SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE
January 29, 2003
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 129 (David)
Call to Worship: 'God Hath Zion Set Apart'
Scripture Reading/Prayer: 1 Kings 19 (Mike)
Hymn: #186- ‘The Church’s One Foundation
Message: Brother Mathieu Kobou
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: #93- ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)
Words based on Psalm 129 by John Beaumont, 1834
|
M |
any times since days of youth,
May all Israel truly say,
Foes devoid of love and truth
Do afflict me day by day;
Yet they never can prevail,
God defends His people still;
[Jesus power can never fail
To save from all that’s ill]- Repeat
God hath Zion set apart
For His own abiding place;
Sons of wrath and guileful art
He will banish from His face:
God for Israel He doth fight
Israel, on thy God depend;
[Christ shall keep thee day and night,
Till all of thy troubles end.] Repeat
THE LAW WRITTEN ON THE HEART
|
P |
raise God that He is faithful to His promises. One of the blessings of the covenant is that He will write His law upon our hearts. First, He slays us from every notion of being justified by our personal obedience to that law. Next, He reveals to us how Christ came and fulfilled every jot and tittle of that law in the place of the very sinner slain by it. Finally, He causes these blessed children to be able to love the very law that first troubled them. All of this is through the merits of Christ's work of infinite righteousness for all those whom He has caused to look to Him alone for justification and life.
TIM HALL, Albany, GA
THE BELIEVER’S SANCTIFICATION
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” I Thessalonians 5:23
|
B |
eware that every Gospel doctrine has been attacked by the enemy down through the centuries, essentially because the truth gives all the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ alone. The doctrine of sanctification is no exception. Typically, most understand sanctification to mean being holy in our persons, as in having some aspect of our nature that has been made sinless, or is in the process of becoming sinless. Such a notion has been taught in various forms both by professors of free-will and even sovereign grace. However, the word ‘sanctify’ itself does not mean ‘to make holy,’ but rather ‘to set apart unto holiness.’ When the Scriptures tell us to ‘Sanctify the Lord God in our hearts,’ (1 Peter 3:15) we do not thereby make Him holy, who is already holy. Nonetheless, it is to declare God holy, and to set Him apart in our hearts and minds, attributing to Him all the glory due His name, in both doctrine and practice.
All regenerated sinners long to be holy in their persons, but continue to readily acknowledge that they are nothing but sinful, all the while awaiting their final glorification which their election guarantees, and the work of the Lord Jesus has purchased, Romans 8:23. Nonetheless, they are called those who have been sanctified already by God. How so?
1. By virtue of our ELECTION in Christ- From eternity, God the Father set sinners apart unto holiness in view of their redemption, justification, and final glorification-Jude 1 with Eph. 1:4
2. By virtue of our REDEMPTION and JUSTIFICATION by Christ at the cross- When Christ died, the elect were in Him, set apart unto holiness. Their sin was wholly charged to Christ, and His obedience unto death charged to them- I Corinthians 1:30.
3. By virtue of our REGENERATION, whereby we are separated unto Christ in our minds and hearts by the Spirit of God- I Corinthians 1:2.
Sanctification is wholly the work of the triune God. Those He has sanctified, He does keep and preserve unto their final glorification. To live a sanctified life, is to enjoy the benefits of having been chosen by His free grace, redeemed and justified at the cross, and called unto Him by the Spirit, through the revelation of Christ’s finished work. K. WIMER
I AM ASTONISHED
(A humbled sinner’s prayer)
“O bottomless Fountain of all good, I am astonished at the difference
Who made me to differ, but you? I could not have begun to love you, had you not first loved me.
O Lord, I am astonished that . . .
Let 'wrath deserved' be
written on the door of hell, but the 'free gift of grace' on the gate of heaven!
Let your love draw me nearer to yourself. Wean me from sin, mortify me to this
world, and make me ready for my departure hence. Secure me by your grace as I
sail across this stormy sea.”
AUTHOR UNKNOWN