I am My Beloved’s, and He is Mine – Song of Solomon 6:1-7
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Glory to His Name – p. 489
READING – John 6:27-47
MESSAGE – The Lord’s Prayer (6) – John 17:20-25
CLOSING HYMN – Look, Ye Saints! – p. 141
Birthdays: Alisha Pedersen – Aug. 7th
He who would know holiness must understand sin; and he who would see sin as God sees it, and think of it as God does, must look at the cross and the grave of the Son of God, must know the meaning of Gethsemane and Golgotha. It is here we see that God looks upon anything as sin that falls short of the righteousness and holiness of Christ. It also shows us that the only way to attain true holiness is to be found in Him, having His righteousness imputed to us (Php. 3:9). —Copied
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HOW GOD BRINGS HIS PEOPLE TO CHRIST
ROMANS 6:17-18
“But God be thanked” – Our whole salvation, including our new birth (regeneration and conversion) is the sovereign power and gracious work of Almighty God. It is HE alone to whom we give thanks for this great miracle.
“That ye were the servants of sin” – This was our state by nature as spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, and as totally depraved slaves to our sinful human nature as evidenced by our ignorance and unbelief.
“But ye have obeyed from the heart” – Obedience to the Gospel (faith in Christ and repentance of dead works) is a gift from God, given and worked within us by the Holy Spirit when He gives us spiritual life and a new heart to believe and submit to Christ for all salvation.
“That form of doctrine which was delivered you” – This is the Gospel truth which was delivered to us in the preaching of Christ crucified and risen from the dead, the Gospel wherein the righteousness of God (the imputed righteousness of Christ) is revealed for our complete justification and eternal life. Literally, this statement could read “that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” When God determines to reveal Christ in us, He will always bring us under the preaching of the true Gospel and out from under the preaching of lies.
“Being then made free from sin” – When the Spirit brings us to Christ for salvation, we are liberated from the bondage of sin’s deception which kept us in ignorance and unbelief. The truth sets us free.
“Ye became the servants of righteousness” – Having been justified before God based on Christ’s righteousness imputed, when we are born again and brought to faith in Christ, we become servants of Christ. This is what it means to be a servant of righteousness. We believe in, cling to, and rest in Christ for all righteousness before God. —Pastor Bill Parker
PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake” (Psalm 23:3). The Good Shepherd of the sheep leads His flock in those righteous paths ordered of the Father and established by the Son. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights to walk therein” (Psalm 37:23). Christ is that good man, sent of the Father to take every step necessary to “finish the transgression , and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Daniel 9:24). In Psalm 40:8 Christ said, “I delight to do thy will O God.” He “who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame,” (Hebrews 12:2), that He might lead His sheep in righteous paths. Micah 6:8 defines those paths – “He has shown thee O man what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” Consider –
(1) Those who walk the path of justice look alone to Christ’s righteousness imputed for salvation.
(2) Those who walk the path of mercy bow the knee at the mercy seat crying Lord, propitiate for me.
(3) Those who walk the path of humility do so knowing their deservedness of eternal death.
Does my walk equal this talk? Only if my motive is grace and gratitude for the law and justice He satisfied for me, the propitiation He made for me and the gift of eternal life He earned for me when He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I follow Him in paths of righteousness when I follow His voice, for example, in Isaiah 30:21 – “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
The good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness. He is behind and before us. If we hear His Word behind us, He guides us in our way before us. We seek to be led by the Shepherd. His direction is always the same. He is the way, the truth and the life. Walk in and by Him in the righteous paths. —Winston Pannell