GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE September 27, 2009
Treacherous is the word God uses to describe those self-serving men who are supposed to be his messengers, but instead handle the Word of God deceitfully and corrupt needy souls from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.
When God the Spirit Comes — Don Fortner (Tune: #118 — When I Survey — LM)
1. Survey, my soul the great displays Of sov’reign, free and saving grace: God chose us out of Adam’s race; Awake, awake, and sing His praise!
2. We did not, would not choose the Lord, Until, at the appointed hour, The Spirit shed His love abroad, Revealing Christ, with saving pow’r.
3. Christ chose, because He loved to choose; But I, with wretched, stubborn heart, Refused Him, while I could refuse, And often said to Him, “Depart.”
4. But when His saving grace I knew, Conquered, I made the Lord my choice: Since God created me anew, In Christ alone I will rejoice!
Seven Things Every Saved Sinner Knows and Confesses before God
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” (Isaiah 64:6-8).
All who are born of God are taught of him; and being taught of God, all who look to Christ alone as Savior and Lord know and confess that which Isaiah here confesses.
1. The Sinfulness and Utter Depravity of Our Own Hearts before God — “We are all as an unclean thing.” This metaphor is taken from the Levitical law of the Old Testament. A person who was unclean could not go up to the house of God. He was unfit for worship, unfit to make sacrifices, unfit to be in the company of others. Everything he touched became unclean. That is our condition by nature; and all who are taught of God confess it. Believers know that their hearts are evil and confess it. There is no possibility of salvation apart from the honest acknowledgment and confession of our sin (1 John 1:9).
2. Even Our Righteous Deeds are Abhorrently Evil — “All our righteousnesses are filthy rags.” Our best thoughts, noblest aspirations and most holy deeds are, in and of themselves, on their own merit, nothing but filthy rags, rotting, horribly smelly, corrupt, discarded menstrual cloths, no more acceptable to God than such filthy rags are to us!
3. Our Utter Helplessness and Spiritual Inability — “We all do fade as a leaf.” We have no ability whatsoever to help ourselves. Like the dead leaf hanging on the tree in winter, we are utterly powerless to make any change in ourselves.
4. Our Utter Alienation from God by Nature — “Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” By nature we are all far off from God, lost, undone, and incapable of bringing ourselves back to him (Ephesians 2:11-14). And every believer also knows that he has no power in himself to resist temptation (Romans 7:14-24).
5. Our Total Inability with Regard to All Things Spiritual — We cannot even pray. “There is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.” No man by nature can or will call upon the name of God (Romans 3:9-10). Not even true believers can, by their own strength, stir themselves up to take hold of God in prayer. True prayer must be put in the heart by God the Holy Spirit (2 Samuel 7:27).
6. The Justice of God in the Judgment of Our Sin — We take sides with God against ourselves. We say, “Thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” We deserve God’s wrath. Therefore, we justify him in our own condemnation (Psalm 51:1-4).
7. “Salvation is of the Lord!” — That is the meaning of verse 8. “But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our Potter, and we are all the work of thine hand.” God taught souls understand, believe, and confess that salvation is God’s work alone (1 Corinthians 15:10). We are the sons of God by divine adoption (1 John 3:1). We are vessels of mercy by divine predestination (Romans 8:29-30; 9:11-24). We are believers, new creatures in Christ by divine operations of grace (Ephesians 2:8-10).
“Hephzibah — The LORD delighteth in thee.”
Isaiah 63:4
Our God gives this name, “Hephzibah,” to his church and to every believer in his church. It means, “My delight is in her.” Christ delighted in his elect from everlasting as the objects of his love (Proverbs 8:31). He delighted in us at Calvary, when he endured the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross for us as our Substitute (Hebrews 12:2). He delights in us now as the objects and beneficiaries of his gracious operations, washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness and adorned with the beauty of his Spirit (Ezekiel 16:8-14). He delights in our company (Song of Solomon 7:6). He delights to see our faces, and hear our voices! And he will delight in us hereafter, when he presents us to himself a glorious church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing (Revelation 21:2-3); Ephesians 5:27).
He delights in his election of us (Deuteronomy 10:15). Election is a blessed gospel doctrine in which God’s saints delight. And our election by God delights him. His grace is immutable. He delights in his election of us as fully now as he did when he first chose us.
Our Lord delights in the godly fear and hope we have in him (Psalm 147:10-11). The fear we have for him is a fear he has given. It is reverence for and trust in him. And the hope he has given us is “a good hope through grace” of life everlasting in Christ.
Our Savior delights in the way of his saints (Psalm 37:23). He delights in our way, because our way is the way he has ordained, and he orders our steps in it. He delights in our way, because he sees the whole thing. If only we could see our way as he sees it, we would delight in it as he does. It is the way by which he brings us to himself!
God delights in the character of his people, too. Grace changes people in their very character. All who are in Christ are new creatures in Christ. Part of that new creation is the holy character that is formed in one who is born again. God delights in honesty, uprightness and truth (Proverbs 11:1; 20; 12:22); and he makes his people honest, upright and truthful. “The upright in heart” are people made upright by God. They praise him in their character. They protect the name of others (Proverbs 11:13). They are faithful even to their own hurt (Proverbs 11:17). They are gracious, virtuous and honorable (Proverbs 11:16). And they are merciful (Proverbs 11:17).
Moreover, God delights in the prayers of his saints (Pro. 15:8). All true prayer comes from God, goes to God, bows to the will of God, glorifies God and delights God (Hebrews 4:16). As God our Savior delights in us, let us delight in him. As he loves us, let us love him. As he is faithful to us, let us be faithful to him.
GRACE BULLETIN
September 27, 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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