lord is good. Many things you can talk about the results of the renewing of the will because of the change that it makes. We're raised from death to life. Whereas before, We were captive to the God of this world, whereas before we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience and were by nature children of wrath. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, raised us up with Christ. Oh my, what glory there is in this calling that renews the will and brings us to Christ and lets us see us as seated with Him in heavenly places. The 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. And then the summary statement combines all of these together. He doth persuade and enable. What a wonderful opportunity to teach about the necessity of God's sovereign activity, our dependence upon His doing this for us. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. He does the persuading. We would not know our sin and misery were it not for the work of the Spirit taking the truth of God and showing us that this is true about you. He enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ. We would not know that unless He was pleased to honor His Son in our minds and hearts by showing us His glory, showing us that He can be Redeemer, not just judge to us. He enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ. So He persuades us and He enables us, renews the affections, renews the will, gives us the desire not to flee from Him, not to curse Him, not to have the poison of asps under our lips, not to have our mouth full of cursing and bitterness, not to walk in a way in which there is no peace, not having feet that are swift to shed blood, not being those who do not seek God, not being those who have no fear of God before our eyes. No longer do I want to be that way. I want to know God. I want to know Christ. I want to know forgiveness. I want to turn from my sins. He enables us. He persuades and enables us to do what? To embrace Jesus Christ. It is all in Him. It is in Him alone. What an opportunity to preach about the fullness of Jesus Christ and what it means for a person to come to embrace Jesus Christ in free pardon of sin, to embrace Jesus Christ in all of His wonderful, lovely, person, his work, to see why the Father is so pleased with him, to see why the Father said, this is my beloved son, hear him, to see why the Father is willing to abundantly receive us into his kingdom through Christ, to know what it means when we sin to have one who is our advocate and to know that our advocate is also our propitiation. And to know that our propitiation is the righteous One, Jesus Christ, who would not embrace Him when they see Him in that way. To embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel. Every time you preach the Gospel, in a sense, that is an offer. Everyone who hears it, you're telling them, here is the truth Right now, you can believe this. Right now, you can find forgiveness. Now, we know that they hate the truth. We know that their hearts are hard. We know that their minds need to be enlightened. But every time you preach the gospel, it is with the hope and with the reality that in word and in substance, there it is for them to believe and embrace. The only thing that hinders them is the moral rebellion of their hearts. And it is effectual calling that will remove that. And so it gives you an opportunity for. Specific exposition of scriptures synthesizing it into a doctrine so that when your people read these special uses of this word calling and see the context and what it is placing they will have this building block of a system of truth foundational to everything in life well in place, at least in this one doctrine. Then you could do that with a whole system, just question after question after question, arranged over a long period of time. But you would have people who are good listeners, who have something that is transforming in its power. that has arranged in their mind and in their perceptions and in their ability to articulate for themselves the meaning of it. You have given them something that is substantial in their knowledge of God. What is effectual calling? It is a 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. Well, may God grant us the grace to love his truth and to find every way we can to articulate it to the lost and to articulate it to our people and to give them ways in which this can become something that is substantially transforming in their mind and as a result of their mind their heart. Let's not prepare. Probably thank you for all the blessings you give us in your word we thank you for the opportunity to study it and to see something of its witness to itself. And how important. The submission to truth is how alive it is how beautiful it is how transforming It is. How much like you it is. We know that you are a God of truth. May we be good stewards of what we have heard and what we have said in Jesus name. Amen.