Grace Baptist Church of Danville

May 17, 2009

 

There is nothing morbid about preparing our funerals and preparing to die. For believers, such preparations are preparations for lifeÕs greatest adventure.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of May 17-24

          Sunday                      2 Chronicles 23-24-                        Thursday                   2 Chronicles 33-34

          Monday                     2 Chronicles 25-27                         Friday             2 Chron. 35-Ezra 1

            Tuesday                    2 Chronicles 28-29                         Saturday                    Ezra 2-3

          Wednesday  2 Chronicles 30-32                         Sunday                      Ezra 4-6

 

á      If you wish to designate a gift to Zebulon Baptist Church in Pikeville, KY, please write ÒPikevilleÓ on your check or on your offering envelope.

á      The Lord willing we will have our Quarterly Fellowship Dinner next Sunday. There will be no service here next Sunday evening.

á      Amy Coleman and Eric Richards will be married Saturday afternoon at 5:30. You are invited to the wedding.

 

 

 

Come, Carry Me AwayDon Fortner

(Tune: #252 — Only Trust Him — CMD)

 

1.    The sun of time is sinking fast;

My race is almost run.

All earthly woe will soon be past,

And triumph soon begun!

The God of Peace beneath my feet

Shall crush the serpentÕs head,

When I with Christ in victÕry sweet

This robe of flesh have shed.

 

2.    I must be near the blessed ranks

Of those to God so dear. —

I feel the mists of JordanÕs banks, —

My crossing must be near!

Yes, soon I must be going home,

Where Christ, the Lamb, appears.

HeÕll send His angels; and theyÕll come

To take me where He is!

 

3.    Oh, bear my longing soul to Him

Who lived and died for me,

Whose blood has put away my sin

And Heaven won for me!

Come angels, O sweet angels come,

And carry me away

To my immortal, heavÕnly home; —

Come, carry me away!

 

 

Blessed Death — Revelation 14:13

 

The Scriptures declare that the death of GodÕs elect is precious to him (Psalm 116:15) and that GodÕs saints, dying in the Lord, are blessed forever. But, what is there about the death of the believer that makes death blessed?

 

Death will bring us into the presence of many friends. Yes, death takes a wife from her husband, a child from its mother and a father from his family. But we cheer ourselves with the prospect of a happy reunion in glory.

 

Above all else, we will see Christ and be with him. But it is also promised that we will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we die, we will leave some behind, but we are going up to Òthe general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.Ó And we shall know one another then, even better than we do now, even as the disciples knew Moses and Elijah on the mount.

 

When, at last, we come to die in Christ, our most earnest and constant prayers will all be answered. How often have we prayed to be free from our trials and temptations? When we close our eyes in death, we will leave this vale of tears behind. For the believer, death is the blessed funeral of all sorrows. Does your soul long to be free from all sin? It will be, when this body lies in the grave. Oh, how our hearts long to be more like Christ! And we shall be perfectly like him in glory, when we have put off this body of flesh. We pray for a brighter and clearer vision of Christ in his glory. After we are no longer hindered by the sight of things in this world, our eyes will be opened to see the Son of God as he is. We should never weep for those who have died in the Lord. We might well envy them; but do not weep for them.

 

The death of GodÕs saints is accompanied with many comforts. Death does not separate us from the love of Christ, but only reveals it more intimately and more fully. Our Savior goes with us through the dark valley; and as soon as we reach the other side of JordanÕs chilly river, oh, what full revelations of ChristÕs love, grace, glory and greatness shall burst upon our souls! The Lord will make his people triumphant over the last enemy in that hour. In that hour, all our enemies will be as still as a stone (Exodus 15:16); Òand the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feetÓ (Romans 16:20).

 

Some of the ways by which our Lord Jesus delivers his elect from the fear of death is by giving us a foretaste of the glory that will follow it. It is written, ÒEye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love himÓ (1 Corinthians 2:9). Yet, he has given us his Spirit, which is Òthe earnest of our inheritanceÓ (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14).

 

We cannot comprehend this glory, but we can think upon it. In Christ heaven is ours, the throne of Christ is ours, the glory of Christ is ours, the crown of life is ours and eternal joy is ours. God is ours. Christ is ours. Heaven is ours. If these things are so, and they most assuredly are, then death is not to be dreaded and feared, but joyfully anticipated!

 

 

ÒHoly and Without Blame — Before HimÓ

Ephesians 1:4

 

One purpose of God in eternal election was to make his chosen a holy people in Christ, not more holy than others, not holier by degrees, but Òholy and without blameBefore Him!Ó None but God himself can make sinners holy. Holiness is more than a moral reformation, purity of life, or even uprightness of heart. Holiness is nothing less than the complete restoration of manhood to the image and likeness of God. Holiness is the complete, not partial but complete, conformity of man to the image of God in Christ. This holiness is not something you can produce. It is something God gives. Not even faith in Christ produces holiness. Faith seeks, receives, embraces and loves holiness. But it cannot produce holiness. Holiness is the work of God alone.

 

The whole purpose of God in the scheme of redemption and grace is to make his people perfectly holy, for the glory of his own great name. Salvation is neither more nor less than God taking that which is common and unclean and making it perfectly holy (Ephesians 1:3-6; 5:25-27). The Triune God makes sinners holy by three distinct works of grace.

 

 

1. Justification — All GodÕs elect have been made holy positionally, holy before the law, by free justification. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to all those for whom the Son of God lived and died. Just as our sin was imputed to Christ and he was made to be sin, though he never committed any sin, even so his righteousness has been imputed to us, so that we are made the righteousness of God in him, though we are incapable of doing that which is righteous (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

 

2. Sanctification — In the new birth, regeneration, GodÕs elect are given a new, holy nature. By the imparting of ChristÕs nature to us, the Holy Spirit sets us apart from the rest of AdamÕs fallen race; and we are sanctified (2 Peter 1:4; Hebrews 12:14). Our old nature of flesh does not become less sinful or more holy. The old nature is not changed at all. God has put a new nature, a new heart, a new spirit, a new will within us. And that new man, being born of God, is holy and cannot sin (1 John 3:9).

 

 

3. Glorification — When the Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time, all who were chosen to be holy, justified and sanctified by the grace of God shall be raised up from the grave and glorified. We shall, at last, be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, body, soul and spirit. Our glorified nature shall be just like his glorified nature, HOLY! (Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, 1 John 3:1-2 and Romans 8:29). Then GodÕs purpose in predestination shall be fully accomplished. Then, we shall Òbe holy and without blame before him in love!Ó

 

 

ÒWe are natural children of God, in that we are partakers of His divine nature and in that we have always been His children. But we also can be beautifully understood to be adopted in that we were Ôby nature,Õ that is, in our own fleshly nature, Ôthe children of wrath, even as others.ÕÓ — Pastor Chris Cunningham

 

 

 

 

Grace Bulletin

 

May 17, 2009

 

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