Bootstrap
Don Fortner

Seven Wonders of Grace

Titus 2:11-14
Don Fortner November, 30 2005 Audio
0 Comments

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
I can't tell you how good it
is to have you here. Thank you, brother. Thank you. I love and
admire your pastor. Thank God for making him part
of my life and part of yours. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Titus. Book of Titus. I recall when I was in school,
we were required, and I suspect many of you were as well, to
learn about the seven wonders of the world, where they were,
when they were built, and such as that. And I was quite impressed,
I recall, when I was first confronted with those things. And I started
trying to remember them. And I found out I could remember
about three. And I looked them up, and one
of those was wrong. And there's a reason for that. Things that seem to be wonders
to us, when first we're confronted with them, soon become commonplace
to us. Because like the Athenians of
old, we're always looking for and impressed with some new thing. But tonight, I want us to look
at some old things. And I want to show you seven
wonders that will never be surpassed and never be forgotten, and I
pray will never cease to be wonders to us. My text is Titus 2, verse
11. If you want to jot down some
notes, the title of the message is Seven Wonders of Grace. Titus
2, verse 11. For the grace of God, Paul has
just urged us to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior living in this
world, as many women who believe God. And now he's giving us the
basis of that admonition. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Now, the Word of God we have just
read is itself an abiding wonder. Everything about this blessed
book is absolutely wondrous. It is superhuman, and it is divine
in its origin and in its writing. And it is superhuman and divine
in its understanding. That is to say, if you understand
anything written in this book, it will be because God teaches
you what He has written in His Word, only because God teaches
you. Not because you're smarter than
somebody else, not because you're better educated, not because
you study harder, but because God by His Spirit teaches you,
takes the things of Christ written in the book and shows them to
us. The message of the book, the message of redemption by
Christ our Redeemer, is a wondrous message. This book, oh, how marvelous
this book is, unlike any other, in the power of its effect upon
the lives of many women whose lives are governed by that which
is written in this book, taught to them by the Spirit of God. It is a wondrous, wondrous thing
to have in your hand the Word of God. The Holy Bible. Treat it with
reverence. And as you read it, ask God to
give you not just a factual understanding, but to give you an understanding
in His Word, applying it to your heart. But the wonders revealed
in this volume, among all of them, there is nothing more wonderful
than the grace of our God. Newton wrote that hymn we just
sang, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. Amazing Grace. How sweet the
sound is. And I'm telling you, it was sweet
to me nearly 40 years ago, first time I heard it. And it's sweeter
today than it was then. It was amazing the first time
I heard it. Oh, it is amazing, beyond the
description of human language in my soul, as I experience His
grace this day. Now, the word grace, as it's
used here, is not talking about God's attribute of grace. And it is not talking about the
works of grace as we generally think of it, his predestinating
grace, his providential grace. even His saving grace. It's not
talking about the grace of God that is in us by His Spirit,
but rather, Paul is talking to us here about the grace of God
revealed in the gospel. He's talking specifically about
the gospel of the grace of God, the doctrine of God our Savior. And he tells us that this is
a wondrous thing, first of all, in its exhibition. The grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." There
was a time when that wasn't so. In the Old Testament, the wonders
of God's grace were hidden in pipes and shadows under the loft,
given in various mysteries throughout the Old Testament. And I do not
mean by that that many women in the Old Testament who believed
God didn't know the gospel of God's grace. They did. I have
no question at all that when Abraham said to his son Isaac,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering,
he knew exactly what he was saying. I have no question at all that
Adam and Eve understood clearly what the Lord God promised them
in Genesis 3, verse 15. But the gospel still had not
been fully revealed. It was hidden in all its wonders,
in the tights and shadows of the law, set forth before men
continually, but set forth only in picture and in prophecy. When
our Lord Jesus walked upon this earth in his humiliation, During
the days of his earthly ministry, the gospel was a light shining,
but shining just in one small little corner of the world. Shining
only in Jerusalem, in the nation of Israel, and nowhere else. Now you pause and think about
this for just a moment. All the days of the world's existence,
from the time of God calling Abraham, unto the end of our
Lord's earthly ministry, His resurrection, and the outpouring
of His Spirit on the day of Pentecost. From that time, only, and back,
the gospel was revealed to just very, very, very few people. Very few people. Limited to one
nation, and here and there, a Gentile. Here and there, one who is not
of that nation. But after the outpouring of God's
Spirit and the gospel being preached in all the world, now the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men."
The gospel is preached everywhere. Everywhere. God has sent his
word by one means or another through the ages since our Lord's
resurrection. He has sent his word into every
nation of the earth, and the gospel has been proclaimed to
men of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue at one time
or another. Now, this gospel appearing in
the preaching of the word is that which Paul says here, bringeth
salvation. What a word. Bringeth salvation. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell
us that the grace of God offers salvation or merely provides
salvation for us to take it if we will. That would be utterly
meaningless. Please tell me of what use something
is offered to a man or provided for a man who is utterly dead. The gospel of the grace of God,
coming in the power of God's Spirit, is that which bringeth
salvation. Effectually, by the irresistible
operation of His grace, He causes His Word to penetrate the heart
of the dead sinner, and He brings forth the dead unto life everlasting. Now, I'm not going to make any
effort to exhaust for what's revealed in these verses we've
read. Let me just mention three or four exhibitions of this wondrous
grace of God. It is exhibited, it appears first
in the wonder of free, sovereign, eternal election. Listen to these
words one more time. The Son of God speaks, and He
says, have not chosen thee, but I have chosen you. Tis not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee. That's thou not chosen me, but
I've chosen you. I've chosen you. Loved you with
an everlasting love, therefore I chose you. chose you because
I would choose you. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians
and said, we're bound to give thanks to God always for you,
brethren beloved, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. What a wonder. God Almighty chose me. as the object of His love and
His grace to be an heir of God and joint heir with Christ, chose
me unto salvation just because He wanted. Just because He wanted. I just got a call this week.
I can't really call him a friend. His family is very dear friends
of mine. I've known him only slightly. He began attending
services down in Madisonville for Brother Maurice Montgomery's
pastor. And he was religious, and Maurice preached on election,
and he hated it. He hated it. Of course, the folks
tell me that. I say, you're lucky if you ever
get in on it. But he hated it. I can't see it. I can't see it.
Well, he loves it now. And Maurice baptized him Sunday
night because he learned what God had done for him from eternity
in the experience of grace in church. And he has ordered all
things in the universe and ruled all things in time, because He
chose you to save you by His marvelous grace. We see the grace
of God gloriously exhibited at Calvary. Turn, if you will, to
Romans, Chapter 5. Hold your hands here, Titus.
Turn to Romans, Chapter 5. Listen to what Paul says as he's
describing for us our blessed knowledge of that free justification
accomplished for our souls at Calvary. In verse five he says,
And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The Lord God loved us from eternity. but we were children of wrath
even as others. He chose us from eternity, but
we knew nothing about it until God the Holy Spirit sheds abroad
in our hearts the love of God in the revelation of Jesus Christ
crucified. Now, read verse six. Now here's
God's love shed abroad in our hearts. For when we were yet
without strength, in few times Christ died for the ungodly. It's the only thing I've qualified
for in my life. Christ died for the ungodly. Anybody like that here? Let me
tell you something, and I say it without reservation. Find
me somebody who is ungodly. Ungodly. Not in your apprehension,
in His own. And I want to tell you something.
Christ died for you. He died for the ungodly. For
scarcely, hardly for a righteous man will one die. Nobody sees
anybody dying for a Pharisee. Yet, peradventure for a good
man, there's a big difference. A Pharisee's not a good man.
For a good man, some would even dare to die. But here is God's
commendation of His love. God commended His love toward
us. I recall when I was 16 years
old, or 17, excuse me. I went to jewelry store, and
I was looking to buy a diamond for that beautiful blonde I married. I was pretty sure she was going
to say yes, but I wanted the ring in hand and put the pressure
on her. And so I went to buy a diamond,
and it wasn't much. She loves it. She adores it,
but it ain't much. But I'll tell you what, when
I went in to look at it, I thought I didn't just pull out that diamond
ring and say, here, look at it. He spread out a piece of black
velvet and laid that thing down underneath the spotlight and
made it look wonderful against this background. He commended
the rain, making the rain appealing. Now here is God's commendation
of His love for ungodly wretches such as we are. God commends
His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Well did the hymn writer write,
Could we witheek the ocean's fill? And were the skies of parchment
made Worth every stalk on earth to quill, And every man ascribed
by trade To write the love of God above? would drain the oceans
dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from
sky to sky." The grace of God cannot be known. Talk about it
all you will. It cannot be understood. Discuss
it and debate it all you want to. It cannot be appreciated
by anyone. until it is seen streaming to
poor, needy sinners in Calvary's crimson tide. The word grace
cannot be read, cannot be understood, until it is written upon the
heart and the blood of Christ by the finger of God the Holy
Spirit. You're not going to get a handle
on grace until God causes you to experience grace. Not going to happen. Not going
to happen. These things are matters of divine instruction. Now, please
do not misunderstand me. I don't suggest for a moment
that we shouldn't study the Word. Study. Study diligently. Study continually. But understand,
your studying is not the means by which you learn. It just isn't. God may be pleased to bless the
study, but your diligence is not the means by which we learn.
Please don't misunderstand me. Hear the preaching of the gospel.
Faithfully put yourself under the hearing of the gospel. But
just hearing me, or your pastor, or every man you can hear, as
often as you can hear, will never teach you grace. Only as God
the Holy Spirit takes His Word, and shines His light upon His
Word, and causes the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Christ to shine in your heart, will you
ever understand grace? And you get hold of religion,
that's not too tough. And you get hold of the theological
system, that's not too tough. You can understand facts and
theories, that's not too tough. Grace. You're not going to know
it, except God teach it. Let unbelieving and reprobate
men deride it as they will. We rejoice in free grace in the
crucified substitute. The meaning of the cross is grace. Grace displayed in the satisfaction
of justice for guilty sinners by the blood of God's darling
pure, free grace. Mercy there was great, and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me." The grace of God, thirdly, is exhibited and known in conversion. And by conversion, I mean the
whole of the experience of sanctification when God the Holy Spirit gives
us life and light and faith in Jesus Christ the Lord, turning
our hearts, making us willing in the day of His power to bow
to Him and believe Him. Grace is known when it's experienced. I'm not looking for something
to say. I'm just letting you soak in. Grace is known when
it's experienced. Now, please, please, please,
don't ever look upon the things of God and measure them just
by your experience. Never. But don't ever imagine
that you can measure the things of God without experiencing them. Your pastor, you've heard him
say it many times, quoting Ralph Barnard. Somebody came up to
Ralph one time and said, you believe the whole Bible? He said,
you believe everything in the Bible? And Brother Barnard said,
I don't know. I haven't experienced it all
yet. And I want to tell you something. I am just beginning to understand
what he's talking about. You don't believe anything to
your experience. Nothing. Nothing. You may get
the theory in your noggin, but you don't believe anything to
experience. When I was twenty years old,
I had read and studied John Gill real well, and I could bring
as accurate a theological discourse on God's faithfulness as John
Gill himself, because I had memorized everything he said. I could bring
it and understood the theological implications of all that was
written and all that I said about it. But when I was twenty years
old, I didn't know a frazzling thing about God's faithfulness.
Not one thing. And you know what I discovered?
Old gray-headed men didn't pay any attention to a 20-year-old
talking about God's faithfulness. They just presumed, well, the
fool, he'll learn later. Let me tell you something. I know something about God's
faithfulness now. I've experienced it. And I can say what the prophet
great is thy faithfulness. And the grace of God is exhibited,
wondrously exhibited, the grace of God that bringeth salvation. Every day, in your preservation,
in His grace, by His grace, you are kept by the power of through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. What sustains us? What keeps
us? Well, we've been faithful and
persevering. Don't be so foolish and dishonest. It's one thing to be faithful,
putting your carcass on that piece of wood there. It's another
thing to be faithful here. Now, which of you is about to
talk about your faithfulness? Not this one. But God's faithful. And he who
would not let me perish in my rebellion still will not let
me perish. He who held me from my mother's
womb and directed me all the days of my life while I lived
with my fist shoved in his face still holds me by that same omnipotent
hand of grace. His love that shall never decline. What a word. Never. Never. And we can't even begin
to think about that. Love that never declines, that
never abates, that never, never, never in any way diminishes toward
its object. It is the grace of God that keeps
us, that continually exhibits to us the wonder of the grace
of God that brings salvation. Now here's the second thing.
The wonder of grace is its exhibition and its teaching. Teaching us. Teaching us. I don't know that I ever had
more than one or two good teachers when I was in school. Elementary
school, junior high school, high school. And I had two or three
when I was in college. Teacher. They call them teachers
because they're supposed to teach. A teacher doesn't just lay out
the lesson. A teacher figures a way to see
to it you get it. They figure out a way to see
to it, you get it. And there are not many folks
who can do that. Not many folks who want to do that. But the
grace of God teaches us. The word is, learns us, educates
us. The grace of God sees to it,
you get the lessons. Years ago, I was still in college. Shelby and I used to go visit
a dear friend of mine, Brother Harry Graves, his wife, Nova.
He passed a little church out in the country outside of Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. He was, oh, thirty-five years older than I am. He's with
the Lord now. But I was sitting on his hearth
one night. We were talking about some things.
I said, Brother Harry, I believe the Lord is trying to teach me
something. He smiled and he said, Son, God
doesn't try. If he ever takes notes and teaches
you, then you will learn. The grace of God that brings
salvation hath appeared to all men, but it teaches us, us who
are the objects of His grace. And this is what it teaches us,
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. The grace
of God effectually teaches us to reject, to deny ungodliness,
all ungodliness, specifically all idolatry and worldly lust. Grace teaches sinners, every
sinner who experiences it, to live soberly, uprightly, righteously,
temperantly, and godly. teaches us to live in the fear
of God in this present world. In this present world. Just in case you didn't get it,
that removes all excuses. Well, they didn't have things
with that space. You know what your mom and dad had to face
when they were growing up? Exactly the same thing you got to face.
Exactly the same thing. And the same has been true in
every generation. For the grace of God comes and
teaches men and women who are born of God to live uprightly
and to live temperately, controlling their passion. and to live in
the fear of God, to live by faith in this present world, right
where we are. Turn to Romans chapter 12. Believers are not ruled and motivated
and governed by law, but by grace. The mercy, love, and grace of
God in Christ are the strongest arguments imaginable, the strongest
motives imaginable for obedience and thankfulness to our God.
Paul says here in Romans 12 and verse 1, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body, now
look at it, a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. You're bought with a price. Glorified
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. He bought
your body and your spirit. Now, present your bodies. This is what we did when first
we came to Christ in faith. We came and presented ourselves
to Him. Everyone of us here did. Everyone
of us who were born of God did so when first we believed. We
presented our lives, the totality of our lives to Him. Now this
is what Paul says for us to continue to do. Present your lives day
after day after day. And notice the word bodies is
in plural. But it says, present your bodies,
plural, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. Well, what
Paul's telling us to do is live the best we can, and God will
accept us. No, He's not. There's only one
living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God. And that
living sacrifice is Christ the object of our faith by whom we
present ourselves unto God, and you know what he does? He takes this, he takes this,
the totality of this man's life, and through Jesus Christ accepts
me. holy and acceptable unto God. Now, Don, as you receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Continually giving yourself
over to Him, being accepted of God in Him. Now that, my brother,
my sister, is a motive for devotion. God Almighty accepts us in Jesus
Christ the Lord. And not only accepts us savingly,
He accepts everything we seek to do and offer to Him. Everything. through the riches
of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, through His blood and His righteousness. It's our business to live for
our God and serve and honor Him in this present world, in the
world in which we now live, no matter what anybody else does.
All right? Here's the third wonder of grace,
and that is its prospect. Looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. As you might know, with Judy
Estes' recent sickness and what we suspected would be
her death finally culminating in that, I've had my mind a lot
on this business of dying lately. And I'll be honest with you,
I try to think about it a lot. I want it never to be out of
my mind, but constantly set before me that I may number my days
and apply my heart to Christ. The fact is, this body, as well
as this soul, has been redeemed by Christ. Now listen to me,
when the scripture talks about the old man being crucified,
it talks about the flesh must die, must die. It's not talking about this physical
body of flesh. I've said that many times, I'm
dead wrong, I'm dead wrong. What does the scripture say about
those who sleep in Jesus? Are they sleeping in here? Our
friend Lazarus is sleeping. His soul wasn't sleeping. Our friends who have gone to
glory, their souls are not sleeping. Their bodies are sleeping. Sleeping
in the earth. Because flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, this mortal must put
on immortality. This corruptible must put on
incorruption. this flesh shall live before
God in immortality." Wow! Now that's a mystery I haven't
begun to grasp yet. But Job said, in my flesh shall
I see God. That's what he said. That's what
he said. The Apostle Paul speaks of that
day when Christ comes again as the redemption of the purchased
profession. He's talking about His body,
His body. The Lord Jesus redeemed my soul,
and at the appointed time of mercy and love and grace, He
came and regenerated my soul. And He redeemed my body, just
as precious to Him as my soul, for it cannot be separated. And
he shall at the appointed time come to redeem and regenerate
his purchased possession, and take me in the wholeness of my
being with him unto glory. In the meantime, the soul is
separated from the body, and yet, Paul says, we have a house,
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. so that it appears
that this body that shall be sown in corruption, somehow this physical thing must
undergo great change. But the soul is not unclothed
but clothed upon, even during that time of separation while
the body sleeps in the earth. But then the Lord Jesus shall
come again. And there shall be a reunion
of body and soul in resurrection glory. And I've never thought
about this before until just recently. The death of these bodies affords our Redeemer a means
by which to show forth His glory and His grace in saving us. such as could not be accomplished
in any other way. But when He comes again with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God,
and the dead in Christ rise, and we which are alive and remain
are translated and caught up with Him to meet the Lord in
the air, He will present us in the totality of our redeemed,
glorified persons in union with Himself. unholy, unfavorable,
and unapprovable, without spot and without blemish, with exceeding
joy before the presence of His glory to wandering worlds. And He will spread us before
all hell and the adoring angels and say, look here, this is what
my grace has done. And we shall be raised in the
resurrection for the praise of the glory of His grace. Now this is a thing to be desired. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. The believer's hope
is here called a blessed hope, a happy hope, because it's a
confident hope. It's a confident hope. Well,
John, are you sure about this? Yes, I'm sure about this. I'm
sure. The joke was, he said, I know
that my Redeemer lives, and I know that in my flesh I shall see
God. David said, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
He said, I will awaken thy likeness, and then I'll be satisfied. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed, and I am confident with regard
to these things. This is what I want you to see,
my brother and my sister. God's people have been whipped
and beaten and terrified too much, way too much by preachers
who think they can get them to do what grace won't do. And they
try to get you to be scared to death of death. One of these
days you're going to meet God in judgment. I am. Bless His name. Now will you listen to me? You
ungodly folks, for whom Christ died, you who believe him, there
is absolutely no reason for you ever to fear meeting God. Find me one word in this book,
one, just one. Find me one word in this book
where a child of God was ever in any way spoken to or treated
as though somehow he ought to be afraid of meeting God in judgment.
Find me one word. It's not there. Heavenly glory,
the kingdom of glory is a gift of God Almighty given us before
the world began in Christ. The Lord Jesus, our forerunner,
has taken possession of it in our room instead, and He has
prepared a place for us, and He is coming again to receive
us unto Himself, that we might behold His glory, the glory which
He had with the Father before the world was, as our blessed
covenant surety, trusted by God with all things. He, who is our
Savior, has given us a right and a worthiness to possess His
glory. You are made meek to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. He has washed away your
sins. He's made you the very righteousness
of God in him. Your pastor had an article in
the Bulletin I read just a few minutes ago. He that hath clean hands, and
a pure heart, and hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, that's
who's entering into glory. And your pastor made this observation.
He said, the psalmist does not say, You did these things, but
now you've forgiven them. That's certainly true. He said,
you've never lifted up your soul unto vanity. Justification. Just as if I'd never said it. Just as if I were perfectly righteous. That ain't quite it. That ain't
quite it. That ain't quite it. I am one
with Him who never sinned, was and is perfectly obedient in
all things, and perfect before God. One with Him. So much so that God Almighty
delights in me even as He delights in His Son. not because of faith,
but because I am one with His side. Now, if that won't ring
your bell, your clock is broke. I'm one with Him, one with Him.
Now, there's another wonder of God's grace. It's mediator. The great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. What a regal title for the Son
of God. He is the great God, and He is
our Savior, and He is Jesus, who is the Christ, the promised
one of Holy Scripture. Let me hurriedly point you to
a couple more. The wonder of grace is His gift. Now watch this. Who gave himself. Not what he had. Himself. All that he is. In all the fullness
of his divinity. And in all the fullness of his
perfect humanity. Gave Himself to suffer and die
as our substitute at the hands of God's holy justice, to the
full satisfaction of justice. Gave Himself to be made sin for
us. Gave Himself for us. Gave Himself for us. By God the hope, by Thamud and
by Thoth for us. of all people for us, because
of His love for us. The Lord Jesus gave Himself in
infinite, everlasting love because He loved the people from whom
He knew He would get no love in return except He created He
gave Himself for a people, to die in the room instead of a
people who wanted with all their hearts that He should be made
to die. He gave Himself for us. Now, here's the object of grace,
that He might redeem us, that He might buy us back, that He
might buy us out of, that He might buy us unto Himself from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people. Redemption is twofold. It involves two things. It involves
a legal price. But it also involves a redeeming
power. The Lord Jesus accomplished redemption
in the legal aspect of it when he died as our substitute at
Calvary and paid our debt. But redemption does more than
just buy something. Redemption buys it out and brings
it out, just as Israel was brought out of Egypt. So when Christ
redeems us, he comes by the power of his grace and delivers us,
delivers us from all iniquity. He does so in the new birth,
he does so in the daily exercise of his grace, and he shall do
so in resurrection glory at last when he shall have delivered
us not only from iniquity, not only from sin's dominion, not
only from sin's being, but he shall deliver us in heavenly
glory from every evil consequence of sin. And that's the redemption
of the person's possession. Now, here's one more wonder of
its grace, its people. he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people." Now,
we use that word peculiar, and we mean, but he's a little strange. That's not the word. The word
is a distinct A peculiar people are a people
purified before God, purified by His grace. So pure that if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things have become
new. God's elect are a peculiar people as the objects of His
peculiar love and His peculiar delight To whom he grants his
peculiar blessings. A people under his peculiar protection
and care all the time. A people with peculiar ambitions
and cares and concerns. And they are a people zealous
of good works. Not zealous of a good shelter. Don't ever make an effort to
show people your devotion to Christ. If there's anything he
teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, that's what he teaches.
Don't ever make an effort to—you can't show godliness. You can't
show ungodly folks things they can't see. It can't be done.
But God's people are zealous of good works. Zealous to adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior, living soul of man. righteously
and godly in this present evil world. Now, let me tell you how. Let me tell you how, and it's
just as simple as it can be. It's just as simple as it can
be. Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Oh, blessed Savior. So teach me your
grace to live and breathe for the glory of my God. Amen.
Don Fortner
About Don Fortner
Don Fortner (1950-2020) served as teacher and pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Danville, Kentucky.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.