Our corporate participation in this meal, together with all other saints in the world, is a corporate participation in one person, the Lord Jesus. This means, obviously, that He is no ordinary person, but rather is an Adam. Adam was a public person—that is, we were in him when he sinned. His sin was ours, …
So Look Around in Love
One of the central things we are called to remember in this Supper is the fact that God has brought us to one another, and not just to Himself. Now He has brought us into fellowship with Him, and we rejoice in it, but He never does this in isolation. “The Lord gave the word: …
Master of Misdirection
This Table is set for you as a means of grace. God intends to strengthen you, not only in terms of your endurance, but also in your wits. The serpent, it says, was craftier than all the other creatures. And the Lord Jesus teaches us to keep our innocence, but to grow in our wisdom. …
Real Temptations
God’s saints are often troubled by the mere fact of their temptations. Sin is one kind of trouble, but we know how to seek forgiveness for sin committed in the past. But what about the constant volley of suggestions that seem more than a little attractive, to which you have not given way, but which …
Taking It Personally
God promises us times of refreshing in the gospel, but He always does it on His terms—never on ours. If the arrangement were to be made on our terms, it wouldn’t be gospel at all. Repent, He says. Be converted, He says, which means to be turned . . . away from self and toward …
The Spirit Brings Us
Christ is everything to us. We were saved by Christ, we are being saved in Christ, and we will be saved to the final image of Christ. Christ is the way to the Father, and we all, like lost children, must be brought to the Father. This is the Father’s Table. He set it—it was …
Wine Into Vinegar
We are summoned to this Table in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and we want our time here to be entirely pleasing to Him, as well as to ourselves. This means that we must come with full, complete, entire, evangelical faith in Jesus. We may come with our sins, because that …
Old Wineskins in a New Age
Today is the day we mark the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the dead, in a higher and more pronounced way than we do every week. Every Sunday is resurrection Sunday, today is Resurrection Sunday. Many Christians observe a Lenten fast up to this day, a custom we do not observe. While it is possible …
When Affliction Floats
The grace of God is not just given to us in forgiveness of sin, although that is certainly an important part of it. The grace of God also equips and strengthens us to do things that we did not think we were going to be able to do. In short, the grace of God is …
God Doesn’t Care
Given the grace and goodness of God the Father in giving us the sacrifice of Jesus, and given the work of the Holy Spirit in the gospel offer to all men, the only sin that is damnable is the sin of perpetual hardheartedness—the sin of rejecting grace, and willfully remaining in unbelief. The wrath of …