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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

July 23, 2017

The Lord God may use a false prophet to preach the truth, as he did Balaam (Numbers 23:21-23), but he does not use the religious lies of false prophets to save his elect. It is the gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation. God uses gospel truth to bring sinners to believe on him who is the Truth.

Daily Readings for the Week of July 23-30, 2017

Sunday Isaiah 39-41 Thursday Isaiah 54-58

Monday Isaiah 42-44 Friday Isaiah 59-63

Tuesday Isaiah 45-48 Saturday Isaiah 64-66

Wednesday Isaiah 49-53 Sunday Jeremiah 1-3

· I am preaching today for the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Ewing, NJ, where Bro. Clay Curtis is pastor. You are privileged to have Pastor John Chapman here to preach the gospel to you today. Bro. Chapman is pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Spring Lake, NC.

· Conference Offering Next Sunday

Nursery Duty This Week

Shante’ Birchum (AM) — Debbie Bartley (PM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall

Waiting to be Gracious — Don Fortner

Isaiah 30:18

(Tune: #477 — When I Can Read My Title Clear — CM)

So great the love, so rich the grace of our eternal God, —

He waits to save His chosen race with efficacious blood.

He waits, while they His grace defy, until th’ appointed hour,

(Fixed in the council held on high), of mercy, love, and pow’r.

He waits to show His saving name and make His mercy known:

He waits His ransomed to reclaim and gather in His own.

My God, and did You wait for me, to manifest Your love?

Teach me to wait in hope to see my Savior’s face above.

God’s waiting to be gracious still, though clouds may hide His face:

I’ll wait the wonders of His will and sing His matchless grace!

“When our God sent the flood, the whole world perished except those happy ones who were found in the ark. Even so, there is only ONE WAY of salvation for all persons living under heaven. There is only one name whereby they can be saved. Would you be saved, rich man? There is no way except that way whereby the poorest pauper is also to be saved. Would you be delivered, O man of intelligence? You must be saved in the same way as the most ignorant! There were not two arks, only one. So there are not two saviors, only one Savior! There was no other means of salvation except the ark; so ‘there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.’” — Pastor Henry Mahan

Necessary Hearing

Romans 10:14-17

In order to believe on Christ, you must hear the gospel of the grace of God in Christ (v. 14; 17). — “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” It is impossible for sinners to believe in Christ until they have heard the gospel of Christ. The word “heard,” as it is used in this text, is to be understood loosely, in a very wide sense. It is not merely listening with the ear; but you must, by some means or other, come to a knowledge of the truth. You cannot believe what you do not know. And you cannot know what you do not hear, or read, or by some means learn. You must come to know the gospel. Otherwise, you can never believe in Christ (Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21).

One Gospel

There is but one gospel, and that is the gospel of the grace of God in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-3). There are many things taught plainly and clearly revealed in the gospel. But particularly there are three vital points.

1. Grace Alone! — Salvation is by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). The grace of God is eternal, sovereign, effectual, and immutable.

2. Christ Alone! — Salvation has been accomplished by Christ alone (1 Corinthians 1:30). The gospel of substitution is the only gospel there is. No man preaches the gospel who fails to plainly declare “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” He died voluntarily, by his own sovereign will and purpose. He died vicariously, in the room and place of his elect, his sheep, the people he came to save. And he died victoriously, fully accomplishing all he died to accomplish. He put away the sins of his people. He obtained eternal redemption for his elect. He justified all for whom he died.

3. Faith Alone! — Salvation is received by faith alone (Romans 3:20-31).

Hearing Necessary

The hearing of the gospel is necessary for the salvation of sinners. —“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” There are many ways in which you might hear the gospel; but the primary means employed by God for the salvation of sinners is preaching, the public ministry of the Word. The Eunuch in Acts 8 could not understand Isaiah 53, except some man show him the meaning of Isaiah’s words. So God sent Phillip to preach the gospel to him. Lydia could not believe until God sent Paul to open the Scriptures to her. And when he opened the Scriptures to her, the Spirit of God used his preaching of the gospel to open her heart (Acts 16). Onesimus was providentially brought to Rome, just at the time Paul was a prisoner there, that he might hear the gospel from the mouth of God’s servant and be saved by his grace.

If you are interested in your immortal soul, make it your business to hear the gospel. Be sure that what you hear is the gospel. The more often you hear the better. And beg of God that he may, by the gospel of his free grace, give you life and faith in Christ, by the effectual power of his Holy Spirit.

Preachers Needed and Sent

Romans 10:13-17

In order to hear the gospel, someone must preach the gospel to you. — “How shall they hear without a preacher?” God will not reveal the gospel to men by supernatural agencies. Someone must make the truth known to men. They cannot learn without being taught. So, let us carry the Word of grace to perishing men.

Preachers Needed

Preachers are needed. I have, for many years, regularly travelled many miles to preach to churches that have no pastor. Many who speak of being called to preach the gospel are aware of the need, but are not willing to go to unappealing places. How sad! I pity such men. God’s servants go wherever the Lord God is pleased to send them, without consideration for their own welfare and desires.

Let us heed our Lord’s command and pray incessantly that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into the field to gather in his harvest by the preaching of the gospel.

If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are his witness, and you should be his preacher. You may never stand in a pulpit, but you should be a preacher of the gospel. You do not have to have any great learning or unusual gifts to preach the gospel. If you know the gospel, you can tell it to others. You can tell sinners what Christ did at Calvary. And you can tell people what God has done for you by his grace. Usually, it is not a lack of ability that keeps us from witnessing to men; it is a lack of concern for their souls, and a lack of love for Christ.

When you have told a sinner the story of the cross, you have fulfilled your responsibility to him. This is a debt we owe to all men. Make it your business every day to tell some perishing, eternity bound sinner the way of life. It is a shameful pity that any man should live and die without hearing the gospel.

Preachers Sent

In order to preach the gospel, a man must be sent of God. — “How shall they preach except they be sent?” No man can truly preach the gospel in the power of God the Holy Ghost except he be sent of God. Here are four things that are true of every gospel preacher.

1. He has a message to deliver. He is an ambassador with a message.

2. He must deliver the message God has given him. There is an impulse within. He carries with him the burden of the Lord. It is like fire in his bones.

3. He will deliver his message with the authority and power of heaven’s eternal throne.

4. He will return to his Master to give a report of his labor.

Will you pray for your pastor, and for every man called and sent of God to preach the gospel, that every time they stand before eternity bound sinners to open the Book of God they may be at that hour sent of God? Every time you are privileged to hear a man preach the gospel, pray that God will graciously send him with a message to you. If he does, the gospel will come to you, not in word only, but “in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.”

The Grace Bulletin

July 23, 2017

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