Call To Worship

"I am carnal, sold under sin"(Rom.7:14-24)

Lord, what a wretched, wretched heart
I feel from day to day;
Vile and unsound in every part;
Subdue it, Lord I pray. (REPEAT)

I groan, and pray, and cry, and strive
To have it all removed;
Can it be thus in those who live
In those whom God has loved? (REPEAT)

Can such besetting evils dwell
In sinners born of God?
Could black corruptions rise and swell
Where Christ applies His blood? (REPEAT)

To thee, dear Lord, for light I cry,
On this my darksome path;
O let thy mercy me supply;
O Lord, increase my faith. (REPEAT)

(Words by H.Fowler)
(Tune: "All Things Work Out For Good")

--------------------

Happy Birthday This Week:
Pam Austin - April 28

--------------------

"The Hope of Our Salvation"

Our Lord and His Apostles were careful to place significant emphasis on the perfect satisfaction He would offer to God on behalf of all those He represented. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of ALL (every elect sinner given to Him in the everlasting covenant of grace) which He (God the Father) hath given Me (Christ the Son) I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up again at the last day."(Jn.6:38,39) On another occasion Christ said: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life FOR THE SHEEP."(Jn.10:11) It doesn't say He gave His life indiscriminately for all men without exception, but that He gave His life specifically for HIS SHEEP. Peter put it this way: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye WERE NOT REDEEMED with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ (the exclusive payment for our salvation), as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (I Pet.1:18, 19) If you don?t think these truths are important, it shows you have no real understanding of who Christ is or what He actually accomplished. In other words you don't see the infinite value of Christ's finished work at Calvary, which reveals that at the present you are in a state of lostness. You might be thinking: "How can you make that kind of a judgment, you don't know my heart"? The answer is that your words reveal the hope of your salvation, and the hope of your salvation reveals the "God" you are relying on for your salvation. Notice Paul's definition of lostness: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (If he is praying for their salvation, obviously they are in a state of lostness)."(Rom.10:1) Now here is what it is to be LOST- "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.For they BEING IGNORANT OF GOD?S RIGHTEOUSNESS (that righteousness which ALONE has enabled God to be both a Just God and a Saviour), and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."(Rom.10:2,3) One thing we must point out is that any who are ignorant of the righteousness Christ established by His perfect life and obedient death at Calvary, will always be busy trying to establish one of their own.

God's redeemed children will in time be brought to see all they possess by virtue of their oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ-"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."(Jer.31:34) And all those who are brought to know Him, KNOW HIM AS THE ONLY HOPE OF THEIR SALVATION - I Timothy 1:1. What is the hope of your salvation? HOPEFULLY, IT IS CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE.

Bro.Richard

--------------------

A Fixed Maxim

Ever lay this down as a fixed maxim in your heart, whatever grace the Spirit works in you, as faith, hope, love, etc., it is, that you should exalt Christ the LORD of all grace, out of whose fullness you receive grace for grace. Mind this: you are not to live upon hope as a grace with you, but to take Christ, all the He is to you, and has done for you, as the object of your hope, and the helmet of your salvation.

Many are apt to look more to and trust more in graces themselves, than in Christ giving Himself for sin. However, the Spirit does NOTHING in us to glorify us, but to glorify the LORD Jesus, to endear Him to us, and that we should glory more and more of Him, and in Him!

William Mason

--------------------

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree."(1 Peter 2:24)

Certainly the whole punishment of body and soul which was due unto us, Christ our Redeemer suffered. Our blessed Savior bore all the sins of the elect. He suffered the whole punishment which was due unto us, which we would have endured, if He had not atoned for our sins. He felt the anguish of soul, and horror of God's wrath, and in soul, experienced the torments of hell for us, and sustained them and vanquished them.

All the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which were due to the elect fell on Christ, until divine justice was fully satisfied. Though Christ did not suffer eternal death for sinners, yet He suffered that which was equivalent, and therefore the justice of God is wholly appeased by His death. Christ's infinite excellency and glory, made His short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our everlasting sufferings.

Jesus suffered that which was necessary for our redemption, namely that torment of hell which we had deserved, and which the justice of God required that He should endure for our redemption. He endured that bitter pain which we deserved to suffer eternally.

Christ, by His death satisfied divine justice, pacified divine wrath, brought in an everlasting righteousness, and accomplished the eternal salvation of His people.