CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: “Come Thou Fount”)

Christ is made the sure Foundation,

Christ the Head and Cornerstone,

Chosen of the Lord and precious,

Binding all the church in one;

Holy Zion’s help forever,

And her confidence alone

Is in Christ the blessed Savior,

In His righteousness alone.

Laud and honor to the Father,

Laud and honor to the Son,

Laud and honor to the Spirit,

Ever Three and ever One;

All engaged in our salvation,

By His grace alone are we

Safe and sure for heaven’s glory,

In His presence we will be.

Today’s Speaker: Brother Jim Casey will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.

Guest Speaker: Pastor Bill Parker will be our guest speaker Aug. 7^th.

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.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. To hear sermons click here

Web Sites: Visit our newly designed web site at: www.rofgrace.com

Also visit us at: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Birthdays: Jermaine Harpe – Aug. 1^st

Judged in Righteousness (Psalm 9)

And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. Psalm 9:8

“…declare among the people his doings.” Psalm 9:11b

“…I will rejoice in thy salvation.” Psalm 9:14b

In Psalm 9:8, the standard of judgment could not be clearer. All shall be judged “in righteousness.” And those who are judged righteous before God shall, in each generation, ultimately adopt God’s standard of judgment as their own. They declare His doings and rejoice in His salvation. They are saved by grace, excluding any notion of salvation by the work of their own hand. But this is not so with the condemned. These are described in this same Psalm in verses 15-16:

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. ¹⁶The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah.

This brings to mind the words of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. ²For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Mt. 7:1-2) This is teaching that the basis upon which one chooses to measure (or judge) saved and lost, shall in turn be applied to their own judgment. So any who cling to the natural, religious notion of being saved based upon the work of their own hand, (i.e. – something done by, in, or through the sinner), shall likewise be judged or measured by their works. But it is God who sets the standard against which they shall be measured – “in righteousness,” the perfect satisfaction to God’s justice that was finished by the obedience unto death of His dear Son (Acts 17:31). Do you presume to measure up to that standard? To persist in imagining that God will save you based upon anything other than Christ and His finished work of righteousness is akin to being tragically caught in your own snare by which you judge yourself and others. It is not your doing, but as the Psalmist declared, it is His doing by which all shall be judged. We must have His perfect righteousness imputed to our accounts to be accepted before a holy God and all who are so blessed will rejoice in His salvation!

--- Randy Wages

WHAT GOD DESIRES TO DO IS WHAT HE DOES

But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. Job 23:13

Some think they do God a favor or make Him more palatable to unregenerate men by setting forth the redeeming work of Christ as both universal and particular. They say things like, "His death was sufficient for all but efficient for the elect." The design of the redemptive work of Christ is defined by scripture and required by our just God as only particular. By that I mean that Christ died for a particular people chosen of God and given to Him. He states this truth the clearest of all, "I lay down my life for the sheep." There is nothing randomly done by God and His designs in all things are governed only by His desires! Thus, Job tells us, "he is in one mind... and what his soul desires, even that he does." Can we hear that? What He will have done in all things, especially the redemptive work of Christ, will be just exactly what He desired! He desired to redeem His elect and He redeemed them. He desired to save His people from their sins and He saved them. The issue is not the worth of the blood of Jesus Christ but God's purpose and grace given to His elect in Christ before the world began. While men speak of sufficiency, Paul speaks only of efficiency, saying that it is the "church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28) To the Ephesians he says, "Christ loved the church and gave himself for it." (Eph. 5:25) Christ's work was a sure work, designed of God to save His covenant people and this is where His glory lies. These definite statements of God's word are designed to shut sinners up to the reality that it is God's will and God's work that save us and nothing of ourselves! Like Jonah of old, we must be brought to an end of ourselves and acknowledge that "salvation is of the Lord." There is no preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ without a clear and open declaration of the design of His death. He is not glorified by being a "sufficient" savior for all, His glory lies in His being the "efficient" Savior of all His elect. When men seek to make God to be something He isn't or try to make the redemptive work of Christ to be something it isn't, it reveals that they neither know, believe or love Christ as He is or for what He has done! Hear Him, "I give my life for the sheep." What He desired, that He did!