CENTRAL GRACE CHURCH

Central Grace Church

3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia

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

September 1^st 2024

10:00 am --------------- Let Us Draw Near, Hold Fast, Exhort One Another – Hebrew 10:19-25

Wednesday: 7:00 pm------ Blessed Are the Merciful, Pure, Peacemakers & Persecuted – Matthew 5:7-12

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

Meekness:

-- Meekness is the bridle of anger. – unknown

-- Meekness is to silently submit to the sovereign wisdom and providence of God. It is to rest in His love.

-- A meek and quiet spirit is an incorruptible ornament, much more valuable than gold.-- Thomas Brooks
-- To be truly meek means we no longer defend ourselves because we see there is nothing worth defending. – M. Lloyd-Jones
-- The best way to resist the devil is to be silent under the hand of God. -- Brooks
-- Meekness is having a childlike, teachable spirit, which does not know, but desires to know.
-- Meekness is absolute resignation to God’s will, and meekness will endure every trial God sends.
-- Meekness is the opposite of self-will towards God and of ill-will towards men.-- A. W. Pink

-- Sometimes the unkindness of our friends is a greater trial of meekness than the malice of our enemies. – M. Henry
-- When defending God’s honour, no man was more zealous than Moses; but when his own honour was touched, no man more meek. He was bold as a lion in the cause of God, but mild as a lamb in his own cause. – M. Henry

Not in the Flesh, But in the Spirit – Romans 8:9,13 – Henry Mahan’s commentaries

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (v.9). . . . For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (v.13)

Unregenerate, unsaved people do mind (are concerned, anxious, and taken up with) the things of this world and of the flesh (Matt. 6:24-33). Health, happiness, and honor for the flesh is their main concern. Not so for those who are in Christ!

v. 9. ‘Ye are not in the flesh.’ This does not mean that we are not human (that we have no passions, appetites, and desires, or that our old nature is eradicated); but it means that we have a new nature and are indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, who is the dominant influence in our lives. To be in the Spirit is to be ruled over, influenced, and controlled by the Spirit. They that are justified in Christ are also sanctified in Christ and have the Spirit of Christ. If a man does not have the life and Spirit of Christ, he is not one of his own.

v. 13. ‘For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die . .’ Such persons who live after the flesh are already dead; eternal death awaits! A person who has received the grace of God in truth cannot live after the flesh, for he does not love sin and the world; he loves Christ and holiness. Because of the Spirit of God who lives in him, the believer's outward conduct and course of life consists of denying the flesh and walking after the Spirit (Rom. 8:1). Believers live in Christ now and shall live with Christ forever.

What Happens When a Believer Dies? – by John Chapman

1. The death of the Saint is the death of the presence of sin.

2. The death of the suffering of the body.

3. The death of all temptations. The death of all attacks from within and without.

4. It is the end of dying.

5. It is the death of death. This will not happen again.

6. Faith has given way to sight; hope has given way to reality.

This must happen. The body must die and be buried. This corrupt body cannot inherit glory. This change is the last part

of being saved. It is also the answer to our Lord’s prayer in John 17:24; “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”