31

What do we believe by true faith?
Everything taught to us in the gospel. The Apostles’ Creed expresses what we believe in these words: We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. We 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. (Jude 1:3) (from here)

Thank you, Lord, for the things we know to be true. Thank you for speaking to us and letting us know your thoughts and the sort of God you are - a little similar, but so very different to human-made gods. Thank you for the things you have done in the world before the eyes of all, and for the things you promise to do.

Lord, sometimes I grow weary of the Apostle's Creed and its truths seem faded. Forgive me. Help me thrill at the profundity and surity of these words and at the privilege of being part of this great family stretching out across countries and years, together affirming the very same things.

Praise you for who you are, Father, Son and Spirit! Praise you for what you have done on this earth - on that hill! Praise you for the coming consummation of all! Now I know what it is to live. I am to live under you. It has been your pleasure to save me and have me repeat these words with all my heart and mind. And I thank you for it.

30

What is faith in Jesus Christ?
Faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledging the truth of everything that God has revealed in his Word, trusting in him, and also receiving and resting on him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. (Galatians 2:20) (from here)

Thank you for giving me faith, Lord. So many times I see intelligent people completely misunderstanding the cross, returning to that old idea of good behaviour. Sometimes they get it - and nothing changes, it has zero effect on their lives. Thank you for lifting the veil from my eyes and heart so I recognised the truth of what was said and was willing to bank my life on it. You gave me the gift and you opened my hands to receive it. My life would be other had you not stepped in - my death too.

Thank you for your mercy. Thank you that the security of my faith is my trust in him, no matter how fervant or faltering that trust might be. Yet please help it grow strong as I know him more. Give me this too. The gift, the open hands, the eager embrace.

29

How can we be saved?
Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross; so even though we are guilty of having disobeyed God and are still inclined to all evil, nevertheless, God, without any merit of our own but only by pure grace, imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him. (Ephesians 2:8-9) (from here)

I never got to this point. I think I simply saw that you were Lord and began to follow you, learning more of you and your ways as I went along. I never asked this question - I was absolutely looking for help, but help in earthly things, never help in the face of death.

But I shudder at the thought of not being saved - that that's what I once was, that it's what my friends are. I see the awful danger of it. I see the futility of trying to right things ourselves and I see that our only hope is to humble ourselves and throw ourselves on your mercy. That it is every bit a saving or a rescue as when someone's drowing in the shallows or on an organ waiting list or in the darkness of a paedophile's brothel.

How then can we be saved? By jumping into your arms. By believing that you will catch us. By believing that you can catch us.

You are better than a lifeguard, better than an organ donor, than a policeman, than an ordinary citizen picking through rubble in the hope of hearing someone's voice or a boyfriend lying in front of his girl so his body might take the bullets meant for her. These beautiful deeds are but pale shadows of you. You saved us from horror when there was no injustice in it. You secured heaven for us for all eternity and in the face of all threat. And you did it at such cost.

Thank you that when we ask about salvation, there is something to be said.

28

What happens after death to those not united to Christ by faith?
At the day of judgment they will receive the fearful but just sentence of condemnation pronounced against them. They will be cast out from the favorable presence of God, into hell, to be justly and grievously punished, forever. (John 3:16-18 & 36) (from here)

Lord Jesus, I want to tell you that I hate hell. I want to make you understand how deeply it troubles me. But you don't like it any more than I do.

I want to somehow convince you that it's unnecessary or unjust or could be avoided, that ridding us of it would be better for your image or make you a better God. I speak as if you were untroubled by its existence; as if you had not shown yourself to be perfectly good and loving; as if you were so cruel or uncaring as to allow it when other, better options were at hand. You are not that god.

I should rather believe you. That hell is real and eternal and terrible. That it is just - because it is what people want, and because it is what we deserve. That in its justice it is loving and dignifying - because it shows that what we do with our lives matters, and that the evil we do to others and they to us does not go unnoticed.

I cannot say why evil stepped into this world, why an angel became the proud, murderous, lying, crafty Accuser. It is better that I cannot say, for I would not wish there to be a reason. Yet still I cannot understand why you would have it so. But I see that it is bad and I see that there needs to be justice and I - mostly - believe you when you say that hell is just.

Father, as always, in the things I do not - and cannot - understand, and in the times when I rock on the edge of accusing you (following my former master), I come back to the cross. There I see that you suffered hell so that we might not have to. There I see that in your justice you were all love. There I see every person invited and beseeched to throw themselves upon your mercy.

Lord, teach me how to talk about this with my friends. Stir my heart to pray for them. Give me at once a dreadful urgency and a sure trust and joy in you. Make me more like your beloved Son.

27

Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?
No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being. (Romans 5:17) (from here)

This is the part I hate of my faith, though I see it is just and fair. Yet I do not understand why, being merciful, you would not extend that mercy to all instead of only some. That is how I would do it. But, Lord, I am nothing. I know nothing. My thinking and feeling is eaten up by sin. Who am I to judge or seek your place? I am not and I do not. Knowing what you did for me and countless others - and greater and better still, for your own glory - I cannot help but declare your goodness and put my trust in you.

Forgive me, Lord, when my doubting and accusing verge on blasphemy. Have me know my place. Have me bow before you and trust you, in part from fear, but much more with happy rejoicing.

And while I don't know if in the end you will save any or all of my friends and family who are now far from you, yet I thank you for them. Thank you for their loyalty and their care, for the many ways they are a blessing to me. Thank you that you stop us from being what we might, from cruelty and violence, betrayal and anarchy, for we are each capable of all that. Thank you for the dignity and intelligence and creativity and good we keep. Help me ever appreciate and respect my friends and society, even as I seek their salvation. Help them see that this is so and wonder at it despite themselves. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

26

What else does Christ's death redeem?
Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as he powerfully directs all things for his own glory and creation’s good. (Colossians 1:19-20) (from here)

One day, living here in Chile, I will experience an earthquake - it's just about given. My building sways with the passing traffic and gentle tremors don't bother me, but I dread the big ones and I dread that earthquake even more. In Australia, my parents' house backs onto bush and, living there, bushfires are always a possible threat. But I am rich - the fire service puts out the fires on my parents' hill, and here my building is sturdy and withstood the last earthquake. I don't know what it is to live in places where broken nature might kill you.

It's even more than this - we live with smog and weariness and disease and ground that produces little. Even without your revelation, we might think the physical world cursed. Our world and our bodies are no longer our friend, though they keep much of their magnificent beauty. It's the stuff of a dark fairytale, but it is our reality. Somehow this was the fitting punishment for the darkness that we welcomed into our hearts. Ruined, deeply evil humanity could no longer live in a glad, whole land. And the land cries and we join it.

And it rejoices at the name of Jesus and it longs for the consummation of all he wrought on the cross.

Thank you God that one day all will be well, that life will be much like the life we know, but utterly changed. We will step into a strangely familiar yet wholly foreign place, in bodies we know and do not know, and feel more at home there than we ever imagined. Thank you that on the cross you fixed everything. Thank you for your love wrought in justice. Thank you and thank you. A million times thank you.

25

Does Christ's death mean all our sins can be forgiven?
Yes, because Christ’s death on the cross fully paid the penalty for our sin, God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us as if it were our own and will remember our sins no more. 
(2 Corinthians 5:21) (from here)

Maybe I'm going to do something terrible, or in anger, say something destructively cruel. Maybe my heart will soften and I will be horrified at my ordinary wrongs. Whatever it is, you received its exact punishment on the cross. That time when I thought that my negligence might have played a part in someone's death, and saw that with my confession, I might lose all, I remembered the murderer Moses, that there was forgiveness even for that and a place for him. Help me to appreciate how this is amazing. Help me praise you for your justice and for the completeness of your generous love. In my security, let me marvel and exclaim that I am secure.

Thank you that you came to earth to be punished for every last piece of evil, becoming all the wicked things though you were pure. And now you are raised up and I bow before you, smiling with relief and joy, my Lord and my King.

24

Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die?
Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. (Colossians 1:21-22) (from here)

I am here, as I now am, with all the hopes and promises I hold dear, with you at my side, with sorrow and comfort in sin - all because of you. I don't know how bad the things are that I have done and thought and felt and willed, but I know they're bad. You saved me from hell. You took the punishment that was coming to me and now there is none leftover for me. I don't have to spend a day or a minute there, for I died and was raised with you.

Without you, I would be going to hell for all eternity, though it costs me to say. Now I am safe and at home. Without you, that punishment would be deserved, though I struggle to see it. Now I am safe in your nail-pierced hands.

I tried to take your place. I walked up to you, the Maker and Lord of all, and spat in your face. Or I walked up to you and, failing to even acknowledge you, gazed over your shoulder. Then I started running things my way, as if it were my right. I know I only see the smallest part of how ugly and wrong that was. But you saw the abyss waiting for me and saw that I could not - nor wished to - step aside. So, taking on the disguise of a punk or an indifferent, you jumped in to suffer an eternity of pain - the punishment of many, including me. And now there is none leftover for me. Because of you, I am safe and free.