“Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” — There is
something very striking in this loud voice of Jesus. Not like one exhausted;
not as one dispirited; but as a conqueror
in the field of battle, retreating with his spoils. Jesus cried aloud, that all
on earth, and all in heaven, and all in hell, might hear, “It is
finished!” What is finished? Redemption-work is finished. And from that
moment the empire of sin, death, hell, and the grave were vanquished….And that
song was sung in heaven,…”thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood.” Robert Hawker
Daily
Sunday 2 Kings
8-9 Thursday 2 Kings 18-19
Monday 2 Kings
10-12 Friday 2 Kings 20-22
Tuesday 2 Kings
13-14 Saturday 2 Kings 23-24
Wednesday 2 Kings 15-17 Sunday 2 Kings 25-1 Chron. 2
·
I am
preaching today for Fairmont Grace Church in
·
Wednesday
night I am scheduled to preach for Todds Road Grace Church in
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY! Joyce
Montgomery-25th Carole
Pruitt-30th Bob Pruitt-1st
Jesus is the One Thing Needful — Don Fortner
(Tune: #300 — More Secure
is No One Ever — LM Trochaic)
1. Jesus
is the One Thing needful,
O our precious Lord and Savior!
Ever true and ever faithful,
We will sing Your praise
forever.
2. Boundless
fulness in Him dwelling,
Boundless grace for all His chosen,
Like a mighty river flowing
To all weary sinners broken.
3. Mercy
from Him overflowing
To the poor and tried believer,
And His blood in heaven pleading,
Brings salvation to us sinners.
4. Trusting
Christ, we are accepted,
Justified, our sins forgiven,
Holy as our dear Beloved,
And joint-heirs with Him of heaven!
5. Yes,
Christ is the One Thing needful,
Precious to believing sinners,
Ever true and ever faithful!
Be exalted, Lord, forever!
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How are sinners made to become the righteousness of
God in Christ? I appeal to the Word of God alone for the answer to that
question. The opinions of men are totally irrelevant. What does the Book say?
Nothing else matters.
When Christ was made sin, that was a one time, once and for all act accomplished in the past, a work in which he was personally involved. But when the Holy Spirit speaks of us being “made the righteousness of God in him,” the word he uses for “made” is another word altogether. It is a present tense, passive verb, implying total passiveness on our part and means “continually cause to become.” He is telling us that those for whom Christ was made sin God continually causes to become the righteousness of God in him without doing a thing. Let me show you how he has done it and is doing it.
Eternally
Our great, all-wise, eternally gracious God made us righteous before the world was in Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in his sovereign, eternal purpose of grace (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-6; 2 Tim. 1:9-10; Jude 1). If we were blessed of God with all spiritual blessings before the world began and accepted in the Beloved, it was not as unrighteous, but as the righteousness of God in Christ.
Judicially
We were made to
become the righteousness of God judicially, in a legal sense, when the Lord
Jesus died as our Substitute under the wrath of God, satisfying divine justice
for us. When he had put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, he obtained
eternal redemption for us and we were made to become the righteousness of God
in him by divine imputation in justification (Rom.
Experimentally
But this matter of being made the righteousness of God in Christ, while it is something with which we have no involvement, is not just a matter of law, any more than Christ’s being made sin was just a matter of law. It is not something that takes place altogether outside our experience, any more than Christ being made sin was outside his experience.
Sinners are made the righteousness of God in Christ experimentally in the new birth, when we are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). That holy thing in us that is born of God, that John tells us cannot sin, is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). We experience this blessed thing (being made the righteousness of God) in the inmost depths of our souls, in the constant assurance of our access to, acceptance with, and the forgiveness of our sins by our God (1 John 1:7-2:2).
23
We are in Christ, in whom alone God is well pleased. That means he is well pleased with us (Matt. 17:5). Our sacrifices are accepted of God as a sweet-smelling savor in Christ (1 Pet. 2:5). Our sins are never imputed to us, but perpetually forgiven because we are one with him who was once made sin for us, in whom we are perpetually made to become the righteousness of God.
Absolutely
Believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ, every sinner who trusts him is made to become the
righteousness of God in him absolutely (2 Cor.
Everlastingly
We
shall be made to become the righteousness of God everlastingly in the last day
in resurrection glory. We shall be raised in righteousness. We shall be
declared righteous according to the record book of heaven at the Day of
Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15; Jer. 50:20). We shall be declared righteous to
wondering worlds to the glory of our God forever (Eph. 2:7). Then we shall
forever begin to enjoy, in such experimental reality, as words cannot describe,
the blessedness of being made to become the righteousness of God in Christ
(Rev. 21:2-5; 22:1-6).
I am lost in wonder. All this, all that
Christ has as the God-man our Mediator, we have in him. All that he is, we are
in him. All that he enjoys, soon, we shall enjoy forever in him, because…
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you
in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him” (2 Cor.
Truly, “Christ is All!” And if Christ is ours, we have all in him. All who
get the Son of God get everything with the Son! — “He that spared not his
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things?” (Rom.
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Grace Bulletin
GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH of DANVILLE
Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Sunday
10:00 A.M. Bible Classes
10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service
6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
Tuesday
Channel
6 - Sunday Morning
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening
Channel 6 - Friday Evening
http://www.donfortner.com
http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm
http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp