October 2, 2005

 

 

Faith never comes by understanding. Understanding comes by faith. When we believe that which God has revealed in his Word, we begin to understand what he has revealed. Until we believe, we understand nothing.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of October 2-9

                Sunday            Matthew 22-23                               Thursday                Mark 1

                Monday          Matthew 24-25                               Friday             Mark 2-3

                Tuesday          Matthew 26                                    Saturday          Mark 4-5

                Wednesday     Matthew 27-28                               Sunday            Mark 6

 

·         I am preaching today for College Grove Grace Church in College Grove, TN, where Bro. Criss Cunningham is pastor. Bro. Larry Criss will preach to you today.

·         Quarterly Fellowship — October 16th

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Judy Estes-4th   Darrin Duff-5th

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY:  Walter & Betty Groover-19th

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Regina Henson (AM) Diane Campbell (PM)     Tuesday: Jayalita McCormack

 

Glory to the Triune GodDon Fortner

(Tune: #123 — In the Cross of Christ I Glory — 87.87)

 

1.        Glory to our God and Father,

Who in free and sov’reign grace,

Chose us in His loving favor,

For His everlasting praise!

 

2.        Glory to the Son, our Savior,

God the Son, the Word made flesh!

He to save us (Blessed Savior!),

Died for us the cursed death!

 

3.        Glory give to God the Spirit,

By Whose grace we now believe,

Showing us our Savior’s merit,

By which we all grace receive.

 

“Why is it that God hath not dealt with us after our sins? Is it not because he hath dealt with another after our sins? Another who took our sins upon him; of whom it is said, that ‘God chastened him in his fierce wrath’? And why did he chasten him, but for our sins? O gracious God, thou art too just to take revenge twice for the same faults; and therefore, having turned thy fierce wrath upon him, thou wilt not turn it upon us too; but having rewarded him according to our iniquities, thou wilt now reward us according to his merits.”           Sir Richard Baker (1568-1645)

 

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Why was He forsaken?

 

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” — (Psalm 22:1)

 

Everything recorded in the 22nd Psalm, if I understand it correctly, was written prophetically, penned by divine inspiration, as the very words spoken by our blessed Savior when he hung upon the cursed tree, bearing our sins as our Substitute. Spurgeon wrote…

 

“Before us we have a description both of the darkness and of the glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory which shall follow. Oh for grace to draw near and see this great sight! We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this psalm.”

 

Christ Forsaken

 

These are the words of our blessed Savior when he hung upon the cursed tree as our Substitute, when he who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. At the apex of his obedience, at the time of his greatest sorrow, in the hour of his greatest need, the Lord Jesus cried out to his Father, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” That is the question I want to address. Answer it I cannot. Declare it I must.

 

        After asking, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” our all-glorious Redeemer tells us how utterly forsaken he was, so utterly forsaken that the Father refused to hear the cries of his own darling Son in the hour of his greatest need. — “Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” I read those words with utter astonishment. I will not attempt to explain what I cannot imagine. But these things are written here for our learning, that we might, through patience and consolation of the Scriptures, have hope. And I hang all the hope of my immortal soul upon this fact. — When the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for me, he was utterly forsaken of God and put to death as my Substitute; and by his one great, sin-atoning sacrifice he has forever put away my sins. He not only bore our sins in his body on the tree, he bore them away!

 

The Reason

 

Yet, when we read verse 3, our holy Savior, when he was made sin for us, answers the cry of his own soul’s agony. “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Why was the Lord Jesus forsaken by his Father when he was made sin for us? Because the holy Lord God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Our Savior was forsaken by the Father when he was made sin for us because justice demanded it. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Hab. 1:13).

 

14

        Here, in verse 3, our Savior, when he was dying under the wrath of God, justified God in his own condemnation, because he was made sin for us. He proclaims the holiness of God in the midst of his agony. He is so pure, so holy, so righteous, so just, that he will by no means clear the guilty (Ex. 34:7), even when the guilty One is his own darling Son! Rather than that his holy character be slighted, our Surety must suffer and die, because he was made sin for us.

 

Made Sin

 

Our Savior had no sin of his own. He was born without original sin, being even from birth “that Holy One” (Luke 1:35). Throughout his life he “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), “did no sin” (1 Pet. 2:22), “and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). But on Calvary the holy Lord God “made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Just as in the incarnation “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), in substitution he who was made flesh “was made sin for us.”

 

        I do not know how God could be made flesh and never cease to be God; but he was. I do not know how the eternal God could die and yet never die; but he did (Acts 20:28). I do not know how all the fulness of the infinite, incomprehensible God can dwell in Christ bodily; but it does (Col. 2:9). And I do not know how Christ who knew no sin could be made sin, and yet never have sinned; but he was.

 

        These things are mysteries beyond the reach of human comprehension. But they are facts of divine revelation to which we bow with adoration. Hard as it is for many to realize, our God is “slightly” bigger than our puny brains!

 

I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus the Nazarene

And wonder how He could love me,

A sinner, condemned, unclean

 

Oh, how marvelous! oh, how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be

Oh, how marvelous! oh how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

For me it was in the garden

He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine”

He had no tears for His own griefs

But sweat drops of blood for mine

 

He took my sins and my sorrows

He made them His very own

He bore the burden to Calvary

And suffered, and died alone

 

15

Grace Bulletin

 

October 2, 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