June 18^th 2023

9:30 am ----------------------------------------- Murrain, Boil, Hail & Fire – Exodus 9

10:00 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- Christ Crucified – John 19

Wednesday: 7:00 pm

Perseverance And Preservation

“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jer. 32:40).

Believers do continue to abide faithful to the gospel (1 John 2:28), to the Lord Jesus and to the work of the ministry where the Lord has placed them, because they love the Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor. 13:13) and they are kept by His power (1Peter 1:5).

There are two sides to this blessed truth, like that of faith and repentance where you find one you find the other. Along with perseverance of the saints, we see the dynamic, sovereign and vigorous power of God’s keeping grace, we call that preservation. God keeps them sealed until the day of final glory (Eph. 1:13-14). His sheep shall never perish (John 10:27-30). – Tom Harding, Pikeville, KY

Let Not Sin Reign – Romans 6:12

One of Satan’s devices is to present sin as less than it is. ‘Ah’, says Satan, ‘it is but a little pride, a little worldliness, a little uncleanness, a little drunkenness!’ As Lot said of Zoar, ‘It is but a little one, and my soul shall live.’ ‘Alas!’ says Satan, ‘it is just a very little sin that you are troubled by! You can commit it without any danger to your soul. You can commit it and your soul can still live.’ Consider, however, how many ‘small’ sins have received the greatest wrath: the eating of the fruit, gathering of few sticks on the Sabbath, and the touching of the Ark. O the dreadful wrath that these sins brought down on the hearts of men! Small sins make way for greater ones. We do not have the power to keep off sin as we please. By yielding to the lesser, we give opportunity for Satan to tempt us in the greater. Augustine tells the story of a man that was of the opinion that the devil made the fly. One said to him, ‘If the devil made flies, then he made worms.’ ‘True’, said he, ‘the devil did make worms.’ ‘But’, said the other, ‘if the devil made worms, then he made birds, beasts, and man.’ He granted all. ‘Thus’, said Augustine, ‘by denying God in the fly, he came to deny God in man and all creation.’ Yielding to the ‘lesser’ sins draws the soul to greater.

It is a sad thing to depart from God for a trifle. It is the greatest folly to venture hell for a small matter, and to break with God for a little. The less the temptation the greater the sin. For the love of one little sin, some have lost God, and their souls forever. Many times small sins are more dangerous. Great sins startle the soul, and awake it to repentance, but little ones breed and work secretly until they trample the soul. Sin grows by degrees until you cannot prevail over it. O that God would open the eyes of a sinner to see the horrid vileness of sin. – Thomas Brooks

Behold the Lamb of God

The Jews were looking for Messiah to come as a great prophet or a great king. They understood nothing of a “Saviour-Priest,” or a “Lamb of God.” You would think that these priests and Levites who ministered about the temple and the sacrifices would have inquired about the sacrifice; but they apparently had no sense of sin—they were Abraham’s seed. They would have welcomed Messiah on the throne, but not on the altar.

1. In Genesis 4:4, we have the Lamb typified.

2. In Genesis 22:8, we have the Lamb promised.

3. In Exodus 12:5-7, we have the Lamb slain and the blood applied.

4. In Isaiah 53:1-7, we have the Lamb personified—a man!

5. In John 1:29, we have the Lamb identified.

6. In Revelation 5:6 & 13, we have the Lamb magnified and glorified. – H. Mahan

“Hope for the best, get ready for the worst, and then take whatever God sends.” – Matthew Henry