We will have light snacks after the Friday service and lunch after the Saturday service. We will also have a time of fellowship Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at Armco Park, shelter house 6.

CHRIST THE SINNER’S SUBSTITUTE

The only reason for death is sin. The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin of His own, so He could never die. But Christ did die, so it is obvious that Christ died for sin that He did not commit. Christ did die for sin: the sin of His people. In the great exchange, Christ was made sin for His people and His people were made righteous in Him. Then Christ died as the sinner’s substitute, bearing all of our sin and shame and dying the death that our sin deserves. In His death, Christ put all of the sin of His people away under His precious blood. This is the heart of the gospel and this is all of the hope any sinner will ever have.

God in nature is God above me; God in providence is God beyond me; God in law is God against me; but God in Christ is God for me and with me.

William Jay

THE NEW BIRTH

There are many old houses in our little town. At one time it became very popular for people to buy those old houses and restore them. Often people would remove walls to make bigger, nicer rooms. They would replace all of the windows and doors. They would put a fresh coat of paint inside and out. Do you know what they had when they were finished? They had an 80 year old house with fresh paint and new windows and doors.

Most people think that the new birth is the same as remodeling an old house. They could not be more wrong. The new birth is not the remodeling or rejuvenating of the old nature. Adam’s nature that we are born with is ruined. It is beyond repair and cannot be remodeled. We must be made new. We must be born again (John 3:7).

When God the Holy Spirit moves in power, He does not remodel the old man, He causes God’s elect to be born again. The new birth is the birth of a new man who never existed before. The new man bears the image of our heavenly Father just as the old man bears the image of our earthly father Adam. The old man is born from Adam’s sinful seed, so he is sinful just like his father Adam. The new man is born from new seed – the incorruptible Word of God, so the new man that is born in a believer is holy and righteous just like our heavenly Father. The old man has eyes that only see earthly things. The new man has new eyes that see and understand spiritual things. The old man has ears that can only hear earthly tones. The new man has ears that hear God speak through His Word. The old man has hands and feet that are swift to do evil (Rom 3:15). The new man has hands and feet that are swift to serve and follow Christ. The old man has a dead, corrupt heart that is not capable of believing or loving Christ. The new man has a new heart that is only capable of believing and loving Christ.

Remodeling may be good for an old house, but the old house of my flesh is beyond repair and is only good to be buried under ground. I need a new man, born from above, who believes and loves Christ, who is “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12).

If ever God saves you by His grace, you will seek His Son; and when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.