April 6, 2008
Sunday 10:00am WLEX TV Channel 18
It is requested that children under the age of five stay in our nursery
so there will be no distractions during the preaching of the Gospel.
HYMN OF THE DAY
Jesus is our great salvation
Worthy of our best esteem
He has saved His chosen nation
Join to sing aloud of Him
He has saved us, He has saved us!
Christ alone could us redeem!
When involved in sin and ruin
And no helper here was found
Jesus our distress was viewing
Grace did more than sin abound
He has called us, He has called us!
By His gospel’s mighty sound!
Free election, known by calling
Is a privilege divine
Saints are kept from final falling
All the glory, Lord be Thine
All the glory, All the glory!
All the glory, Lord is Thine!
(Tune: “Angels, From the Realms of Glory” p. 99)
*****
We will observe the Lord’s Table this evening. Andy Davis and Brian
DuFour will speak.
Birthdays
7th – Seth Daniel 8th – Joyce Squires 11th – Mary Williams
“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth
a mater separateth very friends.” - Proverbs 17:9
*****
“So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them.”
-Galatians 3:9-10
What does it mean to be “of the works of the law?” The word “of”
refers to origin. If I am of the works of the law I trace the origin of my
salvation to something I have done. Just what that something is varies according
to who you are talking to. Some would say it is obedience to the law. Others
would say it is your sincerity. Still, others would say it is your will that
decides whether to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation. Whatever
form it takes, it is still something you must do before you can be saved.
Salvation is the end, the pay back, for the works that you perform. But those
who are “of truth” (Gal 3:9), trace the origin of their salvation
to God Himself. What we do does not end in salvation. We begin in salvation.
Our works find their origin in God Himself (Eph. 2:8-10). All who are of the
works of the law are under God’s curse! All who are “of faith”
are “blessed with faithful Abraham.”
*****
“Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, that I may
know how frail I am.” - Psalms 39:4
When we, by God’s grace, are wise enough to face death, judgment, and
eternity, things are seen in their proper light. All these fine ideas of fame,
fortune, friends, and so-called importance, melt like the frost before the
sun. Death reveals the truth, blows away the chaff, shuts a man’s mouth,
and opens the book. Death takes no notice of what I thought nor of what others
thought of me, but only what God thinks! “Oh, that I might win Christ
and be found in Him!”
- Pastor Henry Mahan
FEEDING ON CHRIST
(John 6:51-71)
What your soul feeds on is, in reality, what you’re counting on for
its salvation. The people the Lord was speaking to on this occasion were extremely
hungry, religiously speaking, but they had no taste for Christ. They didn’t
really even have an appetite for the miraculous signs which demonstrated His
soul-satisfying grace. Christ told them in verse 26, “Ye seek Me, not
because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were
filled.” Their religion bore the two characteristic marks of idolatry.
One, what they sought in their worship was not to feed their souls, but to
satisfy the desire of their flesh. That’s what Christ warned them against
in verse 27, “Labor not for the food which perisheth (natural food),
but for that food which endureth unto everlasting life (spiritual food), which
the Son of man shall give you.” And two, what they craved more than
anything else was the ability to satisfy their own needs. This was the intent
of their question in verse 28, “What shall we do, that we might work
the works of God” like you did when you fed the 5000?
The work of the Gospel is not to do church-planting, or to develop new programs,
or to institute social improvement, to do counseling or any other efforts
aimed at the temporal needs of the flesh. The entire scope of God’s
work on this earth is clearly revealed in verse 29, “Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, (this is the work that He must
do, and it’s the work that all men do in whom God first performs it)
that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Is that all God is doing?
Isn’t that enough? Trusting Christ alone is never enough for those whose
religion is aimed at pleasing their fleshly needs. But Christ is more than
enough for those whose only need is to feed their soul. – Mark Daniel