Great Encouragement in Christ JESUS ~ 31 August, 2026 A.D.

 

 

O God of everlasting days,

Receive our worship, thanks and praise;

May all who gather in this place,

Exalt Thy Name and seek Thy face.

 

We plead as we assemble here,

For wisdom now our God to fear;

Speak Lord to every mind and heart,

Reveal to us how great Thou art.

 

Lord for Thy messengers we pray,

May they in power preach today;

Send forth the gospel to each heart,

To every soul Thy grace impart.

 

O may Thy Son, our sovereign Lord,

Be praised, exalted and adored;

Be gracious Lord, give eyes to see

Christ Jesus saves eternally.

 

And for Thy loved, but erring sheep,

Out on the rugged mountain steep;

O Shepherd find the lambs which roam,

And bring the wand’ring, lost ones home.

 

 

Gospel hymn, “JESUS THY BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS"   LM  

WORDS BY JIM BYRD

 

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      “Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.  Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.  Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.  For the word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth.  He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.” -Psalm 33:1-5 [KJV]

 

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“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” -Romans 8:32 [KJV]  

 

We may observe, in one view, the wonderful goodness and inflexible severity of God.  So great was His goodness that, when man was by sin rendered incapable of any happiness, and obnoxious to all misery; incapable of restoring himself, or of receiving the least assistance from any power in heaven or in earth; God spared not His own Son, but, in His unexampled love, gave Him Who alone was able to repair the breach.  Every gift of God is good; the bounties of His providence are very valuable; that He should continue life and supply that life with food, raiment, and a variety of comforts to those who by rebellion had forfeited all, was wonderful: but what are all inferior blessings compared to this unspeakable gift of the Son of His love?  

 

Abraham had given many proofs of his love and obedience before he was commanded to offer up Isaac upon the altar; but God seems to pass by all that went before, as of small account in comparison of this last instance of duty.  “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12).  Surely we likewise must say, in this was manifested the love of God to us, because He gave His Son, His only Son, for sinful men.  But all comparison fails.  Abraham was bound in duty, bound by gratitude; neither was it a free-will offering, but by the express command of God.  But to us the mercy was undesired, as well as undeserved.  “Herein is love, not that we loved God” (I John 4:10).  

 

On the contrary, we were enemies to Him and in rebellion against Him, but He loved us and “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” the sins we had committed against Himself.  My friends, ought not this love to meet a return?  Is it not most desirable to be able to say (-as the Apostle in I John 4:19,) “We love Him, because He first loved us?”  Should it not also be our continual inquiry, “What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits,” especially for this, which is both the crown and the spring of all the rest?

                                                                                      

 

-preacher John Newton

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