ZEBULON BAPTIST CHURCH
Weekly Bulletin
Sunday, November 9, 2008

Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Psalm 86: 3-7

SINCERE SYMPATHY
Our sincere sympathy is extended to Tom Runyon and his family in the recent death of his sister, Earnestine Hatfield.

TRUTH IN THE HEART BENDS THE KNEE TO CHRIST
When knowledge of the truth does not lead us to worship the Lord in love with a sense of awe, it is evidence that our knowledge of the truth has not gone beyond our brains - it has not penetrated our hearts. Divine truth was not given to make us intelligent, but to make us WISE unto true salvation manifested in a heart-felt worship of the God who made us and redeemed us by His Son. It is true there is no getting to the heart without going through the brain; for the heart cannot receive what the brain does not know. But we must strive so that the truth does not get stuck in our brains and go no further. Truth in the brain puffs up with pride; truth in the heart bends the knee to Christ. Pastor Joe Terrell

"THAT AT THAT TIME YE WERE WITHOUT CHRIST"
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12).

This was the state of all believers before they heard the gospel and trusted Christ Jesus; and it is the condition of all, whether in religion or out, who do not know the Redeemer.

WHEN IS A MAN WITHOUT CHRIST?
A man is without Christ if he has no head knowledge of Christ. If he has not heard the true gospel of our Lord's perfect righteousness and atoning sacrifice, he is truly without Christ. A man is without Christ even if he has heard of him, but has no heart faith in the Lord Jesus. Hearing is essential to believing, but believing is essential to salvation. "He that believeth not shall be damned." A man is without Christ when the work of redemption and regeneration is not manifested in his life and attitude. We are saved by faith, but faith without works is dead faith and will not save.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WITHOUT CHRIST?
It means to be without God in this world. He that hath the Son hath both the Father and the Son. It means to be under the curse of the law. Only Christ can redeem us from the curse of the law. It means to be without life, for Christ is our life. It means to be without peace, for "He made peace through the blood of His cross." It means to be without hope, for "Christ in you is the hope of glory." When the flood came, where would Noah have been without the Ark? That's the condition of all who are without Christ! Pastor Henry Mahan

IMPARTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
The children of God are righteous by the implantation in their bosom of a righteous nature, which, as being born of God, is as pure as God is pure and as holy as he is holy. For this reason we are said to be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), and to "put on the new man which after God [that is, after the image of God] is created" - it being a divine and new creation, "in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24.)

This pure and holy nature, John tells us, cannot sin, because it is born of God (1 John 3:9), and is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which makes the soul free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), being that kingdom of God in the heart, which is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17.) This is an imparted righteousness, and its very essence is that sweet spirituality of mind, which is life and peace, and that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord (Romans 8:6; Hebrews 12:14). J. C. Philpot

REGENERATION
Regeneration is the sovereign, irresistible work of God the Holy Spirit. - "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (v. 8). At the time appointed by God, the Holy Spirit comes to the sinner, who was chosen by grace in eternal election and redeemed by Christ at Calvary, and creates life in that sinner by his sovereign, irresistible, effectual grace (Galatians 4:4-7).

The instrument by which the Holy Spirit causes men and women to be born again is the gospel of Christ (vv. 12-16). - "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." - "Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth." - Sinners are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever...And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

In preaching the gospel God's servants call upon dead men to arise (Ephesians 5:14), knowing that they are preaching to dead sinners who cannot hear and cannot obey their message. But if God the Holy Spirit is pleased to speak through his servant to your heart by the gospel, though you are dead, you will hear and you will live (John 5:25). Pastor Don Fortner