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Grace Baptist Church of Danville January 26, 2014
Oh, how merciful, how gracious, how wise, how good our God is to his people! How gracious he has been to our souls in hedging up our way, bringing into our lives disappointments, pains, afflictions, and sorrows, by which he has sweetly and irresistibly forced us to return to him, seeking his mercy and grace in Christ!
Daily Readings for the Week of January 26-February 2, 2014 Sunday Exodus 25-27 Thursday Exodus 35-37 Monday Exodus 28-29 Friday Exodus 38-40 Tuesday Exodus 30-32 Saturday Leviticus 1-4 Wednesday Exodus 33-34 Sunday Leviticus 5-7
· I am preaching today for Rescue Baptist Church in Rescue, CA, where Bro. Gene Harmon is pastor. Bro. Frank Hall will preach the gospel to you today. Bro. Larry Criss, pastor of Fairmont Grace Church in Sylacauga, AL, will bring the message here on Tuesday night. · Ladies please pick up your towels, dishes, and pans left in the kitchen. Anything left after today will be discarded.
Happy Birthday! Teresa Coleman-29th Merle Hart-1st Happy Anniversary: Sam & Ruth Wall-3rd Church Cleaning in February: Don & Shelby Fortner Nursery Duty this Week Today: Vicci Rolley (AM) — Debbie Bartley (PM) — Tuesday: Mindy Peterson
“Thy Will Be Done.” — Don Fortner (Tune: #52 — Majestic Sweetness —CM)
1. Father, I know Your ways are just, Although to me unknown. O, grant me grace Your love to trust. And cry, “Thy will be done.” 2. If You should hedge with thorns my path, When pleasant things are gone, O give me grace to say in faith, “My God, ‘Thy will be done.’”
3. Although thy steps I cannot trace, Your sov’reignty I’ll own; And as enabled by Your grace, I’ll cry, “Thy will be done.”
4. O give me grace to passive lie Before Your gracious throne, Concerning everything to cry. “My God, ‘Thy will be done.’”
Eight Jubilee Requirements Leviticus 25:10-17
The Year of Jubilee was ordained of God to be time of restoration, rest, and rejoicing. The Jubilee Sabbath was designed to be the highest, most glorious, most anticipated of all the Old Testament Sabbaths. In the Year of Jubilee all the woes of the previous forty-nine years were undone, all debts were cancelled, all lost property was restored, and families were reunited. There was a complete reversal and renewal of life given to all in Israel who had, by any cause or circumstance, come into debt, lost their heritage, or been subjected to bondage. In the observance of the Year of Jubilee, God required eight specific things. In all these things, the Year of Jubilee was a picture of God’s great salvation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 1. Liberty was to be proclaimed throughout the land. 2. The exiles returned. 3. The captive were emancipated. — “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed!” 4. The debtor was set free and his debts cancelled. 5. Each family was to open its bosom to receive once more its long-lost members. — The Prodigal who had wasted his father’s substance came home. 6. Every man received his inheritance again. — Not one of God’s chosen, not one soul redeemed by Christ’s precious blood can ever, by any circumstance, be deprived of possessing forever his inheritance with the Son of God (Ephesians 1:3-14). The very law of God demands it. 7. Everyone in God’s Israel enjoyed a time of blessed rest, feasting upon the provisions of grace. — The sound of the trumpet was the welcome and soul-stirring signal for the captive to escape his prison, for the slave to cast off the chains of his bondage, for the manslayer to return to his home, for the ruined and poverty-stricken to rise to the possession of their forfeited inheritance. No sooner had the trumpet’s welcome sound been heard, than the mighty tide of blessing rose majestically, and sent its refreshing undulations into the most remote corners of Canaan’s happy land. Everyone in the land feasted upon God’s supernatural provisions of grace (Leviticus 25:18-22), and lacked nothing. 8. But there is one more thing that was required regarding the Year of Jubilee that is commonly overlooked. — Everyone in Israel was required to measure the value of all things in the prospect of that great day when the Year of Jubilee would come (vv. 14-17). The Year of Jubilee reminded both buyer and seller that the land belonged to Jehovah, and was not to be sold. “The fruits” might be sold, but not the land. It all belonged to God. They were just temporary tenants. Moreover, the scale of prices was to be regulated by the Jubilee. All human contracts regarding land, trade, and money were torn up the moment the Jubilee trumpet was heard. This teaches us a great lesson. If our hearts cherish the abiding hope of Christ’s return, we ought to hold all earthly things with a loose hand, valuing them altogether in the light of eternity (2 Corinthians 4:18-5:1; Philippians 4:4-7). Oh, may God give us grace to live every moment in the immediate prospect of eternity! If we could but live in the immediate prospect of eternity, valuing all things in the light of eternity, we would not oppress our brethren, but serve them, and use what the Lord puts in our hands to serve them and him.
Jubilee and the Crucifixion of Christ
“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.” (Leviticus 25:9)
The Jubilee trumpet could not be sounded, liberty could not be proclaimed, the yearlong Jubilee Sabbath rest could not begin, until the passover sacrifice was slain, atonement was made, and the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the mercy-seat. — Why? Why did the Lord God specifically require that the Year of Jubilee must always begin on the Day of Atonement?
No Blood, No Grace Israel was taught by this requirement, and we are taught by it, that no blessing, no mercy, no grace can come down to sinners from heaven, except by the merit, efficacy, and accomplishment of Christ’s blood atonement. His blood must be poured out upon the cursed tree, his blood must be sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, his blood must be accepted in the holy place, he must come forth out of the tomb without sin unto salvation, he must ascend to the throne of God and sit down, before grace can come down to sinners. Salvation is altogether by God’s free grace. But God’s free grace comes to us only through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. —“Without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Done from Eternity Does that mean that no grace was ever given to sinners until two thousand years ago, when Christ died and rose again? — Of course not! This great work was finished in the mind and purpose of God before the world began. It was done from eternity. The work was “finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3). Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain, his sacrifice was accepted, and all God’s elect were justified, sanctified, and glorified in him from everlasting (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Romans 8:29-30). It was a work executed in time by the wisdom, providence, and grace of our God; but it was done from eternity.
Crucifixion at Jubilee So precise and detailed is the order of God’s providence, that even the cycles of the solar system were set by him, and are maintained by him, so that the Jews and Romans, with their wicked wills, crucified the Lord of Glory (according to the calculations of those who calculate such things) at the time of Passover, at the time of the evening sacrifice, in the place where God required the sacrifice to be made (Jerusalem), in the Year of Jubilee! That makes Acts 2:23 a little more astounding; doesn’t it? This work of redemption by God our Savior shall be the matter of our souls’ amazement, contemplation, and joy to eternity.
The Grace Bulletin
January 26, 2014
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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Pastor Fortner’s
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