JANUARY 4, 2015 CALL TO WORSHIP (Tune: “How Firm a Foundation” – p. 268)
Thy mercy, My God, is the theme of my song The joy of my heart, the boast of my tongue Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last Hath won my affection and bound my heart fast.
For unworthy sinners my Lord bowed His head For unworthy sinners He suffered and bled My spirit rejoices, the work it is done My soul is redeemed, and salvation is won!
Great God of mercies, Thy goodness I own And the covenant of love of Thy glorified Son All praise to the Saviour whose blood so divine Sealed pardon and mercy and righteousness mine.
Great Father of glory, how rich is Thy grace! What wonderful love is revealed in Thy face! Lord Jesus, Beloved, we’re washed in Thy blood With hope we shall stand at the throne of our God.
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Today: Bible Classes – 10:00 a.m.; Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m. Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
Television Broadcast: Reign of Grace Television Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM.
Live Streaming – 11:00 a.m. service from Sermon Audio web site
Web Sites: Reign of Grace: www.rofgrace.com Sermon Audio: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace
Birthdays: William Sparks – Jan. 4th – Jack Cox – Jan. 5th –Jordan Drake – Jan. 5th
We will conclude our worship service today by serving the LORD’S SUPPER. Afterwards, we will have lunch in the fellowship hall. All are invited to stay and eat with us after the services.
“Lord, we pray for your blessings in this coming year. May Christ be glorified and honored in our lives, and may we live to see the salvation of many souls. May we also experience a greater growth in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.”
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“When Christ entered into Jerusalem, the people spread their garments in the way. When He enters into our hearts, we pull off our own righteousness and not only lay it under Christ’s feet, but trample upon it ourselves” (Augustus Toplady). Many have said, “Before God clothes you, He strips you naked. Before He fills you, He makes you empty. Before He enriches you, He makes you poor.” All this is true, but what does it mean? It means that a sinner cannot savingly know and be submitted to Christ as his only Savior and His righteousness as his sole ground of salvation while at the same time seeking to plead the righteousness of works as forming any part of the ground of salvation. Therefore, as Toplady wrote, in salvation, in light of Christ and the merits of His obedience and death, the enlightened sinner will see the utter worthlessness of His own righteousness, count it but “dung” (Phil. 3:7-10). He will seek to be found standing before God clothed in Christ’s merits alone. – Pastor Bill Parker
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In the economy of Jesus Christ there are two extreme degrees – one of abasement, the other of exaltation. The lowest degree of His abasement was His death and burial. The opposite degree of His exaltation will be the Last Judgment. In His death He was covered with reproaches and pierced with the arrows of divine justice. He was exposed on the cross as a spectacle to the whole city of Jerusalem. In the Last Judgment, arrayed in glory and majesty, He will appear before the whole universe in the glory of His Father (Phil. 2:6-11). – Robert Haldane
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
The apostle writes here of some great blessing of which he, even as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, had not yet taken possession and experienced. He is not speaking of our justification before God nor of any blessings we as believers fully possess based on the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to us and received by God-given faith. Paul, as every justified sinner, had already fully attained justification, sanctification, holiness and fitness for heaven, and the full entitlement to the whole inheritance of eternal life, all based on what Christ had already accomplished for him. He is speaking here of final glorification in heaven where believers go to be with Christ and where all believers are totally free from the presence, influence, and contamination of sin. We who are in Christ and saved by His grace will most certainly attain final glory because Christ is our Surety, the Lord our Righteousness, and He ever lives to intercede on our behalf (1 John 2:1-2). God, the Judge of all, will not and cannot impute sin(s) to our account because He has charged them to Christ Who took our punishment and paid our debt (Rom. 4:6-8; 8:1,31-34). And though we are perfect in Christ, we have not yet reached perfection in ourselves. Therefore, we should look forward and press on towards this goal, NOT motivated by legalistic threats and mercenary promises of earned rewards, but as we are motivated by grace, love, and gratitude, to the praise of the glory and honor of Christ our Savior. The “prize of the high calling of God” includes all the blessings that will be realized in the final glorification of believers. This prize is “in Christ Jesus,” meaning that it is assured to all who believe in Him because we already possess, not in their own persons, but in the Person of Christ, our Representative and Substitute, all grace here and all glory hereafter. Brethren, let this be our attitude and our goal in this New Year as well as every year the Lord grants us to live upon this earth either until our death or until He comes again. – Pastor Bill Parker
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