SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

December 11, 2005

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP

SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY

6:30 PM- Mid-week Service

Nursery care available for all services for ages 4 and younger.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Ken Wimer, Pastor- ( (318) 687-4943

PO Box 5028, Shreveport, LA 71135

E-MAIL: pastor@shrevegrace.org

WEB SITE: http://www.shrevegrace.org Updated weekly with audio messages now available on-line.

CALL TO WORSHIP 

(Tune: #10, ‘O God, Our Help’)  

                                                                                  Words by Isaac Watts, 1719, based on Psalm 122

OW did my heart rejoice to hear

My friends devoutly say,

“In Zion let us all appear,

             And keep the solemn day!”

I love her gates, I love the road;

The church adorn’d with grace,

Stands like a palace built for God

To show His milder face.

Up to her courts with joys unknown

The holy tribes repair:

The Son of David holds His throne,

And sits in judgment there.

He hears our praises and complaints;

And, while His awful voice

Divides the sinners from the saints,

We tremble and rejoice.

Peace be within this sacred place,

And joy a constant guest!

With holy gifts and heavenly grace

Be her attendants blest!

My son! Shall pray for Zion still,

While life or breath remains:

There my best friends, my kindred dwell,

There God my Savior reigns.

EATING HIS FLESH AND DRINKING HIS BLOOD

“. . . who eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,” John 6:35

T is the body of Christ (our bread) and the blood of Christ (our drink) that sustains God’s elect.  As the manna in the wilderness was bread to Israel, and water from the rock was their drink to sustain them in physical life, so the body of Christ and the blood of Christ are the sustenance of all spiritual life in the believer.  To see and believe Christ’s obedience, suffering and death on the cross to establish a perfect righteousness which God the Father has freely imputed once for all to all for whom Christ died, is to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  It is to see that Christ’s righteousness is all I need to sustain me, and unlike the manna, which ran out when Israel entered Canaan, the Living Bread shall never run out.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              WINSTON PANNELL, Albany, GA

NOT A ‘YEA AND NAY’ GOSPEL

“But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.”

            2Co 1:18, 19

e live in a day when many preachers attempt to render the gospel more acceptable to men, by softening down its offensive doctrines.  These qualifications are usually characterized by the three letter word ‘but.’  For example:

1. God is sovereign in all things, but…He has left the choice to man as to whether he’ll be saved or not.
2. Man is a sinner, but…you can still exercise your free will and accept or reject Jesus as your Savior.
3. Salvation is by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, but…it is only effectual if you believe.

Most of these types of arguments we are used to hearing from people who profess a man-centered, works religion profession of salvation conditioned on a cooperation between Christ’s work and their will.  However, even more subtle are the ‘yea’ and ‘nay’ of many who profess to believe in salvation by God’s free and sovereign grace, and yet have the same common belief as those of free will profession.  They profess salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God, and yet they hold just as tenaciously to the idea that even the elect must do something to appropriate it, even if enabled by the Spirit in order to make it complete.  You will hear such statements as, God is absolutely sovereign, but you are responsible to believe, implying that if you resist, God won’t save you, or you will also hear others say, ‘Justification before God is by the blood and righteousness of Christ alone, but…you are not actually justified before God until you believe.’  Which is it, ‘yea’ or ‘nay?’ 

Dear friend, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is ‘yea and amen’ because it is conditioned on and fulfilled completely by the Lord Jesus Christ alone!

1. Yea, God purposed and chose us to salvation in Him, Eph. 1:4
2. Yea, we are saved because Christ Jesus satisfied law and justice on our behalf when He died, and God imputed that righteous work to our account even before we believed, making God just to justify us by His death alone- Rom. 5:9,10.
3. Yea, we are saved from our ignorance and unbelief when the Spirit of God gives us life to know and believe on the Son in truth, according to this Gospel that gives Him all the glory- John 16:13.

What is highly esteemed among men is abomination in God’s sight, Luke 16:15!  Such is the mixed message of grace and works- ‘yea’ and ‘nay.’ O! To be found among true worshippers, taught of God, who believe His doctrine of the cross, resting in the finished work of Christ alone, fully imputed there to the account of everyone of God’s elect.     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                KEN WIMER

THE GIFT OF GOD’S SON

OD states two things about salvation:  firstly, that it is a gift and secondly, that this gift is in His Son (I John 5:11).  This gift comprises both redemption from eternal condemnation and the possession of everlasting life.  Jesus embodies in Himself these two priceless gifts, for forgiveness of sins and the true, heavenly life are both to be found in Him.  So it is in Jesus that redemption from sins has been accomplished, just as it is in Him that life, happiness and glory are to be found.

That means that Jesus did not leave His work unfinished.  He has not just half saved us, but He has perfected and brought to completion the salvation that He was sent to accomplish.

So we see that Holy Scripture calls Him a “propitiation” and “the Lamb of God who takes away sin”.  It also states that “He himself purged the sins of His people.”  By His sacrifice on the cross, He has made perfect for ever those who are being sanctified and those whom the Father has given Him (Rom. #:25; I John 2:2; John 1:29; Heb. 1:3; 2:17; 10:10-14; John 17:2; Isa. 53:8, etc.).

It is for this reason that the church can declare that Jesus “has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” on the cross.  He was wounded and bruised for the iniquities that were laid on Him.  He was stricken for the transgression of His people.  It is thus that the church has been cleansed and washed, so that she is holy and without blemish (Gal. 3:13; Isa. 53:1-6; Eph. 5:23-27).                                                                CESAR MALAN

COMFORT YE COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE

Isaiah 40:1,2