Grace Baptist Church of Danville

March 6, 2011

“Nothing is more needful for making a sermon memorable and impressive than a logical arrangement.” — Robert Murray M’Cheyne

·      Bro. Ron Wood is preaching today for Fairmont Grace Church in Sylacauga, AL.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Charlotte Hart-7^th Debbie Bartley-13^th

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Shante’ Birchum (AM) Stephanie Wall (PM) Tuesday: Celeste Peterson

Behold the Christ for Sinners Slain ― Don Fortner

(Tune: #90 ― It Came Upon A Midnight Clear ― CMD)

1. Behold, the Christ for sinners slain upon the cursed tree!

What crushed His holy soul with pain? From whence His agony?

Let none who wear His blessed name forget what His death means. ―

Our Savior died and suffered hell within because of sin!

2. The nails, the thorns, the soldier’s spear, the taunts and jeers of men,

Could never crush Immanuel’s heart, ― but our imputed sin!

God’s holy sword atonement made, (Not all the strokes of men!)

Which fell upon our Savior’s head for us made to be sin!

3. Now blush, my soul, oh, blush with shame, for all my horrid sin!

Rejoice, my soul, and praise His name, Christ put away my sin!

A willing Sacrifice He died, in this poor sinner’s stead,

Triumphant, “It is finished,” cried and calmly bowed His head.

4. Triumphant, see our Victor lead into captivity

Satan and sin and death and hell, winning our liberty!

Behold the Savior on His throne, (Redemption fully wrought!)

He reigns to give eternal life to sinners dearly bought!

“For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.”

Psalm 38:18

“Let not these words stagger the faith of the believer in considering them as spoken by Christ. As the sinner's Surety, He was truly made sin for His people, so the Scripture declares, yea, also a curse for them. Hence, in the eye of the law, Christ and His seed are one (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21).”

— Robert Hawker

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Six Things Christ has Done for You

Mark 5:10-20

Using the demon possessed Gadarene as a picture of every sinner saved by the grace of God, we see six things the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us by His grace.

1.    He came to you where you were (v. 1; John 4:1-4).

2.    He cast the devil out of you (v. 8; Ephesians 2:1-3; Luke 11:21-22).

3.    He has given you rest (v. 15; Matthew 11:28-30).

4.    He clothed you (v. 15). You were naked. Christ clothed you with the garments of salvation; and now your nakedness is covered (Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 22:11; 3:18).

5.    He gave you a right mind (v. 15), even “the mind of Christ.” A right mind is a sound mind, a mind that agrees with God.

6.    He sent you forth bearing to others the message of His grace (vv. 19-20).

— Frank Hall

Cities of Refuge — Numbers 35:11

When the children of Israel were settled in the land of Canaan, God ordained that six cities of refuge be set aside, to which a man might flee for security, if he had unintentionally killed another man. These cities of refuge were located strategically throughout the land, so that any one of them could be easily reached within a day's journey from any place in the land of Canaan. If the guilty man could get into the gates of the city before the avenger of blood caught him, he would be secure. These cities of refuge together form a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. They typically represent Him to whom we have “fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18).

      We are informed by the ancient Jewish rabbis that, at least once every year, the magistrates of each city were responsible to survey the road to their city, making certain that the road was clear of all debris and easily passable. There must be no obstacles in the way that would hinder any who might flee to the cities of refuge. The magistrates sent out work crews to remove all large rocks and fallen trees from the road, taking the greatest possible care to remove every stumbling block. Any low places in the road were filled. Any high places were leveled. All along the road they placed markers with the word “REFUGE” written in bold letters. When the fugitive came to a crossroad, he needed not hesitate for a moment. Seeing that blessed word, “REFUGE,” he kept on his breathless pace, with relentless determination, until he reached the place of safety. Once he entered the gates of the city, he was secure.

      The Lord Jesus Christ is the Refuge for sinners. All who come to Him are saved from the wrath of God. The way to Christ is plainly revealed, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” And Christ, by His righteousness and blood, has removed every obstacle that might keep the sinner who seeks Him from finding Him. He even sends His Spirit to reveal the way, lead us in the way, and bring us safely to our souls’ Refuge.

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“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion”

Amos 6:1

There is nothing better than ease and rest. Our lives are filled with turmoil and trouble, heartache and care. Rest and ease are hard to find and fleeting when we do. What an unspeakable blessing it is when we find true rest and peace in Christ alone! The rest and peace found in Him cannot be disturbed and is beyond description. What a blessed rest it is to see in Christ Jesus the Lord the very wrath of God removed forever, sin put away, and warfare ended (Isaiah 40:2). Peace with God is the promise of the Gospel. But our adversary the Devil is a crafty and malicious fiend who will use every deceit to trap and blind. His favorite tactic is religion. He has no greater triumph than to take a sinner and clean him up by religion and then give him a false sense of peace when there is no peace. He delights for you to be zealous of religious duty, and loves for you to wonder if this thing or that thing is sin. He is pleased when you examine yourself to see if you are sinning so you can turn from it. His deception is to cause you to look to yourself, what you do, feel, experience, and believe instead of to Christ. That is why God gives us warning in Amos 6:1

A warning to those who are at ease because they are part of the visible Church — Church membership is not salvation. Though we may belong to the right denomination, have the right doctrine and are among the true people of God, it will not save us. Our hope isn’t in the Church, but in Christ alone. All true believers desire to be with and among the people of God in order to worship Him. But don’t rest in your church membership. Rest in Christ.

A warning to those who are looking to something in the past — False religion will keep you looking back to an experience or a decision or some other thing that happened yesterday or years ago. Folks love to give their testimony of when God saved them, because they are looking back to it as their hope. “I remember when” is a constant theme. I remember when a soul winner had me recite a prayer and told me I was saved. I remember when I was in danger and I promised the Lord that I would live for Him if He would get me out of it. I remember when I was moved by the Spirit to go forward and confess my sin and accept Jesus into my heart. If you have to remember when, you aren’t trusting Christ. Today is the day of salvation not yesterday. I must trust Him today, forgetting those things which are behind. I need mercy today. Don’t look back to what you did or experienced, but today if you will hear His voice harden not your hearts.

A warning to those who are trusting something that they are doing — A reformed life is not salvation; Christ is. A dedicated life is not salvation; Christ is. A sanctified life is not salvation; Christ is. A moral religious life is not salvation; Christ is.

A warning to those who hold to cheap grace rather than free grace — Cheap grace is that grace that costs you nothing and is worth every penny you paid for it. It costs nothing and is worth nothing to you. Those who love cheap grace take the worship of God lightly. If they have something better to do, they do it. Cheap grace means that Christ is something to you, but not everything to you.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. — Find your rest and peace in Christ alone.                                                                                                                                                     — Ron Wood

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The Grace Bulletin

March 6, 2011

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.

Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg

Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M.

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

Web Pages

http://www.DonFortner.com

http://www.FreegraceRadio.com

http://www.Grace-eBooks.com

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com