We are coming in our study tonight to the larger catechism number 163. And in our coming there, we are also going to make reference to the Westminster Confession in chapter 27 because these are very helpful to each other in our understanding of the sacraments. So I'm going to read the question number 163 and ask those of you who would and can to read the answer with me. Number 163, what are the parts of a sacrament? the parts of a sacrament are two, the one an outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ's own appointment, the other an inward and spiritual grace, thereby signified." To help our understanding of that, I'm reading in the larger, in the confession now. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 27, section 2. It's very short. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation or sacramental union between the sign and the thing signified. Whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one or attributed to the other. And we will, in our study tonight, look at some biblical examples of that. So, the explanation of the holy ordinances of the New Testament given in the Westminster Confession of Faith and in the larger catechism are clearly biblical. And once we understand the exposition of this truth, we will have no problem in calling them holy sacraments. Now I know that many sincere Christians wince or cringe at the thought of using the term sacrament. But we will see how very biblical this term is. And of course we know that there are some that say, yes the word sacrament obviously is just a leftover from Roman Catholicism because Roman Catholicism has what they call the seven sacraments which are not sacraments. And they have those and they say, well, that's just a leftover from them. And as I was pointing out before, they have one called the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. And sacraments really are those that Christ has instituted in the New Testament church. And now, Holy matrimony was not instituted in the New Testament church, but the Lord had so long before. In the beginning of human history, in the book of Genesis, he had instituted marriage, one man and one woman. Now, I say that there are those who are very tender in use of this term sacrament, but I know that in the region of the South where we are, that there are multitudes of people around us that have the same feeling when we use the word Trinity, which is a very good biblical term. And they would abominate the use of the term Trinity. And they would tell us there's no such thing. And we know that the Trinity is a biblical term. Interesting that the very same people who would criticize us for using the term Trinity, which they say is nowhere in the Bible, they constantly use a term from their pulpits and they use it very often as they preach about the last days. They use a term that is found in no English version of the Bible. The only place that they ever find the term that they like to use, the word rapture, is in the Roman Catholic Latin version is the only place they would find the word rapture. So I would ask them to try to use some consistency. Now the Christian groups that profess to be Christian in the world today The sum of the groups are divided into very sharply opposite extremes or contrasts. And every other Bible-professing group lies somewhere between the two extremes. Now the extremes reveal themselves in every doctrine and in every practice of the Christian religion. Now, I'm saying that because we're going to talk about these two groups, we have to, because it's very clear we are taught so forcefully in our substandards and the Word of God, the Word of God tells us that we are to beware of the error, the wicked, lest we be led away and fall from our own steadfastness. So I'm talking about these two extremes. When we think of the signs and the grace that are the two parts, I refer back to the answer of number 163. What are the parts of a sacrament? The parts of a sacrament are two, the one an outward sensible sign, the other an inward spiritual grace. that spiritual reality, that blessing that is signified. Okay, so when we come to think of the signs and the grace that the signs represent. They're also related to that grace, and the grace are related to the signs. They're the two parts of the sacrament, and how the two parts are related to each other, we see clearly the two extreme views. Now, the first one of those views is the Roman Catholic view, which believes that the sign and the grace are identical. The sign and the grace signified are identical. Now, what do they mean? In the Lord's Supper, Rome claims that the consecrated bread is Christ's literal flesh. It does not represent No, is Christ's literal flesh. And the consecrated cup is Christ's literal blood. In baptism, Rome views the act of baptizing as literal regeneration. Baptismal regeneration is their teaching. The water of baptism, they say, bestows the grace of salvation upon the one baptized. Now the other extreme, this is very sad, within the professed Christianity, is that the signs or the sacraments themselves have no union. There is no real relationship between the sign and the grace or the spiritual blessing that is represented. Therefore, the visible sacraments are considered by so many who call themselves Christians, as empty signs, as unnecessary and useless. Such is the case in the Society of Friends, otherwise known as the Quakers. They want to be included under the umbrella of Christianity, and yet they do not practice either baptism or the Lord's Supper. Now, those others that are on the other extreme. And I'm going to tell you, between Rome and the other extreme are a lot of groups that are very negligent in regard to the Holy Sacraments. And I would say that the view that they have of them causes them to be negligent. Now, they usually refer to the Lord's Supper Many groups seldom, if ever, celebrate the Lord's Supper. And they usually refer to it as the Lord's Supper, and they don't call it communion. Because if they called it communion, the very term suggests that there is real spiritual value in the supper. It is communion. Many groups baptized regularly, new members and new converts. But when is there ever serious time allotted for a lengthy communion service? When? The Lord Jesus, regarding His memorial supper, used the term often. often. Christ's command is three times given in the Holy Scriptures. This do and remembrance of me is not just inscribed on communion tables. This literally means in the original Greek, this is what it actually is saying. This be ye doing in remembrance of Me." It is in the present continuous stance. It is in the imperative mode. It is a clear, ongoing command of Christ to be regularly doing it in a spiritual manner. Sadly, there is a disobedience. directly to the commands of Jesus Christ. In many professing churches, it is only a short appendage or an add-on to a regular worship service. I can remember growing up in a typical Baptist church and the Lord's Supper was usually a 15 or 20 minute add-on at the end of a service, maybe once a quarter, or once a year, or however they finally get around to it. 15 or 20 minute add-on at the end of a service. Not until I was in college did I see a godly old Baptist pastor from the state of Mississippi deal seriously with the Lord's Supper one Sunday every month. One Sunday night every month. And I have to tell you my soul was thrilled to sit in those long and deeply spiritual services. I have to say that God was at work in my life during those two years that I sat under that dear man's ministry. And that really formed my view of the Lord's Supper. I thank God for the instruction that I'm getting from the substandards here in the Westminster Confession and the larger catechism are so helpful. Now Romans chapter 4 and verse 1, we've referred to this often. This is speaking of Abraham and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. The sign. We read John Bunyan. John Bunyan, the old Baptist preacher, made it clear that under the old covenant in the Old Testament church, the initiatory ordinance, that which brought the reception The bringing in of a person into the congregation of the covenant people of God was the circumcision. Okay. Now, there's more to it than a sign because this verse in Romans 4.11 speaks of the seal. So we're going to see that there is more to the sacrament than just a sign. Now, in our larger catechism, number 163, the parts of the sacrament are two, the one in outward sensible sign. That means an outward sign that we can perceive by our senses, a sensible sign. It's visible. What are these signs? of the sacraments in the New Testament. Water, broken bread, and poured out wine. These can be seen, some of them can be tasted, all of them touched, some smelled, and even heard. When the communion bread is a large piece and maybe a little crispy, You can hear it broken. When you break it, you can hear it. But the second part of the sacrament is the inward spiritual grace thereby signified. It is that blessing. It is that spiritual reality that is represented or signified. Now, in baptism, the sign is water. And water is ordinarily used for washing the body. What is an inward spiritual grace that is signified by the water of baptism? What spiritual reality does the water point to? Well, think about this, how wonderful. The cleansing of the mind, the heart, the conscience, the soul from guilt and from the filthy pollution of sin by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what is one of the things that is represented to us by the water of baptism. Another thing to note about baptism is the person baptized in water, that person does not baptize himself. I have heard of people saying that they baptized themselves. They've never been baptized by anybody, but they just baptized themselves. Well, that's not a biblical baptism. The person baptized is still not moving, himself or herself, rather being passive. And the water is applied by another, whether by dipping into the water or by pouring water on them. We're not going to fight about that. So in regeneration, the sinner is passive, being made a new living creature in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, you know it so well. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. That little word for works in the Greek is such a beautiful word, ergon. Nothing to do with the expending of human energy. You're not saved at all by any expenditure of human energy. You are saved by the Lord. Ephesians 5.26, sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the Word. And then Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. How wonderful. that those spiritual realities and blessings, it is the work of God on us. It is His cleansing us. within from the defilement and the corruption of sin. Hallelujah. The picture of that in the water of baptism. We are buried with him as a picture of dying to the old life. In the Lord's Supper, the visible signs are bread and the fruit of the vine or wine. Just as bread nourishes and satisfies the hungry body, and wine refreshes the thirsty and invigorates the body, even so Jesus Christ nourishes and rejoices His people with Himself in the communion. With His Person and with His work, we are nourished. The bread is broken as His body was broken on the cross. The wine is poured out. as His blood was shed on the cross. Each communicant takes the bread, chews and swallows and digests it. Each communicant drinks from the cup, absorbs the drink, so Christ is to be taken in by us, into ourselves, received by faith alone. Now, the larger catechism, number 163, speaks of the sign and the grace. Now, I have to say that it is the confession that gives us the clue here. The sacramental union or the spiritual relation between the sign and the thing signified, that is the grace or the blessing or the spiritual reality that is represented by the sign. Now the relationship here, The sign and the grace are so intimately related to each other that one of them can be spoken of in scripture as though it was the other one. That's how intimately related the sign and the reality, or the grace, how intimately related they are. that one of them can be spoken of out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read of it, spoken of in scripture, and it's very clearly not referring to itself, but to the other part. That's how intimate the relationship is. And because that is not recognized, people would look on the sacraments as being unnecessary. But the grace and the sign are so intimately related that the Lord can speak of one when he's very obviously meaning the other, calling our attention to the other. We're going to have some examples of this. Listen to Christ. In First Corinthians 11, 25, the Lord Jesus says, this cup is the New Testament or the new covenant in my blood. cup. Well I have a cup here. I've been taking little sips of water. But I dare say the cup is not the New Testament or the New Covenant. But that cup represents the New Covenant in this blood. Genesis chapter 17 and verse 10. Listen to the Lord speaking directly to Abraham. The unchanging God says, this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every man and child among you shall be circumcised. He said, this is my covenant. He's obviously making reference to the covenant and to the sign of the covenant, but it's such an intimate relationship that he's using that very term as though it were it. And then 1 Peter 3.21, you know we dealt with this last week. I Peter 3.21, the like figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. Alright, obviously, that verse has already told us right at the beginning what it is. It is a figure. A figure of speech. Baptism is a sign of our salvation. It is not our actual salvation. Romans chapter 6 and verse 4 is another. buried with Him by baptism into death. Not literally buried. Not literally dead. But a sign. Baptism. That we have, in a very real sense, died to our love of sin. But not only died to our love of sin, died to our former earnest and active pursuit after sin. Wow. You read in the Bible about those lying on their bed and thinking up evil schemes. We know that before we were saved, we could say that in our former life that we actively and earnestly pursued after sin. But by being buried with Him by baptism into death, we are saying that in this sign it represents indeed that my life is changed. Hallelujah. Now remember at the Lord's Supper, there are two. present there, not just the minister handing out the signs, but Christ is there in the supper giving us Himself. I said this morning that I was very much indebted to our dear brother Dr. Joe Moorcraft for his quotations and explanations regarding the relationship between the sign and the substance, the sign and the reality, the sign and the blessing. I'm going to read a couple of quotes here, very short paragraphs that he quotes from the great Scottish Puritan preacher, Reverend Robert Bruce. Oh, that's so wonderful. Oh, that this great and mystical conjunction between God, the God of glory, and us may be increased. In this conjunction that is our coming together, our fellowship, our communion with them, in this conjunction alone, it is in it that our prosperity, our joy, our happiness in this life and in the life to come consist. that He is careful to conjoin Himself with His Word and with the sacraments, that we in His Word and sacraments may be joined with Him. There is no other lesson in Christianity than this. This is the first and the last lesson to shake off your lusts and affections more and more, and so more and more to renounce yourself that you may embrace Christ. He goes on, you may be quite sure that if you are Exercising faith. Christ is as busy working inwardly in your soul as the minister is working outwardly in regard to your body. See how busy the minister is in breaking the bread, in pouring out the wine, in giving bread and wine to you. Christ is just as busy in breaking His own body unto you, and giving you the juice of His own body in a spiritual and invisible way. Preserve this distinction then. And you may assure yourself that by faith Christ is as fully occupied with your soul in nourishing it as the minister is in giving these signs to you." Wow! How wonderful it is! But these brethren warn us to be careful, not to confuse the fact that the sign and the blessing are not identical, as Rome teaches. They are intimately related, but they are not identical. And let us not at all give in to the ideas of the other extreme, that the sacraments are optional. It's not important to be a baptized Christian. It's not important to take the communion often as Christ commands. It is. And oh, that the Lord may move in our land and in the world that a great serious and spiritual celebration of the Lord's Supper would be a regular reality in the professing churches of Jesus Christ. One last time we'll read this number 163. What are the parts of a sacrament? The parts of a sacrament are two. the one and outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ's own appointment, the other and inward and spiritual grace thereby signified.