Hymns for service: “Look Ye Saints” – p. 141 “Come Thou Fount” – p. 17
“God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23). Let’s continue to pray for our brethren and our loved ones who are going through trials of sickness. Let’s also be diligent to pray for the salvation of the lost and that God will continue to allow us to spread the Gospel of His free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus.
IMPUTATION
It’s our sins and our sins in the highest degrees and aggravations that Christ was accountable to God for, and that He bore them in this sense, by way of Imputation, though none of the spot or stain by way of inherent pollution or defilement fell upon Him, nor could cleave unto Him. And we defend the position as the Spirit of God everywhere states it. -- Isaac Chauncy
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PAYMENT GOD CANNOT TWICE DEMAND
Augustus Toplady, 1740-1778
From whence this fear and unbelief? Hath not the Father put to grief His spotless Son for me? And will the righteous Judge of men Condemn me for that debt of sin Which, Lord, was charged on Thee?
Complete atonement Thou hast made, And to the utmost farthing paid Whate’er Thy people owed; How then can wrath on me take place If sheltered in Thy righteousness, And sprinkled with Thy blood?
If Thou hast my discharge procured, And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine, Payment God cannot twice demand— First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine.
Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest! The merits of thy great High Priest Have bought thy liberty; Trust in His efficacious blood, Nor fear thy banishment from God, Since Jesus died for thee!
WHY WE PREACH CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
When people ask me why I preach the imputed righteousness of Christ so much, I answer it is because God must be glorified, Christ must be exalted, all boasting must be excluded in ourselves, and we who believe must be encouraged to persevere and obey with the absolute certainties of God’s grace. Nothing else will accomplish all this but the preaching of Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of the whole of salvation. The main issue in salvation is the glory of God. The main issue in the glory of God is the righteousness of Christ by which God is enabled to be both a just God and a Savior. This is God’s redemptive glory (Isa. 45:21-22), and this is where Christ is exalted and given the pre-eminence as Lord of all. Most people who call themselves “Christian” today are no better off than Israel of old –
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:1-4).
Whenever we preach or teach any subject from the Bible, this message of grace is the very thing God the Holy Spirit uses to empower the truth for the salvation of sinners and the edification of God’s people. Without it, the message simply blends in with the rest of false religion in its moral pep talks and psychological babbling. Without this message of grace, Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of salvation, the salt loses its savor and is good for nothing but to be cast out. Think about this seriously. There are many other things in the Bible we need to hear, learn, and practice, but all things in the Bible are to be preached in light of this Gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed.
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