There will be no service on Wednesday, December 24^th so everyone will have plenty of time to enjoy the holiday with family and friends. I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas!

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39).

What good news there is in the gospel! There is forgiveness of sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners are justified from all sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember justified does not mean just as if I had never sinned. Being justified does not mean being made LIKE you are without sin. Justified means being made without any sin at all. In Christ a sinner is cleansed from original sin in Adam and from every sin we have committed. In Christ we are cleansed from all of the iniquity of sin, the perversity of sin, the condemnation of sin, and the ruling power of sin. But never forget that justification is in Christ alone. No sinner can ever be justified by our own obedience to the law, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).

BELIEVING & PEACE

I Peter 1:8 “Whom having not seen, ye love; though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory”

I think that very often unbelievers sit under the preaching of the gospel, waiting and hoping for some kind of an experience or feeling of peace and joy, before believing the testimony of God concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (I John 5:9-13; John 3:31-36; 8:24). If YOU are doing this, you have put “the cart before the horse,” and are actually looking to yourself rather than to Christ for your soul’s salvation! In the verse above, “yet believing” is the precious key which opens the door (Christ) through which sinners enter to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” As the great apostle Paul says to the saints at Rome, we obtain “joy and peace IN BELIEVING” (Romans 15:13) – not before believing!

“BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Seeing HIM, knowing HIM, believing HIM, trusting HIM, is what brings peace and joy to the sin-troubled soul! Dear soul, if you are “burdened and heavy laden” with sin, BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will find the much needed rest and peace that you seek.

“Jesus, how glorious is Thy grace! When in Thy name we trust; Our FAITH receives a righteousness That makes the sinner just.”

Pastor Emeritus Maurice Montgomery

CHRIST JESUS MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS

In Hebrews 2:10, the apostle gives a reason why the Lord Jesus was “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” He declares that, “it became Him,” that is, it was suitable and proper to every attribute of the character of God the Father. The “bringing of many sons to glory” (not merely making it possible or starting them on the way) by the humiliation, sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus is agreeable to His sovereignty, wisdom, holiness, justice, righteousness, love, mercy and grace. No attribute of God suffers loss or is diminished by the exercise of any other attribute in the salvation of His elect by the appointed Saviour and mediator, “the Captain of our salvation,” but rather, every attribute of God is honored and glorified (Psa. 85:10; Rom. 3:25-26).