Confessional Moments

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...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.2 “Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly: yet, by the same providence, He ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.”   In this episode of Confessional Moments, Pastor Tim explores the rich and assuring do...

Westminster Confession of Faith 5.1 — Of Providence “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodne...

Westminster Confession of Faith 4.2  “After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it; and yet, under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was s...

“It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.” (Westminster Confession of Faith 4.1) In this episode of Confessional Moments, Pastor Tim opens WCF 4.1 and expl...

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.8 “The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men, attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of Go...

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.7 “The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as He pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice.”   Episode Summary In this episode of Confessi...

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.6 “As for those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in eith...