The Lord’s Supper and Assurance

The Lord’s Supper is a holy sacrament that Jesus gave to his church to help strengthen us in the Christian faith.  If you’re a Christian who is weak, weary, full of doubts, and in need of God’s love and grace, don’t avoid the table – go to it with repentant faith.  Thomas Brooks put it this way.

“[Assurance] was the principle end of Christ’s institution of the sacrament of the Supper that he might assure them of his love, and that he might seal up to them the forgiveness of their sins, the acceptance of their persons, and the salvation of their souls (Matt. 26:27-28).  The nature of a seal is to make things sure and firm among men; so the Supper of the Lord is Christ’s broad seal, it is Christ’s privy-seal, whereby he seals and assures his people that they are happy here, that they shall be more happy hereafter, that they are everlastingly beloved of God, that his heart is set upon them, that their names are written in the book of life, that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness, and that nothing shall be able to separate them from him who is their light, their crown, their all in all.”

“In this sacrament Christ comes forth and shows his love, his heart…his blood, that his children may no longer say, ‘Does the Lord Jesus love us?  Does he delight in us?’ but that they may say with the spouse, ‘I am my beloved’s and his desire is towards me’ (Songs 7:10).”

Thomas Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 27.

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Only the Gospel…

In a sermon on Proverbs 11:30, in 1787, John Newton explained the power of the gospel – the good news that Jesus died and rose to save sinners.  While the law commands, the gospel comforts:

“The Gospel removes difficulties insuperable to human power.  It causes the blind to see, the deaf to hear; it softens the heart of stone and raises the dead in trespasses and sins to a life of righteousness.  No force but that of the Gospel is sufficient to remove the mountainous load of guilt from an awakened conscience, to calm the violence of tumultuous passions, to raise an earthly soul from groveling in the mire of sensuality or greed, to a spiritual and divine life, a life of communion with God.”

“No system but the Gospel can communicate motives, encouragements, and prospects, sufficient to withstand and counteract all the snares and temptations with which the spirit of this world, by its frowns or its smiles, will endeavor either to intimidate or to bribe us from the path of duty.  But the Gospel, rightly understood and cordially embraced, will inspire the slothful with energy and the fearful with courage.  It will make the miser generous, melt the churl [rude person] into kindness, tame the raging tiger in the breast, and, in a word, expand the narrow selfish heart and fill it with a spirit of love to God, a cheerful and unreserved obedience to his will, and benevolence to mankind.”

“…The Gospel, then, is a message from God.  It stains the pride of human glory, and, without regarding the petty distinctions which obtain among men, with respect to character or ranks, it treats them all as sinners in the sight of God, and under the power of depravity strengthened by habit.  As such, it points them to a Savior; it invites and enjoins them to apply to him, to submit to him, and to put their whole trust in him, to renounce all pleas of their own, and to plead his name and his atonement for their pardon and acceptance.  It promises to all who thus plead, that the Holy Spirit of God will visit them, dwell in them, and abide with them, to enable them, by his gracious influence, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.”

Therefore, we should never be ashamed of the gospel, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

The above quotes are found on pages 198-199 & 202 of volume 5 in Newton’s Works.

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Double Imputation: On This Truth We Will Stand

At the heart of historic, confessional Reformed teaching and preaching is the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone.  An essential part of justification sola fide is the truth of imputation.  R. C. Sproul’s words on this doctrine are outstanding and edifying.

“If any word was at the center of the firestorm of the Reformation controversy and remains central to the debate even in our day, it is imputation.  …We cannot really understand what the Reformation was about without understanding the central importance of this concept.”

“…If any statement summarizes and capture the essence of the Reformation view, it is Luther’s famous Latin formula ‘simul justus et peccator.’  ‘Simil’ is the word from which we get the English ‘simultaneous;’ it means ‘at the same time.’  ‘Justus’ is the Latin word for ‘just’ or ‘righteous.’  ‘Et’ simply means ‘and.’  ‘Peccator’ means ‘sinner.’  So, with this formula, – ‘at the same time just and sinner’ – Luther was saying that in our justification, we are at the same time righteous and sinful.  …He was saying that, in one sense, we are just.  In another sense, we are sinners.  In and of ourselves, under God’s scrutiny, we still have sin.  But by God’s imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to our accounts, we are considered just.”

“This is the very heart of the gospel.  In order to get into heaven, will I be judged by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ?  If I have to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I must completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed.  But when we see that the righteousness that is ours by faith is the perfect righteousness of Christ, we see how glorious is the good news of the gospel.  The good news is simply this: I can be reconciled to God.  I can be justified, not on the basis of what I do, but on the basis of what has been accomplished for me by Christ.”

“Of course, Protestantism really teaches a double imputation.  Our sin is imputed to Jesus and his righteousness is imputed to us.  In this twofold transaction, we see that God does not compromise his integrity in providing salvation for his people.  Rather, he punishes sin fully after it has been imputed to Jesus.  This is why he is able to be both ‘just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ as Paul writes in Romans 3:26. So my sin goes to Jesus and his righteousness comes to me.”

“This is a truth worth dividing the church.”

“This is the article on which the church stands or falls, because it is the article on which we all stand or fall.”

When you hear this glorious truth preached on the Lord’s Day, listen with your head and heart, and rejoice in the gospel of grace.  If you don’t hear it preached, lovingly talk to your pastor and elders and discuss it.  It’s not a side issue, nor is it a dry doctrine that is impractical for our daily living.  The doctrine of justification sola fide gives us firm comfort, peace, and a grateful heart of obedience to the Lord.

The above Sproul quote is found in Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism (Sanford: Reformation Trust, 2012), 43-4.

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Your Sin: You Have No Idea!

  When God convicts us of our sin, he ordinarily only shows us the tip of the iceberg (so to speak).  This is an act of mercy, for if he showed us the exact depth and extent of our depravity, we would not be able to live with ourselves.  Thankfully, genuine conviction and repentance can take place even though we don’t know the full depth and extent of our depravity.  I appreciate how  Robert Murray M’Cheyne explains the depths of the sinful heart in a sermon he preached on Jeremiah 17.9-10 (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?).

“…The most awakened sinner does not see the ten thousandth part of the wickedness of his own heart.  You are like a person looking down into a dark pit – you can only see a few yards down the sides of the pit; so you can only see a little way into your heart.  It is a pit of corruption which is bottomless: Who can know it?“

“…You are like a traveler looking down into the crater of a volcano; but the smoke will not suffer (allow) you to look far.  You see only a few yards into the smoking volcano of your heart….  There are chambers in your heart that you have never yet seen into – there are caves in that ocean you have never fathomed – there are fountains of bitterness you have never tasted.  When you have felt the wickedness of your heart to the uttermost, then lie down under this awful truth, that you have only seen a few yards into a pit that is bottomless – that you carry about with you a slumbering volcano – a heart whose wickedness you do not and cannot know.”

Thankfully M’Cheyne ended the sermon on the heights of grace.

“[Christ] was the only one that knew the wickedness of the beings for whom he died.  He that searches the hearts of sinners died for them.  He knew what was in men; yet he did not abhor (hate) them on that account – he died for them.  It was not for any goodness in man that he died for man.  He saw none.  It was not that he saw little sin in the heart of man.  He is the only being in the universe that saw all the sin that is in the unfathomable heart of man.  He saw to the bottom of the volcano – and yet he came and died for man.  Herein is love!”

“When publicans and sinners came to him on earth, he knew what was in their hearts.  His eye had rested on their bosoms all their life – he had seen all the lusts and poisons that ever rankled there; yet in no wise did he cast them out.  So with you.  His eye hath seen all your sins – the vilest, darkest, blackest hours you have lived, his pure eye was resting upon you; yet he died for such, and invites you to come to him; and will in no wise cast you out.”

Jesus knows exactly how sinful you are, but he loves you and went to the cross for you.  You only know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your sin, but Jesus has seen it all in full.  And he didn’t run away from you.  Instead, he took your sin and its curse upon himself, removed it from you, and gave you his righteousness in exchange.   It is frightening to realize that we don’t know how sinful we actually are; but Jesus does know, he loved us, died for us while we were still sinners, and literally took our sin upon himself to deliver us from it.  You are forgiven!

R. M. M’Cheyne, Sermons, p.35-37.

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No Inherent Stock of Goodness

Between the years 1768 and 1779 John Newton wrote several letters to a friend of his who was also a pastor.  Apparently, his friend was skeptical about the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) and tended towards the mystical writers of his day.  Newton, in a loving way, explained why he himself believed these doctrines and stayed away from mysticism.  Here’s one part from one of the early letters in this correspondence.  (Note: I’ve edited it very slightly).

“…The longer I live, the more I am constrained to adopt that system which ascribes all power and glory to the grace of God and leaves nothing to the creature but sin, weakness, and shame.  Everyone must speak for themselves; and for my own part, I cannot ascribe my present hopes to my having cherished and improved an inward something within me, which Mr. [William] Law speaks of.  But, on the contrary, I know I have often resisted the motions and warnings of God’s Spirit, and if he had not saved me with a high hand, and in defiance of myself, I would surely have been lost.”

“Nay, to this hour I feel an evil principle within me, tempting me to depart from the living God.  I have no inherent stock of goodness upon which I can hope to hold out hereafter, but stand in need of a continual supply, and emphatically understand our Lord’s words, ‘Without me you can do nothing.’  For I find I am not sufficient of myself so much as to think a good thought.”

“…I believe…in a word, that Christ is the all in all in a sinner’s salvation; that we have no righteousness in the sight of God but in his name, no power but so far as we are ingrafted into him by faith, as branches deriving sap and influence from the true vine (John 15:1, Isaiah 45:24, 1 Cor. 1:30).  Upon these principles I find that I cannot have satisfaction or comfort in the mystical writings, notwithstanding they may say many excellent things occasionally – things which may be very useful when understood in a gospel sense (p. 205-7).

This series of letters is found in volume 6 of The Works of John Newton.

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