CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune – Immortal, Invisible – p. 34)
(Words written by Pastor Gary Shepard)

We gather this morning to worship and praise,
The God of all glory, the Ancient of Days.
None other is worthy but Jesus alone
God’s Lamb once provided, His blood has atoned.

From sin and from darkness, He brings out His own
Through preaching the gospel to them He makes known,
The riches of glory and grace by His cross:
Eternal possessions which cannot be lost.

Praise be to the Father who chose us in grace.
Praise be to the Son who has died in our place.
Praise be to the Spirit who gave us new birth.
Praise be to the One God of heaven and earth.

With all of our hearts does the Lord bid us sing
Come humbly before Him , thanksgiving to bring.
All others are idols, He lives, God alone
By grace He has saved us and made us His own.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

The Great White Throne Judgment – Revelation 20:11-15

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – Romans 1:16-17

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – The Solid Rock – p. 272

• READING – Hebrews 11:1-10

• MESSAGE – The Dynamics of Saving Faith (1) – Heb. 11:1

• CLOSING HYMN – My Faith Looks Up to Thee – p. 359

MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.

JESUS CHRIST – THE FULL REVELATION

The Lord Jesus Christ is the most complete Revealer of God, and He Himself is the most complete revelation of God – “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). For this reason we know that it is impossible for a sinner to know the true and living God apart from God’s revelation of Himself in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ that sinners are brought to know the holiness and justice of God, their own sinfulness and depravity, as well as their need of forgiveness and salvation in a way that honors God as both a just God and a Savior. Eternal life comes by God’s grace based on the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and received by God-given faith. Christ Himself expressed this – “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:3-4).

-- Pastor Bill Parker

DO WE LOVE GOD’S SALVATION?

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.” (Psalm 40:16)

All people desire salvation in some way and in some form, but only God’s elect love the salvation God by His sovereign grace freely and fully provides for and gives to undeserving sinners based on the merits of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who seek salvation any other way and by any other Person than Christ and His righteousness alone prove they do not love God’s salvation. They do not truly seek Him who is both a just God and a Savior. They seek a god of their own imagination – one who will save, bless, and keep them based on their works and/or their decisions. God’s salvation is never conditioned on sinners. It is all on Christ. Those who seek Him love that salvation and say, “The LORD be magnified.” -- Copied

MADE BOTH LORD AND CHRIST

The Apostle Peter preached in Jerusalem at Pentecost that on the basis of the Lord Jesus Christ having accomplished the complete redemption of His people (God’s elect) that God had exalted Him to the highest position – “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The Apostle Paul wrote that on that same ground, “God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php. 2:9-11). We know that as God absolutely considered, as He is the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord has always been the sovereign of this universe. But the above verses speak of His exaltation and lordship as the great Fulfiller and Mediator of the covenant of grace and redemption. This exaltation of Christ insures and demands the eternal salvation and final glory of all whom the Father gave Him in the covenant of grace before the world began – “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). This is why He came into the world, obeyed unto death, was buried, and arose the third day. This is why He paid the redemption price of His own blood and established righteousness for His people as their Surety and Substitute. False preachers today in their “invitations” and “altar calls” beg people to “make Christ your Lord.” They will say things like, “You’ve made him your savior, now make him your Lord.” Their goal is coax people who claim to be saved to be obedient also. What they fail to realize is God has already made Jesus to be “both Lord and Christ” for His people. We who are truly saved by God’s grace in Christ and have been brought by the Holy Spirit to believe in Christ and submit to Him as the Lord our righteousness did not “make Him our Lord.” HE MADE US HIS PEOPLE AND HIS SERVANTS! And He is also Lord over all those who live and die in unbelief even though they do not know this and refuse to admit it – “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Rom. 14:9). But in the end, all will submit to and confess His sovereign rule and His justice both in the damnation of the wicked and in the salvation of His people. In preaching the Gospel, we call upon all who hear it to bow to Him whom God has made both Lord and Christ!