I rejoice that the transcendent, all powerful, sovereign, Creator of all things condescended to pour out His free grace upon an undeserving, rebellious sinner like me (1). I rejoice that his free grace (2) gifted me with eternal life (3), every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places while here on earth (4), all that I need for life and godliness (5), a growing knowledge of Him (6), and the ongoing sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to completion (7).
Grace was free but not cheap. That sounds like a contradiction, but to clarify, grace was free to the recipients but very costly for “…Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (8) Not only did He leave the throne of God to die on a cross, our Redeemer “became flesh, and dwelt among us.” (9) His condescension included permanently taking on the nature of a man and temporarily taking on flesh, for “much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” (10) “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (11)
Question 24: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the condition of sin and misery?
Answer: God, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, having chosen a people to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the condition of sin and misery, and to bring them into a condition of salvation, by a Redeemer.
Ephesians 1:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 5:21; 8:29-30; 9:11-12; 11:5-7; Acts 13:48; Jeremiah 31:33.
Question 25: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
Answer: 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 continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; John 1:14; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9.
- Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 11:33; Job 42:2, Numbers 11:23; Psalm 115:3; John 1:14, Psalm 103:7; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23, Jeremiah 17:9, Nehemiah 9:26
- Ephesians 2:8-9, John 4:10
- Romans 6:23
- Ephesians 1:3
- 2 Peter 1:3
- 2 Peter 3:17-18
- Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 6:11
- Hebrews 12:2
- John 1:14
- Romans 5:15
- 1 Timothy 2:5