CALL TO WORSHIP

MY DEBT IS PAID

Tune to "AMAZING GRACE" CM
Words by Jim Byrd

1. Unto the Lord this sinner owed
A debt I could not pay;
My sins were such an awful load,
But Christ put them away.

2. His blood has washed away my shame,
And satisfaction made;
O bless the dear Redeemer’s name,
My ransom price is paid.

3. Salvation unto Christ I owe,
O what a gracious Friend;
He washed and made me white as snow,
On Him my hopes depend.

4. Someday in heav’n I’ll sing His praise,
With all the ransomed throng;
And joyfully my voice I’ll raise,
To sing redemption’s song

Today’s Speaker: Brother Mark Pannell will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.

Guest Speaker: Pastor Bill Parker will be our guest speaker on Oct. 6^th. A fellowship meal will follow the noon service.

Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast every Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM. It’s also broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4 @ 11 AM on Sunday mornings.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 10:30 am on Mix 107.7 FM

Web Sites: Visit our web sites at: Reign of Grace: www.rofgrace.com

Sermon Audio: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reignofgrace

Radio: http://www.mix1077albany.com/

Birthdays: Jason Renfroe – Sept. 30^th – Stacy Young – Oct. 5^th

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU

The Son of God is Jehovah Tsidkenu, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Jeremiah 23:6)

He is the Author, the Worker and the Provider of righteousness. The righteousness which a sinner must have to stand acceptably before God must be equal to divine righteousness. The only righteousness that will qualify is the righteousness of the God-Man. When was this righteousness wrought out? In His sinless life, our Savior proved His qualifications to establish righteousness in our stead, and when Christ died upon the cross, answering the demands of justice, the inspired prophet said He brought in "everlasting righteousness." (Dan 9:24) Christ has always been and will always be the righteousness of His people.

He was "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" when He stood as our legal Representative in the council of grace and God viewed us in Him. When He came into this world and died on the cross as our Substitute so that God might be just and Justifier.

He remained "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." He died under the curse of the law so that His people would be "made the righteousness of God in Him." (II Cor. 5:21) Though He bore our sins and suffered the wrath of God in our stead, yet He never became unrighteous in Himself, but remained "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

He can never be less than "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" for He is "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Heb. 13:8) It is by the grace of the Spirit that self-righteous sinners are awakened to see how detestable our righteousnesses are before a holy God (Isa. 64:6) and our need of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Throughout our earthly pilgrimage we look to "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" Who ever lives as our Advocate, "Jesus Christ the Righteous." (I Jn. 2:1) In heaven's eternal glory, He will be that One in Whose righteousness we stand blameless before the throne of God. "And to her (the church) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." (Rev. 19:8) "The righteousness of saints" is none other than the righteousness of Christ.

In that great eternal day, the bride of Christ shall bear the same name as her Beloved, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

--- Pastor Jim Byrd

The Rock of Salvation

"Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up to glory."

(1 Timothy 3:16)

There was absolute necessity for the Immortal Word to assume our nature without sin in the womb of the Virgin, that in that nature He might bear all our transgressions away, die for our iniquities, and shed His precious blood for the remission of our sins; that sin might be condemned in His flesh; that is, in the holy soul and body of the immaculate Jesus. Paul says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8. 3.) "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." (I Cor. 15. 3) The awful and solemn death of Jesus, His crucifixion and blood-shedding, is the pillar of the Christian religion, and the grand foundation of the church of God. The sinner who is awakened to see and feel his lost, ruined, and undone state; to behold the inflexible holiness and justice of God, and brought at the same time to feel himself sinking within under the terrors of God in a broken law - that poor guilty, sin-condemned wretch, has nowhere else to look for peace, comfort, or rest, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for our sins. He "was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."

Now this is the very gospel the apostle Paul preached; therefore he lays such emphasis upon it in that memorable chapter, I Cor. 15. Let me read a few verses of it. He says, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand: by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." (vv. 1-3) The solemn and awful death of Jesus, the incarnate God: His blood-shedding for the remission of our sins, and His resurrection from the dead, is the foundation upon which God's church is raised for eternity.