2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE
January 15, 2006
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 127 (David)
Call to Worship: ‘God’s Protecting Arm‘
Scripture Reading/Prayer: I Kings 17 (Mike)
Hymn: #42 –‘All Hail The Power’
Message: WORTHY IS THE LAMB– Rev.5:5-14
Hymn: #6 – ‘Come, Thou Almighty King’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: John 15 (Jim)
Hymn: #210 – ‘Saved By The Blood’
Message: ONE WAY OF WORSHIP - Numbers.15:1-16
WEDNESDAY
6:30 PM- Mid-week Service
Nursery care available for all services for ages 4 and younger.
Ken Wimer, Pastor- ( (318) 687-4943
E-MAIL: pastor@shrevegrace.org
WEB SITE: http://www.shrevegrace.org Updated weekly with audio messages now available on-line.
CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: Jesus Calls Us #374 )
Psalm 127, Words by Harriet Auber, 1829
|
V |
AINLY, through the night the ranger
Keeps his watch lest foes alarm;
Still the city lies in danger
But for God’s protecting arm.
Vain were all our toil and labour
Did not God that labour bless;
Vain without His grace and favour
Every talent we possess.
Vainer still the hope of heaven
That on human strength relies;
But to him shall help be given
Who in humble faith applies.
Seek we then the Lord’s anointed,
He shall grant us peace and rest;
Ne’er was suppliant disappointed,
Who through Christ his prayer addressed.
FAITH THAT BELIEVES GOD
|
F |
aith that believes God’s testimony is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not in us by nature; we are not born with it; it is not by us; we had nothing to do in producing it, and it is only given to that sinner who was justified at the cross, two thousand years ago. How could I have anything to do with something that happened 2000 years before I was even born? It is true that in time, in each successive generation God enables us to receive by faith what Christ accomplished for us on the cross as all our salvation, but the establishment and the implementation of our salvation is totally of the Lord.
WINSTON PANNELL, Albany GA
THE SPIRIT OF GOD
|
G |
OD has purposed not to give us a sinless nature on this side of glory, much like the Promised Land was not perfect in which the children of Israel entered, Exodus 23:26-33. It was the land which the Lord gave them, and yet in entering they were called upon to do battle in the name of the Lord, ever leaning upon His Word and promises.
What God has given us, His redeemed and justified children, is His Spirit as an ‘earnest,’ 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13, 14, whereby He has sealed everyone of those for whom Christ shed His precious blood- Romans 8:1. They are sealed for two reasons:
1. As a sign of approval of them as chosen in Christ, and redeemed and justified by Him at the cross- 2 Tim. 2:19
2. As a protection to keep them from ever falling away or being taken away by Satan, sin, self, or the world- Jude 24.
The Spirit is an earnest (arrabwn) in that He is a guarantee or true witness of all that God has promised to accomplish as the fruit of the FINISHED work of Christ. The word ‘earnest’ is a reference to money deposited by the purchaser, which in men’s courts may be forfeited if the purchase was not complete. Here, however, it is not an earnest made by men, but God Himself, and that after our Lord Jesus ALREADY PAID the full payment of the sin debt of His people, and put it away forever. Therefore, it is more like an official seal put on a legal document of acquittal, and God’s own assurance that what HE has purchased through the blood of His Son, He will indeed realize in their full, final, and everlasting glorification. In Modern Greek it is an engagement ring, given after all of the requirements have been satisfied between the Father of the bride and the proposed spouse.
It is the Holy Spirit, then, and not some inward, infused, sinless nature that is God’s pledge of ALL our future eternal blessings, particularly as pertains to our eternal inheritance, Gal. 4:6. It is the Spirit’s work to illumine, keep, and preserve in THE WAY, those that our Heavenly Father has chosen in electing grace, justified by the blood and righteousness imputed of His blessed Son, and called effectually to Him in repentance. It is the Spirit’s work to produce in the child of God the affections and desires to walk in a manner that brings glory to our Lord Jesus, by whom the Father declared them righteous and sanctified by the death of His blessed Son, their Substitute. KEN WIMER
NUMBERED WITH THE TRANSGRESSORS
|
B |
Y whom was Jesus arrested? He was arrested by the justice of God. But why? Had any fault stained His path? The bare thought is chilling, as the shock of blasphemy. Let it be met with a shudder of denial. Holiness was the essence of His being – the pulse of His soul. He was born the Holy Child Jesus. He lived the Holy Man Jesus. He died the Holy sufferer. He rose the Holy Conqueror. He ascended in Holy triumph. Holiness is the scepter of His kingdom forever.
How then, could justice touch Him with a jailor’s grasp? Because, though no shade of sin was in Him, still mountains of sins were UPON Him. Although infinitely far from personal offence, He stood before God laden with all the countless transgressions of a countless multitude. Here is the godlike grace of God. He consents to remove guilt from the guilty, and to place it ON the guiltless. He transfers the sins of the sinful to His sinless Son. Wondrous is the word, but true as wondrous, “The Lord has laid ON Him the iniquities of us all.” So Jesus is our sin-bearing surety. He appears, by substitution, as covered, defiled, deformed by the whole accumulated mass of all our guilt. He is verily accounted, and is verily treated, as the perpetrator of every evil deed – as the speaker of every evil work – as the harborer of every evil thought, which had stained, or should stain, each child in the redeemed family.
Hence we understand the agony of His heart: My iniquities have taken hold UPON Me, they are more than the hairs of my head. He presents His back to receive the hateful load. Justice finds it ON Him. And therefore justly claims Him as his prisoner. O my soul, have you by faith a saving interest in Christ? Then know your full relief. He snaps the chain which would have dragged you down to hell. He passes under the dark waters of your pollution, that you may be reckoned clear of every stain. He becomes your unrighteousness, that you may be the righteousness of God in Him.
HENRY LAW