“A new creation” is not the old nature renovated, adorned, and beautified. It is not the flesh with its corruptions and lusts trimmed and trained; but it is the new and Divine nature with its spiritual blessings, immunities, and privileges.” — Thomas Bradbury
• WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! We are delighted to welcome Allen Kibby, Mabel Dix, Jerry Sadler, Marilyn Sadler, Joe Blakely and Cynthia Blakely into the fellowship of our assembly.
Chosen, Redeemed, Sought Out I Am — Don Fortner (Tune: Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone? #342 CM)
1. Chosen, redeemed, sought out I am, And saved by sovereign grace, In Christ complete, I lift my voice, The triune God to praise!
2. My Father chose me by His grace Before He made the world, Adopted and predestined me To be His holy child.
3. Christ Jesus shed His precious blood Upon the cursed tree; My Substitute has satisfied The law of God for me.
4. The Spirit, by almighty grace, Awakened me from death, Revealing Christ, He brought me life And gave this sinner faith.
5. Chosen, redeemed, sought out I am, And saved by sovereign grace, In Christ complete, I lift my voice The triune God to praise!
Six Facts
“We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)
Here are six facts revealed in the Gospel of God our Savior. They are facts. They may enrage you; but hey cannot be refuted. They may, when faithfully proclaimed, destroy churches; but they cannot be denied. They may be mocked and ridiculed by preachers, theologians and religious leaders; but they cannot be resisted. They are facts of Divine Revelation.
1. All men and women by nature, since the fall of our father Adam, are sinners, alienated from God.
“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). — As sinners, we are alienated from the life of God and have become enemies unto God. The wages of our sin and enmity to God is death. Every transgression must receive its just recompense of reward (Hebrews 2:2). All sin must be punished, either in the sinner or in the sinner’s Substitute. The law, being broken, accuses of sin, condemns the sinner and demands death. Unless satisfaction is made, the sentence of the law must be executed. The sanction of the law is death. It can never be abrogated, changed, altered or abated. God will never relax his justice! “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” (Ezekiel 18:2). But…
2. It is the will of God to save sinners.
“He delighteth in mercy!” — God has decreed the salvation of some. Christ came to save some. There are some people in this world who must and shall be saved, because it is the will of God to save them; and God’s will cannot be frustrated (John 10:16). Every chosen sinner (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), every predestined son (Romans 8:29-30), every heir of the covenant (Ephesians 1:3-7), everyone whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world must be saved (Revelation 13:8). There is no possibility that even one of God’s elect will perish! However…
3. It is impossible for a holy and just God to save any sinner apart from the satisfaction of justice.
“Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). — The God of Glory declares, “I will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). I know that God is omnipotent, almighty and sovereign. He does what he will! But God cannot do that which is contrary to his nature and character. We do not rob God of his sovereignty when we repeat the declaration of Scripture and say, “God cannot lie.” He who is the Truth cannot lie. Neither do we rob God of his sovereignty when we assert this truth of Holy Scripture — God cannot forgive sin without the satisfaction of justice. The just, holy and true God must punish sin.
4. The only way the justice of God could ever be satisfied is by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ (Job 34:23; Romans 3:24-26).
God could not die, and man could not satisfy; but the God-man both died and satisfied. Two facts demonstrate clearly that there was no other way for justice to be satisfied.
First, the love of God the Father for his Son proves it. Would God almighty slay his darling Son, if there were any other way to save his people from their sins? God forbid!
Second, the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane proves it (Matthew 26:39). If the salvation of his people could be accomplished by any means other than his death upon the cross, would not God the Father have granted his tormented Son the desire of his soul?
5. It is impossible for God in his holiness to punish any sinner for whose sins justice has been satisfied by the blood of Christ (Isaiah 53:11 Romans 7:14).
The law has no claim upon an executed felon! All for whom Christ died died with him (2 Corinthians 5:15). And, dying with him, we are dead to the law (Romans 7:4).
“Payment God cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine!”
6. Every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ has been chosen, redeemed and called, and must be forever saved.
It is written in the Book of God, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). May God the Holy Spirit now enable you by his sovereign grace to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. If you trust the Son of God, your faith in him is the fruit and evidence of his grace to you, upon you and in you.
Grace Before Grace
Before Noah’s salvation in the ark is revealed, before Noah’s character is revealed, the grace of God is first revealed. Let it always be clear that the grace of God precedes all that God has done for us, and all that He will do in us, in salvation (Genesis 6:8).
Pastor John Chapman Hurricane Road Grace Church Ashland, KY
GRACE BULLETIN
August 16, 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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