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July 16, 2006
There is no difference between what comes to pass in time and what was purposed by our God in eternity.
Daily Readings for the Week of July 16-23 Sunday Isaiah 10-13 Thursday Isaiah 28-30 Monday Isaiah 14-18 Friday Isaiah 31-34 Tuesday Isaiah 19-23 Saturday Isaiah 35-38 Wednesday Isaiah 24-27 Sunday Isaiah 39-41
á Missionary Offering Today á We will have our Quarterly Fellowship on Sunday — July 30. á Our conference is only a few weeks away (September 1-3). If you see anything that needs to be done in preparation for the conference, please do it. We will receive a special offering for the conference on Sunday, July 30th.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Cliff Hellar-18th Betty Burge-19th
Sons We Are Through God's Election — Author Unknown (Tune: #17 — Come Thou Fount — 87.87.87)
1. Sons we are, through God's election, who in Jesus
Christ believe; By eternal destination,
saving grace we here receive; Our Redeemer, our
Redeemer does both grace and glory give. 2. Every soul of man, by sinning, merits everlasting
pain; But thy love, without
beginning, formed and fixed salvation's plan, Countless millions,
countless millions shall in life through Jesus reign. 3. [ Pause, my soul! adore and wonder! Ask, "O why such
love to me?" Grace has put me in the
number of the Saviour's family; Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks, Eternal Love, to thee! ] 4. These are springs of consolation, to converted sons
of grace; Finished, free, and
full salvation shining in the Saviour's face! Free grace only, free grace
only suits the wretched sinner's case. 5. When in that blest habitation, which my God for me ordained; When in glory's full possession, I with saints and angels stand; Free grace only, free grace only shall resound through Canaan's land
"To believe God is no small thing! It is the evidence of a heart reconciled unto God; it is the proof of our being weaned from our own works and deeds; it is a clear sign of the true conviction of sin; it is honoring to Christ, our only Redeemer; it is the essence of true worship; and it is the root of sincere obedience." Pastor Henry Mahan
7 Righteousness Lost
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."(Romans 5:12)
All the sons and daughters of Adam are all sinners. We lost all righteousness before God in the garden. We are all totally depraved. We have all gone astray from the womb speaking lies. We all drink iniquity like water. So thorough and complete is the depravity of man that even our works of righteousness are filthy rags before the holy Lord God; and we are all at our best estate altogether vanity! But these things were not always so.
God created man in righteousness and true holiness. We were all created in the image and likeness of God himself. One aspect of that created image of God was an uprightness of nature (Eccl. 7:29). How long Adam lived in this state, we do not know. But it appears to have been a relatively short period of time. Then something happened. Our father Adam sinned against God and plunged the entire human race into sin, death, and condemnation (Rom. 5:12; Ps. 14:2-3). Because Adam was our divinely appointed representative and federal head, his sin was imputed to us in divine judgment. And his sin nature was imparted to us by natural generation (Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Matt. 15:19).
Threefold Loss
By the sin and fall of our father Adam, we all suffered a threefold loss of righteousness. This is a loss that simply cannot be denied. First, when Adam sinned in the garden, he lost his righteous nature, and we did too. Before the fall, man was righteous. After the fall, he had no righteousness (Matt. 15:19). We are all, by nature, sinful, guilty, condemned, and lost.
Second, Adam lost all legal righteousness, and we did too. Because man is sinful, he cannot approach God. Adam was expelled from the garden and separated from God. Because our sins have separated us from God, we cannot approach him (1 Tim. 6:15-16).
Third, once he sinned, fallen man lost all knowledge and understanding of righteousness. As soon as he lost righteousness he went about to establish righteousness for himself, sewing fig leaves together to make himself presentable to the holy Lord God; and man has been doing the same ever since (Rom. 9:31-10:1-3).
The natural man has absolutely no idea what righteousness is, where it is to be found, or how it can be obtained. But he thinks he does (Luke 16:15). This is the first thing to be established. We have no righteousness, and no ability to produce righteousness.
8 None Righteous
Yet, our Lord said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." In making that statement our Lord declared that there has never been one son or daughter of Adam on this earth good enough, righteous enough, or holy enough to inherit and inhabit the kingdom of heaven. There is not now and never will be one person in heaven who is there because he was good, righteous, and holy in this world. — "Man at his best estate is altogether vanity." — "Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight."
We must get the idea of "righteousness" out of our minds and get the word "righteousness" out of our vocabulary, insofar as any human works are concerned in God's sight. Our righteousness is filthy rags before the holy Lord God! (Isa. 64:6; Isa. 1:16-20). Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). Read the Book of God and you will discover that every person in the Book who knew God, who knew the righteous character of God and had been made righteous in Christ, lamented his own utter wickedness.
Faith
Glorifies God — Pastor
Don Bell Nothing a soul does in this world honors God more
than to believe Him. God says, "For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report." Again, "without faith it is impossible to
please him." Our Lord told the woman
of Canaan, whose daughter was vexed with a devil, that she had great faith.
The other side of the coin, to not believe God concerning the record that He
gave of His Son, is to make him a liar.
What is it to believe God in this world? What is it to trust Him, to commit
your eternal souls into His hand? Is it something to take lightly? Is faith
something we are to put in a low place in the matter of salvation? The
scriptures answer these questions for us. "Abraham was strong in faith
giving glory to God." He did not
consider his body, or the deadness of Sara's womb. He believed God's promise.
The Word of God says, "We walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham." The apostle said, "I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him."
Oh, my dear brethren, how God honoring it is to believe God, to walk by faith
and not by sight. To not dispute with God over the way he saves sinners,
through the doing and dieing of His darling Son in the room and stead of His
people, of His bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, so that God
would be just to justify those who believe in Jesus Christ his beloved Son.
Oh, how it honors God to believe him and not dispute with Him over His Word,
to not argue with Him over His dealings with you in this world, to be able to
say; "it is the Lord let him do what seemeth good."
Faith not only "receives a good report" from our heavenly Father, but also gives a good report of our
heavenly Father. We speak as highly and honorably and as gloriously as we can
of our covenant God. We attribute the whole of our salvation to Him, from
alpha to omega. Faith will not allow us to look to any feeling, any work, or
any deed. It has one object — Christ Jesus the Lord.
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Grace Bulletin
July 16, 2006
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
DanvilleChannel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M. Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M. Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
Web Pageshttp://www.donfortner.com http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp
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