Our Only Redeemer - NCC 20
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In our study of the 52 questions and answers within the New City Catechism we have learn about God and His creation, and the fall of humanity along with God’s law that followed.
As we looked at the law and it’s purpose, we learned:
Question 7
What does the law of God require?
That we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves.
But the reality is that no one, since the fall has been able to keep the law perfectly. Which brought us to:
Question 15
Since no one can keep the law, what is its purpose?
That we may know the holy nature of God, and the sinful nature of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
In sin, our hearts are bent toward worshipping created things rather than the Creator. Which brings the question:
Question 18
Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
No, God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them both in this life, and in the life to come.
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
So, humanities end doesn’t look good. We are born in sin and will by punished in our sin. But there is hope...
Question 19
Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
Yes, God reconciles us to himself by a Redeemer.
Redeemer (Lexham Press) One who pays a price on behalf of an impoverished relative, in order to effect the release of the relative or his/her property (Lev 25:25–54). The New Testament uses this term in reference to Jesus, whose death comes to represent both payment for sin and freedom for the believer.
Question 20
Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only One who is capable of representing both payment for our sin and freedom for the believer is Jesus.
Scripture is clear, it is only through Jesus we may be Redeemed.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
As Peter addressed the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Further, we find Paul addressing corporate prayer and the importance of praying for all people.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
vv. 3, 4 - This evangelistic prayer for all people is good being rooted in the fact that God desires all people to be saved.
v. 4 - the knowledge of the truth - highlights the cognitive aspect of conversion, in that individuals must come to understand key truths in order to be converted. “The truth” occurs often in the Pastoral epistles as a synonym for the gospel
v. 5 - the exclusive nature of Paul’s point. There is only one who can mediate between the holy and the unholy - there is only one worthy to redeem - only One who can reconcile the seemingly unreconcilable - IT’S JESUS!
v. 6 - This Jesus wasn’t killed outside of His will - He gave himself as ransom - as the purchase price for the release of those who would repent and believe.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
The exclusivity of Jesus as Redeemer:
1. Is Grounded in the Bible
It’s not our idea - this was God’s plan from before the foundations of the world (1 Peter 1:20)
Therefore, it can be trusted
2. Is to be rejoiced over
20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
3. Should be shared through our life and our words
Privately be praying for the lost
Publicly be sensitive to the Lord’s leading to share the Gospel