May 4, 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 FOR THE DAY

Behold the throne of grace
His promise calls us near
There Jesus shows His lovely face
And lives to hear our prayer.

That rich, atoning blood
Which at the cross we see
Provides for those who come to God
And all-sufficient plea.

Thy mercy, Lord, bestow
Thy presence and Thy love
We ask to serve Thee here below
And reign with Thee above.

Abiding in Thy faith
Our will conformed to Thine
Let us victorious be in death
And then in glory shine.

(Tune: “I Love Thy Kingdom” p. 188)


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We will observe the Lord’s Table this evening.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL WILL BE JUNE 24 – 26.

Birthdays
4th – Jeffery Imes 7th – Ryan Hardman 7th – Kyle Willis
8th – Kim DuFour 10th – Will Hacker


“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.” - Proverb 28:23

 

COMMITMENT AND CONFESSION

“Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” - John 12: 42-43 The kind of faith these people had was the precise same faith that devils have. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). This kind of faith is giving assent to the same facts, but nothing more. There are two things that are always involved in saving faith: Commitment and Confession.
In saving faith, I commit the salvation of my soul entirely to Him. All of my eggs are in one basket. If who He is and what He did is not enough to save me, I will not be saved. A belief in salvation by works in any way or to any degree is a failure to commit my salvation to Him. In saving faith, there is always confession. “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). What does it mean to confess? The word means to speak the same thing. It means to admit to guilt. It means to declare publicly….when I confess Christ I agree with all of God’s children. I confess my faith even if I will suffer the consequences of being guilty of believing. And I do so publicly…before men (Matthew 10:32-33). How do I confess Christ? In three ways – (1) By Believers Baptism (Mark 1:5). (2) By identification with His church (Hebrews 10:23-25). (3) By my life (Titus 1:16). In saving faith there is always a commitment and a confession.

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MODERATION

“Let your moderation be known unto all men” (Phil 4:5). And how will men know our moderation? Not by us telling them we are moderate, but by being moderate toward them. This word is also translated gentle, forbearing, and patient. It carries with it the idea of being merciful, humane, and non-judgmental. We cannot be merciful or humane if we are judgmental. There are myriad reasons to not be judgmental. The Lord forbids it. If we judge, we will be judged. It is hypocritical, because we are just as bad if not worse than the one we judge. When we are judgmental we arrogate ourselves to the position that belongs to God only. We are incapable of a fair or right judgment because we do not know all the facts. Our moderation will only be known to men by us being a merciful and non-judgmental people towards others.
The truth of God has been out of fashion since man changed his robe of fadeless life for a garment of faded leaves. Noah built an ark and voyaged alone. His neighbors laughed at his strangeness and perished in style! Abraham wandered and worshipped alone. He found that city for which he looked and his neighbors lost the one they owned. Daniel prayed and dined alone. Jeremiah prophesied and wept alone, and they all wrote of our Lord Jesus who loved and died alone. Christ spoke of the lonely way most of His disciples must walk. “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service” (John 16:2). It wasn’t prophets these people hated; it was living prophets with God’s message of grace in Christ for today! The most of Israel praised dead Abraham and hated Moses. Then when Moses was gone, the people praised Moses and hated the apostles. Later the people of Europe praised the apostles and hated the reformers. Today most religionist praise Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Spurgeon and hate those who preach the same gospel these men preached. - Copied



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To disobey the Gospel is far worse than to break the law. For disobedience to the law there is a remedy in the Gospel, but for disobedience to the Gospel no remedy can be found!! “There remained no more sacrifice for sins.” - C. H. Spurgeon