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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

November 25, 2018

All Services Live Streamed At

www.youtube.com/c/gracebaptistchurchofdanvilleky

 

ÒThe wicked flee when no man pursuethÓ (Proverbs 28:1). — Terrified by his own guilty conscience, a wicked man presumes someone is after him. Frightened by his own dark shadow, he strikes out at nothing but his own guilt (Judges 9:36). Like Cain, he presumes somebody is out to get him when, in reality, it is only the torment of a guilty conscience that makes him mad.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of November 25-December 2, 2018

Sunday                Romans 16-1 Cor. 3                 Thursday 1 Corinthians 14-15

      Monday                1 Corinthians 4-7                      Friday                   1 Cor. 16-2 Cor. 3

      Tuesday              1 Corinthians 8-10        Saturday              2 Corinthians 4-7

      Wednesday        1 Corinthians 11-13                  Sunday                2 Corinthians 8-11

 

á      We will have our church family annual Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner following our morning worship service today. There will be no service here this evening.

 

Happy Anniversary! Skip & Sandy Gladfelter-1st   Mark & Regina Hesnon-29th

Church Cleaning in December:  Bill Rolley & Charlie Meadows

Nursery Duty Today: Mindy Shultz

 

Behold, the Wisdom of our God! Don Fortner

(Tune: #400 — Jesus, and Shall it Ever Be? —LM)

 

1.    Faith all JehovahÕs works surveys,

With wonder, joy, and thankful praise;

But His salvation best proclaims

The powÕr and wisdom of His name.

2.    In Jesus blood atonement see

The wisdom of the Sacred Three:

Now God the just can justify

The guilty soul for whom Christ died!

3.    Behold that penetrating grace

That quickens all the chosen race,

Subdues the vile, imparts the good, —

This is the work of our great God!

4.    To new create a soul like mine,

Demands wisdom and powÕr divine.

Saved by free grace through JesusÕ blood: —

Behold, the Wisdom of our God!

 

I do not pretend to know anything about demonism and demon possession. But I have no doubt that demonism is as real today as it was in our LordÕs days upon this earth. The demonic possession of wicked men is far more common than most imagine. I urge you not to ignore that fact. And I urge you with equal force not to investigate demonology.

 

Two Thieves

Luke 23:32-43

 

How willing, how anxious the Lord Jesus Christ is to save poor, lost sinners! The cross of Christ is a vivid declaration that Òwhere sin abounded grace did much more abound!Ó What is the meaning of the cross? Why was our Lord Jesus nailed to the cursed tree? Behold the dying thief and hear the answer. The Son of God came into the world to save sinners. Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost!

 

The Dying Thief

The dying thief is a true specimen of GodÕs elect. This man appears to have done nothing but evil all his life. We know nothing about him, except that he was a thief, a thief who had executed his crimes with violence, a thief who continued to blaspheme, even as he was being executed, a thief who was loved and chosen of God (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

      Why was ImmanuelÕs blood poured out at Calvary? Christ Jesus poured out his lifeÕs blood upon the cursed tree to wash away sin. Here I see it washing away the sins of one like myself, whose heart and life were as black as hell. Why did Christ suffer and die? It was to pardon the most guilty. It was not merely to save us from hell, but to open Paradise to the chief of sinners, to open it at once; not after years of torment, but Òtoday.Ó Today Òshalt thou be with me.Ó Yes, the Lord Jesus went back to heaven with this saved thief in his hands.

      By his death upon the cursed tree, the Son of God delivers and saves his people from their sins. Satisfying the justice of God, He plucked us as brands from the burning, conquered hell, and defeated the devil and cast him down to hell. The first sinner saved by the cross, after it had been erected upon CalvaryÕs hill, was a wretched, justly condemned thief; and the Son of God went up to heaven with him to join in that joy that is in heaven over one sinner who repents.

 

The Brink of Hell

How near a person may be to hell and yet be saved! That thief was, as it were, upon the very brink of hell. He had one foot in the pit. Hell was in his heart. Hell had been his life. Soon, hell must be his portion forever! He had done nothing but evil continually all the days of his life. In the very last hour of his life, he is heard blaspheming and railing against the Lord Jesus. Yet, he was plucked from the fire by omnipotent mercy! — Saved by the Son of God! He was just about to step into everlasting damnation when the omnipotent hand of the Son of God seized him and lifted him up to Paradise! Oh, what grace is here! What boundless love! What power to save! Who after this need despair? Truly our Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to save!

 

The Other Thief

How near you may be to Christ and yet be lost forever! The other thief was as near the Savior as the one who was saved. Yet, he perished. He went to hell from the very side of the Son of God, from the very presence of Immanuel! Can anyone be nearer to Christ than that thief was? Looking at him, hearing him, speaking  to him,  he was lost after all!  Be warned.  Outward nearness,  religious

 

 

duties, familiarity with the Word of God, baptism, eating and drinking the symbols of the SaviorÕs body and blood, none of these things can save. You may be very near Christ, and yet not be in Christ. Salvation is not being near Christ. Salvation is being found in Christ.

      Here are two men. Both are thieves. Both are damned. Both are lost. Both are without God, without Christ, without hope. Both are in the immediate presence of the crucified Christ. One is taken up to glory. One is taken up to heaven. The other is cast down to hell. What made the difference?

 

Two Facts

HereÕs the difference. ÒThe wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LordÓ (Romans 6:23). — Throughout the Word of God, we are constantly assured of two facts. (1) If anyone goes to hell, it is his own fault alone, his own responsibility, altogether the result of what he has done, and that for which he alone must bear the blame forever. (2) If anyone is saved, if anyone goes to heaven, it is GodÕs work alone, altogether the result of that which God has done, and that for which God alone must have the praise forever.

 

Wages Paid

ÒThe wages of sin is death!Ó — Sin is what we all are by nature; and sin is all that we do in a state of rebellion against God. It is as impossible for a sinner to do good as it is for water to be dry. Our corrupt nature corrupts all our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds. As a corrupt fountain only brings forth corrupt water, so a corrupt heart only brings forth corruption. That means that the very plowing of the wicked is an abomination to God, and even our righteousnesses are filthy rags in his sight (Proverbs 21:4; Isaiah 64:6). Sin is also our choice. We all drink iniquity like water (Job 15:16). And that which sin deserves is death, eternal death, which is eternal separation from God and the eternal vengeance of his holy wrath. Death is the debt God owes to sin. And God always pays his debts. The reprobate thief went to hell because he ate the fruit of his own way.

 

Gift Bestowed

ÒBut the gift of God is eternal life!Ó — Eternal life comes to guilty sinners not as a debt, or a reward for something we have done, but as the free grace gift of God. The new birth, which is the beginning of eternal life in the soul, is the gift of God. Faith in Christ is the gift of God. Heavenly glory, which is the consummation of eternal life, is also the gift of God. Death, hell, and judgment are things we earn by sin. But grace, life, and heaven are things freely given to sinners Òthrough Jesus Christ our Lord!Ó

      Christ paid the debt of sin for his people by his death upon the cross, making it right and just for the holy Lord God, who must punish sin, to give eternal life to all for whom he died. Through the merits of his blood and righteousness, God gives eternal life to everyone who believes on him. Even the faith by which we receive this gift is the gift of God and the result of his operation of grace (Ephesians 2:8; Colossians 1:12). Faith in Christ is not the cause of GodÕs gift, but the result of it. If you now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God has given you eternal life. It is altogether his work. — ÒSalvation is of the Lord!Ó

 

 

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The Grace Bulletin

 

November 25, 2018

 

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

7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service

 

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