SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

JUNE 5, 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:  #236-‘Amazing Grace’

Words based on Psalm 116 by Isaac Watts, 1719

hat shall I render to my God

For all His kindness shown?

My feet shall visit Thine abode,

My songs address Thy throne.

Among the saints that fill Thine house,

My offerings shall be paid:

There shall my zeal perform the vows

My soul in anguish made.

How much is mercy Thy delight,

Thou ever-blessed God!

How dear Thy servants in Thy sight!

How precious is their blood!

How happy all Thy servants are!

How great Thy grace to me!

My life, which Thou hast made Thy care,

Lord, I devote to Thee.

Now I am Thine, for ever Thine,

Nor shall my purpose move!

Thy hand hath loosed my bands of pain,

And bound me with Thy love.

THE PLACE OF JUSTIFICATION

ome place justification to be only in the conscience. But we place it only in Christ where it is, and to Whom it belongs. Justification consists in taking away of sin. None but Christ can do that. Justification and acceptation are one. For without justification there is no acceptation. And seeing we are accepted in Christ, we are justified in Him. If our justification be a spiritual blessing, (as it is) then it is in Christ where all spiritual blessings are, "Blessed be God, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ," Eph. 1:3. Where our redemption and righteousness are, there is our justification. Righteousness and justification are one. This we have not in our selves but in Christ, "who is made unto us of God, wisdom and righteousness," 1 Cor. 1:30. "In whom we have redemption," Col. 1:14. Our justification is a part of our completeness. Therefore, where we are complete there we are justified. But we are not complete in our selves, but in Him Col. 2:10.                                                                           SAMUEL RICHARDSON, 1647

MADE MEET

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”            Colossians 1:12

hat is it that makes a sinner meet [able or fit] to be a partaker [have a share in] the inheritance of the saints?  In other words, on what ground can any of us hope to enjoy the privilege of eternal life with God?  The verse very clearly says that it is the inheritance of THE SAINTS, therefore to be made meet, must of necessity include being made as holy as God Himself.  How can this be?

                As in any inheritance, the beneficiaries are named by the Father, who purposes to bequest what He has to His children.  Ephesians 1:4 says, ‘according as HE hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.’  And yet, it does not say that our election is what has made us meet.  “That we should be holy,” signifies God’s purpose to make holy those He eternally chose, but this had yet to be accomplished by the shedding of the blood of His Son, the ONLY ground of forgiveness of sins as stated in the following verse (Ephesians 1:7).  Hebrews 9:15 reveals that it was by means of the death of Christ that those under the first testament received the promise of eternal inheritance.  God was not favorable to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or any of His elect in the Old Testament period because He had merely decreed them justified. No, the Scriptures say that He was forbearing with their sin (Romans 3:25), and did not impute their sin to them (Ps. 32:2), having purposed to justify them and give them eternal life and glory based on the death that the Lord Jesus would accomplish for them.  It is ONLY the death of the testator that has made any of us meet!

                Just as importantly, it must be stated that it is not by any inherent righteousness in us that we are made meet. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “there is not even a just [justified] man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” The Spirit of God is not given to us in order to make us meet, but rather because we have been made meet (once for all) by REDEMPTION through Christ’s blood, EVEN the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14).  As important as regeneration is to bring the heirs to repentance and to rest in Christ alone, yet, it is not the work of the Spirit that makes us fit for heaven.  The Spirit is the Advocate sent by THE ADVOCATE (John 14:26) to reveal that because Christ died we have in HIM already, all the righteousness and holiness necessary to give us PERFECT standing before HIM, Hebrews 10:10-14)!  Thank God for Christ’s death whereby as heirs of God, we are made MEET!

KEN WIMER

JUSTIFICATION FULLY ACCOMPLISHED AT THE CROSS

n God's perfect plan of redemption, the blood of Christ was decreed by God as the only way our sins could be removed.  And we know that God will do what He has purposed to do.  But I don't believe that justification was actually accomplished before Christ laid down His life.  THERE IS NO REMISSION OF SIN WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD and our Lord did not shed His blood until He went to the cross. 

OUR JUSTIFICATION WAS FULLY AND COMPLETELY ACCOMPLISHED AT THE CROSS.  By the obedience of Jesus Christ we are made righteous.  We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.  He, by Himself, purged our sins.  He obtained eternal redemption for us. The blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant.  But the covenant was ratified by His blood that was shed at Calvary.  The Word of God teaches that the Old Testament saints looked for that day when the fountain for sin and uncleanness would be opened.  We look back to that same day.  We rejoice in electing grace, in God's eternal purposes and decrees.  But if Christ had not come, if He had not fulfilled all that was written of Him, if He had not suffered and bled and died and then went back to God the Father, the Holy Spirit would not have come and revealed these things to us.  Our Lord Jesus said that in John 16.  If Christ had not risen, and He had to die before He could be raised for our justification, but if He had not risen, there would be no hope for any of us.           

GENE HARMON, Rescue, CA

OBEDIENCE