I will give Him adoration, saved by sovereign grace.
With His blood the Savior bought me,
Lovingly the Shepherd sought me,
And His Spirit now has taught me, Jesus saves from sin.
Member of a holy nation,
Saved from endless condemnation;
By the Spirit’s generation, I have life in Him.
Lost in sin, the Savior found me,
Jesus broke the chains that bound me;
O what love and grace surround me, I am safe in Him.
What a Refuge of salvation,
Christ the Rock is my Foundation;
This my joyful contemplation, Saved forevermore.
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
God Justifies the Ungodly – Romans 4:4-8
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Psalm 56:10-13
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Nothing But the Blood – p. 212
READING – Psalm 51
MESSAGE – Dealing With Sin (2) – Colossians 3:5-11
CLOSING HYMN – Only a Sinner Saved by Grace – p. 474
Birthdays: Kathryn Cox – Aug. 19th | Jane Sparks – Aug. 19th Charlotte Pannell – Aug. 19th | Mariel Moore – Aug. 20th
IT IS ALL ABOUT CHRIST AND HIS CROSS
In the salvation of sinners by God’s grace, Christ crucified and risen from the dead is everything! The apostle wrote, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). To save His people from their sins, to make an end of sin and bring in everlasting righteousness for His sheep so that God could justly forgive and accept them, the Lord Jesus Christ had to come in time and die on the cross as their Surety and Substitute – “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). The cross refers to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the merits of His righteousness which God has imputed to His people for their justification. In the salvation of God’s people in the Old Testament (everything before the cross in time), and in the salvation of God’s people in the New Testament (everything after the cross in time), it was (and is) all about the cross and all based upon the cross. Nothing in salvation at any time is based upon anything but the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified in the place of His people who are born, live, and die in all times. —Pastor Bill Parker
THE SIN OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Though God sees sin in His people with His eye of omniscience, yet not with His eye of revenging justice. Though He sees them, in respect of His providence, which reaches all things, yet not in respect of justification. Though He takes notice of His people’s sins so as to chastise them in a fatherly way, for their good; yet He does not see them, take notice of them, and observe them in a judicial way, so as to impute them to them, or require satisfaction for them. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). No, He has imputed them to Christ ... and Christ has made full satisfaction for them and therefore, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth: who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died” (Romans 8:33-34). God will not require satisfaction at the hands of His people for their sins. He will not punish them on account of them. They shall never enter into condemnation for “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Was God to see sin in His people in this sense, and proceed against them in a forensic way, He must act contrary to His justice and set aside the satisfaction of His Son. —John Gill
“And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
—Hebrews 10:21-22
“We have not an High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” —Hebrews 4:15
“Without sin!” O that this were my happy state, cries the sanctified soul. Verily, as sure as the word of God is true, you will soon enjoy this perfect freedom from your worst enemy. But you must be content to wait God’s time and live in His way, that is by faith upon your best Friend, Jesus. Your present blessedness is to understand and rejoice in this great mystery that Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us; therefore, by faith we glory, knowing that God looks on us and blesses us as righteous in Christ, and does not impute sin unto us. As the Head is without sin, so are all the members, as viewed by God. And this is the evidence that we are born of the Spirit and have the mind of Christ that we hate all sin, long for entire deliverance from it and aspire after full conformity to the image of Christ, but this we cannot enjoy in the body. We must first sleep in Jesus ere we awake after His perfect likeness. —William Mason (edited)
WOULD YOU BE JUSTIFED BEFORE GOD?
Then learn one thing! Jesus Christ is ALL in our justification before God! Only through Christ can a sinner have peace with the Holy God. Only by Christ alone can a sinner be accepted and admitted into God’s presence. HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS is the only robe which will cover us. HIS BLOOD is the only mark that will save us from eternal death. HIS NAME is the only name by which we shall obtain an entrance through the gate of eternal glory. I pity those who try to obtain God’s favor by their works; and I sound a clear warning – you are building on sand; you are spending money for that which is not bread; you will hear Him say, “Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” But this I know – not one person has ever entered heaven’s courts with any testimony but this: “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood – to Him be the glory” (Rev. 1:5-6). —Henry Mahan