[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] Lord's-Day Snippet

Sun Mar 28 12:57:22 UTC 2021

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io <committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io> On Behalf Of Penny Golden via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2021 8:18 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] Lord's-Day Snippet

A Lord’s Day Snippet!

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Pastor Ron Rumburg

253

1. Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise thee
for the bliss thy love bestows,
for the pard'ning grace that saves me,
and the peace that from it flows.
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
this dull soul to rapture raise;
thou must light the flame, or never
can my love be warmed to praise.

2. Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,
wretched wand'rer far astray;
found thee lost, and kindly brought thee
from the paths of death away.
Praise, with love's devoutest feeling,
him who saw thy guilt-born fear,
and, the light of hope revealing,
bade the blood-stained cross appear.

3. Praise thy Savior God that drew thee
to that cross, new life to give,
held a blood sealed pardon to thee,
bade thee look to him and live.
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,
roused thee from thy fatal ease;
praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,
praise the grace that whispered peace.

4. Lord, this bosom's ardent feeling
vainly would my lips express:
low before thy footstool kneeling,
deign thy suppliant's pray'r to bless.
Let thy love, my soul's chief treasure,
love's pure flame within me raise;
and, since words can never measure,
let my life show forth thy praise.

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

Purpose of Those Divinely Blessed

“But you are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people of [God’s] acquisition, that you might set forth His virtues, who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

1 Peter 2:9 [literal translation]

Jesus Christ is precious and above all computation of value to those who believe but to the disbelieving He is a stumbling stone and a scandalous trap to which they were destined (1 Pet. 2:7-8). 

What is the purpose of those whom the Lord has called out of darkness into His marvelous light in the person of Christ who is the Light? Those who have been gloriously chosen, called into a kingly priesthood, placed into a holy nation, and possessed by God and for Him are to worship this great and glorious God. This is the God who freed you from the kingdom of darkness and fitted you for the kingdom of His glorious light.

The children of God have revealed to them that they “are a chosen race.” This does not refer to their earthly race but to their spiritual one because they are “born again, not of corruptible sperm, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23). “As Christ is the Son of God, so those that are Christ’s are the children of God; as Christ is the heir of God, so, as Christ lives, it is His will that they should live also. As Christ rose from the dead, so it is the will of Christ that his saints should rise also. As Christ is in heaven in glory, so it is the will of Christ that they should be with him where he is. So, as Christ is both King, and Priest, so shall believers be made kings and priests” [Jonathan Edwards].

The children of God are of “a kingly priesthood.” We are “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). Not only are we called a “holy priesthood” but here we are also called a “kingly priesthood” which includes two offices in one because they were combined in our redeemer King. We have been made “kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him to be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:6). This bespeaks our occupation in heaven because of glorification. We will sing “a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed or purchased us to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and linguistic group, and ethnic group; And have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign upon the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10).

The children of God are “a holy nation.” They are a part of the spiritual kingdom of which Jesus Christ is the King. This nation is holy or set apart unto God and has joy and happiness as its atmosphere. They are “a people of [God’s] acquisition.” The Lord God put a high price on acquiring them to be His when He gave His only begotten Son for their purchase (Tit. 2:14). They are bought with the precious blood of Christ, loved with His precious love, comforted by His precious promises, justified by His precious gift of faith, and glorified by His precious act.

What is our purpose as children of God who have been given such positions as we have? The purpose is “that you might set forth His virtues, who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We set forth or show our God’s virtues out of the necessity of our redemption. We primarily do this by the daily life and worship and by the corporate worship. The local church exists to glorify God by corporately doing that which we should be doing personally all the time. And what is that? It is the worship of God in spirit and in truth. The Greek word for “virtues” refers to the praises given to exalt the divine excellencies. This has reference to the exalting of the pre-eminence and divine perfections of our great and glorious God. We are redeemed to glorify God in worship. Do you aim to praise God today for His pre-eminent glory through Christ?

We are given a warning by A. W. Tozer in this context: Tozer spoke of the importance of worship in the local church. “Why is this important? For the simple reason that if a local church in one generation fails of its high design of worship, the next generation in that church will depart from the faith altogether. That is how liberalism comes about. Many churches stand as a monument that the generation before failed God, and as a result the present generation succumbs to liberalism and does not preach the Word of God at all. With no Spirit of God upon them and no fire-baptized leaders, they need to compensate. Therefore, they keep it up by social activities and by tying into whatever is going on in the world. But as a church, it has failed and is not a church anymore. The glory has departed.” ICHABOD!

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