2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

NOVEMBER 19, 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: “Doxology”)- Words by John Kent

eace by His cross has Jesus made;

The church’s everlasting Head

O’er hell and sin has victr’y won,

And, with a shout, to glory gone.

When o’er thy head the billows roll

And shades of sin obscure thy soul;

When thou canst no deliverance see,

Yet still the Man thy Peace shall be.

In tribulation’s thorny maze,

Or on the mount of sovereign grace,

Or in the fire, or through the sea,

This glorious Man thy Peace shall be.

Yea, when thy eye of faith is dim,

Rest thou on Jesus, sink or swim,

And at His footstool bow the knee,

For Israel’s God thy Peace shall be.

CHILDREN OF THE KING

hen John had a vision of the enthroned King, about sixty years after His ascension, such was the overpowering glory of Christ, as the sun when it shineth in its strength, that when he saw Him he fell at His feet as dead, till Christ laid His hand on him and said, “Fear not; I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead;  and behold, I am alive for evermore,” Revelation 1:17,18.  When He appeared to Saul in the way to Damascus, it was in glory above the glory of the sun, which overpowered him also, and laid him as one dead upon the ground.

                Oh that you did but know what a glorious Lord you worship and serve, which makes the very place of His feet glorious wherever He comes.  Surely He “is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints, and to be had in reverence of all that are round about Him.”  There is indeed a boldness or liberty of speech allowed to the saints, Ephesians 3:12, but no rudeness or irreverence.  We may indeed come, as the children of a King coming to their father, who is both their awful Sovereign and tender Father, which double relation causes a due mixture of love and reverence in their hearts when they come before Him.                                             JOHN FLAVEL

APPOINTED UNTO DEATH

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,” Hebrews 9:27, 28

o often we have quoted Hebrews 9:27 in connection with warnings to sinners of the inevitability of death and judgment to follow for those who die in their sins, without giving any consideration to the context. Notice how the verse begins with “and,” a conjunction. It ties the statement of ‘appointed unto death’ to the death of the Lord Jesus, as does the verse following.

            The meaning then is clear. The reason for speaking of death appointed is not so much to explain why men as sinners die, but why Christ the sinless one had to die.  Even as it was decreed (appointed) by God that men die and stand in judgment by virtue of Adam’s sin, so it was necessary that the Lord Jesus Christ come and bear the sins of many, and die in their stead for judgment.  God is a just God and Savior, and in order to save a people unto Himself could do nothing less than satisfy His justice on their behalf by the very death of His Son.  The apostle Paul expressed it in Romans 8:32- “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” This is a mercy ordained of God for sinners for whom Christ died.  God could not save them in any other way than by the same appointed death which their sin had incurred.

            Christ died once, he will die no more.  He bore the sin of many once, and when that truth is revealed in the heart of the redeemed, it is a comfort and peace to their souls.  Although we must yet face physical death, our good hope is that because of Christ’s death, our sin has been forever put away, and being justified by His blood, we no longer face any judgment to come, because that judgment was already rendered at the cross.  Although Christ did not bear everyone’s sins, still, there are many for whom He did lay down His life.  Not all men have faith, and will die in their unbelief, thereby proving that they were not justified, pardoned or saved by His obedience unto death.  And yet, all for whom He died are made to know in time, by the revelation of the Spirit of God, how great a work of salvation Christ accomplished on their behalf.  He bore their sin completely away and made an entire satisfaction for them. God the Father imputed to Him all their sins and He voluntarily took them upon Himself. That’s where justice found them, and demanded satisfaction of Him for them, and He fulfilled and finished it completely.                          

KEN WIMER  

GOD’S PROMISE FULFILLED

n the resurrection of Christ, all the redeemed were declared justified.  They died and rose in Him, and none can now lay anything to their charge.  If it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto.  Now, to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.  Was not, then, the veracity of God pledged for the fulfillment of the promises to all the seed? Romans 4:16, Titus 1:2.  God was not left “free of obligation.”  He was bound by the perfection of His character.  It is impossible for God to lie.  He cannot but fulfill His promise, for He is the God of truth.  But are the heirs of promise less indebted to His grace?

                A man is bound by his promise.  Circumstances may occur which he did not foresee, and which, had he been aware of, he would not have made the engagement.  But, if he be a man of truth, he will keep it, notwithstanding.  Now, God condescended to pledge both His promise and His oath to the Son of His love, and in Him, to all His people.  Nothing has happened, or could happen, of which He had not the most perfect foreknowledge, and over which He did not possess the most absolute control.  Shall it be considered an impeachment of His grace that He is laid under an obligation, both by truth and justice, to bestow upon the redeemed eternal life?  The great Surety of the covenant fulfilled all righteousness, yielded to the law all the obedience it required, endured its curse, and, consequently, all the children of the covenant must inherit the blessing.

                Christ is their Advocat with the Father.  He pleads for sinners, yet is He Jesus Christ the Righteous, for His intercession is founded on the perfection of His offering.  He disclaims praying for the world, declaring He never knew them.  But He knows His sheep.  He gives them eternal life.  They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of His hand.  And that they may have strong consolation, He teaches them equally to rest on the mercy, truth, and justice of God.            J. A. HALDANE- 1768-1851