The Beauty and Fruitfulness of Christ – Song of Solomon 4:8-16
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – Psalm 89:15-17
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – It Is Well with My Soul – p. 256
READING – Romans 10:1-17
MESSAGE – The Lord’s Prayer (3) – John 17:6-10
CLOSING HYMN – I Need Thee Every Hour – p. 318
Birthdays:
"CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY!" (ROMANS 5:6)
To redeem poor sinners, Jesus came down from heaven, put on the rags of our mortality, agonized, bled, and died. Jesus is made His people's substitute, burden-bearer, sin-remover, guilt-sustainer. Their debt is placed to His account. His riches pay the full amount. Sin is removed from the sinner and placed on the Sinless! Their curse is rolled on Him, and He endures it, until no more remains! God deals with Jesus as the guilty one! He, as spotless Deity, receives imputed sins, and fully expiates them all. In the vicarious victim, God's justice is satisfied, and wrath expires! Jesus, in His life, in the garden, on the cross suffers their sufferings, dies their death, and so becomes their uttermost salvation! His pains are their pardon! His stripes are their healing! His agony is their recovery! "Christ died for the ungodly!" (Romans 5:6) -- Henry Law
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TRUE WORSHIP
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
True worship is founded upon the glorious Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God can accept no one’s person, worship, or service except in Christ and upon the basis of His obedience unto death to satisfy justice and establish righteousness to enable God to be both just and Justifier. When we come before God in true worship, we come by faith as sinners saved by grace, washed clean from our sins in the blood of Christ and clothed in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.
True worship is aimed towards the glory of God in Christ as we seek to praise, honor, and thank HIM for His free and marvelous grace, love, and mercy toward us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. When we truly worship God, we glory in Christ, not in ourselves; we praise and honor Christ, not ourselves; we preach Christ, not ourselves.
True worship is inspired by God the Holy Spirit within us and from the new heart and new spirit He has given us in the new birth. Having been born from above, we long to express our praise and gratitude to God for all that He has done for us and given to us in free sovereign grace by Jesus Christ. It is only the regenerated soul that loves and desires to honor Christ, and that hungers for the Word of God in true worship. -- Pastor Bill Parker
2 Corinthian 5:21 is a sweet and simple portion of God’s Holy Word that plainly states the heart of the Gospel of God’s grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It answers the issue of how a holy God can be just and still justify sinners. It is sad that many preachers today have interjected their own sinful and self-righteous human reasonings, as well as their own personal mystical rantings, and made this verse a matter of confusion, controversy, and division rather than a great source of comfort for God’s people. Such are the ways of men. The following article states the clear meaning of this wonderful verse. It was written by Brother Jim Byrd, pastor of the Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, KY. Please read it carefully and pray that the Lord reveal His glorious truth to your heart.
IMPUTATION
"For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21)."He" – God the Father who designed the salvation of a multitude of sinners before the world began. "Hath made Him" – God the Son who was appointed by the Father in the covenant of peace to be Surety for all those entrusted to Him by sovereign, electing grace. "Made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin" – The only way the holy, impeccable, eternal Son of God could be made sin was by imputation. The sins of all His chosen people were reckoned to, charged to, transferred to the account of the appointed Savior of sinners. "Hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin" – This is that body of people, chosen unto salvation, set apart from the rest of the perishing world according to God’s eternal purpose of grace. "Might be made" – These words do not imply that maybe these will be made the righteousness of God, and maybe they will not. They mean “in order that” and declare a certain result. "The righteousness of God in Him." – As Christ could only be made sin by imputation, so the only way sinners could be made righteous was for the righteousness of Christ to be imputed unto them. This is that everlasting righteousness referenced in Daniel 9:24 which Christ Jesus brought in by His substitutionary death and resurrection. The transgressions of the world of God’s elect are not charged to them (2 Cor. 5:19) but to Christ, and His righteousness is imputed to them. They are, therefore, declared by God to be legally acquitted of all guilt. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8:33). – Pastor Jim Byrd
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