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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

December 1, 2013

Humility is living in the conscious awareness of who I am, a sinner saved by grace, and whose I am — God’s.

·      We will have our annual Church Family Christmas Dinner immediately following our worship service today. There will be no service here tonight.

·      We will meet for worship next Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. I am scheduled to fly to Merida, Mexico to spend the week with our missionaries, Walter and Cody Groover, visiting the pastors and churches in the Yucatan. — There will be no Bible Classes next Sunday morning. — Bro. Frank Hall will bring the message in the evening service.

·      Sunday – December 15th – Shelby and I would like for you to join us for our Annual Open House at the parsonage following our morning worship service.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Curtis Hall-2nd   Tom Brice-3rd   David Burge-4th

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK:

Today: Shante’ Birchum (AM)  — Tuesday: Celeste Peterson

Tell Me I am Born of God — Don Fortner

(Tune: #15 — Brethren, We have Met to Worship  — 87.87D)

1.    Jesus, Advocate for sinners,

All my hope is in Your blood;

Speak the word of full forgiveness,

Tell me I am born of God.

Refrain:    Tell me, “There's no condemnation!”

                                    Tell me by Your Holy Word.

                                    Tell me, let me hear it often,

                                    Tell me I am born of God.

2.    Send Your Spirit, blessed Jesus,

To apply Your precious blood;

Ease me of the guilt of conscience,

Tell me I am born of God.

3.    Prince of Peace, give me assurance

Of my interest in Your blood;

Drive away my fear and doubting,

Tell me I am born of God.

“We Know” — 1 John 5:19

John’s purpose throughout this epistle is to promote assurance and confidence among God’s saints. He wrote these five chapters by divine inspiration, by the dictate of God the Holy Spirit that we might know that we know Christ, that we are born of God, that we might know that we have eternal life. — Do you see that?

·      “Hereby we do know that we know him” (2:3).

·      “Hereby know we that we are in him” (2:5).

·      “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (2:20).

·      “Ye know” the truth (2:21).

·      “We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (3:2).

·      “Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (3:5).

·      “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (3:14).

·      “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him” (3:19).

·      “We know that he abideth in us” (3:24).

·      “Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (4:13).

·      “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” 5:13).

·      “We know that we are of God” (5:19).

·      “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (5:20).

      At least fifteen times in these five short chapters John was inspired of God to say, “we know.” I think it is both safe and accurate to say that the Holy Spirit’s intention in giving us this short, sweet epistle is that all who trust Christ might walk with him upon this earth in “full assurance of faith” and “the full assurance of hope” (Hebrews 6:11; 10:22).

      Obviously, John’s purpose in stating what he does about “a sin unto death” and “a sin not unto death” was not intended to destroy assurance in God’s saints, or even disturb it, but to promote it. He does not suggest that a brother in Christ, a believer, might sin a sin unto death and be lost at last. God’s elect can never be made reprobate. The redeemed can never become unredeemed. Christ’s sheep shall never perish!

      John is not suggesting here that God sometimes kills his people because they commit some specific sin, or persist in a course of sin. “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin!” — God punished our sins, all our sins in Christ. He will never punish us for sin, not if Christ died for us, not if Christ redeemed us, not if Christ paid our debt! God doesn’t kill his saints and take them to heaven to punish them for sin! — Heavenly glory, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, is not punishment! If you trust Christ, you have not committed and cannot commit “a sin unto death.”

“There is a sin not unto death.”

1 John 5:17

When God’s children sin a sin, it is not unto death. Sinning a sin, no matter what it is, no matter how often it is committed, no matter how grievous it is, no matter how much trouble it causes, no matter how much havoc it stirs, it is not unto death. — God’s promise cannot be broken. “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish!” — “They shall not depart from me!” God’s grace is immutable. His purpose cannot be nullified. The blood of Christ cannot miscarry. The seal of the Spirit cannot be broken. There is a sin unto death (v. 16). And all unrighteousness is sin and deserves death, everlasting death in hell (V. 17). But the sinning of God’s saints is not unto death (v. 16).

Sin, not Sins

John was inspired by God the Holy Spirit to use the word “sin,” singular. As in verse 16, he is talking about one sin, just one sin. He is talking about the sin of our father Adam and our sin in him. But in verse 16 he spoke of Adam’s sin as “sin unto death,” because there he was talking about the sin and fall of the reprobate. There sin in Adam was like that of the fallen angels, a irrecoverable fall into death, everlasting death. But here, in verse 17, John is talking about God’s elect and our sin in Adam. He says, concerning our sin in Adam, “There is a sin not unto death!”

“Never Die”

Our sin and fall in Adam was not unto death, not really, but unto immortality and life, such as we could never have known and experienced without our Adam fall. Yes, we died spiritually when Adam died. Yes, we were born and lived all our lives dead in trespasses and in sin, just like all other men and women, until God saved us by his grace. Yes, we shall die physically. But, blessed be God, we shall never die (John 11:25-26).

      We had life with Christ and in Christ before we sinned in our father Adam; and that life could never be destroyed by anything in time (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:9-11; Revelation 20:6). As Bro. B. B. Caldwell put it, “We fell up!” God’s elect shall, in the end, suffer no loss, no hurt, no harm, no injury of any kind from sin and Satan and the Adam fall. We shall only benefit from it all (Revelation 21:1-5).

Confident Prayer

Yes, “there is a sin not unto death.” So pray for that. Pray for the salvation of God’s elect, and be assured that you shall prevail with God in prayer. God shall give them life (1 John 5:14-17).

      That is the context in which this word of instruction is found. There is not a hint of danger, concern for our souls, or the possibility of damnation in this passage. It is all comfort and assurance. John is teaching us to pray with confidence. Here God the Holy Spirit assures us that we cannot fail at the Throne of Grace. We cannot fail in prayer. What a blessed word this is from our God. God will save his own.

The Grace Bulletin

December 1, 2013

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 7:45 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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