The Sacraments

Is communion a means of receiving grace? In this sermon on sacraments, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones begins a series on the sacraments and their place in the lives of believers. This topic provokes many different views but as Dr. Lloyd-Jones says, keeping these practices is one of the ways that believers receive God's grace. Protestants have held that there are two kinds of sacraments: communion and baptism, and that these two sacraments are outward spiritual signs of inward spiritual grace given by God. However, this is different from the Catholic view, which holds that God's grace is in the actual water of baptism, and the food and drink of communion. This difference brings up an interesting question: what is the relationship between the sacrament and the grace that is given through it? In this sermon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones presents his argument for the Protestant view holding that the sacraments serve to signify the seal of the Holy Spirit and convey Christ's love to the recipient. Dr. Lloyd-Jones likens this to what an engagement ring accomplishes. Though the ring itself is not the love of the man for the woman, it is a token, a symbol and new expression of that love. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones guides the listener through this sometimes challenging subject.