A SONG OF PRAISE TO CHRIST TUNE TO “SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER” LM/DOUBLE WORDS BY JIM BYRD
Awake my soul, exalt the King, And praises to the Savior sing; The Lord Who down from heaven came, Sing hallelujahs to His Name. Behold He veiled His deity, And took on our humanity; Though equal with the Lord above, Christ Jesus came in wondrous love.
According to divine decree, Christ came to set His people free; The Lord appeared to live and die, God’s holy law to satisfy. The blood He shed upon the cross, Has saved us from eternal loss; It was the price required to save Our souls from law, sin, and the grave.
The Christ Who died now lives on high, Ascended far above the sky; He lives salvation to bestow, To sinful wretches here below. Come ransomed sinners, with me sing, All praise to Jesus Christ the King; His Name above all names shall be, Now and for all eternity. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto Thee among the nations. For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let Thy glory be above all the earth” (Psalm 57:9-11).
Saul of Tarsus was a moral man, a man with an excellent public record, a Pharisee and more. He was also a religious man, highly esteemed among his peers and a religious teacher taught by the greatest teacher of his day, Gamaliel. But after God was pleased to reveal His Son in Him, he made this confession: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13). Think about it, the very things men and women count as modern Christianity, the very professions they cling to and the very things most dare not question, he called blasphemy and unbelief! He was at that time an unbeliever. His preaching, religious activity and the righteousness he thought he had established before God was blasphemy. When did he find out what he was before? AFTER Christ stopped him on the road to Damascus and caused him to know the truth about who He was! Only in the “after” of regeneration, faith and being brought to the knowledge of the truth. How do men find out who Christ is? By the Spirit of truth taking the things of Christ and showing them to them! When He shows us in the gospel who Christ really is by showing us there what Christ did. What did Christ do? He, by His life and death on the cross, saved His people from their sins! When the Spirit of God revealed Christ to me a lost preacher years ago, He did so by teaching me what the scriptures actually say about His glorious Person and accomplished work. I was brought from one of the ways of death to the way of life, righteousness and peace in Christ. When I looked back and weighed what I believed before that, my view of God and the work of Christ before that, I too had to confess, “I was before a blasphemer...” Like Paul and the Ephesian believers, I trusted Christ “after I heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:13). If there never was a before, then there's not an after! The word of truth is not “how to be saved” but rather “the gospel of your salvation.” How that Christ saved you all by Himself through His sufferings and death, all by Himself and for His glory! His blood shed for me and His righteousness imputed to me is all my salvation. His life laid down is my hope, not my life lived for Him! We see what we were before, lost blasphemers, when God is pleased to open our eyes to the truth! –Pastor Gary Shepard ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
It has been said that election is not salvation, but be assured, there would be no salvation without election. The divine rescue of sinners from the dunghill of sin through the substitutionary, justice-satisfying death of Christ is to be traced to the Lord’s eternal purpose of grace. “God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). When men depart from the doctrine of electing grace they depart from the gospel because forsaking the truth of God’s sovereign mercy necessarily means the introduction of some contribution on man’s part toward his salvation.
Winston Churchill said, “Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, and malice may distort it, but there it is.” Let me use similar words with respect to THE TRUTH OF GOD. The gospel is irrefutable! Man’s pride may resent it, his ignorance may reject it, and his wisdom may despise it, but there it is. “The word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
First Baptist Church 881 Van Dyke Road, P.O. Box 155, Almont, Michigan 48003 810-798-8888 Jim Byrd, Pastor
Sunday Schedule: 8:30 a.m. Television Broadcast over Cable Channel 97 in Almont, Imlay City and Dryden 9:45 a.m. Bible Classes 10:30 a.m. WORSHIP SERVICE
Wednesday: 7 p.m. Bible Study and Youth Groups
Pastor Byrd’s messages are accessible on www.freegraceradio.com, cassette and video tape, CD and DVD www.sermonaudio.com/fbcalmont email: fbc@airadvantage.net
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