Thanks for listening to the latest podcast from Him We Proclaim with Pastor John Fonville. In this special series, we'll explore how the gospel speaks to our identity, our calling, and our confidence in Christ. Drawing from passages in Luke, Matthew, Ephesians, 1 Peter, and Jude, Pastor John unpacks themes like grace and vocation. The power of God's Word and the unshakable assurance we have in Christ's favor and goodness. Whether you're struggling with your calling, seeking clarity on your role in the church, or simply needing encouragement.
These messages will remind you of the sufficiency of Christ and the hope we have in the gospel. Stay tuned as we dive into today's message called Assured of God's Favor and Goodness.
So now I have other good news for you. It's called the gospel. Yeah. And let's enjoy that for a while today, too. But to think about that, I want to talk about a burden that I have.
I'm a burden for Christians. Because because so.
So many Christians lack assurance. I just encountered I encountered this. All the time. This past Make This person wrote to me and said this. I'll just take out the author's name because the author is not important, but this particular author wrote a book on assurance and it says, quote, this author's book on assurance of salvation nearly killed me.
This person said, I'm not being dramatic. I'm someone who struggles with O C D And here's the book. led me to start working for my salvation. I didn't believe that I was saved until everything was perfectly repented of. Have you ever felt like that?
That was a dark time. I struggled as a... New believer, and this was just part of it. But thankfully God has been good to comfort my heart and Waitness Andy's Bunny. And they said this, I appreciate.
pastors who rightly distinguish between God's no and his gospel. I can promise you that that is almost weekly for me. As I encounter people week after week who come to me with that exact. Dory. Most of the times when we're looking for assurance, we're pointed to what happens is this is the.
The question is, how do we get assurance? How do we receive assurance of salvation? Most of the time, what do pastors point us to? Ourselves. Have you taken a good look at yourself lately?
I think most of us did because we came to church and we looked pretty good this morning, but I mean, internally. Look at your heart. The thing that grieves... The grease meet no end about myself is this. It's not just what I do.
Oh, that's grievous at times. But the fact that my heart entertains those things. And we get pointed to ourselves, we get pointed to. Our obedience, our self-examination, our repentance, our proven tested faith. Take the tests of faith from 1 John, right?
There's there's a there's a Author in this book writes this: quote, if you'd like to have assurance, true assurance. True assurance, here it is, is the reward of tested and proven faith. Test yourselves, he writes, to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves.
Now, the problem with this approach is this: is that It's very simple. Our obedience, this side of new creation is never perfect. Perfect. Our obedience vacillates, it varies, it comes and goes, it's up and down. And guess what?
Your test results will always be up and down. Our so-called good days when we're doing great, right? We think we're doing great, we think we're doing good.
Well, we're going to have good test results. But what happens when we have a bad day? Or a bad week, or a bad month. What will your test results look like? You're going to be convinced that, well, I just took the test.
I went to 1 John. 1 John says, obedience. I haven't obeyed, I failed, I'm convinced that I don't have salvation. What happens to your assurance? It's gone.
And the Apostle Paul points out in the seventh chapter in Romans, he says, our obedience is not always evident to us. How many of you felt like that? Right? Yes, we have fruit. Yes, the consequent necessity of faith is obedience.
Of course, it is. Obedience flows through faith, but it's Not going to be perfect this side of the new creation. Therefore, my assurance, if my assurance is solely found in my obedience, my performance, my work. My tests will be bad. And so we have to have our faith.
directed from ourselves to outside of ourselves to something that is solid, to something that is secure, to something that is steady, to something that doesn't change, that doesn't vary from day to day. Who is that? It's a person called Christ. And this is the big question: where has been Christ found so that my faith can be strengthened and my assurance can be. bolstered and strengthened.
This answer is so simple, yet it is so missed in the church. Word and sacrament. God's gifts. Two or eight. Means of grace.
I've told you before, but just to remind you, what does that phrase mean? It's the Holy Spirit's actions that gift me Christ. All right. Yeah. I want to go to a place And that's called the church.
Christian. Visible church. I want to find a place. Where the Holy Spirit is acting powerfully to give me. Christ.
Right? And if that's the case How does the Holy Spirit do that? The scriptures teach us very simply that through scripture, God's word and his sacraments, God's visible words, his visible gospels, baptism. Communion, Lord's Supper. It's through these means that Christ Himself has instituted for His church to give His people His gifts.
He is the gift giver, and so He has given us these gifts. to deliver to me Christ. Listen to question 65 in the Heidelberg Catechism. Since we're made partakers of Christ, see, there's Christ. Bro.
We're made partakers of Christ and His benefits by faith only. Where does this faith come from? And then it arises the teaching of Scripture. The Holy Spirit creates faith. See, that goes back to creation.
The first verse of Genesis chapter 1, the Holy Spirit was there hovering over creation and God spoke and he brought forth life. You sing. The Holy Spirit creates faith. In our hearts. By the preaching of the gospel.
Faith comes from, you've heard this a million times, faith comes from. And here in by The word of Christ. Say it every time. The word of Christ. Say that.
Word of Christ, word of Christ, the gospel. Because God's word is law or gospel. If you hear law, You don't get faith. You get conviction and direction. That's it.
There's nothing wrong with conviction. There's nothing wrong with direction. Those are not bad things. It's just that's what the Holy Spirit does with his law part of his word. But with the gospel, he brings Faith, he creates faith, he strengthens and nurtures faith, and listen.
The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel and he assures our faith. He assures our faith. Here it is by the use. of the holy sacraments. Question 67.
Here it is. Are both word and sacraments intended to direct our faith? to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. As the only ground of our salvation, you see, that's sure, that's steady, that's firm, that doesn't change, it's unwavering, it's outside of us. Word and sacrament, the gifts of God, for the people of God.
The Holy Spirit's actions, means by which He takes into acts to give us Christ. What does he do? He directs. My faith. to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for my sins.
To assure me. of his favor and goodness. Do you see how this works? The Holy Spirit. Teaches us in the gospel.
The Holy Spirit teaches us and assures us by the sacraments that our whole salvation, that's assurance, rests on the one sacrifice of Christ made for us on the cross. And so word and sacrament, we had this solid, secure, steady, firm, unwavering, unchanging, unvariable. Foundation for assurance for our faith. Take my pitiful, weak. obedience and struggles and weaknesses.
and place on Christ, the solid rock. The Holy Spirit assures our faith by the use of the sacraments. But the problem is is that book Believers have not been taught the Reformation faith. That's why we have that conference coming. To teach people.
It's called Reformation Centered. That's the name of the conference. Reformation Centered. We're trying to reform people to be centered on the truths of the gospel. Believers have not been taught to use the sacraments.
I grew up Southern Baptist. Right. I was never Ever talk. Hot. that the sacraments were God's gifts to me.
Never. Never. I was never taught to use them. I was not taught that the sacraments were given as gifts by Christ instituted to his visible church for his people so that they can have assurance of their faith. It was never directed.
That book that I mentioned, I went through it and looked at it. Does not have a single chapter devoted to the sacraments for assurance. It doesn't have a single chapter devoted to the gospel. Mentions the gospel and references parts of the gospel in different chapters throughout Spattering, but it doesn't have a direct Chapter devoted to the direct act of faith where you just go and you see Christ. Price for you.
That's assurance. But the Heideberg Catechism says by their use. By their use. Use. The Holy Spirit assures, He confirms our faith.
Believers have not been taught to use the sacraments. Therefore, unless they don't have assurance. But when we come to understand the nature and purpose of, for example, what we're going to look at just briefly this morning, the Lord's Supper. We don't view it as this hurried on. tacked on, do this thing at the end of the service kind of thing.
What is a vital and necessary and weekly part of worship? Why we come to church? But the reason for objecting to weekly communion lies in a misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of the Lord's Supper. For example, Many Christians have been taught to think exclusively that the Lord's Supper is exclusively this memorial act where you come and you remember something 2,000 years ago that Jesus did for you. Right.
And so it should come as no surprise to us that those who view the Lord's Supper as just this matter of. of subjective mental recollection. See no need to celebrate it frequently. R. C.
Sproll says this: He says, from the earliest times of Christian history, there's been a close link between the church's understanding of the nature of the sacrament and her attention to it. It's news testing. tends to follow its perceived Significance. When the sacrament is reduced to the level of a naked sign, we just remember something that happened 2,000 years ago. Its importance and its practice all but disappears from the life.
of the church. He's right. Second, many Christians, the Lord's Supper has become a time to remember their sins and remember Christ's death, and they just grieve for both. In other words, this is how I grew up. The Lord's Supper in essence, has become a funeral.
And the idea of attending a weekly funeral is just too much for everybody. Me too. Nobody wants to come to church and go, Oh, woe is me. Oh. Yeah.
I mean Is there joy or Thanksgiving anywhere?
So, if you understand that the nature and purpose of the Lord's Supper is an opportunity to just. Renew your pledge of commitment. Yeah. more obedient. To grieve over your sin and have another pity party and a funeral and a worm base, just focused on yourself till you feel like you're ready to come forward because you're prepared.
You're not going to want to go through that weekly, I can promise you. But if you have a prop understanding of the nature and purpose of this sacrament, it determines its frequency.
So, what is it? What is this's nature? Let me just give you. I don't have time to give you the whole thing today, but let me just give you two. All right.
The nature and purpose. The first is this. The nature of the Lord's Supper is its fellowship with Jesus. Communion with The living Risen Christ. Who doesn't want that?
Right. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 16. This is where it comes from. Paul says, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation, a communion in the blood of Christ? The bra and the bread that We break.
I'm going to break bread here in a moment.
So remember Paul's verse here. the bread that we break Is it not a participation communion? in the body of Christ. Again, RC also says as divided as were on some issues of Roman Catholics and Lutherans and Calvinists. We're silently in agreement.
on two vital issues. that the facker men The Lord's Supper is a means of grace. It's the Holy Spirit's acts of delivering Christ to us. And second, that Christ is truly present in the sacrament. All three affirmed.
That the believer is actually nurtured by the risen body and blood. Of Christ.
Now, if you understand the nature of the significance of that, You're going to want it as often as you can receive it. Eating and drinking the bread and wine with faith. Is a participation in the blood and body of Christ. The Apostle Paul says that, 1 Corinthians 10:16. You cannot get around it.
And so the question is not Huh? Is Christ present, but how do we actually partake of Him? How can this be? Because 40 days after his resurrection, Luke tells us that Jesus ascended bodily into heaven. He's not here.
At least physically speaking, he's not here. And so, how do we overcome the absence of Christ's physical presence in our present? But Paul says we commune with him anyway. How does that happen? See, that's the question.
And this is what the scriptures teach. The answer is the Holy Spirit, who has known the Lord, the giver of wife. You see, this is why we pray before the service starts, we pray during the service. The Holy Spirit's power. Mother.
charismatic thing. A mystic thing? It's a God thing. It's the living God. Jesus Christ.
gives us the Holy Spirit. Right? He is the That means He's God. He is the giver of life. We want him to come through this place week after week after week and stilling life.
Most of us, myself included, come here often dead. And I need to be revived. I need life. I need assurance. And so the Holy Spirit plays this essential Role in the ministry of the sacraments, for apart from the Holy Spirit, these sacraments, baptism, the Lord's Supper, that's nothing.
They're nothing. They profit nothing. But the Holy Spirit Spirit and working through the size and sales of bread and wine and water. The Holy Spirit overcomes the absence of Christ, who has bodily ascended. And he You're not.
Thanks us. The Holy Spirit, by his mysterious power, These we call mysteries. We can't explain them, but it doesn't mean that they don't work. But by his mysterious power, he's able to bring together things which are separated by a great distance. And he can unite us.
To the sun. And so listen carefully. The Holy Spirit is the gift of God for the time of Christ's absence. The Holy Spirit makes reality of Christ. triumph.
present to us. He connects he connects say it like this he connects the there and then to the here and now So the Belgic Confession Article 35 says we do not go wrong when we say that we do eat and drink the true, natural, actual body and true blood of Jesus Christ. But the the manner how this is done. In which way you heat it. Is not by the mouth, it's not this physical chewing.
Jesus is an. In the bread. But listen, we eat, we partake of Christ by faith by the power of the Spirit. And that way, Jesus Christ always remains seated at the right hand of God, his Father in heaven. Yet he does not cease to communicate himself to us by faith.
And this banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ makes us partakers of Himself with all His benefits, and He gives us the grace to enjoy both himself and the merit of his suffering and death. This is why each week, in a prayer of humble access. that we're going to pray in about 10 minutes. Or so. It's as this, grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him and in us.
Amen. And with this understanding of the nature and purpose of the Lord's Supper, let me ask you a question. Who would not want to truly commune with Jesus as often as possible? Oh no, I just, I'm tired. I've had a hard week.
I think I'll just skip this weekend. Jesus is here. I can't miss that gift. That's the one Thing I need the most. Or next week.
In the first day of the week, I get that gift. that sustains me to my wilderness journey till next Sunday. Who doesn't want to have the assurance that when you come to church that your sinful body is made clean by his body? That your soul is washed through his most precious blood, that you walk out of here, that you are squeaky, clean, Ajax clean, right? Just sparkling clean windex like a perfect shine.
You're clean. Here's the second, very quickly as we can wrap this up. The Lord's Supper is the sign of God's grace and goodwill toward us. When you look at that bread, when you look at that wine, when you look at that water. If Neon sign flashing God the Father's good will and favor toward you.
That's what it's saying. Article 25 in the 39 articles, our church's confession of faith. Right? Listen to what it says. It says the sacraments are a sure witness and the effectual sign, they're powerful, they do their work.
They're a short witness and affectionate sign of God's grace and His good will. Hoard us. Many believers do not have assurance because they've not been taught this. They've not been taught that the purpose of the Lord's Supper is to assure them of God's favor and goodness toward them. When you come up here and you're walking through this line and you're drinking some wine and you're eating some bread, and people might be watching that from afar going, man, they need a fog machine, they need a light show, they need a hip band.
They gotta get some life in there. And you walk past and the Holy Spirit, like over hovering over creation, he's hovering over you week after week and he's saying, God the Father loves you. God the Father's good will toward you right now. For Christ's sake, you're received into His goodness and favor forever. Take an eat and drink.
Not the best band in the world, not the best light shop in the world, not the best fog machine in the world can replace that. You cannot replace it. It can't accomplish that. Can't do that.
So many have been taught that the sacraments are what they do for God. I baptize you now. Based upon your profession of faith, I baptize you, right? I grew up Baptist. That was the ground upon which I was baptized.
No, John, based upon your profession of faith, I now baptize you. That's a horrible baptism. Why? Because my promises are empty. And I can't keep them.
But God's promises, God's promises are the ground of my baptism, that's a good baptism. Because I'm being baptized into his promise, not mine. The sacraments. are not something that we do for God. The sacraments are signs and sales of what God the Father in Christ by the Spirit has done and continues to do for us and in us forever.
The bread and wine are not my signs. They don't signify any of my promises. You ever thought about that? They don't signify any of my accomplishments. They don't signify and seal any of my death for sins.
Burial for sins, resurrection for sins, ascension, intercession, they don't signify any of that. They do Christ. They're God's gifts to us. This is why, like in the Eastern liturgies, liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
The priest stands up in the church, and well, they stand up the whole time, and those services are about three and a half, four hours. Aren't you glad you have seats here? But The priest says the holy gifts for the holy people of God. That's what we say each week from the Book of Common Prayer: the gifts of God for the people of God. Take them and and Eat each week.
If you understand that the purpose of this sacrament is to assure you of God's favor and goodness, you'll desire to observe it as much as you can. This is why, for example, in the post-communion prayer each week, you're taught to pray this in the liturgy. We thank you. for assuring us. We take it, then we pray, and we respond.
We thank you for assuring us through this sacrament of your favor and goodness. Towards us. How many of you would like to be in Adam and Eve's place right after they sinned in Genesis 3? Hey Mac, where are you? Right?
That's terrifying. They weren't assured of God's favor and goodness, were they? But then God comes to them and makes him the promise, and he kills. Innocent animals takes their coverings, takes off their fig leaves of self-justification. He clothes them in the animal skins with a proper covering.
That's justification. That's the imputation of righteousness. Then they have faith and they're assured that their relationship with God, who they were just in opposition to, isn't now at rest and in favor. Question 75 of the Hardware Catechism: How is it signified and sealed to you in the Holy Supper that you do partake of this one sacrifice of Christ on the cross and all of his benefits? How is this signified to you and promise guaranteed to you?
Here's the answer. Christ has commanded me. And he's commanded all all believers to eat of this broken bread and to drink of this copy. in remembrance of him. And he's joined there with these promises.
Here's the promises. When you eat, When you drink this morning, listen to these promises. Christ's body was offered and broken on the cross for me. His blood was shed for me. For me, it doesn't say Christ's body was offered and broken on the cross.
As I've told you before, that's not the gospel. The gospel is not Jesus died on the cross. That is not the gospel. Thousands upon thousands of people have died on crosses. That wasn't good news.
He died on the cross for me for my sin. That's the gospel. And this is what the sacrament is doing when we come and partake of it. It assures me, as certainly as I can, it says, With my eyes, through the minister's hands given to me, as certainly I see with the Lord He has, He has. Offered himself on the cross for me.
He has shed his blood on the cross for me. As certainly as I see, the minister will offer that bread and wine to me. That's how sure it is. The Holy Spirit assures us that our whole salvation stands in this one sacrifice of Christ on the cross made for us. Our assurance is found in the promises of the gospel.
This is the kind of assurance that we need weekly. This is, what does the psalmist say? Can God make a table in the wilderness? You're looking at it right here. Right there.
This work by the Spirit is a mystery, but it's true.
So we thank you and listen in the post-communion prayers we finish. We thank you for feeding us in these holy mysteries. With the spiritual food, not physical food, but the spiritual food of the most. Precious body and blood of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we thank you for assuring us through this sacrament of your favor and goodness towards us.
We thank you for assuring us that we're true members of the mystical body of your Son. What is that? It's the blessed company of all faithful people. We thank you for assuring us that we're heirs through hope. Of what?
Your everlasting kingdom. And how does assurance come about? By the merits of the most precious death and passion of your dear Son, by his merits. You see how beautiful the Reformation liturgies are? That's why we're having that conference coming up to teach people this.
People don't hear this. People don't know this.
So as we reflect on this, here are some questions as we finish. Why would believers not want as often as possible to be assured of God's favor and goodness toward them? Who would not want to be assured as often as possible that all your sins, past, present, and future, in your sinful nature against which you have to struggle every day? It's forgiven and not held against you for Christ's sake. Who would not want their faith in communion with Christ?
Straighten and short as often as possible. Who would not want to at least receive this gift? Weekly. If we had our own church building, we would do this daily. Having a proper understanding of the nature and purpose of this sacrament.
Should when you have this, when you had this understanding, here's the question: Should it make you feel uncomfortable with anything less? that at least come into church weekly to receive this gift. And if you come to this church and you don't receive it, ask why. Because something's missing. Christ, his gifts are missing.
That's what's missing. And so The short answer to all these questions for all of us. is yes, and it's something that we should. desire. Right.
But spread. Father in heaven, we thank you for this great gift. We reflect upon our own selves, we do the self-examination, and we see that we are wretched, poor, blind, naked, failing, sinful people at times. We confess that, acknowledge it, but then we turn from that and we look outside of ourselves. to Christ.
our sure and steadfast hope and anchor. foundation and ground. that doesn't waver. and a steadfast and sure. righteousness before God.
Our sanctification, our wisdom. Our salvation. And the Holy Spirit, we pray. And the Lord, the giver of life, may you come here in just a few minutes and hover over this place. Over your people, your creation, your church, in Every person who comes and may they have the quiet confidence and assurance.
of your favor and goodness toward them. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon?
It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian.
What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fonville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
