Bible Study: "The Kingdom Established by Righteousness" - II Samuel 4
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: William Earl Sparks III - Jan. 4th.
Christ Death: The Righteousness of God
Central to and essential in the salvation of God's elect is the death of Jesus Christ. Every Old Testament sacrifice pointed to this and every Old Testament prophet spoke of this. "Messiah shall be cut off.. but not for himself." The life that is in Christ is through His death and He reminded the disciples of this in Luke 24:25,26: "Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?". The obedience which He rendered to God is His "obedience unto death, even the death of the cross." The satisfaction by which He satisfied God is His death. As God, He could have done every other thing for His people from heaven but the one thing necessary to set them free which was to die in their place and give to God's justice the required payment for sin. For this He must come to earth, be made flesh, dwell among us and lay down His life for us. To be our righteousness and to declare God's righteousness He must suffer, bleed and pour out His blood on the cross. His substitutionary death in our place is all our hope and Paul reminds us in Romans 8, "It is Christ that died..." All of God's people are justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." No remission of sins, no forgiveness of sins. Long before the Mosaic law was given to the nation of Israel, all men fell in Adam and the irreversible consequence of that disobedience was the sentence of death on all. In Adam all sinned and all died. "All sinned" and the "soul that sinneth shall surely die." The only way to keep that law is to execute its sentence! There can be no doubt about it, the death of Christ is the righteousness of God! Men speak of righteousness so as to make it a moral quality but it is simply God doing right in saving His people because of the death of His Son! This is why the two ordinances Christ gave His church are what they are. In baptism, the believer publicly confesses his or her identification with, confidence in and hope in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In the Lord's table, we do "show the Lord's death till He come." We are saved by righteous grace because of the righteous death of our Substitute. "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 5:21)
--- Pastor Gary Shepard
"OUT WITH THE NEW; IN WITH THE OLD"
The Gospel of God's grace in Christ is an old and eternal message. Man comes up with new ways, but they are false and deadly to the soul. Our salvation has been accomplished by Christ who died on the cross and arose again for our justification. Our salvation is secured by His shed blood and righteousness imputed, and the Holy Spirit gives life from Christ to all of God's elect. Nothing new can replace or rival this. This statement is also true when it comes to God's revealed Word. The revelation is complete - "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18-19).
When men come up with new doctrines and search the Bible to find verses to support these notions, they are not seeking the Lord or His truth, but self-affirmation. You can be sure they will find verses to support their view because they see everything through the cloud of their own invention. It is sad that they will lead many astray. Many are always looking for new things, and this is deadly. Divine truth is never new. It may be new to us as God is pleased to reveal it anew, but it will never deny, contradict, or challenge the Gospel and the old, eternal truths of God's Word. That which God reveals newly to me will only build upon the old, eternal truths of the Gospel of Christ. Also, many people are so enthralled with men (especially preachers) that they will follow them anywhere, even into a cloud of their own making. This causes division among professing believers. What is the answer? Stay with the tried and the true - "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" (Eph. 4:14-15)
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