2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

AUGUST 27, 2006

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP

SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY

7:00 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: #52- ‘Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned)

Words by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751)

esus, I love thy charming name;

‘Tis music in my ear;

Fain would I sound it out so loud,

[That earth and heav’n might hear]-Repeat

Yes, Thou art precious to my soul,

My transport and my trust;

Jewels to Thee are gaudy toys,

[And gold is sordid dust ]- Repeat

O may Thy name upon my heart

Shed a rich fragrance there;

The noblest balm of all my wounds

[The cordial of my care]- Repeat

I’ll speak the honors of Thy name

With my last laboring breath;

And, dying, clasp Thee in my arms,

[The Antidote of death]- Repeat

BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD- John 1:29

n the grey dawn of history a youth climbed Mount Moriah walking by his father's side and as he walked he asked one pertinent and tragic question, "My father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?" That question, "Where is the lamb?" echoed down the ages from generation to generation; for twenty centuries or so it haunted the hearts of men and then one day as the crowd gathered to listen to the strangely prophetic figure preaching in the wilderness, the preacher suddenly broke off his discourse and cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Here is John announcing that the great Desire of the ages had been fulfilled and He to whom John pointed was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. .Abraham had answered Isaac in these words, "God Himself will provide a Lamb." That was the answer Abraham gave to Isaac's question, "Where is the lamb?" "God will provide it," and in the fullness of time God did so, and here in this lovely title of our Lord we have all the wealth of Old Testament symbolism. Here we have Scripture fulfilled; Christ is the Lamb of God.                                                                                                                                                                                              JOHN GADSBY, (1808-1893)

SALVATION CONDITIONED ON JESUS CHRIST ALONE

 popular message that many believe to be the Gospel today is that God loves everybody, and Christ died to save everybody, and that the Spirit of God is working to try to get as many saved as possible, but ultimately we are told, “The choice is yours.” Now, as appealing as that may sound to the natural mind, if you will give it a little thought, you will see how this makes the sinner his own savior.  If God can will sinners to be saved, and Christ died to save everyone, and the Almighty Spirit is unable to persuade sinners against their will, then, ‘What does God have to do with salvation?’ You have put the power in the hand of the sinner, whom the Bible says is dead in sin and unable to save himself, John 6:44 and 66.

            No! Dear friend, the Gospel of God is that the Father chose a people in His sovereign will and gave them to the Son in electing grace, before time.  The Son of God then came and paid their entire sin debt, thereby justifying them before God, charging the merits of Christ’s death to them for righteousness, in a ONE-TIME, ONCE FOR ALL IMPUTATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (justice). “He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,” Hebrews 9:12.  The Spirit now effectually calls to Christ in time, by the Gospel, every one for whom Christ died.  Read John 6:37.  This He does by giving them life and light to repent, being born from above, of the Father of lights, in whom is no shadow of turning, James 1:17, 18.  

Let’s be careful, then, not to think that it is the new birth or our faith that brings about the imputation of God’s righteousness.  No!  It is the imputed righteousness of God at the cross that brings about the new birth and faith in every one to whom God has already charged the merits of Christ’s work.  Our Lord Jesus clearly established this order of righteousness established and imputed first, then the coming of the Spirit in John 16:7- “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 16:13 teaches that it is the work of the Spirit then to take the things of Christ and reveal them unto us,(Who He is and the redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness of sins, and justification already accomplished in His obedience unto death). That is truly salvation in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone.   The bottom line is, “Do you have a salvation conditioned on what you do, or something done in you, or on what Christ alone has done?”  KEN WIMER

THE JUST CONDEMNATION OF SINNERS REMOVED

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Rom. 3:23

hy did Paul exercise his mind and soul so much in the first three chapters of Romans to show the sinner’s condemnation before God?  Can we understand justification apart from first understanding condemnation?  If so, then why did Paul spend so much time and labor constructing this argument of the sinner’s condemnation that runs all the way from Romans 1:18 to Romans 3: 20?

Paul’s presentation is more than merely arguing a sinful nature, which word does not appear in the book of Romans.  Nor is Paul merely arguing men are sinners.  It is rather the argument that man because of sin is under condemnation, both the chosen and those not chosen of God.   Consider Romans 5:16- “For the judgment was by one [the first Adam] to condemnation…”  Look also at verse 18, “Therefore as by the offence of one [the first Adam mentioned earlier] judgment came upon all men to condemnation…” A biblical understanding of condemnation is essential to understanding the Gospel proclaimed by Paul throughout the book of Romans.

Condemnation means ‘the declaration or the sentence of judgment.’  All condemnation as sinners came with the IMPUTATION of the sin of the first Adam.  However, when we come to Romans 8:1, we read, ‘There is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION…”  If I say, ‘Now it is August,’ that means that last month was July.  ‘Now’ means something has happened, and something has changed.  So when Paul writes ‘there is therefore NOW no condemnation,’ it means there was a real condemnation, but now something has happened and there is no more condemnation.  That is the good news of God’s righteous gospel.   Even as God was just to condemn the elect in Adam, so He was just in justifying them at the death of the Lord Jesus, upon completion of His work at the cross.

                In justice God imputed sin to all men including the elect; in grace He imputed the righteousness Christ established to the elect alone.

DAVID SIMPSON, Clinton, TN