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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

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I would rather be a sinner saved, and saved in such a way as I am saved, by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, than to have never known sin and never have known Christ as m Savior.

Daily Readings for the Week of October 7-14, 2018

Sunday Mark 2-3 Thursday Mark 9-10

Monday Mark 4-5 Friday Mark 11-12

Tuesday Mark 6 Saturday Mark 13-14

Wednesday Mark 7-8 Sunday Mark 15-16

Happy Birthday! Kairi Guest-12^th Doug Hacker-12^th Mindy Shultz-13^th

Nursery Duty Today: Celeste Peterson (AM) — Ruth Wall (PM)

Touching the Hem of Christ’s Garment — Don Fortner

(Tune: When All Thy Mercies, O My God #11 —CM)

1. O sin-sick souls, dismiss your fears,

Come halt, the blind, the lame,

Come, touch the garment Jesus wears,

There’s healing in His name.

2. Till sick of ev’ry other way,

You’ll ne’er to Jesus go;

Whose words eternal life convey,

Whose wounds with pardon flow.

3. Though crushed with guilt, trembling with fear,

And sad beyond degree;

Still, in this garment Jesus wears

There’s healing full and free!

4. Come, stretch the wither’d hand today,

For Christ is passing by;

Your case will not allow delay;

Unless you touch, you die.

5. One touch of this celestial robe

Speaks pardon to the soul;

When sins more weighty than the globe

Across the conscience roll.

6. Through ev’ry crowd to Jesus press

When sin torments your mind;

Peace, pard’ning blood, and righteousness,

In His dear name you’ll find!

“If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons, it would be a righteous judgment upon them; but they would soon cry out with Cain, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear.’” — C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

“There is One Law”

Leviticus 7:7

God gave the children of Israel 613 distinct laws by his servant Moses, 613 specific commandments, 613 detailed, meticulous regulations of life and worship. Men divide those commandments into sections, trying to fit God into their own little box. Men speak of “the moral law,” “the ten commandments,” “the Levitical law,” “the ceremonial law,” “the dietary laws,” and “the civil law.” But God says, with regard to all the sacrifices and all the laws given to Israel, “there is one law.”

One Purpose

The whole law of God given in the Old Testament Scriptures has one purpose. That purpose is to make known to us our need of Christ as our only, sin-atoning sacrifice, by whom alone sinners can approach the holy Lord God and be accepted (Romans 3:19-26). The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to shut us up to Christ. It has no other lawful purpose, no other lawful function, and no other lawful usefulness.

Unbearable Yoke

The law is an unbearable yoke of bondage. Religious people have a foolish and deadly enchantment with the law of God. In many houses of worship the ten commandments are written out in large, bold letters and hung upon a wall in some conspicuous place for all to read. There are some churches where every Sunday the congregation mournfully chants, “Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep thy law.” Some are even so foolish as to enter into a covenant for their children and vow before God that “They shall keep God’s holy commandments and walk in them all the days of their lives.” The pulpit, which should proclaim freedom and liberty in Christ, lays a heavy yoke of bondage upon people which they cannot bear. Men and women are taught from their youth up to groan under the yoke of the law and to labor after righteousness where it can never be found.

The law of God, including the ten commandments, was never intended by God to produce righteousness of any kind, to justify sinners, or to be a rule of life for God’s people in this world. The law was given to convince us of our sin, to condemn us for sin, and to show us our need of a substitute. But it was never intended to be a means of attaining righteousness. Just the opposite is true. The law was given to convince us of the impossibility of attaining righteousness by our own works (Galatians 3:10). Preachers make a mixture of the law and the gospel and serve out the deadly poison with such regularity that the people are so stupefied that they do not know the difference. In most places, for every ounce of gospel preached, there is a pound of law! That will never do. If the message of the pulpit is not all gospel, all mercy, all grace, there is no soundness in it.

One Commandment

“There is one law!” The whole revelation of God in the law is designed to teach us one law. — “This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23).

“There is One Law

1 John 3:23

In 1^st John 3:23, God the Holy Ghost gives us the one law to which the whole law of God points, the one law that must be obeyed by us. — “This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” This is what the Spirit of inspiration calls “the commandment of the everlasting God.” This is the one commandment you must obey. And if you obey this commandment, you will live forever. Obedience to this commandment is called “the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26). The one thing God requires of every sinner is faith in his Son.

No Prerequisites

Acts 16:31

There are no prerequisites to faith in Christ. God does not tell sinners they must know this or that doctrine before they can believe. God does not tell us that we must experience certain feelings before we can believe. God does not tell us that we must pass through great times of darkness before we can believe. God does say in his Word to poor, lost, ruined, doomed, damned sinners, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!”

Self-righteousness is like the pesky mole. Drive it out of one hole and it will quickly find another in which to make its den. We have fairly well beaten it out of the den of good works as a ground of hope before God. But it has found another hiding place. The dark den where self-righteousness hides with little possibility of detection is called by many names: “Fitness for Faith,” “Conditions of Conversion,” “Suitability for Salvation,” and “Qualifications for Grace.”

No matter what name you hang over the hole, it is a den of iniquity. It teaches sinners that in order to have true faith in Christ there are certain conditions that must be met. The doctrine goes like this: “Salvation is by grace alone. It is not what you do, but what Christ has done that saves you. But before you can truly trust Christ and be saved, you must be terrified with conviction, you must weep and mourn over your sin, you must desire holiness, you must repent, you must long for Christ, you must come to see yourself as a lost sinner, and then earnestly seek the Lord.

That is a round-about way of preaching salvation by works. There are no prerequisites, no conditions, no qualifications to be met by sinners before they trust Christ. The gospel of Christ is addressed to sinners as sinners, not awakened sinners, not sensible sinners, not convicted sinners, not lost sinners, not repentant sinners, just sinners! God does not command sinners to feel a certain way, experience something, or come to realize something about themselves. God commands sinners to “believe on his Son, Jesus Christ.” The moment a preacher places any condition or qualification of any kind upon the sinner before he can trust Christ and be saved, he ceases to preach a gospel of pure grace. Repentance, conviction of sin, lamentation and sorrow over sin are not prerequisites for coming to Christ and trusting him. These things do not precede faith. They are the results of faith (Zechariah 12:10; John 16:7-14).

The Grace Bulletin

October 7, 2018

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