From What Does Faith Proceed?
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
4/27/2014 AM
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Text:
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Acts 17;
Lord's Day 25
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Psalters: |
283, 89, 394, 65 |
- Worked by the preaching.
- Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17).
- This is a specific, distinct kind of hearing; it is not just sitting in a worship service.
- Unless Christ Himself speaks and is heard, faith is impossible.
- To preach is to herald the good news of the gospel.
- An herald is one who officially brings official announcements from an authority to his subjects.
- The preacher must be "sent" (Rom. 10:15), which is done by the elders (Acts 13:1-3).
- Preaching is the authoritative proclamation of the gospel by the Church in the service of the Word of God through Christ.
- The contents of the preaching must be strictly limited to the Scriptures.
- Christ Himself speaks and is heard (John 5:24; 10:3,4, 27; Rom. 10:14-17; Eph. 4:21; I Thess. 2:13).
- How is the preaching of the Word a means of grace?
- The Spirit of God makes the preaching an effectual means.
- The Spirit works an assurance of the truth proclaimed, as a burning (Luke 24:32).
- 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?
- They have no power in themselves, but it is only by the Spirit working.
- They are fingers which point our faith to the content of the preaching, viz., that salvation is only in Christ crucified.
- The sacraments signify the promise preached and they depend on the preaching for their meaning and content.
- 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 an increasingly stronger conscious faith.
- Attend unto it with diligence, preparation, and prayer.
- Patiently persist in the use of the means God appointed to work these graces in us (Canons I, 16).
- Pray for the preacher and preaching (I Thess. 5:25; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; Heb 13:18).
- Have the nobility of the Bereans (Acts 17:11).
- First, ?receive the word with all readiness of mind? (Acts 17:11).
- Second, search the Scriptures to see whether what they heard preached was true; and then believe and heed it.