CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: Majestic Sweetness CM "written by Jim Byrd")

The blood which Jesus shed for me,
When hanging on the tree;
Shall never lose its saving pow'r,
Through all eternity, Through all eternity.

When Christ for us was crucified,
The law was satisfied;
‘Tis by that bloody Sacrifice,
Our souls are justified, Our souls are justified.

‘Twas on the cross the Savior bled,
Our Lord and Cov'nant Head,
When hanging on that curs-ed tree,
He suffered in our stead, He suffered in our stead.

What wondrous, condescending grace,
That Christ would take our place;
And fully put the sins away
Of all His chosen race, Of all His chosen race.

TODAY'S SPEAKER: Eager Avenue Grace Church extends a warm welcome to Gary Shepard. Gary is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Jacksonville, N.C. He will conduct both the 10:00 am and 11:00 am services today. Pray for him as he delivers God's Word.
Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM. Pray that God will use it for His glory.
Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM -WISK. You can also hear the sermons on your computer. Just click on www.americusradio.com
Birthdays: Marsha McKenzie - Feb. 24th. , Reid Jackson - Feb. 28th.

Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. Deuteronomy 29:4

These Phrases, an Heart to perceive, Eyes to see, and Ears to hear, mean an Ability, in a spiritual manner, to discern, receive, and delight in spiritual Things, because of their Excellency and Glory. Such a Perception, Embracement of, and Pleasure in heavenly Things, are intended, as issue in the Glory of God, and the Salvation of the Soul. Where of natural Reason is incapable, how much soever it may be cultivated and improved. This Ability, is not a Capacity to understand the Import of the Language of Scripture, concerning the most mysterious Doctrines which it contains. Such as the Doctrine of the Trinity; of the Incarnation of Christ; the Union of the Divine and human Natures, in his Person; of Regeneration; and of other sublime Truths. Nor is it a Power to discern the Dependence, Connection and Harmony, of evangelical Doctrines. Men in common are the Subjects of an Ability for the former, and of a Capacity for the latter; otherwise they could not be required to believe the Verity of those Doctrines, which are supernaturally revealed. The Reason why Men do not believe the Truths of the Gospel, is not the want of an Ability to understand the Language of Scripture, or of a Capacity to discern the Dependence, Connection and Agreement of evangelical Principles: But the Cause thereof is, they disapprove of them, and account them to be the very Reverse of what they are in fact. They are the Wisdom of God; but in the Esteem of natural Men, they are Folly, and therefore, unfit to be believed and embraced. On the contrary, they think they are to be despised and rejected, as irrational and absurd. The natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, to him they are Foolishness, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. He is a spiritual Man, who judges, or discerns spiritual Things themselves, and consequently, he must be possessed of a spiritual Ability. And that Ability is, a holy supernatural Principle, whereof the whole Soul is the subject, and it is permanent and abiding therein. From that Principle, all holy, spiritual Acts spring.
John Brine - PREACHED JULY 19, 1760

THE PERFECT SACRIFICE

Christ our Surety, in the covenant of grace, became legally accountable for the sin-debt of all those given to Him by the Father, and on the cross the sinless One "gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor" (Ephesians 5:2). "For such an High Priest became us, Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself" (Hebrews 7:26-27). The reason that all of the animals offered on Jewish altars were required to be "without blemish" (Leviticus 1:3) was because they prefigured the perfect Sacrifice. It was Christ's divine purity that made His death satisfying to infinite justice. Though the Father "laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6), yet the Savior remained, in His Person, untainted with our wickedness. He was, therefore, the acceptable sacrifice to God. Christ bore our load of guilt away, casting it into the sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19), so that the Father says, "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17). The perfect Sacrifice satisfied divine justice when He died and "brought in everlasting righteousness" for all His people.

Jim Byrd

We are saved by grace - free grace, rich grace sovereign grace, distinguishing grace - without one atom of works, without one grain of creature merit, without anything of the flesh. Oh! Sweet grace, blessed grace! Oh! What a help - what a strength -what a rest for a poor, toiling, striving, laboring soul -to find that grace has done all the work - to feel that grace has triumphed in the cross of Christ - to find that nothing is required, nothing is needed, nothing is to be done!