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December 23, 2007

 

In his incarnation the Son of God voluntary took into union with himself all that is inseparable from our humanity!

 

Daily Readings for the Week of December 23-30

            Sunday                      1 John 1-5                                                     Thursday                   Revelation 8-10

            Monday                     2 John-Jude                                                 Friday             Revelation 11-13

            Tuesday                    Revelation 1-3                                                         Saturday                    Revelation 14-16

            Wednesday  Revelation 4-7                                                         Sunday                      Revelation 17-19

 

·      There will be no service here Tuesday night. Shelby and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Martie Hellar-25th Cindy Schwartz-25th Matthew Rice 27th

 

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!

 

A Virgin shall Bear a Son

 

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.”(Isaiah 7:14-15)

 

      The Lord God not only declared, “a virgin shall conceive,” he asserted that she would still be a virgin when she gave birth to her child. — “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son!

 

      Who but God would have made such a promise? Who but God could pull it off? We commonly lay great stress upon the fact that Mary was a virgin when the

 

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holy humanity of our Redeemer was conceived in her womb. But that is not the wonder and the mystery of this promise. There is no wonder or mystery to that at all, if the ordinary means of conception had been employed. But the prophecy implied what its fulfillment proved. — This was no ordinary conception and no ordinary birth! This was conception without the aid of a man and a birth that opened a virgin’s womb! When Mary brought forth her son, she was still a virgin!

 

The Law of the Firstborn

 

The Lord God gave a special command in the law with regard to the firstborn (Exodus 13:2). God said, “The firstborn is mine.” But notice how he identifies the firstborn. The firstborn is described as “whatsoever openeth the womb.” This law, given back in Exodus 13, was just one of the many reaffirmations of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15, that he would send his Son into the world to redeem and save his people as the Seed of the woman. The womb is opened in conception, not in giving birth. But he who is our Redeemer, Jehovah’s Firstborn, opened his mother’s womb when he came forth from the womb, crying, “Lo! I come to do thy will, O God!” Never was the womb opened by birth except by the birth of Mary’s first child.

 

      The Holy Spirit specifically tells us that the law given in Exodus 13:2 was fulfilled in our Savior’s incarnation (Luke 2:23). Our blessed Savior, “the firstborn,” was conceived in Mary’s virgin womb by the overshadowing power of God the Holy Spirit. He opened Mary’s virgin womb when he came forth from it to accomplish our redemption. Thus, throughout the Levitical dispensation, the firstborn of man and beast directed the eye of faith to him whom the triune God appointed to have everlasting preeminence as “the Firstborn.” In all things it is, was, and forever shall be the will of the eternal God that Christ have preeminence as the God-man, our Mediator and Redeemer.

 

God’s Work

 

This is God’s work. It has the stamp of God upon it. — “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes!” He who formed the first Adam out of the dust of the earth formed the last Adam in the womb of a virgin. The Headstone of the corner was cut out of the mountain without hands (Daniel 2:34). What a miracle of mercy we have before us! — The incomprehensible God, that circle whose center is everywhere, whose circumference nowhere, was encircled and cooped up for nine months in the womb of a virgin! — The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man” (31:22); and thus it came to pass!

 

      Behold Jehovah’s Firstborn! He opened “the womb of the morning” when he stood forth as our Surety in the eternal covenant with the Father (Psalm 110:3). He opened the womb of the virgin when he came into the world to perform his work as our Surety. And he opened the womb of the earth in his resurrection when he had finished his work.

 

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Seven Prophecies Fulfilled By Christ

Psalm 40:6

 

Here are seven prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, the Christ, which must be fulfilled by that One God had promised. All seven were undeniably fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. Not only were these prophecies fulfilled by our Savior, they cannot find their fulfillment in any other man in history, past, present, or future.

 

1. The Place of His Birth ― The place where the Messiah was to be born was precisely foretold in the prophets. The exact town was named by Micah ― "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (5:2).

 

2. His Family ― The family from which Messiah must come was the house of David (Ps. 132:11; Isa. 11:1). The Jews raised questions about many things. They challenged almost every claim our Redeemer made as the Christ, the Son of God. They accused him of horrible evils. But they never questioned the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. That was an indisputable record of history.

 

3. His Miracles ― The miracles performed by the Lord Jesus declare him to be the Messiah, the Christ, the son of David (Isa. 29:18; 35:5-6; 42:6-7). He performed all those wondrous works that the Old Testament prophets said Messiah would perform in his day (Matt. 11:2-4).

 

4. His Entrance ― The Messiah must be one who comes as a King, but a King distinguished from all others by his humiliation, meekness, and lowliness. It was written of this King that he would enter into Jerusalem bringing salvation while “riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:1-9).

 

5. Cut Off ― It was prophesied that the Messiah must suffer and die by the hands of wicked men — "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself" (Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:1-12). Our Lord's tormenters used the very words and performed the very deeds he had predicted by his prophets - (See Ps. 22). Those words which describe the betrayal, shame, crucifixion, and death of Christ could find fulfillment only in the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

6. His Resurrection ― The Scriptures declared plainly that Messiah would rise from the dead before his body had begun to decay (Ps. 16:9-11; Isa. 53:10-12).

 

7. Gentiles Included ― And the prophets plainly asserted that Messiah, the Christ, would set up his kingdom among the Gentiles by the outpouring of his Spirit upon them (Isa. 49:5-6; Joel 2:28-32; Gal. 3:13-14). It was always God’s purpose to save a people out of every tribe and nation.

 

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Grace Bulletin

 

December 23, 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.freegraceradio.com

http://www.sovereign-grace.com/gracechurch.htm

 

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com