Quotes and Thoughts from "Let a Person Examine Himself" : John Fonville

The sacrament requires and demands self-examination. The Lord's supper summons us to examine whether we are Christian or non-Christian. It calls us to see if we're looking by faith alone to Christ alone; to the One Who has borne our condemnation and judgment on our behalf. In I Cor 11:26, Paul reminds the Corinthians that whenever they celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's supper they are proclaiming the Lord's death. 

...Too often people think that they have made peace with God, because they have examined themselves before they received the Lord's supper. They rightly find themselves lacking before God, but do not depend on Christ to make them worthy. They're depending on their own deceitful purposes and resolutions to make themselves worthy.

Worthiness to come to the Lord's table does not require sinlessness. ~John Fonville

"In seeking to prepare for eating worthily, men have often dreadfully harassed and tortured miserable consciences, and yet have in no degree attained the end. They have said that those eat worthily who are in a state of grace. Being in a state of grace, they have interpreted to be pure and free from all sin. By this definition, all the men that ever have been, and are upon the earth, were debarred from the use of this sacrament. For if we are to seek our worthiness from ourselves, it is all over with us; only despair and fatal ruin await us. Though we struggle to the utmost, we will not only make no progress, but then be most unworthy after we have laboured most to make ourselves worthy.

...Certainly the devil could have no shorter method of destroying men than by thus infatuating them, and so excluding them from the taste and savour of this food with which their most merciful Father in heaven had been pleased to feed them. Therefore, lest we should rush over such a precipice, let us remember that this sacred feast is medicine to the sick, comfort to the sinner, and bounty to the poor; while to the healthy, the righteous, and the rich, if any such could be found, it would be of no value. For while Christ is therein given us for food, we perceive that without him we fail, pine, and waste away, just as hunger destroys the vigour of the body. Next, as he is given for life, we perceive that without him we are certainly dead. Wherefore, the best and only worthiness which we can bring to God, is to offer him our own vileness, and, if I may so speak, unworthiness, that his mercy may make us worthy; to despond in ourselves, that we may be consoled in him; to humble ourselves, that we may be elevated by him; to accuse ourselves, that we may be justified by him" #JohnCalvin

"Q. Since then faith alone
makes us share in Christ and all his benefits,
where does this faith come from?
A. From the Holy Spirit, 1
who works it in our hearts
by the preaching of the gospel, 2
and strengthens it
by the use of the sacraments. 3
1.Jn 3:5; 1 Cor 2:10-14; Eph 2:8; Phil 1:29.
2.Rom 10:17; 1 Pet 1:23-25.
3.Mt 28:19, 20; 1 Cor 10:16." #Heidelberg65

...Do not think that the conflict within you means that you cannot have assurance with God. Do you know where that conflict comes from? It comes from the Holy Spirit, Who is making you very uncomforatble with your sin, so that you get very comfortable with Jesus! (24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. #Romans7)

Assurance: I John 2:1-2:
My little children, these things write I unto you, *that ye sin not. And *if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Let me teach you how to examine yourself. Ask yourself,
Am I fully convinced of my sinfulness?
Am I convinced of my of the deadness and misery of my nature and state apart from faith in Christ?
Have I given up all hope of ever attaining righteousness or holiness apart from Christ alone?
Do I see Christ in His grace as the only thing that I need for my salvation?
Am I trusting in Christ to deliever me from the power and practice of sin, from the coming judgment and wrath of God in His second coming?
Are you trusting in Christ alone for the hope of eternal life?
Are you displeased with yourself for your sins, yet at the same time trusting that all those sins are forgiven, past, present and future? And that all your remaining sin, right now, is covered completely by the death of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that?
Are you trusting and depending upon Christ to sanctify you by His Holy Spirit?
Do you desire to mourn more, have your faith strengthened, and walk in a manner worthy of your calling?
...It's not this endless, introspective fruit examination to drive yourself mad. You examine yourself with great assurance of faith.

~ John Fonville

Listen to John Fonville's full sermon "Let a Person Examine Himself" at https://www.paramountchurch.com/sermons/sermon/2017-06-04/let-a-person-examine-himself