THE APOSTLES' CREED (Part 9)
Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted
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-The reason we are doing this series about Truth for Life: The Creeds and Confessions of the Faith is so that we have summaries about what Scripture says about important matters of our beliefs. The reason that this is so needed today is because there are many claiming a Christianity that deviates from what has been believed over the past 2000 years. These false forms of Christianity offer a different God, a different Christ, and a different Holy Spirit. Many have fallen victim to their false teachings, and I want to make sure that we are not among them. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it so that we can live in the truth. These creeds and confessions offer a guard rail to keep us on track—so long as they themselves rightly teach what the Bible says.
-The Apostles’ Creed has taken up most of our time so far, because it is the most simple of the creeds and confessions, and gives us the very basics of what we believe. There is a whole lot more to our beliefs than what is given here, but you cannot believe any less and still be considered an orthodox, Bible-believing Christian. It reads:
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary;
Suffered under Pontius Pilate;
Was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
The holy catholic church;
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting.
Amen.
-The creed is split into three sections, one for each member of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity, while we know to be true from Scripture, is difficult to wrap our minds around—one Godhead, three persons. Each person of the Trinity shares in the same nature, essence, and character, and yet each is unique in their roles and relationship with one another.
-But something we might not also consider is how they all work together. We have a tendency to place at the feet of one member of the Trinity a certain role, not considering how the others were a part as well. And the creed might not help in the way things are divided. For example, it starts talking about God the Father being the Creator of Heaven and Earth. But Genesis 1 and Colossians 1 and John 1 tell us of how the Son and Spirit were also a part of creation. Or consider, Christ’s birth—it was God’s decree that the Son should become human. It was the Holy Spirit that conceived the child in Mary. And it is the Son of God who is born.
-We have been in the section about the Holy Spirit, and last week we spoke how the Holy Spirit birthed and formed the church of Christ—God’s assembly of believers throughout the ages. There again, they are God’s people through the work of Christ and Christ founded this church/assembly, but the Holy Spirit made it a reality.
-The rest of the works listed under the Holy Spirit was also a team effort, and we often do not associate these works with the Holy Spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit that make these works a reality in our lives. So, first, you see that the Creed says that we believe in the forgiveness of sins. This is the great need of humanity, and the entire Bible is about God’s great work of redeeming mankind, bringing them back to Himself. While humanity was created perfect, they willingly rebelled against God, which cursed and condemned the entire human race. And we see this born out throughout Scripture:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
-Sin condemns us, and we all have it. So, our greatest need is forgiveness—the lifting off of the burden of the penalty, power, and (eventually) presence of sin. This was not anything humanity could do for themselves. And we know the good news of this in the gospel that God the Father sent the Son who became human, died on the cross to pay the penalty, and was raised. We know that Jesus is the Savior. We know that all who believe in Him are saved. We understand God the Father’s role in making the plan, we know God the Son’s role in fulfilling the plan. What does this have to do with the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit makes the plan a reality in our life. The Holy Spirit applies salvation to all who believe. As David Garner summarized this great truth, he wrote:
Salvation is purposed by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit’s agency in salvation, all that Christ has accomplished brings no value to us. As Scripture uniformly presents, the Spirit graciously, effectively, and permanently gives us Christ Jesus and every blessing he has secured. Our salvation is in Christ alone. Our salvation is by his Spirit alone.
-He continues by noting:
Calvin affirms, the “Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself.”1 It must be so, for “as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us.”2 The Holy Spirit ministers across the ages—bringing Christ and his salvation to those living before and after his redemptive work.3 There is no salvation apart from the Father’s election and the Son’s humiliation and exaltation. True. Yet no one enjoys the benefits of Christ’s saving life, death, and resurrection apart from the Holy Spirit. He is the vital bonding Agent, the glue of the gospel, securing sinners immediately and permanently to Christ Jesus.
-The Holy Spirit convicts of sin:
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
-When someone then comes to faith, being convicted and believing in the Word / the gospel that is preached to them, the Holy Spirit then applies salvation through Christ based on that belief. The Word says that the Spirit applies our justification—that is, the Spirit gifts us with the righteousness of Christ which then gives us a right standing before the Father.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
-We are justified in the name, by the Spirit. But not only does the Spirit justify, He also sanctifies. What that means is that the new life in Christ is formed within us over time, in a process.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
-We live less for the world and flesh, and more for Christ in the Spirit. Paul describes this reality:
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
-It is the Holy Spirit the renews minds and put on the new self. We are told to walk in this way:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
-Robert Golloday explains the difference between justification and sanctification this way:
Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. II: The Apostles’ Creed Sanctification
Justification is an instantaneous act of God, the results of which, however, endure forever, unless one proves a traitor to God. Sanctification, on the contrary, is a life-long process. Justification is a declaration of God concerning man’s relationship to Him. Sanctification is a movement within man, prompted and furthered by the Holy Spirit, changing his character. Justification is based on what Christ has done for us. Sanctification is what Christ, through the Spirit, does in us.
-So, we believe in the forgiveness of sins, and that it is the Holy Spirit that applies that to us. God planned it, Jesus fulfilled it, the Holy Spirit applied it. But then what the rest of the Apostles’ Creed declares are the results from the forgiveness of sins—we believe in the resurrection from the dead and life everlasting. What Jesus accomplished and what the Spirit applies leads to having eternal life, and this includes our eventual resurrection from the dead.
-Those whose sins are forgiven through Christ will be physically resurrected from the dead just like He was. And the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead will do the same to our bodies at Christ’s return. Paul tells us:
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
-And we are told about this resurrection:
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
-This means that death does not have the final say—Christ defeated death, and all those who belong to Him will do the same, and they possess what we call eternal life. This includes the resurrection, but it means that style and quality of life that we have in Christ through the Spirit for all of eternity. We have true life because we have been united with the One who is life. And we live like it, although imperfectly. But it is the Holy Spirit who applies this life.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
-Jesus Himself said:
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
-Yes, eternal life means being with God forever—dwelling in His house for eternity. Being in the new heaven and new earth with a new body, completely free from sin. But eternal life is something we possess now, although in part. We have life because we are united to the One who is life.
-But that then means that those who are not united with Christ by grace through faith does not have forgiveness of sins which means that they will not be raised to eternal life. Rather, they will be raised unto eternal death—and, thus, why it is important to spread the good news of the gospel.
-The Spirit, while often relegated to the back seat, has a very important part in the salvation work of the Triune God, and we cannot isolate any of their work from one another. All we can do is praise God for what He has given us, and pray that others would receive it as well.