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 Savior 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; In 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
Birthdays: Harold Riggins – Jan. 17th – Jerry Wages – Jan. 17th – Javon Jones – Jan. 18th – Richman Margeson – Jan. 20th – Bill Sparks – Jan. 22nd
Hymns for service: “Standing on the Promises” – p. 175 “Look to the Lamb of God” – p. 216
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
A PRAYER FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
Oh precious Lord Jesus, cause Thy people to rejoice in Thy full and finished salvation. By Thee all that believe are justified from all things (Acts 13:39). Here then, Lord, give Thy people grace to rest. Let there be nothing wavering, nothing unsettled, in our faith because everything in the covenant of grace is "ordered, and sure in all things" (2 Samuel 23:5). Oh for faith, in lively exercise, to believe "the record God hath given of His Son" (1 John 5:10-11). "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3). Let all Thy faithful therefore of this present hour, as were the disciples of old, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and, like them, be filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. – Robert Hawker
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“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Does the Bible teach forgiveness of sins conditioned on our confession? No. Confession is the fruit of forgiveness, not the cause. The Bible teaches that the one condition for forgiveness of all the sins of God’s people is the blood of Jesus Christ – “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). When the Holy Spirit brings us to conviction of sin and shows us the only way of forgiveness through the meritorious death of Jesus Christ as our Surety and Substitute, this is the power of God that brings us to confess our sins and believe in Christ for all salvation. Confession of sin, then, is not the way in which a sinner obtains forgiveness. It is the evidence of that sinner already having been forgiven on the ground of the blood of Jesus Christ. As the hymn states, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
-- Pastor Bill Parker
“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
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“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
"They that trust in the LORD" can never be removed from His heart’s love, nor out of the covenant of His grace, which is sure and everlasting; nor out of His family, into which they are taken. They can never be removed from the Lord Jesus Christ, nor out of His hands and arms, nor from off His heart, nor from off Him as the foundation on which they are laid. They can never be removed out of the state of grace of regeneration and justification. These abide in the love of God, in the covenant of His grace, in the hands of His Son, in the grace wherein they stand, and in the house of God for evermore. – John Gill
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