CALL TO WORSHIP (Tune – “Come Thou Fount” – p. 17) (Words written by Pastor Jim Byrd)
God of glory, Lord of heaven, hear Thy children as we pray; Bless us with Thy gracious presence as we gather on this day. May the precious name of Jesus be adored and magnified; By His sacrifice on Calv’ry, all His seed were justified.
As we gather here for worship, may we meet with one accord; Let our hearts be joined together, unified to praise the Lord. Speak O God in sovereign power, quicken those still dead in sin; Bring each heart to trust the Savior, cause Thy grace to reign within.
Holy Spirit, use Thy servants as they set forth Christ the King; Make the gospel Word effectual to each heart salvation bring. When this time of worship ceases, and we leave, our homes to go; May the praise of the Redeemer fill our hearts to overflow.
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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
Hymns for service - “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” – p. 209 “Jesus Paid It All” – p. 125
We will serve the LORD’S SUPPER on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22. We will have a covered-dish dinner in our dining hall following the morning worship services.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
It is by the “precious promises” of God’s grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ that sinners are brought by the Holy Spirit into fellowship with God. This is what it means to be “partakers of the Divine nature.” This is the nature of God Himself in the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as revealed in the glorious Person and completed redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ – “For IN HIM dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10). The more we see and are assured of our completeness in Christ, the more we enjoy this fellowship into which God has brought us as justified, sanctified, and regenerated people. It is the fellowship of His glory in our salvation. It is the fellowship of righteousness as we stand before Him clothed in Christ’s righteousness imputed. It is the fellowship of life as God the Holy Spirit has given us spiritual life from above. It is the fellowship of truth and love as we see the glory of the triune Godhead revealed in full in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). This fellowship is the basis of our fellowship with one another in the kingdom of God. As this fellowship we have with God in Christ is unbreakable, so is our fellowship with one another as we are knit together by His grace and His love for us (Col. 2:19). – Pastor Bill Parker
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The Holy Spirit is not a traveler to sojourn for a season, but He is a Friend to abide and dwell with you, spiritual mentor to be always near to guide you in all seasons of perplexity, to strengthen you in all times of weakness, when you are discouraged to uphold you, when you are wandering to lead you back, when you are nearly overcome in your spiritual conflict to bring you more of His divine strength and grace. How does He do all this? He does it by applying the Word of God to your heart in continually driving you to the Lord Jesus Christ for all wisdom, strength, joy, direction, and victory. He does it by focusing your full attention of Jesus Christ as the Lord your righteousness. And even when He causes you to look within yourself, it is never to find any of these things, but to give you a fresh view of your great and constant need of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation with all its blessings and benefits.
-- Copied
The Gospel issue comes down to this – Are we made righteous before God by what the Holy Spirit does within us in the new birth and then, subsequently, God imputes righteousness to us because it is already there within us? OR Are we made righteous before God exclusively by what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished FOR us on the cross? The debate here is not the necessity of the Holy Spirit's work in us. WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN, because we are by nature spiritually dead. The Bible teaches that the source of that new birth is what Christ accomplished on the cross to bring in everlasting righteousness for His people. This righteousness imputed by which all of God's elect are justified before God demand that they all be given spiritual life in the new birth. Therefore, it is not the new birth by which we are justified before God, it is the redemptive work of Christ by which we are justified. Some may argue that we are justified in conscience when we are born again. That is true, but that is not the same as being justified before God in His court of justice.
– Pastor Bill Parker
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THE POOR AMONG MEN
“The poor among men,” rejoice in a finished salvation, all of grace; not a salvation partly accomplished by Christ and the rest made up by the sinner. A gospel of this kind will not save, “the poor among men.” I tried for months at saving myself in this way, and when I missed it here and missed it there, I tried it again, for I was determined to hit it. I could see no way of salvation only by being good; therefore I resolved to be good. But with all my trying and tugging, I felt myself to be getting weaker and weaker and further and further off from God, till I was afraid at last that I should surely sink under the terrors of God in a broken law in the waves of damnation, if there were no other way of salvation than my own.
I wanted now something more than my good doings. O, my friends, it is dreadful work thus to sink in “the horrible pit and the miry clay.” But however painful, it is profitable. The more sick we are made of ourselves, the more we are brought to feel our own weakness and inability, the more well be our joy and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, “the Holy One of Israel.”
“The poor among men,” then, rejoice that salvation is finished, that sin is for ever put away by the sacrifice of Jesus, that law and justice are satisfied, that everlasting righteousness is wrought out and brought in, that the world is overcome, that death and hell are conquered. -- John Kershaw (1845)
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