I AM NOT... I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be; but thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (John Newton, author of Amazing Grace).
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:15).
THE MAN CHRIST JESUS TUNE “IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR CM/DOUBLE WORDS BY JIM BYRD
Behold a wondrous mystery, That God would come to earth; To join with our humanity, A wondrous, matchless birth! Rejoice, there lived a perfect Man, Whose heart was pure within; Christ came to do His Father’s will, To save us from our sin.
Who can a charge against us lay, Since Jesus bled and died? He suffered for our sin and guilt, And God is satisfied. There is no condemnation now Redemption’s work is done; Our ransom price was fully paid, By God’s beloved Son.
Accepted by the Lord are we In Christ our Righteousness; Our sin is gone, forever gone, His beauty we possess! Someday in glory we shall see, Our Savior face to face; And praise to Him shall ever rise, From all His chosen race.
SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY: MORNING: PSALM 40 EVENING: JOHN 11:30-57
THE WORD MADE FLESH Turn aside, my soul, this day from every vain and worldly thought, as Moses did at the bush, and behold by faith the accomplishment of what he then saw in type and figure, of this great sight which the Lord hath made known unto thee. The Word, the uncreated Word, even the eternal Son of God, taking upon Him the nature of man, and uniting both in one Person, that by that union He might be a suitable Savior for His people. As God, He was mighty to save and fully competent to the wonderful act. As man, He was a suitable Mediator to reconcile and bring together God and man, which by sin were at variance. This was the glorious news angels posted down from heaven to proclaim. This was the song of heaven for which they sang “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.” My soul, canst thou join in the song? Yes, if so be thou hast received Christ in those glorious characters; if, as for this divine purpose He was born in our streets, He is born in Thy hearts also, and formed there the hope of glory. Oh it is a blessed thing to have true scriptural views of the Lord Jesus, and so to receive Him, as Jehovah hath sent Him forth, the Christ of God. Amen. –Robert Hawker
ABOVE ALL PRICE Approximately five hundred years before our Savior was born, there lived in Greece a man by the name of Zeuxis. He was a famous painter who made his home in Ephesus, especially gifted in painting lights and shadows. Though none of his works remain today, in his time his paintings were reputed to be to be highly prized for their realism and novel subject matter. Toward the end of his life, in an amazing display of generosity, Zeuxis began refusing to accept any money for his works; he simply gave them away. When asked why he would do such a thing he gave this reply, “I make presents of my pictures because they are too valuable to be purchased. They are above all price.” We read in Romans 8:32, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” The Son of God, the forgiveness of our sins by His blood and justification by His imputed righteousness are priceless gifts given by God, of infinite value. All of the boundless spiritual blessings which we have in Christ are far too precious to be bought or earned by us. As Zeuxis said of his paintings we say far more emphatically of the Savior and all that we have in Him, “they are above all price.” They are too glorious, too wonderful and too costly to ever be purchased by sinful men but, bless the Name of God, though we cannot merit or buy them, He has given His Son and all things in Him to a chosen multitude of undeserving sinners. He has justified us “freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). –Pastor Jim Byrd
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