SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE
JULY 8, 2007
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 54 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘Sovereign Grace o’er Sin Abounding’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: I Corinthians 11 (David)
Hymn:
# 49- ‘Our Great Savior’
Message: Vials of Wrath Poured Out-
Revelation 16:8-21
Hymn:
# 36- ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’
AFTERNOON WORSHIP – 12:30PM
Hymn: #1- ‘O Worship the King’
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 13 (Jim)
Hymn: #359- ‘My Faith Looks Up to Thee’
Message: The Danger of Compromise- Numbers 32
Hymn: # 410- ‘The Banner of the Cross’
WEDNESDAY
7:00 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 lmessages now available on-line.
RADIO BROADCASTS: 9:00 AM (CST)Sunday on KWKH, 1130 AM, Shreveport, LA or live streaming at http://www.am1130thefan.com/pages/listen_live.html
CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: # 35- ‘Praise My Soul The King of Heaven’)
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overeign grace o’er sin abounding!
Ransomed souls, the tidings swell;
‘Tis a deep that knows no sounding;
Who its breadth or length can tell!
[On its glories, Let my soul for ever dwell]. (Repeat)
What from Christ that soul can sever,
Bound by everlasting bands?
Once in Him, in Him for ever;
Thus th’eternal covenant stands.
[None shall pluck thee,
From the Strength of Israel’s hands]. (Repeat)
On such love, my soul, still ponder,
Love so great, so rich, so free;
Say, whilst lost in holy wonder,
[Why, O Lord, such love to me!
Hallelujah! Grace shall reign eternally]. (Repeat)
WE SHALL BE CHANGED- 2 Corinthians 15:41
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t is truly a comfort for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to know that death is not the end. After death comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27), but we have nothing to fear at judgment. We have already been judged in Christ and found not guilty. Christ justified us on the cross by His blood and righteousness. We know that death is just the sowing of a seed, our corruptible physical bodies which will be raised as incorruptible spiritual bodies. We know this is so for three reasons:
(1) Christ our Savior is risen from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-22). His resurrection from the dead insures our resurrection to be made like Him.
(2) The Word of God tells us so (1 Cor. 15:50-53). This is no pipe-dream or wishful thought. It is the hope and certainty for all who know and love Christ.
(3) We have already experienced a foretaste of the glory of this great change in our new birth- our spiritual resurrection from the dead (Ephesians 1:16-20). The same power of God that raised Christ from the dead has raised us from the dead already in our new birth and will raise us from dead in glory.
All this comforts our hearts and assures us that ‘we shall all be changed,’ and thank God for His grace and power to change us in glory to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. BILL PARKER- Ashland, KY
CHRIST FORMED IN YOU
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” Galatians 4:19
In spite of the grave concerns that the apostle Paul had for some in the churches of Galatia turning away from the Gospel, he nonetheless uses tender language in writing to them (‘My little children’), in the hope that they were truly the Lord’s, being deceived but for a moment, but prayerfully would manifest themselves as true children of God in repentance. Unless proven otherwise, we should hold out the same hope for many, whom we love, and yet, for the moment, are being deceived under a mixed and confused message of a two-fold ‘righteousness,’- imputed and imparted, as necessary to be just with God. I know of what I speak, for I also was of their number at one time, until the Lord graciously opened my eyes to the truth that the only righteousness that God has required, accepted and imputed to the spiritual account of every one of His elect, was that accomplished and charged to them at the cross- Romans 3:24.
All the while professing to hold to the doctrine of imputed righteousness, some decry it as insufficient to make one fit for heaven, and preach up another form of righteousness, changing the very definition of it from a judicial declaring of one righteous, to a personal perfection, or sinless nature that must be in you in order to make it complete. It is boldly being stated that, ‘the blood is not enough.’ The new birth is described as a sinless, perfect nature, that of Christ himself, created in you, and that without it, you are lost! They use as a proof text one like this that Paul wrote to the Galatians -‘Christ formed in you.’ My question is, ‘Can Christ’s divine nature be created, or replicated?’ Think about it!
It is clear, that Paul is not even referring here to regeneration. He is writing to ones that he already considers as children born of God. If they already had a perfect sinless nature created in them, what would be the reason for Paul to write here of the need of Christ being formed in them? No! ‘Christ formed in you’ means that there is that initial and ongoing revelation of Him formed in the heart by His Spirit, through the Gospel, Col. 3:16. As the Spirit continues to reveal Him, there is that subsequent growth in grace and the knowledge of the Lord in faith, love, and hope, and His work accomplished for the sinner, 2 Peter 3:18. With Christ so formed in you, by the Spirit’s revelation of His person and work declared in the Word, and revealed to your heart, you will not be deterred by a message of conditions and requirements, mixed with ‘grace,’ but see Christ ALONE as all your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, (1 Corinthians 1:30).
May truth of Christ’s person and work accomplished at Calvary as our only righteousness continue to be so formed in our hearts by His grace- Romans 6:17! KEN WIMER
CHRIST’S LAMB WORK
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hrist’s death as a sacrifice is replete with implications. Since the Old Testament sacrificial system is the obvious background to the Lamb work of Christ as a sacrifice, the Gospel material presupposes, first, the sinless perfection of Christ inasmuch as any sacrifice acceptable to God had to be without blemish (Exodus 12:5; 1 Peter 1:19). Second, imputation or transfer of the sinner’s sin to Christ on the analogy of the Levitical legislation (Leviticus 1:14; 3:2,8,13; 4:4, 14,15, 19,33; 16:21-22; Numbers 8:12). See also Isaiah 53:4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12. Third, the resultant substitution of Christ in the stead and place of (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45), because of (1 Corinthians 8:11; 2 Corinthians 8:9), for (Matthew 26:28; Romans 8:3; I Peter 3:18), and in behalf of (Mark 14:24; Luke 22:19,20; John 6:51; 10:11,15; Romans 5:6,8; 8:32; 14:15; 1 Corinthians 11:24; 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; Galatians 1:4; 2:20; 3:31; Ephesians 5:2,25; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 2:9; 10:12; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:18; 1 John 3:16 those sinners whose sins had been imputed to him. Fourth, the expiation, or cancellation of their imputed sins that necessarily ensued.
These four implications, taken together, justify the conclusion that Christ’s death PROCURED the judicial removal or expiation of the sins of those for whom He died. They also mean, because of the principle of substitution necessarily implicit within the Scriptural representation of His death as that of sacrifice, that everything else that Christ did in and by His Lamb work- turning away God’s wrath (propitiation), removing His hostility (reconciliation), delivering from the law’s condemnation and freeing from guilt and the power of sin (redemption) has necessarily been fully accomplished for those whose sins He bore.
SELECTED