Grace Baptist Church of Danville February 19, 2012
If ever God saves you by his grace, you will seek his Son; and when you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.
Peace be to Every Contrite Soul — Don Fortner (Tune: #180 — Lord God, our Thanks to Thee we Raise — LM)
Peace be to every contrite soul, Where floods of godly sorrow roll. — Sweet peace, the gift of grace from God, Secured and sealed with precious blood!
Peace be to humbled broken hearts, Sweet peace God’s cov’nant love imparts! That holy calm, that sacred rest, His grace creates within the breast.
This peace will slavish fears control, ‘Tis Jesus reigning in the soul; By God Himself most freely giv’n, Maintained on earth, complete in heaven!
“That the eternal Son of God should lay aside the robes of His ineffable glory and take upon Him the form of a servant, that the Ruler of heaven and earth should be ‘made under the law’ (Galatians 4:4), that the Creator of the universe should tabernacle in this world and ‘have not where to lay His head’ (Matthew 8:20) is something which no finite mind can comprehend; but where carnal reason fails us, God-given faith believes and worships.” (A. W. Pink)
Six Facts Plainly Revealed in the Gospel John 6:37-40
1. All men and women by nature, since the fall of our father Adam, are sinners, alienated from God. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” As sinners, we are alienated from the life of God and have become enemies to God. The wages of our sin and enmity to God is death. Every transgression must receive its just recompense of reward (Hebrews 2:2). All sin must be punished, either in the sinner or in the sinner’s Substitute. The law, being broken, accuses of sin, condemns the sinner, and demands death. Unless satisfaction is made, the sentence of the law must be executed. The sanction of the law is death. It can never be abrogated, changed, altered, or abated. God will never relax his justice! “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” (Ezekiel 18:2). But…
2. It is the will of God to save sinners. “He delighteth in mercy!” God has decreed the salvation of some. Christ came to save some. There are some people in this world who must and shall be saved, because it is the will of God to save them; and God’s will cannot be frustrated (John 10:16). Every chosen sinner (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), every predestined son (Romans 8:29-30), every heir of the covenant (Ephesians 1:3-7), everyone whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world must be saved (Revelation 13:8). There is no possibility that even one of God’s elect will perish! However…
3. It is impossible for a holy and just God to save any sinner apart from the satisfaction of justice (Hebrews 9:22). He declares, “I will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). I know that God is omnipotent, almighty, and sovereign. He does what he will! But God cannot do that which is contrary to his nature and character. We do not rob God of his sovereignty when we repeat the declaration of Scripture and say, “God cannot lie.” He who is the Truth cannot lie! Neither do we rob God of his sovereignty when we assert this truth of Holy Scripture: — God cannot forgive sin without the satisfaction of justice. The just, holy, and true God must punish sin.
4. The only way the justice of God could ever be satisfied is by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ (Job 34:23; Romans 3:24-26). God could not die, and man could not satisfy; but the God-man both died and satisfied. Two facts demonstrate clearly that there was no other way for justice to be satisfied. The love of God the Father for his Son proves it. Would God almighty slay his darling Son, if there were any other way to save his people consistent with his justice? And the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane proves it (Matthew 26:39). If the salvation of his people could be accomplished by any means other than his death upon the cross, would not God the Father have granted his tormented Son the desire of his soul?
5. It is impossible for God in his holiness to punish any sinner for whose sins justice has been satisfied by the blood of Christ (Isaiah 53:11 Romans 7:14) - The law has no claim upon an executed felon! “Payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding Surety’s hand, and then again at mine!”
6. Every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ has been chosen, redeemed, and called, and must be forever saved. It is written in the Book of God, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). May God the Holy Spirit now enable you by his sovereign grace to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Atonement — Romans 5:11
The word “atonement” is frequently used in the Old Testament in connection with the typical sacrifices of the law in making expiation of sin (Leviticus 1:4, 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 16:6, 10, 11, 16-18, 27, 30, 32-34; 17:11). The basic meaning of the word “atonement” is to cover. As the pitch, with which the ark was covered, covered Noah and his family from the flood of God’s wrath, so the blood of Christ covers God’s elect. As the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled upon the mercy-seat covered the broken law of God, so the blood of Christ covers and blots out our sins. As the blood upon the doors of Israel caused the Lord God, looking upon the blood, to pass by and spare the Israelites when judgment came upon Egypt, so the blood of Christ will cause the Lord God to spare chosen, redeemed sinners in the day of his wrath and judgment. Christ, by his sacrifice, the antitype of these Old Testament types, is a covering to his people from the curses of the law we have broken, from the wrath of God we deserved, and from avenging justice of the holy Lord God to which our sins expose us.
However, the word “atonement” is only used one time in the New Testament. We find it only in Romans 5:11. “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” This atonement was made for us by Christ our Surety, Head, and Representative. The knowledge, blessing and benefit of it, the application of it comes to us by the Spirit of God, who takes the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, effectually applies them to us, shows us our interest in the atonement, and causes us to receive the effect of it by trusting Christ. The effect of it is joy, peace, and comfort in the knowledge of redemption accomplished.
The word here translated “atonement” might be better translated “reconciliation,” as it is elsewhere (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19). Atonement and reconciliation are always found together. Both imply a satisfaction made and accepted by God for the sins of his people. The word “atonement” means “at-one-with”. Believers are brought to be at one with God by the sin-atoning blood of Christ. As soon as you believe on the Son of God, you are at one with God, because God has reconciled you to himself by the death of Christ for you.
We receive the atonement by faith in Christ. The Lord Jesus did not merely provide the possibility of atonement for his people. He accomplished it and obtained it for us. Our faith in him contributes nothing to his finished work. Faith simply receives what Christ has done. To believe on the Son of God is to receive the atonement he made and its benefits. “Therefore being justified (by his blood atonement), by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
“Complete atonement Thou hast made, and to the utmost farthing paid Whate’er Thy people owed. Nor can God’s wrath on me take place, if sheltered in Thy righteousness And ransomed with Thy blood!”
Have you received the atonement? Do you trust Christ alone as your all-sufficient, sin-atoning Savior? May God grant you faith in him by the operation of his grace, for Christ’s sake.
THE GRACE BULLETIN February 19, 2012
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE 2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail [email protected]
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
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