March 27, 2011
Sundays 7:30 am Channel 27 WKYT
It is requested that all 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
How sweet and blessed is the time
With Christ within this place
When everlasting love reveals
The treasures of His grace.

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to enjoy the feast
Each of us ask, with thankful hearts
Lord why am I a guest?

Why was I made to hear Thy voice
And come before Thy throne
While others make a wretched choice
And rather starve than come?

‘Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly called us in
Else we would still refuse to taste
And perish in our sins.

We now desire to bless Thy name
And in our hearts record
And with our thankful tongues proclaim
The goodness of the Lord!

(Tune: “Am I a Solider of the Cross?” p. 414)


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Birthdays
27th – Jessica Clark 27th – Amy Daniel


“When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” - Proverbs 16:7
There has never been a sinner who asked for mercy who was denied. I have had many people over the years tell me that they have asked for mercy and their prayer went unheard. The reason their prayer was not heard was they were not really asking for mercy.
When a sinner asks for mercy two things are crystal clear in his heart. First, his sin is all his fault. He cannot blame God’s sovereignty, his circumstances, or someone else. If I do not take complete responsibility for my sin, it is impossible to ask for mercy. Mercy is needed only when my sin is all my fault. Secondly, mercy is God’s to give or withhold. Any objection to God being sovereign in giving His mercy to whom He will is leaving the ground of mercy and entering the ground of entitlement. If I fail to see my sin is all my fault and that mercy is God’s to give or withhold, I have never really asked for mercy. But if I confess before God my sin is all my fault, and acknowledge His sovereign mercy is His to give or withhold and cry out, “God be merciful to me the sinner,” I will have mercy. There has never been a sinner who sought mercy who was denied.
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THE FAITH OF GOD’S ELECT
Paul identifies himself in Titus 1:1 as “An apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness.” How I love the simplicity of Scriptures! And there is no simpler than the one we just quoted. Who are the elect? They are “God’s elect”, the chosen of God. What is the evidence of their election? Faith! What is faith? “The acknowledging of the truth.” That means the recognizing, discerning, being acquainted with, and loving, the truth. The truth concerning God – He is holy. His holiness surrounds every attribute. The truth concerning myself – I am a sinner! The truth concerning salvation – Christ is salvation! What does the acknowledging of the truth always lead to? Godliness of heart and life! There is nothing confusing about this. May God give us grace to receive it!
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When the Lord said, “In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). He is not telling us we should not be thankful for what He has done in us. But what He has done in us should never be the grounds of our confidence! Our only ground of confidence for our acceptance with God is what He did for us on Calvary’s tree. This was not done in us, but outside of us. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Galatians 6:14….. “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
James tells us, “The double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Who is this double minded man? The word means literally, “two sided.” It signifies divided interests. The double minded man seeks to trust Christ and himself. He believes grace and works. He seeks to be justified by Christ’s righteousness combined with his own. He looks to Christ and himself for sanctification. He attempts to serve the Lord and himself. He keeps one foot in the world and the other in heaven.
James tells us that this man will receive NOTHING from the Lord and is unstable in all of his ways. If you start in the wrong direction, you will end up in the wrong place. What should the double minded man do? Become a one-minded man! The place to begin is to look to Christ ONLY. If the double-minded man becomes singular in the object of faith, everything else will follow suit.

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CHRIST’S GREAT WORK
What is His work? The work which the Father gave Him to do; the work covenanted from before the world began; the work that shall crown Him with glory and honor for ever and ever; the work of fulfilling, of magnifying, and of honoring the holy law of God; the work of satisfying it and of sheathing the sword of inflexible justice in His own heart; the work of vanquishing the powers of darkness, bruising the old serpent’s head, spoiling principalities and powers, taking away the sting of death, and removing the curse forever from all the election of grace. That is the work of God; that is the work of Christ, and it is freely given to the believer. – Joseph Irons


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I think that very often unbelievers sit under the preaching of the Gospel, waiting and hoping for some kind of experience or feeling of peace and joy before believing the testimony of God concerning His Son (I John 5:9-13; John 3:21-36; 8:24). If you are doing this, then you have, to us an old proverb, “Put the cart before the horse,” and are actually looking to yourself rather than to Christ for your soul’s salvation! Believing is the key which opens the door (Christ) through which sinners enter in “rejoicing”. Thus, the great apostle to the Gentiles writes that we obtain “joy and peace through believing.”
-Pastor Maurice Montgomery