​ Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel John 1:9-13 - The TRUE Light John 3:31-36 - Wrath Removed 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up! 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9- our assurance Isaiah 57:14-21 - God's Second Residence 2 Peter 1:3-10 - Make Every Effort Isaiah 42:1-9

​ Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel John 1:9-13 - The TRUE Light John 3:31-36 - Wrath Removed 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up! 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9- our assurance Isaiah 57:14-21 - God's Second Residence 2 Peter 1:3-10 - Make Every Effort Isaiah 42:1-9

they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9  ​ Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel John 1:9-13 - The TRUE Light John 3:31-36 - Wrath Removed 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up! 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9-

True Sabbath rest comes by trusting the alive & active Word of God. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 103 Q. What is God’s will for you in the fourth commandment? A. First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I regularly attend the assembly of God’s people to learn what God’s Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor. Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath. Summary In many ways, one of the greatest tragedies of Adam's fall into sin is that we've lost our ability to enjoy the true Sabbath rest with our Father that we were created for. The Bible, from the end of Genesis 3 onward, is the story of God slowly bringing His people back into this relationship. Nobody came closer to seeing this goal accomplished than did the Israelites who had been freed from their bondage in Egypt. God spoke directly to them from the mountain, but yet they ran away from His voice and sent Moses up to represent them. God came down and tabernacled amongst them, yet they continued to complain and rebel against Him. Their ongoing obstinance caused them to miss what God was bringing them towards: Sabbath rest in the Promised Land. Instead, God left them in perpetual labor: always wandering, yet never arriving anywhere. Although subsequent generations of Israelites ultimately made it to the Promised Land, their ability to enjoy Sabbath rest was thwarted by their inability to fully trust and obey their Father. But there's still hope. We read here that a true "Sabbath-rest for the people of God" remains. This hope becomes reality when you lay down your 'work' - your frenzied efforts to attain everything yourself - and begin to rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ, who like His Father before Him on the seventh day of creation, has rested from His labor. Dig Deeper The final two verses of this passage, which describe Scripture as being a double edged sword, are quite familiar and are often read on their own, somewhat detached from their context (we also read them earlier this year). But notice today that this double edged sword is the means by which you can enter this promised rest. This is why every Lord's Day, when the saints gather together for a small foretaste of the true Sabbath rest that Christ attained for us, we spend so much time reading, singing, praying and studying the living and active Word of God. Even though it's not always soothing as "it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges our thoughts and attitudes of our hearts," the Holy Spirit is using it to give us the immediate rest we need each week, and ultimately to bring us into God's eternal Sabbath rest. So "make every effort to enter that rest." Continue reading scripture every day and gathering with the Saints on the Lord's Day as often as possible. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is working all things out in order to restore your true Sabbath rest in Him; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that gathering with the saints to experience God's Word will be a top priority in your life; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 2 Timothy 4

who live within the proper context - a formally recognized, monogamous relationship between a man and woman Verse 9 makes marriage seem like it's merely an institution for those who lack sexual self control, as

spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman And he comforted him, promising to give him his Son, “born of a woman,” to crush the head of the serpent And so it is that our Savior, God's Son, needed to be "born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem Jesus was made like us in every way, but since He was born of a woman, yet had no earthly father - no Today: Romans 9

You'll never understand how clean you've been made till you understand how filthy you were! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 73 Q. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins? A. God has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ wash away our sins just as water washes away dirt from our bodies. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that the washing away of our sins spiritually is as real as physical washing with water Summary Once again we're reminded as we read God's Word that sin is a serious problem. Far from being little indiscretions that the kindly 'Old Man in the sky' sort of snickers at, and much more impactful than just keeping us from living our best life now, we read that those who are unrighteous (wrongdoers) will not inherit the kingdom of God (v9)! Paul defines what it means to be unrighteous using what's often been called a 'vice list' - that is, a list of significant sins that often show up in Paul's letters. Understand that this isn't a comprehensive list, meaning that these nine sins are not the only nine sins possible. They're just a representation of the whole. Paul uses these vice lists to shine the light on the filth of humanity. But the primary purpose of this passage isn't to warn you of the massive danger of unrepentant sin (although it does), rather Paul's point here is no matter how filthy these sins have made you in the past, you've now been washed, sanctified and made righteous. (v11). Dig Deeper Most of us experience baptism in the context of a newborn baby being brought forward by her parents. The baby is soft & cuddly, beautifully dressed and in the arms of her proud parents. Often the grandparents look on with big smiles on their faces. It truly is a time of celebration as a new covenant child is welcomed into the congregation. We'll dig deeper into why it is that we baptize the children of believers in our Reformed churches later this week, but one of the big difficulties that we must work past in bringing babies to be baptized is that they don't look anything at all like the type of sinners Paul described at the beginning to today's passage. But even though they've not yet committed the gross sins in Paul's vice lists, they are completely covered in the filth of sin. When you fail to realize just how sinfully filthy you are from the moment of your conception, you fail to realize how dire your circumstances are apart from Christ, and how disgusting it is for your Father when you take what the Holy Spirit has washed clean and make yourself filthy all over again. If you've been baptized, thank God that He, through Christ, has washed you clean in the same way water removes filth. If you've not been baptized, what are you waiting for? Reach out to your elders or pastor so you can experience first hand the tangible reminder of how you've been washed in the blood of Christ (plus, God's commanded you to do so!). AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our holy and righteous Father, who will not bestow His Kingdom on those who remain in the filth of their sins; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that you've been washed clean by Christ, and pray that temptations are kept far from you so that you don't fall into the filth again. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 5

the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9   4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up! 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9- (Rom. 9:20), and with the words of our Savior, “Have I no right to do what I want with my own?”

8  By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9   ​ Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel John 1:9-13 - The TRUE Light John 3:31-36 - Wrath Removed 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Authority & Presence Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith John 10:22-30 - Listen Up! 14 - Christmas in March Galatians 4:1-7 - From Slave to Son Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality 1 Peter 2:9-

Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 94 Q. What does the Lord require in the first commandment? A. Who are you, a mere man, Paul writes in Romans 9 , to talk back to God?