July 23, 2006

 

"Truth is most powerful when it is naked." — Pastor Don Bell

 

Daily Readings for the Week of July 23-30

                                                     Sunday                                  Isaiah 39-41                                                                           Thursday                             Isaiah 54-58

                                                     Monday                               Isaiah 42-44                                                                           Friday                                     Isaiah 59-63

                                                     Tuesday                               Isaiah 45-48                                                                           Saturday                              Isaiah 64-66

                                                     Wednesday                       Isaiah 49-53                                                                           Sunday                                  Jeremiah 1-3

 

á          We will have our Quarterly Fellowship next Sunday.

á          We will receive a Special Offering for our Conference next Sunday.

á          I am preaching today through Wednesday for New Covenant Baptist Church in Great Falls, MT, where Bro. John Mitchell is pastor. Bro. Ron Wood will preach the gospel to you today. Bro. Dan Parks, pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church in Louisville, KY will preach to you Tuesday evening.

á          Bro. Larry Criss is preaching today for Sovereign Grace Church in New Castle, IN, where Bro. Bruce Crabtree is pastor.

 

Look Up, My Soul, Look Up — Don Fortner

(Tune: #187 — Blest be the Tie That Binds — SM)

 

1.                     Look up, my soul, look up,

Be calm, my troubled breast.

My Father's hand prepares the cup;

And what He wills is best.

 

2.                     Knowing my fears and dreads,

He keeps my soul from harms;

And underneath His mercy spreads

Its everlasting arms.

 

3.                     His skill infallible,

In providence and grace,

God's pow'r and truth, that never fall,

Shall order all my ways.

 

4.                     Before my God I'll dance,

And every foe defy;

My life's minutest circumstance

Is subject to His eye.

 

5.                     O let me doubt no more,

But in God's pleasure rest! —

His wisdom, love, and truth, and power,

Engage to make me blest!

 

10

Righteousness Required

 

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" (Hebrews 12:14)

 

There is a holiness to be pursued, without which no man shall see the Lord. God is holy. Being perfectly holy, he demands perfect holiness. He requires perfect righteousness. Anyone who is not perfectly holy will be consumed by the fire of his glorious holiness. He declares, "I am Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect." — "It shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein." — "Be ye holy; for I am holy."

 

         God demands character holiness. We are required to be holy on the inside, in heart, at the very core of our being. – "The Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7). He demands conduct holiness. We must be holy on the outside, in behavior. – "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation" (1 Pet. 1:15). In a word, God demands complete holiness. We must be entirely without sin. – "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20).

 

         God demands holiness; but we cannot produce holiness. Not one of us can do one good thing before God. It is written, "There is none that doeth good, no not one" (Rom. 3:12). Purity cannot come from our corrupt nature. We cannot even seek the Lord on our own, much less correct our past record, change our present wretchedness (Ps. 51:1-5), or control our future thoughts and deeds (Gal. 3:10).

 

         The whole purpose of God's law is to show us our utter inability to keep it and to convince us of our need of a Substitute (Gal. 3:24). And the first work of God the Holy Spirit in a sinner's heart is to convince him of sin, of his need of a Substitute (John 16:9).

 

         A person's definition of righteousness depends entirely upon his understanding of who God is. The problem with this religious generation is that they have never seen the holy, righteous, just character of God almighty. They have never seen the absolute holiness of God. And no one will ever see the holy character of God until he sees what happened at Calvary (Isa. 6:1-6).

 

         How good does a person have to be to get to heaven? He must be as good as God. — "It must be perfect to be accepted." God cannot and will not accept anything short of perfection. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted upon his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Ps. 24:3-4), and no one else. Yet, it is written, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." — "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

 

         But the fact that we cannot produce righteousness does not mean that righteousness cannot be produced. God can do it. Man cannot please God; but God can please God. Man cannot produce righteousness; but God can produce righteousness for us, and he has by the incarnation, life, and death of his own dear Son.

 

11

Righteousness Established

 

"The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable." (Isaiah 42:21)

 

The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to fulfil all righteousness, not for himself, but for us (Matt. 3:15; 5:17). — "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he magnified the law, and made it honorable." Our Savior did for us exactly what Daniel 9:24 said he would do. He finished the transgression and made an end of sin for us, putting away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He made reconciliation for iniquity by satisfying the justice of God as our Substitute. And he brought in everlasting righteousness by his obedience to the will of God in all things as our Representative and Federal Head. By his obedience to the will of God as our Representative and Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ brought in an everlasting righteousness of infinite worth and merit for God's elect (Heb. 10:5-14).

 

              According to the Book of God, it is the life obedience of Christ unto death that constitutes that righteousness, with which we are clothed, that righteousness we are made to become before God (Rom. 5:19. 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 Representative. 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 2 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).

 

12

 

 

Grace Bulletin

 

July 23, 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