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March 24, 2013

No man has any business preaching who does not, relentlessly and boldly, preach the doctrine of the gospel as it is plainly revealed in the Book of God: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints. — The gospel is not preached if these things are not preached.

Daily Readings for the Week of March 24-31, 2013

Sunday 1 Samuel 3-6 Thursday 1 Samuel 15-17

Monday 1 Samuel 7-9 Friday 1 Samuel 18-20

Tuesday 1 Samuel 10-12 Saturday 1 Samuel 21-24

Wednesday 1 Samuel 13-14 Sunday 1 Samuel 25-27

· We welcome Randal Hopkins and Rickey Birchum, who recently confessed Christ the Lord in believer’s baptism, into our church family.

· We will have our Quarterly Fellowship following today’s worship service. Stay for lunch and spend the afternoon with us. There will be no service here tonight.

NURSERY DUTY: Today: Jayalita McCormack (AM) Tuesday: Dee Dee Raneri

Congratulations! Tony and Jennifer Pruter have a new baby boy, Nicholas Mark, born Thursday night, weighing 8 lb. 13oz. We are all very thankful. May the Lord our God, the God of all grace, have mercy upon this child, hedge him about with his grace, and at his own appointed time of love give him life and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Free Grace — Don Fortner

(Tune: 400— Ashamed of Jesus — LM )

1. Free grace, free grace, free grace adore,

Which saves the fallen, needy, poor,

Which lifts the guilty from the dust,

And sets them free among the just.

2. God seeks and finds the low and base,

And saves poor worms by His free grace!

He makes us holy kings and priests

Before His throne in righteousness.

3. Christ is my Brother, Prince of Peace,

My God, the Lord my Righteousness!

I’ll on His blood and grace rely,

Until I sit with Him on high.

4. This grace my cov’nant God bestows

On all the needy souls He chose;

This grace in God my Savior dwells

Which God the Holy Ghost reveals.

“All Things New”

Revelation 21:5

“He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (v. 5). — With those words the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, announces his great work of grace. Meditate upon each word carefully.

Sitting King

“He that sat upon the throne” is Christ himself, the great God-man, the exalted Mediator, the Redeemer and King of his people. He sat upon the throne of universal dominion forever as God (Hebrews 1:8). He sits upon the throne now as the Lamb of God, upon the basis of his Mediatoral accomplishments as the sinner’s Substitute (John 17:2). He sits upon the throne because his work of redemption is finished (Romans 8:34). He sits upon the throne with the ease of an absolute Monarch, possessing total sovereignty, without the slightest possibility of his throne being topple, or his decrees being nullified (Isaiah 46:10).

“He that sat upon the throne said, Behold!” — Give me your attention. Hear what I say. Give thoughtful consideration to my words. I am doing wondrous things for the sons of men.

Christ’s Work

“I make all things new!” — Christ, the Creator and Sustainer of all things in the physical creation, is the One who makes all things in the new creation. Nothing is attributed to the will of man. The Son of God says, “I make all things new!” Whatever this new creation is, he assures us that it is his work alone, accomplished by his power, according to his purpose, arising from his grace, and performed for his praise. The apostle Paul uses similar language in 2 Corinthians 5:17 — “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The new creation is accomplished by the merits of Christ’s obedience and the power of his Spirit through the preaching of the gospel of his grace and glory. Everything in the new creation comes from him, is centered on him, and directs our hearts to him. He says, “I make all things new!” In the new creation, we are the beneficiaries of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:38-40), the recipients of a new nature (2 Peter 1:4; I John 3:9-10), given a new relationship (1 John 3:1-2), brought into a new family (Ephesians 3:15; Mark 3:31-35), made to worship in a new way (Hebrews 10:19-24), and granted a new record in heaven (Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; Jeremiah 50:20).

New Covenant

The new covenant is the everlasting covenant of grace made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit before the world began. In that covenant the salvation of God’s elect was secured by the covenant promises of the three Persons of the Godhead to one another.

New Nature

The new nature created in the believer is the nature of Christ himself, a holy nature, that “new man created in righteousness and true holiness.” Christ does not repair the old nature. He gives his people a new nature. The old nature remains with us, so that we cannot do the things we would. Sinless perfection is impossible, even for a moment! But there is in every heaven born soul a new nature that brings forth fruit unto God (Galatians 5:22-23).

New Relationship

Our new relationship with God is one of sonship. God no longer deals with us as with slaves under the yoke of the law; and we no longer serve God as slaves by the constraint of the law. We are the sons of God! Can you imagine anything more ennobling?

New Family

Being the sons and daughters of God, we are now members of a new family, the family of God. Our family is a large one. It includes the whole Church of God’s elect. And it is well supplied, for God himself is our Provider.

New Way

Every member of this family, whose names are written in heaven, worships God in a new way. We worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24; Philippians 3:3). We come to God by faith in Christ, trusting the merits of his blood. We are all priests unto God. We do business with God personally in the holy place and are accepted there in Christ.

Old Things

In this new creation “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — That means that our old record of sin is gone. Christ has purged away our sins by the blood of his cross. It also means that we have a new record in heaven. In the books of God we are declared to be perfectly righteous, because we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

True and Faithful

Having made this marvelous declaration of grace, anticipating our hesitancy to believe such great things, our Savior gives us this perpetual word of assurance — “And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful.” If you are a young believer, one who has just come to Christ; or if you are one who has been in Christ for many, many years, before God all things are new, perpetually new, immutably new, eternally new! Your feelings will fluctuate, your failings will be many, and your experiences will often appear to contradict God’s work of grace and word of promise; but the new creation does not depend upon you! It depends only upon the truth and faithfulness of our great God and Savior (2 Timothy 2:12-13, 19). The Lord God will never disown his child, disinherit him, cease to be gracious to him, or change his record in heaven. He will not impute sin to the one he has forgiven (Romans 4:8). Because the new creation is God’s work, it is forever. Nothing can be taken from it. Nothing can be added to it (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s