Central Grace Church

3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia

Website: www.centralgracechurch.com Email: [email protected]

September 22nd 2019

9:30 am and10:00 am Messages by Luke Coffey

NO WEDNESDAY NIGHT SERVICE THIS WEEK

Message to Hear: by Henry Mahan: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=11706165147

WELCOME . . . Luke & Tracy Coffey. It’s good to have Luke and Tracy back with us. Brother Luke will be bringing both messages to you this morning while Mindy and I are away on an anniversary trip. No Wednesday service this week.

Birthdays: September 25th – Janine Kess / Cleaning: Jennifer & Debra / / / Nursery: Vikki / Teresa

What It Is To Confess Christ – "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess

before my Father which is in Heaven" (Matthew 10:32).

What is it to confess Christ? . . .

1. It is to have an understanding in the mind of WHO Christ is, WHAT Christ did, and WHERE Christ is. "The Son of God has come and given us an understanding...." (I John 5:20).

2. It is to believe Christ in the heart. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation." (Romans 10:9-10) To receive Christ with a sincere and genuine heart love, and committal as Lord and Saviour, Prophet, Priest, and King.

3. It is to confess Christ openly and publicly in believer’s baptism. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Baptism does not save nor add anything to the Saviour’s work; but it is a confession of, identification with, and testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord, and our own death to sin and resurrection TO WALK WITH HIM.

4. It is identification with the church of our Lord Jesus, the people who love Him, and the preachers who preach His Gospel of free and sovereign Grace. Paul said to Timothy, “Be not ashamed of the testimony (Gospel) of our God, nor of me His servant, but be ready yourself to partake (be identified) of the afflictions of the Gospel." Where the Gospel is preached, where the true people of God meet to worship, where the name of Christ is worshipped and exalted, THERE I WANT TO BE! And if I truly love Christ and confess Christ, THERE I WILL BE! — Henry Mahan

Be Not Joined To Unbelievers

"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? . . .” 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

This command is so plain, that it requires no interpreter. Righteousness and wickedness; light and darkness; Christ and the Devil; God's temple and idols . . . What do they have in common? This is a call to godly separation. This passage gives utterance to a Divine exhortation for those belonging to Christ . . . to hold aloof from all intimate associations with the ungodly. It expressly forbids them entering into alliances with the unconverted. It definitely prohibits the children of God walking arm-in-arm with worldlings. It is an admonition applying to every phase and department of our lives . . religious, domestic, social, commercial. And never, perhaps, was there a time when it is more needed, more pressing on Christians, than now. The days in which we are living are marked by the spirit of compromise. On every side we behold unholy mixtures, ungodly alliances, and unequal yokes. Many professing Christians appear to be trying how near to the world they may walk--and yet go to Heaven!

To Israel, God said, “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.” (Lev. 18:3-4) And again, "And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.” (Lev. 20:23) It was for their disregard of these very prohibitions, that Israel brought down upon themselves such severe chastisements.

God's call to His people in Babylon is, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of here sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4) No one can be a whole-hearted follower of the Lord Jesus who is, in any way, "yoked" to His enemies! -- A. W. Pink