April 17, 2005

 

People are divided into two groups- the righteous and the unrighteous — and the righteous do the dividing.              copied

 

Daily Readings for the Week of 17-24

        Sunday            1 Kings 13-14                         Thursday                1 Kings 22-2 Kings 1

        Monday          1 Kings 15-17                         Friday             2 Kings 2-4

        Tuesday          1 Kings 18-19                         Saturday          2 Kings 5-7

        Wednesday     1 Kings 20-21                         Sunday            2 Kings 8-9

 

The Horrid Load of All My GuiltDon Fortner

(Tune: #46 — O For A Thousand Tongues — CM)

 

1.        The horrid load of all my guilt

Was on my Savior laid.

He loved me so that, for my life,

My sin His own He made!

 

2.        Forsaken, there, by God in death,

His heart was fixed on me!

His love embraced my guilty soul,

When nailed to the tree!

 

3.        For me He took the cup of wrath,

And drank damnation dry!

His love sustained His soul in death, —

That I might never die!

 

4.        Oh, love amazing! love beyond

The reach of human thought!

That love shall be my endless song,

Which my salvation bought!

 

Time Will TellPastor Tommy Robins

Time is really a hard thing to define. I suppose the simplest way, for me at least, is this - it is the beginning of all things and the end of all things. This I do know - God created it and someday there will be time no longer (Rev. 10:5-6). In the Bible “time” is mentioned in 563 scriptures, and in every one we see that God is in control of each event in “time”. In God’s workings in Providence He uses time to reveal many things. There have been many who professed to believe on Christ, love the gospel and were seemingly committed to Him and His work, but in time their profession proved to be a charade. On the other hand there have been those that persevered in faith unto eternal glory, such as Paul (2Tim. 4:7). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith.” I wonder what time will reveal concerning us? Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Pet. 1:10). Time will tell!

 

19

Jehovah-tsidkenu — The Lord Our Righteousness

Jeremiah 23:6 and 33:16

 

If you trust Christ, the God of Glory, who made his dear Son to be sin for you, has made you the very righteousness of God in him! And he would have you to reckon it so.

 

        Perhaps you think, “Bro. Don, I’d give anything to know that what you have said is true. But, surely we cannot carry those words, ‘made the righteousness of God in him,’ that far. Does the Word of God really warrant such full, confident assurance of absolute righteousness before God?”

 

        I’m glad you asked. I want you to see and see clearly that this is precisely the doctrine of Holy Scripture. — In Christ we are the righteousness of God. Our God has made us to become the righteousness of God in his Son. And that righteousness is a righteousness that can never be soiled, tainted, or corrupted in any way, much less lost. Let me show you.

 

        Read Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Jeremiah 33:15-16. In both places Jeremiah is describing for us this blessed gospel day in which the Branch of Righteousness has grown up unto David and his seed. That Branch is Christ. And that David is Christ our King. Our David is now seated on his throne in glory, having grown up righteousness, by bringing in everlasting righteousness. He now executes judgment and justice throughout the earth in the salvation of his people by the gospel. That is what the Lord our God declares in these two passages.

 

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jer. 23:5).

 

“In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land” (Jer. 33:15).

 

“In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:6).

 

“In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness” (Jer. 33:16).

 

        Every word in these four verses is translated with exact accuracy. This is what the Lord God tells us about the work of Christ in this day of grace in which we live. — Judah, the tribe of God’s choice, shall be saved. — Israel, God’s holy nation, his chosen generation, his royal priesthood, shall dwell safely. — And this is the name whereby that Righteous Branch our King shall be called, Jehovah-tsidkenu,The Lord Our Righteousness.” — And this is the name whereby every saved sinner shall be called — Jehovah-tsidkenu! The Lord Our Righteousness.”

20

Our Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Read 2nd Corinthians 5:21 again. — “For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The righteousness which the Lord God makes redeemed sinners to become, the righteousness by which we are accepted and with which we are made worthy of heavenly glory (Col. 1:12) is always called “the righteousness of God.” It is the work of Christ alone. It is that righteousness of which all men by nature are ignorant. And the proof of their ignorance is that they go about to establish their own righteousness (Rom. 9:33-10:4).

 

        According to the Book of God, it is the life obedience of Christ that constitutes that righteousness with which we are clothed and made to become before God. His death washed away our sins, and his life covers us from head to foot. His death was the sacrifice to God, and his life is the gift to man, by which all God’s elect have satisfied the demands of the law.

 

        Only in this way is it possible for the law to be honored and our souls accepted by God. Many who appear to be perfectly clear about the merits of Christ’s death do not seem to understand the merits of his life. Remember, from the moment that our blessed Savior broke his mother’s womb, until the hour that he ascended up on high, he was at work for his people. From the moment that he was seen in Mary’s arms, until the moment that he was in the arms of death, when “he bowed his head and gave up the ghost,” he was performing the work of our salvation.

 

        The Lord Jesus Christ completed the work of his obedience in his life, and said to his Father, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Then he finished the work of his atonement in his death. And, knowing that all things were accomplished, he cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Throughout his earthly life, the Savior was spinning the fabric of that royal, priestly garment in which we are robed, and in his death he dipped that garment in his blood. In his life he was gathering precious gold, and in his death he hammered it out to make for us a garment of wrought gold. We have as much to be thankful for in the life of Christ as we do in his death. In his life Christ Jesus rendered perfect obedience to the law as our Substitute. And in his death he satisfied the claims of the law as our Substitute. Therefore, the prophet of God declares of Christ, “This is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness,” and of us, “This is the name whereby she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.”

 

        That is the message that is set before us in 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only righteousness, and it is our joy to confess that he is. — “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:30-31).

 

21


Grace Bulletin

 

April 17, 2005

 

GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com

 

Donald S. Fortner, Pastor

 

SCHEDULE OF REGULAR SERVICES

 

Sunday

10:00 A.M. Bible Classes

10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service

6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service

Tuesday

7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service

 

 

Television Broadcasts

 

Danville

Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.

Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.

Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.

 

Web Pages

http://www.donfortner.com

http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm

http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp