CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: "Come Thou Fount")

Glory to the Holy Father,

Fountain of eternal love,

Who, His wand'ring sheep to gather,

Sent the Savior from above.

Glory to the Son be given,

Who with love unknown before,

Left the bright abode of heaven,

And our sins and sorrows bore.

Glory to the Holy Spirit,

Let His praise our tongues employ,

Author of all saving graces,

Source of wisdom, peace, and joy.

Praise the God of our salvation,

Hosts on high His pow'r proclaim;

Heav'n and earth and all creation,

Laud and magnify His name!

Bible Study: "God's Victory over Sin" 1 Samuel 17:29-58

TODAY'S SPEAKER: Brother Mark Pannell will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God's word.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM -WISK. You can also hear the sermons on your computer. Just click on http://www.americusradio.com/

Birthdays: Frank Jones - July 21^st.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

There is the spiritual blessing of redemption - redemption from sin, iniquity and the curse of the law. But it is only to be found in Christ. Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, is the great Redeemer of his church and people. "Our Redeemer," says the prophet, "is strong"; he is strong to redeem, strong to deliver, and mighty to save. O that I could speak of him as I have him in my heart, bless his precious name! All might, power and ability is in Christ, and all to redeem us from sin, the curse of the law and the pit of destruction. But what is the ransom? What is the price, my friends? Silver and gold and corruptible things? O no! If a man had all the silver and gold in the earth, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and could give them all for the sin of his soul, it would be scorned; yes, ten thousand rivers of oil would be a sacrifice insufficient.

But we have redemption in Christ. He is not only the great Redeemer; but marvelous to tell, he is also the ransom price. "Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Mark the reading: he gives himself, his life, his blood, as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. When on the cross he suffered "the Just for the unjust"; when he bled, groaned and died for our sins, it was to redeem us from all iniquity, and to deliver us from the curse of the divine law by being made a curse for us. When he shed his precious blood for the remission of our sins, it was our ransom price. Bless his precious and immortal name, by sacrificing and offering himself up once for all, he has "obtained eternal redemption for us." Though it is lofty language, yet it is firm and sure - "eternal redemption"! "We have redemption." Where? "Through his blood," through his atoning sacrifice, "even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." He has redeemed his church and people, even millions of men by his blood; so that, my friends, he is of God "made unto us redemption."

John Kershaw at Zoar Chapel London, on April 18th, 1848

"O Wretched Man That I Am!"

There is a vast difference between the view the self-righteous lost sinner has of himself and the view the saved sinner has of himself. The problem lies in natural man's depravity which renders him totally incapable of discerning good and evil. For this reason, they judge those people who are moral, sincere, and dedicated to religion to be "good people" in spite of the fact that the Scripture plainly declare: "As it is written, There is NONE righteous, no, not one: There is NONE that understandeth, there is NONE that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is NONE THAT DOETH GOOD, no, not one."(Rom.3:10-12) Without question, every sincere, dedicated, moral religionist considers himself to be better than he was before. How many times have you heard this saying? "I'm not what I should be; I'll never be what I ought to be; but thank God I'm not what I used to be." Is this how you judge your position before the true and living God? We have an example of this wicked and evil practice displayed in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18. The parable is prefaced with this important statement: "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves (i.e., they didn't trust in Christ's righteousness alone, but their own self-righteousness) that they were righteous, and despised others."(Lk.18:9) Notice the Pharisees' view of himself-"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself (his prayer was to himself, NOT TO GOD), God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess,"(vss.11,12). Isn't that amazing? He "thanked God", i.e., he even gave God the credit for making him into this new and improved creature which he judged worthy of salvation. If you are a lost sinner, I know you consider yourself to be a "good person", and this opinion of yourself reveals how little you value both the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.The Publican in this parable shows us how every truly saved sinner, whose heart the Spirit of God has opened, views themselves before God-"And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful (literally, be my mercy seat, a propitiation) to me a (the) sinner.(Vs.13) Every child of God begins this journey with this solitary confession: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"(Rom.7:24) And when we come to the end of this journey, our plea will be the same: "O wretched man that I am! WHO SHALL deliver US from this body of death" Who can deliver us? Paul answered this question: "I THANK GOD through (because of) JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD"(Vs.25) Christ justified and delivered every son of God He represented with His one time sacrifice at Calvary-(II Tim.1:9) Thank God for His marvelous grace and mercy!