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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

December 24, 2017

The prophet Isaiah says plainly that the Lord Jesus Christ “shall not fail.” Whatever the Son of God undertakes to accomplish, he shall accomplish. If he prays for a person’s salvation, that sinner must be saved. If he dies to put away a person’s sin, that person’s sin must be put away. If he seeks a sheep, the sheep must be found. If he says to the dead, “Live,” the dead must live. If he comes to save a sinner by the power of his grace, that sinner must be saved. — “He shall not fail!”

Daily Readings for the Week of December 24-31, 2017

Sunday 2 John-Jude Thursday Revelation 11-13

Monday Revelation 1-3 Friday Revelation 14-16

Tuesday Revelation 4-7 Saturday Revelation 17-19

Wednesday Revelation 8-10 Sunday Revelation 20-22

· There will be no service here tonight. As you gather with your families tonight and tomorrow, remember and cause them to remember God’s unspeakable gift of grace, salvation, and eternal life in Christ. — Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday! Martie Hellar-25^th Matthew Rice-27^th Marilyn Sadler-31^st

Nursery Duty This Week: Stephanie Wilkerson (AM) Tuesday: Celeste Peterson

When He came, our God and King — Don Fortner

(Tune: #93 — Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — 77.77D)

When He came, our God and King, angels made the heavens ring

With His praises in the sky, — “Glory to our God on high.”

God the Son, from Glory bright, comes to men the Light of Life,

David’s son and David’s God, Son of Man and Son of God!

JESUS is His matchless name, come to save (O Blessed Lamb!),

Come to live and die for us, that in grace God might be just.

Well may sinners now rejoice! Trusting Him, lift up your voice!

God’s great Gift — (Unspeakable!), brings us grace unsearchable!

Sing the praises of our Lord, God the Son, incarnate Word.

All the fulness of our God dwells in Him who shed His blood!

Soon His ransomed all shall know all the glory God can show,

And in bliss immortal sing, “Hallelujah!” to our King!

“The Word was Made Flesh”

Pastor Henry Mahan

My friends, if you will carefully consider it, this is the most extraordinary fact ever declared in human language. God became a man and “took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh.” The Ancient of Days became an infant of days. The Son of the Most-High God became a man of sorrows. He made the world; but as a man, “he had no place to lay his head.” He who made the rivers asked a woman to give him a drink of water. He who cast out devils was tempted of the devil, and the author of life died and lay in a tomb.

“A Ransom for Many”

Mark 10:45

Here our Lord Jesus Christ tells us, in the plainest terms possible, that He did not die for everyone in general, but for many in particular. He says He gave His life a ransom “for many.” In other words, He tells us that His sin-atoning death was an effectual atonement for a limited, chosen number of people.

We believe and preach without apology the great, glorious, soul-cheering, Gospel doctrine of limited atonement. We declare, according to the Word of God, that our all glorious Christ, the Son of God, effectually accomplished the redemption of His people by the sacrifice of Himself at Calvary.

The fact is all who claim to be Christians believe in and teach limited atonement. The will-worship Arminian, the free-will, works-mongers, who assert that Christ died for all men, for those who perish in hell as well as those who are saved, limit the atonement of Christ contrary to Scripture. They limit the merit and efficacy of Christ’s blood and the atonement made by His blood, asserting that the blood of Christ must be supplemented by man’s decision, man’s faith, man’s obedience, man’s baptism, etc. They teach that it is man, by his obedience, who gives merit and efficacy to the blood of Christ. Such doctrine is utter blasphemy!

We assert, according to Holy Scripture, that there is absolutely no limit to the merit and efficacy of Christ’s precious blood and the atonement obtained and accomplished for God’s elect by it. However, according to the Word of God, the atonement of Christ is limited in intent, scope, design, and purpose to God’s elect. To suggest, imply, or teach, indeed, to believe that there are some in hell for whom the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood and made atonement is to betray an idolater’s heart and blaspheme the Son of God, denying His very godhead!

Such blasphemy, the blasphemy of universal redemption makes the Son of God a failure. The doctrine of universal, ineffectual redemption, of universal, ineffectual atonement is just as damning to the souls of men as any other doctrine which necessarily denies our Savior’s divinity.

The Son of God very specifically tells us that he gave his life “a ransom for many." It is nowhere suggested or implied in the Word of God that Christ made atonement for, redeemed, or ransomed the entire human race, many of which were already in hell when he died. Those for whom Christ died are described as “many,” not all, because these many are a distinct and peculiar people. They are the "many" who are ordained unto eternal life (Acts 13:48), — The "many" the Father has given to the Son (John 6:37-39), — The “many” whose sins He bore on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), — The "many" for whom His blood was shed for the remission of their sins (Matthew 26:28), — The "many" who are made righteous by His obedience (Romans 5:19), — The "many" sons, He, the Captain of their salvation, brings to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

The Lord of Glory did not merely make redemption possible. He redeemed us with His blood! With His own blood, the Son of God actually obtained eternal redemption for all His people.

“He called His Name JESUS.”

Matthew 1:25

The angel of the Lord said to Joseph concerning the incarnation, birth, and work of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ: — “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” — “And he called his name JESUS.”

Why did the Son of God come into this world?

It seems to me that anyone who reads or hears that the Son of God assumed human flesh and came into the world as a man would want to know why he did so. The angel of the Lord tells us plainly that God the Son came into this world for a specific purpose, to do a specific thing, on a specific mission. Hear it again: — “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” The Lord of glory, the Son of God, assumed our nature and came into the world to save his people from their sins. This is the Father’s will, which he came to perform (Hebrews 10:5-14; John 6:39). This is the stipulation of the covenant, which he came to fulfill (Hebrews 13:20; Isaiah 49:8). This is the commandment of God, which he came to obey (John 10:16-18).

My mind is lost in wonder and admiration when I think of the fact of Christ’s coming into this world. Is it not astonishing to you that the Son of God would become the Son of Man, that he who created all things would become the woman’s Seed, that he who is Lord of all would take upon himself the form of a servant to be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and that his purpose in doing so was that in the fulness of time he might die the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross in the place of guilty sinners? These things utterly astonish me! I say with Paul, “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh!”

Who is this Jesus?

That may seem to be a strange question. You have heard about Jesus all your life. Perhaps you think, “Everyone knows who Jesus Christ is.” You are mistaken. The fact is, very few people in this world know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. The Christ that is worshipped in the average church is nothing but an idolatrous figment of man’s imagination. Our Lord himself warned us of these days, saying, “There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” So, when men come to you and say, “Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not” (Matthew 24:23, 24).

That makes this question very important: — Who is this Jesus? Who is the Christ of the Bible? We must know, trust, and worship this Christ if we would know God and be accepted of him (John 17:3). If we trust a false Christ, no matter how sincere we are, we are lost and under the delusion of Satan. If you care for your soul, you will search the Scriptures, asking God the Holy Spirit to show you who this Jesus is, of whom it is written, “He shall save his people from their sins.” This man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the sinner’s only Savior.

The Grace Bulletin

December 24, 2017

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 576-3400 — 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