CALL TO WORSHIP (Tune: “O For A Thousand Tongues” – p.46) Arise, my soul, my joyful powers, And triumph in thy God; Awake, my voice, and loud proclaim His glorious grace abroad.
He raised me from the depths of sin, The gates of gaping hell, And fixed my standing more secure Than ‘twas before I fell.
The arms of everlasting love, Beneath my soul He placed, And on the Rock of Ages set My slippery footsteps fast.
Arise, my soul! Awake my voice! And tunes of pleasure sing; Loud hallelujahs shall address My Saviour and my King.
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Today: Bible Classes – 10:00 a.m.; Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m. Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
Television Broadcast: Reign of Grace Television Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM.
Live Streaming – 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. – Sermon Audio web site
“There is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccl 7:20). The word “just” means righteous. While the Lord’speople are righteous in Christ, yet not even a justified person “doeth good and sinneth not.” All believers realize our sinfulness, therefore we ask forfresh supplies of pardoning grace (1 John 1:9). While the reality of ourwretchedness is ever before us, we rejoice in the deliverance of sin by thesacrifice of Christ which is the sole basis upon which God remains just andjustifies the ungodly. It is painfully true that, “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18), and therefore nothing good cancome forth from me. However, it is also wonderfully true that I am accepted and declared to be the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). As my sins were imputed to Him, so His righteousness has been imputed to me. I still mourn my sins, but I must not sink into despair as though there were no hope. Let me rise from remorse to rejoice in my Savior Who satisfied all the requirements necessary for my salvation. I praise Christ Who “loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The Father is well pleased with Him, and with me because of Him.
—Pastor Jim Byrd
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“And there I will meet with thee…” – Exodus 25:22
When a righteous God and a ruined sinner meet on a blood-splattered platform, all is settled once and for all, settled in such a way as to perfectly honor and glorify God and eternally save the sinner. The only proper meeting place between God and man is the point where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could that take place? Only in the cross. There it is that mercy and truth are met together, and there the believing sinner finds peace for the heart and conscience. – Scott Richardson
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Justification by Christ's imputed righteousness is the center arch of that bridge by which we pass out of time into a blissful eternity.
-- John Ryland
“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1). I was glad that I had a DESIRE to go, that I had the STRENGTH to go, that I UNDERSTOOD the words spoken there, that I LOVED the people assembled there, that I, the chief of sinners, SHOULD BE PERMITTED to come into His presence. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” – copied
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THE GOSPEL HONORS THE LAW
The Gospel magnifies the law of God and exalts the authority of that law. It shows us that the law is a far more spiritual and heart-searching rule than religionists by nature have ever imagined. The God with whom we have to do looks far beyond actions and deeds. He looks on the heart and searches the thoughts and motives. No amount of obedience performed or reformation experienced by sinners can honor or satisfy God's law, and this applies to sinners before and after conversion. The law requires a righteousness that exceeds anything we can perform or be enabled to perform. This is why God sent His Son to become incarnate, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them who were under the law's curse. Christ, in His perfect life and effectual death, satisfied law and justice, established the law's righteousness, the very righteousness of God, and secured the salvation of all for whom He died, according to strict law and justice. The Gospel, therefore, brings more honor to the law because, when it is applied by the Spirit of God, He writes that law upon the heart and gives believing sinners a profound love and respect for that law as fulfilled and satisfied for them by the Lord Jesus Christ. The law certainly does show us the utter impossibility of our being justified, sanctified, or recommended unto God based on our best efforts to obey its precepts. But, at the same time, the Gospel, God's promise of eternal salvation based on the righteousness of Christ imputed and received by faith, shows us the absolute certainty of being justified, sanctified, and recommended unto God based on that same ground, the imputed righteousness of Christ. – Pastor Bill Parker
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