CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: “Am I A Soldier of the Cross” – p. 414)
(Words by Pastor Gary Shepard)

Oh Son of God, my only Hope,
Now sitting on the throne,
Rise up in strength and mercy great,
And leave me not alone.

Your finished work, still fresh to God,
Is all my hope and plea.
No other way would I approach,
But that you died for me.

So oft I come in weakness great,
In ev’ry time of need,
Your help to gain and grace to get,
And for your mercy plead.

There on the throne of sov’reign pow’r,
Christ sits the mighty King,
His intercession makes His throne,
A throne of grace to me.

Today: Bible Classes – 10:00 a.m.; Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m.
Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

Television Broadcast: Reign of Grace Televisio
Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM.

Live Streaming – 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. – Sermon Audio web site

Web Sites: Reign of Grace: www.rofgrace.com
Sermon Audio: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Birthdays: Mason Flynn – May 16^th – Nicki Jones – May 18^th – Jake McMillan – May 20^th

Hymns for service: “He Hideth My Soul” – p. 258
“More About Jesus” – p. 326

God judges the believer in Christ as perfectly righteous and holy at all times, by virtue of Christ's righteousness imputed to him. The world cannot make a right judgment of believers. Only the spiritual person discerns the things of God and the people of God (1 Cor. 2:14). The faults of the godly are seen by everyone, but their graces are too often unseen. The royal daughter is all glorious within. (Psalm 45:13) When you are able to make a right judgment of other believers, you will want nothing better than to be in their company. – John Owen

FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Let us hold fast the profession of faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised. (Hebrews 10:22-23) Those who live in doubt and fear for salvation and fitness for Heaven are obviously looking to someone other than the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work for righteousness before God. This is the essence of unbelief. No sinner has ever performed well enough to earn God’s approval so as to earn salvation. Believers trust in what Christ has earned for us. "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus's name." There is no true assurance to be found in anyone else. Believing the demands of God were met in Christ for me is my ONLY hope and rest. When a person doubts this, he is looking to something other than the righteous work of Christ for his acceptance with God. To comfort the people of God we must preach the particulars of the Gospel. No experience or emotion will bring the lasting comfort that the good news of the work being finished will bring. To realize that if left to myself I would be guilty and condemned by my best deeds. To trust Christ as my Surety, Substitute, Redeemer, Righteousness, and Savior is the full assurance of knowing that I am saved by the grace of God. To know that the enmity between God and myself has been nailed to the cross and taken away, that I have been reconciled by my Lord, is the confidence of my soul. To know that I have free access into the "holiest of all" by the blood of Christ should give me confidence. Every believer ought to realize this and enter into God's rest. This is the full assurance of faith in Christ. – Pastor Bill Parker

When John tells us that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” how does that compare to where we are told that He has already by Himself “purged our sins”? The blood of Christ has fully cleansed us of all our sin in the sight of God. As Christ said, “Ye are clean every whit.” He has washed us in His own blood and we are clean before God. But there is also a bar (court) before which we must be clean if we have any peace, comfort and assurance. That is the bar of conscience. It is in the conscience of believers that the Spirit reveals the cleansing power of Christ’s blood to us continually by bringing to our remembrance the finished cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls back to our minds the truth of the Gospel of Christ crucified, and we are assured that all our sins, even the sins of the last hour and the future, are washed away. Like the leper, the Priest has pronounced us clean. We are in Christ, and in Him is no sin. As Cowper wrote, “Dear dying Lamb Thy precious blood shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more.” Tell me the old, old story of Jesus who died for me! -- Pastor Gary Shepard

LOVED WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE

God's love to His elect is not of yesterday; it does not begin with their love to Him. We love Him, because He first loved us. It was in His heart towards them long before they were delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. It is from eternity and is the ground of the elect's being called in time out of darkness into marvelous light. “I have loved thee,” says the Lord to the church, “with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I have drawn thee.” God's choosing them in Christ before the foundation of the world was an act of His love towards them, the fruit and effect of it. His making an everlasting covenant with His Son, ordered in all things and sure, on account of those He chose in Him; His setting Him up as the Mediator of the covenant from everlasting; His donation of grace to them in Him before the world began; His putting their persons into His hands, and so making them His care and charge, are so many proofs of His love to them. Can it ever be imagined that there should be a choice of persons made, a covenant of grace so well formed and stored, a promise of life granted, and a security made, both of persons and grace, and yet no love all this while?