SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE
JULY 29, 2007
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 57 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘Precious Jesus! Friend of Sinners’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: I Corinthians 14 (David)
Hymn:
# 468 - ‘I Will Sing the Wondrous Story’
Message: THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT- Acts
2
Hymn: # 309- ‘Beneath the Cross of Jesus’
THE LORD’S TABLE
Closing Hymn:
#474- ‘Only a Sinner’
FELLOWSHIP MEAL – 12:30PM
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 messages 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: ‘#291- ‘’Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah’)
|
P |
recious Jesus! Friend of Sinners;
We, as such, to Thee draw near;
Let Thy Spirit now dwell in us,
And with love our souls inspire;
Fill, O fill us, Fill O fill us
With that love which casts out fear. (Repeat)
Matchless Savior! Let us view Thee
As the Lord our Righteousness;
Cause each soul to cleave unto Thee,
Come, and with Thy presence bless.
Dear Immanuel, dear Immanuel,
Feast us with Thy sovereign grace. (Repeat)
Open now Thy precious treasure:
Let the blessings freely flow;
Give to each a gracious measure
Of Thy glory here below;
Loving Bridegroom, loving Bridegroom,
‘Tis Thyself we want to know (Repeat)
THE PLACE OF JUSTIFICATION
|
S |
ome place justification to be only in the conscience. But we place it only in Christ where it is, and to Whom it belongs. Justification consists in taking away of sin. None but Christ can do that. Justification and acceptation are one. For without justification there is no acceptation. And seeing we are accepted in Christ, we are justified in Him. If our justification be a spiritual blessing, (as it is) then it is in Christ where all spiritual blessings are, "Blessed be God, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ," Eph. 1:3. Where our redemption and righteousness are, there is our justification. Righteousness and justification are one. This we have not in our selves but in Christ, "who is made unto us of God, wisdom and righteousness," 1 Cor. 1:30. "In whom we have redemption," Col. 1:14. Our justification is a part of our completeness. Therefore, where we are complete there we are justified. But we are not complete in our selves, but in Him Col. 2:10. If all things on which depends our happiness were accomplished, John 19:28, then was our justification also. For without that no man could be saved.
SAMUEL RICHARDSON- 1645
THEIR SINS REMEMBERED NO MORE
“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:17
|
A |
n acquaintance, who is a grandparent, has a rule that when the grandchildren are over for the day, ‘What happens there stays there.’ When the parents come to pick up the children at the end of the day, they make sure that there are no unresolved issues of discipline and that they go home knowing they are loved. If the parents ask, ‘How were they,’ the answer is always, ‘Just perfect!’ That could be said because, if they did something wrong, they were spanked, and once punished, the wrongdoing is remembered no more, and it will not be brought up again for the parents to scold or discipline them a second time.
When Christ died on the cross, the sins of God’s children were ALL discharged to Him by imputation. In other words, the guilt that they deserved was charged to our Lord who was the sinless, undefiled, just Savior and Substitute. As gracious as that is, an even more amazing transaction took place there at Calvary. God also charged or imputed the merits of Christ’s obedience to them, whereby their sins were not only forgiven, but they were declared legally righteous (just or acquitted) by God Himself.
When the Spirit of God graciously works repentance in the heart of God’s children, He is not hanging their sin over them and threatening them with it. Rather, He causes them to know that while they are sinners deserving of eternal punishment and wrath, as those who are children of wrath, yet, He tenderly draws their hearts to Christ, causing them to see Him who paid the great price for their eternal salvation and deliverance, and that God remembers their sins and iniquities no more. ‘Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin,’ Hebrews 10:18. In other words, where sin has been put away (literally ‘sent away’), there is no more need to require a second condition in order to deal with it. One’s believing is not the condition or cause of God putting away sin, but the result of Christ having put it away, Romans 4; 25, 5; 1.
Yes, the Lord does correct or chasten His children BY their sins. What loving parent would not make their children to know and feel the consequences of their sin? Proverbs 3:12-‘ For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’ And yet, He never PUNISHES any of His children FOR their sins, nor does He in eternal wrath deal with them as the rest of mankind, because Christ bore it away, having blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against them, having taken it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, Col. 2:14. When Satan, our conscience, or ill intended men would endeavor to bring up our sin again and again to us, God’s gracious word is, ‘their sins I will remember no more.’ What happened at the cross stays at the cross! Either Christ put it away or He didn’t. Either God has forever justified His children, or He hasn’t. If He hasn’t, based on Christ’s death alone, then there is no hope for any sinner! KEN WIMER
THE CHURCH
“And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”
Matthew 16:18
|
C |
hrist made a bold statement to His disciples: ‘I will build my church’ (Matt 16:18). The term ‘church’ means called out ones. It was used of an assembly or congregation. The church is not an organization or a denomination. The church is a baptized body of believers.
In veiled language, the Lord spoke often of His church. She was the prepared ground in the parable of the sower and the seed (Matt 13:3-9). She was the treasure hid in the field and the pearl of great price (13:44-46). His declaration to Peter in Matthew 16:18 tells us what His mission was. He left heaven to redeem and deliver a people from their charges of sin, and He did it. He promised to assemble them together and preach the gospel to them, and that He is doing today. He promised to deliver them BY THE GOSPEL and to deliver them TO THE GOSPEL, which is the Spirit’s work to do regarding His Church in full accord with what Christ accomplished at Calvary.
DAVID SIMPSON- Providence Church, Powell TN
CHRIST’S LOVE FOR HIS BRETHREN
|
H |
owever strong the feeling of love and affection might have been that Joseph had towards his brethren, it was not one ten thousandth part so strong as Christ, our spiritual Joseph, has towards his people. Bless his precious name, he has made provision for them and treasured it up in himself. He brings the poor soul to his blessed feet, to fall down and supplicate for mercy. It is the hungry that are filled with good things, while the rich are sent empty away. And when the sinner is brought to feel his spiritual destitution, wretchedness, guilt and misery; when he finds that the world cannot afford him any help, and that he cannot help himself; when all creature refuge fails him; when all the streams of earthly comfort dry up, and they are proved to be broken cisterns that can hold no water, then it is that he comes and falls prostrate before the Lord at his blessed feet. The Lord draws him to himself, and says, "All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes" – in a destitute, lost, ruined and undone condition – "I will never cast out." JOHN KERSHAW-1848