Everyone gathered here, although we are gathered in Christ, is still aware of our remaining sinfulness. We are, in addition to this, aware of our sins, those which we have committed, and which we have confessed at the beginning of this service. Some of those sins are egregious, as man reckons them, and all of …
Let the Word Apply It to the Wound
The Word that accompanies the sacrament here is a Word that should be spoken to the occasion, to the circumstance. The bread and wine are constant; we have no authority to substitute other elements. We have no authority to adjust the sacrament itself. But do we speak words of warning or words of comfort? Do …
Sweetness and Severity
The Puritan William Bridge once said, “It is our duty to behold things as God presents them.” He was talking about how God loves to present severity and sweetness together. If we extract the severity alone, and try to live by that, we labor under a cloud of condemnation. If we extract the sweetness alone, …
The Death Specialist
This Table is emblematic of the death of Jesus, and yet it is by this means that God enables us to partake of the living Christ. Christ is risen; He is not dead. And yet here is His body, and here is His blood. These emblems are dead, and yet through them we are being …
Learning to Lean
When you are discouraged, as one of God’s saints, you should strengthen your hands and weak knees. Whatever your circumstances, God has received you. See? you are here at this Table. You are welcome. This is the opposite of the condition of a man outside of Christ. Whatever encouragements he might have, day to day, …
Receiving Your Token
Are you discouraged? Do you have troubles pressing in on you? Are some of your troubles of such a nature that you can see no possible way out? God is still your Father, and God wants you to learn how to remember in the dark what you knew in the light. God wants you to …
The Promise Comes First
One of the things we should gather from this Table is a right grasp of the relationship between promise and trouble. God’s saints do go through troubles, but they are like a cloud that passes over the sun. Nonbelievers have their troubles as well, but theirs are like the pitch of night that is a …
Decorated Damnation
The apostle Paul speaks of how the Corinthians came together at the Table in such a fashion as to do more harm than good (1 Cor. 11:17). How are we to understand this? How may we prevent falling into this sin ourselves? God has created us as material creatures, and so we cannot worship Him …
Not aTier of Loose Knots
This is a Table of promise, and because it is a gospel Table, this means that the promise is what God promises to us. The initiative is entirely His. Now if we receive what God promises us, then we must necessarily have it. We cannot receive His promise without having His promise. We are bound …
God Knows Your Works
We know the gospel well enough to know that we are not in any way saved or justified by our works. We are saved to good works, and not by them (Eph. 2:8-10). At the same time, we know that God is mindful of our works, placing them at the point of fruit on the …