CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – O For a Thousand Tongues – p. 46)

(Words by Pastor Jim Byrd)

My heart upon Christ Jesus rests,

No other One can save;

I trust the blood and righteousness,

Of Him the Father gave.

He suffered awful agony,

And died upon the tree;

To satisfy a holy God,

He bled and died for me.

The precepts of God’s holy law,

The Savior satisfied;

My countless sins were washed away,

When Jesus bled and died.

Through life and death, and endless days,

“Christ only” is my plea;

I know that He will keep me safe,

For all eternity.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

What it Takes for a Sinner to Believe – Romans 10:14-21

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – Psalm 110

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – There is a Fountain – p. 222

• READING – Hebrews 7:1-10

• MESSAGE – Melchisedec – Hebrews 7:1-10

• CLOSING HYMN – Come Thou Fount – p. 17

Birthdays: Richard O'Connor – Oct. 20^th | Debra Riggins – Oct. 22^nd
Mike Lee – Oct. 24^th

The success of Christ in His death to secure the complete salvation of all for whom He died is proven by His resurrection from the dead showing that He lives to bring all of them to God. —Copied

God’s sovereign, electing grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ strips us of all merit, removes from us all ground for boasting in ourselves, leaves us helpless in the dust to save or keep ourselves, and ascribes all glory to God alone as He reveals Himself in the glorious Person and effectual, redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ Who alone has all the preeminence in the salvation of God’s elect. —Arthur Pink

WE ARE GOD’S WORKMANSHIP

Those whom God chose before the foundation of the world in Christ and whom He justified in and by Christ, those whom Christ redeemed on the cross with His precious blood, and those whom the Holy Spirit gives life and calls into the kingdom of God are known by their God-given faith in Christ, repentance of dead works and idolatry, and their perseverance in the faith in continuing to look to, rest in, and follow Christ Who has secured for them all salvation, righteousness, sanctification, eternal life, and final glory. All of this blessedness, nothing excepted, is by God’s free sovereign power and grace based on the merits of Christ’s blood – His righteousness imputed (Eph. 1:3). None of these blessings, not one exception, is by any supposed power or pretended goodness within the sinner saved by grace. The objectors argue, “But we must cooperate else God cannot accomplish this.” Not so! By His sovereign power and grace in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God makes certain that we WILL cooperate in faith, repentance, and perseverance. The objectors argue, “But this make us no more than robots, puppets on God’s string.” Not so! It makes us new creatures in Christ because God has freely given us new hearts, new spirits, and the gifts of faith and repentance. The Bible is clear that our salvation is conditioned solely upon the power and merits of Christ’s obedience unto death as the believer’s Surety, Substitute, Redeemer, and Intercessor. The Bible is clear that, as a result of Christ fulfilling all these conditions for us as God’s people that we are not self-made people. We who believe all proclaim, “For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

—Pastor Bill Parker

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21)

Mercy more overflows in God than sin in us. His mercy drowns great sins as the sea covers great rocks! Christ's blood is "a fountain for sin and uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1). Some of the Jews who had their hands steeped in Christ's blood were saved by that blood! God loves to magnify His mercy and display the trophies of free grace! —Thomas Watson

PREDESTINATION, NOT FATALISM

There are no two things any more in opposition to each other than predestination and fatalism. Yet, those who believe and give witness to what the Bible says concerning predestination are very often charged with being fatalists. Fate is simply man’s replacement god, impersonal and requiring no accountability. Fate is man ignoring what God says about how He is and what He has done in Scripture. Fate is inaction, irresponsibility and obliviousness. Predestination is action, God in action, and while it involves every event, it is most directly associated in Scripture with individuals. It is something God has done and it has to do with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:29,30) Also, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (Eph. 1:5) and “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” (Eph. 1:11)