O, God, my heart is fixed on Thee, to sing and give Thee praise;
I’ll praise Thee, Lord, among Thy saints, as we our anthems raise.
As we our anthems raise; as we our anthems raise.
I’ll praise Thee, Lord, among Thy saints, as we our anthems raise.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy mercy great, that reaches down to me
In Christ my Savior, I am blessed with all salvation free.
With all salvation free; with all salvation free.
In Christ my Savior, I am blessed with all salvation free.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy righteousness as sent from Thee above;
Thy law and justice satisfied in union with Thy love.
In union with Thy love; in union with Thy love;
Thy law and justice satisfied in union with Thy love.
I’ll praise Thee for Thy cleansing Word that sanctifies my soul;
As in my heart Thou art glorified in Christ who makes me whole;
In Christ who makes me whole; in Christ who makes me whole;
As in my heart Thou art glorified in Christ who makes me whole.
Today’s Speaker: Brother Jim Casey will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.
Bible Classes: Adult and Children 10 am.
Morning Worship: 11am.
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 click here
Web Sites: Visit our newly designed web site at: www.rofgrace.com
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Eccl. 5:1
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Heb. 11:4
We know from Genesis 4 that Cain killed his brother Abel; yet by his sacrifice, “…he being dead yet speaketh.” And we would be wise to listen! From Genesis 4, we know that Cain brought the product of his own works. Being a tiller of the ground, he offered the fruit of the ground. Granted, Abel was a shepherd but what distinguished his sacrifice from Cain’s was not because it too, was a product of his occupation as was Cain’s. Rather, it was because Abel brought the blood of a lamb. By faith, He came before God to worship in recognition of his desperate need of a suitable Substitute, needing a righteousness or satisfaction to be made before the holy justice of God that he, a sinner, could not produce for himself. He needed the doing and the dying (the shed blood) of the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God, the woman’s seed of Genesis 3 – this all being typified by the blood of the sacrificial lamb he offered. And notice from Hebrews 11:4 that Abel did not become righteous by offering the blood sacrifice; rather, it gave evidence that he was righteous – God having imputed or accounted unto Him the very righteousness that Christ would in time accomplish for Him on Calvary’s cross.
This was in stark contrast to Cain’s offering which would be akin to the evil “sacrifice of fools” (Eccl 5:1) brought by those who, like Cain, sincerely approach God for acceptance in worship by bringing their very best – their acceptance of / decision for Jesus, their completion of a confirmation process, their baptism, their sincere efforts at Godly obedience, their adherence to a catechism, etc. In short, like Cain they bring some product of their own doing, their works – all the while not even considering “…that they do evil.”(Eccl. 5:1).
Accordingly, consider the equivalent of the sacrifice or offering that you present before God in worship. That is, consider the basis upon which you approach God for acceptance – for salvation. If it is by genuine, God-given faith it will be akin to the sacrifice of Abel. Conversely, if your salvation is based upon anything other than (or in addition to) the satisfaction Christ rendered in His obedience unto death (the blood of the cross), it is to bring the sacrifice of Cain – the “sacrifice of fools” brought by those who have yet to see (by the eye of faith) that such worship is actually evil in God’s sight.
--- Randy Wages
WHEN DID GOD SEE THE BLOOD?
There has never been a time when the eternal Jehovah did not look to Christ, the Lamb slain, as the ground of all His blessings to and the salvation of His elect. As He said of that earthly people that picture His redeemed, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." (Exodus 12:13) It was not when they saw it but when He saw it! When did God "see" the blood of His Son as the justice-satisfying sacrifice for the sins of His people? "When" really doesn't apply to God who beholds everything in all of time and eternity with one all-encompassing view. Without a doubt there is a progressive manifestation and revelation of the purpose and will of God's grace in Christ, but the unchanging God of eternal glory views and always has viewed all His grace children in Christ. Looking to Christ crucified, He loved them, chose them, established His everlasting covenant concerning them, all with an eye to "the blood." Looking to this Lamb slain (there being no possibility that He could fail), He could justly bless them even then with "all spiritual blessings." Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world is Christ the Lamb hanging on the cross and the Lamb John sees in the Revelation as "newly slain." Christ's sacrifice for the sins of His people is the "everlasting righteousness" that was brought in or made manifest when He came into the world and died the death of the cross. The great change comes when He enables us to see the blood by faith! When we see the blood, which occurs when the Spirit of God reveals it to us and in us through the gospel of Christ crucified, we change, casting off the rags of our self-righteousness and pleading the blood of Christ as the only way God has and could be just and justify us. We look to this Lamb slain just as God always has! "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" (Romans 3:24) "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Hebrews 9:12) The word "obtained" here means to find, discover, perceive. By His blood (death, sacrifice) Christ entered into the holy place of heaven and we in Him find or perceive this "eternal redemption" sure and accomplished through His blood. His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant which is ordered in all things and sure and this is all the salvation of the people of God!
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