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Grace Baptist Church of Danville December 2, 2012
Nowhere in the New Testament are believers taught to do anything because the law says do it. The reason is simple and clearly stated: — “Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” It is the love of Christ that constrains saved sinners to godliness, not the terrifying whip of the law of Moses. It is written, “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.”
Daily Readings for the Week of December 2-9, 2012 Sunday 2 Corinthians 8-11 Thursday Ephesians 3-5 Monday 2 Cor. 12-Galatians 1 Friday Ephesians 6-Phil. 2 Tuesday Galatians 2-4 Saturday Phil. 3-Colossians 1 Wednesday Galatians 5-Eph. 2 Sunday Colossians 2-4
· Bro. Frank Hall is preaching today for Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, KY. · I will leave for Merida, Mexico tomorrow, visiting our missionaries. Walter and Betty and Cody and Winna Groover. Bro. Clay Curtis and one of the brethren from the Princeton congregation, Bro. Scott Keller, will join me on this trip. In addition to lecturing at the Preachers’ School on Tuesday, Bro. Curtis and I are scheduled to preach for several of the churches. · Bro. Todd Nibert, pastor of Todds RD Grace Church in Lexington, will bring the message here on Tuesday night.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! David Burge-4th Jesse Rice-9th CHURCH CLEANING IN DECEMBER: Mark & Regina Henson NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK Today: Alexis Mason (AM) Celeste Peterson (PM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall
Immanuel Has Come to Earth — Don Fortner (Tune: #98 — I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day — LM) 1. Arise, my soul, and take your flight To Bethlehem, recall the night, And in the humble stable see The Man, the woman’s promised Seed.
2. This is the Infant long foretold, Rejoice, my soul, rejoice! — Behold, He’s God by nature, Man by birth! Immanuel has come to earth!
3. This Child, descending from the skies, Was born to be a sacrifice! His wondrous birth, and life, and death, Forever shall employ my breath!
1 Four Words about Redemption
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13)
When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung upon the cross, he was made to be a curse, an object of Divine wrath and judgment, so that we who believe might never endure the curse of God's law or suffer his wrath. Being made a curse for us, “Christ hath redeemed us!” He did not simply make it possible for us to be redeemed. He did not simply make us redeemable. The text says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law!”
This redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central theme of Holy Scripture, the foundation of our faith, and the only hope we have of eternal salvation. This is the good news which we proclaim in the gospel. We say to every sinner in all the world who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, “Christ hath redeemed us!” The work is accomplished. Redemption is finished.
Here are four words which set forth and define the redemptive work of our Lord. These four words will both instruct and comfort your heart, and inspire your heart with thanksgiving and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ for his great redemption.
Sovereignty
The first word is “sovereignty.” Our Lord's work of redemption was an act of his own Divine sovereignty. “He laid down his life for us.” There was nothing in us which compelled him, or moved him to redeem us. He voluntarily laid down his life for us, because it was the free and sovereign pleasure of his love to do so. The Lord Jesus Christ was in absolute, sovereign control over all things, even in his death. He displayed his sovereignty as God in Gethsemane’s garden, before Pilate, and upon the cross. Yes, Christ, the sovereign God, determined everything about his death. He determined that he would die, who his murderers would be, when he would die, where he would die, how he would die, for whom he would die, and what the results of his death would be.
Success
The second word is “success.” Because our Redeemer is the eternal, sovereign God, we are assured that his death and his redemptive work is a success, and not a failure. The prophecy has been fulfilled — “He shall not fail.” In stating that the Lord Jesus Christ is a successful Savior, I am simply proclaiming that which must be a self-evident truth: — Whatever the Lord Jesus Christ intended to accomplish at Calvary, he has accomplished.
He is God. His purpose and will in redemption must, of a certainty, be fulfilled (Isaiah 46:9-10). When Paul describes that which Christ has done in redemption, he describes our Lord as One who has successfully completed his mission (Hebrews 10:11-14). He has successfully put away sin, brought in an everlasting righteousness, and redeemed a people unto himself.
2 Substitution
The third word is “substitution.” The Lord Jesus Christ died as a Substitute for a particular people; and those people for whom Christ died as a substitute at Calvary, bearing their sins and enduring the wrath of God in their place, shall never perish. They are redeemed. Their sins have been put away. He who was made to be sin for us has made us the righteousness of God in himself (Daniel 9:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:12, 26).
Satisfaction
The fourth word is “satisfaction.” Our blessed Savior's one, substitutionary sacrifice for our sins has completely and perfectly satisfied the wrath and justice of God against us. His sacrifice was infinitely meritorious, so that every sinner who believes on Christ is freely justified and fully pardoned. God, looking on the merits of his Son, pardons every sinner who looks on his Son in faith. Through the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which the law and justice of God are satisfied, God is both just and the justifier of all who believe (Romans 3:24-26). — “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus!”
The Holy One Made Guilty Pastor Henry Mahan
In order for God to express his love he must to do it in a way consistent with his justice. He has to do it in a way consistent with his holiness. God said in his Word he wouldn’t clear the guilty. He said in his word “the soul that sinneth shall die.” God must keep his word. He must punish sin, if he is going to be God. How in the world can He free me from my sin, and yet charge me with my sin? How can he bestow upon me his mercy and love and at the same time make me pay for my transgressions. Well, there is just one way, and that is for somebody to take my place — for somebody to be numbered with me. The innocent cannot die for the guilty and fulfill the law — Cannot do that. In other words my friend kills someone, and is put in jail, and I love this friend, and go to the judge and say, “let my friend go free and put me in the electric chair.” The Judge says, “that will not work. You didn’t do it. He did it. How in the world could the law be satisfied by killing you and letting the guilty one go free?” So therefore, Christ actually was numbered with the transgressors. He was identified with us. He was one with us. He was guilty. That is the reason he didn’t open his mouth when they brought those charges against him. He was guilty. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. Our sins were charged to him, reckoned to him, and our actual sins were punished in the person of our Representative, our Federal Head, our Brother, our One who was identified with us in the transgressions. I cannot explain all that. I just know it is so. I am saying that Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner by imputation and identification, not by actual commitment, who ever lived; because he bore all of our sins. He bore all the sins of the elect. He sure did. He was guilty and therefore my sins have been punished.
Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed from a message preached by Pastor Mahan in 1988, entitled “The Way Out of the Mess We are In.”
3 The Grace Bulletin
December 2, 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
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