With Broken Heart and Contrite Sigh Words by Cornelius Elven Tune to Just As I Am 1) With broken heart and contrite sigh, A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. Thy pardoning grace is rich and free, --O God, be merciful to me!
2) I smite upon my troubled breast, With deep and conscious guilt opprest: Christ and His cross my only plea, -O God, be merciful to me!
3) Far off I stand with tearful eyes Nor dare uplift them to the skies; But Thou dost all my anguish see, --O God, be merciful to me!
4) No alms or deeds that I have done Can for a single sin atone. To Calvary alone I flee, --O God, be merciful to me!
5) And when, redeemed from sin and hell, With all the ransomed throng I dwell, My raptured song shall ever be, O God, be merciful to me! ***** “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”Hebrews 7:25 ***** Dead to the World "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Galatians 6:14
Paul here is dogmatically declaring that with every fiber of our being, with every thought, word and deed we are to determine to have no confidence in anything but Christ and Him crucified. He does not suggest or imply any other course of action on the part of the believer. The crucifixion of our Lord settled everything having to do with our acceptance before God. We are complete in Christ. He is our righteousness, wisdom, sanctification and redemption. We trust no merit but His. We trust no work but His. We discount, disavow, deny, despise, discredit, disdain and disown any notion of anything that even hints that we have something to do with the salvation of our souls. This glory belongs to Christ alone.
Paul declares that this wondrous redemption, fully and solely accomplished by Christ, brings about two results. 1) The world is crucified to us. 2) We are crucified to the world. Simply stated, this means that the world and its useless religion is nothing to us who believe. It has no effect upon us. It is dead. It is a living death, thriving as a maggot on the necrotic tissue of self-righteousness, satisfied only by corruption. We are new creatures in Christ. The world knows nothing of us; it neither hinders nor helps us, stirs us nor soothes us. It is a dead thing…reckon it to be so and bury it. Likewise, we are dead to the world. That which moves and motivates the world is not part of us. The world looks on us as foolish, discounting our talk of Sovereign grace, laughing us to scorn. The world is amazed that we neither desire nor embrace anything that it loves and relies upon for salvation. We are dead to its free will, its invitation system, its altars, its sacrifices, its merit, its methods and its musings. We are crucified to the world. Reckon it to be so. Pastor Tim James ***** God Is Sovereign in Salvation! No truth shines with clearer luster in the Bible than that salvation, from first to last, it is of God. God is sovereign in salvation! He often selects the poorest, the vilest, the most depraved, the most fallen, as if utterly to explode all idea of human merit, and to reflect the free grace of His heart in its richest luster. O precious truth! It stains the pride of human merit! It lays the axe at the root of self! It humbles and abases! It empties and lays low! It ascribes all the praise, honor and glory, might, majesty and dominion, of the new creation in the soul, to the Triune God! No worthiness of the creature allures Him to the sinner's heart! What worthiness can be supposed to exist--what merit can there be in a guilty criminal, an outlawed rebel, a poor insolvent, one whose mind is enmity, one whose heart is swelling with treason against God, His government, and His Son? One who owes millions, but has nothing to pay? None whatever!
And that the eternal Spirit should enter the heart of such a one... convincing of sin; subduing the hatred; breaking down the rebellion; leading to Jesus, and sealing pardon and peace upon the conscience; oh! what but free grace, unmerited mercy, and sovereign love could thus have constrained Him? "Lord, what did You see in me," exclaims the converted soul, "that moved You with compassion, that drew You to my heart, and that constrained You to make me Your child? Nothing on my part, but poverty, wretchedness, and misery! Nothing on Your part, nothing but love, sovereignty, and unmerited favor!" O the riches of His grace! --Octavius Winslow ***** Christ is the Answer “Believers have the answer:” this is what was brought to my mind this week as I witnessed a friend passing from this life into the next. Oh we have been given the answer of all answers for any situation, any problem, and any need that life, trial, trouble, and even death presents to us: “Christ is all and in all.” Are we needing any healing, there is balm in Gilead; are we in need of food, drink or direction…Christ is our bread, water and way. He’s our very present help in time of need, He’s our life when all around us is unsure and certain death waits, and He’s our peace in a world that is so far removed from peace or making peace! I wish to stay here under His wings, in His powerful hands, next to His warm and tender voice; Lord I need Thee, every hour I need, I’m weak, unsure about many things and will fall away if left to myself: Keep me as you have promised and bring me safely into your presence; and may it be soon, but -not my will be done, Thy will be done, and as it will most certainly be done, give me contentment and comfort to see Your face in it all! Pastor Drew Dietz ***** Daily Readings -July 31- August 6, 2016 Sunday - Isaiah 1-4 Monday - Isaiah 5-9 Tuesday - Isaiah 10-14 Wednesday-Isaiah 15 - 21 Thursday -Isaiah 22-26 Friday -Isaiah 27-31 Saturday -Isaiah 32-37
SCRIPTURE READING THIS MORNING: Lamentations 3:22-26
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