GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE
November 13, 2011

“No one ever wanted a new heart until he had one.” — B. B. Caldwell

Sanctified by the Triune God — Don Fortner
(Tune: #17 — Come, Thou Fount — 87.87D)

1. Sing all saints, beloved and chosen, you for whom the Savior died,
Claim your gifts and praise the Giver. — “Ye are washed and sanctified,”
Sanctified by God your Father, and by Jesus Christ His Son,
And by God, the Holy Spirit, by the holy, Three-in-One!

2. One with Christ, beloved, accepted, righteous made by God’s decree,
Sanctified when God accepted us in Christ our Surety!
Sanctified when we with Jesus lived, and died, and rose again!
Sanctified by God the Spirit when by grace we’re born again!

3. Holiness is ours in Jesus, not by works that we have done,
But by God’s free love and mercy. — Yes, by sov’reign grace alone!
By His Word, and truth, and promise, by His righteousness and blood,
Holiness in Christ our Savior makes us fit to see our God!

4. He will sanctify us wholly in the resurrection day.
Blameless at our Savior’s coming, body, spirit, soul shall be!
He perfected once forever, by His blood, the sanctified!
Spotless, blameless, guiltless, perfect, is the Savior’s ransomed Bride!

Sanctification (holiness) is not a co-operative work of God and man, but the work of God alone. We are sanctified in the experience of grace in the new birth by the creation of a new man in us, in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24). “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27) is righteousness imparted in the new creation of grace (2 Corinthians 5:17), whereby all who are born of God are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Sovereign Grace Bible Conference
Boonville, North Carolina

November 28-30, 2011

Speakers: Pastors Mike Walker, Tim James, Rupert Rivenbark, and Don Fortner
Contact: Pastor Linwood Campbell — Telephone 336-468-4339
Email [email protected]

Two Natures in One Person
Missionary Daniel Parks

The eternally begotten Son of God necessarily from eternity possesses the divine nature – that of His Father. When the Son of God in His incarnation became Son of Man, He received the human nature (but not its Adamic sin). He did not cease to be the Son of God. Nor did He become devoid of the divine nature. Nor was the divine nature changed into the human nature. Rather, He remained one person but now had two natures: the divine nature as the Son of God, and the human nature as the Son of Man.

Likewise, naturally begotten sons of men necessarily from birth possess the human nature – that of their fathers. When sons of men in their regeneration become sons of God, they receive the divine nature (but not its essential deity). They do not cease to be sons of men. Nor do they become devoid of the human nature. Nor is the human nature changed into the divine nature. Rather, they remain one person but now have two natures: the human nature as sons of men, and the divine nature as sons of God.

This is the state of all who have become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). They now have within their one person two natures: both “the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” and “the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22, 24). These two natures in man are in constant conflict with each other (Romans 7:15-25) – for the old nature can do nothing but sin, and the new nature can do nothing but righteousness. But the child of God delights in knowing that in the sight of God “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed [the divine nature] remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1John 3:9).

Death’s Flood
Pastor Milton Howard

There is a dark flood called death, that will soon wash away all that we have hoped for in this world. It will take away all that in which we have trusted. It will wash away all that on which we have placed our hope of well-being. That is when we can rejoice that our heart has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ who will “never leave us, not forsake us.” How sweet it is to be able to trust ourselves to Him who will go with us through death’s flood, and safely bring us to the other side, and “make us sit together with Him in heavenly places” forever. Here is the reason for no more sorrow. We can shout it from the highest mountain, that we “have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

“Faith in Christ is not to work but to cease from our labor and to rest in Him for all things. Faith in Christ is not to do anything, but to believe and own that all is done in Him, by Him, and is imputed to us so fully that we are rewarded as if we did it ourselves!” — Pastor Henry Mahan

Sovereign Love — The Cause of Redemption

John 3:16

Writing to the saints at Corinth on the subject of redemption and salvation by Christ, the Apostle Paul says, “all things are of God.” As in all other aspects of salvation, our redemption by Christ is attributed to the Lord God alone. As we read the Scriptures, we cannot avoid being confronted with the fact that in this matter of salvation, nothing is ever ascribed to us, caused by us, or dependent upon us. But “all things are of God.” That is the language of the Bible (Deuteronomy 7:6-9; Psalms 106:8; 115:1).

The cause of our redemption by Christ is to be found in the Lord God Himself and in Him alone. This fact is as plainly revealed in the Word of God as the noonday sun. Yet, it is a fact that is as precious as rubies, as sparkling as diamonds, as deep as the mines from which they come, and as profound as God Himself to those who are enabled by grace to behold it. The cause of our redemption by Christ is and must be found in the love, grace, mercy, and purpose of the triune God.

The redemption of our souls by the precious blood of Christ originates in, rises, and flows to us from the everlasting love of God for us (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10, 19). The cause of our redemption, the original source from whence it springs and flows is the everlasting love of God for His elect. Indeed, this is the source and spring of every blessing of grace: election and adoption, the new birth and effectual calling, and redemption, justification, sanctification, preservation, and glorification (Ephesians 1:3-6).

The gift of Christ to be the Redeemer of His people flows from God’s everlasting love. Christ was given to be a Redeemer before He was sent into the world to redeem us. When He was given for a covenant to the people, He was given in the covenant to be our Redeemer. This gift of Christ by the Father was the effect of His love. To this Christ Himself ascribes it, saying, “God so loved the world (the world of his elect), that he gave his only begotten Son.”

God gave His Son to be our Redeemer long before He actually came to redeem us. In those earliest days of time, Job knew the Son of God as his living Redeemer (Job 19:25-27). All the Old Testament saints waited for Christ to come as the Lamb of God to redeem His people from their sins (Genesis 22:8). The mission of Christ in the fulness of time to be the propitiation for our sins and to redeem us from all iniquity was given as a manifest, clear, and undoubted instance of His everlasting, free love for us. — “In this was manifested the love of God.” — “Herein is love.” In the words of John Gill, “God’s not sparing His Son, but delivering Him into the hands of justice and death, to die in the room and stead of sinners, while they were such, is a full demonstration and high commendation of His great love unto them.”

“Twas not to make Jehovah’s love toward His people flame,
That Jesus from the throne above, a suffering man became.

“Twas not the death which He endured, nor all the pangs He bore,
That God’s eternal love procured, for God was love before.

He loved the world of His elect, with love surpassing thought;
Nor will His mercy e’er neglect the souls so dearly bought!”