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Grace Baptist Church of Danville November 18, 2012
No one first gets saved and then learns the gospel. Sinners are saved when they are taught of God by the gospel.
Daily Readings for the Week of November 18-25, 2012 Sunday Acts 25-26 Thursday Romans 6-8 Monday Acts 27-28 Friday Romans 9-11 Tuesday Romans 1-2 Saturday Romans 12-15 Wednesday Romans 3-5 Sunday Romans 16-1 Cor. 3
· Bro. Ron Wood is preaching today for the Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Wasilla, AK. · We will have our Thanksgiving/Christmas Holiday Fellowship Dinner together following our morning worship service next Sunday. There will be no evening service next Sunday. · Bro. Eric Richards will bring the message here tonight.
Upcoming Bible Conferences
November 26-28, 2012 Boonville Sovereign Grace Fellowship, Boonville, NC, Contact Pastor Linwood Campbell — 336-468-4339 — lincampbell@rocketmail.com
November 30-December 2, 2012 Todds RD Grace Church, Lexington, KY Contact Pastor Todd Nibert — 859-263-4150 — Nibert@aol.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Cody Henson-25th NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK Today: Jenny Bartley (AM) Celeste Peterson (PM) Tuesday: Debbie Bartley
Thanksgiving to Our God — Don Fortner (Tune: This Is My Father’s World #39 SMD)
For all the wondrous things You’ve done, for mercy, love and grace! You, from our mothers’ womb, have carried us along, And promised through old age that You will not forsake Your own!
The Father, and the Spirit, and Christ Jesus, God the Son! The Triune God we praise for all His works of grace; Chosen, redeemed, and called, we are trophies of sov’reign grace!
As ransomed sinners saved by grace, we give our God His due! While in this world we live, let us live for our God, And may our dying breath express thanksgiving to our God!
Happy Thanksgiving!
7 “Give Thanks”
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
We have great cause to ever give thanks to God. Those who trust Christ, in proportion to their faith, are content with Christ and with his wise and good providence. And those who are content are thankful, thankful for all things and in all things (Ephesians 5:20; Philippians4:6), knowing that “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 4:18; Romans 11:36). Here are three reasons for constant thanksgiving to God. If God will enable us ever to think upon these three things, we will never lack for reasons to give him thanks, no matter what our outward circumstances may be.
Electing Love
Let us give thanks to our God for his free, electing love (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). If you are a believer, a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, it is because God loved you with an everlasting love, chose you as the object of his grace, determined to save you before the world began, and separated you from the rest of mankind in his sovereign predestination. Our faith in Christ is not the result of our free will. It is the result of God’s sovereign will. God did not choose us because he knew that we would choose Christ. We chose Christ because God chose us in Christ before time began and caused us to come to Christ in the time of his love and grace (Psalm 65:4).
The Lord Jesus Christ
Let all who are redeemed by his precious blood give thanks to God for the unspeakable gift of his sovereign love, the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 9:15). God gave us his Son before the worlds were made in the covenant of grace. He gave us his Son in the incarnation to live as our Representative. The Lord God gave his Son to die as our Substitute, under the sentence of his own justice. And the God of all grace gave us his Son to live and reign within us in regeneration. Having given us his dear Son, our heavenly Father has given us all things in his Son (Romans 8:32; Ephesians 1:3).Truly, Christ is the gift of God’s love which is unspeakable!
Divine Providence
Let all who know him give thanks to God for his wise, adorable, and good providence (1 Thessalonians 5:18). — “In everything give thanks,” because everything comes from God for your eternal, spiritual good (Romans 8:28). — “In everything give thanks,” because whatever it is that you now experience, “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Whatever you experience, remember, your Father sends it. Therefore it is good. So “in everything give thanks.” On Thanksgiving Day, we acknowledge and give thanks to our God for his bountiful, saving grace in Christ. When you gather with your families Thursday, do not fail to give thanks to God for “his unspeakable gift,” the Lord Jesus Christ and his great salvation. Make mention of his electing love, redeeming blood, regenerating power, justifying grace, forgiving mercy, and covenant faithfulness. Let us acknowledge to him and to all who will hear us that we are what we are by the grace of God. If we are saved, he saved us. If we are righteous, he made us righteous. If we are sanctified, he sanctified us. If we persevere in faith, we are kept by his power 8 Limited Atonement
“He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” (Isaiah 53:8)
“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [for us].” (Hebrews 9:12)
These two texts of Holy Scripture assert emphatically that the Son of God died for a specific people and that He effectually redeemed all for whom He died. That is the doctrine of Limited Atonement. The Word of God nowhere even hints that Christ shed His blood at Calvary for some who yet suffer the wrath of God in hell. The doctrine of Universal Atonement is as absurd as it is blasphemous!
All doctrinal systems, all religious systems place some limits upon the atonement of Christ. Those who believe that Christ shed His blood to make atonement for all without exception, those who are saved as well as those who perish, of necessity limit the merit of Christ’s blood and the efficacy of His atonement. They tell us that Christ died to redeem everyone, that His blood was shed to make atonement for everyone. Yet, many for whom Christ died, according to their doctrine, are lost forever in hell. That limits the power and merit of Christ’s blood! It makes the power of His blood and the efficacy of His atonement to be dependent upon the decision of the sinner! Such a limitation is contrary to the Scriptures and contrary to the character of God. It must not be tolerated.
We who believe the Gospel avow that there is no limit to the power of Christ’s blood or to the efficacy of His atonement. Jesus Christ is God. All for whom He made atonement must be saved. Therefore, we assert, according to the Scriptures, that the design, intention, and scope of the atonement must be limited. It is limited to God’s elect, to those who are actually saved by it. The Lord Jesus Christ died for and effectually accomplished the eternal redemption of God’s elect. Is this the doctrine of Holy Scripture? Indeed it is! It is written — “For the transgression of My people was he stricken.” — “By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Wherever you find the subject of redemption and atonement by the death of Christ discussed or illustrated in the Word of God, it is always presented as an effectual work accomplished for a particular people. It is never suggested or implied that Christ died for all men, or made atonement for all men. Just as the paschal lamb was sacrificed only for the people of Israel in the Old Testament, Christ the true Passover was sacrificed only for the Israel of God.
The Arminian theory of the atonement is like a very wide, but incomplete bridge. It is wide enough for everyone, but it only reaches halfway to heaven. Such a bridge is altogether useless! The Gospel doctrine of the atonement is a bridge somewhat more narrow, but it reaches all the way to glory. Nothing is lacking. Nothing is left for the sinner to complete.
9 The Grace Bulletin
November 18, 2012
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 7:45 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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