Sovereign grace o’er sin abounding! Ransomed souls, the tidings swell; ‘Tis a deep that knows no sounding, Who its breadth or length can tell?
What from Christ that soul can sever, Bound by everlasting bands? Once in Him, in Him forever, None can pluck them from His hands.
Heirs of God, join-heirs with Jesus, Long ere time its race begun; To His name eternal praises, O what wonders Christ hath done.
On such love, my soul shall ponder, Love so great, so rich, so free; Say, while lost in holy wonder, Why, O Lord, such love to me?
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
The Root That Shines Like a Star – Revelation 22:13-16
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Galatians 3:26-29
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Praise Him! Praise Him! – p. 442
READING – Romans 4
MESSAGE–Abraham & the Promises of God – Heb. 11:8-10
CLOSING HYMN – Praise the Savior – p. 51
MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.
Birthdays: Tammy Hall – Apr. 13th | Kandice Drake – Apr. 14th Walter Ross – Apr. 15th
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
“For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). The grace of God and the faith He gives, both look to the justice of God in the matter of salvation. Grace apart from righteousness is not the grace of God. Faith that is looked to as righteousness is not the faith of God’s elect. Grace and faith depend upon the cross death of Jesus Christ. There, in His death for sin, grace reigns in righteousness. There, true faith in His blood brings the experience of peace and joy to the sinner’s conscience. –Pastor Gary Shepard
THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD
"But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10).
The Spirit of God in a man's bosom searches the deep things of God, so as to lead him into a spiritual and experimental knowledge of them. What depths do we sometimes see in a single text of Scripture opened to the understanding, or applied to the heart? What a depth in the blood of Christ – how it cleanses from all sin, even millions of millions of the foulest sins of the foulest sinners! What a depth in His bleeding, dying love, that could stoop so low to lift us so high! What a depth in His pity and compassion to extend itself to such guilty, vile transgressors as we are! What depth in His rich, free, and sovereign grace, that it should super-abound over all our aggravated iniquities, enormities, and vile abominations! What depth in His sufferings – that He should have voluntarily put Himself under such a load of guilt, such outbreakings of the wrath of God as He felt in His holy soul when He stood in our place to redeem poor sinners from the bottomless pit – that those who deserved hell, should be lifted up into the enjoyment of heaven! –J. C. Philpot (1858)
GOOD WORKS CANNOT SAVE US!
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)
There is no argument that true believers are to be zealous and diligent to promote love and good works (Titus 2:14; Heb. 10:24). But good works cannot save a sinner. The best works of a saved sinner cannot save him or make him righteous before God. Good works consist of obedience to God motivated by grace, love, and gratitude, and aimed towards the glory of God in Christ. They are the operation and work of the Holy Spirit within God’s people and only revealed by the light of the Gospel of God’s grace wherein Christ is shown to be a sinner’s only righteousness before God. And even a believer’s good works are not “good enough” to save him or make him righteous and holy. Anything that comes through us, even that which God the Holy Spirit does in us, becomes contaminated by us because of the remaining corruption of the flesh that is still with us in this life (Rom. 7:14-25). The fault here is not with God’s work in us. The fault is with us. For example, saving faith is the gift of God. God cannot create or give anything that is sinful and imperfect, but He creates a new heart and gives faith to believe within sinful and imperfect people. This makes it so that even in the miracle of our believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we still have a struggle within ourselves because of remaining unbelief and ignorance. This is called “the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Heb. 12:1). So even our good works are imperfect, even contaminated with sin. What does that tell us? It tells us that the only way that we or anything we do for the glory of God can only be accepted with God “IN THE BELOVED” (Eph. 1:6), the Lord Jesus Christ. Our persons and our works must be washed clean in His blood alone. We can only stand before God as we stand in Christ and have His righteousness imputed to us. And it is not that His righteousness makes up (or fills in) where our works fall short. His righteousness is ALL when it comes to our being accepted with God. Good works are expressions of our faith in Christ, and our love to Him, our brethren, and our neighbor, but they cannot save us, and neither can they contribute to our salvation. There is no merit in our best efforts to obey God. Our merit is Christ alone! –Pastor Bill Parker
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