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Grace Baptist Church of Danville February 10, 2013
Christ abrogated the law by fulfilling it.
Daily Readings for the Week of February 10-17, 2013 Sunday Leviticus 26-27 Thursday Numbers 8-10 Monday Numbers 1-2 Friday Numbers 11-14 Tuesday Numbers 3-4 Saturday Numbers 15-16 Wednesday Numbers 5-7 Sunday Numbers 17-19
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Nancy Bailey-13th
NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK Today: Jayalita McCormack (AM) Vicci Rolley (PM) Tuesday: Mindy Peterson
“Because I Live” — Don Fortner (Tune: The Doxology — LM)
1. Thus says the Prince of life and grace, To all His chosen, ransomed race, “Because I live you too shall live, For I will grace and glory give.”
2. Sweetly, my Savior’s charming voice Makes my poor, sinful soul rejoice. — His blood has washed away my sin! Because He lives, I live in Him!
3. Neither the law, nor sin, nor death Can alter what my Savior’s said. His voice my trembling soul revives, I live because my Surety lives!
“Christ is the end of the law.” Romans 10:4
When the Holy Spirit asserts that Christ is the end of the law, he means for us to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law’s purpose. He is the purpose and object of the law. The law was given to lead us to Christ. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24-25). — “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
The law is the sheriff’s deputy who shuts men up in prison for their sin, concluding them all under condemnation, so that they must look to the free grace of God in Christ for deliverance. This is the purpose of the law. It empties that grace may fill. It wounds that grace may heal. The law was given to lead sinners to faith in Christ, by showing us the impossibility of salvation in any other way. Spurgeon said, “The law is God’s black dog, by which he fetches his sheep to the Shepherd.”
16 How does the law perform its work? How does the law bring men to Christ? It exposes our sin (Romans 7:7-9). The law shows us what the result of sin must be. It declares that sin has separated and will forever separate man from God, unless justice is satisfied and sin removed. The law declares, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). The only way any man can obtain mercy from God is to approach him with the bloody sacrifice of his own darling Son. The law reveals our utter helplessness (Psalm 24:3-4). Any man who thinks he can keep the law, and thereby win God’s favor, simply does not know what the law requires. — “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (Galatians 4:21). The law demands perfection. The law demands satisfaction. If we ever see what God requires in his law, we will beg for a Mediator (Exodus 20:1-19). God’s holy law shows us our great need of Christ as our Substitute. Our only hope before God is that God himself will send One who is able and willing to satisfy his holy law for us. We must have a Substitute, one who is able to make us righteous, one who is able to redeem (Romans 3:24-26). Knowing what the law requires, my soul cries, “Give me Christ. I want nothing to do with God’s naked law!” The law strips. Christ covers. The law condemns. Christ pardons. The law kills. Christ gives life. Not only is Christ the purpose and object of the law, the One to whom the law points. Christ is also the fulfillment of the law (Isaiah 42:21). Our Lord said, “I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil the law.” The law demands complete obedience, without one spot or speck, failure or flaw. The law demands holiness, righteousness, perfection. The terms of the law cannot be lowered, not even in order to save God’s elect. The law demands complete satisfaction. It will settle for nothing less than the death of every transgressor. In Christ God’s elect have all that the law demands. His life of obedience is our perfect righteousness. His sin-atoning death is our satisfaction of divine justice (Romans 5:19). In Christ we are free from the law’s curse (Romans 8:1). In Christ the believer fulfills the law by faith (Romans 3:31). Christ fulfilled the law representatively for us; and we fulfill the law by faith, offering to God what his law demands: — The Obedience and Blood of Christ! Our Lord Jesus Christ is the termination of the law. Yes, you read that right. Christ is the end of the law in the sense that he is the termination of the law. Dead is just about as terminated as you can get; and Paul tells us that if we are truly married to Christ, we are dead to the law (Romans 7:1-4). Christ has terminated the law as a covenant of life. — “We are not under the law, but under grace.” Christ has terminated the law’s curse and penalty. In Christ every believer has a just, righteous claim of merit upon all the blessedness of everlasting glory (Psalm 32:1-2; Colossians 1:12). Do you see the sweet mystery of salvation by the substitutionary work of Christ? The law has no claim upon those for whom Christ died. The curse spent itself on our Redeemer. Dying in Christ, when he died for us upon the cursed tree, we are dead to the law. We are righteous, justified, guiltless, innocent, holy, without blemish, perfect before the holy Lord God in Christ.
17 “Why do you use the King James Version?”
This is a question that I am frequently asked by friends as I travel from place to place. I realize there are many who use other, more modern translations of Scripture. If the people I preach to used another translation, I would probably use the translation they used, if it were acceptable. (The only modern translation acceptable to me is the New King James Version.) However, I do prefer the King James, or Authorized Version for the following reasons:
1. All other translations are developed by comparing ancient manuscripts. If a passage is found in the oldest, best manuscripts, and in the majority of them, it is received. If not, it is deleted. The King James Version is a translation based upon the Received Text. It is a translation, but not a comparative translation.
2. The King James is, in my opinion, the best, most accurate English translation of the Scriptures. Certainly, there are some passages that are translated more accurately in other versions. But on the whole, I think the Authorized Version is best.
3. The King James is the most readable translation. Granted, we no longer use, “thee”, “thou”, and “ye”. But that does not mean that we are unable to read and understand such simple words. Though we do not use the “eth” ending on our verbs, it is important to note that ending as it is used in the Scriptures. Whenever it is employed, it means that the verb is a verb of continuous action. For example, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16).
4. Every English translation of the Scriptures that I have read either omits 1 John 5:7 or says that it should be omitted. Though it is taught throughout the Scriptures, the doctrine of the Trinity is plainly stated in only one verse in the Bible — 1 John 5:7. “This text”, wrote John Gill, “is so glaring a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity, that the enemies of it have done all they can to weaken its authority, and have pushed hard to extirpate it from a place in the sacred writings.”
For me, these are sufficient reasons for staying with the King James. God has always preserved his Word in the language of the people, and in the King James it is preserved in our language for us. If you must have a modern English translation, I suggest The New King James Version.
18 The Grace Bulletin
February 10, 2013
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
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