\ud835\uddda\ud835\udde2\ud835\uddd7 \ud835\udde0\ud835\uddd4\ud835\uddd7\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udddb\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde0 \ud835\udde7\ud835\udde2 \ud835\uddd5\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udde6\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our Saviour had no sin of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was born without original sin, being even from birth \u201cthat\nHoly One\u201d (Luke 1:35).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout his life he \u201cknew no sin\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:21), \u201cdid\nno sin\u201d (1 Peter 2:22), \u201cand in him is no sin\u201d (1 John 3:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on Calvary the holy Lord God \u201cmade him sin for us, who knew\nno sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him\u201d (2 Corinthians\n5:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as in the incarnation \u201cthe Word was made flesh and dwelt\namong us\u201d (John 1:14), in substitution the Word who was made flesh \u201cwas made\nsin for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do not know how God could be made flesh and never cease to be\nGod; but he was. I do not know how the eternal God could die and yet never die;\nbut he did (Acts 20:28). I do not know how all the fullness of the infinite,\nincomprehensible God can dwell in Christ bodily; but it does (Colossians 2:9).\nAnd I do not know how Christ who knew no sin could be made sin and yet never\nhave sinned; but he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These things are mysteries beyond the reach of human\ncomprehension. But they are facts of divine revelation to which we bow with\nadoration. Hard as it is for many to realise, our God is \u201cslightly\u201d bigger than\nour puny brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Don Fortner <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Salvation as God Describes it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ephesians 2:8-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With all the babble, confusion, and religious nonsense there is\nin this world, in this age when the house of God seems to lie in a heap of\nruins, in this day of obvious divine judgment, in this day in which we and our\nfathers have been kindling the wrath of God for generations, burning incense to\nother gods, I wonder if it might not be wise for us to go through all the ruins\nof God\u2019s house, like Hilkiah, the high priest during the days of Josiah, and\nsearch for the Book of God. Like that faithful man, pick it up, dust it off,\nand read it. Then, after reading it, like that godly young king, we would be\nwise to inquire of the Lord concerning the words of his Book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We would be wise to lay aside our church creeds,\ncatechisms, and confessions of faith, all of them! Lay aside our theology\nbooks, religious papers, religious traditions, customs, and even the opinions\nof great men of the past. How I wish we could do that! How I wish I could get\nmen and women to simply hear what God says in his Word about his salvation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wish we could forget about Calvinism and Arminianism,\nCatholicism and Protestantism, Pietists and Puritans, Liberals and\nFundamentalists, and simply seek to find out from God\u2019s own Word what God\nhimself has to say about his salvation. If we could do that, we might find out\nwhat salvation is. We might even come to possess it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can we do that? Can you lay aside everything you have ever\nthought, heard, and learned about salvation from all other sources, and look\ninto the Word of God to see what God has to say about this thing called\nsalvation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everywhere salvation is spoken of in Holy Scripture, everywhere\nit is illustrated, everywhere it is explained it is presented to us just as it\nis right here in Ephesians 2:8-9. \u2014 \u201cFor by grace are ye saved through faith;\nand that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man\nshould boast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here God the Holy Spirit tells us five things about God\u2019s\nsalvation. These five things are always characteristic of God\u2019s saving\noperations. Wherever salvation is found, wherever salvation is experienced,\nthese five things are both obvious and gladly acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Salvation is by grace alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Salvation is through faith alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Salvation is in Christ alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Salvation, in its entirety, (even the faith by which it\nis experienced) is the gift of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. This salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in\nChrist alone is accomplished entirely without works of any kind on the part of\nthe one who is saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be sure you hear what God says. We are saved without\nworks. Our relationship with God certainly determines what we do; but what we\ndo, either good or bad, has absolutely nothing to do with our relationship with\nGod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBoasting excluded, pride I abase, I\u2019m only a sinner saved by\ngrace!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Fortner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love to Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love to Christ can only spring from the teachings and operations\nof God upon the heart. Our carnal mind is enmity against God\u2014nothing but\nimplacable, irreconcilable enmity. But when the Lord is pleased to make Himself,\nin some measure, known to the soul\u2014when He is pleased, in some degree, to\nunveil His lovely face, and to give a discovery of His grace and\nglory\u2014immediately divine love springs up! He is so lovely an Object! As the\nBride says, “He is altogether lovely.” His beauty is so\nsurpassing\u2014His grace so rich\u2014His mercy so free\u2014all that He is and has is so\nunspeakably glorious\u2014that no sooner does He unveil His lovely face, than\nHe\u2014wins over all the love of the heart\u2014takes possession of the bosom\u2014and draws\nevery affection of the soul to centre wholly and solely in Himself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE DISTINGUISHING GRACE OF GOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Cor.\n4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another<\/em>? and what hast\nthou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it<\/em>, why dost\nthou glory, as if thou hadst not received it<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only difference there is between the believer and the\nunbeliever,<\/p>\n\n\n\n between the righteous and the wicked, between the seed of Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n and the seed of the serpent, is the difference which grace has\nmade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This we must acknowledge- “By the grace of God I am what I\nam!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n God’s grace is always particular, distinctive, and\ndistinguishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who are saved by the free grace of God in Christ have been<\/p>\n\n\n\n and forever are distinguished from those who are lost by these<\/p>\n\n\n\n five distinct acts of grace–<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first distinguishing act of God’s grace is his ETERNAL\nELECTION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can, with the eye of faith, trace every spiritual\nblessing that<\/p>\n\n\n\n you now enjoy, and those which you hope to enjoy, back to the\nplace<\/p>\n\n\n\n of their original source, the place of their origin would be\nspelled<\/p>\n\n\n\n “E L E C T I O N” (Eph. 1:3-4; 2 Thess. 2:13; Jer.\n1:4; 31:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second act of grace by which God has distinguished his elect<\/p>\n\n\n\n from the rest of mankind is EFFECTUAL REDEMPTION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By his precious blood, poured out unto death upon the cross, the\nLord<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus Christ has effectually ransomed and redeemed God’s elect\nfrom<\/p>\n\n\n\n the hands of divine justice, by satisfying the claims of justice\nagainst us<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Isa. 53:8-11; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third act of grace by which the Lord has distinguished us\nfrom<\/p>\n\n\n\n the rest of the world is his ADORABLE PROVIDENCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our God governs all the affairs of this world. And he has\ngoverned<\/p>\n\n\n\n all the affairs and circumstances of our lives to bring us to\nthe place<\/p>\n\n\n\n where we now are, and to eternal glory in Christ and with Christ\nin<\/p>\n\n\n\n heaven (Matt. 10:29-31; Rom. 8:28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fourth act of grace by which we are distinguished from all\nother<\/p>\n\n\n\n men is GOD’S SOVEREIGN WORK OF REGENERATION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only thing that makes you different from any other being on\nthis<\/p>\n\n\n\n planet, if you are born again, is the fact that God has saved\nyou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He gave you life and faith in Christ by the irresistible power\nand<\/p>\n\n\n\n grace of his Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:1-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fifth act of grace by which God distinguishes his elect from<\/p>\n\n\n\n the unbelieving is his MERCIFUL PRESERVATION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only thing that keeps us in grace is grace itself. The only\nthing<\/p>\n\n\n\n that holds us to Christ is Christ himself (Jer. 32:38-40). The\nLord<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus says, with regard to all his people, \u201cI give unto them\neternal life,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and they shall never perish.\u201d The salvation he gives is eternal\nsalvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The life he gives is eternal life. That means that all who are\nsaved by<\/p>\n\n\n\n him are saved forever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A divine power in my soul?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has the Holy Spirit wrought anything with a divine power in my\nsoul? The faith I profess\u2014is it of God? The hope I enjoy\u2014do I believe it came\nfrom the Lord Himself to support my soul in the trying storm? My repentance\u2014is\nit genuine? My profession\u2014is it sincere? My walk\u2014is it consistent? My\nconscience\u2014is it tender? My desires\u2014are they spiritual? My prayers\u2014are they\nfervent? My heart\u2014is it honest? My soul\u2014is it right before God? Do I hang all\nmy hopes upon Christ as the Rock? Do I hang all my religion upon the work of\nthe Holy Spirit in my heart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeing The Saviour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which\nseeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life…” John\n6:40<\/p>\n\n\n\n True faith is a spiritual act of the soul represented in various\nways in the Bible. One act of faith is seeing the Saviour. This is not a\nphysical or visionary sight of Christ. It is a spiritual sight of the glory and\nexcellence of his person, the fullness of his grace and righteousness, and the\ncompleteness and suitableness of his salvation; It is looking to Jesus as the\nauthor and finisher of faith. It is seeing him as altogether lovely, the\nchiefest among ten thousand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Faith is accomplished by the\nenlightening of the sinner’s darkened heart. Though, at first, it may be only a\nglimmering light, man is made to see himself a sinner, miserable, helpless, and\nundone. Christ is held forth in the gospel, crucified, slain, risen, and\nexalted to save sinners. Like the brazen serpent set upon a pole, for the\nbitten Israelites to look at and live, Christ is set forth in the gospel as the\nhope of perishing sinners. When we see him, we have life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the preacher’s task to uphold\nChrist before men, and say, “Behold the Lamb of God”. Thereby, we\nshow men the way of salvation. It is looking to and believing on Christ. Our\nLord himself calls poor sinners to look and believe. “Behold me! Behold\nme!\u2026 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God,\nand there is none else.” When God thus speaks to our hearts, we see the\nSaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sight of Christ fills our hearts\nwith desires after him, and interest in him. It gives us a hungering and\nthirsting for his righteousness. It causes us to pant after his salvation. We\nsee Christ, not merely as the Saviour of others, but as a Saviour and Redeemer\nsuitable for ourselves. When a man sees the altogether Lovely One, his soul is\nfilled with love for him. May God give you eyes to see the Saviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sought Out!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Charles Spurgeon)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the\nLORD; and thou shalt be called Sought Out!” Isaiah 62:12<\/p>\n\n\n\n The surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly in seeking out\nHis elect people. We were mingled with the mire\u2014we were as when some precious\njewel falls into the sewer, and men gather out and carefully inspect a mass of\nabominable filth, and continue to stir and rake and search among the heap until\nthe treasure is found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, to use another figure, we were lost in a labyrinth and we\nwandered hither and thither. When sovereign mercy came after us with the\ngospel, it did not find us at the first coming\u2014it had to search for us and seek\nus out. For we as lost sheep were so desperately lost, and had wandered into\nsuch a strange country, that it did not seem possible that even the Good\nShepherd could track our devious roamings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Glory be to unconquerable grace\u2014we were sought out! No gloom\ncould hide us, no filthiness could conceal us\u2014we were found and brought home!\nGlory be to infinite love\u2014God the Holy Spirit sought us and saved us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lives of some of God’s people, if they could be\nwritten\u2014would fill us with holy astonishment. Strange and marvellous are the\nways which God used in their case, to find His own. Blessed be His name\u2014He\nnever relinquishes the search, until the chosen are sought out effectually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are not a people sought today and cast away tomorrow.\nAlmightiness and wisdom combined, will make no failures\u2014they shall be called,\n“Sought out!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n That any should be sought out is matchless grace, but that we\nshould be sought out is grace beyond degree! We can find no reason for it\u2014but\nGod’s own sovereign love! We can only lift up our heart in amazement, and\npraise the Lord that we wear the name of “Sought Out!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time of love?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a day appointed by God for the salvation of his elect,<\/p>\n\n\n\n a day fixed from eternity when grace will come to the chosen<\/p>\n\n\n\n sinner, an hour determined before the world began when the<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good Shepherd will seek out and find his lost sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a time fixed before time began, called “the time\nof love,\u201d Ezekiel 16:8<\/p>\n\n\n\n when the predestined child, the elect sinner, redeemed by the<\/p>\n\n\n\n blood of Christ, must be saved. At that hour, salvation must<\/p>\n\n\n\n and shall come to the soul loved of God with an everlasting\nlove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only one thing is really important in this matter, only one<\/p>\n\n\n\n question must be answered, only one issue must be settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you believe on the Son of God?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will know that God has saved you, that you are chosen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n redeemed, and called by grace, when you find yourself believing<\/p>\n\n\n\n the gospel. Do you believe? If you do, the Lord has sought you<\/p>\n\n\n\n out and found you by his grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears\nof the deaf shall be unstopped.” \u2013Isaiah 35:5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n That these miracles are effected by the power of the gospel is\nplain from the words that immediately precede, “Behold, your God will come\nwith vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you”\n(Isa. 35:4). And how does God come and save but in the gospel, and by making it\nhis own power unto salvation? If you look back at your experience you will see\nthat one of the first effects of the power of the gospel upon your heart, was\nto open your ears to receive it as a message from God. When, for instance, you\nwere first brought under its sound, and began to understand and feel what you\nheard, was there not given you, as it were, new ears to hear it, and a new\nheart to receive it? Were not those with you memorable days when you first\nheard the joyful sound of salvation by free grace; when it first dropped that\nblessed news into your soul which made your very heart thrill with unspeakable\njoy? God was then circumcising your ear, unstopping it, and conveying the\ngospel into your heart through it. “For faith comes by hearing, and\nhearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n “As soon as they hear of me,” says the Lord in\nprophecy, “they shall obey me–the strangers shall submit themselves unto\nme” (Psalm 18:44). That gospel which was death to others was life to you;\nand that message at which others perhaps gnashed their teeth, came into your\nheart with an indescribable sweetness as the very voice of God to your soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \ud835\uddda\ud835\udde2\ud835\uddd7 \ud835\udde0\ud835\uddd4\ud835\uddd7\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udddb\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde0 \ud835\udde7\ud835\udde2 \ud835\uddd5\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udde6\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde1 Our Saviour had no sin of his own. He was born without original sin, being even from birth \u201cthat Holy One\u201d (Luke 1:35). Throughout his life he \u201cknew no sin\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:21), \u201cdid no sin\u201d (1 Peter 2:22), \u201cand in him is no sin\u201d (1 John 3:5). But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6179,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6178\/revisions\/6179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}