(Tune: “Love Divine” – p. 2) (Words by Pastor Jim Byrd)
God of mercy, grace and glory, Hear this poor and needy soul; Grant to me Thy saving favor, Come and make this sinner whole. Manifest Thy lovingkindness, Unto Thee I lift my cry; Meet my need and heal my spirit, Or I must forever die.
In the Scriptures it is written, Christ for sinners bled and died; By His sacrifice on Calv’ry, He Thy justice satisfied. Since the Savior paid their ransom, All Thy people shall be free; Grant salvation to this sinner, Show Thy mercy unto me.
Made aware that I need Jesus, Unto Him by faith I flee; I will humbly bow before Him, And confess iniquity. Christ alone must cleanse and save me, I shall live at His command; Sovereign Savior, show me mercy, Save me by Thy mighty hand.
Today: Bible Classes – 10:00 a.m.; Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m. Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
Television Broadcast: Reign of Grace Television Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM.
Live Streaming – 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. – Sermon Audio web site
Hymns for service: “Nothing But The Blood” – p. 212 “What a Wonderful Savior” – p. 454
We welcome Brother Bill Tomlin into the fellowship of our church. Last Sunday Brother Bill in believer’s baptism confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God for His grace and mercy towards our dear brother.
Some have said that to be “justified” is to be “just as if I’d never sinned.” But the truth is justification deals completely with the fact that I have sinned. God being just, His justification has to have a just basis. When Paul wrote in Romans 8, “It is God that justifies,” he immediately followed with “it is Christ that died.” The death of a sinless Substitute for sin is necessary for God to justify a sinner. Justification is clearly an act of God. He declared all His people as having been “justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” All in Him are now without sin but justification does not excuse sin or in any way diminish its vileness and offensiveness to God. No, justification declares the sinner righteous and also declares the Justifier as righteous. – Pastor Gary Shepard
The Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord our Righteousness is the only source, power, and merit of all things in salvation for His people. All the blessings of spiritual life, including faith, repentance, perseverance, and obedience, come from Him and are accepted with God by Him. Therefore, the true Christian life is living in and by Him and looking to Him as “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). When speaking of God as sovereign Creator, the apostle Paul wrote, “For in HIM we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This certainly applies to believers in considering God as our sovereign Savior. – Copied
A VITAL DISTINCTION
There is certainly no denying that faith is necessary for salvation. The Bible says plainly, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15). The main issue though is not in the believing itself. It is in what we are commanded to believe. Religious people agree that we must believe, but they do not know what it is we must believe. As a result, most religionists have made faith the ground and/or condition of salvation, and this is deadly. It is a denial of Christ. God commands sinners to believe HIS GOSPEL, and the Gospel is God’s promise of salvation conditioned on Christ alone, based on His righteousness alone. Yes, we are required to believe, but we will not believe unless God the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life from Christ who by His obedience unto death established righteousness by which God justifies us and which demands eternal life for all for whom He died, was buried, and arose. We are required to believe that Christ’s blood and righteousness is the only ground and condition for the entire salvation of sinners. We are required to believe that Christ makes the only difference between heaven and hell. This Gospel puts faith, repentance, and perseverance in their proper place as the means and evidences of salvation, not as the grounds, causes, and conditions for salvation. Consider the following article written by an unknown author –
“Faith is not our righteousness; it merely knits us to the righteous One and makes us partakers of His (Christ’s) righteousness. Saving faith’s preciousness is not its own, but the preciousness of Him to whom saving faith links the believing sinner. Faith is not our physician; it only brings us to the Physician. It is not even our medicine; it only administers the medicine divinely prepared by Him who heals all our diseases. Faith is not our savior. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us and gave itself for us, that bore our sins in its own body on the tree, that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, and the Savior is another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound them nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect man that which belongs exclusively to the Son of the living God.”
We must understand that as faith is necessary to bring sinners to Christ for salvation, it is Christ, not faith, who is our salvation.
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