SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118 

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE 

APRIL 15, 2007 

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.

 

Dear Lord, forbid that we should boast,
Save in the cross of Christ,
Here may we confidently trust,
And solemnly rejoice.

A triune God is here displayed
In all His glorious hue;
Here sinners may approach and live,
Behold and love Him too.

Here we have power to plead with God,
And call the Lord our own;
With pleasure view our Father sit
Upon a smiling throne.

Lose sight of Jesus and His cross,
And soon we fall a prey;
Our lust and pride, by power or craft,
Will carry us away.

But when, by faith, the cross we view,
Such is its mighty power,
Though earth and hell unite with sin,
We conquer and adore.

 CHRIST THE ROSE OF SHARON

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys,” Song of Sol. 2:1

The I AM said that He was and is the Rose of Sharon.  The rose, as we know the flower, is surrounded by thorns.  It has a small beginning as a tiny bud.  Christ was born as a baby.  He was not a full grown man as Adam was.  From the outside, all rose buds look alike. So with Christ, from the outside there was no beauty about Him that any would desire.  All the beauty of all the petals inside those buds is there, and as it opens up from the inside out, that beauty is manifested.  To the world, it is simply an outward beauty to behold, but to those that are His, HE is precious.

                Every petal inside the rose, even in the bud, is connected to and is coming from the center, just as all the attributes of Christ radiate from Him.  All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him.  All the attributes of God are manifested in Christ to the world of His people and are pictured in the rose bud.  There is no other flower exactly like the rose as there is no equal to Christ Himself and what He means to the soul that has found Him as Refuge.                                                                                                                                                                  ED HALE, June 13, 1982

 

SAY TO THE RIGHTEOUS-“IT IS WELL”

“Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him,” Isaiah 3:10

Have you ever had someone reason with you that if you believe that the salvation of God was purposed and accomplished for the elect sinner before they even see it or believe it, that somehow you will make them indifferent by preaching it?  True, we don’t declare to just anyone that their salvation has been accomplished, but we do declare to the righteous that ALL IS WELL!

                Who are the righteous?  They are those whom God the Father has chosen from eternity, and for whom the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled all righteousness for them by His obedient life and sacrificial death in their place.  They are righteous by virtue of His finished work accomplished and imputed to their account.  They are those for whom Christ was made sin (the whole debt of their sin placed on Him), and by whom they have been declared righteous before God, through His perfect work completed on their behalf, 2 Corinthians 5:21.  It is to all such that the Spirit of God directs God’s preachers to declare, ‘It shall be well.’                It is not always well in our prosperity.  In this life, we are going to know affliction, suffering, and temptation just as others. Nonetheless, we know that even in such states that God ordains for our humbling and learning, it shall be well.  God’s ‘shalls’ are always the comfort and stay of His elect, blood-bought, called out ones.  ‘The LORD is my Shepherd, I SHALL not want,’ Psalm 23:1ff.  I shall not lack for rest, because He makes me to lie down in green pastures, v. 2.  I shall not lack for peace because He leads me beside the still waters, v.2.  I shall not lack for grace because He restores my soul, v. 3.  I shall not lack for righteousness, because He leads me in the paths of righteousness (that imputed at Calvary to my account and revealed by His Spirit to my heart), v. 3.  I shall not lack for assurance and protection because although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with me, and His rod and staff they do comfort me, v.4. I shall not lack for His hand of blessing, even in the presence of my enemies, because I am His and He is mine, therefore, ‘Who shall lay any charge against God’s elect?’  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life, and I SHALL dwell in the house of the Lord (Christ) forever, v. 6.

                We do not look to any ‘power’ of positive thinking to determine that it is well.  We look to the Word of God.  It IS well with the righteous, not because of any works of righteousness of our own.  Self-righteousness is unrighteousness, Isaiah 64:6.  It is well because of Christ’s perfect work, having satisfied law and justice for sinful creatures such as we are.  It is not a matter of any of us reassuring ourselves that this is so, but believing GOD that because He is satisfied and He declares it is well, IT MUST BE SO for His righteous ones.  Don’t believe it because I say so, but because He says so, if indeed you are one for whom Christ died.                                                                              KEN WIMER

 

DEAD TO THE LAW
Believers are justified by God based on the righteousness of Christ. The law, therefore, is not our enemy. God's law is our enemy only when we seek to attain justification and life by our deeds of the law (Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:10). The law curses every sinner who seeks salvation or any part of it based on anything other than the merits of Christ. The same law pronounces all who come to God, "the Judge of all" (Heb. 12:23), pleading the righteousness of Christ alone, righteous and holy.

Believers are "dead to the law" in that the law no longer curses them nor pronounces them legally defiled because their debt has been paid by Christ. Does the law require anything from a believer? It requires every justified sinner to love God perfectly and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It requires obedience and godliness. But it requires none of these things for the purposes of saving ourselves, keeping ourselves saved, sanctifying ourselves or making ourselves holier or more qualified for Heaven, nor does it require obedience aimed at making our salvation sure, nor for earning any rewards from God. All of these things are already accomplished by the grace of God based on the righteousness of Christ.

Our works and efforts to obey the law are not good enough to accomplish any of these things. They are to be attributed to God's grace as the fruit and effect of Christ's righteousness alone (Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:9-10). As believers, we are to seek to obey the law out of gratitude and love for God who has freely given us all these great blessings based upon what Christ did for us. In this way God is glorified, Christ is exalted, and we are encouraged in obedience and godliness with no room for boasting (Phil. 3:3).                      BILL PARKER, Ashland, KY