Grace Baptist Church of Danville

March 18, 2012

Preachers often say, concerning God’s elect, “As God sees us in Christ, we are holy, without sin,” etc. What few fail to understand is this: — However God sees us in Christ that is the way we really are, “holy and without blame before him!”

·      I am scheduled to preach tonight for Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, TN. Bro. Frank Hall will preach here tonight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Alvin Blackburn-20^th    Bobbie Estes-24^th

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today:  Vicci Rolley (AM)  Debbie Bartley (PM)          Tuesday: Mindy Peterson

Jehovah-jireh will Provide — Don Fortner

(Tune: #414 — Am I a Soldier of the Cross? — CM)

1.    No more, my soul, let unbelief

Your joy and peace devour;

Jehovah-jireh sends relief,

For ev’ry trying hour.

2.    Though darkness thick attends my way,

And foes on ev’ry side,

Still, all is well, (I’ll watch and pray),

Jehovah will provide!

3.    My strength may fail, my needs increase,

And sorrows great abide,

Still, God, my God, will never cease

To love me and provide.

4.    He saw me ruined, lost and dead,

And did for me provide

A Lamb to suffer in my stead,

I’m spared, for Jesus died!

5.    All grace in Christ for Abram’s seed,

And endless bliss beside,

Jehovah-jireh has decreed,

Forever to provide!

If God has given you faith in Christ, you should confess your Savior and Lord, publicly identifying yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, his Church, and his Gospel in believer’s baptism.

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“The remnant of his brethren shall return.”

Micah 5:3

God’s prophet Micah was inspired of God to describe his people as a remnant, not once, but three times in Micah chapter 5 (vv. 3, 7, 8). Micah calls God’s elect “the remnant of Jacob.” God the Spirit tells us that among the fallen, depraved, lost, condemned ruins of humanity “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). And he assures us that the “remnant shall be saved” (Romans 9:27). In Isaiah 10 the Holy Ghost declares, “The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God” (Isaiah 10:21).

            With men a remnant is something leftover, waste material, material for which there is no plan, purpose, or intended use. With God it is exactly opposite. God’s remnant is the kernel, everything else is husk. God’s remnant is that for which all things were planned and purposed. Without that elect remnant, everything else would be useless.

God inspired his prophets and apostles of old to speak of his people as a “remnant.” God’s people are a remnant, a “little flock” of God’s choosing (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:21-22; Luke 12:32). Read the description Micah gives of this remnant. — “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (Micah 5:7).

Dew from the Lord

This chosen remnant is described here as “a dew from the Lord.” — What a beautiful picture! As the dew is from heaven, so believers in Christ are born from above: not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is distinguished from the world around it by Divine blessings, just as Gideon’s wet fleece was distinguished from the dry ground by the dew of heaven upon it (Judges 6:36-38). We are a remnant; but we are God’s remnant, a remnant in a covenant relationship with God in Christ. As such, this blessed remnant is distinguished and separated from the rest of the world.

They are a people that dwell alone and are not reckoned among the nations. They are in the midst of the world, but never a part of the world. They are in the midst of many people, but belong to none of them. For though living in the world, they are not of the world, but chosen, redeemed and called out of the world.

The dew and the rain are free. They wait not for man, but fall from God and at his appointment. So grace is not dispensed according to our deserving, but according to God’s free bounteous and super-abounding mercy. Like dew on the ground, the work of God the Holy Ghost upon the soul is unknown, unnoticed, unperceived by the world. In fact, the very receiver of his work is for a time a stranger to the Lord’s work within him. The blessing of God’s salvation is ours before we have any consciousness of it! And as the dew comes down in abundance on the earth, so the grace of God the Spirit comes down in great abundance on the chosen sinner!

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The promise to the Lord Jesus was that from the womb of the morning he should have the dew of his youth (Psalm 110:3). Multitudes of souls have been and shall be given to Christ, as innumerable as the dew-drops of the morning, multitudes like the pouring rain that refreshes the whole earth.

Lambs who are Lions

“And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver” (Micah 5:8). — Here the prophet simply adopts another figure to tell the same thing. In verse 7 Jacob’s remnant is passive in receiving blessings from the Lord. Here they are very active, going forth in the Lord’s strength to the Lord’s cause, as lambs who are conquering lions. Acting under the name and authority of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, “the worm Jacob is enabled to thresh the mountains” (Isaiah 41:14), and conquer every foe.

Blessed Destruction

“Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off” (Micah 5:9). — This is a description of our Lord Jesus Christ, our all-victorious Savior’s accomplishments at Calvary. This is speaking of the triumph of all God’s elect (Romans 16:20). But primarily this is talking about our great Savior’s work of grace in us, by his Holy Spirit, as it is described in the next verses.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. (Micah 5:10-15).

Here is omnipotent grace, irresistible mercy, and conquering love! Micah tells us that God’s great work of grace in saving poor sinners is a destructive work; blessed destruction this is!

The remnant of Jacob shall be stripped of all false confidences in themselves and secured from all deceitful errors. He destroys idolatry from within, sweetly forcing us to stop worshipping the work of our own hands. The Lord Christ, who undertakes for us, will keep us from all evil and shall beat down all our spiritual foes. This is all the work of God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate, smitten, risen Judge of Israel, who stands as the Shepherd of Israel to save, feed, and protect “the remnant of Jacob,” his chosen!

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The Grace Bulletin

March 18, 2012

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.

Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg

Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M.

Channel 6 - Friday Evening 6:00 P.M.

Web Pages

http://www.DonFortner.com

http://www.FreegraceRadio.com

http://www.Grace-eBooks.com

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com