Sinclair Ferguson

And I remember thinking, that's quite clever.

And then thinking, but it's not clever enough.

But many Christians think that's what justification is, means your sins are forgiven.

And it does mean that.

But if that were all justification meant, then in a way you're back with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

It's as though God is giving you a second chance to keep what the Westminster Assembly calls the covenant of works.

You're on your own now.

And so I think it's so helpful that the Westminster Confession and the catechisms emphasize that, yes, on the one hand, it's the pardon of your sins, but it's also you are now accounted righteous in Christ for Christ's sake.

Yes, well, thank you for having me, Nathan.

And it is really, I mean, it's wonderful to be here in Malaysia and to meet brothers and sisters from what we call the Far East, but for them it's the center of the world.

A catechism is a way of instructing people

by using questions and answers.

And I think if you think about it, actually, we do that a lot in any case.

So when we are bringing up our children, we teach them by asking them questions and teaching them answers.

And in many cases, actually, it's really amazing how many mums and dads will teach their children by rote.

That is, they will

teach them to memorize things without actually thinking that that's what they're doing.

So I remember a friend of mine telling me it dawned on him one day what he was doing when he was teaching his little girl to say Mary had a little lamb.

The lamb was white as snow and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.

And he realized he was teaching her by a catechetical method.