May 21, 2006

 

God’s purpose in the salvation of His elect is eternal and unchanging, (Romans 8:29-30). God’s purpose is history and history cannot be rescinded.                                   Pastor Bruce Crabtree

 

Daily Readings for the Week of May 21-28

                Sunday                    2 Chronicles 33-34                                  Thursday                                Ezra 7-9

                Monday                  2 Chronicles 35-Ezra 1                           Friday                     Ezra 10-Nehemiah 2

                Tuesday                  Ezra 2-3                                                                  Saturday                  Nehemiah 3-5

                Wednesday             Ezra 4-6                                                                  Sunday                    Nehemiah 6-7

 

·         Missionary Offering Today

·         I am preaching today for Mid-South Baptist Church in Merigold, MS, where Bro. Bruce Gresham is pastor. You are privileged to have Bro. Chris Cunningham preaching the gospel to you today. Bro. Cunningham is pastor of College Grove Grace Church in College Grove, TN.

·         Redeemer Baptist Church (Louisville, KY) will host its 13th Annual Sovereign Grace Bible Conference next weekend — May 26-28. Conference Schedule: Friday 7 PM: Don Fortner ¾ 8 PM: Tim James — Saturday 10 AM: Todd Nibert ¾ 11 AM: Bruce Crabtree — Sunday 10 AM: Larry Criss ¾ 11 AM: Maurice Montgomery. Bro. Daniel Parks is the host pastor.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Pam Wood-22nd  Billy McCormack-25th Larry Criss-26th

 

By God’s Eternal, Wise DecreeDon Fortner

(Tune: #142 — Jesus Shall Reign — LM)

 

1.        By God’s eternal, wise decree,

His Son, the Lamb, was slain for me.

His blood accepted at the throne,

Before I sinned, my sin atoned!

 

2.        This wondrous mystery of grace,

Revealed by God, by faith embraced,

The changing course of time defies. —

Eternal mercy never dies!

 

3.        Though my heart fails and flesh decays

And earth’s foundation’s melt away,

God’s purpose shall the same remain.

This anchor shall my soul sustain. —

 

4.        My Savior’s blood, through ageless skies,

“Mercy, eternal mercy!” cries,

And thus secures my home above,

Loved with an everlasting love!

 

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The Triune God — The God of all Grace

 

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”                                                                                                                                                                                       (Jude 1:1)

 

The opening verse of Jude’s epistle is full of instruction, setting before us in the simplest of terms some of the most profound and soul-cheering truths of Holy Scripture. Here Jude sets before us the most fundamental and essential revelation of Holy Scripture, the doctrine of the trinity. — “There are Three that bear record in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are One (1 John 5:7).

 

Equally Gracious

 

Jude tells us that all God’s elect are a people “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” All three Persons in the Godhead are equally gracious. All three are involved in the work of saving our souls. In fact, whenever the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are presented together in the Scriptures, it is always in connection with redemption, grace, and salvation. The only exception I have found to that is in the Genesis account of creation (Gen. 1:1-3). But, even there, the creation itself is a picture of God’s salvation. Whenever one Person in the Trinity is presented alone, the result is judgment.

 

                Sometimes God the Father is presented alone, as when he stood upon Mt. Sinai, clothed with thunder and lightening, delivering the law to Moses. So terrible was his presence that the very mountain shook in the prospect of God’s awesome judgment (Ex. 20:18).

 

                Sometimes God the Son appears alone, as when he appears in his glorious second advent. Then men and women who have despised and rejected him will cry for the mountains to fall upon them and pray in terror that they might be saved from “the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:14).

 

                When God the Holy Spirit is represented alone, the consequences are the same. Those who blaspheme him, committing that sin which can never be forgiven, are reserved as reprobates unto everlasting judgment (Matt. 12:31-32).

 

                Whenever one Person in the Trinity is presented alone, the result is judgment. However, when all three of the divine persons are set before us together, the consequence is always mercy, grace, redemption, and salvation (Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:4-6). If I understand the implications of this fact correctly, it is one more way of assuring us of that which is taught throughout the Scriptures. The whole Being of God, in all his attributes, in all his glory, in the Trinity of his Persons is set for the everlasting salvation of his elect (Jer. 32:41; Rom. 8:28-32).

 

                This is one of the many great gospel truths Paul shows us in the first chapter of Ephesians. As the three Persons of the eternal Godhead are equal in divinity, but distinct in personality, so all three of the divine persons are equal in grace, but distinct in the operations of grace.

 

God the Father

 

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God the Father is set before us as the Fountain of all grace (Eph. 1:3-6). It was God the Father who, in the covenant of grace, proposed redemption, devised the plan, and chose the people whom he would save by his almighty grace. He found a way whereby his banished ones could be brought back to him and never expelled from his presence. Then, “in the fulness of time,” he sent his Son to be the Medium or Mediator of grace to his chosen (Gal 4:4-6).

 

God the Son

 

God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the channel of all grace (Eph. 1:7-12). All grace comes to sinners through Christ the Mediator. In Ephesians 1 Paul tells us fourteen times that everything God does for sinners and gives to sinners is in Christ. Apart from Christ there is no grace! God will not deal with man, but by Christ. Man cannot deal with God, but by Christ. Christ is the Revelation of God, the incarnation of God, and the only way to God.

 

                All grace comes to us through Christ. There is no other way the grace of God can reach a sinner. Let no rejecter of God’s Son imagine that he shall be the beneficiary of God’s grace! It is the work of Christ upon the cross that has brought grace and justice together in the salvation of sinners. It is through his blood, only through the blood of the cross, that “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10).

 

God the Spirit

 

The Fountain of all grace is God the Father. The medium of all grace is God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit is the Administrator of all grace (Eph. 1:13-14). It is God the Holy Spirit who effectually applies the blood of Christ to chosen, redeemed sinners. He regenerates the dead by omnipotent power. He calls the redeemed with irresistible grace. He gives faith to the chosen by almighty operations of grace. He seals God’s elect unto everlasting glory.

 

                In Hebrews 9:12-14 the Apostle describes our twofold redemption: accomplished and applied. Without the sovereign, gracious operations of God the Holy Spirit in conversion, no sinner would ever become the beneficiary of grace. He takes the things of Christ and shows them to his people. He quickens those the Father chose, reclaims those the Son redeemed, and leads to the Good Shepherd everyone of those lost sheep for whom the Good Shepherd laid down his life (John 10:11). “He conquers the stoutest hearts and cleanses the foulest spiritual leper. He opens the sin-blinded eyes and unstops the sin-closed ears. The blessed Holy Spirit reveals the grace of the Father and applies the grace of the Son.” (C. D. Cole)

 

                All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied (1 Peter 1:2). All three Persons in the Godhead are equally gracious; and all three must be equally praised.

 

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below!

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”

 

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Grace Bulletin

 

May 21, 2006

 

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