August 7, 2005
The righteousness
by which we are justified is imputed. The righteousness by which we are
sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our
fitness for heaven.
Sunday Jeremiah
25-27 Thursday Jeremiah 36-38
Monday Jeremiah 28-30 Friday Jeremiah 39-41
Tuesday Jeremiah 31-32 Saturday Jeremiah 42-45
Wednesday Jeremiah 33-35 Sunday Jeremiah
46-48
The New Man and The Old
— William Gadsby
(Tune: #223 Arise, My Soul, Arise — 66.66.88)
1.
The new man and the old by no means can agree;
The one in sin is bold, from
sin the other’s free
The principles of grace and
sin, the principles of grace and sin,
A constant warfare must
maintain.
2.
One loves to watch and pray, and walk in Jesus’ path;
The other hates the way, and
loves the road to death;
Christ is the new man’s boast
and joy. Christ is the new man’s boast and joy.
Flesh does the old man
satisfy.
3.
Christ, and him crucified, the new man loves to view;
Lust, vanity, and pride, the
old man will pursue;
One pants with God to live
and reign, one pants with God to live and reign;
The other hates His sovereign
name.
4.
The principle of grace on Jesus puts the crown;
But sin, with shameless face,
would pull his glory down.
“Jesus shall reign,” the new
man cries! “Jesus shall reign,” the new man cries!
His right to reign the flesh
denies.
5.
Well, let the old man toil; the warfare can’t be long;
And Christians, with a smile,
shall sing the conqueror’s song;
Through Christ we shall
victorious prove!
Through Christ we shall
victorious prove!
And live and reign with Him
above.
“The pulpit’s real issue is this: Christ, and Him crucified. Men, whose eyes are fixed on Christ, do not argue. They do not love controversy whose hearts are touched with Him. They do not look for issues and sticky theological problems who are busy knowing and showing Christ. Those whose interest is singularly Christ have little difficulty settling all matters and quickly in His Word. The problem they see is sinners, lost and hell-bound; and the only answer they see is Christ.” — Henry Mahan
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I am scheduled to preach Monday - Wednesday in Jonesville, NC for Grace
Fellowship, where Bro.
Linwood Campbell is pastor and on Thursday and Friday in North Wilkesboro,
NC, for Covenant of Grace Baptist Church, where Bro. Mike Walker is pastor. Bro. Lindsay Campbell will
preach the gospel to you Tuesday.
NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK
Today: Vicci
Rolley (AM)
Laura Peterson (PM) Tuesday:
Shelby Fortner
“He
that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)
You who trust Christ are “the apple of his eye;” and “he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” What an astounding statement! The first thing it tells me is that we, who are “the apple of his eye,” are a terribly weak people who need our Lord’s constant protection. The pupil of the eye is a very weak, tender, and sensitive part of our bodies. It is easily hurt with the least thing. It vividly displays the feeble state of God’s people in this world. How soon and easily we are disturbed, distressed, and hurt by our enemies! But our safety does not depend on us and our strength.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty!
Hold me with Thy powerful hand!
God’s Esteem
If we are “the apple of his eye,” how highly esteemed we must be by our God and Savior! He guards and cherishes his own as a man does his eyes, the very pupil of his eyes. He protects us as “the apple of his eye.”
Whose eye is this? It is the eye of Christ, our God, who led
his people through the wilderness, ever keeping them as “the apple of his
eye” (Deut. 32:10). As the pupil is a vital part of the eye, and a part of
a man’s self, highly honored and tenderly protected; so are the Lord’s people
parts, as it were, of himself. We are members of his body, closely united to
him; and whatever injury is done to us he reckons as done to himself. To one
persecutor he spoke from heaven, saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:5). Being highly esteemed by him, and having the strongest
affection for us, he personally resents every affront of our foes and will
punish all who seek to injure us. He so assuredly keeps us as the very apple of
his eye that it is written, “There shall no evil happen to the just.”
Real Union
The pupil of the eye is the most tender part of the most
tender organ of our bodies. When our Savior says by his prophet, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple
of his eye,” he asserts that we are truly
one with him, one with him in the
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truest, fullest,
most real manner imaginable! As truly one with the Son of God as the pupil of
your eye is one with your body!
No doubt this is
a special reason why God is jealous over his people. He who touches you touches
Christ himself. You and I are in the closest possible union with Christ, the
glorious head of the body. And it will be at the cost of eternal hazard that
anyone touches Christ’s mystical body. If you hurt his people wilfully, the Son
of man will say, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me,” and the recompense shall follow.
Tender Affection
This word from our Savior, “He
that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye,” also sets forth the inexpressible tenderness of
God’s love for us. As Calvin states, “There is nothing more delicate or more
tender than the eye in the body of a man; for were one to bite my finger or
prick my arm or my legs, or even severely to wound me, I should feel no such
pain as by having the pupil of my eye injured.”
Here is the lovingkindness and tender affection of God our Savior
for us. — The Lord our God, who sits upon the circle of the earth, before whom
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers and the nations are as a drop of water
in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance declares, “He
that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye!”
How marvellous! His everlasting love is fixed upon such worthless
worms as we are! That the triune God should love such utterly worthless,
insignificant, and sinful creatures as we are is utterly astounding! Even the
heavens are not pure in his sight, and he charged his angels with folly. And
how abominable is man, “who drinketh iniquity like water!” Yet, he
condescends to love us!
O great and glorious God! How is it that you could choose such
debased, depraved, rebellious, hard-hearted creatures? Why should you look upon
such and bring us into your favor? “What is man, that thou art mindful of
him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?” This question we can never
answer except in the Words of our Savior himself, “for so it seemed good in
thy sight!” It was of his grace, of his own will and good pleasure, that
the Lord God has lifted us up from the dunghill and made us to sit among
princes.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “God’s love, which at first came to us freely, has
so ennobled us in Christ, that God’s present esteem of us in Jesus is not
without reason and justification. Love without cause has now imparted and
imputed such loveliness to its objects, that in Christ they are fitting
subjects for love’s embrace.”
We are “his workmanship,” his masterpieces. God’s wisdom is
seen in the sun, the moon, and the stars. Infinite wisdom is seen in every
flower and in every living thing. But the wisdom and the skill of the Almighty
are far more clearly seen in the believer than in any other work of his hand.
Man, as a creature of God, born the first time, is fearfully and wonderfully
made. But when born again, created new in Christ, and regenerated, he is far
more fearfully and wonderfully made (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 John
3:1, 9).
When we realize that our great God has made his people the objects
of his eternal love, the trophies of his noblest skill, and vessels of honor
fit even for the Master’s use, it is but little wonder that he should guard
them with a jealous care, even as a man does the apple of his eye.
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Grace Bulletin
August 7,
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