‘Tis written in Your Word, for sinners You once died,
O may Your precious blood to my soul be applied.
O wash me Lord;
I come to You for cleansing, Savior wash me now.
Unworthy though I am of Your forgiving grace,
Yet Lord You came and took this guilty sinner’s place.
O wash me Lord;
I come to You for cleansing, Savior wash me now.
I humbly seek Your grace, and bow before Your throne;
I look to You dear Savior and to You alone.
O wash me Lord;
I come to You for cleansing, Savior wash me now
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
Blessed are the Peacemakers – Matthew 5:9
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Psalm 136:1-4
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – On Jordan’s Stormy Banks – p. 517
READING – Exodus 14
MESSAGE – Behold the Salvation of the Lord – Heb. 11:29
CLOSING HYMN – Praise the Savior – p. 51
Birthdays: Mariel Moore – August 20th
A PRAYER FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
Oh precious Lord Jesus, cause Thy people to rejoice in Thy full and finished salvation. By Thee, all that believe are justified from all things (Acts 13:39). Here then, Lord, give Thy people grace to rest. Let there be nothing wavering, nothing unsettled, in our faith because everything in the covenant of grace is “ordered, and sure in all things” (2 Samuel 23:5). Oh for faith, in lively exercise, to believe “the record God hath given of His Son” (1 John 5:10-11). “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee” (Isaiah 26:3). Let all Thy faithful, therefore, of this present hour, as were the disciples of old, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and, like them, be filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. —Robert Hawker
THE GREAT EVIDENCE
The great evidence that God had accepted the sacrifice offered on behalf of the people by the high priest was the fact that he came out of the holy of holies ALIVE! He had gone into the presence of God and lived. How? Because of the sacrifice that God had appointed, provided, and accepted. This sacrifice was but a type of the one sacrifice for sins forever, the Lord Jesus Christ. When He came out of the grave and rose from the dead, this was the great proof that He had satisfied God, that God had accepted His sacrifice, and that He who died because of our sins was also raised because of our justification. A risen Christ is the revelation of a finished work! Believing this is simply believing God. What a comfort this is as we live in the flesh and in a world both of which are always saying “DO.”
–Pastor Gary Shepard
“He setteth the poor on high” (Psalm 107:41)
How high? Above the reach of the curse, which shall never touch him, above the power of Satan, which shall never ruin him, above the reigning influence of sin, which "shall not have dominion over him," above the possibility of being banished from His presence, for "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." –Joseph Irons
HOW SINFUL AND DEPRAVED IS MAN BY NATURE?
Human religions and philosophies teach that every man has a spark of goodness within. They believe sins are no more than “mistakes” we make due to our environment and circumstances. Their remedy for sin is to use man-centered religion (even false Christianity), psychology, education, economics, and social engineering to fan the spark of goodness until it grows into a flame. But what does God’s Word say about how sinful AND depraved we are in our natural state as fallen in Adam and born in sin – spiritually dead? The Bible says that when it comes to GOD’S standard of goodness and righteousness, we are all sinners who deserve nothing but condemnation (John 3:18; Rom. 5:12) – “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 6:23). It says that there are NONE righteous and NONE good in God’s sight (Rom. 3:10-12). Many will object, “But that cannot be. We know many people who are moral, honest, religious, sincere, charitable, even pillars of society. We know that nobody is perfect, but how can you say that all men are by nature depraved?” The answer is found in the Bible, and it is directly related to the natural man’s response to the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ and based on His righteousness imputed alone. Consider the following –
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (John 3:19-20)
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18)
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14)
Man’s natural sinfulness and depravity is exposed universally at this point – If left to ourselves, we will not believe God’s way of salvation revealed in the Gospel of His grace through Jesus Christ alone. If left to ourselves, we will always try to take salvation out of God’s hands and place it into ours – salvation in some way, at some point, to some degree conditioned on sinners, not totally on Christ. Man’s depravity is exposed as he insists on gaining some glory in his salvation rather than glorying in Christ alone. But when God saves us, then, we bow to Him and His way. Then we glory in Christ and His righteousness alone (Php. 3:3; Gal. 6:14).