CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – I Love Thy Kingdom – p. 188)

Thy works, not mine, O Christ,

Speak gladness to the heart;

They tell me all the work is done,

They bid my fears depart.

Thy wounds, not mine, O Christ,

Can heal my sinful soul;

Thy stripes, not mine, O Lord, contain,

The balm that makes us whole.

Thy death, not mine, O Christ,

Hath borne the awful load;

Of sins that no one else could bear,

But our incarnate God.

Thy Righteousness, O Christ,

Alone can cover me;

No other Righteousness avails,

Save that which is of Thee!

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

Blessed are the Persecuted – Matthew 5:10-12

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – 2 Corinthian 10:4-5

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – I Love to Tell the Story – p. 431

• READING – Joshua 6

• MESSAGE – Pulling Down Strongholds – Heb. 11:30

• CLOSING HYMN – Take My Life, and Let It Be – p. 393

Birthdays: Rodney Hiers – Aug. 30^th | Jeremy Pannell – Aug. 30^th

“For therein [the Gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

This “righteousness of God, revealed from faith to faith,” is revealed TO faith to show that it is not obtained BY faith. The whole and sole cause of justification is Christ! Faith is no more than the hand to receive it by. And faith does not give the least title (credit) to it! No, so far from that, faith is produced by the complete work of Christ's righteousness. So that as faith has no hand in the work, neither has faith any merit in the performance. It is not revealed from works to faith, but from faith to faith. And as Christ is the great object of faith, so all the life and actings of faith are solely upon His person, blood, and righteousness.

–Robert Hawker (1753-1827)

ONE MAN

The "one mediator between God and men" is "the man" Christ Jesus. There is but ONE man through which God will accept men and that is by "one man's obedience." Christ, by virtue of His death, put away the sin that separates His people from God. Now they "come to God by Him!" We must be declared free from guilt, and invested with a righteousness that will stand before the law of sinless perfection and entitle us to the kingdom of heaven. And if we have it not in ourselves, where must we look for it but as existing solely in the person of Jesus Christ? Dependence therefore upon that righteousness, as wrought out by Him for believers, and appointed of God for sinners to trust in, is the gracious faith of the Gospel by which the soul is justified. Satan and the world may ask us, "How can you be justified by a righteousness which is not yours?" We answer, "The righteousness of Christ is ours, and ours by as great a right as any other thing we possess, to wit, by the free gift of God: for it hath pleased Him to give us a garment who were naked, and to give us, who had none of our own, a righteousness answerable to justice. –William Cowper

What then is prayer? It is the heart cry of a child of God unto the Father, through the blood and righteousness of Christ by the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. –Pastor Jim Byrd

WHY DID GOD GIVE THE LAW?

When God gave the Law to Israel, He gave them a law He knew they could not keep. Why would God do this? Is God a cruel tyrant who enjoys toying with people? Is he unjust and unreasonable? ABSOLUTELY NOT! God tells us why He gave the law to sinful people (as are all of us) –

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21)

“Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” (Galatians 3:19)

The Law was given by God to Israel for the following reasons:

(1) To show God’s standard of holiness and righteousness. (Matt. 5:48; Acts 17:31)

(2) To show that no person fallen in Adam and born dead spiritually can measure up to this high standard. (Rom. 3:10-12,19,23; Gal. 3:10)

(3) To show that we are unable to achieve righteousness by our own efforts. (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:11)

(4) To show our need of salvation by God’s grace based on the justice of the law satisfied and to point sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior (Surety and Substitute of His people) who saves His people by redemption through His blood and His righteousness alone. (John 5:39-47; Rom. 5:21)