“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (Psalm 34:15-16).
_________________________ THE SON OF GOD TUNE: PRAISE THE SAVIOR 8.8.8.5. WORDS BY JIM BYRD
1. All deserve to be rejected, Yet Jehovah has elected, Multitudes to be perfected, In the Son of God.
2. Christ to save us from all danger, Condescended to a manger; To the world He was a stranger, Lowly Son of God.
3. Jesus Christ the only Savior, Came to bring us to God’s favor, Son of Man, the Mediator; Blessed Son of God.
4. With His blood the Savior bought us, And in time He came and sought us, Of His gospel He has taught us, Gracious Son of God.
5. When we see Him, we will know Him, And together we will show Him, That eternal praise we owe Him, Jesus, Son of God. ________________________________ SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY: MORNING: REVELATION 1:10-20 EVENING: LUKE 4:1-15
STONY HEARTS Since all men by nature have stony hearts, all the threatenings in the world will do no good. The stony heart of natural man must be pierced by the POWER OF GOD in order to be tender! One with a tender heart desires to know the will of God, has a readiness for spiritual things, has a disposition to obey revealed truth and has a desire to make the things of God his chief business. –Scott Richardson
TRUE CONVERSION That which was true of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, is true of every conversion. It was an instance of the almighty power and grace of God at work within a sinner bringing him to bow at the feet of the sovereign Christ. If our conversion experience was brought about by the preacher’s persuasive power, then we have never been converted by the Spirit of Christ. If our experience was the result of a soul-winner’s clever words and manipulative tactics, then we have never experienced the supernatural work of the Lord. But if we have been brought to see our awful sinfulness, to realize our need of perfection before God and the absolute impossibility of producing such a righteousness, and if we have been brought to flee for refuge to the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood redeemed sinners from the curse of the law and whose imputed righteousness satisfies the demands of the Father, such a conversion is a work of God the Holy Spirit. --Jim Byrd, Pastor
THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST Rolfe Barnard made an interesting observation many years ago. “Sixteen hundred years ago the church was adopted by Rome. Millions of pagans flooded its membership; and they brought with them their pagan culture, tradition and faith. It took that ‘successful church’ a thousand years to recover from that brilliant success. Something like that has happened in our day. In this century, the church and religion have been adopted by society, politicians, entertainers and popular persons. All of a sudden ‘Jesus’ and ‘the gospel’ have become quite popular. Millions have joined up to swell the membership to an all-time high. Results: a church that bears no resemblance to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Religion’ has become man’s chief defense against the true gospel! If there is one place that a man does not dare to preach the gospel of God’s sovereign grace, it is in the average church.” –from the Thirteenth Street Baptist Church bulletin
A RIGHTEOUSNESS PLEASING TO GOD By the grace of God I believe the gospel of God’s sovereign grace, and I have been a believer for many years, but I still remain, in myself, a helpless sinner and in my flesh dwells no good thing. And yet, I am not filled with despair for I have a blessed Redeemer Who ever lives for me in glory. In Him I have no sin, my conscience has no sting of guilt and I have no fear of condemnation. Without a doubt, I remain a sinner as touching this present life, but “THE LORD MY RIGHTEOUSNESS” is Jesus Christ, and He is my Prophet, High Priest and King. --Jim Byrd, Pastor
DIVINE ELECTION Sinners are unable to save themselves so if anyone is to be delivered from the curse of the law, from sin and from Satan, God must do it. You will concur with that, will you not? Since it is clear from Scripture and from experience that some are indeed saved, then God must have saved them. You are still in agreement with me, aren’t you? And, it being true that sinners are unable to save themselves and yet some are indeed saved and God must have saved them, then is it not evident that the Lord made a distinction between those who are saved and those who are not? That distinction is called divine election. “For God saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Romans 9:15). Jim Byrd, Pastor
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