Series Theme
This series of sermon follow the articles of the Belgic Confession to present an bird’s eye view of the main doctrines of the Bible.
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
Psalm 103 (NIV84)
1Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
3who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
4who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
5who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
7He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
8The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
17But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
19The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
20Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
21Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
22Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Text : Romans 4:9–11 (NIV84)
9Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
10Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!
11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
BELGIC CONFESSION: Article 33 The Sacraments
We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, had ordained sacraments for us to seal His promises in us, to pledge His good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith.
He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what He enables us to understand by His Word and what He does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation He imparts to us.
For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing.
Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.
