Our scripture reading this evening is from the book of Acts, chapter 20, verses 17 through 32. Acts 20, 17 through 32. Hear the word of God. And from Elitas, he, that is Paul, sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the line and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone, night and day, with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Thus far, the reading of God's precious word. With God's help this evening, we want to look at Acts 20, verse 21. Paul is talking here about his ministry to the Ephesians. And he summarizes it in this statement that this was his goal from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. And then here it comes, his whole summary of his ministry. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to do that in conjunction with Lord's Day 30 of our Heidelberg Catechism, which offers us questions 80 through 82. The focus tonight will be mostly on question 81. It reads this way. Question 80, what difference is there between the Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass? The Lord's Supper testifies to us that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross, and that we, by the Holy Ghost, are engrafted into Christ who, according to his human nature, is now not on earth but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and will there be worshipped by us. But the Mass teaches that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests. And further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them. so that the mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry. Question 81. For whom is the Lord's Supper instituted? For those who are truly sorrowful for their sins, and yet trust that these are forgiven them for the sake of Christ, and that their remaining infirmities are covered by his passion and death. and who also earnestly desire to have their faith more and more strengthened and their lives more holy. But hypocrites and such as turn not to God with sincere hearts, eat and drink judgment to themselves. And 82, are they also to be admitted to the supper who by confession in life declare themselves unbelieving and ungodly. No, for by this the covenant of God would be profaned and his wrath kindled against the whole congregation. Therefore, it is the duty of the Christian church, according to the appointment of Christ and his apostles, to exclude such persons by the keys of the kingdom of heaven till they show amendment of life." Well, with God's help, our theme then tonight is, how can I partake of the Lord's Supper properly? And first, by understanding its true meaning, and second, by being a true participant. Well, Question 80 is the one question that was added to the Catechism after it was initially written in 1563. It was added at the request of John Kelvin. He saw the Catechism just before he died, He loved it, but he said to Olivianus, one of the two authors, I miss a question here condemning the Roman Catholic mass. Now, that does not make, because of the strong language here in question 80, the catechism to be a strongly polemical document. The Catechism, you know, is written as a positive presentation of the truth. Very little polemical material is included. It's implied at places, but it's not in real strong language. But Calvin persuaded Olivianus, and rightly so, that since this was such an abominable sin in God's sight, that Jesus Christ, according to the priests in the Roman Catholic Church, would continue to be offered every day, when the Bible is so clear that He was offered once for all, and all the sacrificing is done, that they decided that Calvin was right, and they should put a strong question in about the Roman Catholic Mass. Now it's interesting, when they did so, And I won't prolong this because you heard a bit about it last week from Lord's Day 29. But when they did so, they begin the answer by a positive statement, don't they? They actually say what the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is. Before in the second half of the answer, they contrast this positive statement with the contrary convictions of the Roman Catholic Church. So as I read it, you heard me stress the words all and full and only, but let me read it again and think of this as a definition of a proper understanding of the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper testifies to us that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He has once accomplished. the cross and that we by the Holy Ghost are engrafted into Christ who according to his human nature is now not on earth but in heaven at the right hand of his father and will there be worshiped by us so the whole point you see of the Reformed and biblical understanding of the Lord's Supper is that everything in the Lord's Supper reflects on God's grace it is sola gratia Grace alone, the word alone functions here. Faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, glory to God alone. This word alone is the hallmark of the Reformation, and they stamp the Lord's Supper with that hallmark as well. This is something that we partake of, which just magnifies the stupendous, amazing grace of Jesus Christ alone. So all the language here conveys to us that Jesus does a full work in salvation, that everything is done for 100%, that all we do is receive, you see, the grace of God in the Lord's Supper, strengthening thereby our faith, because it is all in God, all in His grace. Now if even 1% our salvation dependent on us, on anything in us, you see, then it would be bad news. It wouldn't be good news, because we we would fail. And that's exactly, you see, where the whole Roman Catholic system of theology is coming from. That yes, God saves us by grace, but it's also our works that save us. And so, the doctrine of the Lord's Supper is just another doctrine where they mix things together. It's not just grace alone, but it's also what man does. In this case, what the priest does. The word mass comes, as you probably know, from a Latin expression, etta mesa est, which the priest speaks. meaning you are sent away when the Mass is offered, then the idea was that all children, all non-members of the church would be sent away. And after they were sent away, the priests would then supposedly consecrate the words, this is my body, of the wafer, and this is my blood of the wine. And as he did so, the Roman Catholic Church teaches till today that somehow, magically, amazingly, even though it doesn't look like it, that bread is no more bread. That bread is now the actual physical body. of Jesus Christ. And the wine is the actual, physical blood. And I mean that in the most possible, literal way. That's how they interpret the text. This is my blood. Drink of it. This is the blood you're drinking. So, this is known, as we heard last week, as the doctrine of transubstantiation. Trans means to cross over. To cross over the substance. The substance is no longer bread and wine. The substance now, by the power of the priest, transfers over, becomes the actual blood and the actual body of Jesus. And those who see it then, those who see this happen, then grace is communicated to them virtually by seeing the sacrament happen, by seeing the bread and the wine. and believing that they are changed into the very body and blood of Jesus. So this gives the power to the priest to distribute the merits of Jesus to you in the form of bread and wine. Now, the Roman Catholics, after the Reformers rejected this doctrine, the Roman Catholics had a long council that went on for 18 years. 1545 to 1563. And it finished just at the time the Heidelberg Catechism was written. So Calvin lived through all those years and the Council of Trent pronounced in 1563 that anyone, anyone who believes the doctrine that Jesus Christ is not physically present in the Lord's Supper is to be regarded as anathema maranatha, let him be accursed of God. Now you can imagine that's very fresh in Calvin's mind as he's reading this document. And so Calvin says, no, we need to answer this back and say, it's not we who are accursed, But this doctrine, not even you Roman Catholics are accursed. Calvin's much more merciful here than the Roman Catholics were to the Reformed. But the doctrine is accursed of God. The doctrine that Jesus would be offered afresh in His physical body, His physical blood, every single day. When Hebrews 10.14 says, by one offering, not by repeated offerings, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified through His death on the cross. It is all done. It can never be repeated. You see, therefore, repeating it every day is an accursed idolatry. You're sitting the Lord's Supper, the Mass, as they would call it, above what Christ has accomplished. Hence it's an idolatry. So that's what is being roundly condemned here, and rightly so. This is an affront to the scriptural teaching. Now that leaves one question I want to answer now, and then we'll move on to 81. How can Rome even advocate such a bizarre doctrine that is so foreign to the Scriptures? And the answer is quite simple. What we often don't understand about Roman Catholicism is that when the canon is closed, as we say it, Revelation 22, they say, no, there are two forms of supernatural special revelation. One is the Bible, and they include the 14 books of the Apocrypha in it, by the way, But the second is papal authoritative statements, ex cathedra, that is from the papal chair, authoritative statements, are the very inspired acts of God. They are ongoing revelation. And so if the pope decides that the Lord's Supper is the actual very body and the very blood of Jesus in the form of the bread and wine, that's what it is. Because God has given him that revelation. If he decides as he did, one of the popes decided anyway, I think it was 1844, that Mary had never ever sinned in her entire life. and therefore did not need a savior for herself. And she's a kind of co-mediator with Jesus. Well, then you can pray to Mary, you see. And then even if the Bible says that Mary said to Elizabeth, I rejoice in God, my savior. You can't have a savior without being a sinner. Somehow we interpret that wrongly, you see. Because the Pope said she's never sinned. That's the end of the story. So it's very hard for us Protestants to grasp this. But whatever the Pope pronounces ex cathedra is considered additional revelation. And if that seems to contradict the Bible, then we must not be understanding the Bible rightly, the Roman Catholics would say. And the Pope has the authority to interpret the Bible for you, not you for yourself. You can interpret for yourself as long as you agree with the Pope. We need to understand that in Roman Catholicism, there is a very serious problem that there are two lines of so-called equal authority. One is the Bible and the other is papal statements that are official. But you see, in effect, the papal statement trumps the scripture when the two contradict because the Pope has said so. And so this is just one of those. This erroneous, strange idea about the body and the blood of Jesus. And actually, it was the greatest controversy of all in the Protestant Reformation. And so we need to be aware of that still today and not water this down. It's not that Roman Catholic Church has changed its opinion on any of these things. You can go to the modern Catholic catechism and it's right there in black and white. You and I are accursed when we believe that the bread and the wine symbolizes, signifies, seals the blood in the body of Christ, but we eat of it spiritually and not physically. And so we need to understand it's a very serious thing, a very serious error that Rome is espousing here. What does it mean, what do we need to have, in other words, to be a true participant of the Lord's Supper? Today there are many Protestants that are in serious error about this. If you've grown up in a church, if you've made confession of faith, if you've participated in various church activities, if you've been baptized, The implication is, everything is right with your soul, and you have freedom to come to the Lord's table just as you are, even if the marks of grace, the marks of experiential grace that must occur in our heart, in our lives, are not present. And you see, that's also a very serious error. And our instructors pick up on that in question 81. For whom is the Lord's Supper instituted? For those only who are truly sorrowful for their sins. So think the first section of the catechism, our sin and misery. And yet trust that these are forgiven them for the sake of Christ. Think the second section of the catechism, deliverance. And who also earnestly desire to have their faith more and more strengthened and their lives more holy. Think the third section of the catechism, gratitude and sanctification. But hypocrites and such as turn not to God with sincere hearts, eat and drink judgment to themselves. So it's interesting that in the catechism, we're actually presented with the same three marks that the whole catechism is expounding. These are the basic marks of true conversion based on the word of God. This is the whole order of the book of Romans, for example. Romans 1-3 is talking about experiencing our sin and misery, 4-5 about experiencing deliverance in Christ, and 6-16 about living a lifestyle of gratitude and sanctification. Or individual verses, like Psalm 50, verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble, when you're convicted of your sin, I will deliver thee, deliver you in Christ, and thou shalt glorify me. Sanctification, gratitude. These are the three major marks that you need to know experientially to be saved. And therefore, since the Lord's Supper is for those who are saved, to come to the Lord's Supper as well. See, once you are saved, once you are born again, you have the seeds of these three marks already planted in you. And the Bible tells us, 1 Corinthians 11, 28, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and of that cup. And so what our forefathers are telling us in question 81 is that the way we examine ourselves is we ask ourselves, do I know this sincere sorrow of heart, this repentance, Do I know what it means to trust in Christ alone for my salvation? That is, faith in Christ. And do I know what it means to yearn for this holy life, this life of gratitude and sanctification? Now, in our circle, sometimes there are people who still don't understand this, even though we've been preaching this for decades. These are the basic marks of conversion. If you can say that I'm truly sorrowful for my sins because I've sinned against God, I truly have all my faith for salvation put in Jesus Christ alone, and I yearn that I wish all sin in me were dead, and I yearn to live a life of holiness and gratitude. See, Satan won't teach you that. You can never teach yourself these three things in the depths of your soul. And therefore, if this is true within you, you have a divine right to partake of the Lord's Supper. Now, but I've read books and I've read other things of people that have really extraordinary experiences that I don't have, and I don't have any of that. Never mind. Coming to the Lord's Supper, does not mean that you have extraordinary experiences or that you have extraordinary degrees of assurance of faith. The Lord's Supper is designed to strengthen weak faith. But it does mean you need faith. It does mean you need the basic marks of salvation. And these are an experiential awareness of my sin and misery, deliverance in Christ, gratitude something that all three of them of course going beyond a mere head knowledge that this is what I need these things must be true in my soul so the first mark then is simply repentance repentance true repentance now we ought to be able to discern I know there's some difficult cases and But we ought to be able to discern, have I ever become truly sorrowful? Not just saying I'm sorry. You can do that easily. They're cheap words sometimes. But truly sorrowful in the depths of my soul that I have sinned against a holy and a righteous and a loving God. And not only has that happened once in my life, but is it still ongoing? Does it still grieve me that I continue to sin against a well-doing God? If you can't say yes to that question, you don't belong at the Lord's Supper. It's that simple. Paul says in our text that he went about preaching from house to house repentance toward God. You're not saved if you're not living a penitent lifestyle. That's why Martin Luther put as one of, I think it's thesis number two or three of his 95 theses, God would have his people live lifelong repentance. The answer doesn't say here, for those who were truly sorrowful once in the past for their sins. No, it says for those who are truly sorrowful for their sins. So if you treat sin lightly, your daily life. You say, oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm saved by grace only. This is the antinomian way of thinking, as you know. I'm saved by grace only. It doesn't matter if I sin. You're not saved. A believer is someone who understands sorrow in relationship to sin. It grieves me. It makes me feel like Paul. The good that I would, I find myself not doing. The evil that I would not, I find myself doing. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? And so those who partake of the Lord's Supper rightly don't just grieve over sin because of its consequences, but they grieve over sin because they sin against God. holy, well-doing God, whom I love. Boys and girls, I've used this example before some years ago, but let me use it again. If your dad was going down the highway and he got stopped by a policeman, and the policeman gave him a ticket because he was going a bit too fast, your dad would not look at the policeman and say, I'm so sorry, I'm so grieved. that I've sinned against you and broken the law, would you please forgive me?" Because he doesn't feel that relationship of love to that policeman the way you would feel toward your mother, for example. If you sinned against your mother, how bad you would feel. Because why? Because you love her. Now, we should love policemen as well, don't get me wrong. But I'm talking about this deep relationship of love like you have with your mother. You don't have that with a policeman or people that you just meet on occasion. And so when you're a Christian, you see, it grieves you most of all, not because you're going to be punished, not because you're going to get a ticket for sinning, but because you offend the God, the Holy God, who deserves so much better from you, whom you love. That's when you're truly sorrowful. If you love someone, if you love your spouse, you don't. You don't want to offend them. You don't want to sin against them. And so, you see, lots of people are sorry they've sinned because of the consequences of sin. But our instructor's talking here about true sorrow. This is what Paul preached to the people. Repentance toward God, not just repentance because of my, well, my consequences of sin that have accrued to me." No, no, no. Esau repented. He saw a place of repentance with tears, but he wasn't sorry toward God. Judas said, I have sinned and that I betrayed innocent blood. He felt so bad he killed himself, but he wasn't sorry toward God. So that's the question. Are you truly sorrowful for your sins before God. 2 Corinthians 7.10 says, Godly sorrow works repentance through salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world works death. So what kind of sorrow do you have? Do you have a God-centered sorrow? Do you grieve that you sin against God? Or are you just sorrowing over, well, sin itself that didn't bring you the happiness that you were looking for? Or sorrow because you're afraid of hell? You see, our forefathers, based on especially Paul's epistles, distinguished between legal repentance and evangelical repentance. And sometimes people wrestle with that before they come to the Lord's Supper. Is my sorrow deep enough? Or is my sorrow truly evangelical? Well, let me give you a few quick marks here and you can discern. Illegal repentance only flows from a sense of danger and a fear of wrath. Is that all the further your repentance goes? Evangelical repentance is a true mourning for sin and an earnest desire to be delivered from sin. I wish all sin in me were dead. That's what a true sorrow can say. I wish I could just fear God perfectly, even though I know I can't. So that's mark number one, as it were, or examination number one. Number two, illegal repentance flows from unbelief. And evangelical repentance flows out of saving faith. Saving faith and repentance belong together. As I grieve over sin, I throw myself at the same time at the feet of Jesus and say, have mercy upon me, I believe in thee alone for salvation. Repentance and faith are like two sides of one coin. You can't have one without the other. When you believe, you penitently believe. When you repent, you believingly repent. And so you can examine yourself by that. Do you have that sorrow that nonetheless throws you at the feet of Jesus, saying, I believe not only in God, but also in you, Lord Jesus, as my only hope, my only hope of salvation? Number three, illegal repentance actually flows from a kind of rejection of God or an aversion to God and to his law. When you're a legal repentant person, you don't love the law of God. You don't love God. Evangelical repentance flows out of love to God and love for his law. So when God says, All things work together for good to those who love me. And you can honestly say, Lord, I'll knowest all things. I'll knowest that I love thee, and I also hate sin. That is evangelical repentance. And so you have then the first mark that our forefathers said you need to come to the Lord's Supper, a sorrow over sin. Mark number four here, a legal repentance ordinarily flows from discouragement and despondency. But evangelical repentance is accompanied with a confiding trust in the mercy of God. When the publican came into the back of the temple, what did he do? He smote upon his breast. And what did he say? God be merciful to me, a sinner. He had a confiding trust in God, in God's mercy. even as he had a grievous sorrow for his sin. Number five, illegal repentance is almost always temporary. It's an impression for a while, and then it wears off, the conscience gets hardened, the more. But when a person sins, there's some temporary conviction. But evangelical repentance is the daily exercise of the Christian. If you're a Christian, every day you say, Lord, forgive my sins. And you mean it. You mean it because your sins bother you. Your indwelling sin especially. Even though you're forgiven, you just want to please God. And number six, illegal repentance produces only a partial and external reformation. Evangelical repentance. produces a change of heart. Our forefathers talked about a universal turning from sin. That is to say, I want every area of my life to be free from sin. I don't want to say, okay, I'm going to be free from sin when I attend church, but on Monday in my business dealings, I'm going to be shady. No, no, no. Evangelical repentance wants to dedicate my whole life to God. I want to turn from every sin in every area of my life. So, the question I ask you then is, do you have legal repentance, perhaps, and no more? Or do you have an evangelical repentance? I don't ask you if you have as much evangelical repentance as you want. We always want more if we're a true believer. But do you have a sorrow for sin? against the God you love. Now, the second mark of examining myself here is the mark of faith. The mark of faith. Our instructor puts it this way, yet trust that these are forgiven them for the sake of Christ. Now, Christ is the object of faith for every penitent sinner. from Genesis, through the book of Revelation, to the end of the world. There's only one object of faith. One object of faith, Jesus Christ. If your object of faith is anything else, if it's your orthodoxy, if it's your unbiblical mysticism, if it's your mere emotions, if it's your tears, if it's your experiences, you do not belong at the Lord's Supper. We don't come to remember anything of us. We come to the Lord's Supper to remember Christ. who is my total faith, my total salvation, my only hope for this life and for a better one to come. And so, God's people can tell you this, that when they've come to the Lord's Supper, remembering other things beside Christ, they go back empty-handed. They go back feeling they've received nothing. It's when you come to the Lord's Supper and you focus your faith on the object of faith, which is Jesus, And you remember His sufferings, His resurrection, His intercession, what He's doing for you right now, and how unworthy you are to receive what He's doing for you. That's when you're moved. That's when you're humbled. That's when you worship. That's when you fall before Him and crown Him Lord of all. That's what faith does. Faith falls into the open, outstretched arms of the Evangel, the Gospel. and it surrenders in gospel terms, and it cries out, Christ is my all and in all. He is altogether lovely. And so faith works together with repentance. Repentance bows toward God as its end, and faith bows toward Christ as the way to God. They both work together, you see. They bring me to Jesus as my only hope. for time and for eternity. And so in faith, I find the answer. Faith in Christ, I find the answer to every problem I have. Am I nothing but sin? Well, Christ came to redeem sinners, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Am I a lawbreaker? Well, He's the lawful filler, Matthew 5.17. Do I feel separated from God? He was forsaken of God that we would never be forsaken of Him, Matthew 27.46. Do I feel like I'm unrighteousness itself? He is the Lord our righteousness. Through His active and passive obedience, His double obedience, imputed to us, we are saved. Do I feel cursed? Well, He died the accursed death. Do I feel I'm under the divine wrath? Well, He's the peacemaker, the peacekeeper, the peacemeritor, the peaceapplier. Am I hell worthy? He descended into the essence of hell to deliver sinners from going there forever. Do I feel condemned by the attributes of God? In Christ, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Am I foolish? He is wisdom. Am I filthy? He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Am I spiritually poor? He was rich, became poor, that poor sinners may be made rich in Him. Am I weakness? He is strength. Am I thankless? He is the thanking high priest. Am I prayerless? He's the praying high priest. You see, He's my answer for every need. faith in Christ. If you don't know what it means to be emptied of your own righteousness and put all your faith in Christ alone for salvation, you shouldn't come to the Lord's Supper. This is our only hope. There is no other salvation. Coming for any other reason but Christ is a lost cause. John Calvin says, it's not without cause that the Scripture doth everywhere make Christ the mark where at our faith must aim and set Him before us as our only object and hope of salvation. But if you do know that, if you do know what it means to say, I'm just a lost sinner but my only hope is in Christ. I trust in Him. and God's promises in him. That's my only hope. Now it doesn't mean you have to have full assurance of faith. That's a separate question. Again, it's for the weak in faith. But I need to at least be able to say this much. I know, I know that my only hope for salvation is in Christ Jesus. And though I wish I knew him better, he's my only trust. He's my only trust. So if the promises of the gospel, the promises of Christ, mean nothing to you, and you don't know what it means to have your soul go out to God and to trust Him through His Son, you don't belong at the Lord's table. For the sake of Christ, you see, that's at the center of this answer. That's at the center of the Lord's Supper. And then there's a third mark. A third mark. Those who are true partakers of the Lord's Supper, must not only be sorrowful for their sin and have their faith put in Christ alone for salvation, but they must also earnestly desire to have their faith more and more strengthened and their lives more holy. In other words, I want to be more holy. I want to conform more to the image of Christ. I want to live more a life of sanctification and holiness and gratitude to God for so great a deliverance. Now, what that means is that you would desire to be more godly, even if there were no hell, even if there were no heaven or hell, because you want to please God, the God whom you love. You want to walk in His ways. You want to walk in the King's highway of holiness. And you want your life to reflect that. And you grieve when you fall short of that. You see, that's the life of a believer. And the more we know of Christ, the more easily we see our sin. When you walk in the sunlight of the sun of righteousness, that light will shine more brightly in your life and you'll see your sin more quickly. and you'll grieve over it more. The more we know Jesus, the more we enter into that spiritual warfare against sin. So, let me ask you then, do you know something of these three things? Now, if you don't, you see, then our instructors say, well, if you come, you're being a hypocrite. You're being a hypocrite because you're not responding to the purpose of what the Lord's Supper is all about. Are they also to be admitted to this supper who by confession and life declare themselves unbelieving and ungodly? That's those who don't have these marks. Those that turn not to God with sincere hearts and bring judgment to themselves. You don't say, though, on the other hand, well, by the grace of God, I cannot deny that I have something of these three marks, but I'm still going to stay away because I'm so afraid of being a hypocrite. I'm so afraid of drinking judgment to myself. It's safer to stay away. No, no, no. You're disobeying the command of God. If you know a sorrow in your heart against God for sinning against Him, and you know Affirm trust in Christ as your only hope for salvation, and you have inside of you a desire to walk wholly before God. If you stay away from the Lord's Supper, you are then bringing darkness upon your soul, and you're disobeying the command of Jesus. As the Catechism says so simply in one of the questions, He commands me and all believers to partake of the Holy Supper. All believers, not just the strong in faith, not just the assured in faith, also the weak in faith. Also the weak in faith. Boys and girls, if you saw, if you're walking down the street one day and you saw a little penny on the ground, and you saw a hundred dollar bill lying next to it. A hundred dollar bill is worth a lot more than the penny. But the penny has the image of a president stamped on it. The hundred dollar bill has the image of a president stamped on it. Why do I say that? Well, if you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, even one penny's worth, if the image of the King of Kings is stamped upon that faith and it's of Him, the weakest faith, smallest amount of faith, even a penny's worth as it were, you're welcome at the Lord's table. Because it's to strengthen weak faith. That's the purpose of it. Don't wait until you try to get strong faith and you're denying the means to have your faith strengthened. It makes no sense at all. So that's how our forefathers have discerned the self-examination of the supper of the Lord. You see, what they're saying here is a hypocrite, first of all, doesn't have all these fears and doubts. that we're talking about tonight. It doesn't have them. A hypocrite is just confident. Oh, well, I believe Jesus is a Savior. I'm a sinner. He died for sinners, so I've accepted Him. It's done. That simple. Never mind that my life doesn't correspond with it. I don't have any angst over it. If I sin again, I just go to Jesus. No, no, no, no. That's not the life of a child of God. That's a hypocrite. A hypocrite should have fears and doubts. should be crying out for mercy. So, if you don't know anything of this continual sorrow for sin, nothing of this going out to Christ by trust, nothing of this daily warfare for holiness, please do not come to the Lord's Supper. It's not for you. It could be a cup of poison for you at that point because you're coming against the will of God. But if you do know these marks of grace, You see, you're damaging yourself by not coming to the Lord's Supper. The first partakers of the Lord's Supper, the twelve disciples, they were weak in knowledge. They were weak in faith. They were weak in courage. They were weak in patience. They were weak in understanding. There's so much they didn't understand about the gospel. But Jesus said, with great desire, I have desired to have this supper with you. See, this is the point of the Lord's Supper. Above the Lord's Supper is written these letters, if I could say it this way, figuratively, in capital letters. This man receiveth sinners. Will you go to him as a sinner or will you not? But then it adds, and eateth with them. Jesus loves to receive sinners who are sorry they sinned against him. He loves to receive sinners who put all their hope in him. He loves to receive sinners that desire to live lives of holiness. This is his own work. Satan will never teach you these three things. Your own soul will never teach you these three things. If you know these three things, you belong at the supper of the Lord. Amen. Here we are. Jason and Hannah, we are very grateful for you. We love you a lot. This church loves you a lot. And we want you to know that our prayers are going to be earnestly with you as you leave us again. And we hope you'll have a wonderful time in Wisconsin for some days, and then for a month more of training in Idaho. And we're going to be praying for you that the door will then open for you to return to Central Asia. And exactly where, you don't know yet, and neither do we, but God knows. And so we trust that He will work all things out for you. When you left us the first time, we didn't know that there actually was a form that was written and translated by Rev. Elshout for mission workers. And we thought it was appropriate, given the magnitude of your calling, that we use that form tonight. And so we want to confirm you're being sent out once more. So if you'll just stand a moment, Jason and Hannah, and I'll read this form to you and speak a few words to you, and then we'll sing together. Dear Jason and Hannah, the Heritage Reform Congregation of Grand Rapids is hereby confirming you're being sent forth to labor in the mission field. And therefore, as a servant of the gospel and on behalf of this congregation, it is our desire to commission you for this work afresh. And so we now request you to answer The following questions that everyone may hear that you are committed to this service of the Lord. Brother Jason, question one, is it your desire to be engaged in mission work on behalf of the Heritage Reform Congregations and to be employed at the Mission Aviation Fellowship? Number two, do you promise to do your work with total dedication and with all the strengths and gifts the Lord has given you and shall give you? Do you promise that in your labors you will be guided by Christian love, seeking thereby the extension of God's kingdom in word and in deed? And four, do you promise that in the performance of your task you will honor God's holy word and the three forms of unity, doing so in dependence upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit and looking to God for his indispensable blessing? What is your answer, Brother Jason, to these questions? And Sister Hannah, do you hereby promise that you shall follow your husband in this endeavor, that you will assist him in this ministry, and that by your devotion you will promote these missionary endeavors in both word and deed? What is your answer, Hannah? Well, here you stand ready to be sent out a second time. You're not novices. You know what you're getting into, and it's a big deal, and you know that. But God has worked in you a commitment to this cause, and we thank God for that. We thank God for Lina and Judah as well, and your freedom in your conscience to take your family into this great calling. Eight points of loving guidance I'm going to give you in two minutes. Loving guidance and exhortation for your call to mission work. Number one, give priority to your personal communion with God. Put your own soul and the souls of your family first. You're maintaining communion with God is a prerequisite for all your mission work. in word and in deed, and all your relationships. Number two, give priority in your work to prayer. Undertake no task assigned to you in your mission work without seeking God's face in Jesus Christ. Pray for divine provision, divine protection not only, but divine benediction over all that you do. Three, be Be blind all your life. Read the Word. Study the Word. Believe it. Pray over it. Love it. Live it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Sing it. Practice it. Let the Word be the foundation of all your ministry. Four, be profoundly thankful and humbled for the honor of being an ambassador of Jesus Christ in Central Asia. Despite all the hardships and challenges that you will face, Remain convinced you have a unique and crucial vocation in which you are to honor Christ in every situation. And people all around you, saved and unsaved, will be watching you to see if you're the real thing, if you're bona fide. And you can't be bona fide without the spirit of gratitude and humility. Five, love. Love the triune God. Love your family. Love the people that you come in contact with. Love your work. Six, maintain a radical sense of dependency on the Holy Spirit in all that you think, you say, and you do. Don't act impulsively. Lean on the Spirit. Seven, ask God to give you a very few but very close friends in your personal and work life with whom you can hold each other accountable. And that you too, Lena and Judah, that you might have good friends, find good friends in a close life with God, too, as children. And pray for your mom and dad as well. And eight, live every day with an eternal perspective, an eternal perspective that fuels your evangelistic urgency for the lost. Keep eternity in view in all that you do so that on the great day you may give a good account of your labors and may hear your master say out of the abundance of his grace, well done, thou good and faithful servants, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. and dear congregation. Two points, just two, of loving guidance and exhortation for us as church members in relationship to Jason and Hannah. One, of course, is pray for them. Pray for their souls, that they be kept in close communion with God and with each other. Pray that they would be upheld in every trial and have a close life together as a family. And pray for their work, that they would be greatly helped, that it would bear fruit, both in word and deed for time and for eternity. And number two, be interested in their work. Read carefully, prayerfully, every piece of correspondence they send our way. And you noticed already, I'm sure, at the end of their correspondence, they often put a list of prayer needs. When you see that, pray them. Pray that list one by one. They need your prayers. They need your interest. They need your love. We're going to sing from 249, and as we do so, I also wanted to say, Jason, that one more thing, actually. This has been an incredible so-called furlough, if I put it in quotes for you. You've gone through a serious surgery. You've come here earlier than you thought due to challenging circumstances, and the Lord has just done wonderful things. And now you're ready to go back, and we want to acknowledge God. After we sing, we're going to acknowledge God in prayer for this wonderful help He's given you as we send you off. Well, there is a lot of hymns and he's and hises in that song, Hannah, You have to see that generically, that's also she and her. So, the God of all grace, who in his providence has called you to this ministry, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be all glory and dominion, both now and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Great God of heaven, we lift up Jason and Hannah, Lena and Judah, And we ask that thy benediction would go with them as they undertake this major venture again. And we pray, Lord, please go before them. Please be a wonder-working God. Satan has tried to thwart their efforts, and we pray that he will be roundly defeated. And we ask, do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think. And send them forth with divine approbation, not only of this congregation, but of course, Lord, most importantly, of the triune God, thyself. Heavenly Father, redeeming Son, sanctifying Spirit, please take care of this dear family. every step of the way. Traveling across country now in Wisconsin and then all the way to Idaho, go with them every mile of the way. And in Idaho, bless that one more month of training and then open the door that they may return according to the desire of their heart to Central Asia. and be a wonder-working God for them, not only in opening the door, but in establishing and building up the ministry of Jesus Christ among those for whom and with whom and in whom they labor. Gracious God, take care of them. Give them true friends, and above all, the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And bless them abundantly. and give much prayer for them from this flock and much support from the depths of our souls. May we be behind them and be lifting them up at the throne of grace and be very interested in their work, supporting it with our prayers, with our finances, with our love, with our interest. Lord, graciously be near to this dear family. And remember, remember the parents as they say goodbye to their children again. Lord, what a bittersweet thing Sweet because of the calling they have, but bitter because they will miss their dear ones. And be especially, Lord, with them. Nell, please continue to heal her. Please continue to do wonderful things. We thank thee that she seems to be making a little progress. May this dear couple have the joy of hearing back on the mission field that Mother is altogether healed. Lord, we thank Thee so much for Jason's sacrifice for his mother. Thank Thee for blessing it so far. Please bless it further. And take care of the whole congregation. Go with us into this week, bless the sermon we've heard, and let Thy kingdom come in it and through it, that we in Christ may be made worthy partakers of the table of the Lord, all because of what Christ has done. Lord Jesus, we owe Thee everything. We are nothing, nothing but sinners, but Thou art altogether lovely, and so we thank Thee for who Thou art. We thank Thee that Thou art a friend that sticks closer than a brother, that Thou art Savior and Lord and Treasure in all and in all. We ask all this out of free grace in Jesus' name. Amen.