FEBRUARY 18, 2006

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: #46- ‘O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing’)

Words based on Psalm 132 by Isaac Watts

rise, O King of grace, arise,

And enter to Thy rest,

Lo, Thy church waits with longing eyes,

Thus to be owned and blessed.

Enter with all Thy glorious train,

Thy Spirit and Thy Word;

All that the ark did once contain

Could no such grace afford.

Here, mighty God!  Accept our vows,

Here let Thy praise be spread;

Bless the provisions of Thy house,

And fill Thy poor with bread.

Here let the Son of David Reign;

Let God’s Anointed shine;

Justice and truth His court maintain,

With love and pow’r divine.

Here let Him hold a lasting throne;

And as His kingdom grows,

Fresh honors shall adorn His crown,

And shame confound His foes.

A HEART MELTING CONSIDERATION

"Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)

O what a melting consideration is this! That…

·        out of His agony, comes our victory;

·        out of His condemnation, comes our justification;

·        out of His pain, comes our ease;

·        out of His stripes, comes our healing;

·        out of His gall and vinegar, comes our honey;

·        out of His curse, comes our blessing;

·        out of His crown of thorns, comes our crown of glory;

·        out of His death, comes our life!

(JOHN FLAVEL, "The Fountain of Life" 1671)

THINGS APPOINTED

                                        “For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me:  and many such things are with him.”  Job 23:14

lthough Job could not immediately see the reason for his trouble, and though all of his own soul searching and seeking did not bring resolve (23:3,4) yet he could say with certainty that what the Lord was doing with him was according to what the Lord had appointed.  Bless God, He is unaltered in His purpose- “in one mind,” v.13.  Nothing just happens!  Nothing is haphazard!  Nothing is ‘unlucky.’  Everything has its proper purpose and place, with a view to His absolute glory.

            Our Lord Jesus knew and understood this as He faced the cross.  It was purposed from all eternity that He should be the Savior, Substitute, and Justifier of sinners whom the Father had given Him, even before they were born- John 17:2.  He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God (God’s prior knowledge of what HE had already ordained), Acts 2:23, and willingly, quietly, and obediently suffered at the hands of wicked men, knowing that it was to the glory of His Father that He might be just in justifying those sinners He chose from eternity to save.

            We do not however confuse purpose and performance, as if having purposed it, therefore it was done.  What the Father purposed, the Son came and fulfilled.  Christ speaking of His earthly ministry said at His public baptism- “Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness…” Matthew 3:15.  He was speaking of His death, burial, and resurrection, symbolized in His immersion by John the Baptist.  It was by His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection that HE FULFILLED ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, according to what the Father purposed and appointed from eternity, John 19:30!   He finished the work, and consequently, not one for whom Christ died shall perish, because Christ fulfilled their condemnation in His death.  What good news this is for sinners for whom He died!  It was to this righteousness that even Abraham and all the Old Testament believers looked as it says in Romans 4:21- “being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised (purposed), He was able also to perform.”

            As in our election, and our redemption and justification by Christ in His death, so in our calling to Christ and final glorification- “Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [to bring to an end, accomplish, perfect, execute, complete] it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6   

KEN WIMER

THE BELIEVER’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

e must have a righteousness in which Jehovah Himself cannot find a flaw, a righteousness which Jehovah cannot mend, a righteousness which neither sin nor Satan can mar;  and unless we have on a righteousness of this nature,  we can never enter into the blessedness of the world to come.

            Where then are we to find it?  Eternal praises to the matchless mercy of a covenant God, we have it in the blessed Person, glorious work, and spotless obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ!  And, therefore, as it was essential for Him to fulfill all righteousness for His people, He loved the Lord His God with all His heart, with all His mind, and with all His strength,  He began at the beginning, and went through holily, righteously, and steadily every step of the law of God and all in justice and righteousness.  He fulfilled every iota of it, and gave it immortal glory and honor.  The law could only require the perfect obedience of a perfect man, but He gave it the perfect obedience of the God-Man, and stamped forever a holy dignity and majesty on it, in order to manifest that this glorious righteousness is suited to every sinner’s case, to all their needs, and to honor and glorify all the perfections of God; and thus He has “forever perfected them that are sanctified,” all those who were set apart for Himself.  They are perfected forever in His blessed obedience and spotless righteousness; and this righteousness which God gives shall endure forever.                                                               COPIED