Since we have begun the practice of weekly communion, sometime ago now, we have periodically said that one of the blessings that comes from this is the identification of sins, the flushing out of sins. This is never pleasant, and we are sometimes tempted to think that before the sins were revealed to us, they weren’t really there. But this is not at all the case.
We have to acknowledge that there are many things in each of our lives that are out of sync with the teaching of the Word of God. We also have to acknowledge that if it were not for the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to everyone that believes, not one of us could stand. This is our confidence; this is our justification.
But sanctification is not separable from justification. A husband is not a wife, but if there is no wife, there is no husband. In the same way, justification is not sanctification, but if there is no sanctification, there is no justification. And part of this sanctifying process is the gracious way that God reveals His holiness to us more and more over the years in such a way as to reveal to us, more and more, what we would be without Him, and what we are in our own nature.
This is no cause for despair. Rather, God is doing his work. God is dealing with us. He disciplines us, not so that we would lose heart and become faint, but rather so that we would come to understand the work He has undertaken, for His glory and our good. So as you come to the Table, expect to learn, and taste, the goodness of the Lord Your God.