GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE February 22, 2009
If Christ did not save all for whom he died, he is no Savior, there is no salvation and we have no gospel to preach. — How can that be called “gospel” (good news) that declares “Christ died for you, but he has not actually redeemed you, put away your sins, or completely saved you”?
• I am scheduled to preach Wednesday night for GRACE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH in Wheelersburg, OH, where Bro. Charles Pennington is pastor.
Since God my Father Reigns — Don Fortner (Tune: #46 — O for a Thousand Tongues — CM)
1. Who dares dispute Jehovah’s right To universal sway? It is our comfort and delight To know God has His way.
2. Rejoice, my soul, my Father reigns! Let all creation know That what His sov’reign will ordains, No pow’r can overthrow!
3. All worlds obey my Father’s nod, And His decrees fulfil; Our strong, eternal, cov’nant God, Performs His sov’reign will!
4. Forgive, O Lord, my base complaints, Of ignorance and pride! I should, since God my Father reigns, In joyful peace abide!
“The Prisoner of Jesus Christ” Ephesians 3:1
My soul! art thou a prisoner of Jesus Christ? See to it, if so, that, like the apostle, thou art bound with Jesus’ chains for “the hope of Israel.” They are golden chains. When Paul and Silas were fast bound in the prison, the consciousness of this made them sing for joy. Men have their prisons, and God hath his. But here lies the vast difference: no bars or grates, among the closest prisons of men, can shut God out from comforting his prisoners; and, on the contrary, nothing can come in to afflict Jesus’ prisoners, when he keeps them by the sovereignty of his grace, and love, and power. Blessed Lord! look upon thy poor prisoner; and come in, dear Lord, with thy wonderful condescension, and do as thou hast said: sup with him, and cause him to sup with thee. — Robert Hawker
“Of Him”
1 Corinthians 1:30
The Scriptures declare, to the everlasting consolation of our souls, that all things are “of him.” God our Father is the original cause of all things. It is written, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Romans 11:36). When speaking specifically about the salvation of our souls, the Apostle Paul wrote, “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Salvation is altogether the work of God. Man makes no contribution to the work, neither by his works nor by his will. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Romans 9:16).
Absolute Sovereignty
This great work of God is a work of absolute sovereignty. Salvation belongs to God (Psalm 3:8). He gives it to whom he will. He is under no constraint to bestow his salvation upon any; but he has graciously chosen to bestow it upon some. Indeed, this is his glory. He will be gracious to whom he will be gracious. He said to Moses, when Moses asked to see his glory, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion…Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth” (Romans 9:15, 18).
Infinite Wisdom
God’s salvation is a work of infinite wisdom. It is the display of “the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11). In infinite wisdom the God of all grace devised a means by which he could be both “a just God and a Saviour” (Isaiah 45:21). If God is true to his word (And he assuredly is!), every sin must be punished to the full satisfaction of divine justice, every transgression and disobedience must receive a just recompense of reward, and every sinner must die under the wrath of God. Yet, infinite wisdom found a way to save. The Lord God says of his chosen, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). And through that ransom, by the substitutionary sacrifice of his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, “by mercy and truth iniquity is purged” (Proverbs 16:4).
Strict Justice
The salvation of our souls is accomplished by the strict, unbending justice of God. When Christ was made sin for us, the Lord God poured out on his darling Son all the fury of his holy wrath and justice. At last, when the Lamb of God cried, “It is finished” and gave up the ghost, when the sword of justice buried itself in his dear Son, God said, “Enough! Justice demands no more!” And now he declares to every soul for whom Christ died, to every sinner who trusts his Son, “Fury is not in me” (Isaiah 27:4).
Free Grace
This great salvation, justly obtained by our Lord Jesus Christ by the price of his own precious blood, is freely bestowed upon chosen, redeemed sinners as the unconditional bounty of God’s free grace. It cannot be earned by man, or lost by man. It is the gift “of God!”
“In Christ”
1 Corinthians 1:30
What wonderful words those are — “In Christ!” “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus!” Salvation is being “in Christ.” All true believers are in Christ. Every sinner born of God is in Christ. We are in him, as branches are in the vine, and entirely dependent upon him, drawing the sap of life from him. We are in him as members are in the body. We are in him as he is in the Father. We are vitally united to him by a living union of faith. We are not in him by an act of our own free will, but by the work of God’s free, sovereign, almighty grace! — “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus!”
Eternally in Christ
Our union with Christ did not commence in time. We were in him secretly from eternity. There was a time before time began, a beginning before the beginning of time, when the Son of God stood forth as our Surety. As soon as he volunteered to save us and the Father trusted him to save us, as soon as he was made the Surety of the better covenant for us (Hebrews 7:22), we were in him, in him by the will, purpose and decree of the triune God.
Saved in Christ
To be in Christ is to be saved; and being in Christ from eternity, all God’s elect were redeemed by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Being redeemed by the blood of the covenant Lamb, we were justified, named as the sons of God, and glorified in Christ before the world began (Romans 8:29-31), and blessed of God with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). All with which God can or will bless man, he has freely bestowed upon us in Christ in infinite measure from eternity!
Accepted in Christ
The God of all grace “hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6), not acceptable, accepted! That means that we were from eternity, are now, and forever shall be the objects of God’s approval, favor, delight and satisfaction. Did not the Father speaking from heaven declare, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”? Indeed, he did (Matthew 17:5); and because we are in his Son and one with his Son, the God of heaven is well-pleased with us, and never can be displeased with us, until he is displeased with his Son! Yes, he is often displeased with what we do, as he was with the thing that David did; and though he will show his displeasure, he will never cease his own to cherish!
Manifestly in Christ
At the appointed time of love, every chosen redeemed sinner is made to be manifestly in Christ, when he is born again by God the Holy Spirit and given the blessed gift of faith in God’s dear Son. But our union with Christ is not more real then than before. Indeed, it is our union with Christ by which we were sanctified by God the Father in eternal election, and preserved in Jesus Christ, unto the day that we were called by God the Spirit to life and faith in our blessed Savior (Jude 1). In Christ we are saved, safe and secure forever by God’s free grace!
GRACE BULLETIN
February 22, 2009
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
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