PARABLE OF THE LOST (LUKE 15) Tune "MAJESTIC SWEETNESS" CM Words by JIM BYRD
1. This is a grand and wondrous truth, That Christ the Lord of all; Befriends and loves poor sinners who Are lost through Adam’s fall, Are lost through Adam’s fall.
2. Like sheep we all have gone astray, But Christ the Shepherd sought; He finds each lost and wand’ring one His precious blood has bought, His precious blood has bought.
3. The woman searched within her house, The silver coin to find; And so the Spirit of our God, Seeks sinners lost and blind, Seeks sinners lost and blind.
4. Like foolish sons we left the Lord, In sinfulness to roam; But God through Jesus will receive The prodigals back home, The prodigals back home.
5. The sheep, the coin and erring son, Were sought and each was found; So Jesus seeks and saves the lost, This is a joyful sound, This is a joyful sound.
SCRIPTURES READINGS: MORNING: ROMANS 3:19-31 EVENING: LUKE 21:14-28
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." (Colossians 3:17)
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession" (Hebrews 4:14). Having already set forth the supremacy of Christ to the prophets (1:1-3), the angels (1:4 - 2:18) and Moses (3:1 - 4:13), the writer of Hebrews now sets forth the superiority of Christ’s priesthood to that of Aaron and the Levitical priesthood (4:14 - 12:3). What a wonderful declaration: our "great High Priest" is "Jesus the Son of God." He is great in the dignity of His person and in the virtue of His sacrifice. He who is "the express image" (1:3) of God has offered to the Father the sacrifice of Himself which satisfied divine justice. The evidence that He successfully "purged our sins," is that He "passed into the heavens." His priesthood is "better" than Aaron’s (5:1 - 7:25), His is a "better covenant" (8:1-13), consists of a "better sanctuary" (9:1-12), obtained by "a better sacrifice" (9:13 - 10:18) and is based upon "better promises" (10:19 - 12:3). In heaven’s glory He continues His work as great High Priest by presenting on the behalf of His people the merits of His person and work. "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:2). Whatever charges are raised against those in whose stead He died and arose, our great High Priest advocates for us. He always pleads in the favor of His people for the non-imputation of sins to our account because those sins were charged to Him, and He has put them away by His bloody death and resurrection. All of the iniquities of His sheep were made to meet upon the good Shepherd Who made full satisfaction for them. Our Advocate is"Jesus Christ the righteous." He who faithfully executes the duties of great High Priest is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." That righteousness wrought out by His obedience has been imputed to His people. We have, then, a great High Priest who appears for us in the presence of God, and therefore, we will never be cast out.
Notice also that while our High Priest is great, He is also gracious. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (4:15-16).
These things about Christ and His priestly work being true, we are admonished to do two things. [1] "Let us hold fast our profession." Cling tenaciously to Christ and His gospel of salvation by free grace based upon His sacrifice alone. [2] "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace." Come through Him to the throne of God for pardon, for a justifying righteousness, for acceptance, for the presentation of our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise and for every supply of daily mercy and grace that we need. –Pastor Jim Byrd
THE REALITY OF CHRISTIANITY Christianity, true religion, my friends, is either a divine reality or it is a cheat; it is worth everything, or it is worth nothing; if it is worth nothing, let it go; but if it is what the Bible declares it to be, then there is no comparison to be made with anything else beside it. It is either what the Son of God blessedly declared, "the one thing needful" or it is a phantom. That it is a divine reality, the wisest, the noblest, and the best have sealed the truth with their blood, they have testified to the worth and truth of it in passing through the cruelest deaths to testify to it. Every child of God has the witness in himself that it is true, therefore in his heart he feels, let men say what they will, "let God be true" and His Word "yea and amen." –copied
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