SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

MARCH 4, 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.

CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: #268- ‘How Firm a Foundation’)

reat Father of glory, how rich is Thy grace!

What wonderful love is displayed in Thy face!

In Jesus Thy image with brightness we view,

And hope to be formed in that likeness anew.

By favor adopted, Thy sons we appear,

And led by Thy Spirit, we boldly draw near;

In Jesus beloved, and washed in His blood,

With hope we adore at the footstool of God.

The man who is blessed with the hope of the cross,

Is freed from the bondage of guilt and the curse;

The blood of The Surety by faith he reviews,

While hope in that fountain his spirit renews.

Arrayed in obedience, all wrought by the Lamb,

By Christ our Jehovah, the ancient I AM;

With boldness we journey, as Christ leads us on,

And trust soon in glory to praise God’s dear Son.

DON’T LOOK INWARD FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

                                                                                        “…certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, ” Luke 18:9 

any look to INTERNAL faith for ultimate justification, however, we must look totally EXTERNAL to The Faith (Christ Himself and His obedience unto death imputed at His cross exclusively).  They look to INTERNAL righteousness for their standing before God. Our righteousness is a total EXTERNAL one, placed upon us.  They legitimize this internal faith and righteousness as gifts and workings of the Spirit.  But anyway that they may try to justify it, it is a SELF-righteousness, because only partial.  There is something in all men that simply wants to have a part in his salvation.  This is the root sin of all men that must be repented of. 

What a powerful and miraculous work of the Spirit to make a man to totally lay down any hope in himself of participating in the slightest degree in his own soul’s salvation. The very moment a man looks inward he CEASES to look to Christ alone for salvation. Further, he robs Christ of the glory that is exclusively reserved to HIM.  As I reflect each day, my sins rush in upon my thoughts.   So I pray as the publican, ‘Lord be propitious unto me.’  Let your Propitiation be for me (Rom 3:25). All I can do is look exclusively outside myself to Christ and hope as Paul did at the last to be found in Him and in His righteousness (Phil 3:9).  The fact that I can find no sign of an internal righteous “nature” is a constant reminder to force me to look outside of self to Christ alone.  Let others look to their internal “righteousness,” but I will look to the Lord Our Righteousness.                                STEVE BALOGA- Knoxville, TN

‘MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE’

“’My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me,” John 10:27

here is much emphasis today on how much the sinner must know of Christ as a condition of salvation.  And yet, the more I learn of Him, the more I realize how little I know of Him, and need to learn again.  While some may consider this groping in darkness, I find much comfort, having been taught that as a sheep, it is not so much HOW MUCH I know of Him, but rather that I am KNOWN OF HIM.

                The reality is that ALL mercies and ALL graces both now and in eternity, flow from the Lord Jesus’ knowledge of His sheep, and His acting on their behalf as their Shepherd-Representative.  To all such, salvation is certain.  The testimony of God the Father Himself is that ‘BY HIS KNOWLEDGE shall my righteous servant justify many; for HE shall bear their iniquities,’ Isaiah 53:11.  That is the testimony also of the Son in John 10:27, ‘I know them.’ The clear meaning of the Scripture is that the sheep hear His voice BECAUSE He knows them.  The sheep follow Him, because He knows them and draws them, John 6:44.

                Every sheep is everlastingly beloved of the Father, chosen in Christ from eternity, and given to Him from eternity, John 10:29.  As their Surety, He came into the world and redeemed them to God by His own shedding of blood unto death, John 10:15. God’s law and justice could demand no less.  Therefore, the Lord calls them, ‘MY SHEEP.’  They are His by the gift of election, but even more particularly by His act of redemption.  He has a special knowledge of those for whom He died not only because He has known them as God from eternity, but He knows them as sinners, having been numbered among them as transgressors, and born their sin away in His obedience unto death.  He was tempted in all things (speaking of His suffering unto death for them), YET WITHOUT SIN, Hebrews 4:15.

                Talk of Christ having died for some who yet end up in hell is foolish. Did He shed His blood for uncertainty?  However, just as unwise are those who talk of Christ having died for His sheep, and yet, they say that those sheep remain unjustified until they believe.  Did Christ shed His blood, paying the debt to law and justice by His obedience unto death, only to have the effect delayed?  Surely not!  The Scripture says, ‘Who was delivered for (because of) our offences, and was raised again for (because of) our justification,’ Romans 4:25.  When God raised Christ from the dead, it was because the justification of God’s sheep was complete.  Therefore, Christ knows them, having died for them and having received God the Father’s approbation for them because of His great work completed.  Being taught of the Spirit, they hear Him calling them through the Gospel, and they follow Him as redeemed, forgiven and justified forever by His blood.  It is not their following Him that is their forgiveness or justification.  Rather, because of their forgiveness and justification, when He laid down His life for them, they do hear and follow Him.                                                                                                                                                           KEN WIMER

HE MADE AN END OF SIN

                                                “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,”

2 Corinthians 5:21 

hrist died to put an end to the guilt and condemnation of sin as the Substitute for His people. He experienced sin’s legal penalty but not its power in His person. He could die for sin in no other way. Dying with Him as their representative, His elect died to the same thing: sin’s guilt, condemnation, and penalty. He died once for all- (Heb 7:27; 9:12, 26, 28; 10:10, 12, 14, 1 Pet 3:18). His death was conditioned on the penalty being real; although neither the sin nor the penalty were His own (Isaiah 53; Matthew 20:28).  He redeemed others not Himself.  He completed the work (John 17:4), died to sin, suffered the penalty of it, and ceased to bear it. If forgiveness is still only potential, and not actual, for Christ’s own, He must yet be bearing sin. That is impossible!  He came the first time to bear sin, and when He appears the second time sin will have no claims upon Him (Heb 9:28).

DAVID SIMPSON- Powell, TN

NO LOWER CHARMS

                                                “He is altogether lovely, This is my beloved, and this is my friend,” Song of Songs 5:16

aving once beheld the beauty of Jesus---no lower charms can satisfy.  No other object can fill the vacuum in our soul.  Oh “Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!” Song 8:14                              RUTH BRYAN