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Grace Baptist Church of Danville May 29, 2011
ÒChrist Himself is the one glorious object of delight for the infinite mind of Jehovah (in His three-fold character of persons) to behold, with unceasing complacency from one eternity to another.Ó — Robert Hawker
Daily Readings for the Week of May 29-June 5 Sunday Nehemiah 8-10 Thursday Esther 5-8 Monday Nehemiah 11-12 Friday Esther 9-Job 2 Tuesday Nehemiah 13-Esther 1 Saturday Job 3-7 Wednesday Esther 2-4 Sunday Job 8-11
á We will have our Quarterly Fellowship Dinner today. There will be no service here tonight. á Bro. Larry Criss is preaching today for Fairmont Grace Church in Sylacauga, AL. á Bro. Frank Hall is preaching today for Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, KY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Andria Groover-2nd Audrey Grace Hacker-2nd
CHURCH CLEANING IN JUNE: Joyce Montgomery
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Rex & Debbie Bartley-1st Don & Shelby Fortner-1st Fred & Dana Tuttle-11th Bill & Vicci Rolley-13th David & Celeste Peterson-16th Oscar & Nancy Bailey-18th Ron & Pam Wood-22nd Joe & Cynthia Blakely-28th
NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK Today: ShanteÕ Birchum Tuesday: Laura Peterson
The Horrid Load of All My Guilt — Don Fortner (Tune: #110 — Alas! And did My Savior Bleed — CM)
1. The horrid load of all my guilt Was on my Savior laid; He loved me so that, for my life, My sin His own He made!
2. Forsaken, there, by God in death, His heart was fixed on me! His love embraced my guilty soul, Nailed to the curs-ed tree!
3. For me He took the cup of wrath, And drank damnation dry! His love sustained His soul in death, — That I might never die!
4. Oh, love amazing! Love beyond The reach of human thought! That love shall be my endless song, Which my salvation bought!
13 ÒThey made their hearts as an adamant stone.Ó Zechariah 7:12
The Lord God declares that the heart of fallen man is as obstinate and hard Òas an adamant stone.Ó The adamant stone is a legendary stone of impenetrable hardness. It was thought to be harder than flint (Ezekiel 3:9). How hard, how impenetrable, how unbreakable the heart of man must be, if the Lord God compares it to an adamant stone!
Obdurate Hardness
The obdurate hardness of the heart of man is displayed throughout the Scriptures; but it is nowhere displayed more fully than in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night our dear Savior was arrested and led away to the judgment hall. There were among those who Òtook Jesus, and bound Him, and led Him awayÓ (John 18:12-13) a great mixture of people. Some of them were Roman soldiers. Some were servants of the priests and Pharisees. Among them were Judas and the Pharisees.
But in one thing they were all alike. They all Òmade their hearts as an adamant stone.Ó They all saw our SaviorÕs Divine power forcefully exhibited. The soldiers were compelled, by the mere force of our SaviorÕs name, ÒI AM,Ó to fall backward as dead men to the ground. All saw the miracle our Lord performed when He touched MalchusÕ ear and healed him. Yet all remained unmoved, cold, indifferent, insensible, and hard.
DonÕt you find that astonishing? They all acted as if they had seen nothing out of the ordinary. — ÒThey made their hearts as an adamant stone!Ó They saw these things and hardened their hearts, like Pharaoh, and went on coolly with their callous business. — ÒThey took Jesus, bound Him, and led Him away!Ó
GoatÕs Blood
Oh, how hard the heart of man is! Nothing can break it! Nothing can penetrate it! — Nothing but omnipotent grace! Bless God, there is hope for such hard hearts! The legendary adamant stone was thought the hardest of all stones, harder than flint (Ezekiel 3:9), harder than the nether millstone (Job 41:24). Fire could not burn it, or even cause it to be heated, except on its very surface. The adamant stone could not be broken by a hammer. Yet, this hardest of all stones, when soaked in a goatÕs blood, was melted, dissolved, and broken, like an aspirin in water. So the hardest heart of the most obstinate sinner is melted, dissolved, and broken when sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ, the sinnerÕs Scapegoat.
Nothing can break the heart but the almighty, efficacious, irresistible grace of God. Nothing can soften the stony, adamant heart except the precious blood of Christ sprinkled upon it by the Spirit of God, declaring the forgiveness of sin.
SinnerÕs Hope
That is my hope and prayer to God for you. If God the Holy Spirit sprinkles your heart with the blood of Christ, if He will apply the blood to you, you will look upon Him you have pierced and mourn. Miracles will never penetrate your hard heart. Judgments will never break your heart. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and
14 earthquakes, though ever so frightening, will never penetrate the heart of a sinner. Affliction will never break it. The law, with all its threats and curses, will never break the heart of man. Hell itself cannot break the rebel heart of man. But the blood of Christ can!
The blood of Christ, sprinkled on stony hearts as hard an impenetrable as adamant, breaks the hard heart of man, humbles the sinner, and bows him as a contrite one before the throne of GodÕs free grace, causing him to cry like the Publican, ÒGod be propitious to me, the sinner. Have mercy upon me through the sin-atoning blood of your dear Son!Ó
Blessed, God-given, God-sustained Hardness
ÒAs an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they [be] a rebellious house.Ó (Ezekiel 3:9)
This invincible boldness, courage, and steadfastness in GodÕs prophets the world calls Òpride,Ó Òimpertinence,Ó and Òrudeness.Ó The religious world (especially preachers, teachers, and religious leaders) calls it Òdivisive dogmatismÓ and Òsectarianism.Ó But the people of this world and the self-serving religious leaders of the world know nothing about the power of the Spirit, the call of God, Òthe burden of the Word of the Lord,Ó or the work of the ministry.
The adamant, Òharder than flint,Ó cannot be broken by a hammer or consumed by fire. It is unaffected by its environment and equally unaffected by that which men may do to it. That adamant stands firm and never yields. This legendary stone was thought to be used to cut iron in pieces and to polish precious gems.
John Gill rightly observed, ÒThe design of the simile is to set forth the courage and fortitude of mind the prophet was endowed with, in order to face an impudent and hardhearted people.Ó
The servant of God must be as bold as a lion, as fearless as a bear, as strong as an ox, and as tender as a dove. He is the instrument by which God cuts the heart of iron in pieces and breaks it, and the instrument by which the Almighty polishes jewels for His crown.
His work is of immense importance. Moses can never compromise to appease Pharaoh, to please Aaron, or to win IsraelÕs approval. GodÕs servant is and must be a man willing to stand alone, both in the world and in the Church. He cannot be moved by the flatteries of friends or the frowns of foes. Though the world rise up against him, though enemies attack him violently, he stands firm, Òas an adamant harder than flint,Ó unmoved, unaffected, unafraid. Why? How? — He is GodÕs servant, not the servant of men. Being GodÕs servant, he knows that failure and defeat are impossibilities. — God give me such strength with which to serve You in this generation!
15 The Grace Bulletin
May 29, 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 |
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