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September 17, 2017

The doctrine of universal atonement is nothing short of universal blasphemy, asserting that Christ died in vain for the multitudes who perish in hell.

Daily Readings for the Week of September 17-24, 2017

Sunday Micah 1-5 Thursday Haggai 2-Zechariah 4

Monday Micah 6-Nahum 2 Friday Zechariah 5-9

Tuesday Nahum 3-Hab. 3 Saturday Zechariah 10-14

Wednesday Zeph. 1-Haggai 1 Sunday Malachi 1-4

Happy Birthday! Regina Henson-20^th Larry Brown-24^th

Nursery Duty This Week

Jayalita McCormack (AM) — Diane Campbell (PM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall

Atoning Blood — Don Fortner

(Tune: The Doxology —LM)

1. Good news the gospel herald bears,

To banish all my slavish fears: —

Christ, on the great atoning day,

Took all His people’s sins away.

2. I know He thus removed all mine

For I am blest with life divine;

And, sprinkled with atoning blood,

I trust the smitten Lamb of God.

3. Christ Jesus, my dear Surety,

Made sin for me, put sin away!

Yes, in His blood my sins were drowned,

And with my Lord I shall be crowned!

4. Trusting Christ Jesus crucified,

The Spirit has the blood applied,

That seals my pardon, quells my fear,

And gives the hope of glory here.

The Meaning of Christ’s Death

Hebrews 9:12

Just what did the Son of God accomplish by his death upon the cursed tree? How did he obtain eternal redemption for us by the sacrifice of himself? The Word of God speaks about the death of Christ in these four distinct ways.

He made a substitutionary sacrifice for his elect, dying in our room and stead (2 Corinthians 5:21).
He made propitiation for our sins, satisfied the justice of God for every sinner for whom he died (Romans 3:23-26).
He redeemed (delivered) us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13).
He effectually secured the everlasting salvation (the blessing of Abraham, the gift of the Spirit) for his ransomed ones (Galatians 3:14).

Christ Our Substitutionary Sacrifice

2 Corinthians 5:21

Our blessed Savior was our penal Substitute. As such, he made a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:26 states, “but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Now, if the Lord Jesus put away sins by that sacrifice, he made a substitutionary sacrifice for sins. His sacrifice was for a specific people. A substitute specifically takes the place of another. As our Substitute, the Lord Jesus took on himself the sins of those specific sinners for whom he died and was made sin for them. When he was made sin for us, our guilt became his guilt; and he was justly punished for our sins.

If the Lord Jesus Christ had substituted for all without exception, then all must be saved without exception. Conversely, since not all are saved, he must have substituted for only those who have been, are, and will be saved.

Almost 800 years before the death of Christ, God the Holy Ghost spelled out in Isaiah 53 that which was drawn up in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. Every statement in that blessed chapter is talking substitution. Christ our Surety is that Man of whom David spoke in Psalm 15:4. — “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not!” The chastisement that has brought us peace with God was not upon us, but upon him. “Your sin,” as Martin Luther said, “cannot be in two places at one time. It’s either on Christ or on you.”

And does Isaiah say that with his stripes, we may be healed if we cooperate? No, he says, “With his stripes we are healed!” It’s an accomplished work. His substitutionary sacrifice is forever a gloriously effectual atonement for our sins! — The cross of Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage! — “He shall not fail!” — “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied!”

If a woman goes through labor and birth pains, she would be most heartbroken if her baby were stillborn. She will be satisfied only if and when her baby is held as a living child in her arms. Now, if you believe in universal atonement, you are saying that the cross of Christ is a miscarriage, that the Son of God travailed in the pains of death, only to bring forth nothing, that he travailed for everybody but he cannot bring anybody to life. — Blasphemy!

God the Holy Ghost assures us throughout the Book of Inspiration that every soul for which the Lord Jesus Christ travailed in birth pains on the cross of Calvary will be born whole. In this Exodus, as it was with Israel coming out of Egypt, you will not find “one feeble person among their tribes” (Psalm 105:37). That’s what we mean by limited atonement.

Christ Our Propitiatory Sacrifice

Romans 3:23-26

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Propitiation (1 John 4:10). He propitiated (satisfied) the law and justice of God for his people. He reconciled his people to God. He appeased the righteous wrath of God. He removed all the enmity between us and God. As a result, there is no condemnation, no wrath, no curse for us to bear.

I ask you: Did Christ’s death reconcile Esau to the Father? Did the Son of God snatch Korah, Dathan, and Abiram out of hell? Did he remove the enmity between God and those Pharisees he called “hypocrites,” “serpents,” and “vipers”? If you answer from the Bible, your answer can be nothing else but “No.”

Christ Our Redemptive Sacrifice

Galatians 3:13

The Son of God redeemed his people, all his people, and none but his people from the curse of the law. — “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.” When the Word of God declares that “Christ hath redeemed us,” it does not mean that Christ made it possible for us to be redeemed. It means that the Son of God, by his sin-atoning sacrifice of himself at Calvary, purchased us out from under the curse of the law, loosed us from the bondage of the law, and delivered us from all sin and all its evil consequences.

Did the Lord Jesus redeem Judas Iscariot from the curse of the law? You know he didn’t. Of Judas, he said in Matthew 26:24 — “Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” But he did redeem his people!

Christ Jesus my discharge procured, The whole of wrath divine endured:

The law’s tremendous curse He bore. Justice can never ask for more.

Payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding Surety’s hand,

And then demand the price from me, for whom Christ died at Calvary.

Be still, my soul, and find sweet rest. – The merits of my great High Priest,

His righteousness and precious blood, have satisfied the Holy God.

I’ll trust Christ’s efficacious blood, and never fear the wrath of God,

Since Jesus Christ has died for me, and lives for me to intercede!

Christ Our Efficacious Sacrifice

Galatians 3:14

The atonement of Christ is followed by the Spirit’s mighty operations of grace in regeneration and effectual calling, giving chosen, redeemed sinners life and faith in Christ. God the Spirit tells us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law that “the blessing of Abraham…the promise of the Spirit” would come upon all his redeemed ones. In his first epistle, the apostle Peter addresses believers as the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”

As the atoning work of our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, was limited in design by the purpose of God in election, so the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit is limited by the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God never regenerates any except those that were purchased by the Son and chosen by the Father. As Bro. Jesse Gistand once stated, as he preached a message from Ezekiel 37, “Where the blood don’t flow the Spirit don’t go.”

But God the Holy Ghost always regenerates and irresistibly calls those who are chosen and redeemed to life and faith in Christ. The sacrifice of Christ is an effectual atonement for our sins. His death at Calvary is redemption accomplished. The Spirit’s work of grace in regeneration is redemption applied.

The Grace Bulletin

September 17, 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