November 25, 2007

“God’s biddings are God’s enablings.” — Robert Hawker

Daily Readings for the Week of November 25-December 2

·      I am scheduled to preach for Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Princeton, New Jersey Wednesday – Friday. I have been asked to conduct this special series of meetings that will culminate in the church’s ordination of her pastor, Bro. Clay Curtis, on Friday night.

·      Shelby and I would like to invite all of you to plan to join us for our CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE FELLOWSHIP at the parsonage following our evening service on Sunday, December 9^th .

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Skip & Sandy Gladfelter-1^st Mark & Regina Henson-29^th

CHURCH CLEANING IN DECEMBER: Charlotte Hart & Teresa Coleman

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Shante’ Birchum (AM) Pam Wood (PM) Tuesday: Jayalita McCormack

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS Don Fortner

(Tune: Sweet Hour of Prayer #361 LMD)

1          Throughout my days my path’s been marked by God, my Father’s, loving heart.

He’s ordered every step with care. I’ve met His goodness everywhere!

When I was lost and knew Him not, prevenient grace marked every spot;

And angels came for God’s elect, though in rebellion, to protect.

2.     Then in the time and at the place which God had purposed by His grace,

The Spirit came and made me live. God caused His chosen to believe.

Through all my days, since first I saw that Jesus Christ is all in all,

My Savior has in faithfulness sustained and kept me by His grace.

3.     When fallen, He restores my soul, forgives my sin, and still upholds

His erring child with love and grace, and proves His cov’nant faithfulness.

When sick, my Savior makes my bed, and soothes my aching, fainting head.

And when I leave this world of woe, to God, my faithful God, I’ll go!

4.     No more to sin, no more to sigh. The tears you see will soon be dry.

When I have dropped this robe of flesh, I’ll leave behind all signs of death!

Immortal life awaits my soul! When I’m with Christ, I shall be whole!

Conformed to Him who died for me, with Him at last, I shall be free!

The Works of Pastor Henry Mahan

      The Lord willing, we will soon send Bro. Henry Mahan’s works to the printers. The three volume set will be published in laminate hardback, with 500 – 600 pages each. The set includes Pastor Mahan’s Bible Class commentaries (Isaiah and John – Jude) and his Old Testament Pictures of Christ. We hope to add to the set in the future with some of Pastor Mahan’s transcribed sermons and collected articles.

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Dealing with Heretics

Pastor Joe Terrell

“A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject” (Titus 3:10). — “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

In the above Scriptures, the underlined words (“heretic” and “chosen”) are from the same root word in Greek. — We normally think of a heretic as someone who introduces false doctrine into the church of God. In many cases, heretics do just that. But the word signifies a divisive person. It is derived from the Greek word for “choose.” A choice always makes a division between the chosen and not-chosen.

Heretics are not necessarily known by what they say, but by what their words and actions cause: division, suspicion and a fracturing of the peace of God’s church. Sometimes they divide the people of God by setting forth some doctrine they have recently “discovered” and make it the dividing line between the sheep and the goats. But, in truth, their doctrine casts a line of division between sheep. So, by their judgments, they have made a choice that is not the same as God’s choice, and they have become false dividers of the sheep of God: they rejected some whom God chose. What wickedness, to put one’s self in the place of God to “choose” who God’s people are!

Sometimes men are found heretics because they love to stir up trouble among God’s people. Some people just cannot stand peace. They introduce entirely useless issues into the minds of God’s people and spread suspicion and controversy among the sheep.

In most, if not all cases, the motivation is self-advancement. Heretics “choose” a few people out of the assembly and try to draw them away after themselves. They use subtlety and deception, courting the affections of God’s people and slyly introducing their poisonous message into their minds. It is not unusual to find them going from house to house and engaging in private conversations with the members of the church in order to draw away a sizable group before making an open play for the power and position they crave.

But they are virtually powerless if the church will follow Paul’s instruction: ignore them. If someone comes to you bearing some strange or new doctrine, or if someone comes to you stirring up dissension among the sheep by insulting some of them or casting doubt on whether they are even sheep at all, or if someone comes to you insinuating some fault in the message of a faithful minister of the gospel, or if someone’s message confuses you and disrupts your peace in Christ and corrupts your mind from the simplicity that is in Christ, correct him once, and again the second time. After that, have nothing to do with such a person lest your attention to him gives him the impression that his activities are worthy of attention, or worse yet, his divisive spirit infects you.

Listen to divisive nonsense no more than a couple of times, and then return to the message of the Lord Jesus wherein the sheep find peace and fellowship. Let the potshards of the earth strive with the potshards of the earth. We who have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son have better things with which to occupy our minds.

11

“Who were before of old Ordained to this Condemnation”

Jude 4

            I will make no attempt to pry into things beyond me, but I will not make Jude’s words say less than they do. Here, God the Holy Spirit tells us that those apostate heretics who slither into local churches and lead spiritually ignorant souls away from the simplicity of the gospel are men “who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.”

I am fully aware that the word here translated “ordained” means “written beforehand.” Many use that fact to try to make Jude’s words less offensive or even to make it appear that Jude is not talking about God’s eternal decree. But that is exactly what Jude is talking about. Just as our Lord Jesus was betrayed and delivered up to the hands of wicked men by the purpose of God, so our trials, even those that come by the infiltration of false prophets and their heresies, are according to God’s eternal purpose and sovereign decree (Ps. 76:10; 109:7-8; Pro. 16:4; John 17:12; 19:11; Acts 2:23; Rom. 9:17; 11:33-36). Either “all things are of God,” as the Book says they are, or they are not! The condemnation of these men was written in a book, the book of God’s eternal predestination, before the world began. They were “of old,” that is from eternity, “ordained to this condemnation.” That is exactly how the words “of old” are used in Proverbs 8:22.

Jude is assuring us that though they creep in unawares to us, they do not take God by surprise. His purpose is not altered by their evil deeds, but rather is perfectly fulfilled. They were written down in God’s book for judgment, or condemnation.

I am also fully aware of the fact that those who oppose God’s absolute sovereignty of God respond to what I have just stated (to what God the Holy Spirit here declares) like this. — “That makes God the author of sin.” James tells us that is not the case (James 1:13). Doesn’t he? — Others will say, “Well, if they were ordained to this condemnation, they had no choice in the matter.” But, again, the Scriptures tell us that while the actions of such wicked men are “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” they are the deeds of their own wicked wills (Acts 2:23), actions for which they alone are responsible.

To what does Jude refer when he speaks of “this condemnation”? Let the text itself answer that question. The condemnation to which they were ordained is the condemnation of the apostasy described in this Epistle. — Because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, God gives them over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:18-32). — Because they receive not the love of the truth, God sends them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they might be damned (2 Thess. 2:9-12). The condemnation to which all apostates, all who will not hear and obey the gospel, are of old ordained is the everlasting wrath of God spoken of by Enoch (Jude 1:14-15).

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Grace Bulletin

November 25, 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.freegraceradio.com

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

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com