TODAY’S SPEAKER: Eager Avenue Grace Church extends a warm welcome to Gary Shepard. Gary is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He will conduct both the 10:00 am and 11:00 am services today. Pray for him as he delivers God's Word.
LUNCH :There will be a covered dish lunch after our service today. Everyone plan to attend. Contact Becky Pannell if you have questions.
Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM.
Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. To hear sermons on your computer click on www.americusradio.com
Web Sites: Visit our newly designed web site at: www.rofgrace.com
Ishmael, Hagar’s son, was born in the ordinary course of nature; Isaac, Sarah’s son, was born out of it, and contrary to the general laws of nature. Ishmael was the natural result of things; Isaac the child of promise. The one born without an eye to the covenant; the other wholly on account of the covenant. Had Ishmael never been born, no interruption would have taken place in respect of the promised seed; but had Isaac never been born, the promise itself could not have been fulfilled; for so the terms of the charter ran, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." {Ge 21:12} And though a period of somewhat more than twenty years had elapsed between the promise given to Abraham and the fulfilment of it, yet the thing itself was as sure and certain as the promise concerning the coming of Christ himself. "To Abraham and his seed was the promise made. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." {Ga 3:16} And how striking was the difference in the gift of these two sorts to Abraham! Ishmael was the product of lust; Isaac a child of prayer. "Lord God, said Abraham, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? Look now (said God,) towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." {Ge 15:2-6} It may not be improper to add, that as in the two covenants the one is in direct opposition to the other, so in the allegory the same is manifested. "He that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit; even so it is now." The everlasting hatred of nature to grace was then strikingly set forth, by the mocking of the bond-woman’s son. And as Ishmael, as well as Isaac, was circumcised, the allegory hereby manifested, (what hath not been so much noticed as it deserves,) that the persecution of the true seed doth not arise only from the world, but from those who profess the same faith. A faith, like Ishmael’s, of nature, but not, like Isaac’s, of grace. But what a blessed thing it is, when by a true saving grace we are led to know our birthright, and as sweetly to enjoy it. When we can say with the apostle, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." And surely, the bond-woman and her son cannot be heir with the son of the free-woman; for all of the Hagar, the mount Sinai covenant, are in bondage. They are under the precept of a broken law; they are subject to the condemning power of that law; and they are exposed to the penalty due to the breaches of that law. Oh! the blessedness of being for ever freed both from the guilt and condemnation of it in Christ. Well might the apostle comfort the church with that sweet assurance, "so then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free." {Ga 4:31}
Robert Hawker
HUNGERING & THIRSTING AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). The righteousness intended here is not creature righteousness, worth, or worthiness; for that is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away; nay, at best it is only filthy, and its fountain unclean. Eternal truth declares that all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, which withereth and fadeth away when the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it (Isaiah 40:7). But the righteousness the dear Lord has in view in this text is that blessed righteousness which is unto all and upon all them that believe (Romans 3:22) the glorious Person and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ; for "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:4). This is that righteousness which justifies the ungodly; and when this glorious righteousness is received into the heart by faith, through the divine power of God the Holy Ghost, the soul will unite with the church of old, and say, "In the LORD have I righteousness and strength" (Isaiah 45:24); not merely by Him, or from Him, but in Him. And the Lord the Spirit solemnly says that "in the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (Isaiah 45:25). God is determined that no flesh shall glory in His presence, but in the Lord alone. Therefore "Christ is made of God unto His people wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). "God hath made Him to be sin for them, that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Here it is that a child of God stands acquitted of all charges and is viewed by the God of gods perfect and complete; for, by the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified from all things (Acts 13:39), not partially, but fully and completely.
--- William Gadsby
INCREASED FAITH
"Lord, increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). That faith which is the gift of God looks to and is dependent upon Jesus Christ for all things spiritual and eternal, as well as temporal. If, therefore, we would have our faith increased, the Lord will give it as we direct our full attention to Him. To have rest in this world, the Savior said "learn of Me" (Matthew 11:28). Study His glorious person and His substitutionary sacrifice; remember that you are accepted in Christ. Faith grows stronger as it focuses on the omnipotent Savior.
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