GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE
July 24, 2011
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The most comforting, soul-cheering revelation of God in Holy Scripture is the blessed Gospel doctrine of particular, effectual redemption by Christ.
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It Is Christ’s Precious Blood — Don Fortner
(Tune: Stand Up, and Bless The Lord #33 SM)
1. Behold the Fountain spring
Up from the throne of God,
And every covenant blessing bring —
It is Christ’s precious blood!
2. Behold the mighty sum
Required by a just God
To justify His fallen sons —
It is Christ’s precious blood!
3. A voice now speaks for me
In heaven’s court for good,
And from the curse has set me free —
It is Christ’s precious blood!
4. One theme on earth employs
My heart with praise to God,
And makes all heaven ring with joy —
It is Christ’s precious blood!
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Do you believe on the Son of God? If you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior, your faith in Him is the fruit and evidence of His grace bestowed upon you and wrought in you. Faith is the empty hand that receives God’s salvation, not the mighty arm that performs it. Faith in Christ is the result of eternal life bestowed, not the cause of life.
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“Thy Savior and Thy Redeemer”
Isaiah 49:26 and 60:16
In these two texts of Scripture the Lord our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, declares Himself to be our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer. He also declares that it is His intention and purpose to make Himself known to His chosen, redeemed people as their God, Savior, and Redeemer, and to ultimately cause all the world to behold Him as our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer.
The great and glorious God who created, rules, and disposes of all things exactly as He pleases, according to the good pleasure of His will, declares Himself to be “thy Savior and thy Redeemer.” Imagine that! If He who is our Redeemer is indeed the Lord God Omnipotent, then it must be concluded that He will also be our Savior.
The blessed comfort and consolation of the Gospel is that He who shed His blood at Calvary as our Redeemer will also be the Savior of all the redeemed. Redemption would mean nothing if it did not carry with it the assurance of everlasting salvation. However, since redemption, in its very essence, carries the assurance of deliverance and salvation, when the Lord God would send a word of hope, comfort, and good cheer in the Gospel, He declares Himself to be our Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14; 44:24; 48:17; 54:8).
How did the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, become our Redeemer? He was appointed to the work of redemption by His Father, and He assented to it as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began. It was prophesied in the Old Testament that He would come to redeem His people from their sins; and numerous pictures and types of our redemption by Him were given in the Old Testament Scriptures. In the fulness of time He was made of a woman, made under the law, and sent to redeem them that were under the law. He did, by His own blood, enter in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. In Christ all who believe have complete, eternal redemption through His blood. And He is made of God unto us Redemption. So, when it is asked how Christ came to be our Redeemer, we must, according to the Scriptures, trace it to God himself.
Because of His great love for us, the Son of God voluntarily put Himself into bondage as our Surety to redeem and save us. He is the Surety of that better covenant, established upon better promises, made on our behalf before the world began (Hebrews 7:22). Having entered into covenant engagements with the Father from everlasting, our Savior considered Himself to be and became Jehovah’s bond slave. He considered Himself under obligation to His Father to accomplish the great work of redemption. Therefore, He often spoke of it as something he must do (Matthew 16:21; 26:53-54; Mark 8:31; 9:12; Luke 22:37; 24:7; John 3:14; 12:34; 20:9). Because He volunteered to be our Surety, pledged himself to redeem and save us, and the Father trusted His elect into the hands of His Son, now our Savior declares that He must save His people (John 10:16; Ephesians 1:12). And that which He must do, being bound by His own honor and His own word, the Son of God will, most assuredly, do. He will save all His redeemed!
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God Still Demands Blood
“Without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22)
These days, people do not like to talk about blood atonement, blood redemption, and blood bought salvation. Some churches and denominations have even gone through their literature and hymnbooks and carefully removed every mention of the precious blood of Christ, lest they offend the tastes of cultured reprobates. But the holy and just Lord God still demands blood. You cannot be saved without the blood of Christ. That by which the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed His people from their sins was His own, precious blood.
The Son of God entered into heaven and obtained our eternal redemption “with His own blood” (Hebrews 9:12). Our redemption was accomplished, wrought out, and obtained by the precious blood of Christ, by the sacrifice of His life, which was represented and present in that blood, which was shed so freely for the remission of our sins and the ransom of our souls. How I thank God for the blood, the precious blood of Christ! Read about it and rejoice (Exodus 12:13; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Revelation 5:9). Let me remind you of just three things about the precious, sin-atoning blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. It was deliberately shed blood. Had it been possible for His blood to have been spilt involuntarily, by accident, or by some outside force, against His will, it would not have been a proper redemption price. It could not have answered for us as a payment to the justice of God. But it was purposely and voluntarily shed with our Master’s full consent. Christ had the full control and disposal of His own life. He freely gave His life a ransom price for many; “I lay down my life for the sheep,” He said, as a ransom price for them, “I lay it down of myself” (Matthew 20:28; John 10:15, 18).
2. It was human blood, the blood of a man. That blood which was so freely shed for us was the same as the blood which flows in our veins today. This too was necessary. We could not be redeemed with the blood of bulls and goats, which could never be an adequate price of redemption. Human blood must be shed for the atonement of men. Christ partook of the same flesh and blood with the children for whom He died. The only difference was this: His blood was not tainted with sin as ours is. This was another requirement for our redemption. The ransom price had to be the blood of an innocent, perfectly righteous man. Much notice is given in Scripture to the innocence, holiness, and righteousness of our Redeemer. He was holy in His nature and blameless in His life. He knew no sin. He never committed any evil. He is the just and Holy One. He suffered the Just for the unjust. Great emphasis is laid upon this fact. The price with which men are redeemed is “the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Peter 1:18, 19). If He had had any sin in Him, He could not have been a redeemer from sin. His blood could not be the price of redemption. Yet, there is more.
3. It was divine blood, the blood of a man who is God. It was necessary, if atonement was to be made and redemption accomplished for God’s elect, that the blood shed must also be the blood of One who is Himself God as well as man. None but Christ ever made such a claim; and none but Christ meets this requirement! Therefore we are told that God, who is Christ, “purchased the church with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).12
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THE GRACE BULLETIN
July 24, 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
Tuesday
7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service
Television Broadcasts in Danville
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg
Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Web Pages
http://www.DonFortner.com
http://www.FreegraceRadio.com
http://www.Grace-eBooks.com |
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