Don Fortner

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Christ our Example

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Chapter 92

Christ our Example

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15)

What is the believer’s rule of life? By what standard must our lives be governed, as the children of God in this world? How should we behave? What principles are we to live by, as we walk before God and men in this world? By what law are we to live?

These are questions which concern all of God’s children. None of God’s people are lawless, rebellious antinomians. All who trust Christ want to honor God. All who are born of God want to do the will of God. We want to do what is right before God and men. The grace of God experienced in the soul teaches us to live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12). As we are admonished in Holy Scripture, saved sinners want to “be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).

A man or woman who is chosen, redeemed, and regenerated by the grace of God has a principle of godliness and righteousness created in his or her heart. Such a person wants to live in a manner that will be pleasing and honoring to God, for the glory of Christ. If you do not love God’s law, you neither know God nor love God. Your religion is a refuge of lies. Your pretense of faith is a delusion. Continue reading →

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New ! Discovering Christ Day by Day – by Don Forter PDF Book

Discovering Christ Daily Readings Image Don Fortner

Via Email from Pastor Don Fortner

Dear Family,

As you know, I completed the book of Daily Readings (Discovering Christ Day by Day) on December 31st and will no longer send these out, as I did last year. The book is now at the publishers and should be released in a few months. However, Bro. Larry Brown has put the entire year’s readings together in *.PDF format. I have attached it to this email.

I am sending this to all on our church family mailing list and to a few friends who have expressed an interest in having it. Please feel free to give the attached file to anyone who wants it.

Thank you, Larry, for putting these readings together.

Reply to:     don@donfortner.com

Web Pages : www.DonFortner.com

www.FreeGraceRadio.com

www.Grace-eBooks.com

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road

Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Here is the PDF version : Discovering Christ Day by Day 1 OR click on the Image of Pastor Don to get the PDF Book . 

With  thanks and gratitude to  Don Fortner for the permission to place the PDF book on our website. We pray many will be blessed by the material.  Also see  Discovering Christ in All the Scriptures – FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD BY Don Fortner

Please visit the above websites for more Biblical edifying material by Don Fortner.

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A Needful Lesson

WheatAndTares

The Saints at Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:2

Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church by reminding them that they had been sanctified in Christ and been called of God. He assures them of continued grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his continual thanksgiving to God for the grace bestowed upon them by Christ (vv. 3-4). He then proceeds to assure them of his complete confidence that the gospel and the boundless grace of God had been confirmed to them by the operations of God the Holy Spirit upon them in effectual calling, causing them to ever look for Christ’s coming (vv. 5-6). He goes so far as to assure these Corinthian believers that our ever-faithful God, who had called them into the fellowship of Christ, would at last bring them blameless into glory in the resurrection (vv. 8-9).

The Corinthian Church

All these assurances of grace and glory were given by divine inspiration to the church at Corinth. I cannot imagine a local church anywhere in the world, at any time in history, plagued with more evil than the church atCorinth. Among these saints, horrid immorality was winked at as a matter of indifference (chap. 5). Yet, they embraced the notion that by abstaining from physical pleasure they could make themselves more holy and spiritual (chap 7). God’s faithful servant, by whom they were taught the gospel, was scorned among them. Pride caused them to disdain the poor and the weak. Those who possessed, or thought they possessed, great spiritual gifts looked down their noses at those they considered less spiritual. Though the Corinthian church was probably the wealthiest of the New Testament churches, it was the most miserly in giving. They horribly abused the ordinances of God, making the person by whom they were baptized a matter of pride and spiritual superiority, and turning the Lord’s Table into a carnal, religious feast. And they denied the resurrection of our Lord.

All these things divided the local church at Corinth into factions, threatening to destroy it. Yet, when Paul wrote this Epistle to them, he addressed them as “them that are sanctified (having been sanctified) in Christ, called to be saints” (1:2), assuring them that God would confirm them unto the end and make them “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 6).

A Needful Lesson

I call your attention to these things because they set before us a very, very important lesson, a lesson of which we need to be constantly reminded. ― God’s saints in this world are often plagued with moral weaknesses, poor judgment, spiritual evil, and doctrinal error. So long as we are in this world, God’s saints (all of us) are sinners still. We dare not make excuse for our own sins or the sins of others Continue reading →

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Faith….

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FAITH

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”                                                                                             — Hebrews 11:1-3

WHAT IS FAITH? Very simply stated, faith is taking God at his Word and acting upon God’s revelation. On one occasion, when the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing, the Lord told them to cast their nets on the right side of the ship. Taking him at his word, they cast the nets one more time and took in more fish than their boat could hold (Luke 5:1-7; John 21:3-7). When they needed money to pay taxes, the Lord sent Peter out to catch a fish with the promise that he would find the money needed in the mouth of the first fish he caught (Matt. 17:24-27). Believing Christ, Peter went fishing! When the Lord told Peter to come to him upon the water, Peter believed that he could; and he did (Matt. 14:28-29).

Faith simply believes what God reveals both about himself and about all things in his creation and acts accordingly. Faith submits to God’s revelation regarding himself, his Son, and his salvation, the creation of the world, the fall of man, and the providence of God, grace, the resurrection, and judgment. That is the nature of faith. It takes God at his Word.

THIS FAITH IS AN INDEX OF THE HEART. Continue reading →

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MOCKERS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

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But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
(Jude 1:17-19 KJV)

My text tonight is found in Jude 1:17-19. I want to speak to you by the power of God’s Spirit about MOCKERS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, and issue an imperative call to steadfastness in the faith of the gospel.

We are living in what the Word of God speaks of as “the last days.” The Scriptures clearly identify “the last days” as those days that began with our Savior’s incarnation and end with his second coming. It is my opinion that we are probably living in the latter portion of “the last days,” the very end of time. I say that because it is obvious that Satan has been loosed upon the earth to deceive the nations again.

The spirit of antichrist is so thick in this generation of free-will/works religion that you can cut it with a knife. It seems to me that the time of great apostasy has come that Paul told us must come before Christ comes again in 2nd Thessalonians 2.

  • The restraining hand of God’s Spirit, by which satanic delusions were somewhat held in check in days of old, has been taken away.
  • And God has sent this reprobate generation a strong delusion “that they should believe a lie: that they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

How thankful we ought to be for God’s great electing love and preserving grace, Continue reading →

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The Crisis of the World

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Listen to sermon while reading.

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.”                                                                                                            (John 12:31-33)

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). — This is never more clearly and extraordinarily demonstrated to be the truth than by these statements which fell from the lips of our Savior. It is a great marvel to me that God should, in his infinite wisdom, choose to judge the world, destroy the devil, and save his elect by sending his Son to become a man that he might suffer and die upon the cursed tree! Oh, mystery of mysteries, — “God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Oh, the height of God’s love! Oh, the depth of his mercy! Oh, the breadth of his wisdom! Indeed, his ways and his thoughts are beyond us, as high as the heavens are above the earth. Continue reading →

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The Reversal — Perfect Restoration

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“And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.” (Zechariah 10:6)

In Luke 24:47 our Lord Jesus tells us that he died as our sin-atoning Substitute “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.” “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent,” and sinners must repent. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Gospel preachers call all who hear them to repent. Repentance is turning to Christ. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of masters, and a change of motives. You must repent of your sin (what you are), repent of your sins (what you do), and repent of your righteousness. To repent is to make a complete reversal.

But before any sinner turns to Christ, he must be turned by Christ. Continue reading →

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“Furnished and Prepared”


1479538_640298522675715_47614827_n“And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.” (Mark 14:10-16)

In Mark 14 we have come to that solemn evening which preceded the most significant event in history. We should always read the things recorded here with great care, asking God the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, asking him to inscribe the lessons in these verses upon our hearts with the finger of omnipotent grace.

From old eternity, before the worlds were made, the Lord God ordained the sacrificial, sin-atoning death of his darling Son at Calvary. He predestined the time, place, and means of his Son’s death as well as its sure accomplishments. God set forth his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to satisfy his justice for the sins of his people, to put away our sins, so that he might be both just and the Justifier of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The holy, just, and true God demands satisfaction for sin. Satisfaction could be made only by the sacrifice of his dear Son. Therefore, as it is written, “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

The Lord Jesus lived as our representative for 33 years in perfect righteousness. He worked out a perfect righteousness for us. But his obedience in life alone could never save anyone. Justice must be satisfied. Our debt had to be paid. Our sins must be punished to the full satisfaction of divine justice. Therefore, “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Continue reading →

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What Is Going On ?

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Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.”

Listen to sermon :  

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Subject: The Judgment of God

Date:  Tuesday Evening — March 23, 2010

Tape # Z-82b

Reading:  Rex Bartley and Romans 1:14-42

Introduction:

We are living in perilous times! I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to live for the glory of God, seeking to do the will of God. I cannot imagine a more difficult time in which to faithfully preach the Gospel of Christ.

The moral decadence around us is astonishing!

  • Adultery!
  • Fornication!
  • Homosexuality!
  • Materialism!
  • Greed!

Even among those who profess to be the children of God, even among those who hold to the doctrines of the Gospel, the doctrines of grace. I see a general laxity, carelessness and open disregard for the love of God (Ephesians 4:17-20).

(Ephesians 4:17-20) “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ.”

The self-centered lawlessness of this age is shocking! There is, in our generation as never before, a general contempt for authority, which is just an outward expression of man’s contempt for God.

  • Where is the child who respects the authority of his parents!
  • Where is the student who respects the authority of his teachers!
  • Where is the wife who respects the authority of her husband?
  • Where is the man who respects the authority of civil government?
  • Where is the politician, or elected official who respects the constitution he is sworn to uphold and serves the people he was elected to serve?

Yet, this is the most religious generation that has ever lived!  Continue reading →

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The Singularity of the Gospel

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“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”                                                         (Galatians 1:6-10)

It is utterly astonishing to a believer that anyone, having heard and having professed to believe the gospel of God’s free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ, could be enticed to abandon it for another gospel (Which is no gospel at all!) of legality, works, or a mixture of grace and works (Rom. 11:5-6) But that is exactly what had happened in Galatia. Paul’s purpose in writing this epistle was to expose and reprove those as heretics who attempt to mix the works of men with the work of Christ, and to establish God’s elect in the gospel of God’s grace and glory in Christ.

False teachers had crept into the Galatian churches perverting the gospel of Christ. While professing to be followers of Christ, they sought to mingle the works of the law with faith in Christ. They were persuading the people to abandon the gospel Paul had taught them, adding to faith in Christ the works of the law. The apostle Paul had taught them that Christ crucified is the only, all-sufficient, and effectual Savior of men, and that faith in him is the only way we can receive his finished salvation (Rom. 5:11). He had proved the truth of all his declarations by miracles. These Galatians professed to believe the gospel as it was preached and confirmed by the apostle. They had been so thankful for Paul bringing the gospel to them that they received him as an angel of God, and would have, had it been possible, plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. Yet, within a short time, these converts were induced by the eloquent discourses of false teachers to renounce Paul and the gospel of Christ, and to receive in its place a message contrary to the glorious gospel Paul had taught them. Therefore, he wrote this letter by divine inspiration, filled with indignation, sorrow, and astonishment. Continue reading →

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The Crimes Of Babylon

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And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
(Revelation 18:2 KJV)

 Isaiah 24:5 – Reading Rev. 17:1-18:5

Three    Indictments   Of    God   Against    Man’s Religion

Sunday Evening – October 14, 1990

  Introduction:

There are, in reality, only two systems of religion in the world:  The religion of Christ and the religion of antichrist.  There are only two systems of doctrine in this world:  the doctrine of free grace and the doctrine of free will.  There are only two opinions about salvation in the world:  salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and salvation by the will, works and worth of man.  Everybody fits into one of these two categories.  Every church and religious organization in this town and in the world fits into one of these two categories.  But no one fits into both.

In the Bible there are only two churches, the false and the true.  The false church, the church of antichrist, is Babylon, the great whore.  Babylon represents all free will, works religion of every name and nation:  Islam Judaism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddism, and pseudo-christianity – (Gen. 11:1-9). Babylon is the religion of works, the religion of man, the religion of confusion.

  • If you believe in salvation by man’s free will, your religion is the religion of Babylon. Continue reading →
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DECEIVERS AMONG US

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In Jude 4 the Apostle Jude tells us about the unseen danger of false prophets who arise within the church. They are often unrecognized, especially in their earliest appearances, partly because they profess to believe and preach “the faith once delivered unto the saints.” Yet, these false prophets secretly introduce doctrines that are contrary to the gospel of Christ and are damning, damning to them and to all who follow them.ASSURED GRACEWe must not forget that before he mentions these false prophets, Jude assures God’s elect of his mighty operations of grace by which all who are born of God are saved and kept, even in those perilous times when false prophets abound. Continue reading →
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WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?

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“What  think  ye  of  Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David”  Matthew 22:42

In this chapter our Lord was confronted by the religious leaders of his day. They asked him several questions about religious matters–the same sort of questions that religious people are asking today. They asked about politics and religion, the resurrection body, and the law of Moses. After silencing all their curious questions, our Lord put a question to them. It is as though he were saying, “You have asked me many questions which show your great curiosity about religion. Now, I have a question for you. This is the only question which is of any real eternal importance. “WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?”

My friend, this is the question that I put before you. Consider it well. I do not ask: What do you think of the church? What do you think of this or that system of doctrine? What do you think of prophecy? But, WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?” Your answer to that question will determine your place in eternity.

WE MUST HAVE A TRUE DOCTRINAL ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. Continue reading →

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Sanctification

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Here is every text in the New Testament where the words “sanctify”, “sanctifieth”, “sanctified”, and “sanctification” are used. Study each reference in its context. Believers are said to be sanctified by the Word of God, by God the Father, by the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, and by faith. Never once are we said to sanctify ourselves by something we do. The only exception is 2 Timothy 2:21, where a pastor is said to be sanctified by purging himself from that which is dishonorable. But the context makes that work of sanctification to be a matter of separation, not a matter of being righteous or holy. And not one reference speaks of the believer’s sanctification as a progressive work. Sanctification, as taught in the Bible, is altogether a work of grace.

John 17:17  “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 17:19  “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

Ephesians 5:26  “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,”

1 Thessalonians 5:23  “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Continue reading →

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Identifying True Faith

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Listen to sermon 

The title of my message is Identifying True Faith. Is my professed faith in Christ true, God-given, saving faith, or is it a false faith? Is your professed faith in Christ true, God-given, saving faith, or is it a false faith? Let us bring our professed faith to the Word of God and prove it.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

If my faith is true, it will bear examination, examination by the light of Holy Scripture. If it is not true, I want to know it. I beg mercy from God that he will not let me perish in a refuge of lies. And I beg of God that same mercy for you. So my subject is Identifying True Faith. Our text is 1st John 4:14-21.

1 John 4:14-21 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Faith Essential

Faith in Christ is the one thing essential to salvation. — “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” That is the one thing that matters. That is the one question that must be settled. — “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” Faith is an inward. It is a state of life and a way of life. It is a condition of life and a course of life. Faith is an inward thing, a matter of the heart, an experience of the soul. — “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Continue reading →