Hymns for service: “I Love to Tell the Story” – p. 43 “He Hideth My Soul” – p. 258
We conducted our annual business meeting on Sunday, November 8. If any of you would like a copy of the minutes, please see Jim Casey.
O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works. (Psalm 105:1-2).
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A child of God is like a person in a beautiful palace. If there is light in it, he sees the splendid objects around him and enjoys them; but if the light is removed, he is nevertheless in the palace still, and surrounded with the same splendid objects as before, though he cannot see them. So, though the believer’s frames and sensible comforts may have their ebbs and flows, his state, Godward, is invariably the same. —Augustus Toplady
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THE WEDDING GARMENT
“And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:11-14). The wedding garment of Scripture, particularly spoke of in Matthew 22, hath been a subject of so much anxiety to many precious souls, that the matter itself ought to be put in the clearest light possible. The general belief is that by it is meant Christ’s person, work and righteousness. And hence the church is represented as singing, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord: my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). And this corresponds to what the Lord Jesus counseled the church of Laodicea to buy of Him, “white raiment, that she might be clothed” (Revelation 3:18). Hence, therefore, what is the garment, but Christ’s righteousness, in which all the faithful are clothed, when justified in the perfect salvation of the Lord? —Robert Hawker
THE SUBSTANCE AND HEART OF TRUE REPENTANCE
God has commanded “all men every where to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). The reality and substance of true repentance lies in truth of righteousness as in how a sinner is made right with God. Therefore, all righteousness before God must be measured by the glorious Person of Jesus Christ as both God and man (“that MAN whom He hath ordained”) without sin, and in the perfect work He alone accomplished in the redemption of His people when He died on the cross (“in that He hath raised Him from the dead”). Jesus Christ was raised from the dead because of the justification of His people based on His righteousness imputed, and this righteousness was accomplished by His death on the cross. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Many claim that to be saved we must repent of our sins. It is better to say that in salvation which is of the Lord, we will repent of our sins. But what does this repentance involve? It is not simply feeling sorry and ashamed for our evil thoughts and acts of immorality, though this is most certainly a necessary part of repentance. But true repentance comes in the power of the Holy Spirit when He convicts us of the fact that we have no righteousness to recommend us unto God. All we think, say, and do (even at our best) falls short of the standard of perfect righteousness which can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul expressed this when he wrote, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php. 3:7-9).