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The First Part - Our Sin and Misery

 

 

Lord's Day 2

 

Question & Answer #3

 

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From where do you know your sins and misery?

 From the law of God.[1]

[1] Rom. 3: 20

 

Question & Answer #4

 

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What does God’s law require of us?

Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.[1] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.[2]

[1] Deut. 6:5. [2] Lev. 19:18

 

Question & Answer #5

 

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Can you keep all this perfectly?

No,[1] I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.[2]

[1] Rom. 3:10, 23; I John 1:8, 10. [2] Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:23; 8:7; Eph. 2:3; Tit. 3:3

 

Lord's Day 3

 

Question & Answer #6

 

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A.

Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?

No, on the contrary, God created man good[1] and in His image,[2] that is, in true righteousness and holiness,[3] so that he might rightly know God His Creator,[4] heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him.[5]

[1] Gen. 1:31. [2] Gen. 1:26, 27. [3] Eph. 4:24. [4] Col. 3:10. [5] Ps. 8:1-9.

 

Question & Answer #7

 

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From where, then, did man's depraved nature come?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise,[1] for there our nature became so corrupt[2] that we are all conceived and born in sin.[3]

[1] Gen. 3:1-24. [2] Rom. 5:12, 18, 19. [3] Ps. 51:5

 

Question & Answer #8

 

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But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil?

Yes,[1] unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.[2]

[1] Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Is. 53:6. [2] John 3:3-5

 

Lord's Day 4

 

Question & Answer #9

 

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Is God, then, not unjust by requiring in His law what man cannot do?

No, for God so created man that he was able to do it.[1] But man, at the instigation of the devil,[2] in deliberate disobedience[3] robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.[4]

[1] Gen. 1:31. [2] Gen. 3:13; John 8:44; I Tim. 2:13, 14. [3] Gen. 3:6. [4] Rom. 5:12, 18, 19.

 

Question & Answer #10

 

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Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?

Certainly not. He is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally,[1] as He has declared:[2] Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them (Galatians 3:10).

[1] Ex. 34:7; Ps. 5:4-6; 7:10; Nah. 1:2; Rom. 1:18; 5:12; Eph. 5:6; Heb. 9:27. [2] Deut. 27:26.

 

Question & Answer #11

 

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But is God not also merciful?

God is indeed merciful,[1] but He is also just.[2] His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the most severe, that is, with everlasting, punishment of body and soul.[3]

[1] Ex. 20:6; 34:6, 7; Ps. 103:8, 9. [2] Ex. 20:5; 34:7; Deut. 7:9-11; Ps. 5:4-6; Heb. 10:30, 31. [3] Matt. 25:45,46.

 

Heidelberg Catechism  The Second Part - Our Deliverance