How Righteous Must We Be? (1) – Matthew 5:21-22,27-28
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Isaiah 45:22-25
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Look to the Lamb of God – p. 216
READING – Hebrews 12:1-11
MESSAGE – Looking Unto Jesus – Hebrews 12:1-3
CLOSING HYMN – Look, Ye Saints! – p. 141
MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith
Birthdays: Jim Fuller – Oct. 15th | Richard O'Connor – Oct. 20th
Congratulations to Jake and Sierra (Moore) Jones upon the occasion of their wedding last Saturday (10/14/17). They live in Atlanta, so if you do not know Jake, he is the son of Frank and Nikki Jones. May the Lord bless Jake and Sierra in their years together as husband and wife.
There are a lot of people who talk about salvation by blood, by the blood of Jesus. But they speak as if it were simply available and talk about what it can do – “It CAN wash away your sins.” This is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news of what Christ’s shedding of blood has accomplished! It was shed for many for the remission of their sins. His death put away sin, made an end of sin for someone. Who? His church, His people, His elect. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). –Pastor Gary Shepard
WALKING IN THE LIGHT
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Walking in the light is walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and following Him as the one who redeemed us with His precious blood. False Christianity tells us that our walking in the light is the condition we must meet in order to empower the blood of Christ for ourselves personally. This is not true! Walking in the light is not a condition sinners must meet in order to attain the benefits of Christ’s blood. Walking in the light is the EVIDENCE of the power of Christ’s blood to save His people from their sins. This salvation includes their justification before God based on Christ’s righteousness imputed alone, their new birth in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring them to faith in Christ and true repentance, their preservation and perseverance unto final glory. So, it is not our faith that empowers Christ’s blood to save us; it is Christ’s blood that empowers God-given faith for us to receive, believe and rest in Him and His blood for our whole salvation (John 12:31-32; Eph. 2:8-10). The difference here is the difference between salvation by God’s grace and salvation by the works of men.
–Pastor Bill Parker
“Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” (Psalm 2:11-12)
THE DOING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
“If ye know that HE [Christ] is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” (1 John 2:29)
Is there any true child of God who would claim to do righteousness by any of their works (with or without the help of God) or by finding some perfect righteousness within themselves? NO! All true children of God know that nothing in them or that proceeds from them can equal the perfection of righteousness that God requires. All true children of God know that their best efforts to obey God, that which can be called “good works” and “fruit unto God,” can only be described as such as they are the work of God’s power and goodness within and as they are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ our Intercessor. What is this “doeth righteousness” then? In the context of 1 John 2 it refers to a sinner, having been born of God and given the gift of faith, clinging to Christ who is the Lord our righteousness and our only righteousness before God – “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for HIS [Christ’s] seed [His true children] remaineth in HIM [Christ]: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). Those who are truly born again by the Holy Spirit and who, therefore, have a new heart and a new spirit, cannot sin in the way of leaving and forsaking Christ as some who merely profess to believe in Him have done (1 John 2:18-19). Their endurance is due to the grace and power of God, not to their own goodness or power of will. Christ will not let His true children go. Having been born of God, having the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and being preserved in Christ by the grace of God, evidenced by their clinging to Christ for all righteousness (doing righteousness), they show evidence of their new birth. It also shows that God will not impute (charge) sin to them because their sins were imputed to Christ. Christ’s righteousness has been imputed (charged) to them so that they cannot be condemned (Rom. 8:33-34), and the God of all grace will not let them go (Rom. 8:35-39). How do we know if we are truly born of God? It is by doing righteousness which is remaining in Christ by faith and looking to Him alone and what He accomplished for us on the cross for all righteousness before God. –Pastor Bill Parker
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