July 3, 2005
“If you would
have righteousness, you must have it in and from Christ. He has to give you
both an imputed righteousness for justifying you, and an imparted
righteousness for sanctifying you.” — Ralph Erskine
Daily Readings for the Week of July 3-10
Sunday Proverbs
3-7 Thursday Proverbs 20-22
Monday Proverbs
8-11 Friday
Proverbs 23-26
Tuesday Proverbs
12-15 Saturday Proverbs 27-31
Wednesday Proverbs
16-19 Sunday Ecclesiastes 1-4
·
I am preaching today for Rescue Baptist Church in
Rescue, CA, where Bro. Gene Harmon is pastor. Bro. Ron Wood will preach to you today.
·
The dates for our Bible Conference are September 2-4. We will receive an offering for the
conference on Sunday, July 31.
NURSERY DUTY
THIS WEEK
Today:
Shelby Fortner (AM) Nancy Criss (PM) Tuesday:
Ruth Wall
(Tune: #52 — Majestic Sweetness— CM)
1. God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm. (Repeat)
2. Deep, in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sov’reign will. (Repeat)
3. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind the frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face. (Repeat)
4. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
With blessings on your head. (Repeat)
5. His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower. (Repeat)
6. Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His works in vain;
God is His own interpreter.
And He will make it plain, (Repeat)
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Many who rejoice in the testimony of Scripture
regarding the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us in
justification strenuously object to the equally clear teaching of Holy
Scripture that the righteousness of Christ is imparted to chosen,
redeemed sinners in sanctification (the new birth). They do so because some
heretics use the term “imparted righteousness” to teach that God the Holy
Spirit imparts a meritorious righteousness to us, mixing grace and works. But
we must not allow some heretic to rob us of the joy of precious gospel truth. I
do not intend to quit calling Christ “Christ,” because the pope calls him
“Christ”!
Let me be crystal clear. —
The righteousness of Christ that is imparted to God’s elect in regeneration has
nothing to do with meriting God’s favor in salvation. The righteousness of
Christ imparted in the new birth is the righteous nature imparted to (given to
and created in) us by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth, by which we have been made “partakers
of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This “divine nature” is “that
new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”
(Eph. 4:24), “Christ
in you the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). It is this new, righteous nature
that was created in us in regeneration, which is ever in conflict with the old
Adamic nature (Rom. 7:14-25). It is the “seed” of God placed in man,
which “cannot sin” (1 John 3:9).
All that our father Adam did as our federal head in
the garden, we did in him. All that Adam did was imputed to (charged to) us by
God. So that we were “made sinners” by that one man’s sin. All that Adam
became as the result of his fall, we became by natural generation. Every human
being, being born of the seed of Adam, is born in sin, a natural born sinner,
depraved in all his being. Adam’s sin was judicially, legally imputed to us
when he sinned in the garden; and his sinful nature was imparted to us in time
when we were born of his seed by natural generation.
In like manner, all that Christ did in his obedience
to the will of God, as the Federal Head and Representative of his elect, we did
in him. His righteousness was imputed to (charged to) us when he died as our
Substitute in the complete accomplishment of our justification (Rom. 4:25). As
it was that we received Adam’s fallen nature by natural generation, in the new
birth (regeneration) all who are born of God have Christ’s righteous nature as
our Mediator imparted to us.
In verse 18 the Holy Spirit tells us, “by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life.”
Notice that the words here have reference to that which was done in the past.
When Christ was “made sin” and satisfied the justice of God for us by
his death upon the cross, we were made “the righteousness of God in him.”
His righteousness was imputed to us in justification.
Now,
look at verse 19. — “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Here when the
Spirit of God speaks of the result of Christ’s obedience unto death, he tells
us that “by the obedience
of one shall
many be made righteous.” Here he uses the future
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tense. Those words cannot possibly refer
to righteousness being imputed to us in justification. That was done at
Calvary. Here the Scriptures assert that all who were “made righteous”
in justification (the righteousness of Christ being imputed to them), shall, at
the appointed “time of love,” be “made righteous” in the new
birth by the righteousness of Christ being imparted to them in the new creation
of grace.
The righteousness of Christ imputed
to us in justification is the basis for and cause of the righteousness of
Christ being imparted to us by the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
It is this new nature that is created in us in the
image of Christ, a nature that “cannot sin” (1 John 3:9). It is the old
man that sins, not the new. It is written, “Now
if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me” (Rom. 7:20). The believer is a person with two distinct, separate,
warring natures: the old man and the new, the flesh and the spirit. Our sins,
everything evil in us and everything evil done by us, are the works of the
flesh. Our goodness, (if I may use such language), everything good in us and
everything good done by us is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:17-23).
When God saves a sinner, he does not renovate,
repair, and renew the old nature. He creates a new nature in his elect. Our
old, Adamic, fallen, sinful nature is not changed. The flesh is subdued by the
spirit; but it will never surrender to the spirit. The spirit wars against the
flesh; but it will never conquer or improve the flesh. The flesh is sinful. The
flesh is cursed. Thank God, the flesh must die! But it will never be improved.
Revelation and Experience
This dual nature of the believer is
plainly taught in the Word of God. Carefully study Romans 7, Galatians 5, and 1
John 3. It is utterly impossible to honestly interpret those portions of Holy
Scripture without concluding that both Paul and John teach that there is within
every believer, so long as he lives in this world, both an old Adamic nature
that can do nothing but sin and a new righteous nature, that which is born of
God, that “cannot sin,” that can only do righteousness.
Every believer knows the duality of
his nature by painful, bitterly painful experience. Ask any child of God what
he desires above all things and he will quickly reply, “That I may live without
sin in perfect conformity to Christ, perfectly obeying the will of God in all
things.” But that which he most greatly desires is an utter impossibility in
this life. Is it not so with you? Though you delight in the law of God after
the inward man, there is another law of evil in your members, warring against
you. You would do good; but evil is always present with you, so that you cannot
do the things that you would. Even your best, noblest, most sincere acts of
good, when honestly evaluated, are so marred by sin in motive and in execution,
that you must confess, “All my righteousnesses are filthy rags!”
It is this warfare between the flesh
and the spirit, more than anything else, that keeps the believer from being
satisfied with life in this world. Blessed be God, we shall soon be free! When
we have dropped this robe of flesh, we shall be perfectly conformed to the
image of him who loved us and gave himself for us!
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Grace Bulletin
July
3, 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