SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE - SCRIPTURE ALONE - GRACE ALONE
January 6, 2008
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 80 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘Rejoice Ye Saints, Rejoice’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Ephesians 2 (David)
Hymn: # 235- ‘Pass Me Not’
Message: THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT- Revelation 20:11-15
Hymn: #272- ‘The Solid Rock’
Hymn: # 294-‘Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us’
Scripture Reading: Job 4 (Jim)
Hymn: # 480-‘In Tenderness He Sought Me’
Message: STEPS AND STOPS ORDERED OF THE LORD- Deut. 2:26-37
Hymn: # 236-‘Amazing Grace’
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
Audio Messages Available On-Line; Updated weekly
Radio Broadcast: 9:00 AM (CST) Sunday on KWKH;
AM Radio 1130, Shreveport, LA area or LIVE streaming at http://www.kwkhonline.com/common/gap_streamer.php
CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: #143- ‘Rejoice-the Lord is King!’)
1- Rejoice, ye saints, rejoice,
In Christ, your glorious Head;
With heart, and soul, and voice,
His matchless honors spread:
Exalt His love, proclaim His name,
And sweetly sing the Lamb once slain.
2- The blood and righteousness
Of the incarnate Word;
The wisdom, truth, and grace,
Of your exalted Lord,
Unite, with one immortal voice,
To bid the saints of God rejoice.
3-God’s promise and His oath,
And covenant of grace,
Abide secure enough,
To all the chosen race;
And with a solemn, heavenly voice
Inspire believers to rejoice.
4-The whole of Deity.
With all His grace contains,
In sweetest harmony
A solemn joy proclaims
The Father, Word, and Spirit’s voice
Unite to bid the saints rejoice.
SINNERS DECLARED JUST BY CHRIST ALONE
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.”
Isaiah 53:11
WHAT ELECT SINNERS MUST BELIEVE
When I was in false religion, I always assumed it was God’s intention or purpose to save all men and women without exception. I was wrongly taught that Christ came, lived, died, and rose again in order for God to save those who “would open their heart’s door”, allowing Him to take up residence in their hearts. Little did I know that such teaching only opened the door for self-righteous, lost, sinners to glory in their work of faith, instead of giving God the glory and honor, due only unto Him for saving sinners by His grace. His grace is His unmerited favor based on perfect satisfaction to God’s law and justice by His Son, Jesus Christ.
Lost sinners have a tendency to put a lot of stock in their faith, i.e., their belief. However, the Scriptures make it quite clear how inadequate man’s faith really is: “Lord I believe, HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF.”(Mk.2:24) At our best state, even those justified by Christ are forced to confess that if salvation were conditioned on their faith at anytime, they would be forever lost-“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”(Rom.7:24) I recently have seen all these vehicles running around with one word pasted on the back window: ‘B E L I E V E.’ Maybe you have one of them on your car. Tell me, ‘What good does this one word do for some sinner in a state of lostness, one who by nature is at enmity (bitter hatred) against God?’ “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”(Rom.8:7) James put it like this: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: THE DEVILS ALSO BELIEVE, and tremble.”(James 2:19) It’s not enough to flippantly throw around words like “believe”, or “accept Jesus as your personal savior”, because if “the devils also believe, AND TREMBLE”, what good will belief (faith) do a sinner who is “dead in trespasses and sin”?
Every justified sinner who has been regenerated and converted, brought to a knowledge of what was actually obtained for them in their representative man, the Lord Jesus Christ, knows that we do call on sinners to believe-“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ…,”(Acts 16:31) “And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ….”(I Jn.3:23) If you’ll notice, both these passages say “believe ON” Christ, not “believe in” Christ. We call on God’s elect everywhere to rest (rely) ON Christ’s righteousness ALONE as their only hope of salvation-“And this is the record, that God HATH GIVEN (lit., already legally given to us by imputation and representation) to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”(I Jn.5:11) I’m not calling on you to believe in order to obtain or gain salvation. I’m calling on you to rest in the FACT that Christ has redeemed and justified His elect by His perfect obedience and bloody sacrifice at Calvary as the sin-bearer. If you do rely on Him and what He has accomplished, it evidences that you are ONE OF GOD’S ELECT.
RICHARD WARMACK, Grace Baptist, Ruston, LA
IMPUTATION
“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
The Bible teaches a salvation that is totally outside of the sinner and conditioned entirely upon the work of a Substitute- the Lord Jesus Christ. There are two things that God has done in time, to save those that He chose in Christ from before time.
1. The imputation of their sin to the Substitute- The Lord Jesus was sinless in His person, but God made him to be sin by putting to His account the sins of His elect (those He chose out from all of fallen humanity), Isaiah 53:10. The sins of all his people were transferred on him. In punishing Him, God was effectively punishing them. He so identified with their persons, that he actually answered their charges for them with His own life. WHAT LOVE!
2. The imputation of the Substitute’s righteousness to them- The Lord Jesus not only laid down His life in payment for their sin, but lived an absolutely perfect life in thought, word, and deed to answer the demands of God’s righteousness for His people. All of the living, doing, and dying of Christ was simultaneously charged to the account of every one of the elect of God at one time- upon completion of His work at the cross. If the Father said, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” and He did, then the same must be applied to those whose names the Lord Jesus bore on His High Priestly soul. They were given Him from before the world’s foundation, and carried in Him to the cross, where God has since then graciously declare just and justified everyone for whom Christ died.
If you are Christ’s, He is your Surety for forgiveness of sins and for righteousness. His people are not only FORGIVEN but RIGHTEOUS in, by, and through Him alone! How grateful the Lord’s people are for the truth of IMPUTATION.
KEN WIMER