We have two readings from scripture this evening, both from the New Testament, first from Romans chapter 4, reading verses 1 to 12. Romans chapter 4, reading verses 1 to 12. Let us hear the word of God. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. Is this blessedness only for the circumcised? or also for the uncircumcised. We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised or before? It was not after, but before. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. We end our reading at the close of this twelfth verse. Through the first letter to the Corinthians chapter 11 Reading from verse 17 to the end of the chapter, where we have the apostolic teaching regarding the establishment of the Lord's Supper. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 17. The Apostle Paul writes in the following directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together it is not the Lord's supper you eat, for as you eat Each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you." The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. Amen. services for the past few weeks we have been taking a simple series of doctrinal studies under the general title Reformed Presbyterianism today. Over the past few months our congregation has begun trying to plant a daughter church in the town of Carrickfergus and some 30 or 40 of our people are worshipping there just now. And we're encouraged by the way that work is beginning to put down roots. And we thought that it was an appropriate time for the new work and for ourselves to just look at what we believe as a church, what we stand for, and what our ministry is to the world. And in our study this evening, the tenth of the series, our topic is strengthened by the sacraments. Strengthened by the sacraments. In the centre of our building and the focus of our attention is this wooden desk with on it a copy of the word of God. and that is typical of the architecture of all reformed churches. The pulpit is not placed to one side, but the pulpit is deliberately central as a way of stating something about our convictions, that it is the word of God which is supreme and central in our church's life. But underneath the pulpit is a table, the communion table, with on it three sacramental vessels. The dish on which we hold the communion bread, the cup in which we hold the communion wine, and the bowl in which we hold the water for baptism. And that also is a statement. We're saying, as the reformers did, that one of the marks of a true church is that in it the sacraments of Christ are properly administered. We're living at a time when the sacraments are downgraded among many evangelicals. They are considered to be of minor or secondary importance. But biblically and historically this is not the case. And in that sense our churches are not low churches, they are high churches. We consider the sacraments to be extremely important and of the essence of the true being of the church. That has been true throughout our history. For Reformed Presbyterians, baptism has been an extremely important sacrament. It shapes and governs our whole lives. It lays a solemn and precious covenant obligation upon us. Also historically in Presbyterianism, The communion seasons have been times of rich blessing, mountaintop experiences, when God has come near to his people and blessed them. And we simply cannot consider our church without thinking of how we are strengthened by the sacraments. So for a short time this evening I want to remind you of some very elementary truths which nonetheless we need to keep in mind. I want to ask first of all, what is a sacrament? And secondly, how do the sacraments strengthen us? First of all, what is a sacrament? The word sacrament isn't found in the Bible. It's like many other terms. Terms such as Trinity, and Incarnation, and Theology. None of which are Biblical words, but they're nonetheless useful words. Words which summarize Biblical teaching in a convenient way. Reformed theology teaches that there are at least four aspects to a sacrament. There are four things that constitute a sacrament. Let me mention them briefly. Firstly, the sacrament is something commanded by Christ. Commanded by Christ. And as we read the New Testament, we find that there are only two such sacraments in the scripture. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. In Matthew chapter 28 verse 19, we are commanded to baptize. The Lord is speaking not only to the twelve apostles, But to the whole church, he says, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And to this body of people in whom he is present and with whom he is, to the end of the age, he says, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. That is not a suggestion, it is a command. And then in 1 Corinthians 11.24, We have another command of Christ quoted by inspiration from the Apostle Paul, where Jesus says regarding the Lord's Supper, do this in remembrance of me. Again, a command, an instruction. These sacraments are not optional. It is not up to us to neglect them or to lay them aside. A group of Christians is not free scripturally to come together and say, we're going to listen to the preaching of the word, but we're not going to baptize and we're not going to have the Lord's Supper, or at least if they do that, they are not a church. Two sacraments, and two only, commanded by Christ. And this is where we would say that the seven sacraments of Roman Catholicism have five without scriptural support. Roman Catholicism has five other sacraments. Confirmation, Penance, Matrimony, Ordination and Extreme Unction. Will you say what's wrong with Matrimony or Ordination? Absolutely nothing. They're established by God, but not as sacraments. The only two in the scriptures are baptism and the Lord's Supper. So a sacrament is something commanded by Christ. Secondly, a sacrament uses physical elements. It uses physical elements, the water of baptism, the bread and the wine of the communion table. These are essential parts of the sacrament. And in this, the sacraments are unique in the spirituality of New Testament or New Covenant religion. In the childhood of the church, in the Old Testament, there was much that was physical, that was pictorial, that was symbolic. And God was worshipped in many material ways, by a temple, by sacrifices, by priests in robes, by incense and so forth. All this has been fulfilled and surpassed in Christ. And the worship of the New Testament Church is a spiritual worship. But in that spiritual worship there are these three physical elements. And we cannot have baptism without water. And we cannot have the Lord's Supper without bread and wine. So sacrament is commanded by Christ. It uses physical elements. Thirdly, a sacrament, biblically, is always accompanied by the Word of God. It is always accompanied by the Word of God. As we shall see later, for a sacrament to have value, it must be joined with the Word. And in the practice of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, this has always been the case. And wherever the sacrament is administered, it is always to be accompanied by the preaching or the declaration of the Word of God. This need not always be a full-fledged, full-length sermon. I have from time to time administered the Lord's Supper in homes to the frail and the elderly who have been unable to come and join us for worship. But on each occasion a number of us were gathered together, we joined in worship, and the Word of God was briefly preached. John Calvin, writing of the sacraments, put it this way. There is no true administration of the sacraments without the Word. The Word of God throws life into the sacraments. And the great Scottish sacramental theologian Robert Bruce wrote, let the Word come to the element and there you shall have a sacrament. So a sacrament is commanded by Christ, it uses physical elements, it is accompanied by the word, and fourthly, a sacrament represents Christ and his salvation. A sacrament represents Christ and his salvation. You remember how Paul wrote of the sacrament of communion, you are proclaiming the Lord's death. That's what it represents. Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me, the Lamb of God about to die for the sins of his people. We read in Acts 19.5 that they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Their baptism was a sign of their union with the Savior and their share in his salvation. Now in what way do the sacraments represent Christ and his salvation? Our standards tell us that they do it in two ways. They represent Christ and his salvation, firstly and most simply, as signs. You know what a sign is. A sign is a symbol of an unseen reality. A symbol of an unseen reality. You're driving along the road and you see a road sign. The road sign says sharp bend or crossroads or railway line. At that point you can't see the sharp bend or the crossroads. But they are real. It's a reality. You can't see it. But the sign makes you aware of the unseen reality. And so the sacraments, the elements, show us what we can't yet see. They're Christ's visual aids. As the water is taken, and as it is sprinkled, or poured, or the person is immersed in the That water is a visible sign speaking to us of cleansing, of washing from sin. It's setting it before our eyes. The wine, when we take it and drink it, is a sign to our sight and our taste of the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from sin. The bread is a sign of His body. Sacraments represent Christ. It's God condescending to our simplicity and our childishness. As we make things simple for children, God makes this simple for us. But the sacraments are more than signs. They are also seals. Now we know what a seal is, well I suppose there are different sorts of seals, but you know the sort of seal I'm talking about. A seal and a piece of paper. A seal is a confirmation that something is genuine. Many years ago I obtained a degree from Queen's University. There is a seal at the bottom of the page. That seal was put there by the issuing authority. And they were saying, this document is genuine. You look at your passport. There is a seal on it. You don't put the seal there. The issuing authority puts the seal there. The issuing authority is saying, I validate this document. The UK government stands behind this as a genuine passport. And that's what the sacraments are. In the sacraments, God, the issuing authority, is placing his seal on salvation. He is confirming the reality of salvation in Christ. John Calvin puts it very wonderfully. He says the Lord in the sacraments brings himself under obligation to us as if he had given it in his own handwriting. In the water of baptism in the bread and wine, God is saying to you, I guarantee salvation in Christ. This isn't a myth. This isn't just a human aspiration. It is my guarantee. So we read of Abraham in Romans 4.11 that he received a sign of circumcision. a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. This then is a sacrament. Those of you who remember your shorter catechism will have known all this already. Answer 92. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ wherein by sensible signs, that is signs available to our senses, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed and applied to believers. Such are sacraments. Secondly, how do the sacraments strengthen us? How do the sacraments strengthen us? We must begin with a negative. They do not strengthen us physically or superficially. This is one of the errors of Roman Catholicism and other sacramentalists. Rome teaches that the sacrament must be administered in the proper form and with right intention. But if that is so, and I'm quoting from the Baltimore Catechism, the sacraments, they say, give grace through a power which they possess. to sanctify the souls of men through a power which they possess, which the sacraments themselves, the water and the bread and the wine, inherently possess. So that if you take the bread and the wine properly administered, you will and must be blessed. This is a superstition too gross to need refutation. The idea that spiritual blessing can be conveyed by receiving a piece of bread or an anointing of oil, irrespective of faith, irrespective of obedience, irrespective of love for God, irrespective of trust in Christ, reduces Christianity to magic. And we're speaking about the errors of Roman Catholicism, but there are many sacramentalists in Protestant churches. Those of us who are ministers never fail to be astounded at the fervor with which non-Christian parents want and indeed demand baptism for their children, and are indignant and annoyed when such baptism is refused. And the great question is, why? Why do they want it? Why do they want their children to be baptized into the name of a Savior whom they do not believe in, whom they do not obey, whom they do not worship? What do they think it will accomplish? They obviously think it will accomplish something. And so in this province there are tens of thousands of parents who want their children baptized. They don't go to church themselves. They have no living faith. But they have this pathetic, superstitious belief that somehow this will accomplish something in their children's lives. The sacraments do not and cannot strengthen us in and of themselves. No. They strengthen us in two ways, two ways linked and working together. They strengthen us first of all by God's working. God has chosen to provide these sacraments and to use them as channels of his grace. God has committed himself to using them. And the sacraments are in themselves means of grace by the will of God. We might illustrate by thinking of a lorry or a truck used in famine relief. That lorry is the means by which the food and the clothing are taken from Western to Eastern Europe. It is the vehicle for carrying those things. It brings them to the people. They rejoice to see the approach of the truck. It is coming to them. They are glad to see it coming. They gather round it. The virtue isn't in the truck itself, but in that which has been placed into it. It has been filled with provision for the needy. And as it comes, it brings that provision for the needy. And in the same way, the sacraments have been filled by God with grace. And we need to stress this because I'm afraid that there are people in our churches and congregations who may never have heard of the reformer Ulrich Zwingli. But they follow, at this point, his mistaken theology. For Zwingli, the sacrament was simply a memorial, a reminder of something that had happened in the past. And as we sit round the Lord's table, we remember what Christ did for us at Calvary, and we are blessed. But Calvin taught from scripture, and he was correct in so doing, that the sacrament is much more. It is itself a means of bringing grace to it. Charles Hodge writes, by divine appointment, through the right use of the sign, the grace signified is really conveyed. Robert Bruce wrote, the sacraments are instruments to deliver the thing that they signify. So that as we receive the bread and drink the wine, we are spiritually strengthened by so doing. And in that sense we believe in a real presence of Christ in the sacraments. not literally, not materially, but by the grace of God. The sacraments strengthen us mysteriously, inexplicably, but they do strengthen us by God's working. There is a second element necessary. They strengthen us by God's working through our faith. This is the great spiritual law. According to your faith, so be it unto you. Just as the Word of God profits us when it is received by faith, just as Christ saves us when we believe in Him, The sacraments strengthen us as we receive them in faith. In baptism we see our need for cleansing, the provision of cleansing, the Lord Jesus through whom forgiveness comes. In the Lord's Supper we see again the death of Christ, the awfulness of sin, the love of Christ, the need to take Christ for ourselves. And as we receive them in faith, as we think of these realities and act on them, we grow and we are blessed as Christians. The sacraments strengthen us. And that strengthening is not limited to the time when we receive the sacraments. That strengthening is a life long thing. Let me read you what the larger catechism has to say about improving our baptism. That's not a phrase perhaps that you're familiar with. You should be. We're called to improve our baptism. What does that mean? Question 167. How is our baptism to be improved by us? And if any of you boys and girls at Sabbath school think that the shorter catechism is hard to learn, be thankful. Our great grandparents had to learn the larger catechism. How is our baptism to be improved by us? Answer. The needful But much neglected duty of improving our baptism is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation and when we are present at the administration of it to others by serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it and of the ends for which Christ instituted it. the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vows made therein, by being humble for our sinful defilement, our falling short of and walking contrary to the grace of baptism, and our engagements by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament. by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin and the quickening of grace, and by endeavouring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ, and to walk in brotherly love. as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body. It is a sobering thought that 150 years ago every ten-year-old child in the Reformed Presbyterian Church knew this catechism off by heart. The shorter catechism was for very small children and the educationally sub-normal. We say that we are a more advanced people now than our fathers were. But the point is that this The fact that we have been baptized is to be something that is with us all our lives. When Luther was tempted by the devil, he used to cry out, baptizatus sum, I have been baptized! I have been baptized! When Paul is writing to Christians who weren't getting on together, He could say in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, we were all baptized by one spirit into one body. He could say in Ephesians 4, be patient, bearing with one another in love. There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. He could write to the disobedient Corinthians, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot have a part in the Lord's table and the table of demons. Am I speaking tonight to someone? And in your past, you were baptized. You received the sacrament of baptism. But you're not now living in accordance with that sign that was placed upon you. You've rejected it. You've repudiated it. You don't serve and love and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Your responsibility is enormous. And if you do not turn to Christ, at the last day, the water of baptism will burn you like fire forever. The sign of the covenant was placed upon you, but you're a covenant breaker. You've trampled on God's kindness and God's mercy. Are any of you young people in that position? Born into a Christian home, prayed for, taught, your parents pointed you to Jesus, but you're rejecting Jesus. That's a terrible thing. That's a terrible thing. Millions have never heard of him. But you have heard of him. Why are you rejecting him? Why do you not believe in him? Is he so worthless? So contemptible? That you can just turn your back on him? And go your own way? And live your own life? It's an appalling thing to be a covenant breaker. To be someone born to Christian parents, prayed for, loved, taught, and to be a Christ rejecter. And I pray that even tonight, God the Holy Spirit will speak to you. about your need and about the wickedness of what you're doing. God has been so gracious in so many ways. But what good will your Christian family be to you? What good will your baptism be to you? It will only increase your guilt and your condemnation. We should think highly of these sacraments. They are such a means of grace. Those of us who are Christians should say again and again, I have been baptized. I am not free to be my own person. The sign of God is upon me. The sign of washing, of cleansing. We should remember the times we have sat at the Lord's table. and received the bread and the wine, the body and blood, and said, Lord Jesus, I'm taking you, I'm receiving you, I'm committing myself to you. We should pray for God to work through these sacraments. We should come to them in faith. And we should always, always go past them to the Christ of whom they speak. Amen. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord God, for condescending to our weaknesses and for giving us these simple visual aids which are so much more, also in the mystery of your mercy and grace, real channels of your grace. Thank you, O God, for the sacraments of baptism and of the Lord's supper. Grant that we may be washed clean by the blood of Christ, that we may be receiving him for ourselves and feeding on him by faith. Lord, may the sacraments reflect the reality of the commitment of our hearts and souls. And we pray that every time they are administered, we all may be strengthened and blessed, and that they may indeed be means, instruments of grace to our souls. We pray for our coming communion services next month, and ask that this may be a time when we may indeed be strengthened in Christ. For his sake we ask it. Amen.