March 11, 2007

The same glorious God who has fixed us in and accepted us in Christ before the worlds were made, has made him our righteousness; and he did both at the same time. That fact is so plainly written in the Word of God that none can fail to see it, exept those who refuse to see. He who accepted us in Christ, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ from eternity. Who will assert that the accepted and blessed us as unrighteous?

·      The Lord willing, Pastor Henry Mahan will preach the gospel to us next weekend. — Friday 7:30 P.M. — Saturday 7:00 P.M. — Sunday 10:30 A.M. We will have our Quarterly Fellowship Dinner while the Mahans are with us next

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Shelby Fortner (AM) Emily Rice (PM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall

Here, O My Soul, Unshaken Dwell — Don Fortner

(Tune: #77—Sun of My Soul--LM)

1.    “Because I live,” my Savior says,

“You, too, shall live.” So, I’m secure.

His Word this blest foundation gives—

Immutable, forever sure!

2.    Here, O my soul, unshaken dwell,

Though vexed by sin, God’s promise stands—

Not all the p’wers of earth and hell

Can tear me from my Savior’s hands!

3.    I’m one with Christ! Whate’er oppose,

Still, I am His and He is mine!

Not sin, nor hell, nor all my foes

Can make His love for me decline!

4.    O let me never doubt You, Lord!

Faith must upon Your Word rely—

Immutable, eternal Word!

The Word that built both earth and sky!

5.    Dead to the law and sin I am,

With Christ Who bought me with His blood,

And risen with the risen Lamb,

My life is hid with Him in God!

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“A Man in Christ”

2 Corinthians 12:2

Who can conceive all that these words imply? — “A man in Christ” is a person in union with Christ, possessing such a full, complete oneness union with Christ that he lives in Christ and Christ lives in him. His life is the living of Christ. He lives in Christ and Christ lives in him. His life is “a life hid with Christ in God.”

            “A man in Christ” is as much a part of Christ as the head, or hand, or foot is a part of that body to which those members belong. That means that everyone who is “a man in Christ” is all that Christ, the God-man Mediator, is in his glorious humanity, and that all that belongs to Christ, as the Christ of God, belongs to him. Every member of Christ’s body, the least as well as the greatest, the most humble as well as the most elevated, the youngest as well as the most experienced, the weakest as well as the strongest, the most ignorant as well as the most knowledgeable, is one with Christ, equally and fully united to Christ, and equally and fully possesses all that belongs to Christ. The life of grace here and the life of glory hereafter are both derived from our union with Christ. Both are enjoyed only when our secret, eternal union with our Savior is made manifest by the living union of faith, when God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ in us and shows the chosen sinner that he is “a man in Christ.” One believer may enjoy the life of grace here more fully than another, because we have varying measures of faith and assurance; but the life belongs equally and fully to every regenerate person. The smallest leaf or branch in a tree is as fully united to the tree and lives in the tree as the largest.

            But the life of glory that awaits us, when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, every child of God shall enjoy fully. So perfect, complete, and full is our union with Christ that the Spirit of God declares, “as he is so are we in this world.” When he sheds abroad the love of God in the hearts of chosen sinners, assuring us that we are justified in Christ, that “as he is so are we in this world,” the love of God is made perfect in us, assuring us that we have nothing to fear, casting out all fear, “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

            Every saved sinner, knowing himself by divine revelation to be “a man in Christ,” has the blessed assurance given in God’s own Word that he is freed from the very possibility of condemnation, “because as he is so are we in this world.” In spite of indwelling sin, because of our union with Christ, we are assured that we really are as righteous, as free from sin, as holy, as perfect before our God as our Surety. Are you “a man in Christ,” by regeneration, adoption, justification, and grace? If so, roll this rapturous revelation of grace over in your heart with gratitude and joy. Try to imagine the blessed inheritance to which you

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have been begotten, the inheritance of grace that is yours now and of glory that you shall soon possess to all eternity. “A man in Christ” is accepted in Christ, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ, and shall assuredly be glorified in Christ.

            What a life of dignity and honor “a man in Christ” possesses! He is brought nigh unto God through the blood of the cross. What blessed security “a man in Christ” has! “Because I live,” our Savior said, “ye shall live also.” And what an everlasting prospect of glory “a man in Christ” has set before him! Our Savior prayed, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.” And his prayer his Father will not deny him. O what unspeakable blessedness it is to be “a man in Christ!”

“Children that Will Not Lie”

Isaiah 63:8

In this passage of Holy Scripture the Lord Jesus assures us that those who are saved by his grace are “children that will not lie.” You may think, “That is not me;” and you are right, if you look at yourself in Adam. From the womb we went astray, speaking lies, and our hearts are altogether deceitful. The man in the pulpit and those in the pews are all liars, all the time. There are no exceptions.

      What, then, are we to understand by these words, “Children that will not lie”? We are not to look at these children as they appear in union with Adam, or when left to themselves, but as they stand in blessed union with him who is “The Truth,” and as they are guided by the Spirit of Truth into communion with the God of Truth. They are “children that will not lie,” as they bow before him, confess what sinners they are, owning the sovereignty of his grace who plucked them as brands from the burning, and gave them a place among his children, freely confessing the efficacy of his blood that has put away their sin, and the perfection of his righteousness that makes them “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” That is exactly what the Holy Spirit declares in 1 John 1:7-10. Every heaven born soul walks in the light and will not lie before God. It is written…

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

      Therefore, because he has declared, “Surely they are my people, children that will not lie,” we read, “so he was their Savior.”

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Grace Bulletin

March 11, 2007

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 in Danville

Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.

Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.

Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.

Web Pages

http://www.donfortner.com

http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm

http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com