Faith Comes By The Means Of Grace
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
8/19/2012 AM
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Text:
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Romans 10;
Lord's Day 25
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Psalters: |
282, 61, 355, 65 |
- The means of grace.
- As the God of order He normally uses means to convey things to us in our daily lives.
- Which are the means of grace?
- In the wider sense, all things are means of grace ? all things work together for our spiritual good.
- In the narrow sense, the Spirit instituted means in the church to be actively used: preaching and sacraments.
- What is the preaching of the pure doctrines of the gospel, which is so necessary for our salvation?
- Preaching is the authoritative proclamation of the gospel by the Church.
- The Word is the testimony of the Father concerning the Son, Who is the essential content of the faith of every believer.
- The content of the message is from the King in the Bible.
- It is authoritative.
- The preacher must be ?sent? (Rom. 10:15), which is done by the elders (Acts 13:1-3).
- How is the preaching of the Word a means of grace?
- The Spirit of God makes the preaching an effectual means of enlightening and convincing sinners (I Cor. 10:11; Acts 20:32; Luke 24:32).
- Therefore any reading and attendance of the preaching must be accompanied with prayer for the Spirit to work.
- The Holy Spirit confirms faith by the sacraments.
- The sacraments are signs, i.e., visible representations of invisible realities.
- And they are seals, i.e., marks of ownership and authority, guaranteeing what is revealed in the sign.
- How are they signs and seals? Only by the Spirit working.
- The clear implication is that we must use correctly the means God uses to give grace.
- We are bound to use them if we want grace and increasingly stronger conscious faith.
- It is required of those that hear the word preached that they attend unto it with diligence, preparation, and prayer.