O, God, my heart is fixed on Thee, to sing and give Thee praise;
I’ll praise Thee, Lord, among Thy saints, as we our anthems raise.
As we our anthems raise; as we our anthems raise.
I’ll praise Thee, Lord, among Thy saints, as we our anthems raise.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy mercy great, that reaches down to me
In Christ my Savior, I am blessed with all salvation free.
With all salvation free; with all salvation free.
In Christ my Savior, I am blessed with all salvation free.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy righteousness as sent from Thee above;
Thy law and justice satisfied in union with Thy love.
In union with Thy love; in union with Thy love;
Thy law and justice satisfied in union with Thy love.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy cleansing Word that sanctifies my soul;
As in my heart Thou art glorified in Christ who makes me whole;
In Christ who makes me whole; in Christ who makes me whole;
As in my heart Thou art glorified in Christ who makes me whole.
Bible Study: “Christ Cursed in Our Stead” – II Samuel 16
Today’s Speaker: Brother Jim Casey will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.
Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM. Pray that God will use it for His glory.
Radio Broadcast:Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. You can also hear the sermons on your computer. Just click on www.americusradio.com
Exaltation of Christ. Isaiah 53:12
“Wherefore God has also highly exalted him.” Philippians 2:9.
Most in religion today as has always been the case, believe in a Jesus whose mission is to make salvation possible if the sinner meet some condition. Believing in a universal salvation, they hold dishonoring views of a Just God and Savior. Such notions deny Christ’s blood, in and of itself, sufficient to satisfy the law and justice of God. This is a denial of the exaltation of Christ, whose very ascension is a declaration from God that his blood and righteousness, and that alone is all he requires to look with favor on ungodly sinners. Paul expressed the importance of Christ’s exaltation in 1 Corinthians 15:17 with these words: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The exaltation of Christ is at the heart of the gospel. It is the just end and result of his incarnation and humiliation. The three are inseparable and indispensable in God’s salvation, which would be impossible absent any of the three.
It is the Holy Spirit’s work to deliver God’s people, through the revelation of a work already finished, from the “bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21) His exaltation insures our final glory with him, for, 1 John 4:17 say’s, “as he is, so are we (in him) in this world.”
Winston Pannell
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hebrews 18. 8
What a mercy, my hearers, that our Jesus, on whom we build our souls' eternal all, is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever"! Whatever we look at, save the God of our salvation, we see changing. Look at the world and the things of the world - its fashion is changed. The Psalmist David had his mind awed with a view of the world, as we find in the concluding part of Ps. 102; and Paul brings David's language forward in Hebrews 1, showing that all things are fleeting, but the Lord is unchangeable. "He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." (Ps. 102. 23-27.) Our Jesus was in the beginning the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that therein is; our Jesus is the same Almighty God today, and He will be the same tomorrow and for ever. O what a mercy that our Jesus, the God of our salvation, is so unalterable, so eternally immutable!
Again, on the negative side of the question: if we look at nations, and empires, and monarchs, they rise and fall; but there is no alteration in our Jesus. Hear His voice: "By me kings reign and princes decree justice;" He upholds one and puts down another at His sovereign pleasure. God's ministers are to exalt Him: "Say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth" as the God of nations, and will cause all things to work together for His honour and the good of His chosen family.
Further, if we look at families, what changes there are in them! Where are our fathers? do they live for ever? No; one generation goes, another comes. But not so with our Jesus: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore."
Look at churches; what changes take place in them! Ministers that have stood on Zion's walls and blown the silver trumpet of the everlasting gospel are removed. They are the subject of mortality, like the high priest under the law; and the loss is frequently greatly felt. But our Jesus, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, will never die; He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever;" and the church is as near and dear to Him as ever it was. But as we see the Lord's servants removed from the sphere of usefullness into the immediate presence of the divine Master, we are to "pray... the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." The residue of the Spirit is with Him.
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