December 5, 2010 ____________________________________________________
My relationship with God does, in great measure, determine what I do; but what I do does not, in any measure, determine my relationship with God. ____________________________________________________
“Dost Thou Believe?” — Don Fortner (Tune: #497 — When I Can Read My Title Clear —CM)
1. The Son of God, my Savior, says, “Dost thou believe on me?” And He alone deserves my praise, To Whom by faith I flee.
2. “Dost thou believe” on God’s own Son, And on His grace rely? — Yours is eternal life begun, And you shall never die!
3. “Dost thou believe,” who vainly thought By works you could be saved? Then you are by the Savior taught, To you this faith He gave.
4. “Dost thou believe?” — “I fear,” say some, “Faith’s marks I cannot find!” — Then rise, to Christ the Savior come, And leave your doubts behind.
5. If sin you hate, and o’er it grieve, And mourn your heart depraved, If Christ you trust, — on Him believe, By Him you shall be saved! ____________________________________________________
The Sun the Center
“That in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18)
Five hundred years ago a Polish astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) made a shocking discovery, a discovery that would forever change the thinking of men about our universe. Copernicus demonstrated that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of our solar system. Up until that time everyone thought the Earth was the center.
You can imagine the effect Copernicus’ discovery had on astronomy. If everything you think about the universe has for its foundation the idea that the Earth is the center of everything, then every calculation made concerning the entire solar system has to be, in some sense, wrong. Copernicus’ discovery changed everything. In fact, the change was so radical that Copernicus’ discovery is considered “the starting point of modern astronomy” and the discovery that began the Scientific Revolution.
As in our universe, in the Word of God, in the things of God, in all matters spiritual, in the salvation of our souls, in all the revelation and knowledge of God, and in the worship and service of God, the Sun is the center of everything — The Sun of Righteousness! The glory of God in Christ is central.
If ever this religious world, pastors, preachers, evangelists, missionaries, and local churches come to see this, it will revolutionize everything. Man is not central. The glory of God is central. And the glory of God is the redemption of our souls by Christ. The glory of God, the shining of the brilliance, the display of the splendor of God is the salvation of our souls by Christ.
The preaching of Christ crucified is the revelation of the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). To preach the Word of God is to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:23-25). To preach “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) is to preach “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). That is to say, the Word of God has not been preached unless the gospel of Christ is preached. No text of Scripture has been rightly expounded until Christ is proclaimed from it.
When you see this, when you see that “Christ is all,” when you understand that the glory of God is central, it changes everything. It changes everything about a man, changes everything about a preacher, and changes everything about a local church. It changes our message, our music, our methods, our missionary work, everything! Yes, the preaching of the cross is, to them that perish, foolishness; but to all who are called it is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-23).
“We preach Christ crucified!” — That is not just a slogan to make a church or ministry attractive. In the church of the living God those words declare the whole purpose of our existence and describe the totality of our ministry. We have no other purpose, no other ministry, and no other activity. — “We preach Christ crucified!” ____________________________________________________
“The Earth shall be Filled with the Knowledgeof the Glory of the Lord” — Habakkuk 2:14
Habakkuk 2:12 is a pronouncement of certain wrath upon all false freewill/works religion. — “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!” Habakkuk uses that which the Lord God did to the physical city of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:58) as a picture of that which God shall do to all false religion (spiritual Babylon).
The name of the city here condemned, as it is given in Scripture, is “that great city Babylon” (Revelation 18:2, 10, 21), “which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt” (Revelation 11:8). It is a city, a religion, built with blood and established by iniquity. She is drunk with the blood of God’s prophets, his saints, and the souls she has damned by her poison (Revelation 18:24). The damning poison of Babylon is freewill/works salvation.
Horrible as the religion of antichrist is, it shall never prevail. — “Behold, [is it] not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?” (Habakkuk 2:13) Yes, even this is according to the purpose of God, and is used by our God for the eternal salvation of his elect and the everlasting glory of his own great name (1 Corinthians 11:19; Psalm 76:10).
Our great God, in his infinite wisdom and sovereign goodness, providentially overrules the wicked designs of the devil and his servants, the preachers of freewill/works religion, to separate his wheat from the tares. He takes Satan's devices and uses them for his own defeat and to accomplish the very thing the devil tries to prevent, the everlasting good of his people!
When the dust of all heresy settles, those who are true followers of Christ will be made manifest. They may waver in the confusion; but God's saints will not be moved away from the hope of the gospel. When all the sowers of heresy have had their last fling, the cause of Christ will not be hindered, and believers will still cling to Christ with stronger faith than ever before.
Satan seeks, more than in any other way, by the delusions of will-worship, by the delusions of false religion, to overthrow the purpose of God in the salvation of his elect. The fiend of hell seeks, in all things, to rob God of his glory. But, blessed be the name of the Lord, Satan shall not prevail! Babylon shall fall and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (v. 14).
How are we to understand this marvelous declaration? — Are we to believe that even in the midst of such base darkness and corruption as we see in the world around us God is accomplishing his purpose of grace toward his elect? — Are we to believe that even in the midst of all the idolatry and satanic will-worship religion of this age God is filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Triune God and making himself an everlasting and glorious name? That is exactly what Habakkuk here declares (Isaiah 63:11-14). So let us proclaim the glory! ____________________________________________________
THE GRACE BULLETIN December 5, 2010
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
Older
Top
