CALL TO WORSHIP (Tune: “This is My Father’s World” – p. 39)
I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love divine, And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call the Saviour mine; His cross dispels each doubt, I bury in His tomb, Each thought of unbelief and fear, Each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of peace, I trust His truth and might, He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my Joy, my Light; Him is only good, in me is only ill, My ill but draws His goodness forth, And me He loveth still.
‘Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives, I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives; My life with Him is hid, my death has passed away, My clouds have melted into light, My midnight into day.
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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
“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:33-34)
Let all who name the name of Christ as witnesses before men be diligent and proactive that our dealings with others are just and honest, that our promises to others are true and well-intended, that our worship of God is devout and sincere, and that our lives before men are moral and blameless. We know the heart and substance of our witness before men is the message and light of the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. The means of our witness before men is the preaching of the Gospel, pointing sinners to Christ and His righteousness alone for salvation, not to ourselves or our works. Our prayer to God is for the salvation of sinners by His grace, not glory and esteem for ourselves from men. No one will be saved simply by looking at us. Salvation is by looking to Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith. – Copied
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“CLEANSETH”
The apostle John is used of God to tell us this good news, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” If I understand correctly, the tense of this word “cleanseth” is the linear tense which signifies a continual action. This means that the efficacy of Christ's blood in washing away our sins is constant at all times and in all circumstances. It is constant when we are confessing our sins and when we are not. When we are conscious of them or not. His sacrifice was sufficient to make an end of our sins in the sight of God's holy justice forever. Before the court of heaven they are no more. But there is somewhere else that our sin is often a matter to be settled, in our conscience! It is here that we are often found without peace and troubled. It is only when the Holy Spirit brings this word to our minds and applies it to our consciences that we can rest and experience the peace of God. It is in this great truth believed that we get relief from the accusing conscience. The blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all sin, is cleansing us from all sin, and shall cleanse us from all sin! His blood, not our works. His blood, the blood of the Lamb of God. It is the blood of Jesus Christ who is God manifest in the flesh. It is sinless, God-satisfying blood. It is the precious blood that cleanseth us from ALL sin! -- Pastor Gary Shepard
“Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)
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OUR DEBT BECAME HIS
You may have read or heard the following quotation concerning the death of Jesus Christ –
“Christ paid a debt He did not owe; We owed a debt we could not pay.”
The truth is this – In the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of His people, He paid a debt He DID owe. Granted it was a debt He did not create. We as sinners are responsible for the debt of sin. But the debt of all of God’s elect was imputed (charged, credited, accounted) to Jesus Christ, and that debt actually became HIS debt. By imputation Jesus Christ actually owed that debt as our Surety, and He paid that debt in full as our Substitute. It is true He knew no sin and did no sin. He was and is the perfect Godman. When He suffered and died upon the cross of shame, within Himself He remained perfect, innocent, uncontaminated, and uncorrupted by our sin. He Who died for our sins, even the sin of unbelief, and Who was made sin for us had no sinful thoughts or motives within Himself. But make no mistake about it, that debt of sin was truly and justly HIS by imputation. Based on sin imputed to Jesus Christ as the Surety and Substitute of the elect, God Who is just and holy in all His ways remained perfectly holy and just in punishing and pouring His wrath down upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have said, “God could not justly impute sin to Jesus Christ until He was somehow made sin.” That is not so. Jesus Christ was made sin by imputation alone. This was a sovereign work of God for the salvation of His people, and as a result, we who are IN HIM become the righteousness ofGod IN HIM by the imputation of His righteousness to us. -- Pastor Bill Parker