CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – O Worship the King – p. 1)

(Words by Pastor Jim Byrd)

We gather this day to honor the King,

Who sits on His throne, His triumphs we sing;

The Savior who died to atone for our sin,

Came forth from the tomb and He liveth again.

Christ Jesus the Lord the battle has won,

He died and arose, all praise to the Son!

He took on Himself all our debt to repay,

The sins of His people are all washed away.

To Jesus our Lord all honors we bring,

And say unto death, “Here now is thy sting?”

Enthroned in His glory, almighty to save,

Victorious His conquest o’er sin and the grave.

He conquered the grave and liveth above,

All praise to His Name, all power and love;

Made righteous in Jesus we someday shall rise,

To dwell with our Savior above earth and skies.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

The Carnal and the Spiritual Mind – Romans 8:5-8

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – Job 19:23-27

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – All Hail the Power – p. 42

• READING – Hebrews 4:1-11

• MESSAGE – Every Believer’s Eternal Rest – Heb. 4:9-11

• CLOSING HYMN – Crown Him with Many Crowns – 62

Birthdays: Ralston Sparks – Apr. 25^th

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

If you can feed upon and be filled with the husks of false religion, false gospels, and false professions, then be assured that the Spirit of God has not given you a true spiritual and living hunger for God’s Word in the true Gospel of His free and sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Spirit gives us a true hunger and thirst after righteousness, that hunger can only be filled, and that thirst can only be quenched, by the preaching of the TRUTH in Christ as set forth in the Word of God. False gospels and false christs will leave you empty and dry. —copied

To a real Christian, living and walking by faith is a continual celebration of the death of Christ as the Surety, Substitute, and Redeemer of His people, and a continual celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. This is a continual testimony of the glorious realities of our sins purged away by the grace of God in Christ and our justification before God based on Christ’s righteousness imputed. Christ’s death and life are the source of our spiritual and eternal life. Christ ever LIVES to make intercession for us at the throne of God. Therefore, we who are in Him by God’s grace cannot be separated from Him because of God’s grace. We who are in Him cannot perish because God will lay no charge of sin to our account. Why? It is because of our justification in and by Christ Who lived, died, was buried, and arose from the dead. —Pastor Bill Parker

THE CONSCIENCE PURGED

When the Holy Spirit shows us the necessity, the beauty and the sufficiency of the death of Christ, we repent of our own foolish works of self-righteousness, we forsake every other way of seeking to please God, we look to Christ and His substitutionary death as the only ground of our acceptance with God and our conscience rests in the quiet assurance that Christ has satisfied God on our behalf and saved us in a way that glorifies God in all His holy character. Thus the “blood” purges our consciences of every false hope, of natural self-righteousness, and all fear and doubt! —Pastor Gary Shepard

CHRIST’S DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Many people say that the simple Gospel is the preaching of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Though it is true that the Gospel includes the historical facts that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and arose from the dead, these facts alone tell us nothing unless we understand what the Scriptures (God’s Word) teach us about WHY He died, was buried, and arose from the dead, and WHAT He accomplished in this great work. Consider the following –

Christ died as the Surety, Substitute, and Redeemer of His people to satisfy God’s justice against them for their sins. The debt of all their sins was imputed to Him, and by His one sacrifice He paid the full penalty and became the propitiation (satisfaction) for their sins.

Christ was buried in a tomb to show that He really did die. His death was no hoax or pretense. Christ, God in human flesh, died. This death is to be attributed to His humanity, but it was an act of His whole Person. He actually suffered the full penalty of sin, which is death. He obeyed unto death to save His people from their sins.

Christs arose from the dead because by His obedience unto death He established a perfect righteousness (the righteousness of God) by which God justifies all His people and from which they receive the gift of spiritual and eternal life. God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to His people by which they are declared not guilty but righteous in His sight. Because of Christ’s righteousness imputed to them, God gives them spiritual life in the new birth by which He brings them to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry.

Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for them insures that they all will be saved to the uttermost and brought to live forever with Him in glory. This was all “according to the Scriptures,” as this is what God’s Word reveals to us concerning Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.