In God's School. Pierre Ch. Marcel
the gifts He offers. . . .
General Introduction
Lesson 1
The Highest Goal and Greatest Happiness of Human Life
SUMMARY: The chief goal of human life and its greatest happiness is to know God our Father, and Jesus Christ, our faithful Savior.
In order to honor God appropriately, and to profit from all his mercies, I must know how great my sin and misery are, how I may be delivered from them, how I may trust in God and in my Savior Jesus Christ, and express all my gratitude to Him.
Bible readings for the week: Monday, Question 3: 1, (2), 3, (4). Tuesday, Question 4: (1), 2, 3. Wednesday, Question 4: 4, 5. Thursday, Question 4: 6. Friday, Question 5: (1), 2, (3), 4. Saturday, Question 5: (5), 6, (7), (8), 9.
1. What is the highest goal of human life?
To know God. God has created us and placed us in the world in order to glorify himself in us. It is therefore very reasonable, since He is the Author and Source of our life, that we return our life, all of it, to his glory.
Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23–24
2. What is the supreme happiness of men?
To know God. Jesus affirmed this when he said: “This is life eternal that they know Thee, the only true God, and the one whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). This is our happiness because God is also our glory.
Preserve me O God, because I take refuge in Thee. I said to the Lord, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good besides Thee.” Psalm 16:1–2
3. What comfort does this knowledge provide you?
My only comfort is to know that, both in life and in death, my body and soul are not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. By his sacrifice on the cross, he has accomplished everything necessary that God not hold against me the great guilt of my sins, and he has delivered me from all the power of Satan.
Today he protects me so well, that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my heavenly Father. Thanks to him, all things must work together for my salvation (Matthew 10:29–30; Romans 8:28).
Therefore God gives me by his Holy Spirit the assurance of eternal life, and makes me live henceforth for Him, loving Him with all my heart.
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Romans 14:7–9
Bible readings:
1. God is my shepherd: Psalm 23.
2. God is my rest and my peace: Psalm 62:2–3, 6–13.
3. God is my joy: Isaiah 61:1–3, 10–11.
4. I can love God as a Father: Romans 8:14–17.
4. Do we not see by this that there can be no greater misfortune than to live separate from God and from our Savior Jesus Christ, and not to learn the knowledge of them?
Yes, because it does not profit a man anything to gain the whole world and to lose his soul (cf. Matthew 16:26).
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and we know that you are the holy one of God.” John 6:68–69
Bible readings:
1. Martha and Mary: Luke 10:38–42.
2. The misfortune of those who do not know God: Psalm 53:1–6.
3. Neither truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God: Hosea 4:1–10.
4. Unhappiness and happiness: Jeremiah 17:5–8.
5. It is always the same in this earthly life, everything is colorless and tiresome; everything begins again for the one who does not have a Savior: Ecclesiastes 1:3–11. Neither work (1:12–15), nor knowledge (1:16–18), neither pleasure nor leisure (2:1–2), neither the raucous fling nor folly (2:3), nor philosophy (2:12–16), nothing can satisfy the melancholy or the homesickness of him who has no Savior.
6. The absence of a Savior in our life leads to hatred of life (Ecclesiastes 2:17–19), to inconsolable despair (2:20–23), to fatalism (3:14–15), to complete scorn of the human condition (3:18–22, 4:2–3). It leads finally to the mundane practice of those moral principles or maxims, most often bitter and disillusioned, that do not succeed in deceiving the unappeased disquiet of a heart which does not know the “reason” of its existence and of things (7:23–29). It causes at last a complete unbelief and blasphemy of the work of God on earth, and the repudiation of eternal life (9:1–12).
5. What must you know and what must you do in order to honor God as He invites, and live and die with this blessed comfort?
First, I must know how great my sin and my misery are (Questions 6–15).
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. John 9:41
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sinned, but now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:22
Bible readings:
1. David confesses his sin and his misery: Psalm 38.
2. A barrier between our God and us: Isaiah 59:2–15.
3. Sinners, but beloved by God: Titus 3:3–7.
Second, I must know how I may be delivered from my sin, and how I may place all my trust in God and in my Savior Jesus Christ (Questions 16 to 193).
Bible readings:
4. God my refuge: Psalm 16.
5. God my hope: Psalm 33:18–22. Psalm 130.
6. God my trust: Psalm 40:2–6.
Third, I must know how I must show gratitude to God for this deliverance: first in serving and in obeying his commandments (Question 194 to 228). Then in calling on Him in all my needs, in seeking my salvation and my happiness in Him, in giving thanks in my heart and in confessing by my words—which I address to God in prayer, and to my neighbor in bearing testimony of my faith—that all my good things come from Him alone (Questions 229 to 290).
Bible readings:
7. It is by thanksgiving that we sanctify ourselves: Ephesians 5:8–11; Romans 6:11–14.
8. Praise: Psalm 57.
9. Praise: Psalm 124.
Part One
Lesson 2
The Misery of Man
SUMMARY: The law of God reveals to me my misery and sin. The holiness of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ shows better still the destructive work of sin in my spirit and in my heart.
Given over to my strength alone, I am inclined to evil and I am incapable of doing good; I disobey without ceasing the holy, just and good will of my God; I bear in my body and in my soul the wages of my sins which lead me to suffering and to death, and expose me to the fearful consequences of God’s indignation and judgment.
Bible readings for the week: Monday, Question 6: (1), (2), and Question 7: 1, 2. Tuesday, Question 9: 1, (2), 3, 4. Wednesday, Question 9: (5), 6, 7, (8), 9, 10. Thursday, Question 11: (1), 2, and Question 12: (1), 2, 3. Friday, Question 14: (1), 2, 3. Saturday, Question 15: 1, 2, (3).
6. How do you know of your misery?
By the