SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE - SCRIPTURE ALONE - GRACE ALONE
June 8, 2008
OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 102 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘O Bless the Lord, my soul’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: 1 Timothy 2 (David)
Hymn: # 272- ‘The Solid Rock’
Message: Brother Jim Pennywell preaching
Hymn: # 235 - ‘Pass Me Not
WEDNESDAY
7:00 PM - Mid-week meeting
Nursery care available during all services; for ages 4 and younger.
CONTACT INFORMATION
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: #187 ‘Blest Be The Tie That Binds’)
1 – O Bless the Lord, my soul!
Let all within me join,
And aid my tongue to bless His name,
Whose favors are divine.
2 – O bless the Lord, my soul!
Nor let His mercies lie
Forgotten in unthankfulness,
And without praises die.
3 – ‘Tis He forgives Thy sins;
‘Tis He relieves Thy pain;
‘Tis He that heals Thy sicknesses,
And makes thee young again.
4- He crowns thy life with love,
When ransomed from the grave;
He that redeemed my soul from hell
Has sovereign power to save.
5- His wondrous works and ways
He made by Moses known;
But sent the world His truth and grace,
By His beloved Son.
THE FRIEND OF GOD
“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” James 2:23
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braham is cited more than any other one of God’s children as an example of how God justifies sinners. It is therefore vital for us to study those portions of Scripture with care so that we might have a true and biblical understanding of this all important subject.
First, we learn that the Scripture was fulfilled, which had been revealed to Abraham. At the time that God revealed it to Abraham, it had not yet been fulfilled, that He would give him a seed (Christ the Savior-Gal. 3:16).. The Scripture says that he died not having seen the promise. That promise was fulfilled millennia later in the coming of Christ, who worked out His righteousness and then accounted it to him, and all of God’s elect at one time, upon completion of Christ’s cross work, Hebrews 11:39, 40. “In the fullness of THE TIME, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law [all of the elect], that we might receive the adoption of sons,” Galatians 4:4.
Next we learn that Abraham believed God. Faith walks not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7. In Genesis 15:6, 7 the Lord spoke to Abraham saying, ‘look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them…’So shall thy seed be,’ AND HE BELIEVED IN THE LORD.’ It was not his believing that caused it to be so, but because God had promised, and revealed in him the faith of Christ, HE BELIEVED. That is always the order! First, the Spirit must effectually reveal Christ in the heart, and that revelation of the faith is what produces faith to believe, Romans 1:17.
Then we learn that ‘it’ was imputed unto him for righteousness. Here is where we must look to Romans 4:9 to understand what the ‘it’ means. There we learn that FAITH was reckoned to Abraham. It does not say righteousness was reckoned to him for righteousness, but FAITH. The righteousness that God revealed to Abraham had yet to be worked out by our Lord Jesus Christ- Daniel 9:24, Matthew 5:17. The phrase ‘for righteousness’ is actually UNTO righteousness, pointing forward to the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Abraham believed God for that righteousness yet to be fulfilled, and rested in that work of the Lord Jesus Christ to be accomplished on his behalf, and rejoiced to see that day fulfilled, Jn. 8:56.
Finally, we learn that Abraham was called ‘the friend of God.’ He was a friend by electing grace, loved with an everlasting love, and a chosen seed himself, for whom Christ should come and put away his sin and thereby justify him by His shed blood and righteousness. James 2:24 tells us that he was justified before men (not God) by His works of submission to the one righteousness of God to which he looked and rejoiced. His object of faith is the same as any today whom the Lord has taught by His Spirit and called out of darkness to Christ. Abraham looked to the event of the cross yet to be fulfilled, but ultimately NOW fulfilled according to the Scriptures. We look back to the same focal point ( the cross) knowing that it was there that God dealt once for all with ALL of the sins of His elect, and there accepted that righteousness completed once for all, and justified each one at the one time and place, Romans 5:9-11.
What truth can be more comforting than this? I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name, whose blood and righteousness alone have justified all of God’s children once for all, at Calvary, Hebrews 10:10.
KEN WIMER
JUSTIFICATION AND FAITH
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ustification is from God’s perspective alone. The only cause of God declaring His elect righteous was the obedience of Christ. Faith is the effect not the cause. God provides faith in order that His chosen and justified people would understand what was accomplished in Christ. In the same manner, they understand He is creator. The discussion of Hebrews 11 is faith as it pertains to salvation. The apostle said: ‘Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God’ (Heb 11:3). He was explaining how salvation is understood and therefore rested in. Creation is true whether it is believed or not. Election is true before it is believed. Justification is true before it is believed.
God’s work in Abraham illustrates the nature of true faith. The Lord said: “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). God gave him faith to see what would be accomplished in Christ. His faith appropriated nothing and was the condition for nothing. Justification delivered the elect from the penalty of sin; faith delivered them from the darkness of their sin. Before the advent of Christ He gave His elect to see what He would accomplish; in this age He gives His elect faith to see what He accomplished two thousand years ago. God’s elect are not justified by faith but by righteousness earned by Christ and imputed by God upon the completion of the obedience of Christ at the cross. DAVID SIMPSON- Powell, TN
LOST AND FOUND
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f a man says he knows he is saved, we may ask him whether or not he ever knew he was lost; and if not, how can he know that he is saved? He might as well say he had been cured when he had never felt sickness.
“Oh beware of trust ill founded;
‘Tis but fancied faith at most---
To be cured before you’re wounded,
To be saved before you’re lost.”
There must be a throwing down before there can be a building up; a plucking up (of the weeds) before a planting of good corn (Jeremiah 31:28). So before a man can know the value of the Redeemer he must know he is, or has been in bondage. JOHN GADSBY
Notes
Ø CLEANING SCHEDULE: DENTON (6/1/08-6/14/08)
Ø NURSERY: Tricia Pennywell
Ø BIRTHDAYS: C.J. Slaton-6/1, Mike Carter-6/3, Karen Armstrong-6/14, Tricia Pennywell, 6/28- Martha Pennywell
Ø ANNIVERSARY: Ken and Mary Wimer- 6/14