Wednesday Bible Studies Look At Various People At The Birth Of Jesus

December 1, 2016 by Don Woodard

Pastor Barron has begun a December series on People At The Time Of Jesus’ Birth. This week he presented the villainous character Herod the Great. The rest of the month he will present to us Elizabeth, Mary and the Inn Keeper. The study meets on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. at The Woodlands Orchid Room.

Short Items:

Dr. Rob Gustafson will preach to us this Sunday.
Sunday School: We are beginning the Winter 2016-2017 Adult Quarterly, “The Power Of The Gospel,” on Paul’s epistles to the Galatians and Romans. Dr. Ross’ lesson for Sunday is titled, “The Gospel Of Deliverance.” Paul describes how his salvation and life is an illustration of God’s grace through effectual calling. A good background is reading Chapters 11 and 12 of Genesis this week.

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North Greenville Church

North Greenville Church is a Reformed and Presbyterian fellowship that seeks to establish a traditional church of Christ in northern Greenville County.

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Where do our influences about Christian doctrine come from? Internet scoffers, or the Bible? Scoffers are critical of orthodox doctrine. They sometimes find acceptable that God is love. Yet, they get uncomfortable if asked how He can punish sin. The Bible has many passages talking about sin and punishment. A good question is why someone would die in our place. Why is the cross necessary? What does it achieve? John Calvin says it accomplishes a wondrous exchange. The exchange is penal substitution. Christ accepts a legal judgment in our place. The judgment results from God's infinite holiness. It makes sense that the seriousness of the sin be judged by the position of the one sinned against. The natural man can't define what is just and unjust with any sense of agreement. We all tend to pursue our own rule. Sin is the greatest injustice against the holy God. In sin, we incur a great debt we can never repay. The punishment for this is torment in hell forever. But God placed our sin on Christ on the Cross for our sake, upon Him who knew no sin. He could not sin. He was the innocent Passover lamb. In this penal substitution, the debt of sin we owe is credited to the account of the Son, and the Son's righteousness is credited to us. We are then cloaked in the royal robes of righteousness. Christ was cursed for us, quelling God's wrath in propitiation. This is all of God's love for us. By this means, God provides us with reconciliation with Him, even though we did not ourselves pursue reconciliation with Him. God removes from us the offense of sins, brings us peace and friendship with God, and makes us a new creation. For the first time, we can love instead of hate in selfishness. We can now regard people created in the image of God, not according to the flesh. This work has just begun among God's people, and will only become fully complete when Christ returns. Until that time, we are ambassadors for Christ, testifying to the world about God's unmerited favor toward us. ... See MoreSee Less

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