Don't Forget Who You Are and Whose You are

Q: What does the Bible say about good works?

The Bible emphasizes that good works are vital for those who have believed in God, as seen in Titus 2. In Titus 2, Paul explicitly instructs believers to maintain good works, as they are good and profitable unto men. The presence of genuine faith in God should naturally lead to a life characterized by good deeds, reflecting the transformation that comes from God's grace. This expectation of good works is not merely for outward appearances but is integral to the Christian life, demonstrating the effectiveness of God's grace in effecting change in the believer's heart.

Q: How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Salvation is by grace alone, as the Bible affirms that it is God's grace that brings salvation to those who believe. The doctrine of salvation by grace is foundational to the Christian faith and is affirmed throughout scripture. In Titus 2:11, it states that 'the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.' This emphasizes that salvation is not earned by works but is a free gift from God, bestowed upon those He has chosen. Furthermore, salvation being by grace alone highlights the complete dependence on God's mercy, illustrating that our good works are a response to His grace, not a basis for earning His favor.

Q: Why is remembering our identity in Christ important?

Remembering our identity in Christ is crucial because it influences our behavior and helps us live for God's glory. The sermon emphasizes the importance of not forgetting who we are and whose we are in Christ. When believers remember their identity as children of God, transformed by His grace, they are motivated to live lives that reflect that truth. It affects their daily conduct, encouraging them to adorn the doctrine of God with good works. By keeping their identity in focus, Christians can navigate an ungodly world while upholding the values and behaviors that honor God, promoting witness to His saving grace.

Q: What does it mean to adorn the doctrine of God?

Adorning the doctrine of God means exhibiting behaviors that reflect and honor the gospel in our daily lives. To adorn the doctrine of God our Savior involves living in a way that highlights and beautifies the truths of the gospel. In Titus 2:10, Paul instructs believers to show good fidelity in their actions, so that their lives serve to attract others to the truth of the gospel. This does not mean performing religious acts for show, but rather integrating the principles of grace into everyday living, where the character of Christ is reflected through their conduct. Thus, adorning the doctrine involves personal responsibility and privilege, bringing glory to God in all aspects of life.

Q: How does grace teach us to live righteously?

Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and live righteously, shaping our behavior according to God's will. According to Titus 2:12, the grace of God not only brings salvation but also instructs us in how to live. It teaches us to reject ungodliness and worldly passions, guiding us to live soberly and righteously. This teaching is transformative, as it prompts believers to align their actions with God's moral standards. Grace effectively empowers us to say no to temptations and live lives that reflect the character of Christ. Thus, grace fosters a lifestyle devoted to holiness and good works, shaping our conduct in light of God’s glory.

This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good. and profitable unto men. And let ours also learn to maintain
good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. When our daughter Faith was young
and started going places without our immediate supervision, with
other people. I used to tell her something.
I told her often enough and firmly enough that I was trying to make
it real hard for her not to remember it. When she started dating, and I made up my mind early on, she
wasn't going to date anybody until she was 16. And then I
would decide, and I'd decide who. And she understood that. But I made the same statement.
She'd heard all her life. Almost every time she went out
the door, I'd hug her, kiss her, and I said, now, Faith, don't
ever forget who you are and whose you are. Your name is Faith Fortner, and you're the daughter of Don
Fortner, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Danville, Kentucky.
Everything you say and everything you do reflects on your mother,
on me, on the gospel we believe, the God we serve, and our church
family. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. Now that's the title of my message
tonight. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. Turn with me to Titus chapter
two. Now let me be clear who I'm talking
to. I'm talking to you who are God's. I heard Lance Heller, God's servant,
say something better than that, God's child. I'm talking to you chosen by
God Almighty and everlasting love to you who are the purchase of
Jesus Christ's precious blood, to you who have been turned from
darkness to light, from death to life. transformed from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. To you who have been saved by
the mighty free grace of God, I'm talking to you who are robed
in the righteousness of Christ the Lord. To you who have Christ
in you, the hope of glory, To you whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. To you who have been purged of
all iniquity, transgression, and sin before God Almighty. To you to whom God will not charge
sin. I'm talking to you. To you. And I'm urging you. Don't ever
forget whose you are and who you are. When the gospel of God's free
grace went into the pagan, amoral Gentile world, a world in which
drunkenness, homosexuality, adultery, and fornication were just as
rampant as they are today. It changed the lives of those
who experienced it. It changed their lives. It taught
those who lived in those ancient days to honor God in their personal
lives in their habits of life, in their conduct, in their behavior,
as well as in their doctrine. Read the 6th chapter of Romans,
the 4th and 5th chapters of Ephesians. And Paul speaks of those things,
those abominable things in the lives of men in the pagan Gentile
world. And he said, you have not learned
to live like that. You've not learned Christ that
way. He teaches us continually, continually that God's people
are a people whose lives have been invaded and taken over by
the Son of God. And if Jesus Christ hasn't taken
over your life, you've not experienced His grace. If Jesus Christ has
not taken over your life, You've not experienced his grace. You
just had a little dose of religious excitement. When the gospel conquers
the heart, the life is radically altered. Grace teaches men and
women how to live for the glory of God. Now let me tell you what
I am not calling for. I'm not calling for you to act
more religious. Don't act religious. Don't. Don't try to show people how
religious you are, how dedicated to God you are. Don't do it. Don't ever do it. Don't. I want people to know I'm a Christian.
It don't matter a flip whether folks know you're a Christian
or not. That don't matter a flip. I want folks to know I love the
Lord. I want you to know you do. I want to know that I do. But
I'm not interested in what other folks think about it. That's
not what I'm talking about. I'm not interested in folks seeing
me or seeing you. Oh, no. I'm interested in folks
knowing God our Savior. Don't act religious. Don't start
pretending to be what you know you're not. Don't start talking
funny and dressing funny, acting like an oddball. I realize in
California you've got to really be odd to act like an oddball,
but I'm not talking about acting like an oddball. I am saying
this. Grace experienced teaches many
women to live for God. This American woman, that crusty
old hard-hearted harlot, Couldn't really call her a harlot. She
sold herself for nothing. Just common adulteress. Had no regard for anything. She
was religious as all get out. She knew what she believed. She'd
been raised a Samaritan. But when she met the master, oh, how things changed. There
was a man in Gadara. who spent his life dwelling among
tombs, lived in a graveyard, running around like a wild man
naked and cutting himself and screaming and running around
among the tombs. And the master invaded his life
and he found sitting at his feet clothed and in his right There's
a fellow named Zacchaeus, a stingy, self-serving, tightwad, self-enriching
publican, getting rich off the backs of people who were his
own kinsmen, abusing them, taking what he could from them to line
his own pockets. And one day he got a little curious
about religion. Kind of like some of you probably
came to church, kind of like you did tonight, just curious,
what's this all excitement about? And he wanted to see the Lord
Jesus, and he climbed up in a tree. And he climbed up in a tree right
at the spot where God ordained before the world was to meet
him and conquer him. And when the Lord Jesus came
to the place where Zacchaeus was, he said, Zacchaeus, come
down. Today I must abide at your house,
because God chose you before the world was. You too are a
child of Abraham. And Zacchaeus, oh, what a change. He ceased to love his riches
and loved his rich Savior. He ceased to seek his own and
sought rather the glory of God and the good of men's souls.
The gospel of the grace of God teaches all to whom it is revealed
that salvation is by grace alone. You all say amen to that. And
it also teaches us all how to live in this world for God's
glory. Titus Chapter 2. Just told you
Bible's open here. I'll refer to a couple of other
passages, but I want you to just look at these 15 verses. And
I pray God the Holy Spirit will teach you his message and teach
me his message in these verses. The first 10 verses. or an admonition
that is summarized in verse 10. Paul tells us to adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. He's telling us how to behave
ourselves so that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. Now, this is both our personal
responsibility and our privilege. God make it our desire. We are
to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. 40 years ago, I had been dating
this pretty blonde over here for a little while. And I was
pretty well convinced that I could get her to say yes if I asked
her to marry me. So I went down to the jewelry store and found
the prettiest rock I could find, and it was a big one. Man, it
cost me $100, and I paid on it for two or three years. And I'm
not joking. Wasn't much, but walked in the
jewelry store, And that jeweler took that little old bitty diamond,
and you know what he did with it? He laid it on a counter under
a spotlight on a piece of black velvet. And you can't believe
how much prettier and bigger it looked laying there than it
did in that case stuck in one of those little slots. And the
reason was he wanted to put it before my eyes in the best light
possible. Oh, my brother, my sister, put
the doctrine of God our Savior before this world in the best
light possible. Adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior. As a pastor, as a preacher of
the gospel, I'm responsible to adorn the doctrine by faithfully
preaching it. Paul says here, speak thou the
things which become sound doctrine. He uses this word sound, I think,
three times in this chapter. Sound as opposed to corrupt,
deceitful, and decay. Sound as in firm, dependable,
reliable. He says, teach those things that
become sound doctrine. Every preacher, every preacher,
every God sent preacher has a mandate from God. Those who are God's
messengers to eternity bound sinners are sent to preach the
gospel and to preach the gospel continually. Those things which
become sound doctrine. The doctrine we preach is the
doctrine of grace, which is the doctrine of Christ. And those
things that become sound doctrine are those things consistent with
and honoring to the grace of God. divine sovereignty, substitutionary
redemption, satisfaction, the declaration that Jesus Christ
is our Savior, that He alone is our Savior, that He by His
own death has accomplished eternal redemption for us, and we proclaim
salvation finished in and by Him, ruined by the fall, redemption
by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. We are also
here commanded as God's servants and God's people, that our lives
be regulated, motivated, and governed by the gospel. Gospel
preachers are responsible to pointedly and deliberately
apply the gospel to the daily affairs and responsibilities
of men and women who live in this world. I abhor all those religious practices
that set me into examining other men and go by your house and
try to decide how godly you are by calculating how many hours
you spend on your knees or how much time you read in your Bible
and all that religious nonsense. That's not my business. But as
I minister the gospel of God's grace, it is my business and
my responsibility to pointedly and deliberately and clearly
apply the gospel to every aspect of our lives, everything, to
every facet of our lives. Applying the word of God to every
area of life, we teach men the gospel as it is that which motivates
and governs our lives. God's sakes, must personally
apply it just that way. Now, I realize that many folks
prefer to ignore this, but it's a fact nonetheless. God Almighty
interferes with the lives of men. He'll mess your plans up, and He'll do it every time. He'll
mess your plans up. If the God of glory is pleased
to open the windows of heaven and pour out His grace upon you,
if He is pleased to give you life eternal in His Son, if He
is pleased to work His salvation in you, He will take over the
running of your life. Either Christ is your Lord or
he's nothing to you. Either you bow to him as your
Lord or you know nothing of his grace and his mercy. Now, I can't tell you how sobering
those words are to me. Don Fortner, either he's your
Lord or your religion's a mockery. Either he's master or he's nothing. That's just fact. Now, this is
what Paul teaches us about adorning the doctrine. Look at verse 2.
He got something to say to everybody here. First, he talks to aged
men, that aged men be sober, grave, temperate. That's three ways of saying the
same thing. Sober, that doesn't mean sober
as opposed to drunk. That means sober-minded. Sober
in the sense of being stable and firm. Grave. One who takes serious things
seriously. Temperate. Moderate. One who exercises moderation
and not rash. Aged men don't behave like little
boys running to this thing and that. Don't behave like little
boys moved by this thing and that. Don't behave like little
boys who chase after this bubble and chase after that, but rather
be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith. Having that faith that
is rock solid, dependable, that that's relied upon, but not just
in faith, sound in charity, sound in the loving exercise of all
things in your hand, giving to and caring for the needs of others,
sound in patience. Patience. Did you ever notice how irritable,
grumpy, crabby old people get. Well, oh, you don't dare say
that. Who wants to live around them? I'm just telling you the truth,
and you know it's the truth, except those who know God. Just
got a letter from your dad the other day. What an example of patience.
Patience. Patience. Folks who know God,
as they grow sound in faith with the experience of grace, not
only ought to, they do grow patient. They learn patience by the experience
of tribulation and the grace of God with the tribulation.
If all they have is tribulation, they just learn to be crabby.
Aged women, verse 3, the aged women likewise that they be in
behavior as becometh holiness, as becometh those who are sanctified,
separated unto God. Oh, behave like folks who are
separated to God. Made holy in Jesus Christ. That
means you don't run around flapping your jaws all the time. Not false
accusers. Well, I wouldn't want to spread
gossip. Well, don't then. I wouldn't want to tell things
I wasn't sure of. Well, don't do it then. False accusers. Not given to much wine. And I
just got to say it, that doesn't mean you can't have any. Not
one who lingers by the bottle. Not given to much wine. Teachers of good things. Oh, you mamas teach your daughters
good things. You grandmothers teach good things. What good things are you talking
about, Mother Dawn? That they may teach the young women to
be sober. Not rash, not hot-tempered, not
governed by their passions, sober. What's that mean? To love their
husbands. Teach them to love their husbands.
To love their husbands. Well, I can't tell you how many
times I've heard folks say, they don't say it to me. Well, once
in a while some do, but not but once. See how she'll be dotes
on me and takes care of me. Or I wouldn't do that for any
man. If you ever learn to love one, you will. Well, boy, that's out of step
with society. I've been out of step with society ever since
the day God saved me. I plan to keep it that way. Teach
young women to love their husbands. You remember this? By example
and by word, to love their husbands. To devote yourself to your husband. That's what it is to love him.
To devote yourself to it. Well, I'm not going to devote
myself to any man. If ever you meet Christ, you will. That's
what it is to love him, isn't it? It's to devote yourself to
him. Devote yourself to your husbands.
Teach them to love their children. Well, no mother ever had to be
taught to love her children. I beg your pardon. I've met very
few in my life who love their children. Look at the way they
raise them, they love themselves. To love their children, to devote
yourself to your children. To devote yourself to their well-being. Not to their pleasure, to their
well-being. Not to their whims, to their
well-being. Devote yourself to them, no matter
what it costs you. That's called devotion. It's
called devotion. Read on. Young women, verse 5, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home. Oh, how on earth do you read
this? What kind of translation have you got that will avoid
this? Obedient to their own husbands. That's what wives are supposed
to do. Young women, discreet. Act like a lady. Act like a lady. Watch your mouth. I can't believe things I hear
coming out of the mouths of women, young women. If I'm somewhere, and I still
do it, if I'm somewhere some man using filthy language in
front of that lady sitting there, he will be corrected and he or
I one will shut up. One of the two of us will. A
woman, I don't dare, I can't knock her down. Act like ladies. Watch your language
and your behavior. I promise you something. You
want to be treated like a lady? Act like one. You want to be
treated like a slut? Talk like one. Just that simple. Just that simple. Chaste. Virgin pure. That's the word. Brother Don, you can't expect
anybody to keep their virginity these days. No, I don't. I don't expect anybody to. except
folks who know God. Folks who know God, chaste. Doesn't matter how popular, how
accepted fornication and adultery is, you make yourself a bed of
hell when you give up your chastity. So this is, can't say that just
to women. I recognize things apply to men,
but I'm going to tell you, you're a fool if you think the consequences
are the same with men. You're a fool if you think they're
the same. They're just not, are they? They're just not. Chaste. Keepers at home. That doesn't
mean a woman can't work outside the house. The same word is used
with regard to men in the book of Habakkuk, keepers at home.
What's he talking about? Devote your lives to your family. Devote your life to your family. Devote your life to your family. Obedient to their own husbands.
Well, how are you supposed to do that? Just like Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord. Just that way. I recall years
ago, Brother Henry Mahan and I were preaching together in
a meeting, sitting down in a preacher's house after services. And somebody
asked his wife to get him something. And the preacher's daughter said,
my husband did that. I'd tell him to get it himself.
That's what Doris was doing to Brother Mahan. And Henry acted
like his hearing aids weren't on. And then she repeated it. And
he still acted like his hearing aid wasn't on. And then she said,
it's so loud he could hear it without his hearing aids on.
Isn't that right, Brother Mayhen? Of course, everybody looking
at Brother Mayhen, he looked at her and he said, she might, once. Obedient to your husbands. Women
who love their husbands obey their husbands. And women who
don't love their husbands don't obey their husbands, don't love
their husbands, and they don't love the Redeemer. Just that
simple. Young men, verse 6, likewise
exhort to be sober-minded. You young men who name the name
of Christ, you young men who are born of God, don't live by
the rule of your lust and your passions like everybody else
around you. Be sober-minded. Think beyond
the end of your nose. Be sober-minded. Verse 7, pastors,
in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. A pattern of all that I've been
talking about, a pattern of sobriety, a pattern of sound faith, a pattern
of charity, a pattern of patience, a pattern of good works. In doctrine,
showing uncorruptness, letting nothing sway you, nothing move
you, nothing compromise you. Gravity, sincerity, sound, dependable,
reliable, build-upon-it speech. Speech that cannot be condemned. Speech that cannot be gainsaid.
Speech that nobody can refute. Speech that nobody can deny. That he that is of a contrary
part may be ashamed. Preach in such a way with such
boldness and such confidence, with such truth, with such scriptural
authority, that anybody who disagrees is embarrassed by their disagreement. Having no evil thing to say of
you, that is none that they can make stick. Verse nine, seraphs,
exhort seraphs. The word is slaves. Thank God
we don't have that problem anymore. We'll apply it to you folks who
work for another man. Be obedient to their own masters.
You mean obey my boss? No, I wouldn't say that. No,
no, don't do that. Don't do that. That's ridiculous. Obey the man that pays your wages
and puts food on your table? Obey the man that keeps you from
living in poor house? But obey the man good enough
to give you a job and do what's expected? Absolutely. And please them well. Wow. In all things. He's just not
letting up, is he? Please them well in all things.
And don't sass them. Don't give them any lip. No answering
a gag. Don't sit around and read your
Bible when you're supposed to be loading freight. That's what the next
word means. Not purloining. but showing all
good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. Oh, whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all for the glory of God. Love your husbands for Christ's
sake. Love your children for Christ's
sake. Be sober for Christ's sake. Be sound in speech, patient for
Christ's sake. Doing it for the glory of God. Now, verse 11. He gives us a
four. Four. There's a connection. There's a connection. He's going
to tell us about the work of God's grace. For the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. The grace
of God, as it is used here, is referring to the gospel, the
doctrine of God our Savior. It is this that brings salvation.
That is, the preaching of the gospel is the means by which
God brings salvation to all men, not to all men without exception.
There are many men in the world who never hear the gospel. There
are many in this town who never hear the gospel. But no man will
ever experience God's salvation apart from hearing the gospel.
The reason we preach the gospel in every way possible, send missionaries
and support the work of the gospel around the world is because without
the preaching of the gospel, it's not possible for men and
women to know God, to believe Christ and experience God's salvation. The grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men. But that grace that has
appeared to all men doesn't work effectually among all. It works
wonderfully and effectually among you who are born of God. Look
at verse 12. This is the teaching of grace,
teaching us. Now, when I was in school and
I did go to school, went all the way through, even went to
college a little bit, I had one or two teachers. I had one in college. No, I had
two in college. And I had two that I can recall
in 12 years of public school, teachers. What were those other
folks? They were employees who had teaching
certificates. The word teach doesn't mean give
out the lessons. That's not the meaning of the
word. A teacher is one who causes you to learn. There's a big difference. A teacher is one who causes you
to learn. And I had two going through school,
two in college, who, bud, if you were there, you learned.
They saw to it that you learn. A teacher doesn't just give out
the lesson, a teacher sees to it you get the lessons. And the
grace of God is our teacher, teaching us. giving us and causing
us to learn this lesson, that denying ungodliness, the word
is refusing, saying no to ungodliness and worldly lust. We should live
soberly, righteously and godly. Let's get a commune together
and move outside the city and don't let anybody go around where
they got bad language and bad pictures and advertisement and
all that stuff and live godly back on in a commune somewhere.
No. Right here in Rescue, California, right here in San Francisco Bay,
right here in Lexington or Danville, Kentucky, right here in this
present ungodly world. Whenever the gospel of God's
grace comes into a sinner's heart, by the life-giving, regenerating
power and grace of God the Holy Spirit, it effectually teaches
us to whom we must look for eternal life, Jesus Christ the Lord. It effectually teaches us who
and what to believe the gospel of God's free grace in Christ.
It effectively teaches us how to live in this world. The gospel,
you see, is not given for intellectual speculation, but for practical
direction. I preached to our folks Tuesday
night out of Exodus 13. God promised that he would be
to them a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire all the way
through this wilderness. And that pillar that protected
them was the pillar that directed them. Did you get that? That Christ
who hovered over them to protect them is the Christ who led them,
who directed them all their days. And here he gives us direction.
He tells us and teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lust, to say no to unbelief. Oh, how I have to struggle with
that. I don't have any trouble with
unbelief anymore. I don't believe you for a second. I've had too
much, still do. What do you do with your unbelief?
You say no to it. What do you do with a horrible, not just
propensity, but tendency in our carnal flesh to neglect God and
His Word and His worship and His will? You say no to it. You
just say no. The grace of God teaches us to
say no to worldly lust, sensuality, covetousness, ambition, desire
for recognition and praise. The grace of God teaches people
to live right, righteously, soberly, righteously, and godly. What does that mean? It teaches
us to live soberly with respect to ourselves. Don't think more
of yourself than you ought to think because it ain't much to
you. Well, there's more than that.
No, there's less than that. There ain't much to you. Live soberly,
righteously, dealing with other people. Just do what's right. Well, I wonder if I ought to
take that fellow's wife. Did you really wonder that? I
wonder if I ought to take that knife laying there. I don't see
anybody around claiming it. Did you really wonder that? I
wonder if I ought to help that fellow. Looks to me like he can
usually help. Did you really wonder that? It's
exactly what righteously means, to live rightly, to live justly,
and with respect to God, godly. Godly living is not living in
a way that men and women approve of and look at as godly. Godly
living is living for God. Look at verse 13. He gives us more inspiration.
He describes for us the expectation of grace. Looking for. Looking for. Here it is. Look here now. Standing up on a tiptoe faith,
looking. Living soberly, righteously and godly in this pleasant world,
because there ain't nothing damn here worth living for. Looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a word. Not looking for signs of the
times, And you start looking for signs of times and you'll
make those foolish predictions like camping's been making the
last 10 years. And I've been there 20 years now. And I meant
to say foolish, absurd. Absurd. And you'll never back
away from them. Like he hasn't backed away from
them. They're absurd. Our Lord never told us to look for signs
of His coming. He never told us to look for
signs of the end times. He never told us to look for
signs of anything. He said looking for Him. who
is coming, standing on the tiptoe of faith, looking for Christ
to appear. And the blessed hope, it is that
blessed hope. One blessed hope for all who
are born of God. It is a hope based entirely upon
the grace of God, a hope inspired by Christ formed in you, the
hope of glory, a hope of life eternal in Jesus Christ the Lord. It is the hope of glory awaiting
us. This grace of God sets our hearts
on things above, not on things below. Jane Bonar was watching her husband
die of consumption. She wiped his brow, cooled his
fever. and got him to rest and stepped
into the next room and wrote these words as she watched her
dear husband die. Fade, fade, each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. Break every tender
tie. Jesus is mine. Dark is this wilderness. Earth has no resting place. Jesus alone can bless. And Jesus is mine. Farewell mortality. Jesus is mine. Welcome eternity. Jesus is mine. Welcome Oh, loved
and blessed, welcome, sweet scenes of rest, welcome, my Savior's
breast, Jesus is mine. What is this hope? This glorious
hope that awaits us, the coming of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. When we shall see Him, We shall
be like Him. We shall see Him as He is. Now, let's see if I can give
you some motivation. Give me attention just a minute
longer. How can I induce you to devote
yourself to the glory of God, to pray
for grace, to live in this world for God's glory. I know that
everything I've said, every single thing I've said is contrary to
your nature and mine. I've not said one thing that's
easy on human flesh. I've not said one thing that
any psychiatrist in his right mind, oh, you're talking about
a contradiction, a psychiatrist in his right mind, if he knows what's good for his
bank account would agree with. Not one of them. Not one of them. You go to those fellas, you're
not in your right mind either. But everything I've said I know
is contrary to the philosophy and the education and the thought,
not just of this day, of every day since Adam fell in the garden. It's contrary to human flesh.
I'm calling on Gene Harmon and Don Fortner to live contrary
to the way we were raised to live. Contrary to everything
around us and contrary to the way we want to live by nature.
Give up all rights. Give them up. I've got a right
in this world. I've got a right to go to hell.
I don't have any other rights. You too. You too. Not me. I'm a red-blooded American. You ain't got any rights either
except to go to hell. That's all. Give them up. Willingly give them up. for Christ's
sake. Can you do that, Bob? Everything
for Him. I wonder what motivates you to
do that? Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar Zealous of just what I've been
talking about. Zealous of good works. The Son of God gave himself
for us. That he might redeem us by his
blood, by his grace, by his power in the resurrection day from
all iniquity. And purify us by his blood and
by his grace. unto himself, purified unto him, a peculiar
people. God's people are peculiar people. That doesn't mean oddballs, that
means peculiar. They're loved with a peculiar
love. They're objects of his peculiar
delight. They're blessed with the peculiar
blessings of his grace, supplied with peculiar provisions, separated
from the world by distinguishing peculiar grace. The word means
distinctly, excellent, valuable, and honorable. The Son of God died for me, a distinctly useless, vile, dishonorable
piece of rotting flesh to make me distinctively excellent, valuable, and honorable. the lot of His inheritance, a jewel for His crown, His delight, His Hephzibah, His
sweetheart to whom He's married. These things speak preach and teach and exhort,
press with earnestness, and rebuke, reprove any who neglect or contradict
or deny these things with all authority in God's name, with
God's authority, with God's approval, and let no man despise them. What on earth does that mean?
How can I keep men from despising me? You know what? I can't. And if you want to find out how
despised I am, get on the internet and look up Don Fortner sometime
and you're sure to find out. There's folks written all kinds
of stuff. Let no man despise you. What's it talking about?
Don't give a flip if they do. That's all. Also, there's no,
I counted nothing to be judged if you were a man's judgment.
God's servant, what does it matter to me what you think? No, nobody just want me to think,
but rather seek God's honor. Seek God's honor. And as you set your heart on
Christ and things above, you will seek God's honor. As you set your heart on something
less, you won't. Amen.

Don't Forget Who You Are and Whose You are

What does the Bible say about good works?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is remembering our identity in Christ important?

What does it mean to adorn the doctrine of God?

How does grace teach us to live righteously?

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Don't Forget Who You Are and Whose You are

What does the Bible say about good works?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is remembering our identity in Christ important?

What does it mean to adorn the doctrine of God?

How does grace teach us to live righteously?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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