Redeemer Youth

Austin Gravley

Wednesday Night teachings from Redeemer Youth, the youth ministry of Redeemer Christian Church in Amarillo, TX.

  1. May 7

    Since We Are Redeemed by Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, Where Does This Faith Come From? (Q35)

    Since We Are Redeemed by Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, Where Does This Faith Come From? All the gifts we receive from Christ we receive through the Holy Spirit, including faith itself.“If we believe the gospel, we should praise God for giving us the grace to believe it, for he is the only One who made the difference for us. Therefore, the Christian life must be marked by gratitude and humility. In and of ourselves, we are no better than our non-Christian neighbors. The only difference is that something (or, rather, someone) absolutely wonderful has come into our lives and changed everything.” - Mika EdmondsonRecommended Resources New City Catechism Commentary: “If salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—if we are saved and forgiven and accepted based not on our good works, not on our deserving, but on what Jesus has done for us—is there still a place for good works and obedience in the Christian life? The Bible gives an emphatic answer: yes.”Don’t Be Like Moses the Pragmatist (9Marks): “ In his worst moments, Moses was a pragmatist. He had a performance-based approach to the prophetic ministry. He assumed that it was up to the prophet to get the results. If people listened to him, then he was doing his job; if not, he should find some other line of work. This explains why Moses was always worrying about whether people would listen to him.”A Whole World Hangs on a Word (Desiring God): So when Paul says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you, it is the gift of God,” part of his meaning is that our faith is a gift of God. It is a divine creation. It is the work of grace when we were dead.

    18 min
  2. Apr 30

    Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God’s Word?

    Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God’s Word? Yes, because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, also renews us by his Spirit; so that our lives may show love and gratitude to God; so that we may be assured of our faith by the fruits; and so that by our godly behavior others may be won to Christ.“So, though we’re saved by grace, we’re saved to a life of joyful good works and obedience. Not to get God to love us, but because God does love us, and we want to be like his Son, who said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” - Ligon DuncanRecommended Resources: New City Catechism Commentary: “If salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—if we are saved and forgiven and accepted based not on our good works, not on our deserving, but on what Jesus has done for us—is there still a place for good works and obedience in the Christian life? The Bible gives an emphatic answer: yes.”Good Works and the Christian Life (Ligonier): “Obedience, however frail and feeble, is evidence of our love for Christ. Far from undermining the gospel of grace, good works are the perfect complement to the gospel.”The Gospel Is Good News Before It’s Good Advice (Christianity Today, gift link): “There is a risk, that is, in emphasizing the utility of Christianity. We might lose sight of a very simple truth about the Christian faith: The gospel is good news before it is good advice.”

    14 min
  3. Apr 30

    What do justification and sanctification mean? (NCC Q32)

    • What do justification and sanctification mean? Justification means our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us. • The Bible uses big words that are sometimes to understand, but when we understand the words the Bible uses to explain how God works in our lives, it helps us marvel at how good, gracious, and powerful our God is. Recommended Resources • New City Catechism Commentary: “The whole world gets it all backward. Other religions get it all backward, where our works and our efforts to overcome imperfections might make us pleasing to God. You never can get there that way. God reckons us as acceptable, makes us his children, counts us as righteous; and because of that righteousness we then spend a lifetime becoming what we already are.” • What Is the Difference between Justification and Sanctification? (The Gospel Coalition): “Justification happens outside of you, you are declared righteous. Sanctification happens inside of you, you are made righteous.” • What role does sanctification play in salvation? (9Marks): The experience of salvation begins with regeneration and justification, continues with sanctification, and is fulfilled in glorification. All who are regenerated and justified are being sanctified. All who are being sanctified will eventually be glorified.

    21 min
  4. Apr 9

    What Do We Believe by True Faith?

    ● 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. Recommended Resources New City Catechism Commentary: “The only thing I can contribute to my salvation is my own sinful nature. It’s about coming to God with an awareness of our humble need—coming in faith, repenting of my sins, and laying out before God my sense that I need him. That’s the beginning of salvation.” There is No Faith So Little That it Is Not Saving (The Gospel Coalition): “There is no faith so little that it can’t be saving. Faith does not have to be strong to be saving, it just has to be real. The smallest faith, if it is real, receives the same strength of Christ in salvation as the strongest faith.” What Saving Faith Sees in Christ (DesiringGod): “Saving faith glorifies Christ by looking away from self to Christ alone — to his all-sufficiency, including his blood and righteousness, without which we could have no right standing with God. To which I say, with all my heart, Amen! Let us be willing to die for this. As many have.”

    18 min
  5. Apr 2

    What is Faith in Jesus Christ? (NCC Q30)

    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.It is not the strength of our faith that saves us; it is the object of our faith that saves us. We do not put our confidence in how strong or smart our faith is, but on what Jesus has done for us by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.Recommended Resources New City Catechism Commentary: “The only thing I can contribute to my salvation is my own sinful nature. It’s about coming to God with an awareness of our humble need—coming in faith, repenting of my sins, and laying out before God my sense that I need him. That’s the beginning of salvation.”There is No Faith So Little That it Is Not Saving (The Gospel Coalition): “There is no faith so little that it can’t be saving. Faith does not have to be strong to be saving, it just has to be real. The smallest faith, if it is real, receives the same strength of Christ in salvation as the strongest faith.”What Saving Faith Sees in Christ (DesiringGod): “Saving faith glorifies Christ by looking away from self to Christ alone — to his all-sufficiency, including his blood and righteousness, without which we could have no right standing with God. To which I say, with all my heart, Amen! Let us be willing to die for this. As many have.”

    24 min
  6. Mar 26

    How Can We Be Saved? (NCC Q29)

    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 righteous- ness of Christ when we repent and believe in him.“My hope does not live because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, he is my righteousness. My faith does not rest upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is now doing for me.” - Charles SpurgeonRecommended Resources New City Catechism Commentary: “My hope does not live because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, he is my righteousness. My faith does not rest upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is now doing for me.”Dressed in His Righteousness Alone (Desiring God): “In justification, Christ’s righteousness does not become ours as some sort of personal possession. It is counted or reckoned as ours. Why? Because we do not perform the acts of justifying righteousness. Christ, as our substitute, lived the perfect life we couldn’t and died the death we deserved. The righteousness of Christ must therefore primarily and exclusively belong to him.”The Greatest Issue We Face (Ligonier): “How can an unforgiven person become forgiven? How can an unjust person be justified or be considered just in the sight of God? There are not many issues in theology more serious than that.”

    23 min
  7. Mar 13

    What Happens After Death to Those Not United to Christ by Faith? (NCC Q28)

    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.“The real issue is not how a loving God would allow there to be a hell. The issue is, if Jesus Christ would experience hell for me, then, truly, he must be a loving God. It’s not “Why would God allow hell?” It’s “Why would God experience hell for me?” And yet he did.” - John LinRecommended Resources The New City Catechism Commentary: “The real issue is not how a loving God would allow there to be a hell. The issue is, if Jesus Christ would experience hell for me, then, truly, he must be a loving God. It’s not “Why would God allow hell?” It’s “Why would God experience hell for me?” And yet he did.” - John Lin5 Things You Should Know About Hell (Ligonier): "...the Bible’s many descriptions of hell are intended to magnify the grace of Christ who has saved us from it, and to fuel a zeal in us to warn others to flee from the pains of hell by turning to Christ in true faith and repentance."The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else (The Gospel Coalition): "Some months ago, R. C. Sproul was asked which doctrine he struggles with most. He replied: 'Hell.' It’s comforting to know a theological giant like Sproul still wrestles with something I’ve struggled with my whole Christian life."Will Hell Really Last Forever? (Desiring God): "Christ Jesus our Savior is worthy of eternal praise because he endured, for us, the righteous judgment that would have been ours for eternity."

    20 min
  8. Mar 6

    Are All People, Just as They Were Lost Through Adam, Saved Through Christ? (NCC Q27)

    Guest teacher: Marc Arteus 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.If anything is good, it comes from God. From eternal goods, namely faith and salvation in Jesus Christ, to earthly goods like human art, science, government, and wisdom, there is nothing good that we have that we can say we produced ourselves. It all comes from God because God is gracious.Additional Resources: The New City Catechism Commentary: "Though not all people are going to be saved, God still gives his gifts of wisdom and insight across the face of the whole human race. Through art and through science and through good government and in other ways, God is making this world a far better place than it would be if only Christians had those gifts.Common Grace Is Special Too (The Gospel Coalition): "The twin realities of common and saving grace share a dynamic relationship. For the believer, the joy we experience in common with the lost during a feast gives way to fullness of joy when that earthly meal redirects our hearts to the salvation feast believers share in Christ."Providence And Common Grace (Ligonier): "That human beings made in His image ignore and reject Him even after being shown common grace shows us just how desperate our condition is apart from His special grace."Four Biblical Foundations for Contextualization (9Marks): "Contextualization is both unavoidable and good. The gospel can―and should―be at home in every culture. We must identify with those we are trying to reach and adapt to their culture, no matter what discomfort it causes us. However, the gospel also challenges and condemns every culture at some points (including our own). "

    22 min

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Wednesday Night teachings from Redeemer Youth, the youth ministry of Redeemer Christian Church in Amarillo, TX.