GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE February 27, 2011 ______________________________________
“Clear conviction of sin is the only true origin of dependence on another’s righteousness, and therefore (strange to say!) of the Christian’s peace of mind and cheerfulness.” — Robert Murray M’Cheyne
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Christ Our Advocate — Don Fortner (Tune: #118 — When I Survey — LM) 1. O sinner, helpless, poor, and lost, While hell with guilt and fears accosts, Broken and bowed with this great weight, Trust Christ, the Lord our Advocate.
2. No sinner’s cause is worse than mine, But Christ my Advocate Divine, — The LORD my Righteousness, with God Pleads His obed’ence and His blood.
3. This is the Gospel’s sweet good news, This plea God’s justice can’t refuse! While Jesus pleads my soul shall live; And all the praise to Him I’ll give!
4. Here in the dust I take my place, My shame, my sin I must confess. I’ll tell my Advocate my case, And trust the riches of His grace!
5. Bring with your sin the Savior’s blood, And bow before the throne of God; There you will find His mercy great, Trusting in Christ our Advocate! _____________________________________________
How Is It That God Sees No Sin In His People? Numbers 23:21
The sweet and blessed fact that God sees no sin in us does not in any way imply that we do not sin or that God’s omniscience fails to observe it. This is a matter of Divine justice. The record books of heaven record no iniquity, no transgression, and no sin against God’s elect. God will not impute sin to His saints, or require satisfaction from us, because our sins were made Christ’s and were justly imputed to Him when He was made sin for us. He paid for them. Our sins have been forever expunged from the book of God’s offended justice by our Savior’s precious blood. Read the testimony of Holy Scripture and rejoice (Romans 4:8; 8:1, 33, 34; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21). Let all who trust Christ get hold of this blessed, glorious fact: — “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” Rejoice in it. Give praise to God for it. And walk in the blessed comfort and assurance of it all the days of your life.
The Lord Jesus Christ has, by the sacrifice of Himself, put away our sins, all of them: past, present, and future. They were imputed to Him, laid upon Him, punished in Him, and put away by Him (Isaiah 53:4-6). He made an end of our sins (Daniel 9:24). He removed all the iniquity of His people in one day, by one sacrifice (Zechariah 3:9). In Him we are fully justified from all things, so much so that in the eyes of God’s holy law and justice we have no sin (Acts 13:38-39; 1 John 3:5). By His one great sacrifice for sin, the Son of God has made all God’s elect perfect in His sight (Hebrews 10:11-14).
God the Father has, upon the ground of Christ’s blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and satisfaction, freely and fully forgiven all the sins of His people. The blood of Christ, like the blood on the mercy-seat, covers our sins, so that our sins are not visible to the eyes of God’s holy justice. The blood of Christ has blotted our sins out of the ledger book of heaven, so that justice cannot see sin in us. For Christ’s sake, the holy Lord God has cast our sins behind His back and into the depth of the sea, so that they are not only forgotten, but gone insofar as His law and justice are concerned (Jeremiah 50:20).
In God’s esteem all believers are, as the church and bride of Christ, the very perfection of beauty and holiness. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit look upon us in Christ, washed in His blood and robed in His righteousness, as beautiful, perfect, complete, holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. Read what He says about the matter (Ezekiel 16:14; Song of Solomon 4:7, 9; Ephesians 5:25-27; Jude 24-25).
The fact that God sees no sin in His people is, to borrow the words of John Gill, “the glory of the Bible and the marrow of the Gospel.” It is this which most fully displays the riches of God’s grace, the efficacy of Christ’s blood, the completeness of His righteousness, and the fullness of His satisfaction. This blessed fact is the foundation of all solid, biblical hope of future happiness. It is the very foundation of our confidence and faith before God, the abiding comfort of our souls, and will be the ground of our triumph in the hour of death. ________________________________________________
The Omniscient God Sees No Sin In His People Numbers 23:21
We know that God almighty is omniscient. He knows all people and all things. Nothing is or can be hidden from His all-seeing eye. All the actions of all men, whether bad or good, are seen and known by God. He sees not only what we do, but why we do it. He sees the secret, inward, hidden things of our hearts, the fountain from which all our evil deeds flow like an open, overflowing sewer. His omniscient eye sees all the sins of His own people, as well as the sins of the reprobate. There can be no debate about the fact that the omniscient God sees everything about everyone and everything (Job 34:21-22; Psalms 11:4-5; 139:1-7; Hebrews 4:12-13).
When the Scriptures declare, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel,” the declaration has no reference at all to His attribute of omniscience, but rather to His justice. The meaning is simply this: Insofar as God’s law and justice are concerned, He sees no sin in His people. Debts paid and canceled are debts that the law cannot see. That which is no longer written against us in the book of God’s law cannot be seen by the eye of God’s justice. God’s eye of justice sees no sin in His people, because His hand of justice has blotted our sins out of His book, justice having been fully satisfied by the blood of Christ sacrificed for our sins (Isaiah 43:25; 44:22).
As our heavenly Father, the Lord God certainly takes notice of our sins and is displeased with them (2 Samuel 11:27). Yet, I rejoice to declare to every believing sinner that God will never punish you for your sins, hold you accountable at His bar for your sins, or withhold any blessing of grace or glory from you because of your sins. For Him to do so, He must violate His own justice and overturn the satisfaction of His own Son. Either Christ bore the wrath of God for us, or He did not. Either He satisfied the justice of God as our Substitute, or He did not. Either He put away our sins, or He did not. If He has not done this for us perfectly, completely, effectually, and permanently, then we must bear the wrath of God for our own sins, pay for our own crimes, and perish in hell.
But this is certain: If the Son of God has satisfied the law, wrath, and justice of God for our sins, we shall never be punished for them. Justice will not allow it. God will not, in justice He cannot, and He declares that He shall not punish sin twice, both in Christ our Surety and in those for whom the Surety died.
Still, we must never imagine that God does not take notice of or is not displeased with our sins as our heavenly Father. It is plainly written in the Scriptures that “the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” Only a very foolish father fails to see the faults, weaknesses, and offenses of his child. Though His justice forbids and prevents His wrath, our Father’s love will not allow Him to let His children live in rebellion to Him. In great mercy and lovingkindness He chastises us for our sins, not to punish us, but to correct us (Psalm 89:30-33; Hebrews 12:5-11). ___________________________________________
THE GRACE BULLETIN February 27, 2011
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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