December 25, 2005
The surest thing that can be said about good works is this. — Those who think they have them do not; and those who perform them are fully convinced that they haven't (Matt. 25:31-46).
Daily Readings for the Week of December 25-January 1
Sunday Revelation 1-3 Thursday Revelation 14-16
Monday Revelation 4-7 Friday Revelation 17-19
Tuesday Revelation 8-10 Saturday Revelation 20-22
Wednesday Revelation 11-13 Sunday Genesis 1-3
Merry Christmas!
I trust you will all have a delightful day with your families. There will be no service here tonight.
NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK
Today: Regina Henson (AM) Tuesday: Celeste Peterson
See Fulfilled The Gospel Promise ― Don Fortner
(Tune: #99―Angels From The Realms Of Glory―87.87)
1. Savior, here we lift our voices, and we celebrate the day,
When You came, O Blessed Jesus, in the form of human clay.
Come and worship! Come and worship! Worship Christ our God and King!
2. When the heavenly hosts assembled, gazed with wonder from the sky,
Angels joy’d, and devils trembled, neither knowing fully why.
Come and worship! Come and worship! Worship Christ our God and King!
3. See fulfilled the gospel promise ― Christ, the woman’s promised Seed,
Born a babe, by birth mysterious, came to crush the serpent’s head!
Come and worship! Come and worship! Worship Christ our God and King!
4. Crush, O Lord, his power within us. Break our chains. Our woe undo!
Pull down every wall between us. Let us love and cleave to You!
Come and worship! Come and worship! Worship Christ our God and King!
Sadly, there are many who talk more about salvation than the Savior, more about redemption than the Redeemer, more about justification than the Justifier, more about sanctification than the Sanctifier. Many preachers preach more about Christ’s work than they do about Christ himself. It is no wonder that there is no wonder in their religion! If you would grow in grace, and have joy and peace in believing, quit thinking of the gospel as a mere collection of dry doctrines. Ever look upon it as the revelation of Christ your God and Savior. Theological theory will never warm your heart and fire your soul. The Friend of sinners will.
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“Jesus” — His People
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
The promise here given is that the Lord Jesus Christ “shall save his people from their sins.” Who are his people? Who are these people specifically designated “his people,” whom he came into this world specifically to save?
Obviously, his people were his people long before he came here to save them. The angel said to Joseph, “He shall save his people from their sins.” He did not say, “He shall save those who shall be his people.” Whoever his people are, they were his people before he saved them, and they were his people before he came to save them. They were his people from eternity (Ps. 110:3; John 6:39; 10:16).
Almost everyone presumes that Christ came here to save everybody. Lost preachers everywhere love to please their lost hearers and tell them exactly what they are hired to tell them: — “God loves you.” — “Jesus died for you.” — “The Lord wants to save you.” — “But the decision is yours.”
That is not what we read in Matthew 1:21. That is not the doctrine of our Holy Scripture. If Christ came to save everyone in the world, if he died for everyone, where is the love of God? If Christ died to redeem and save all men, if he loves all, then his love is meaningless. — Where is the justice of God? If Christ died for all and some yet perish under the wrath of God, the justice of God falls to the ground, for he punishes sin both in the sinner and in his Son. — Where is the immutability of God? If he gave his Son to die for all because of his great love for them, and then sends many to hell, his love changes to wrath. — Where is the divinity of Christ? If he tries to save any he fails to save, he cannot be God.
What does the Word of God say? That alone is our standard. If a man does not speak according to the words of the Book, it is because there is no light in him. To teach that Christ came to save those who are lost at last in hell as well as those who are saved is to deny the very deity of Christ. He is not and cannot be God, he is not and cannot be our Savor, if he fails to do what he came to do, if people whom he loves now can become the objects of his wrath later, if his blood does not fully satisfy the justice of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to save all people everywhere. He came to save his people everywhere, his distinct, peculiar, chosen people. Who are his people? They are his seed (Ps. 22:30; Isa. 53:10-12), his sheep (John 10:11, 15, 26), his chosen bride (Eph. 5:25-27), his elect (Eph. 1:3-6), all who trust him (1 Thess. 1:4).
Who are his people? They are those people whom God the Father chose in Christ before the world began, whom he loved with an everlasting love, whom he predestinated unto the adoption of sons from eternity by Jesus Christ to himself, to the praise of the glory of his grace, according to the good pleasure of his own will (Rom. 8:28-31).
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“Jesus” — His Salvation
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
The purpose of the triune God in all things is the salvation of his people; and the purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ in coming into this world was the salvation of his people. Whoever his people are, wherever they may be found, they shall be saved from their sins by Christ, the sovereign Savior. That fact cannot be disputed. He knows who they are. He knows where they are. And he knows how to save them. But how does he save his people from their sins? Here are three distinct, distinguishing acts of sovereign grace by which the Lord Jesus Christ saves his people from their sins, three acts of grace by which the Son of God cuts his sheep out of the goats and makes them to differ (1 Cor. 4:7).
Redemption
The Lord Jesus has saved all his people from the penalty of their sins by the particular, effectual redemption of our souls from the curse of God’s holy law by blood atonement (Gal. 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:21). This is “how” that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He died voluntarily, laying down his life for us (Heb. 10:5-14). He died vicariously, in our place, as our Substitute (Isa. 53:4-6, 8). And he died victoriously, having accomplished his purpose (Heb. 1:13; 9:12).
Regeneration
The Lord Jesus Christ saves his chosen, redeemed people from the reigning power and dominion of their sins by the almighty, irresistible grace and power of his Holy Spirit in the new birth (John 5:25; 6:63; Ps. 65:4; Eph. 2:1-5). He comes to his own, as they lay dead and polluted in their own blood, in the time of love, spreads over them the skirt of his righteousness, and says to the dead “Live!” And they live by the power of his grace (Ezek. 16). He comes by his mighty Spirit and breathes upon the dead, causing life to enter into them (Ezek. 37). He comes to sinners, who, like Lazarus, have been dead so long that they are corrupt beyond recognition as the sons of that man created in the image of God, calls them by name and says, “Come forth,” and those who are dead come forth (John 11).
Resurrection
Soon, the Lord Jesus Christ, this very same Jesus, will come again in power and great glory to save all his people from the presence and all the evil consequences of their sins in the resurrection of the just (John 5:25; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). There shall be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. The wicked shall be raised to suffer all the consequences of their sins forever in hell. But the righteous shall be raised to be saved from all the evil consequences of their sins forever.
Do I have any just, reasonable, biblical grounds for believing that I am one of his people? Indeed I do. I believe him (1 John 5:1, 9-13). My God-given faith in Christ is the evidence of the fact that he has saved this sinner from his sins and the substance of his salvation (Heb. 11:1).
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Grace Bulletin
December 25, 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
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
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
http://www.donfortner.com
http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm
http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp