Assurance of Salvation

Here's a tract that I am writing for my congregation.

The Assurance of Salvation

Pastor Logan Almy

Kirk of the Lake PCA

March 2012

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God

that you may know that you have eternal life.”  1 John 5:13

Introduction

God desires Christians to have assurance of their salvation in Christ.  Sadly, true Christians often lack this assurance of salvation, and false believers often presume that they possess salvation when they don’t.  In light of these two problems, Christians who want to be sure that they are truly saved must be informed about the biblical teaching on this important subject.

The Good News of Assurance

God tells us in the Bible that he desires his people to have full assurance of salvation.  The Apostle John wrote his first epistle to instruct his Christian readers about this assurance.  “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).  The key word in this verse is the word “know.”  We can know for sure that we have eternal life.  God doesn’t want our salvation to be an uncertain matter of wishful thinking.  He calls us “to have the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11) and to “draw near with full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).  This assurance of salvation is a tremendous blessing, but, regrettably, it’s not without counterfeits.    

The Danger of False Assurance

There are several counterfeit versions of Christian assurance.  Satan provides spurious believers with all kinds of false securities to make them presume on the grace of God.  Many professing Christians boldly claim to be sure that they are saved; however, their so-called assurance is nothing more than presumption.  Since the dangers of false assurance are grave, we should know how to identify some of the common forms.

Baptismal Regeneration.  Many professing Christians assure themselves that they are on the highway to heaven simply because they have been water baptized.  These professing Christians are mostly in the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and some Lutheran churches that teach the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration.  This view teaches that God regenerates the sinner in the water rite of baptism.  Accordingly, this erroneous doctrine makes people presume on their water baptisms as a superstitious and magical means of salvation.  Saving grace is mechanically bestowed through the application of water to the person in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Baptismal regeneration, however, isn’t true.  There are many baptized non-Christians in the world today.  Water on the forehead does not put faith in the heart.  Simon the magician had professed faith and received water baptism (Acts 8:13), but after he sought to purchase the Holy Spirit with money, Peter said to him, “You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:21), and, “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity” (Acts 8:23).  His profession of faith and his water baptism were a sham.  He was a hypocrite.  We must always keep in mind that the sacrament of baptism, like circumcision, is a sign and seal of salvation (Romans 4:11), but it does not effect salvation.  It confirms the grace of regeneration.  It does not confer it.  And many so-called Christians have marched into hell proclaiming that they have been baptized and are surely saved. 

Church Membership.  Others presume on their membership in the visible church.  The visible church consists of all those who profess faith in Christ together with their children.  But the visible church, as important as it is, is no reason to assure ourselves that we are saved.  “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6b).  There are many in the visible community of the redeemed who are not themselves redeemed.  Or to put it another way, membership in the visible church doesn’t mean that one is a member of the invisible church.  Having one’s name on the roll of a local church is no assurance that one’s name is in the Lamb’s book of life.

Decisionism.  The error of decisionism is perhaps the greatest cause for false assurance in evangelical churches today.  This is the view that God causes the sinner to be born again in response to the sinner’s free-will decision.  But this is contrary to the clear teaching of John 1:12-13: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  We are born again by an act of God’s will, not our own.  Our faith is the result of the new birth.  “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1a).  The reason we believe (present tense) is because we have been born (perfect tense) of God.  The logical order isn’t reversible.  The error of decisionism, however, is the view that if a sinner has “decided to follow Jesus” at some point in time, then he is born again and saved, and he should never question that decision.  Thus the sinner’s decision becomes the basis of assurance.  Usually, the decision is formalized by praying the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” or by signing a decision card.  Sometimes the decision is sealed at a campfire meeting where all throw a stick into the fire.  There is nothing wrong with making a decision for Christ.  We all are called to choose God and follow him (Deuteronomy 30:11-20, Joshua 24:15, etc.), but making a decision is not the basis of assurance.  The date we make a decision to follow Jesus has little bearing on the question of our assurance.  We may, after all, discover that we were following the wrong Jesus.  Or we may later discover that we did not follow the right Jesus in the right way.    

Presumption is the Problem.  The main problem with all forms of false assurance is the sin of presumption.  The person who proudly presumes that he has salvation when he has no such thing is like “the one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart’” (Deuteronomy 29:19).  He is like those who say, “We have Abraham as our father,” but fail to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8).  Such people presume that simply because they have performed some action (made a decision, prayed a prayer, signed a card, joined a church, etc.) or had some action performed on them (water baptism) that they are guaranteed eternal life.  But God’s grace of salvation and God’s grace of assurance are not based on the actions of men.  “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy” (Romans 9:16).  They come to us on God’s terms, not our own.  We must receive God’s salvation in Christ and his assurance of that salvation according to the instructions of his Word.  This is why we must continually seek to understand the nature of true assurance from God’s Word.

The Nature of True Assurance

True assurance of salvation comes in two main forms: inferential and immediate.  Inferential assurance is the fallible assurance based on the Christian’s inference.  For example, a Christian may read, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).  After reading these words, he may consider that he does truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  And, therefore, he concludes that he is saved.  His assurance is based on an inference from God’s Word and his assessment of his own faith.  This supplies a fallible assurance, meaning that it is capable of error, because the professing Christian could be wrong about his faith.  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  The promise that he who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, is true regardless of his faith. However, he will not benefit from this promise if he does not have faith (Hebrews 4:1-2).  And, unfortunately, professing Christians can be deceived about their faith. 

In addition to inferential assurance, there is also immediate assurance.  Immediate assurance is what the Westminster Confession (18.3) calls “the infallible assurance” of salvation.  It’s immediate in the sense that it doesn’t depend on a logical inference like the example above.  It’s not immediate in the sense that it comes without the mediation of the Word.  No, it always comes with the Word as the Spirit bears witness with the Word in our hearts (Romans 8:16).  This is the absolute certainty that a person saved.  This is possible.  This is available.  We can say with the Apostle Paul, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12).  And yet many Christians don’t possess this blessed assurance.  Others do possess it but only after a long struggle.  So then, in order to obtain full assurance of salvation, we need to understand the proper grounds of assurance.

The Grounds of Assurance

There are three main grounds of the assurance of salvation: (1) the promises of the Word of God, (2) the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and (3) the witness of the Holy Spirit.  One way that we can examine ourselves to see if we have true assurance is by asking ourselves these questions:  Why do I consider myself to be a Christian?  What are my grounds for believing this to be so?  If the answer is one of the false securities mentioned above, then we know that we have a false assurance.  True assurance is founded on the right grounds.  Let’s examine these grounds.

The Promises of the Word of God.  The greatest ground of assurance is God’s Word.  Assurance, like faith, comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).  More specifically, God’s promises in God’s Word give us the assurance of our salvation.  When we seek assurance, it helps to look away from ourselves to the objective promises of God.  These promises awaken, strengthen, and confirm our faith.  The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that God makes a promise of salvation to us, and in order to reassure our hearts he confirms his promise with an oath.  “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17-18).  God’s sworn promise gives us strong encouragement to hold fast to Christ.  Our God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) swears to us that he will keep his promises.  When we are in heaven, what was true of Israel in the days of Joshua will be true of the Church: “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45).  One of the practical ways that we can find true assurance of salvation is by returning again and again to the promises of God.  “For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus].  That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20).  The Holy Spirit uses these promises to create faith in our hearts and to assure us that we shall be saved.  “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).  We should read and review these promises often.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life” (John 5:22).  “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).  “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).  

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit.  After reading the promises of God’s Word, one of the legitimate questions a Christian can have is the question of whether or not he has faith.  We must have faith in order to benefit from the promises of God.  But do we have faith?  In his first epistle the Apostle John emphasizes that those who possess true salvation will have evidence of such salvation in their lives.  They will walk in the light (1 John 1:5-6).  They will confess their sins (1 John 1:8-10).  They will keep the commandments of God (1 John 2:3).  They will love other Christians (1 John 2:9-11).  They will not love the world (1 John 2:15).  All of this is the fruit of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  “And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:24b).  “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).  The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”  No Christian is perfect (Philippians 3:12).  No Christian achieves sinless perfection in this life.  But all true Christians should have fruit.  And the promises of God are meant to be believed and used by true Christian to produce holiness in heart and life.  “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:3-7).  This is how we are to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).  We must examine our lives in order to have assurance.  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).  Since faith without works is dead (James 2:17), there must be fruit in our lives if we claim to have faith.

The Witness of the Holy Spirit. The first two grounds of assurance, at best, can give us inferential assurance.  The witness of the Holy Spirit gives us immediate, intuitive, direct, and infallible assurance.  Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”  This means that the Holy Spirit internally testifies to our spirit that we have been adopted through faith in Christ into the family of God.  The Holy Spirit cries from within our hearts, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).  More specifically, the Holy Spirit is the one who confirms in the Christian’s spirit that he himself is in fact a child of God.  God is his Father, and he is his son.  Notice the grammar of Galatians 4:5-7: “And because you are sons (note the plural), God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (plural), crying, ‘Abba! Father!’  So you are no longer a slave, but a son (singular), and if a son, then an heir (singular) through God.”  He moves form the plural to the singular.  This is instructive about the witness of the Holy Spirit.  It is the personal and immediate assurance within my heart that God is my Father and I am his Son.  We need to be careful at this point.  This is no mere feeling. This isn’t a mystical experience unmediated by the Word of God.  This isn’t an audible voice.  It is the witness of the Holy Spirit by and with the Word in our hearts.  We are aware of his testimony and know that we are God’s children.  We know that we know.  There’s no kind of assurance that is deeper or more profound than this.

The Struggle of Assurance

We need to come to terms with the reality that a person may be a true Christian and lack assurance of salvation.  One of the reasons many Christians are surprised to hear of the separation between salvation and the assurance of salvation has to do with the way many evangelists present the gospel.  The evangelist asks the sinner, “Do you know for sure that you are going to heaven after you die?”  Unfortunately, this gives the mistaken impression that salvation is about knowing for sure that you are saved.  But that is assurance, not salvation itself.  Of course, God may grant absolute assurance to a sinner at conversion, but the absence of complete assurance is not evidence that the sinner isn’t truly converted.  A sinner may come to Christ in true faith and repentance and yet struggle for a period of time before obtaining full assurance.  We need to keep in mind that 1 John 5:13 says that John is writing to Christians in order to help them arrive at this full assurance.  It is therefore implied that one may be a Christian and lack such assurance.  Otherwise, the first epistle of John is superfluous.  The Westminster Confession explains, “This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be a partaker of it”  (Chapter 18.3).  Observe the language carefully: “a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be a partaker of it.”  Thus a person may be a true Christian who struggles to find full assurance.  If you are such a person—and there’s no reason to doubt that there are many such people in the visible church today—then you need not conclude that you are not saved at all.  Nevertheless, you should take your Bible and seek this full assurance of faith with all of your might, the Spirit empowering you to do so.

The Loss of Assurance

True believers cannot lose their salvation.  Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).  “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).  Our salvation is safe and secure in Christ.  True believers can, however, lose the joy of their salvation (Psalm 51:12) and the assurance of their salvation.  The Westminster Confession explains, “True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted” (Chapter 18.4).  Again, we need to underline the difference between salvation and assurance.  A sinner can be saved and lack assurance.  Also, a sinner can be saved, obtain assurance, and lose assurance for a season.  The Christian never loses his salvation because he is kept by the power of God (1 Peter 1:5), but he may sadly lose his assurance for various reasons. 

 

You may neglect assurance.  Sometimes Christians lose assurance of salvation “by negligence in preserving of it” (WCF 18.4).  God uses means to achieve certain ends in our lives.  If the end is assurance, then we must not neglect the means of having that assurance.  We should not neglect the promises of God, the development of Christian character, the ongoing need of self examination, and the awareness of the witness of the Spirit.  If we neglect these means of assurance, then God will deprive us the blessing of assurance. 

You may fall into a season of sin.  Although the Christian’s sins are not damning, they are deadening.  Sin robs Christians of their joy and assurance.  We can lose assurance “by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit” (WCF 18.4).  There’s no doubt in my mind that David lost his assurance of salvation when he fell into the arms of Bathsheba.  So it was with Peter when he denied Christ three times.  Again, such sin does not cause the believer to fall from the grace of salvation.  They may, however, cause the believer to fall from the grace of assurance.  When the Christian falls into heinous sin, he does begin to wonder, “Have I truly been born again?  Am I truly a child of the living God?  If it were so, then why do I live this way?”  These questions are not completely out of place either.  Such questions reveal the inseparable relationship between our justification and our sanctification.  We realize in our hearts that our lack of sanctification does raise questions about our justification.  Of course, we should not be thrown into doubting our salvation every time we sin.  But there are seasons of sin that can cause us to doubt, not Christ, but whether we are really and personally united to him.

God may withdraw himself.  Does God play hide and seek with his people?  He certainly does.  “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isaiah 45:15).  God will temporarily hide his face from his people if they fall into periods of heinous sin and backsliding (Isaiah 57:17).  One of the reasons Christians lose assurance is “by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light” (WCF 18.4).  God will at times in the Christian life withdraw himself to teach us our need to depend on him.  “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).  Assurance is found in him and in him alone.  And we need reminding of this from time to time.  So God withdraws his presence.  He is not really gone, of course, but he withdraws his manifest presence in our souls.  He withdraws “the light of his countenance,” not as an end in and of itself.  He does this to teach us our need of him so that Christians can learn to trust Christ, not their own assurance.

The Fruit of Assurance

Christians who possess full assurance of salvation are a blessed people.  The fruit of true assurance is plentiful and precious. 

Unspeakable Joy.  Knowing for sure that our names are written in the book of life brings great joy to our souls.  Jesus told his disciples to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).  Jesus speaks words to his disciples to assure them that they are his and to make their joy complete.  “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).  When John wrote his first epistle to impart assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13), he began by saying, “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 5:4).  Knowing, believing, and loving the Lord Jesus Christ brings our souls “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8-9).   

Fervent Prayer.  When the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16) and cries out from within us, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6), this makes us fervent in prayer.  We are confident that we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace for what we need from Jesus (Hebrews 4:16).  And thus we pray with confidence and boldness, “Our Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

     

Loving Obedience.  True Christian assurance does not make us rest on our laurels when it comes to obedience.  It makes us active in our pursuit of holiness.  “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12).  When we know that we are called, justified, and adopted in Christ, we are eager to obey God.    Thomas Watson, the English Puritan, once wrote, “Faith will make us walk, but assurance will make us run: we shall never think we can do enough for God” (Body of Divinity, 253).  We love Christ more when we know that he is ours and we are his, and if we love him, we keep his commandments (John 14:15). 

Boldness in Witness.  Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”  When we know that we are righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, we become bold.  When the Holy Spirit assured the early Christians that they belonged to God, they “continued to speak the Word with boldness” (Acts 4:31).  It was the boldness of Peter and John, not their education that made them such great witnesses for Christ.  “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.  And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).  We shall become bold as lions when we know that we have been with the Lion of Judah! 

Conclusion

As we close, let me address you personally.  Christian, do you possess the full assurance of salvation?  Know that God does desire for you to know this in your own life and experience.  Seek this assurance.  Read the promises of God’s Word until the Holy Spirit speaks peace to your soul.  Examine your life and see if you see evidence of the fruit-producing work of God’s Spirit.  Ask other mature Christians if they see fruit in your life.  Do you sense the witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit that you belong to the number of the sons of God?  The presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is the greatest evidence that you belong to God.  Do you know the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit?  If you do not, then you do not belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9).  Remember that God wants you to know that you are saved.  He doesn’t want us to hope-so.  He wants us to know-so.  So then, let me exhort you to seek this assurance until you have it.  And once you have it, rejoice that you know that you are in Christ and called, justified, and adopted in him.  To God be the glory!

Participation in Corporate, Public Worship

I wrote this for my congregation back in December...

Participation in Corporate, Public Worship

Pastor Logan Almy

Kirk of the Lake Presbyterian Church

December 2010

“I was glad when they said to me,

      ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’”  

 Psalm 122:1

Introduction

Many Christians do not fully participate in the corporate, public worship of the triune God on the Lord’s Day. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is that our churches do not explain how to participate in the elements of public worship. In this tract I shall provide a brief explanation of the central elements of a worship service, and I shall explain how the individual members of the congregation participate in each element of the service. The main purpose of this tract is to encourage Christians to participate in every element of the public worship service.

The Prelude

Technically, the Prelude begins when the pianist plays a hymn or some other Christian melody after the Announcements and before the Call to Worship. The pianist also plays, however, before the Announcements. This time is somewhat of a prelude to the Prelude. Both times provide a moment to prepare our hearts for worship. What should happen during these times? During the first prelude before the Announcements, I would encourage you to finish all personal conversations, find your seats, and begin to prepare your hearts and minds for worship. Listen to the Announcements, which are not part of the worship service proper, and note any upcoming activities or events. After the Announcements are given by one of the elders, he will say, “Let us prepare our hearts for worship.” This introduces the Prelude proper, and this is the time for us to reflect on the importance of worship, to pray, and to prepare our hearts for worship. It should be noted that this is still preparation for the worship service. This is a time for silent and solemn reflection and meditation. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).  

The Call to Worship

The Call to Worship is the official beginning of the worship service. There is an important theological reason for this. Worship does not begin with us and what we do or say. Worship begins with God and his Word. Our sovereign God calls us to worship him, and he calls us to worship him by his Word. Normally, the Call to Worship is a section of Scripture read by the minister that serves the purpose of summoning the people of God to worship God (e.g. Psalm 95:6). The Scripture may explicitly call the people to worship or the minister may add a phrase that invites the people to worship in light of some truth of Scripture. Regardless of the form that this Call takes, the Call to Worship should be understood as a call from God, not the minister. This is a time to listen as God calls us into his presence to praise his holy name. The way to participate at this stage is to listen to the reading of the Word of God with the understanding that God is speaking to you personally and calling you to worship him in Spirit and in truth.

The Hymn of Adoration

After the Call to Worship has been read, the worship service has begun. God has called us by his Word and Spirit to worship him, and now it is our turn to respond to his Word and adore him (cf. Psalm 29:1-2). The first hymn is our first response to our God who calls us into his presence for worship. This Hymn is called the Hymn of Adoration because the first thing we should do when we enter the presence of God to worship him is simply to adore him. The Hymn of Adoration is a hymn that focuses on the nature and works of God. It may focus on God as Creator or Redeemer. But this is a time to sing and to reflect with wonder on the splendor of God. We should remember that a hymn is both a form of praise (cf. Psalm 69:30) and a form of instruction (cf. Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16). When we sing these rich words about the nature and ways of God, we both praise him and instruct one another about the being and nature of Almighty God.

The Invocation

After the Hymn of Adoration, the minister offers the Prayer of Invocation. The Prayer of Invocation is simply a prayer for God to bless us with his presence as we worship him (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:4). We must always remember that even though the minister offers the prayer, the people are invited and encouraged to pray silently with the minister. His prayer should be the prayer of the people. He is praying for the people and with the people. This is why it is appropriate and important for the people to say, “Amen,” aloud with the minister at the conclusion of his prayer (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:36). This is the public and corporate affirmation of the people of God that we agree with what the minister has prayed, and we long for it to be so among us in Jesus Christ. The Invocation is not a time for the people to daydream or to think about lunch or the football game or anything else. The Invocation is a time for every member to pray along with the minister so that all may conclude with a heartfelt, “Amen!”

The Affirmation of Faith

After the Prayer of Invocation, the congregation affirms their Christian faith together in one voice. There are Affirmations of Faith in both the OT (e.g. Deuteronomy 6:4) and the NT (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). The Affirmation of Faith is our corporate agreement that we are bound together by our belief in the truth. The Affirmation may take many forms. The familiar forms are the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Christian Catechism may also serve as an Affirmation of Faith, or the minister may choose an Affirmation from the Holy Scriptures. The Affirmation of Faith is an essential element of our worship because in this Affirmation we remind ourselves that our faith and our worship are founded upon the truth. We must always remember that we come together as a congregation on the basis of the truth that we affirm. In addition, the Affirmation of Faith supplies the language for us to express our Christian faith to others. We must, then, reflect on the theological meaning of what we affirm. In many cases (e.g. the Apostles’ Creed), we should commit the words to memory.

The Hymn of Praise

After the minister and the people have prayed together for the covenant God to bless his people with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and after the people have affirmed their Christian faith, it is time to worship the triune God with some Hymn of Praise (cf. Psalm 150). The Hymn of Praise is similar to the Hymn of Adoration, but in this hymn the people are extolling God for his nature and his works. Praise naturally follows Adoration and Invocation. When we sing praise to God, our hearts fill with joy at the beauty of his being. Again, as in all our singing, we must seek to sing with our minds engaged in what we are saying. We must reflect deeply about the words as we are singing. The essence of vain worship is worshipping God thoughtlessly (cf. Matthew 15:8). Our worship should be meaningful, and this requires an active reflection upon what we sing and why we sing what we sing. If you do not understand a word or a concept or why we sing this or that hymn, you should ask the pastor or one of the elders after the service. A point must be stressed here. You should ask after the service, not during the service. When you ask questions during the service, you distract the person you ask and, most likely, others around you. If you are afraid that you will forget your question, then simply make a note on the bulletin to remind you later.

The Confession of Sin

It is a sad fact that in many churches today there is no Confession of Sin. Our God is holy, and when we enter his presence, his holiness exposes our sin (e.g. Isaiah 6:1-7). We cannot worship God as he desires without a time of Confession of Sin. And the natural place to confess our sins is after we have adored and praised him and recognized how far short we fall of his infinite and majestic glory. The Confession of Sin typically has three parts, although the form of these three parts may vary from Sabbath to Sabbath. First, there is the Call to Confession. The Call to Confession is almost always a section of Scripture that exposes human sin (e.g. Exodus 20:1-17). The Call to Confession is a time for us to listen to God speaking in the Scriptures and to hear him identify our sin. After the Call to Confession, there is a time to confess our actual sins. On occasion this takes the form of a silent confession. At other times this is a prayer that is read by the congregation. On rare occasions this prayer is made by the minister in behalf of the congregation. Regardless of what form the Confession of Sin takes on a particular Lord’s Day, the important thing is to use this time to confess your sins. We must acknowledge our sinful nature and our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds before the Lord. There is no reason to hide any of our sins because our secret sins are exposed in the light of his presence (Psalm 90:8). So we should be sincere, open, and honest before the Lord about our sins at this time. Again, let me caution you here. If a silent confession is used, you must fight against the sinful tendency to be distracted by sounds and other things. All members should be as quiet as they possibly can during this time. Finally, the third section of the Confession of Sin is the Assurance of Pardon. During this time, the minister reads a section of Scripture and offers words consistent with the Scripture that bestow God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ on all who believe in him (e.g. 1 John 1:9). At this point it is appropriate to look up at the minister and hear the words of grace. The time of self-examination, confession, and sorrow is now over. The Assurance of Pardon brings gospel relief to our guilty conscience. Listen carefully to the words of grace. Let them sink into your heart. Allow the truth of the gospel to dispel doubts about the promise that Jesus Christ is able and willing to save all who draw near to God through him (Hebrews 7:25).

The Hymn of Pardon

Worship is a continual interaction between God and his people. He speaks to us, and we respond to him. Having received the Assurance of Pardon through Jesus Christ, we now sing of his mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. The Hymn of Pardon is a unique hymn in that it focuses on some aspect of the saving work of Christ in our behalf. The Hymn of Pardon is the time for us to look away from our bad works and our good works and look to Christ’s work. This is a moment for us to sing and to celebrate the forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! We should sing these words with joy. Our facial expressions should communicate the glory of the gospel. At this point in the service we should be soaring into the arms of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Here we should reflect and pray and sing so that the gospel rings loud and true in every heart.

The Intercessory Prayer

We have praised God the Father, received forgiveness and acceptance through God the Son, and now we are ready to make our petitions in the power of God the Holy Spirit. The minister may read some verse of Scripture about the importance of corporate prayer (e.g. Colossians 4:2), and he may also point out a few prayer items from the prayer sheet contained in the bulletin. When he begins to pray, all the people should pray silently as he prays audibly. As with the Invocation, the people should make his prayer their prayer. This is a time for united prayer for the needs of others. This is not simply a time to listen passively or to get lost in your thoughts. This is a time to join the pastor in prayer and to make his prayer come alive in your hearts. Again, it is appropriate to say, “Amen,” aloud at the end of the prayer to indicate agreement with what has been prayed by the minister in the presence of God and his people.

The Offering

At this juncture in the worship service the minister says, “Let us continue to worship God with our tithes and offerings.” These words reveal how important it is to remember that the offering is an act of worship, not an act of business (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:7). People may think of the offering with a “business-as-usual” mentality. However, the offering is an opportunity to express our gratitude to God for his abundant provision of our every need. During the offering we must bring our regular tithe and, at other appropriate times, our offerings in addition to the tithe, to the Lord Jesus for the advance of his kingdom through the ministry of his church. God does not need our money (cf. Romans 11:35). In fact, our money already belongs completely to him. Our tithes and offerings are an act of obedient gratitude to him. And so we should faithfully give our tithes and offerings to the Lord and reflect and pray about his goodness to us during this time. I would also encourage you not to make the offering a time of rushing to write a check. Let me encourage you to write your check before you come to the church on the Lord’s Day. In this way, you will be ready to drop the check in the offering plate when it comes around, and instead of searching for a pen, you can use this time to pray and thank God for his provision. Whatever your practice, please recognize that this is a time of worship too, not a time for personal conversation. It is not an intermission. It is an element of our worship.

The Doxology

When the elders have finished passing the offering plates, the pianist will play the Doxology. The congregation should stand and sing praise to our generous triune God. The Doxology is something that we may sing every Lord’s Day, and for that reason it can be a dangerous time. The words can be so familiar to us that we do not think about what we are saying. We should fight against this attitude. Instead, we should focus on the words and sing them meaningfully to the Lord. This is a time for us to thank God our Father for his good and perfect gifts (James 1:17).

The Prayer of Dedication

The Prayer of Dedication should not be thought about as “just another prayer” in the service. This is the dedication of the tithes and offerings that we have brought to the Lord. We want the Lord to bless them for the advance of his kingdom. As in all prayers, the people should join in prayer, and conclude with the minister with the words, “Amen!”

The Hymn of Preparation

The reading, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God are the pinnacle of the worship service. This does not mean that everything else is merely a “preliminary,” but it does mean that this is the top of the mountain. It is appropriate, therefore, to prepare our hearts for receiving the Word of God, and this comes in the form of the Hymn of Preparation. This hymn may come in a variety of forms. It typically exalts the Word of God. The Hymn of Preparation may also speak of the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures and illumines our minds to understand them. This is a time for us to sing meaningfully and expectantly for both the Word of God and the Spirit of God to touch our hearts in what follows.

The Reading of the Word of God

What follows the Hymn of Preparation is the Reading of the Word of God (cf. 1 Timothy 4:13). This is a sacred and special time. Here God the Holy Spirit speaks to us by and with the written Word. The minister reads the Scripture, and it is important for every member to participate. What does participation look like at this point? It means in the first place that all talking should cease. When God speaks, we should close our mouths and listen. Second, it means that we should turn with the minister to the relevant section of Scripture. We should also follow along with the reading in our own Bibles or the Bibles that are provided. We should listen with diligence and reverence. We should also stand in honor of the Word of God when the Word is read (e.g. Nehemiah 8:5), if the minister instructs you to do so. If you are not able to stand for some physical reason, you should not feel less spiritual because you must sit. Also, if you stand, you should not look down on those who must sit for some physical reason. But if you are able, you should stand in honor with the rest of the congregation.

The Prayer for Illumination

We cannot understand the Word of God without the illumination of the Spirit of God (e.g. Psalm 119:18). This is why the Reading of the Word of God is followed by a Prayer for Illumination. The minister prays for God to open our hearts and minds to receive God’s truth, believe, and obey. Again, we should pray with the minister for the Spirit to bear witness to God’s Word and God’s Son. The congregation is seated after the reading of the Word and the Prayer for Illumination.

The Preaching of the Word of God

The preaching of the Word of God is the explanation and application of some passage of Scripture to the people of God (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16; 4:2). This is a time of instruction, conviction, and encouragement. The congregation now hears from God through his servant. As the Church has believed from the beginning, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. So we should listen and pay diligent attention to what the minister says from the Scriptures. Let me encourage you to listen actively. Of course, different strategies work for different people, but some strategies have proven effectiveness. Listen to the sermon with an open Bible and follow along with the sermon points in the Bible. If you can listen to the sermon with a Bible closed, then it is not a good sermon. In addition to this, I encourage you to mark in your Bibles. This is a way to listen actively and learn from Scripture. Highlight or underline key verses. Write cross references in the margin. Make personal notes. Be an active student of the Bible. You may also want to take notes. I would not, however, make sermon notes in the Bible. Use the sermon notes page in the bulletin. There may be some underlining or a brief note or cross reference here and there that you may want to put in your Bible. However, most of the sermon notes are too extensive to place in the Bible. I advise you to take these notes in the space provided in the bulletin. Sermon notes serve two purposes. First, they help us listen actively to what the pastor is preaching. Second, they serve as a reference in the upcoming week for prayer and obedience. I do not think that we must take notes on every single sermon. Some Christians do, and that is wonderful. But sermon notes are an excellent way to listen and learn from what is said. If you do not remember the sermon in the following week or you are distracted in the middle of the sermon, then you probably need to take notes. Make notes of the main points, the key applications, and the memorable phrases. In everything you record, remember your personal need to be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only (James 1:22).

The Prayer after the Sermon

The Prayer after the Sermon is really a prayer of supplication. In this prayer the minister, and the people praying with the minister, present themselves, body and soul, to the Lord, asking for him to transform them into the likeness of Christ (cf. Romans 8:29). This prayer often reflects the themes of the sermon. Be sure to make this prayer your prayer of application of the sermon.

The Hymn of Supplication

The final hymn of the service is the Hymn of Supplication. This is our response to the content of the sermon. Sometimes the theme is explicitly in agreement with the sermon, but at other times the connection is less evident. The important aspect of the Hymn of Supplication is that this is what we leave singing. Typically, we sing that we will strive to be earnest in our obedience to the Lord and his Word.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

The Sacrament of Holy Communion is a special time for the people of God, and we need to consider how to participate in an appropriate way. The congregation may sing a Communion Hymn before the celebration of the Sacrament. The hymn provides an opportunity to prepare our hearts for the Holy Supper of our Lord. In the Communion Service proper the minister begins with Words of Invitation. These are almost always the words of Christ inviting believers to come to him without fear of condemnation (e.g.. Matthew 11:28-29). When we hear the minister read these words, we should not hear them as the words of the minister but as the words of Christ. We should hear Christ call us to himself. Such words demand an attitude of repentance toward God and faith in Christ. This is also the setting in which the minister specifies who should come to the Lord’s Table. The pastor, speaking in behalf of the session (the elders) of the church, invites all baptized believers in Christ who are either communicant members of the church or some other evangelical church, to partake. If you are not able to partake of the Lord’s Supper, you should reflect on the meaning of the Supper, and you should seek admission to the Table as soon as you are able to do so with a clear conscience. After the minister speaks the Words of Invitation, he will read the Words of Institution of the Holy Supper from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Although most of us are familiar with this passage of Scripture, this reading calls for reflection on our part. It is the Word of God that makes the Supper a Sacrament (a visible sign of an invisible grace) rather than an ordinary meal. So listen thoughtfully and carefully. The minister will move from the Words of Institution to the Words of Instruction. The minister reads the words of warning from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. In doing so, the minister calls for those who plan to partake of the Supper to engage in self-examination, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. The minister must warn the ignorant and the unrepentant not to partake of the Supper. We must remember that this is an act of love. Since there is the possibility of eating and drinking judgment upon oneself at the Supper (1 Corinthians 11:29), the minister warns the ignorant and unrepentant from partaking in order to protect them from spiritual peril. There is a word of caution here. The people must understand that there is a difference between being worthy to partake of the Supper and partaking of the Supper worthily. No one is worthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper. We are all sinners. Nevertheless, we partake of the Lord’s Supper worthily when we understand that we are sinners, repent of our sins, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. If this is the state of our hearts, then the Supper is for us. God’s people should use this time in the service for sober, solemn, careful, and diligent self-examination and repentance. After the Words of Invitation, Institution, and Instruction, the minister prays the Prayer of Consecration. In this prayer the minister asks the Lord to bless the celebration of the Sacrament. He prays for the Lord to consecrate the elements and the people. The consecration of the elements means that the Lord sets the elements apart from common use to holy use. So the Lord, by his Word, makes the bread and wine to become holy signs and symbols of the body and blood of Christ. It must be emphasized that nothing magical happens to the bread and wine. The bread and the wine remain bread and wine, but they become signs of the body and blood of Christ. And since they become signs by virtue of the word of Christ, who instituted the Sacrament, they may be called what they signify. So the minister may refer to the bread as the body of Christ and the wine as the blood of Christ because they signify such things. This is not magical but sacramental. In terms of the prayer to consecrate the people, the minister is asking that the Lord will set apart the people from sin to Christ and his service. After the Prayer for Consecration, the minister will take the bread and break it in the presence of the congregation and say, “On the night our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took bread, and having blessed it, he broke it and gave some to his disciples, as I ministering in his name do so to you, and said, ‘This is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat all of it in remembrance of me.’” The minister then instructs the congregation to wait until everyone has been served, and then all will commune together. During this time the people should think about the broken body of the Lord Jesus and how his body was broken for them. Use the time for prayer and reflection. When the minister instructs the people to eat the bread, all should do so together. Every Christian who eats the bread should be reminded of Christ and his broken body. Every Christian should also realize that Christ is as present to their souls by faith as the bread is present to their outward senses by sight and touch. After the bread has been served, the minister takes the cup and says, “In the same manner, after Supper, our Lord also took the cup and said, ‘This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins. Drink from it all of you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” The same procedure should be followed for the cup as for the bread. The Christian should meditate on the blood of Christ which is shed for the remission of his sins. When the time comes to drink the wine, let every Christian not merely remember what Christ did in the past but also commune with Christ by the Holy Spirit in the present. Finally, at the end of the Supper, the minister concludes with a Thanksgiving. If he chooses, the minister may make a few brief comments at the end of the Supper. The people should listen carefully and diligently heed what the pastor says. The Prayer of Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude to God for the death of Christ and for the Sacrament as a sign and seal of what Christ has done for his church. The prayer will often lead the congregation to thank God for the past sacrifice of Christ, the present communion with Christ, and the future reunion with Christ in the new heavens and new earth. As in all prayers, the people should join the minister in thanking the Lord Jesus.

The Benediction

The corporate, public worship of God always concludes with the Benediction. We must be careful that we do not misunderstand the meaning of this important element of worship. The Benediction is not a closing prayer. There may be a time and a place to close a worship service in prayer, but prayer is emphatically not the purpose of the Benediction. The Benediction is a blessing from God through his servant, the minister, upon his people (e.g. Numbers 6:24-26). The minister leaves the pulpit and comes down to where the people are. The minister and the people should not close their eyes as this is not a prayer. Rather, the minister raises his hands, and with some Benediction from the Word of God pronounces God’s blessing and peace on God’s people. The people are also invited to extend their hands and receive the blessing from the Lord. The worship service began with God calling his people to worship by his Word, and the worship service concludes with God sending his people out into the world with his blessing by his Word. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen!” (2 Corinthians 13:14).