Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

MORNING WORSHIP:

10:00 Bible Study: Video sermon by Bill Parker

11:00 Service: Speaker Mark Pannell, Eager Ave. Grace Church

Birthdays: Amy Lee - Jan. 12^th.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM -WISK

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Song of Solomon 1:4

Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

There is a powerful efficacious drawing of soul to Christ, at conversion, when God calls a poor sinner by his grace, brings him to Christ, enables him to venture upon him, and believe in him for life and salvation; which is what Christ speaks of in John 6:44 when he says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me, draw him." A soul's coming to Christ for life, is not the produce of power and free-will in man, but of the grace of God in drawing, though it is not effected by force or compulsion; it is true, the sinner, in his natural estate, "is stout-hearted, and "far from righteousness," averse to Christ and the way of salvation by him; but by mighty grace, this stout heart is brought down. and made willing to submit to God's way of salvation; this obduracy is removed, and hardness of heart taken away by him, who has promised to take away the stony heart, and give an heart of flesh." Unconverted sinners are indeed unwilling to come to Christ for life; but those who belong to the election of grace, are made "willing in the day of Christ's power:" the manslayer did not more willingly flee from the avenger of blood, to the city of refuge, than a sinner, sensible of sin, and the danger of his state, does to Christ for salvation; for though a soul is not brought to Christ; by the power of his free-will, yet he is not brought against his will: drawing does not always suppose force and compulsion; there are other ways of drawing besides that. Thus the fame of a skillful physician draws many people to him; thus music draws the ear; love the heart; and pleasure the mind. Nor is this done by mere moral suasion, which is what ministers use; knowing the terrors of the Lord, they persuade men: but if the mighty power of grace does not attend their ministry, not one soul will ever be converted; though they represent the joys of heaven and the terrors of hell, in never such a lively manner; speak in never such moving strains, and use the most powerful arguments to win upon souls; yet they will stretch out their "hands all the day, to a gainsaying and disobedient people;" they will return with a "who hath believed our report?" the arm of the Lord not being revealed unto them. God does not act as a mere moral cause in man's conversion; he does not only propose an object, and then leave the will to choose, but powerfully and effectually works both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.

--- John Gill

The Elect Of God: HOLY AND BELOVED!

When Paul wrote the epistle to the believers at Colosse, he made a very interesting statement which runs totally contrary to what is taught in modern day religion-"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, HOLY AND BELOVED, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering."(Col.3:12) Can you even begin to imagine the comfort and hope these two great words, "holy and beloved", gave to these justified sinners who continually found themselves struggling every day with their old sinful nature? This religious world would never imagine, much less tell any of their members that God considers them "holy" (legally righteous according to His strict law and justice) based solely on Christ's finished work of redemption at Calvary. I've actually had people tell me: "If you preach this kind of message, you'll open the door for men and women to live like hell." The reason they will not declare this message of salvation by God's free grace based on Christ's righteousness alone is they are convinced the only way to keep sinners motivated to obedience is by threatening punishment for disobedience and by promising rewards for obedience.
The reality the Scriptures clearly declare is that before ANY OBEDIENCE can be acceptable to God, the one doing the obedience must already be declared LEGALLY RIGHTEOUS and their person acceptable before God. A preacher once put it to me like this: "The JUSTIFIED SINNER has for his starting place, what the SELF-RIGHTEOUS religionist has for his goal." The self-righteous religionists goal is to establish a righteousness by his obedience to the law-"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."(Rom.10:1-3) Any sinner who is ignorant of or not submitted to Christ's Righteousness ALONE as their only ground of salvation will always try to establish a righteousness on their own. On the other hand, the JUSTIFIED SINNER has been "made the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM"(II Cor.5:21) based on the blood and righteousness of Christ, before he takes the first step by way of obedience.
In Col.3:12, the Apostle Paul does exhort believers (justified saints) to obedience, i.e., "bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness, etc.", but not until he has already dogmatically established to their minds their present abiding position before the true and living God, i.e., "HOLY AND BELOVED". If you rest in Christ's righteousness ALONE as your only hope of salvation, God views you "holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight."(Col.1:22) Therefore, because you are holy, because you are a saint, because you are God's child, with no possibility of ever being separated from him (See Rom.8:28-39), out of grace and gratitude, SERVE HIM. This is the only way of acceptable obedience. All else is dead works and hated by God.