Free Study-Truth About Man- by Paul Washer

Paul Washer has put together an excellent 10 part Study, entitled 'The Truth About Man'. Get it Here for free. It is great to use for your Family Devotion, Church group, Homeschool, you could even use it for a Biblical version of the heretical alpha course.

Truth About Man - Table of Contents:

1. The Creation of Man
2. The Fall of Adam
3. The Fall of Mankind
4. Spiritual Death and Moral Inability
5. Enslavement to Satan
6. The Character and Universality of Sin
7. God's Disposition Towards the Sinner
8. God's Judgment of the Sinner
9. The Final Judgment of the Wicked
10. Hell

Heartcry have other books available as well including Paul Washer's One True God in English and dutch.

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Many Calvinists On Paper Are Hyper-Calvinists In Practice.

Kevin Williams

Calvinism is good Biblical teaching. Hyper-Calvinism is heresy. Calvinism says the Gospel call is for everyone and so we are to preach the Gospel to every creature, but Hyper-Calvinism says 'God's going to do what He's going to do, so it doesn't matter'.

Now it doesn't really matter what we say, what we do reveals what we really believe. As James said "faith without works is dead."

You may have the Doctrines of Grace nailed down on paper, and be able to quote Scripture after Scripture, and debate others on Calvinism, but do your works match up to, or deny what you say you believe?

If you say you are a Calvinist and yet you haven't bothered to share your faith with your neighbours, family, friends, workmates, then all your talk of Calvinism is just empty talk. It's a belief on a notepad, but not in the heart. If that's you my friend, then it doesn't matter what you say because by practice you are a hyper-calvinist.

The second common form of hyper-calvinism today is from those who preach the Gospel to all, yet their invitation to believe on Christ is so vague, limited, and void of pleading, that it is barely a gospel at all. These people carefully construct language so to avoid any notion that Salvation is definitely available for whom they are preaching to, just in case they are non-elect.
See also:
-A Primer on Hyper-Calvinism.

-Salvation is of the LORD, What Calvinism Does & Does Not Teach, Clearing Up the Common Misconceptions.

-It is Christ Not Calvinism that Saves-The Free Invitation of the Gospel.

Do You Know Him? Do You Live Jesus, Or Is Your Christianity Dead Theology-Kevin Williams

Many can quote Scripture and explain doctrine, but they don't live it. Christianity is about a personal relationship in close fellowship with the person of Jesus Christ. Anything less is just dead theology. Do you know Him?

Click on blue link to play or (Right-Click/Save-As to Download mp3).
John 6:48-59 - Do You Know Him? Do You Live Jesus, Or Is Your Christianity Dead Theology -Kevin Williams- 33 min

Listen to this and other Middleton Puritan Fellowship sermons through i-tunes:

Psychological Manipulation of the "Invitation"-Paul Washer

10 min video (full sermon below).


To watch the full sermon video click (wmv): Paul Washer-A Message for Reformed Christian Rappers (and the Hip-Hop Culture) at the 2007 Legacy Conference-55 min

To listen to full sermon click here (mp3 ). (or right-click/save-as to download either).

Blessed Assurance. Nine Marks of Assurance.

Taken from this Tim Conway sermon Assurance and the Glory of Sonship.

1. A child of God experiences Spirit led triumph with sin.
This is not some do and some don't. It's not just the ideal, but nobody, or very few attain it. But rather it is all who are led by the Spirit are Sons of God.

Rom 8:14 "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." and the preceding verse: v13"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Note: Die and Live here denotes eternal Hell, and eternal Life.
If you don't put to death the deeds of the body you will be in Hell, if you do then it is evidence that you are led by the Spirit.

Children of God are led by the Spirit to the place where they do actually resist sin, detest sin, grieve over sin, fight with sin, and actually triumph over sin. Not just once or twice, but it is the ongoing experience of a true Christian.

If one of the main reasons you want to go to Heaven is because the thought of being rid of sin forever fills you with elation then you are my brother in Christ, you are a child of God.
Now if you only want Heaven, because you're afraid of Hell, I'm afraid you're going to Hell.

2. A child of God experiences what few others experiences.
Jesus said "narrow is the way that leads to life and there are few that find it." When the Spirit of God leads God's people into Holiness and Righteousness away from the muck and filth of sin, it results in experiences that the majority of people do not experience. You won't be like everyone else. You will not even be like most professing Christians, because remember in that day "many". And so what happens is when you are being led this way by the Spirit, you will have many others look at you and think that you are narrow, legalistic, overboard, excessive, strange, even cultic and a whole host of other choice descriptions. But you just remember this: only few are led this way, so you will be an oddity. Only 'few', so don't be surprised if most others, even professing Christians aren't overly infused about the path the Holy Spirit is leading you on. Beware when everyone applauds you. You are in a much safer position when they all look at you and say 'you are strange', 'you've gone overboard,' 'you are cultic'.

Jesus said "Woe to you when all men speak well of you." If people don't recognize that you are odd, then you should be afraid. When the world can look at you and say 'you're just like us,' shake and tremble, because destruction is in front of you. The Spirit of God always makes those few on the way look bizarre and ridiculous to the rest of the world.

3. A Child of God experiences what he at one time did not experience.
This is key and really critical. Children of God were not always Children of God. Eph 2 says You were once children of wrath, but you're not anymore. Peter said it like this "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people;". 1 Pet 2:10

Here's the thing: If only the Children of God are led by the Spirit of God and one time I wasn't a child of God, I was a child of wrath. Then it was true of my life when I was a child of wrath that the Spirit of God did not lead me out of sin. At one time as Eph 2 says "you were dead in trespasses and sins," you wallowed in it, you drank it, but when you become a child of God, the Spirit of God leads you out of that.

Here's the point: If you are a true child of God, you will have an experience in your life where at one time you were in sin, you looked to Christ, and you came away from that, now being led by the Spirit away from sin.This is so key because it's Biblical. I can remember a conversation, with a man who told me "my brother was a crack addict, and he died of a crack overdose, but I know he was a Christian". Somebody recently told me 'I ran in sin as a teenager, but I know I was saved.' I've had people look at me and say "I know the fruits of life are not in my life, but I know I'm a Christian'. How do you know? The very evidence isn't there. If you do that you make yourself like those people who are going to find out "in that day", that they're not true.

Look! If you have just always been a good old boy, just a nice guy, nothings really ever changed in your life, then don't assume you are saved, because the Christian life, is a life where we are saved from what we used to be. I realize it's different with different people. The depth of sin children who are saved at a very young age are saved out of, will be shallower, just because of their shallow years. But I'm telling you this: Paul says this! If you are in Christ, you are a new creation in Christ. Old things are passed away, all things become new. Look if you don't have a testimony in your life that says 'I was like that. I looked at Christ and now the Spirit of God is leading me in a direction I did not go in before', then you're in trouble.

Don't just believe you are a Christian because 'something happened', when that something didn't involve a change in your relationship to sin.

4. Your Experience is totally contrary to the Romans 7 experience. See Romans 7 by Charles Leiter. and Romans 7- and the Dangerous 'Wretched Christian' View.

You need to see this, because Romans 7 is in context with Romans 8. It's a whole argument. What these verses in Romans 8:14-17 are dealing with is assurance that you might know that glorification is yours and be certain that you're going to persevere to the end. The indication is being led away from sin. The guy in Romans 7 is 'of the flesh,' 'sold under sin', and practicing the evil that he doesn't want to do, and he is a 'wretched man'. Our assurance does not come from that life, but when we see that by the Spirit, we are being led in a direction away from sin, killing sin, into Holiness, into righteousness. It is no wonder that in the circles where they most heavily press that that wretched man is a Christian, are the very circles where assurance is most lacking.

5. You experience this leading even when others aren't watching.
Now this is critical because the Spirit of God leads his people all the time. Do you see the difference between the moral man and the Christian? Christ describes the ones who sought morality. They did things for others to see them. They prayed to be seen, they gave to be seen. If you're led by the Spirit of God then you're led when no one is watching. You're led in the mind where no one can see. You're led when no one can see. All I ask you is why do you do what you do? How is it with you and the Spirit in the lonely place?

6. You experience this with regards to every sin.
Again, this is where we can compare the moralist and the legalist with the true Christian. There are people who run around pretty outwardly moral, but that doesn't mean they're a Christian. Jesus Christ said, you've got to surrender all. He said "unless you forsake all that you have, you cannot be my disciple." The Spirit of God leads us into total submission to the Lordship of Christ. One thing you've got to look at in your life is, is it possible for you to harbour sin? Certain sins? Is that possible? Listen. It's one thing to clean up your life in a few places, but let me ask you this: Have you experienced since you've professed to be a Christian, the fact that the Holy Spirit will never let you for long, hold dearly to an idol? Do you know the experience of Him coming on a regular basis and plucking those idols? Listen! If you can maintain some illicit relationship that you know Christ is not pleased with, though you come in the church, if you don't lay everything down including your money, if you've got some little part of your life that you can keep reserved and away from the clutch of the Master, and the Spirit never comes around and lays you low for it then you're not a child of God.

7. You experience this by way of the Word of God.
Jesus Christ said "You'll know that you are My disciples if My Word abides in you." How do I know the path of righteousness away from sin? How do I even know what sin is? I know it from the Word of God. The Spirit of God leads people in the Word of God, and Peter tells us that there will be a desire in every child of God for the Word of God. Now listen, if you are seldom in the Word of God, you have no desire to read it, you have to force yourself sometimes, it's not very enjoyable, you don't find it being your daily food, then it's very suspect whether you are a Christian.

8. You experience this with joy.
Now that's critical because in so much of the religious world you have people putting forth sweat to do the things they don't like to do, and to resist doing the things that they really do want to do. 1 John says it is not grievous for the Christian to keep the Commandments. David delighted in them, not just reading them, but he did them. That's the problem with the Romans 7 guy, he didn't do them, he practiced evil all the time.

9. You experience this beholding Christ.
2 Cor 3:18 says that as we look at Christ, degree by degree we are conformed into His image. Is Christ constantly in your gaze? Do you long for Heaven as much because you're going to be rid of sin, because Christ is going to be there. Look, if you're not in the Word of God regularly and you're not gazing upon Christ regularly, and that's where the Spirit of God leads His people. If Christ isn't regularly in your thoughts, in your mind, in your life then you're in trouble. The Spirit of God came into this world to glorify Jesus Christ, and in this He leads us to gaze on the Glory of the Son of God. If He's not leading you there regularly, constantly, frequently, daily, continuously, then go back and start your hunt for religion all over again. Go back there and gaze on Him until the assurance comes, until the assurance is given.

Listen to Tom Conway's Four part Series on True Biblical Assurance:
(Click in blue links to play (or right-click/save-as to download mp3)
1. Six Questions Answered on Assurance -42 min
2. Assurance & the Evidence of Being Lead by the Spirit -53 min
3. Assurance and the Glory of Sonship -51 min
4. Four Reasons Assurance is Necessary -53 min

Puritan Library-New Wonderful Resource Website

We've added the excellent PuritanLibrary to the links on the right-hand side of our website, which is a new resource from Monergism.

Featuring the writings of Richard Baxter, John Owen, Thomas Watson, John Bunyan, John Flavel, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Goodwin, Matthew Henry, Philip Doddridge, Samuel Rutherford and so, so many more.

Spurgeon on the Salvation of Children

“It is very grievous to see how some professedly Christian parents are satisfied so long as their children display cleverness in learning, or sharpness in business, although they show no signs of a renewed nature. If they pass their examinations with credit and promise to be well fitted for the worlds battle, their parents forget that there is a superior conflict, involving a higher crown, for which the child will need to be fitted by divine grace and armed with the whole armor of God. Alas, if our children lose the crown of life, it will be but a small consolation that they have won the laurels of literature or art.

Many who ought to know better think themselves superlatively blessed in their children if they become rich, if they marry well, if they strike up into profitable enterprises in trade, or if they attain eminence in the profession which they have espoused. Their parents will go to their beds rejoicing and awake perfectly satisfied, thought their boys are hastening down to hell, if they are also making money by the bushel. They have no greater joy than their children are having their portion in this life and laying up treasure where rust corrupts it. Though neither their sons nor daughters show any signs of the new birth, give no evidence of being rich toward God, manifest no traces of electing love, or redeeming grace or the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, yet there are parents who are content with their condition.

Now, I can say of such professing parents that they have need to question whether they be Christians at all and if they will not question it themselves, they must give some of us leave to hold it in serious debate."

The Eaglet-Excellent Children's Story Gospel Booklet.

The Eaglet is a wonderful children's story by Jim Elliff, with a good Gospel message. My wife recently read it to the children at our daughter's birthday party, and whilst the children were all sat around transfixed and enjoying the story, as soon as the story started talking about sin, you could hear the unsaved parents in the room loudly starting to talk nervously about nothing, obviously under conviction of their sin, in an attempt to try and drown out the Gospel.

It comes in a high quality 32 page, 5.5" x 8.5" booklet and is wonderful to give to children in evangelism. You can read the pdf preview of it online here, and also here is a powerpoint of it.

Click here to order copies.

John the Baptist, A Christ-Like Preacher of Truth. True Gospel .v. Dangerous Lies-Kevin Williams

In this Sermon we look at
-John the Baptist, A Christ-Like Preacher of Truth. True Gospel .v. Dangerous Lies.
-Why all Roman Catholic Priests go to Hell.
-That anyone praying to saints, Mary, Angels, Statues, or a Window will go to Hell.
-The Sin of the Sinners Prayer and a watered down gospel.
-The Crime of Not Preaching The Gospel at a Funeral.
-Why If You Are A Christian, You Are Of Israel and all the promises to Israel apply to you.
-The heretical prayer book.
-That God Saves the most unlikely people and so we should witness to them.
-The True Gospel.
Click on blue link to play or (Right-Click/Save-As to Download mp3).
Matthew 3:1-12 - John the Baptist, A Christ-Like Preacher of Truth. True Gospel .v. Dangerous Lies-Kevin Williams - 40 min

Listen to this and other Middleton Puritan Fellowship sermons through i-tunes:

Regeneration. Are You A Pig Or A Human?

Kevin Williams

Regeneration. From a Pig to a Human.

To use a Charles Spurgeon analogy, if you put on one side of a room a slap up meal from the best chef in England, and on the other side, a pig trough, filled with pig slop. If you released a pig in that room, every single time he would go to the pig trough.

Why? Because he's a pig. It's what pigs do.

Now, if the pig was supernaturally transformed into a human being, he would not want to eat from the pig trough any more, he can't even take pig food without vomiting, and so he'd go to the slap up meal.

Why? Because he's a human now. He's not a pig anymore.

Now if you are truly converted , and heading for Heaven, then that analogy has just described your conversion. When God supernaturally changed your will and desires from a sin loving and righteous hating pig, to a sin hating and righteous loving human.

When A Christian Sins.

Now every once in a while, the Christian may forget that he's no longer a pig, and go to eat from the pig trough. But as soon as he does, he'll want to vomit, and if anyone sees him eating from the pig trough, he's ashamed.

Why? Because he's not a pig anymore. Humans do not eat from pig troughs.

Now to develop the analogy further:

The 'So-Called' Carnal Christian.

If someone claims they are a Christian, but they have not much appetite for righteousness, but would rather openly walk in sin, i.e. they have not much interest in going to the slap up meal, but would rather eat from the pig trough, then it's evident they're probably still a pig, as the evidence is showing their will and desires have not been changed by God, but rather that they are unregenerate and unconverted.

As Jesus said "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits." Mt 7:19-20
In others words don't pretend you're a Christian when your life is marked by a rebellion to God's will.

'Hey Legalist!'

It's common today for Christian's who love to be obedient to the Word of God, to be accused of 'legalism'. Legalism is a term often used in the same way as 'homophobe' or 'racist', the motive is generally to slur someone and so no one will listen to their reasoning.

But, what is really happening here is the Christian being accused wants to do God's will, he wants to eat from the slap up meal, not because he's trying to keep rules, but because it's so much better. He's not a pig anymore and so he doesn't want to eat from the pig trough.

However, his accuser can't understand why anyone would want to eat from that slap up meal all the time, and not from the pig trough.

Why? Because the accuser is still a pig!

True Legalism and Works Religions.

Now legalism in it's true sense is adding works to salvation. In short it's trying to get to Heaven by your own 'good' works. This is what separates true Christianity from all other religions. The Bible says we can't earn our salvation, it is a gift of God, whereas all other religions whether it be Islam, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, JW's, etc, and even professing Christians who are not trusting in the finished work of Christ to save them, but rather in their own works, all of these are legalistic works righteous religions.

What the legalist does is, he looks at the pig trough and thinks "Yummy pig slop, mmmm. But I can't eat from that. I must force myself to eat that slap up meal instead, because otherwise I won't get into Heaven." Going to the slap-up meal for him is a sacrifice, because deep down he would rather eat from the pig trough.

Why? Because he's still a pig! He's not been regenerated by God and so the Bible says "the Wrath of God abides on him".

Freedom To Eat From The Pig Trough.

Another popular one is for a professing Christian to indulge in certain sinful things which are contrary to God's will and when confronted by another concerned Christian, they tell them "I've got my freedom in Christ." Jesus gave us freedom from sin, not to sin.

An example is they insist on watching movies that Christians shouldn't be watching full of sensuality, bad language, and blasphemy. Now you have to ask the question, why would anyone want freedom to eat from the pig trough, and not the slap up meal? Because they're probably still a pig! Unregenerate and unconverted.

Now in the Bible there are only two types of person:

The saved man heading for Heaven, and the lost man heading for eternal Hell.

You're either a slave of sin, or a slave of righteousness.
You're either walking in light, or walking in darkness,
You're either in Adam, or in Christ.
You're either of the flesh, or of the Spirit.
To use our analogy, you're either a pig or a human.

Now look at these verses in Romans 8. Notice, there a no commands in these verses. But rather it is simply a description of how a saved man and a lost man live:

Romans 8: "5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

The Bible says: The regenerate and saved man of the Spirit will:

-v5, "set their minds on the things of the Spirit".
and to do this v6, is "life and peace".
The true believer is "not in the flesh", v9, but rather "in the Spirit"

-v11, Is given "life". Note: this signifies eternal life.

-v13, "By the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body and you will live".

Whereas, the unregenerate and unsaved man of the flesh will:

-v5, "set their minds on the things of the flesh".
and to do this v6, "is death".

-v7, Their mind "is hostile to God", and "it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot".

Notice cannot, can speaks of ability, the man of the flesh is incapable of submitting to God's will.

-v8, he cannot do anything pleasing to God. And that includes true repentance and faith in Jesus to be saved. Because that would be pleasing to God as the Bible says "there is joy in the presence of angels over one sinner who repents," and who's in the presence of angels but God Himself.

-v9, He "does not belong to" Christ.

-v13, He "will die" (note this signifies eternal death).

Now the question is which one are you?
Has your will and desires been changed?
Would you rather eat from the slap up meal? Or do you really prefer to eat from the pig trough?

You may also be asking: "Well, if the man of the flesh cannot please God, and I cannot change myself and only God can change me, then what can I do?"

Well if you're thinking that, then it's only by God's Grace that He's letting you and giving you the desire to do that. It's only by His providence divinely working all the events in the universe "together for the council of His will" Eph 1:11 that you happen to be reading this now. So it may be that God is changing your will and desires now and so Isaiah 55:6-7 says:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Jesus, the Son of the Living God says to you:
v3 "Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,"

Tim Conway Series on Biblical Parenting.

Below are 12 excellent sermons from a series we recommend every parent, parent-to-be, child, and pastor should listen to:

Click on blue links to play (or right-click/save-as to download mp3s).

1. Christ-likeness, A Foundation For Parenting. -65 min

2. Children & Christs Preeminence in Parenting Part 1. -77 min

3. Children & Christs Preeminence in Parenting Part 2. -71 min

4. It Costs to be a Father - The More Satanic a Society, the Less the Fathers Are involved with the Children. -49 min

5. Bring Them Up - They Are Down. -59 min

6. Not Spanking Leads to Hell - The Discipline of the Lord. -71 min

7. Warn Your Children About Sin. -66 min

8. Warn Your Children Part 2 - The Book of Proverbs. -52 min

9. Public, Private or Homeschool? Some Principles to Consider. -71 min

10. T.V. Hinders Kingdom Work - 17 Principles for T.V. & Your Children. -68 min

11. The Ungodly Practice of Dating - Fathers Protect Your Daughters. -80 min

12. Children Touched By Christ - Do Not Hinder Them From His Touch. -50 min

A Puritan Catechism by Charles Spurgeon

"I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times, and therefore I have compiled this little manual from the Westminster Assembly's and Baptist Catechisms, for the use of my own church and congregation. Those who use it in their families or classes must labour to explain the sense; but the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be understood better as years pass. May the Lord bless my dear friends and their families evermore, is the prayer of their loving Pastor." C. H. Spurgeon

Questions and Answers (with proofs)

1. Q. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man's chief end is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31), and to enjoy him for ever (Ps. 73:25-26).

2. Q. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify him?

A. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (Eph. 2:20; 2 Tim. 3:16) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him (1 Jn. 1:3).

3. Q. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

A. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man (2 Tim. 1:13; Eccl. 12:13).

4. Q. What is God?

A. God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24), infinite (Job 11:7), eternal (Ps. 90:2; 1 Tim. 1:17), and unchangeable (Jas. 1:17) in his being (Exod. 3:14), wisdom, power (Ps. 147:5), holiness (Rev. 4:8), justice, goodness and truth (Exod. 34:6-7).

5. Q. Are there more Gods than one?

A. There is but one only (Deut. 6:4), the living and true God (Jer. 10:10).

6. Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

A. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory (1 Jn. 5:7; Matt. 28:19).

7. Q. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own will, whereby for his own glory he has foreordained whatever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11-12).

8. Q. How does God execute his decrees?

A. God executes his decrees in the works of creation (Rev. 4:11), and providence (Dan. 4:35).

9. Q. What is the work of creation?

A. The work of creation is God's making all things (Gen. 1:1) of nothing, by the Word of his power (Heb. 11:3), in six normal consecutive days (Exod. 20:11), and all very good (Gen. 1:31).

10. Q. How did God create man?

A. God created man, male and female, after his own image (Gen. 1:27), in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col 3:10; Eph. 4:24) with dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:28).

11. Q. What are God's works of providence?

A. God's works of providence are his most holy (Ps. 145:17), wise, (Isa. 28:29) and powerful (Heb. 1:3), preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions (Ps. 103:19; Matt. 10:29).

12. Q. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the state wherein he was created?

A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; (Gal. 3:12) forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. (Gen. 2:17)

13. Q. Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?

A. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against God, (Eccl. 7:29) by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6-8).

14. Q. What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God (1 Jn. 3:4).

15. Q. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12).

16. Q. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

A. The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery (Rom. 5:18).

17. Q. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell?

A. The sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin (Rom. 5:19), the want of original righteousness, (Rom. 3:10) and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin (Eph. 2:1; Ps. 51:5), together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it (Matt. 15:19).

18. Q. What is the misery of that state whereinto man fell?

A. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God (Gen. 3:8, 24), are under his wrath and curse (Eph. 2:3; Gal. 3:10), and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever (Rom. 6:23; Matt. 25:41).

19. Q. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?

A. God having, out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life (2 Thess. 2:13), did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer (Rom. 5:21).

20. Q. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5), who being the eternal Son of God, became man (Jn. 1:14), and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person for ever (1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9).

21. Q. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

A. Christ, the son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body (Heb. 2:14), and a reasonable soul (Matt. 26:38; Heb. 4:15), being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and born of her (Lk. 1:31, 35), yet without sin (Heb. 7:26).

22. Q. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet (Acts 3:22), of a priest (Heb. 5:6), and of a king (Ps. 2:6), both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.

23. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?

A. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us (Jn. 1:18), by his Word (Jn. 20:31), and Spirit (Jn. 14:26), the will of God for our salvation.

24. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice (Heb. 9:28), and to reconcile us to God (Heb. 2:17), and in making continual intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).

25. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a king?

A. Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, (Ps. 110:3) in ruling and defending us (Matt. 2:6; 1 Cor. 15:25), and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

26. Q. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

A. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition (Lk. 2:7), made under the law (Gal. 4:4), undergoing the miseries of this life (Isa. 53:3), the wrath of God (Matt. 27:46), and the cursed death of the cross; (Phil. 2:8) in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time (Matt. 12:40).

27. Q. Wherein consists Christ's exaltation?

A. Christ's exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4), in ascending up into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God the Father (Mk. 16:19), and in coming to judge the world at the last day (Acts 17:31).

28. Q. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us (Jn. 1:12) by his Holy Spirit. (Tit. 3:5-6)

29. Q. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us (Eph. 2:8), and by it uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17).

30. Q. What is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit (2 Tim. 1:9) whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery (Acts 2:37), enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ (Acts 26:18), and renewing our wills (Ezek. 36:26), he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel (Jn. 6:44-45).

31. Q. What benefits do they who are effectually called, partake of in this life?

A. They who are effectually called, do in this life partake of justification (Rom. 8:30), adoption (Eph. 1:5), sanctification, and the various benefits which in this life do either accompany, or flow from them (1 Cor. 1:30).

32. Q. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7), and accepts us as righteous in his sight (2 Cor. 5:21) only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:19), and received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).

33. Q. What is adoption?

A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace (1 Jn. 3:1), whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (Jn. 1:12; Rom. 8:17).

34. Q. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is the work of God's Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Eph. 4:24), and are enabled more and more to die to sin, and live to righteousness (Rom. 6:11).

35. Q. What are the benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification (Rom. 5:1-2, 5), are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), increase of grace, perseverance in it to the end (Prov. 4:18; 1 Jn. 5:13; 1 Pet. 1:5).

36. Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness (Heb. 12:23) and do immediately pass into glory, (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8; Lk. 23:43), and their bodies, being still united to Christ (1 Thess. 4:14), do rest in their graves (Isa. 57:2) till the resurrection (Job 19:26).

37. Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory (1 Cor. 15:43), shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment (Matt. 10:32), and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body in the full enjoying of God (1 Jn. 3:2) to all eternity (1 Thess. 4:17).

38. Q. What shall be done to the wicked at their death?

A. The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell (Lk. 16:22-24), and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection, and judgement of the great day (Ps. 49:14).

39. Q. What shall be done to the wicked at the day of judgment?

A. At the day of judgment the bodies of the wicked being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels for ever (Dan. 12:2; Jn. 5:28-29; 2 Thess. 1:9; Matt. 25:41).

40. Q. What did God reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

A. The rule which God first revealed to man for his obedience, is the moral law (Deut. 10:4; Matt. 19:17), which is summarised in the ten commandments.

41. Q. What is the sum of the ten commandments?

A. The sum of the ten commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40).

42. Q. Which is the first commandment?

A. The first commandment is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

43. Q. What is required in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment requires us to know (1 Chron. 28:9) and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God (Deut. 26:17), and to worship and glorify him accordingly (Matt. 4:10).

44. Q. Which is the second commandment?

A. The second commandment is, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

45. Q. What is required in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment requires the receiving, observing (Deut. 32:46; Matt. 28:20), and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in his Word (Deut. 12:32).

46. Q. What is forbidden in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, (Deut. 4:15-16) or any other way not appointed in his Word (Col. 2:18).

47. Q. Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain."

48. Q. What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God's names (Ps. 29:2), titles, attributes (Rev. 15:3-4), ordinances (Eccl. 5:1), Word (Ps. 138:2), and works (Job 36:24; Deut. 28:58-59).

49. Q. Which is the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor they cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

50. Q. What is required in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his Word, expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself (Lev. 19:30; Deut. 5:12).

51. Q. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Lev. 23:3), and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship (Ps. 92:1-2; Isa. 58:13-14), except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy (Matt. 12:11-12).

52. Q. Which is the fifth commandment?

A. The fifth commandment is, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

53. Q. What is required in the fifth commandment?

A. The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honour, and performing the duties belonging to every one in their various positions and relationships as superiors (Eph. 5:21-22; Eph. 6:1, 5; Rom. 13:1), inferiors (Eph. 6:9), or equals (Rom. 12:10).

54. Q. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity — as far as it shall serve for God's glory, and their own good — to all such as keep this commandment (Eph. 6:2-3).

55. Q. Which is the sixth commandment?

A. The sixth commandment is, "Thou shalt not kill."

56. Q. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?

A. The sixth commandment forbids the taking away of our own life (Acts 16:28), or the life of our neighbour unjustly (Gen. 9:6), or whatever tends to it (Prov. 24:11-12).

57. Q. Which is the seventh commandment?

A. The seventh commandment is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

58. Q. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?

A. The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts (Matt. 5:28; Col. 4:6), words (Eph. 5:4; 2 Tim. 2:22), and actions (Eph. 5:3).

59. Q. Which is the eighth commandment?

A. The eighth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal."

60. Q. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?

A. The eighth commandment forbids whatever does or may unjustly hinder our own (1 Tim. 5:8; Prov. 28:19; Prov. 21:6), or our neighbour's wealth, or outward estate (Eph. 4:28).

61. Q. Which is the ninth commandment?

A. The ninth commandment is, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

62. Q. What is required in the ninth commandment?

A. The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man (Zech. 8:16), and of our own (1 Pet. 3:16; Acts 25:10), and our neighbour's good name (3 Jn. 1:12), especially in witness-bearing (Prov. 14:5, 25).

63. Q. What is the tenth commandment?

A. The tenth commandment is, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, or his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's."

64. Q. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?

A. The tenth commandment forbids all discontentment with our own estate (1 Cor. 10:10), envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, (Gal. 5:26) and all inordinate emotions and affections to anything that is his (Col. 3:5).

65. Q. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?

A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in his life perfectly to keep the commandments of God (Eccl. 7:20), but does daily break them in thought, (Gen. 8:21) word (Jas. 3:8), and deed (Jas. 3:2).

66. Q. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?

A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of various aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others (Jn. 19:11; 1 Jn. 5:15).

67. Q. What does every sin deserve?

A. Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come (Eph. 5:6; Ps. 11:6).

68. Q. How may we escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?

A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:16), trusting alone to his blood and righteousness. This faith is attended by repentance for the past (Acts 20:21) and leads to holiness in the future.

69. Q. What is faith in Jesus Christ?

A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace (Heb. 10:39), whereby we receive (Jn. 1:12), and rest upon him alone for salvation (Phil. 3:9), as he is set forth in the gospel (Isa. 33:22).

70. Q. What is repentance to life?

A. Repentance to life is a saving grace (Acts 11:18), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sins (Acts 2:37), and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:13), does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it to God (Jer. 31:18-19), with full purpose to strive after new obedience (Ps. 119:59).

71. Q. What are the outward means whereby the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of Christ's redemption, are the Word, by which souls are begotten to spiritual life; Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Prayer, and Meditation, by all which believers are further edified in their most holy faith (Acts 2:41-42; Jas. 1:18).

72. Q. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?

A. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convicting and converting sinners, (Ps. 19:7) and of building them up in holiness and comfort (1 Thess. 1:6), through faith to salvation (Rom. 1:16).

73. Q. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?

A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence (Prov. 8:34), preparation (1 Pet. 2:1-2), and prayer (Ps 119:18), receive it with faith (Heb. 4:2), and love (2 Thess. 2:10), lay it up into our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and practise it in our lives (Jas. 1:25).

74. Q. How do Baptism and the Lord's Supper become spiritually helpful?

A. Baptism and the Lord's Supper become spiritually helpful, not from any virtue in them, or in him who does administer them (1 Cor. 3:7; 1 Pet. 3:21), but only by the blessing of Christ (1 Cor. 3:6), and the working of the Spirit in those who by faith receive them (1 Cor. 12:13).

75. Q. What is Baptism?

A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19), to be to the person baptised a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death, and burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12), of his being ingrafted into him (Gal. 3:27), of remission of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 22:16), and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5).

76. Q. To whom is Baptism to be administered?

A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Matt. 3:6; Mk. 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-37; Acts 10:47-48), and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.

77. Q. Are the infants of such as are professing to be baptised?

A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be baptised, because there is neither command nor example in the Holy Scriptures for their baptism (Exod. 23:13; Prov. 30:6).

78. Q. How is baptism rightly administered?

A. Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the person in water (Matt. 3:16; Jn. 3:23), in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's institution, and the practice of the apostles (Matt. 28:19-20), and not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the tradition of men (Jn. 4:1-2; Acts 8:38-39).

79. Q. What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized?

A. It is the duty of such as are rightly baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly Church of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47; 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5), that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. 1:6).

80. Q. What is the Lord's Supper?

A. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to his appointment, his death is shown forth (1 Cor. 11:23-26), and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace (1 Cor. 10:16).

81. Q. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?

A. It is required of them who would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body (1 Cor. 11:28-29), of their faith to feed upon him (2 Cor. 13:5), of their repentance (1 Cor. 11:31), love (1 Cor. 11:18-20), and new obedience, (1 Cor. 5:8) lest coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves (1 Cor. 11:27-29).

82. Q. What is meant by the words, "until he come," which are used by the apostle Paul in reference to the Lord's Supper?

A. They plainly teach us that our Lord Jesus Christ will come a second time; which is the joy and hope of all believers (Acts 1:11 1 Thess. 4:16).

Urgent Prayer Request-2 Members of Op513 Arrested

HT: Rob Hughes.

"This afternoon[Sun] I received a phone call from my good friend Josh Williamson. Josh is president of Operation 513 in Australia and heads up the Brisbane team. Yesterday two members of the Gold Coast team were arrested, handcuffed, and taken into custody. The charge? Preaching the gospel. They have been released but are expected in court in the coming weeks, the outcome of which could be that they will have to spend 6 months in jail. Of the two that were arrested one is a church Pastor and the other is a seminary student. Please pray for them during this difficult time and that God would strengthen them to endure. Pray too for their families. We do know that persecution is a very real reality for those who follow Christ (2 Timothy 3:12). Pray too that God would receive all the glory and that His will would be done."

True or False Prophets, Whom Do You Believe?-Kevin Williams

In this sermon we look at:
-How you know the Bible is God's Word as opposed to "just a book written by men"?
-How you know when a prophet is false.
-The evils of Paganism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
-The foolishness of humanism.
-How to be forgiven by God and be certain of everlasting life.
John 6:45-47 - True or False Prophets, Whom Do You Believe?-Kevin Williams - 35 min
Click on blue link to play or (Right-Click/Save-As to Download mp3).

Listen to this and other Middleton Puritan Fellowship sermons through i-tunes:

The Stranger - TV. The Devil Beamed Into Homes

(Listen To Tim Conway-
T.V. Hinders Kingdom Work - 17 Principles for T.V. & Your Children-Click to play)

The Stranger (Author Unknown)

A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. Mum taught me to love the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening.

If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it all. He knew about the past, understood the present, and seemingly could predict the future. The pictures he could draw were so life like that I would often laugh or cry as I watched.

He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill and me to our first football game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars.

The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn' t seem to mind-but sometimes Mum would quietly get up-- while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places-- go to her room, read her Bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.

You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt obligation to honour them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-- not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home - not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often.

He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (too much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes sugestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.

As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.

More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into my parents home today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?.....We always just called him...TV

Back in Stock: Charles Leiters 'Justification & Regeneration'

This book which I believe every Christian should read is now back in stock. If you buy only one book this year buy this one. Buy Now Online exclusively at Monergismbooks.com. Only $10.99. (to buy from this link benefits Heartcry Missionary Society).

The following is from the back of the book:

What does the Bible mean when it says that Christians have "died to sin"?
How is it possible for a just God to "justify the ungodly" without becoming "unjust" Himself?
What is regeneration?
What is justification?
Why do all men desperately need to be justified?
If I have died to sin, why am I still affected by it?
As a Christian, am I the "new man" or the "old man"--or both?
What does the Bible mean when it says that Christians have "died to the law"?
Are Christians still slaves to sin?

The answers to these and many other questions become clear once we gain a biblical understanding of justification and regeneration. These two great miracles lie at the very heart of the gospel, yet even among genuine Christians they are surrounded by confusion and ignorance. This book attempts to set forth in clear biblical light the nature and characteristics of justification and regeneration that God may be glorified and His children brought to know more fully the liberty that is theirs in Christ.

"I have read this book many times before its going to press. I have greatly benefited from its teaching and heartily recommend its contents. May the Spirit of God illuminate your heart and mind that you may not only understand the Scriptures explained herein, but that they might become a reality in your life."
-Paul David Washer, Director of HeartCry Missionary Society