CENTRAL BULLETIN July 30, 2017

Central Grace Church

3596 Franklin Street . Rocky Mount, Virginia

July 30^th 2017

9:30 am ---------------------------------------------------------------Hosanna – John 12:9-19

10:00 am ----------------------------------------------Message by brother Roland Browning

** We welcome our brethren from Dingus Grace Baptist Church, Dingus,WV. Brother Roland Browning will be bringing the message in the second service today.

Birthdays: August 1^st – Joseph Parks, 2^nd – Doris Mahan & Tom Canterbury, 4^th – Laura Bobbitt,

6^th – Abigail Hudson, 7^th – Bonnie Stanley, 13^th – John Sheesley Jr.

Cleaning: This Week: Rick & Kathryn, Next Week: Kelly & Robin

Nursery: Karen Anderson

Listen to WYTI Radio, 1570 AM - 104.5 FM, Sundays 8:00 am

Listen to live audio of services on: www.mixlr.com/centralgracechurch Website: www.centralgracechurch.com

Regeneration - New Birth, New Nature – By Arthur Pink

The new birth is an imperative necessity because the natural man is altogether devoid of spiritual life. It is not that he is ignorant and needs instruction: it is not that he is feeble and needs invigorating: it is not that he is sickly and needs doctoring. His case is far, far worse. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This is no poetical figure of speech: it is a solemn reality, little as it is perceived by the majority of people. The sinner is lifeless and needs quickening. He is a spiritual corpse, and needs bringing from death unto life…

What, then, is the new birth? We answer, it is not the removal of anything from the sinner, nor the changing of anything in the sinner. The new birth is the impartation of the new nature. When I was born the first time I received from my parents their nature; so, when I was born again, I received from God His nature. The Spirit of God begets within us a spiritual nature: as we read in II Peter 1:4. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.”

“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The child always partakes of the nature of his parents. That which is born of man is human; that which is born of God is divine. That which is born of man is sinful, and that which is born of God is spiritual. Here, then, is the character or nature of the new birth. It is not the reformation of the outward man, it is not the education of the natural man, it is not the purification of the old man, but it is the creation of a new man. It is a Divine begetting (James 1:18). It is a birth of the Spirit (John 3:6). It is being made a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17). It is becoming a partaker of the Divine nature (II Peter 1:4). It is being born into God’s family. Every born again person has, therefore, two natures within him: one which is carnal, the other which is spiritual. These two natures are contrary the one to the other (Galatians 5:17), and in consequence, there is an unceasing warfare going on within the Christian. It is only the grace of God which can subdue the old nature; and it is only the Word of God which can feed the new nature.

“God does not justify us because we are worthy, but justifying makes us worthy.”-- Thomas Watson

Righteousness

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." -- Matthew 5:20

There are three kinds of righteousness, or at least three kinds of righteousness which bear that name. There is inherent righteousness, of which we have none. There is imputed righteousness, which is all our justification. And there is imparted righteousness, when God the Spirit makes us new creatures, and raises up in the heart that "new man, which after God" (that is, "after the image of God") "is created in righteousness and true holiness." When the Lord, therefore, said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven," He did not mean only an external righteousness wrought out by His obedience to the law for them, but an internal righteousness wrought out by the Holy Spirit in them. Thus we read of the inward as well as the outward apparel of the Church, "The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold." Two kinds of righteousness belong to the Queen; her imputed righteousness is her outward robe, "the clothing of wrought gold;" but imparted righteousness is her inward adorning, which makes her "all-glorious within." This inward glory is the new man in the heart, with all his gifts and graces, what Peter calls "the divine nature," "Christ in you (the heart), the hope of glory.” – J.C. Philpot