June 26, 2005
“The friends of free will are the enemies of
free grace.”
John Trapp
Daily Readings for the Week of June 26-July 3
Sunday Psalm
103-106 Thursday Psalm 120-135
Monday Psalm
107-113 Friday Psalm 136-144
Tuesday Psalm 114-118 Saturday Psalm 145-Proverbs 2
Wednesday Psalm 119 Sunday Proverbs 3-7
·
I am
scheduled to preach Wednesday through Sunday in the Bible conference at Rescue
Baptist Church in Rescue,
CA, where Bro. Gene Harmon is pastor. The Lord willing, Lindsay Campbell, will preach to you Tuesday night and Bro. Ron Wood will preach to you next Sunday.
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY! Mary
Lou Duff-28th
HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY!
Bob
& Sally Poncer-2nd
Doug & Faith Hacker-15th
David
& Teresa Coleman-19th
Larry & Carol Brown-31st
CHURCH CLEANING
IN JULY: Larry
& Carol Brown
Blest Sun of Righteousness,
Arise — Don
Fortner
(Tune: The Doxology — LM)
1. Savior, Whose glory fills the skies,
Blest Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Light of the world, my only Light,
Dispel the dark and gloomy night.
2. Dayspring from on High, now be near!
Daystar, arise and spread Your cheer!
Dark is the rising of the sun,
When it appears that I’m alone.
3. Until Your mercy beams I see,
The lightest trial burdens me;
Arise, O Lord, Your Light impart,
Bring sunshine to Your servant’s heart!
4. Shine bright in this dark heart of mine,
And flood my soul with Light divine!
Dispel the gloom of sin and grief,
And take away my unbelief!
5. Your smiling face, O Lord, display,
Shining unto the perfect day!
Oh, hasten, Lord, that endless day,
When former things are past away!
25
“Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
Faith
in Christ is the gift of God. Faith in Christ is not hereditary. Faith in
Christ cannot be produced by human logic or religious atmosphere. Faith in
Christ is not the result of providential judgment, or even the terror of
eternal damnation. Saving faith, true, heart faith in Christ is produced in the
hearts of men by the gracious operation of God the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:19;
2:8-9; Col. 2:12).
In order for a sinner to trust the Lord Jesus Christ
three things have got to happen: (1.) You
must hear the gospel. No man will ever trust Christ until he hears the gospel
preached in the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 10:13-17). (2.) You must be born
again. No man will ever trust the Lord Jesus Christ until he is regenerated,
born again by the Spirit of God (John 3:3-8). (3.) Christ must be revealed in
you. — No sinner will ever trust the Son of God until he is revealed in his
heart by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 4:6; Gal. 1:15-16). Faith in Christ is
produced by the revelation of Christ in the heart. As soon as a man sees Christ
he will trust Christ.
But
there are no prerequisites, conditions, or qualifications you must meet before
you can trust Christ. Self-righteousness is like a pesky mole. Drive it out of
one hole, and it will quickly find another. We have perhaps driven it out of
the den of good works as a ground of hope before God. But it has found another
hiding place. These dens of darkness have many names: “Fitness for Faith,”
“Conditions of Conversion,” Suitability for Salvation,” and “Qualifications for
Grace.” No matter what name you use, it is the same. The reasoning is this:
“Salvation is by grace alone. It is not what you do, but what Christ has done
that saves you. But, before you can trust Christ and be saved, you must be
terrified with conviction, or you must weep and mourn over your sin, or you
must desire holiness, or you must repent, or you must long after Christ, or you
must come to see yourself as a lost sinner, or you must see and understand the
doctrine of the gospel.”
This kind of doctrine may sound good to many, but it is only
a round-a-bout way of preaching works salvation and mixing law and grace. Anything
that is placed between the sinner and Christ as a condition or qualification
for faith is works. The gospel of Christ is addressed to sinners as
sinners. “This is his commandment, that
we should believe on his Son Jesus Christ.” There are no qualifications or
conditions to be met. Christ died for sinners. God saves sinners. The gospel is
for sinners ¾ Not awakened sinners ¾
Not sensible sinners ¾ Not convicted sinners ¾
Not lost sinners ¾ Not repentant sinners ¾
Just sinners! The moment a man places any condition or qualification of any
kind upon the sinner before he can trust Christ and be saved, he ceases to
preach a gospel of pure grace.
26
Perhaps you ask, “Bro. Fortner, what can be wrong with using
whatever means we can to make men know their desperately sinful condition, and
thereby making them sense their need of Christ?”
Let
me show you seven evils of preaching conditional faith.
1.
It reverses God’s order. — Repentance,
conviction of sin, and lamentation over sin are not pre-requisites for coming
to Christ and trusting him. These things do not precede faith. They are the
results of faith (Zech. 12:10; John 16:7-14).
2.
It makes our experience, rather than the
finished work of Christ the basis of our hope before God.
3.
It keeps men and women from trusting Christ.
— Conditional faith provides men with a place of refuge short of Christ
himself, giving some measure of hope in feelings, emotions, and acquired
knowledge.
4.
It gives sinners some ground of boasting
before God.
5.
It forbids any real assurance for God’s
elect. — If true faith in Christ comes only after repentance, conviction of
sin, a great sense of sin, or any other condition, then I must always be
plagued with questions like these: Have I repented enough? Have I been
convicted enough? Did I really sense my sinfulness enough? Did I know enough?
6.
It offers no immediate hope to perishing
sinners. — The gospel says, “Today, if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” The gospel says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved.” But preachers of conditional faith say, “After you feel
your sin, believe.” “After your heart is melted, harden not your heart.” “If
you really know your lost condition and your guilt, you shall be saved.”
7.
The teaching of conditional faith promotes an
arrogant and judgmental attitude toward the people of God. — If believers must
meet certain standards and prerequisites in order for their faith to be true faith, we must
make our acceptance of a brother dependent upon his experience, rather than
upon his faith in Christ. And the only standard by which we may judge another
man’s experience is our own.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “We must not close with Christ
because we feel him, but because God has said it, and we must take God’s Word
even in the dark.” Spurgeon wrote, “All that is of nature’s spinning must be
unraveled, and everything that getteth into Christ’s place, however dear to
thee, and however precious in itself, must be broken in pieces, and like the
dust of the golden calf, must be scattered upon the water, and thou wilt be
made to sorrowfully drink of it, because thou madest it thy trust.”
27
Grace Bulletin
June 26, 2005
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
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
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
http://www.donfortner.com
http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm
http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp