A GOD WORTHY OF PRAISE
Come Praise and Glorify the Father of our Lord,
in Christ He has in heavenly realms His blessings on us poured.
Ephesians 1:3-9 teaches us that God has from eternity past predestined the elect for salvation. He has chosen us from before the foundations of the earth. We belong to a God who gives His grace in Christ, in Him Our sins are washed away Redeemed through sacrifice. He awakens our cold dead hearts to believe the Word. He then seals us with the Holy Spirit Who is the guarantee of our inheritance. We are betrothed to Christ and The Holy Spirit is our engagement ring until redemption is done. As we gather this Sunday let us join our voices and rejoice together and sing our call to worship:
TO THE PRAISE OF YOUR GLORY
TO THE PRAISE OF YOUR MERCY AND GRACE
TO THE PRAISE OF YOUR GLORY
YOU ARE THE GOD WHO SAVES
WHO ARE WE APART FROM GOD
The Glory of The Cross.
What wisdom once devised the plan where all our sin and pride
was placed upon the perfect Lamb who suffered, bled and died?
The wisdom of a Sovereign God, whose greatness will be shown
when those who crucified Your Son rejoice around Your Throne!
A Mercy that forgives my sin, and makes me like Your Son;
And now I’m loved forevermore because of what You’ve done
The cross is the place where the wrath of God was poured out for our sin. God’s justice demands that the penalty for sin must be paid. We were dead in our trespasses and sins our hearts were hardened as noted in Ephesians 2:1-2. We had no ability to respond to God. We could not meet the righteousness that the Law of God demanded of us (Romans 3:9-11). Romans 5:6-9 tells us that we were helpless, enemies of God, and at the right time Christ died for the ungodly saving us from the wrath of God. If we were to bear our sin before a Holy God we would destined for eternity in hell separated from God. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:7-10 that the things that were of value to him held no value when compared to the value of knowing Christ. Romans 6: 1-14 admonishes us to not let sin reign in our bodies, we are no longer enslaved to sin, we are dead to sin. We are to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God.
WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR US?
I Will Glory in My Redeemer
I Will Glory in my Redeemer, Whose priceless blood has ransomed me
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung Him on that judgement tree.
A Mercy that forgives my sin, and makes me like Your Son;
And now I’m loved forevermore because of what You’ve done
Jesus is the Promised Messiah, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the perfect representation of humanity. Only the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14) could live the perfect life that we cannot live, and die the death that we should have died. Jesus came to fulfill the law as Christ teaches in Matthew 5:17. In Colossians 1:15-22, He is the image of the invisible God who reconciled all things to Himself having made peace through the blood of His Cross. The One who created all things for himself. Jesus is the one in whom we now can have peace with God. Jesus’ death on the cross satisfied the wrath of God (1 John2:2). He is spoken of in Revelation 1: =4-6 as the One who loved us and released us from our sins by His blood. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Romans 5:6-9 tells us that we were helpless, enemies of God, and at the right time Christ died for the ungodly saving us from the wrath of God.
THE RESPONSE OF THE SAVED
Jesus I My Cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute despised forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every found ambition, all I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition, God and Heaven are still my own.
Being a disciple of Jesus comes with a great cost. Jesus told His disciples that The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and killed by the religious leaders (Luke 9:18-24). If they were to be His followers they would suffer the same. It has not changed today. The world is constantly talking about tolerance all the while growing increasingly intolerant of Christianity. We to must take up our cross daily and follow Jesus no matter what the cost.