Grace Baptist Church of Danville

January 20, 2008

God’s way always leads his chosen in this world through a dark, troubling wilderness; but God’s way is always “the right way.”

Daily Readings for the Week of January 20-27

·      Missionary Offering Today

·      Pastor Henry Mahan will preach the gospel to you next Sunday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Jim Grant-26^th

“Whom have I in Heaven, but Thee?” — Don Fortner

(Tune: #393 — Take My Life and Let It Be — 77.77)

1.    Jesus, Savior, Lamb of God,

You have bought me with Your blood!

Take me (body, spirit, soul);

And possess, O Lord, the whole!

2.    Christ, my one thing needful be,

Now and to eternity.

Let me choose the better part,

Come, possess, Savior, my heart!

3.    Whom have I on earth, but You?

Let me never from You go!

“Whom have I in Heav’n, but Thee?”

You are All in All to me.

4.    Set my heart on things above,

On Your mercy, grace, and love: —

Who the worth of these can tell?

Infinite! Unsearchable!

7

“It is high time to awake out of sleep.”

Romans 13:11

      Have you ever noticed how often in the Book of God we are given “wake up calls”? Repeatedly, the Lord God commands us to wake up. He commands sinners he has awakened from death to wake up, because we are all inclined to the shameful sleep of indifference. Our blessed Savior lavishes his mercy, love and grace upon us. He gives us fresh revelations of his glory, sweet experiences of forgiveness, and rapturous times of communion with him, by which our hearts are so roused to devotion, praise and thanksgiving that we cannot imagine ever being indifferent to our great God and Savior again. — But those mountain-top experiences never last long, do they?

      How quickly the cares of the world choke the good seed! How quickly clouds of darkness hide the Sun of Righteousness. Therefore, the Lord graciously calls us and commands us to awake. — “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust” (Isaiah 26:19; Romans 13:11-14; Ephesians 5:14).

      Yet, though the Lord calls us to awake, such is our weakness and inability, such is the sinfulness of our nature, that until the Lord himself graciously awakens us, we will sleep on like the disciples of old, even upon the very mount of transfiguration!

      Still, even in such a dead and lifeless frame, which brings leanness to our souls and sorrow to our hearts, every heaven-born soul can say, “I sleep, but my heart waketh” (Song of Solomon 5:2). There is an immense difference between the sleepy, languishing frames of the believer and the death sleep of the unregenerate. — Ours is the sleep of frailty. The unregenerate sleep in death, being dead in trespasses and sins! — We sleep in weakness. The unregenerate sleep in hopelessness. — Painful and shameful as it is, ours is the sleep of hearts in mourning, longing for Christ. The unregenerate sleep with hearts of enmity against our Beloved Redeemer. — Though we do not in such seasons enjoy our Savior, still we desire him. The unregenerate desire him not. — Though we do not hear his voice or see his face, still Christ is known, even in our lowest frames. The unregenerate know him not. — Though our blessed Savior hides his face from us, he still dwells in our hearts, even when our hearts are languishing. In the unregenerate he has no place.

Do you trust Christ? Is Christ alone your hope before God? If he is, even in your lowest condition, be assured of your Savior’s mercy, grace and love. However unconscious you may be of his presence, he remains the same. Our hope is not in our spiritual frame, but in his stedfast faithfulness! Though it is more desirable and more delightful to hold him fast in the galleries of his manifest grace (Song of Solomon 7:5). Still, grace is sure, even to the Lord’s languishing people. He promises that he will fill the hungry soul and comfort the mourning heart. He will come to those who look for him; and the soul that pines for him and seeks him shall find him.

8

It’s Time to Wake Up

Romans 13:11

“Knowing the time” — This Gospel day, in which the grace of God shines forth, like the sun in its meridian glory, is the day of salvation. Life and immortality are brought to light; righteousness and salvation are revealed in this day by the preaching of the gospel. This is no time for slumber and sleep, but for labor. Let us each be engaged in our Master’s business, laboring to make Christ known to all men, that the dawn of grace and the day of spiritual light might break in upon their souls and dispel the darkness of sin, ignorance and unbelief. The Sun of Righteousness is risen upon us with healing in his wings. We are “the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). “Let us walk as in the day.”

“That now it is high time for us to awake out of sleep.” — Sleep is for the night, not the day. Paul is not here dealing with the dead sleep of the lost in trespasses and sin, but the drowsy, lethargic frame of spirit in which living souls are often found. The wise virgins of our Lord’s parable slept, as well as the foolish. In such sleep, resting in the outward form of religion, we are consumed with a lukewarmness toward Christ and his cause, and willing to remain in such stupor, until the Lord Jesus calls us by his Word and Spirit to awake (Song of Solomon 5:2).

John Gill rightly observed that this stupor arises from the “body of sin and death and an over anxious care for the things of the world, from a weariness in spiritual exercises and an abstinence from spiritual company and ordinances.” It arises from our own carnal nature and the neglect of Christ and his worship. In such sleep the Lord Jesus hides his face from us, and leanness of soul is brought upon us. But, blessed be his name, our Savior will not leave us in our chosen indifference! He comes to us, when we will not come to him, makes fresh discoveries of his love to us, and causes us to cry after him.

“For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” — Soon, our great God and Savior will complete his good work of grace in us, and bring us to the consummate enjoyment of it in heavenly glory! When we close our eyes in death, the salvation of our souls will be finished. Then, when the Lord Jesus comes again in his glory to be glorified in all his saints, the whole work will be finished in the resurrection of our bodies. Then, we shall awake in his likeness. — “Blessed hope!”

Then we will be free from every evil and in full possession of all that is good and glorious, righteous and holy. This salvation is brought nearer to our sight and view, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we are nearer the enjoyment of this full, complete salvation than when we first believed. — Glory is just around the corner! This is no time to sleep. It is time to wake up. Heaven is at hand! We are at the door of our Father's house, ready to enter into the joy of our Lord, and into his everlasting kingdom and glory. Shall we sleep with eternity so near?

9

Grace Bulletin

January 20, 2008

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