Speaker 1: 0:06

I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter 13,. 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. Before we do that, I will say that I notice on the preaching clock it gives me 166 minutes in the back. Buckle up, people. That's awesome. I don't know who the new guy in the back is, but I'm with you, buddy. So, but, um, so, uh, that's awesome. Oh, now they just reduced me to 34. That stinks All right. Oh, now they just reduced me to 34. That stinks All right.

Speaker 1: 0:47

I watched the flooding yesterday and it's sickening, isn't it? And then I saw on X that a PCA pastor from Kerrville had written a note and I thought, oh okay, pca, okay, we got a PCA church there. It didn't say the pastor's name, so I go on the church's website and I saw it was Billy Crane, one of my seminary classmates, and his wife Ashley and their four kids Christ Church. Our deacons will be contacting them. It's a small world, isn't it? I just pray for them. I know many of you have already been doing that, but I reached out to Billy and I just want to see what our congregation can do for them. When you give, when we have our mercy fund offerings, when we do that, this is the kind of thing that that helps support, so not only people in our community and in the church, but also around the country in situations like this.

Speaker 1: 2:01

As we come now to the love chapter 1 Corinthians 13,. As we come now to the love chapter 1 Corinthians 13, it's good to remember that the Apostle Paul is teaching here about not just love as some vague thing, but a distinctive Christian love, a biblical love, a right understanding of love. He's speaking about the reality of love, which is another way of saying he's speaking about the reality of God, because God is love. Reality of love, which is another way of saying he's speaking about the reality of God, because God is love. It's the character and being of God that defines what love is. We don't define it. Our culture is trying to redefine what love is, but love is defined by God and his character. And do you remember that? 1 Corinthians 13,.

Speaker 1: 2:43

It follows on the heels of 1 Corinthians 12. And so what Paul's talking about in its original context here is that we're to take our spiritual gifts that he speaks about in 1 Corinthians 12, and as Christians, we're to exercise those gifts and love to our fellow believers in the church, to build up the body, some in the Corinthian church. One of the sins that they battled in the Corinthian church was pride, and they used their spiritual gifts as sort of a one-upmanship, so to speak, to view themselves as better than others, use it as a kind of a competition, and that is displeasing to God, to take that which is good and to turn it in for an avenue for self-glorification rather than the glorification of God. When we get to the next chapter, chapter 14, we're going to see one way they did. That is, they did it with the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues. That was a miraculous gift that God poured out during the apostolic period and the Corinthians took that gift and they used it in a very self-centered way rather than a way that would build up and edify the body of Christ. But we can do that with any gift that God gives us, and so we need to be mindful of that as God's people.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Verse 7 is exhibit A, I think, for the 20th century. Here we're going to look at a part of verse 7 where it talks about love, believes, all things. But the other parts there in verse 7 are also exhibit A. For why?

Speaker 1: 4:16

Karl Marx, one of the philosophers of the 20th century. He calls religion the opium of the people. The opium of the people. He did not like Christianity for one, because he felt it took the fight out of the dog and therefore those who were oppressed would just lie down and take it and not put up a fight. They would just always seem to be. He accused Christianity of just being something just okay with the status quo, and so he rejected it. But Marx did not understand how to properly use the scriptures. He didn't understand the Bible, nor Christianity. It's more complex than how he presented it.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Proverbs 14, verse 15, says the simple, that is, the naive, believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. So Christianity is about being prudent, it's about being thoughtful. It's not dismissive of the problems in the world. And so, before we even explore what Paul means by love believes all things, that'll be our focus today, last time we were together. Love bears all things, remember? Bears has that word of roof in it. Thank God we had a roof the last couple of days with all the rain we've got. But love covers it, covers over it, shelters. God is a refuge, it's that idea. But today we're going to look at love believes all things and we're going to see that love does not promote a blind faith. It does not promote a gullible faith. It's prudent and thoughtful, as I said. But it does involve what we might call a certain kind of godly skepticism, if I can put it that way.

Speaker 1: 6:02

There is a kind of godly skepticism. 1 John 4.1,. We hear it the apostle John, jesus' closest earthly friend, says Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world, so do not believe every spirit. There is to be a certain godly skepticism. Where to test the spirits? How you test it? By the word of God, if it lines up with the word of God, like the Bereans did in Acts 17,. They were commended by Paul for doing just that. They tested even what the apostle Paul preached and taught. And so Christians are to test. There is a godly kind of skepticism.

Speaker 1: 6:45

And Jesus says in Matthew, chapter 10, the 16th verse listen to what he says. Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents. He knew what a wolf was. There were those that would destroy God's people if they could. He knew they were out there. So he says be wise as serpents. Don't go out there gullible and innocent and naive about what's out in the world, and be innocent as doves. And so love does not throw wisdom out the window. It doesn't throw that out the window as to the realities of evil in the world. Be wise as serpents. Love is wise to the evil ways of the world.

Speaker 1: 7:30

And yet here we are in 1 Corinthians 13, and our Lord, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, says love believes all things. So how should we understand that? This is a good example of where you have to take any one phrase or statement in Scripture and let the other parts of Scripture bring light upon that for a proper understanding. So we're going to continue through this love hymn. This morning Our focus is going to be upon this phrase love believes all things that you see there in verse 7. How does this inform our personal relationships in the church and beyond this understanding of love? And what difference does having faith in the Lord have in how we love other people, particularly as it relates to love believes all things?

Speaker 1: 8:19

With that brief introduction, if you would stand, if you're able, I'm going to read from God's inerrant, infallible, holy and living word. It's sharper than any two-edged sword, and so God sends it to us in love. Let's receive it by faith and with expectation in our hearts. Verse one if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

Speaker 1: 9:36

This ends the reading of God's holy word. God's people said amen, you may be seated. Thank you, father. We know your word does not come back void, and so we ask, lord, that you would fulfill your purposes in it today. Open the eyes and ears of our hearts and help us, lord, to see the glory of the love of Christ, amen. So love believes all things you could say. Love trusts all things you could say. Love trusts all things. Love trusts all things.

Speaker 1: 10:08

So it's not suspicious, it's not cynical, it's not judgmental toward other people. Love would rather be taken advantage of than wrong a brother by unfriendly suspicion. Here's the scary part about love it risks than wrong a brother by unfriendly suspicion. Here's the scary part about love it risks. If we're going to be a loving people, we have to risk. There's no way around that in a fallen world. Love risks. It's willing to make itself vulnerable. Love opens itself up to trust other people.

Speaker 1: 10:52

John Calvin says love is willing to risk giving others the benefit of the doubt. That means sometimes we're going to get burned. Are we willing to love knowing that sometimes we're just going to get burned? And yet that is what God calls us to do and to be. It involves believing the best about people. Da Carson says love avoids being cynical. Why? Because love prefers to be generous. Generous in what way? Generous in its openness and acceptance. It prefers to be generous towards other people.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Love prefers to see other people in the best light. That's what Westtown Church should be filled with when people come in they should see. People prefer to see others in the best light. That's what God is making us to be. He's growing us to be this kind of a people, and so love has this desire and preference to see the best in other people until the facts actually demand otherwise.

Speaker 1: 12:13

But even then, even then, love still requires us to be gracious and as gentle as possible. That's a high calling, isn't it? But don't we see that in Christ? If you're a Christian here this morning, don't you see that? That's how our Savior is with us Gracious and gentle. He knows the facts about us, but he's gracious and gentle. He knows the facts about us, but he's gracious and gentle.

Speaker 1: 12:48

It doesn't mean that when the clear evidence and facts are in, we remain gullible. And it doesn't mean that we pretend and live in a fantasy world. That's not what it's saying. That's not what God expects of us. He does not expect us to deny reality. No, I remember one of my elders at a previous church had a little saying. Some of you have probably heard it when people show you who they are, what Believe them? When people show you who they are, believe them. Now, there's a sense in which love actually does do that. But oftentimes, when we say that, we get cynical and we harden up and we use that kind of a statement instead of saying well, that's a painful thing to know, but I'm going to love them anyway. It's very easy for us to harden our hearts.

Speaker 1: 13:48

When the Romans and Jews of Jesus' day, they were filled with hatred and they nailed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God, on that cross. They had beaten Him and stripped Him and mocked Him and spit upon Him and pressed that crown of thorns into his head. And they showed Jesus in those moments who they were, and Jesus definitely believed them. He saw the reality before him and yet he loved them. How do we know that him? And yet he loved them. How do we know that? Well, we know it because, right then and there, every nerve ending in his body was on fire and his soul was drinking something that the thieves on each side were not drinking in that moment the cup of hell from God's wrath being poured out upon him for our sins. And yet he bowed his sacred head and prayed Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And so, yes, when people show you who they are, believe them. But then go ahead and love them. And sometimes we fail at that, don't we? And we need to ask God to forgive us, and he is happy to do that in Christ. Christ prayed for God, the Father, to forgive them. Because what? Because he clearly saw their sin, otherwise he wouldn't be praying for their forgiveness. He saw their wrong. He saw the wickedness, indeed, of what they had done. He saw the reality and yet loved them to the end, just like he did the disciples in the upper room.

Speaker 1: 15:41

The beautiful heart of Jesus Christ. The beautiful heart of Jesus Christ. The beautiful heart, the sinless, loving heart of Christ. And what is Christ showing us? The heart of God? If we see the Son, we see the Father. And so, when love believes all things, it's not gullible. Yet love desires to see the best in other people. This world is trying to train us to not see the best in other people. The Holy Spirit is growing us to see the best in other people. We're called to be tenderhearted. Jesus says we're to even love our enemies. We could spend a whole sermon talking about the different aspects of love, the way I'm going to love my wife is going to be a bit different than how I love my enemies, but nevertheless, love it is. Love, desires to see the best in others, tender hearted Loving our enemies, even as Christ loved us when he was upon that cross, suffering not for His sins but for ours.

Speaker 1: 17:02

The world doesn't understand that kind of love, because it's a divine love. It's a divine love. It's not natural. It comes from the working of the Holy Spirit within a believer. The world says how does the world operate? Oh, no, no way, they're not going to take advantage of me. No, sir, I've been down that road before, I'm not doing that again.

Speaker 1: 17:34

And just like that, the hardness of the heart is there. But you see, we have to pause in God's house this morning and look upon Jesus and look at that cross, and you and I are all challenged to say what if God's heart was like that? Where, oh no, what if the last time we sin, god says that's it. I'm not opening my heart up to them anymore? Aren't you glad God's heart is not that way?

Speaker 1: 18:15

The holy love of God. Where would our hope be found if it wasn't for Christ, if God, who is all wise and all knowing about us. He knows the best in us and he knows the vilest and the worst in us, and yet he loves us. And he knows the vilest and the worst in us, and yet he loves us and he remains open to us. We see that with the thief on the cross one who lived a life of crime, remember he says to Jesus oh, me and the other thief over there, we deserve to be up here getting the death penalty, but not you. You didn't do anything wrong, we deserve it. And yet when he repented of his sins and he cast himself by faith upon Christ, christ, his heart was open and standing ready and accepted him in full and says today, this very day, you'll be with me in paradise. What a beautiful heart Christ has. So God's love, it's not gullible, but it's tender, it's accepting, and he receives and saves those who humbly confess their sins and are willing to turn away from their sin and they trust in Christ.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Let me put it a different way Christian love believes all things because it knows God's not dead. Christians believe all things because we know God is not dead. We remember how great and powerful and gracious he is. We know that the God of love who created all things out of what? Nothing but the power of his word. Christian love knows that after darkness, light. We serve a God who shines the light into the darkness. We serve a God who shines the light into the darkness, and so love never loses faith in others. Where do we see that God shines the light into the darkness? We see it in creation, we see it during the time of the Reformation, we see it at every conversion. This is why, in Genesis 1, in the creation account, you'll notice, if we had written the account we would have said and there was morning and there was evening the first day, and there was morning and there was evening the second day. But that's not what it says. It says and there was evening and there was morning the first day. The light comes up and shines into the darkness and we see that most beautifully in Christ.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Christian love knows the God of love who sends shockwaves of fear and trembling through the corridors of hell when, well, at one point, at the birth of a Jewish baby named Jesus, in this sleepy little town of Bethlehem. And Jesus came to do what? Not to condemn condemn the world but to save the world, to save sinners, to save his people from our sins, sins against him and God, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Christian love knows the God of love who, in the person of his son, he puts on flesh and bone and suffers and dies for lost and rebellious sinners. Sin is rebellion against God. It's not a mere imperfection, it's rebellion against God, it's hatred toward God. And yet Christ died for us. And so love never loses faith in others because we see something of Christ in how he acted toward us. Faith never loses, or love never loses faith in others, not so much because of other people but because God is not dead and Christ on the third day was risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit transforms the spiritually dead. And the Holy Spirit matures and grows the Christian to be more and more loving. And you see, when we write people off, we're basically saying God's dead, he has no plans for that person. Aren't you glad Christ didn't do that with us? This is our God.

Speaker 1: 22:39

Christian love knows the God of love who is so powerful he uses death to defeat death who takes what looks like defeat and is an infinite power and wisdom and love. He turns that which looks like ultimate defeat into ultimate victory for the whole world. And this is why love does not grow cynical. Love believes all things in our personal relationships, because that same God who defeats death through death. It's the same yesterday, today and forever. And so what relationship cannot God restore? What marriage can he not heal? Who do we need to forgive today?

Speaker 1: 23:33

Christian love knows the God of love. Do you remember when he brought the prodigal home? And the prodigal son comes home? God brought him home, he saved the thief on the cross, he saved the greatest persecutor in the history of the church. And then this persecutor of the church called himself the foremost of sinners. And then God took him and he transformed him by his sovereign grace and then made him the lead apostle to the entire Gentile world. We know him as the apostle Paul. And so love, though it is wise and faces reality, it's, it's not suspicious and cynical and judgmental. Love believes all things. Love believes in the sour, sovereign power and grace of god, and that's very important because that should impact how we go about our relationships in life.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Steve Ires says loving people never forgets that God is still at work in the midst of a lost and dying world. And if he's still at work in a lost and dying world. He's still at work, in the life of his people and in Westtown Church. Amen. And that means our future is bright. God is not dead. Here's another way to put it. It is faith that works through love. Our understanding and trust of God is what enables us to love other people in the way God expects. Galatians 5, 6,.

Speaker 1: 25:15

Faith works through love. This is the distinctive of Christian love. It's the vision that God has given us of himself by his Holy Spirit, through Christ, which enables us then to apply that to our relationships in life. And so our faith is not first and foremost in humanity or other people. It's first and foremost in God, who isn't done with other people. It's not by our faith in fellow sinners per se, but in the church we realize that God is alive, god is at work. God is not done with you and me yet Praise the Lord for that. And so we don't write things off and people off. Love believes all things. Love never loses faith in other people and what God will do in us and in one another.

Speaker 1: 26:16

Here's another way to put it when we look at the cross, we see sin does not get the last word. God does. Death does not get the last word. God does. Satan does not get the last word, god does. God does all things, infinitely wise and perfect and well. And so we look out upon the world and we see the sin in the world and we see sin in ourselves and we realize and tell ourselves again we don't deny seeing it for what it is, but at the same time, by faith, we know that the one who is in us is greater than he who is in the world and greater than the sin in ourselves and in other people. And this is what helps us love other people, not give up on other people. We can face reality and yet go ahead and love them as Christ. We can face reality and yet go ahead and love them as Christ.

Speaker 1: 27:25

Is anything impossible for God? Remember Psalm 46,. God says Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. And then he goes on to say the Lord, the covenant, lord of hosts, is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. And so we remember the greatness of God, we remember the grace of God, the power of God and the goodness of God, as we sang earlier. And that is what guards us from being suspicious and cynical and judgmental of other people in our relationships.

Speaker 1: 28:09

Love wears a hard hat. Some Sunday, I think we should all just come in here with yellow hard hats, because it knows it lives in the midst of God's construction zone. We live in a construction zone of God's sovereign grace and power and love. That's what should guard our hearts and our relationships, and that's why love not only believes the best in others, but it does more than that it never loses faith in other people. Why? Because our God reigns.

Speaker 1: 28:47

I ask you this morning who have you written off? May each man and woman and child search their own heart. Is there someone in your life you have just written off? I'm done with them. Is there somebody in your family, in the church, at work? Let me put it a different way who have you quit praying? For? God is sovereign and he does what he pleases, and he has not done yet.

Speaker 1: 29:29

Listen to this great hymn. I love this hymn. This is my father's, oft so strong. God is the ruler. Yet this is my Father's world. Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is king. Let the heavens ring, god reigns. Let earth be glad. Yes, the world's a mess. Yes, the church is often a mess. Yes, our hearts are often a mess. God is not dead. He's the ruler yet, and he's not done and he reigns. And so love believes all things and our dealings with other people.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Here's how one commentator puts it. I like it. Love gazes on the strengths and virtues of other people and only glances at their flaws and sins. You see, it sees them, yes, but it gazes on their strengths, trying to see the best in them. It doesn't make light of sin, but it doesn't fixate and highlight their sins and failures, and it's not judgmental. Now, christians are called to make right judgments. If there's one verse that's been abused by the world, their favorite Bible verse is what Judge not. They forget to read a couple of verses later where Jesus calls some people spiritual dogs, a couple verses later where Jesus calls some people spiritual dogs. So at least Jesus was calling the balls and strikes as he saw them. But no, we're to judge, we're to see things rightly, but we're not to be judgmental. There's a difference. We're to see things, we're to see the best the facts demand. We're to see the best until the facts demand otherwise.

Speaker 1: 31:24

Think of Job's friends. What was wrong with Job's friends? What did they do? They knew just enough theology to use it as a machete or a club. Job was a godly man, a righteous man. We know that from the beginning. He lost his ten children. He lost his wife to bitterness. He lost his 10 children. He lost his wife to bitterness. He lost all his wealth. He lost his livestock, his health and so forth. His life was devastated. And here come his friends to comfort him, and I put comfort in quotes. Here they come and they failed him as friends. They did not love him as friends. Why? Because they did not believe all things about Job. They believed they had the inside track.

Speaker 1: 32:10

One of his friends, job 15, eliphaz is your wickedness not great and your iniquities infinite? You see, you must be suffering because of your sin. You see, they assumed the worst about Job and they had no warrant for that. And even if they had, where was their compassion for a fellow sinner? John, chapter 9, you remember the judgmental we'd call them church-going folks? But John 9, they asked Jesus about the man born blind. You remember what they said? Who sinned Him or his parents? That must be why he's blind. What does Jesus say? Neither, but that God would be glorified. And then he went and he healed them. He healed that man. Sometimes our suffering is just that. God would be glorified in and through our suffering.

Speaker 1: 33:12

So judgmental people they love to cherry pick a biblical truth and apply it to a particular case or person, without any warrant, without compassion, self-righteous Pharisees. We see this in the Gospels, in Matthew, chapter 23. Jesus says to them you strain out a gnat and you swallow a camel. They were picking about tiny flaws with other people, real or perceived, pointing the fingers at others. Why? Because it would make themselves feel righteous. That's one of the key reasons they did it. They wanted to highlight the sins in others, because it made them feel more self-righteous. And you see, this is why the gospel is so important in our relationships, when we understand that righteousness comes to us as a gift through faith in Christ. It's not something we establish or we earn. It comes as a gift. We don't have to do that in our relationships. We don't have to then make ourselves feel more self-righteous or better by cutting other people down. The gospel frees us in our relationships to love other people in an unjudgmental way, in the best way, in a Christ-like way.

Speaker 1: 34:19

Love believes all things. It's really just an application of the golden rule, isn't it? Ask yourself, you remember the golden rule. Jesus says in Matthew 7, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Everything the law and the prophets taught about human relationships. You can summarize it in this Treat other people as you would wish to be treated. Do you want other people to see the best in you or the worst? Do you want them to be cynical about you, judgmental about you, suspicious about you? This is just an application of the golden rule. Love believes all things.

Speaker 1: 34:57

Remember St Augustine, the greatest theologian of the first millennium of the church, maybe even the first 1500 years. He had a mother, godly mother. How many great theologians came from godly mothers who prayed and loved them. Augustine was not living right. He was living an ungodly life. He was living with a woman he wasn't married to. He was dabbling in this worldly philosophy then, that worldly philosophy, and what was his mother doing, the whole time Praying for him?

Speaker 1: 35:29

Love believes all things. You see, by faith, her vision of God. She believed God wasn't done with her son yet and she prayed. And God honored those prayers. And so we love well, not so much by our faith in other people per se, but by our faith in God. Think of the godly father, the prodigal son. The son lived a wild life. His wayward son begins to come home. But love believes all things. How do we know that as soon as the father sees the son on that horizon, the second he sees him, he's running toward him. What does that mean? His father was expectant, he was just waiting, and as soon as he saw him, he took off running. Love believes all things.

Speaker 1: 36:30

Remember the apostle Peter. Jesus says to him you're going to deny me three times. And then Jesus goes on to tell Peter Satan wants you to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. I think I told you before. It's worth telling you again.

Speaker 1: 36:46

Robert Murray McChain, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Christ was praying for Peter and he's praying for you and me in glory, and his prayers are for us, for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all those God has determined to save from every tribe, tongue and nation. They will not fail, dear Christian. This is the love of Christ. Aren't you glad he didn't write us off? We owe that to other people if we're going to show them the greatness of the love of God, so let's pray and ask for God's help. Father, we come now before you and we're thankful that you're gracious and powerful and good to us, and we desire to show that same kind of love to other people. Keep us wise as serpents. Keep us innocent as doves. Help us face reality. But, lord, help us to think the best of people and even when they fail, help us to love them as you have loved us. In Jesus' name we pray. God's people said amen. Well, we come now to the Lord's Supper. It's always a joy to come to the Lord's Supper.

Speaker 1: 38:15

Why does God give us the sacraments? So that he can help deepen the assurance of our faith. There are other reasons, but I always like to remind God's people that that's the central reason. There's nothing deficient in God's word, but our faith is often weak. So he gives us the sacraments to give us that extra assurance. He also gives us the sacraments to remind us that he loves not just our souls but our bodies as well. One day he will raise them from the dead, and so we touch these physical elements.

Speaker 1: 38:44

To remind us of that as well, I'm going to read to you from 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. The Apostle Paul says For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus. On the night when he was betrayed, he 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. And in the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So Jesus gave us this sacrament to strengthen our faith, to remind us that we're saved not by the greatness of our faith but by the greatness of our Savior.

Speaker 1: 39:37

I just came across a saying last night and I thought it was so good I had to send it to a couple pastor buddies of mine. It was by Samuel Rutherford. I don't know if you know Samuel Rutherford, that's for another day, but he was a great, godly man who suffered much in England. But he said I hang by a thread, but it is of Christ's spinning. He was secure in Christ, as weak as he felt. Sometimes our faith is weak, and this sacrament is to remind you that you may be hanging by a thread, by faith in Christ, but that thread is by Christ's spinning and it will not break. He will hold you, he will keep you and he will bring you home. That which God began, he'll complete.

Speaker 1: 40:27

So we come to this table this morning. Who's the table for? Well, the scriptures teach and our denomination, I think, is right, and they're teaching in this that this table is a reminder that we're all saved by God's grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, and it's not by our works but by the works of Christ. So this bread reminds us that Christ's body was broken for us, he suffered for us. The wine reminds us, he paid the ultimate price, he shed his blood, in other words. And so in this sacrament, we're called not so much to focus on the bread and the wine themselves. And so in this sacrament, we're called not so much to focus on the bread and the wine themselves, but in this bread and wine where God, by His Spirit, mysteriously communes with us in a special way to strengthen us for our service to His glory.

Speaker 1: 41:15

So if you've made a public profession of faith, if you've been baptized, you don't have to be a member of this church, but you need to be a member of some church where you're under oversight. The scriptures clearly teach the elders are to be in charge of a table. So if that's you, we want to invite you and share this table. This is not Pastor Corey's table, it's not Westtown Church's table, it's the table of the Lord, and so we practice open communion in that way today.

Speaker 1: 41:45

But if you've never made a public profession of faith, if you haven't yet been baptized, the proper order would be baptism and then coming to the table, as the elders or the church leaders of your church invite you to the table. But whether you're a believer or not, this can be a profitable time for you, and I'm glad that you're here. We're glad that you're here and take this time this morning, if you haven't yet done those things, to think on your relationship with God and to profit from this sacrament nonetheless, to realize that we're saved by what Christ has done, not by what we've done. That, in the end, is what the bread and the wine are all about. Jesus did for us. He paid the ultimate penalty and he fulfilled all the obligations of the law that we could live with God now and forevermore, in both body and soul.