Confessional Moments

Westminster Confession of Faith 9.1 “God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good or evil.” In this episode of Confessional Moments, we begin Chapter 9 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, turning our attention to the doctrine of free will. The divines carefully establish that man is not a pupp...

Westminster Confession of Faith 8.8 “To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, He doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them; and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey; and governing their hearts by His Word and Spirit; overcoming all their ene...

Westminster Confession of Faith 8.7 “Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures; by each nature doing that which is proper to itself: yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.” In this episode of Confessional Moments, we turn to Westminster Confession of Fa...

Westminster Confession of Faith 8.6 “Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively, from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein He was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should...

Westminster Confession of Faith 8.5  “The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.” In this episode of Confessional Mome...

Confessional Moments – Westminster Confession of Faith 8.4 (Part 2) The Living Mediator, Our Certain Hope Westminster Confession of Faith 8.4 (Portion Covered) “On the third day He arose from the dead, with the same body in which He suffered; with which also He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of His Father, making intercession; and shall return, to judge men and angels, a...

Confessional Moments – Westminster Confession of Faith 8.4 (Part 1) A Willing Mediator, A Finished Obedience In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 8.4 (Part 1), which sets before us the willing obedience of Christ—His deliberate undertaking of the office of Mediator and His finished work under the law on behalf of sinners. This paragraph draws our atte...

Confessional Moments – Westminster Confession of Faith 8.3 Set Apart and Anointed Was Christ merely willing to save—or was He deliberately appointed and perfectly equipped to be the Mediator of sinners? In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 8.3, which teaches that the Lord Jesus was sanctified and set apart by the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spi...

Christ the Mediator: Very God and Very Man Salvation requires a Mediator who truly belongs to God and truly belongs to us. In this episode of Confessional Moments, we turn to Westminster Confession of Faith 8.2, where the Confession carefully sets forth the person of Jesus Christ as the only Mediator between God and man. Here we are taught not merely what Christ does for sinners, but who He must b...

Christ the Mediator Salvation does not rest on human effort, but on divine appointment. In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 8.1, which sets before us the glory of Christ the Mediator, appointed by God in His eternal purpose to stand between God and man. Before considering how salvation is applied to sinners, the Confession directs our attention to wh...

One Covenant, Many Administrations Did God save people differently in the Old Testament than He does today? In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 7.5–7.6, which teaches that there is one covenant of grace, administered differently across redemptive history—but always centered on Christ. Under the law, the covenant of grace was administered through prom...

Grace Promised, Grace Purchased After the fall, man was not merely weakened—he was rendered incapable of life by the covenant of works. In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 7.3 and 7.4, where the Confession introduces the Covenant of Grace and explains the only reason it can stand. Together, these paragraphs teach how God graciously responds to man’s...

Life Promised, Life Lost, Life Fulfilled Before grace was ever needed, God entered into a covenant with man. In this episode of Confessional Moments, we examine Westminster Confession of Faith 7.2, which teaches that the first covenant made with humanity was a covenant of works—a covenant in which life was promised to Adam upon the condition of perfect and personal obedience. Guided by Scripture a...

The Distance God Crossed In this episode of Confessional Moments, we begin Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 7 by addressing a foundational truth that shapes all covenant theology: God has no equal, and yet He chooses to draw near to man by covenant. WCF 7.1 teaches that although man owes perfect obedience to God as Creator, obedience alone never entitled Adam to God as his blessedness and r...

The Guilt of Sin and the Wrath We Deserved Episode Summary In this episode of Confessional Moments, we turn to Westminster Confession of Faith 6.6, where the Confession speaks soberly and honestly about the nature and consequences of sin. Every sin—original and actual—brings guilt, places the sinner under God’s righteous wrath, and subjects humanity to death and misery. This paragraph confronts mo...

Confessional Moments – WCF 6.5 | Sin Still Dwells Within Us “This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be, through Christ, pardoned and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.” — Westminster Confession of Faith 6.5 Though believers are regenerated and fully forgiven in Christ, sin has not yet...

Westminster Confession of Faith 6.4 “From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.” Why do sins arise so naturally—even after we know better? In this episode of Confessional Moments, we consider WCF 6.4, which explains the biblical relationship between humanity’s fall...

Guilt Imputed, Corruption Inherited In this episode of Confessional Moments, we continue our study of Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6, paragraph 3. This paragraph explains how the guilt of Adam’s first sin is imputed to all his descendants and how the same corrupted nature and spiritual death are conveyed to them by ordinary generation. Drawing from Romans 5, we consider why Adam stood...

Westminster Confession of Faith 6.2 “By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.”   In this episode of Confessional Moments, we continue our study of Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6, paragraph 2. This paragraph explains the immediate consequences of the fall...

Westminster Confession of Faith 6.1 “Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.” What does it mean to say that “it pleased God to permit the fall”? Did sin catch God by surprise? Does God’s sovereignt...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.7 “As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it taketh care of His church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.” In this episode of Confessional Moments, Pastor Tim concludes Chapter 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith by exploring the deeply comforting doctrine of God’s covenantal providence...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.6 As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins doth blind and harden; from them He not only withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption m...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.5 “The most wise, righteous, and gracious God often leaves his own children, for a time, to manifold temptations and to the corruption of their own hearts. He does this to chastise them for their past sins, to humble them by making them aware of the hidden strength of the corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, and then to raise them to a closer, more consta...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.4   “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God manifest themselves so completely in his providence that it extends even to the first fall and all other sins of angels and men—not by a bare permission, but by a permission which has joined with it a most wise and powerful limiting, and otherwise ordering and governing of them in a varied...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.3 “God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them at his pleasure.”   In this episode of Confessional Moments, Pastor Tim walks through WCF 5.3 and explores the magnificent truth that God most often carries out His providence through ordinary means—the everyday structures of life and especially the ordina...