SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

 

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

 

MARCH 26, 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: # 188- ‘I Love Thy Kingdom Lord’) by Henry F. Lyte- 1834

 

Far from my heavenly home,

Far from my Father’s breast,

Fainting I cry, blest Spirit, come,

And speed me to my rest!

Upon the willows long

My harp has silent hung,

How should I sing a cheerful song

Till Thou inspire my tongue.

My spirit homeward turns,

And fain would thither flee:

My heart, O Zion! Droops and yearns,

When I remember thee.

To Thee, to Thee, I press

A dark and toilsome road,

When shall I pass the wilderness,

And reach the saints abroad?

God of my life be near!

On Thee my hopes I cast:

Oh guide me through the desert drear,

And bring me home at last.

 

THE TRANSFER OF SINS TO CHRIST

If there be a doctrine of the Gospel with which we should desire to be acquainted, a doctrine on which our salvation and comfort depend, it is that of the translation of our sins to Christ.  If we would know Christ, and the fellowship of His sufferings;  if we would look on Him whom we have pierced, and mourn;  if we would die unto sin, and bring forth fruit unto God, we must have the gift of the blessed Spirit ot reveal to us this great mystery, that the Father hath laid on Christ the iniquity of us all.  Why did the holy Redeemer go mourning to the grave:  Why did divine justice pursue Him?  Only because He bare the sins of many.  From this fountain the streams of free salvation flow:  we die unto sin, we live unto righteousness, only because His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.  Oh mysterious transfer!  Oh wondrous secret!  Which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor ever entered into the heart of man to conceive, but which Thou, O God, wilt reveal to Thine elect by the Spirit!                                              WILLIAM RUSHTON, 1832

 

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

“Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid:  yea, we establish the law,” Romans 4:31

What do we know about God’s law, according to what God Himself has revealed?

1. It reveals the holy character of God, His absolute righteousness that must be perfectly satisfied in order for Him to be just and justify- Romans 7:12.
2. It condemns even the slightest disobedience in thought, word, and deed, judging not only actions but motives- James 2:10.
3. It comprises not just the 10 commandments, but the whole of God’s revealed Word as God’s standard of righteousness- Psalm 119:142.
4. It had to be fulfilled by Christ, both in precept and penalty, in order for God to declare every sinner justified for whom Christ died- Romans 3:25-27.

The message of the Gospel is not that God has set aside His law in order to forgive sinners, somehow lowering His standard.  He could not do that and still be God.  The message of the Gospel is not opposed to the Law, but rather reveals how God is just in justifying every sinner He chose to save, through the obedience of the Lord Jesus.  Paul declares in the inspired Word that we do not make void the law through faith (the Gospel), we establish it. How? By showing how the sin of God’s elect was put to Christ’s account, for which He suffered and died, and how in one simultaneous act God put to the legal account of every one of God’s elect, the merits of Christ’s perfect obedience, which is their justification before God.  It is not by personal faith that we become righteous, but by Christ and His shed blood- faith’s object!

            Before Christ’s full satisfaction of the law, all of the elect were imprisoned under its demands, because of Adam’s disobedience- Galatians 3:22. Until Christ came, the Lord’s elect in the Old Testament hoped in the righteousness yet to be established for them by Christ, and not in their own obedience to the law.  Now that Christ has come, the Gospel declares ALL of God’s elect to be freely redeemed and justified by the blood of Christ, in one simultaneous and exclusive act,.  Hebrews 10:14- “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

What good news this is for needy, Spirit-wrought repentant sinners!!

KEN WIMER

 

THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain  of their salvation perfect through sufferings”  Hebrews 2:10 

Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, has fought our battles, defeated our foes, settled our peace, and secured our eternal rest.  Oh what a mercy it is for us to know that He whom we worship and adore, and before whose feet we bow in sacred awe and profound reverence, is Sovereign and Ruler over all things.  In the accomplishment of redemption and the perfecting of that righteousness without which we have no standing before God, He abolished death, and rendered ineffectual all Satan’s designs against us. 

                “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11).  All things serve Him, Ephesians 1:20-23. The Father “raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”

                The Lord Jesus Christ is Ruler over ALL things for me, and over all things in me.  Grace reigns in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord through righteousness unto eternal life (Romans 5:21).  Christ reigns, by His grace in His saints, over all their sins, sorrows, sufferings, necessities, and wants; over all their privations and perplexities; over all their disappointments and distresses; over all their evil as well as over all their good; over the designs of the devil against them, and over the movements of the Holy Ghost in them;  over the influences of the world which annoy them, and over the gracious influences which He causes to be wrought in the midst of them for their good and for His glory.  What a mercy to possess such a Christ as this!

THOMAS BRADBURY, 1878