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Grace Baptist Church of Danville January 7, 2018
ÒIn the beginning GodÓ — Those four words show us that the Lord our God is the Creator, Ruler, and Disposer of all things.
Daily Readings for the Week of January 7-14, 2018 Sunday Genesis 24-25 Thursday Genesis 33-35 Monday Genesis 26-27 Friday Genesis 36-37 Tuesday Genesis 28-30 Saturday Genesis 38-40 Wednesday Genesis 31-32 Sunday Genesis 41-42
á We will have our Quarterly Fellowship on Sunday — January 21st
Happy Birthday! Emily Rice-8th
Happy Anniversary: Merle & Charlotte Hart-10th
Nursery Duty This Week Elizabeth Peterson (AM) — Stephanie Wilkerson (PM) Tuesday: Diane Campbell
Altogether Lovely — Don Fortner (Tune: #355 — From Every Stormy Wind that Blows —LM)
1. Let ZionÕs children all proclaim, Our precious SaviorÕs worthy name. HeÕs wise and holy, just and true, And altogether lovely too.
2. His head like gold, comely His cheeks, His heart is love, His lips most sweet; And all who know Him love to sing Of Christ our Savior, God, and King!
3. Eternal deity He claims, Reveals Himself in lovely names, He lived, and died, and reigns for us! — HeÕs altogether lovely thus.
4. His loveliness, by grace revealed, The sinnerÕs broken heart can heal. So, sound His lovely name abroad, — Our altogether lovely Lord.
5. Up to His throne we soon shall go, More of His loveliness to know. With ransomed millions weÕll declare, HeÕs altogether lovely there!
Confess Christ — If God has given you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you should publicly confess your faith in and allegiance without delay to him in believerÕs baptism.
The Righteousness Imputed James 2:23
I was recently asked, ÒWhat is that righteousness that God imputes to his elect?Ó I know that some make a strict separation between what theologians call Òthe active obedienceÓ of Christ in his life and his Òpassive obedienceÓ in death. I really do not like those expressions, and use them here only to represent what men say. Our LordÕs obedience in death was no more passive than that of his life. Our blessed SaviorÕs death was but the consummation of his obedience as our Surety. He was not passive. He laid down his life for his sheep. But what is the righteousness of God that is imputed to us? The righteousness imputed to GodÕs elect, the righteousness of God made ours in Christ (Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16; 2 Corinthians 5:21), obviously is not GodÕs attribute of righteousness; but that righteousness God requires of, performed for, and gives to his elect, is the righteousness Christ the God-man brought in (Daniel 9:24) by his obedience unto death, both the righteousness of complete obedience to God and of perfect propitiation in the satisfaction of divine justice (Matthew 5:20).
Life in Christ Galatians 2:20 Missionary Lance Hellar
The promise of grace in the new covenant, ratified by the precious blood of Christ (Luke 22:20), is a promise of mercy, forgiveness, and righteousness (Hebrews 8:12). This covenant is also a promise of indwelling wisdom which will lead the people of God into all truth such that, Ònone of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying ÔKnow the LordÕ, for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of themÓ (John 16:13, Hebrews 8:11). This knowledge isnÕt obtained by learning the external words written on two tablets of stone but is an internal knowledge, in the heart, and in the mind (Hebrews 8:10). This promise of the new covenant is nothing less than the indwelling of Christ through his Spirit. The Apostle Paul speaks of the Christian life in this way,
ÒI am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.Ó (Galatians 2:20).
This statement is a crystalized declaration of the experiential life of the believer. In PaulÕs mind, the life that he lives as a believer has nothing to do with the law but has everything to do with Christ and him crucified. In speaking about the Christian life Paul relates it to Christ crucified, the indwelling of Christ, life lived by faith in Christ, and the love of Christ manifested in giving himself for Paul. This is life in Christ. This is the life lived by everyone who believes in Jesus.
Our Righteousness
ÒThe LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.Ó (Jeremiah 51:10)
Christ Jesus is made of God unto us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). ÒFor he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in himÓ (2 Corinthians 5:21). The righteousness which the Lord God makes redeemed sinners to become, the righteousness by which we are accepted and with which we are made worthy of heavenly glory (Colossians 1:12) is always called Òthe righteousness of God.Ó It is the work of Christ alone. It is that righteousness of which all men by nature are ignorant. And the proof of their ignorance is that they go about to establish their own righteousness (Romans 9:33-10:4). According to the Book of God, it is the life obedience of Christ that constitutes that righteousness with which we are clothed and made to become before God. His death washed away our sins; and his life covers us from head to foot. His death was the sacrifice to God, and his life is the gift to man. By his obedience in life and in death, GodÕs elect have satisfied the demands of the law. Only in this way is it possible for the law to be honored and our souls accepted by God. Many who appear to be perfectly clear about the merits of ChristÕs death do not seem to understand the merits of his life. Remember, from the moment that our blessed Savior broke his motherÕs womb, until the hour that he ascended up on high, he was at work for his people. From the moment that he was seen in MaryÕs arms, until the moment that he was in the arms of death, when Òhe bowed his head and gave up the ghost,Ó he was performing the work of our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ completed the work of his obedience in his life, and said to his Father, ÒI have finished the work which thou gavest me to doÓ (John 17:4). Then he finished the work of his atonement in his death. And, knowing that all things were accomplished, he cried, ÒIt is finishedÓ (John 19:30). Throughout his earthly life, the Savior was spinning the fabric of that royal, priestly garment in which we are robed; and in his death he dipped that garment in his blood. In his life he was gathering precious gold; and in his death he hammered it out to make for us a garment of wrought gold. We have as much to be thankful for in the life of Christ as we do in his death. In his life Christ Jesus rendered perfect obedience to the law as our Substitute. And in his death he satisfied the claims of the law as our Substitute. Therefore, the prophet of God declares of Christ, ÒThis is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness,Ó and of us, ÒThis is the name whereby she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.Ó That is the message that is set before us in 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only righteousness, and it is our joy to confess that he is. — ÒOf him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the LordÓ (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).
Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 576-3400 — Email Don@DonFortner.com
Web Pages
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Services 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service Tuesday 7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service
Don Fortner
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Pastor FortnerÕs
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