August 12, 2007

“Christ, and the believer, mutually dwell in each other.”— John Gill

·      I am scheduled to preach Monday through Wednesday for the Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Booneville, NC, where Bro. Linwood Campbell is pastor, and Thursday and Friday for El-shaddai Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC, where Bro. Mike Walker is pastor. — Bro. Darvin Pruitt will preach the gospel to you Tuesday evening.

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Pam Wood (AM) Emily Rice (PM) Tuesday: Jayalita McCormack

I Thought; but I was Wrong – Don Fortner

(Tune: #39 “This Is My Father’s World -- SMD )

1.    Things are not as I thought, before I knew the Lord,

With sinners loved, redeemed, and brought to faith in Christ the Lord.

I thought my inward sin would quickly disappear,

That all those lusts of flesh obscene would cause me no more care.

2.    I thought that faith and love, and grace would be so strong,

That I would rise and live above all that I know is wrong.

I thought that I would pray and read God’s Word with ease,

That Satan’s roars would cease the day I met the Prince of Peace.

3.    All that I thought was wrong! Instead of ease I know

A constant warfare, raging strong, that ever brings me low.

So to God’s throne I go, a sinner seeking grace,

And bathing in the Fount that flows from there I find my peace!

4.    When Satan roars and points to all I know I am,

Faith, with a joyful finger points to Christ the risen Lamb!

My only hope is grace from God Who can’t repent,

In Christ, “The Lord our Righteousness,” on Whom God’s wrath was spent!

“You will hear persons talking sometimes of trusting in the blood, but you cannot find a sentence in all God's Book, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, about trusting in the blood. What then are we to trust in? Trust in a living, glorified, and reigning Christ, every drop of whose precious blood was shed for His people. It is trust in a living Person, an infallible Prophet, a prevailing Priest, a reigning King, trust in the Beloved.” — Thomas Bradbury

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The Preeminence of Christ in Salvation

“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18)

The Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent in the whole affair of our salvation. When you think of God’s salvation, never limit it to your experience of grace. Salvation is the whole work of grace, by which we are brought from the gates of hell into the gates of glory. It includes far, far more than any of us have ever imagined. But of this we are assured: — In the whole work of salvation Christ is preeminent (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

I repeat; none of us has ever imagined all that is involved in the saving of our souls. But there are at least ten things clearly revealed in the Scriptures as different aspects of salvation. And in all ten of these things Christ is preeminent.

1.    Election — We were chosen in Christ unto salvation (Ephesians 1:4).

2.    Predestination — In love God predestinated us to be conformed to Christ (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:29-30).

3.    Redemption — We have redemption through his blood (Ephesians 1:6). With his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12).

4.    Justification — We are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ (Romans 3:23-28).

5.    Forgiveness — Redemption, justification, and forgiveness go hand in hand. It is impossible to have one without the other two; and all are in and by Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14).

6.    Regeneration — The new birth is having Christ formed in you by the power and grace of his Spirit (2 Peter 1:4; Colossians 1:27).

7.    Sanctification — Christ is our sanctification. We were set apart in him in divine election as the objects of God’s grace to be made holy (Jude 1). We were declared to be holy when Christ washed away our sins at Calvary (Hebrews 10:10, 14). And we have our Savior’s holy nature imparted to us in the new birth (2 Peter 1:4).

8.    Preservation — Christ keeps and preserves his chosen, redeemed, called sheep in the arms of his almighty grace. Our preservation by him secures our perseverance in him (John 10:27-30).

9.    Resurrection — When Christ comes again, we shall be raised up from the dead by the power of God. Every chosen, redeemed, regenerate sinner shall be raised up to glory in the last day (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

10. Glorification — When we have been raised up from the dead, all God’s elect shall be glorified together, transformed into the very image of Christ, and made to possess that very glory that he now possesses as our glorified Mediator (John 17:5, 22).

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Christ made Sin for Us — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Christ our Lord had no sin, knew no sin and did no sin. He was perfect before the law of God (1 Peter 2:22; Heb. 4:15). Our sins were reckoned to him. He was identified and numbered with the transgressors and, though he personally had no sin, yet by imputation he was the world's greatest sinner and was dealt with as such and died under the wrath of God (Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:28; Rom. 8:32). All of this was done that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ and, by our identification and oneness with Christ justified. Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us that we, who have no righteousness, might be made righteous before God in him (Rom. 10:1-4). With his spotless garments on, we are as holy as his Son (Isa. 45:24). Someone said, "The gospel can be summed up in two words – substitution and satisfaction." Christ, as our Substitute, made full and complete satisfaction for us before God's holy law and righteous justice. In him we are wholly sanctified, completely and eternally saved.

Taken from Pastor Henry Mahan’s Bible Class Commentary (1985)

Observations on the New Birth

John Gill described that new man created in the believer in regeneration as “something that is holy, both in its principle and in its actings; and is superior to anything that can come from man, or be performed by him of himself. It is something entirely new; a new creature, a new man, a new heart, and a new spirit; and the conformity of a man to another image, even to the image of the second Adam, the Son of God.” Gill also wrote, “What is produced in regeneration is called the new creature, and the new man in distinction from the old man. It is something anew implanted in the heart, which never was before in human nature. It is not a working upon the old principles of nature, nor a working them up to an higher pitch. It is not an improvement of them, nor a repairing of the broken, ruined image of God in man. But it is altogether a new work. It is called a creature, being a work of almighty power; and a new creature, and a new man.”

Several years ago, my friend, Pastor Gary Shepard wrote, “Regeneration or being ‘born again,’ as Christ called it, is the work of the Holy Spirit in which he takes spiritually dead sinners and quickens them to life and faith in Christ. We are made ‘partakers of the divine nature’ through this birth from above. Being ‘born of God,’ we receive Christ and the privilege of being sons of God. This work of the sovereign Spirit is a part of the ‘new creation.’”

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Grace Bulletin

August 12, 2007

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 in 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

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com