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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

June 19, 2016

Where the Spirit of God is obviously absent men and women commonly fake his presence by activity, hand waving, clapping, shouting, and carnal, fleshly music intended to move the body and stir natural emotions. Where the Spirit of God is present there is both silent reverence in the worship of God.

Daily Readings for the Week of June 19-26, 2016

Sunday Psalm 51-59 Thursday Psalm 79-86

Monday Psalm 60-68 Friday Psalm 87-92

Tuesday Psalm 69-73 Saturday Psalm 93-102

Wednesday Psalm 74-78 Sunday Psalm 103-106

· Bro. Mark Daniel will bring the message here tonight. Shelby and I will leave this afternoon for Cape Girardeau, MO. I am scheduled to preach at the Cape Girardeau House of Prayer Monday through Wednesday. — Bro. Joseph Hefflin is the pastor.

Happy Birthday! Mabel Dix-20^th Bill Rolley-21^st June Roundtree-21^st

Bob Duff-24^th Josh Peterson-25^th Ruth Peterson-25^th Walter Groover-25^th

A Guilty Debtor, Vile and Poor — Don Fortner

(Tune: #44 — Amazing Love —LM)

1. A guilty debtor, vile and poor,

I bowed and knocked at Mercy’s Door.

Knowing my debt, I could not pay,

I feared I must be turned away.

But Christ, Who died my soul to save,

In mercy free, my debt forgave!

He Who my debt had fully paid

Would not His ransomed turn away.

2. His sov’reign grace shall be my boast,

For I am bound to love Him most.

I owed the most! — Nothing could pay!

But Christ took all my sin away!

I’ll triumph in redeeming love,

When I ascend to Heaven above,

And sing in Heav’n’s eternal day,

Christ paid my debt and bought my way!

Faith in Christ

Faith in Christ is not to work but to cease from our labor and to rest in Him for all things. Faith in Christ is not to do anything, but to believe and own that all is done in Him, by Him, and is imputed to us so fully that we are rewarded as if we did it ourselves! Pastor Henry Mahan

“He that searcheth the hearts.”

Romans 8:27

This is the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. None can search the heart but he who made the heart. The searching of the heart is the prerogative of God alone. No one has the ability to do it but him; and no one has the right to do it but him. Christ himself is the Searcher of the hearts of his people. He searches his own precious deposit in our hearts.

Hypocrisy Foolish

Because he searches the heart, hypocrisy is the work of fools (1 Chronicles 28:9). As Solomon might deceive David and all of Israel, so men deceive men; but no one can deceive God. God sees all things. He sees us as we really are. He looks beyond the mask of our profession and sees what we are.

The Searching

Our Lord Jesus searches the hearts of men by the piercing, penetrating power of his Word (Hebrews 4:12-13). The Word of God pierces and penetrates the heart. Like light shining in darkness, it shows us what we are.

Our Lord searches the heart by the piercing, penetrating power of his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10). When the Spirit of God searches the heart, he makes great revelations of things that could never be known without him (John 16:7-20). He shows us our sin. He shows us the merit and efficacy of Christ’s righteousness and blood atonement. And he shows us the goodness and grace of God in Christ.

Nothing Hidden

He who searches the heart knows all about me He knows everything in the heart. Nothing is more terrifying to the hypocrite, and nothing is more comforting and delightful to the believer than the knowledge that Christ our God searches and looks upon the heart (John 21:15-17). We can never get out of God’s sight or reach; and so we would have it. With all the personal vileness that God’s searching exposes in me, still my cry is — “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

David sought this searching (Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24). Nathaniel looked upon this as an identifying characteristic of our Lord Jesus as the Christ of God (John 1:48-49). The Samaritan Woman believed because of it (John 4:29). And Peter took refuge in it (John 21:15-17).

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“The Mind of the Spirit”

Romans 8:27

“He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.” — The Lord Jesus knows all about us, even when we are puzzling and confusing to ourselves.

His Own Experience

He knows the mind of the Spirit in the experience of every believer. Though our Lord Jesus was altogether without the need of grace, because he was perfectly righteous, yet as a man he lived in this world in perfect faith as the God-man our Mediator. He was constantly ministered to by the Spirit. The Spirit, who is given to us by measure, was given to Christ the Man without measure (John 3:34).

All that he was and did in his earthly life and ministry he ascribes to the Holy Spirit. Was he born of Mary? It was by the work of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Was he consecrated to God in his baptism? It was by the Spirit of God descending upon him (Matthew 3:16). Was he led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil? It was God the Holy Spirit who drove him into the wilderness of temptation (Matthew 4:1). Did he return from his temptation untouched by it? He returned in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14). Did he identify himself in the synagogue as the One of whom Isaiah wrote? It was by declaring, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Luke 4:18). Did he cast out demons? It was by the Spirit of God that he did so (Matthew 12:28). Did he offer himself without spot to God? It was through the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). Did he rise again from the dead? It was by the Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4). He was “justified in the Spirit.”

Even Now

Even now, our Lord Jesus Christ performs his work for us and in us by his Holy Spirit. All his works of grace in us are “according to the mind of the Spirit” and by the Holy Spirit.

Did he instruct the Apostles after his resurrection? It was through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2). He gives dead sinners life in the new birth by his Spirit (John 3:5-8). In the new birth, the Lord Jesus puts his Spirit in us and causes his people to live in the Spirit. All who believe live in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not an imaginary second work of grace. It was the work of Christ at Pentecost, which we come to experience in saving grace. If I have been born of God, I live in the Spirit (Romans 8:9).

The Lord Jesus comforts his redeemed by the Holy Spirit, our Divine Comforter, Guide, and Teacher (John 16:7-20)

In Us

Our Lord Jesus lives in us by his Spirit, making all who are born of God “partakers of the divine nature”(2 Peter 1:4), and by his Spirit seals to our hearts all the blessings, gifts, benefits, and covenant promises of the Triune God (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Whatever gifts of grace we possess are the gifts of God the Holy Spirit, who is the ascension gift of Christ to his people (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). If we have faith, it is the fruit, operation, and gift of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). If we have hope, it is “through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). If the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, it is by the Holy Ghost given to us (Romans 5:5). If we pray, it is in the Spirit and by the Spirit in us (Romans 8:26; Jude 20). If we sing, our singing is nothing, unless we sing in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15). If I preach, my preaching is altogether useless unless I preach in the Spirit (1 Peter 1:12).

“Every virtue we possess, and every victory won,

Every thought of holiness, are His and His alone!”

All these things are the works and gifts of God the Holy Ghost in his saints. Yet, there are times when our spiritual life is at such a low ebb that we cannot see any grace in our souls, Even then, especially then, our Lord Jesus, the Heart Searcher, knows all about us and tenderly cares for us. Even when we know it not, “He knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.” (See Psalm 42:5-11).

The Grace Bulletin

June 19, 2016

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 576-3400 — 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