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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

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We believe God only as God the Holy Spirit works faith in us. Initially, moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day, faith in Christ is the gift and operation of God.

Daily Readings for the Week of September 8-15, 2019

Sunday Daniel 6-8 Thursday Ezekiel 48-Daniel 1

Monday Ezekiel 40-41 Friday Daniel 2-3

Tuesday Ezekiel 42-44 Saturday Daniel 4-5

Wednesday Ezekiel 45-47 Sunday Daniel 6-8

· Thank You — Words cannot express my gratitude to all of you who worked so hard and gave so generously before, during, and after our conference.

· I am scheduled to preach Wednesday night for Hurricane Road Grace Church in Ashland, KY where Bro. Frank Tate is pastor. — Thursday night for Zebulon Grace Church in Pikeville, KY where Bro. Tom Harding is pastor. — Friday night and Saturday morning for Grace Baptist Church in Dingess, WV where Bro. Gary Vance is pastor.

Happy Birthday! Jamie (Whop) Abell-12^th Jenny Bartley-14^th

Nursery Duty Today — Mindy Shultz

Here Wisdom Shines and Justice Too — Don Fortner

(Tune: #414 – Am I A Soldier of the Cross? -- CM)

1. O love, eternal love, how great,

That formed salvation’s plan!

In Christ God’s great perfections meet

To rescue fallen man.

2. Here wisdom shines and justice too,

While angels stoop to see,

How mercy o’er the guilty reigns,

As Christ for sinners bleeds!

3. Behold God’s mercy and his truth

As they at Calv’ry meet,

When Christ paid justice all its due,

And filled the mercy-seat!

4. Yes, righteousness and peace have kissed

To purge iniquity,

That God, the just, might justify

Sinners like you and me!

5. Such is the wisdom of our God,

(Amazing depths of grace!)

By which from wrath’s vindictive rod

He saves His chosen race!

Shifted Responsibility

“Be surety for thy servant for good.” (Psalm 119:122)

The Lord Jesus Christ, our great, all-glorious Surety, died for and redeemed those for whom he assumed all responsibility as a surety in the covenant of grace before the world began.

Though very few in this reprobate age understand it, this is as blessed a truth of the gospel as it is vital. Our great Savior’s sacrificial work as our sin-atoning sacrifice as our great High Priest was made for those for whom he undertook to be a Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began. Those for whom Christ died, those who have been redeemed by his blood are the people for whom he became a covenant Surety.

A Covenant Surety

He is the Surety of the better testament, the covenant of grace (Hebrews 7:22). He became a Surety for those, and for none other than those, who were interested in that covenant. In that great covenant the Son of God engaged himself to be our Surety and Redeemer.

This is very important. It is Christ's suretyship which is the ground and foundation of redemption. This is the reason why our sins, and the punishment of our sins were laid upon him, the reason why he bore and endured the wrath of God for our sins, and paid all our debts as his people, and the reason why he redeemed us out of the hands of divine justice. The Son of God pledged himself to God the Father as a Surety, and laid himself under obligation to do all these things for us. He became totally responsible for his elect in all matters! But he was not obliged to pay the debts of those for whom he did not become a Surety, or to suffer and die in their room and stead.

John Gill wrote, “Christ's suretyship and redemption are of equal extent, and reach to the same objects; they are the Lord’s Benjamins, the sons of his right hand, his beloved sons, that Christ, the antitype of Judah, became a Surety for, and laid himself under obligation to bring them safe to glory, and present them to his divine Father.”

An Absolute Surety

When we think of a surety, we usually think of a mere guarantor, one who co-signs a mortgage or a bank loan. If the original debtor fails to pay the note for any reason, both he and the co-signer are responsible for the debt and all the interest accumulated by it. What the lending institution cannot collect from one party it will attempt to collect from the other.

That is not the kind of Surety Christ is. Our most glorious Christ is an absolute Surety. When he struck hands with the Father as our Surety, he voluntarily became totally responsible for all the debts and obligations of all his people, forever!

This is one place where I love and seek to promote shifted responsibility. All the responsibilities of God’s elect were shifted from us to our Surety. As such, as our covenant Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ promised to fulfill all

righteousness for us, satisfy divine justice for us, give us a new (holy) nature by his Spirit, preserve us unto the end, raise us up at the last day and present us in eternity before his Father’s throne holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. Upon this pledge to redeem and save his people, the Father trusted his Son as the Surety of his people and placed them in his hands (Ephesians 1:12; John 6:38-39). And upon the revelation of him in our hearts by the gospel, being chosen, redeemed by grace, we trust Christ as our Surety before God (Ephesians 1:13). If you can trust him, Christ is your Surety, too! God help you, now, to trust him, for Christ’s sake.

“Shout, believer, to thy God! He hath once the wine-press trod;

Peace procured by blood divine; cancelled all thy sins and mine.

Here thy bleeding wounds are healed, sin condemned and pardon sealed;

Grace her empire still maintains; love without a rival reigns.

In thy Surety thou art free; His dear hands were pierced for thee;

With His spotless garment on, holy as the Holy One!

Oh, the heights and depths of grace! Shining with meridian blaze!

Here the sacred records show sinners black, but comely too.”

Gill and Romaine on Christ’s Suretyship

John Gill wrote, “There is a twofold debt paid by Christ as the Surety of his people. The one is a debt of obedience to the law of God. This he engaged to do, when he said, ‘Lo, I come to do thy will, thy law is within my heart:’ and accordingly he was made under the law, and yielded perfect obedience to it, by which his people are made righteous. The other is a debt of punishment, incurred through failure of obedience in them. The curse of the law he has endured, the penalty of it, death; and by paying both these debts, the whole righteousness of the law is fulfilled in his people, considered in him their Head and Surety.”

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William Romaine wrote, “May these things sink deep into thy heart, that thy Surety has undertaken the whole of thy salvation! Salvation is accomplished and finished by thy Surety, given to thee freely, continued with all its blessings in time and through eternity as a free gift, to the praise and glory of His grace. Thou art to look to Christ as thy Surety; and whatever He has promised in His word relating to this salvation, thou art to trust Him to make it good before God, the Father, and to depend upon His faithfulness and power to make it good to thee.”

The Grace Bulletin

September 8, 2019

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