I am preaching today in Ross, OH, at Gospel of Grace Church where Brother Scott Price is pastor. Lord willing, I will be preaching this Wednesday at 13th Street Baptist Church for Pastor Jim Byrd. Debbie and I will be traveling home on Thursday.
—Pastor Bill Parker
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WHAT IS TRUE GODLINESS?
Godliness is living from, in, and by the grace of God looking to Jesus Christ as our whole salvation. When it comes godliness, “Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11). Godliness is founded upon the glorious Person of Christ as God “manifest in the flesh” and His finished work to save and secure His people from all sin and unrighteousness (1 Tim. 3:16). To be godly is first to be justified before God based on Christ’s righteousness imputed and received by God-given faith. To be a godly person is then to have the life of Christ imparted within our very souls – “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). This life begins with the new birth when the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ and true repentance. It continues as we, by the grace of God, continually look to and rest in Christ for all salvation (Heb. 12:2). Godliness then is to follow, worship, and serve Christ, as we seek to be like Him in all our thoughts, motives, and actions and as we are motivated by His love for us, His grace in us, His mercy towards us, and our love and gratitude to Him. – Pastor Bill Parker
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Christ "only is my rock and my salvation," the Scriptures say. Tell me anything contrary to this truth, "He only is my rock and my salvation, and it is a heresy. And bring to me any heresy and by comparing it with, "He only is my rock and salvation," you will have found out why it is a heresy. – Copied
The first action of God-given faith is to believe what God says about Himself, about us and about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is to believe that He has done what He says He’s done!
—Pastor Gary Shepard
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THE GOD OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer ... I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:1,8).
Reader, let us never lose sight of the Lord Jesus while reading this Psalm. He is the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, in all our approaches to the mercy seat, let us go there in a language corresponding to this which calls Jesus the Lord our righteousness. While men of the world are seeking their chief good from the world, let us desire His favor which infinitely transcends corn and wine, and all the good things which perish in the using. Yes, Lord, Thy favor is better than life itself. Thou causest them that love Thee to inherit substance and fillest all their treasure.
Oh! Thou gracious God and Father, hast Thou in such a wonderful manner set apart one in our nature for Thyself? Hast Thou indeed chosen one out of the people? Hast Thou beheld Him in the purity of His nature, as one in every point Godly? Hast Thou given Him as the covenant of the people? And hast Thou declared Thyself well pleased in Him? Oh, then, well may my soul be well pleased in Him also. Now do I know that my God and Father will hear me when I call upon Him in Jesus’s name, and when I look up to Him for acceptance for Jesus’s sake! Yes, my heart is fixed, O Lord, my heart is fixed; Jesus is my hope and righteousness; the Lord will hear me when I call. And henceforth will I both lay me down in peace and sleep securely in Jesus, accepted in the Beloved. “For this is the rest wherewith the LORD causeth the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12).
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