O, Lamb of God, still keep me near to Thy wounded side,
Tis only there in safety and peace I can abide;
What foes and snares surround me, what lusts and fears within,
The grace that sought and found me alone can keep me clean.
“Tis only in Thee hiding I know my life secure,
Only in Thee abiding I steadfast shall endure;
Thine arm the victory gaineth, O’er every hurtful foe,
The love my heart sustaineth in all its care and woe.
Soon shall my eyes behold Thee with rapture face to face,
The half hath not been told me of all Thy power and grace;
Thy beauty, Lord, and glory, the wonders of Thy love,
Shall be the endless story of all Thy saints above.
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
The King and the Kingdom of Heaven – Matt. 4:23-25
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Psalm 77:13-15
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Come Thou Fount – p. 17
READING – Genesis 48
MESSAGE – Bearing the Name of Jacob – Hebrews 11:21
CLOSING HYMN – Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – p. 204
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. –Psalm 100:1-3
COME TO THE LORD JESUS
Our Lord often spoke of coming to Him. “COME UNTO ME, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him COME UNTO ME, and drink” (John 7:37). “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that COMETH TO ME, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). “No man can COME TO ME except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44). Are you guilty? Come to Him for a full and unconditional pardon. Are you impure? Come to Him whose blood cleanses the foulest. Do you see the worthlessness of your self-righteous rags? Come to Him for perfect righteousness and beauty. Are you ignorant? Come to Him to be taught for He is the Wisdom of God. Are you cut off from God? Come to Him for restoration. O that you would be brought by the Spirit of grace to understand there is no life, no righteousness, no salvation, no forgiveness and no acceptance for any sinner outside of the dear Savior. Coming to Him is a movement of the soul, not the body; it is believing on Him. Come to Christ, but don’t move a muscle (as in walking the aisle). —Pastor Jim Byrd
PLEAD THE LORD JESUS
When we as sinners approach God seeking His mercy and grace, or when we approach Him in worship and prayer, upon what basis do expect Him to receive us? The Bible tells us that the only ground upon which God can receive and accept us is the merits of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the righteousness of His obedience unto death imputed to us. So when we approach God, we must plead the Lord Jesus. Our works, good intentions, sincerity, and dedication will not do. It is all Christ. Nothing we do (not even that which the Holy Spirit enables us to do) can match or rival Christ and His righteousness. And if our worship and prayer are truly inspired by the Holy Spirit, we will gladly plead the Lord Jesus and nothing else. We will count all else but “dung that we may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php. 3:8-9). CHRIST IS ALL, and HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH to gain and maintain God’s favor. We can look no higher than Him. We can plead no better than Him. - Pastor Bill Parker
HERE IS A MARVELOUS THING!
“This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”
(Psalm 118:23)
It is a marvelous thing, a miracle of God’s free and sovereign grace, to know that if we are saved by His grace and brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that the righteousness in which we stand before God is the very righteousness OF God. How can we say this? We can say this because God’s Word says it (Rom. 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 5:21). How can it be the righteousness of God? It is God’s righteousness because it was worked out and established by God manifests in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross (Rom. 3:21-26; 10:4). By His obedience unto death, as the Surety and Substitute of those whom the Father had given Him before the foundation of the world, He satisfied God’s justice for all of their sins imputed to Him (Heb. 10:14). How can God’s righteousness be applied to us and truly be called ours? As our sins were imputed to Christ and truly His by imputation (Psalm 69:5), and for which He suffered, His righteousness has been imputed to all His people and is truly ours as the gift of God’s grace (Rom. 5:15-21).
And here is another marvelous thing – Christ’s righteousness in which all true believers stand justified before God cannot be enhanced by our faith, repentance, and/or obedience. In fact, to think otherwise is a denial of His righteousness and reveals one to be an unbeliever (Gal. 2:21; 5:1-4). Another marvelous thing is this – Our sins and failings cannot diminish, contaminate, or remove His righteousness from us (Rom. 8:31-34; 1 John 2:1-2). Some will argue that if this is true, then there is no reason or motivation for us to believe, repent, or seek to obey God. But here is another marvelous thing – The righteousness of Christ imputed to us is not only the ground of our justification, it is also the source and guarantee of our sanctification by the Spirit who imparts spiritual life to us by the Holy Spirit in the new birth (Rom. 8:10). Our legal justification before God based on Christ’s righteousness imputed is a marvelous thing in and of itself, but it does not stand alone in the salvation of God’s people. It issues forth in another marvelous thing – the giving of spiritual life which includes faith, repentance, and a desire to obey God as we are motivated by grace, love, and gratitude (2 Thess. 2:13-14). Grace, grace, marvelous grace! –Pastor Bill Parker
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