Rescue Baptist Church
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Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace

   

 

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WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH

 June 17, 2012

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SCHEDULED MEETINGS

      Sunday Morning Bible Study      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   10:00 AM

      Sunday Morning Worship           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   11:00 AM

      Sunday Evening Worship            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     6:30 PM

      Friday Night Bible  Study           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .    7:30 PM

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OPENING HYMN                       

   “We Have Come Into His House”                                    Page 588 

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SCRIPTURE READING 

     Psalm 111    

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OFFERTORY

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WORSHIP HYMN 

   “At The Cross”                                                                 Page 188 

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SPECIAL MUSIC 

     To be announced.

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Message Title 

     “Unto Us”  

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CLOSING HYMN   

   “Hallelujah, What A Savior!”                                          Page 175 

 

A Child Born - A Son Given  (Isaiah 9:6)

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   “Someone once said, ‘God could not suffer and man could not satisfy. But the God-man both suffered and satisfied.’  That points out the necessity of our Lord's incarnation.  Our Savior, the One who redeemed us from sin, and death, and hell, had to be both God and man in one glorious Person.  He must be a man, capable of suffering and death. Yet, he must also be God of infinite merit and value.  Here the Prophet Isaiah, by Divine Inspiration, describes the real humanity and perfect deity of the Lord Jesus Christ hundreds of years before he came into the world.

   ‘UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN’ - Hard as it is for us to imagine, the Son of God, our Savior, became a real man.  He did not simply assume a human form. He assumed our nature.  He assumed a real human body, mind, and soul.  He is as much man as though he were not God.  It is true, he had no sin.  He was born the Son of the virgin, without an earthly father, the woman's Seed by the immaculate conception of the Holy Spirit. But he was a man, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, subject to all the sinless passions, emotions, pains, and feelings of humanity.  He was tempted in all points as a man.  And though he had no sin of his own, he was even made to be sin for us! Because the Son of God came to redeem us, he took not on him the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham.   He assumed the nature of his elect, that he might die in our place, to satisfy the justice of God for us.  ‘Unto us a child is born!’

   ‘UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN.’   Mary is not the ‘mother of God!’ The Son of God was not born of the virgin.  He was given through the virgin's womb.  But even when he was in Mary's womb, he was Mary's God.  Though our Lord became one of us, he never ceased to be God. He is as much God as though he were not man.  He is the Son of God given, the gift of the Father's love (John 3:16; I John 4:9-10), to redeem and save his people.  God the Father gave his Son IN THE COVENANT OF GRACE before the world began to be our Surety (Isa. 49:8).  He gave his Son IN THE INCARNATION (Lk. 1:78). God gave his Son INTO THE HANDS OF JUSTICE to die as our Substitute upon the cursed tree (Acts 2:23).  He gives his Son IN REGENERATION to every believer (Col. 1:27).  And God will give his Son IN HEAVEN'S GLORY to be the everlasting portion and joy of his elect (Rev. 22:3). 

Pastor Don Fortner

“For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given: AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER.”

--Isaiah 9:6--

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     All the Old Testament prophets wrote of God’s Messiah who was to come.  All the writers of the New Testament wrote of the Christ of God who came in fulfillment of what was written of Him by the prophets of old.  From cover to cover, Jesus Christ is the theme of the whole Bible (Luke 24:27; John 5:39).  And all of God’s preachers declare  Jesus Christ to be the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, because that’s exactly what God tells us in His Holy Word.  Jesus Christ is Jehovah, the true and living God.  Without controversy, that little baby that came forth from the virgin’s womb was God in human flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).  “Unto us a child is born” speaks of the humanity of Jesus Christ.  “Unto us a son is given” speaks of the deity of Jesus Christ.  “THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER” speaks of the exaltation of Jesus Christ the God-man.  There’s a glorified man in heaven.  His name is Jesus Christ the Lord.  Every knee is to bow to the exalted Christ of God, acknowledging Him as the Sovereign Governor - not only of things in heaven, but the one who also governs this whole universe.  If we refuse to bow down to Him, confessing Him as Lord of all, the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not in us (Phil. 2:8 - 11; Acts 10:36; 1 Cor. 12:3).

     Brethren, we can trust our eternal souls in the hands of the one who loved us, and gave Himself for us.   All power in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ the God-man.  He controls every heart, giving eternal life to those His Father gave to Him (John 17:1 - 3).  And since the government is upon His shoulder, Jesus Christ governs all the issues of life, making sure that all things work together for our good (Rom. 8:28).  As our Blessed Surety, we’re kept by His power through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (Heb. 7:22 - 25; 1 Peter 1:3 - 6).  Whenever we experience something that disturbs us, we need to remind ourselves of this God-honoring truth: The government is upon the shoulder of Jesus ChristHE GOVERNS ALL THINGS!  If our heart is stayed on Jehovah, Jesus Christ our Lord, we’ll find perfect peace in every situation..                                                                          Pastor

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ð  A great big sincere ‘THANK YOU’ to those who were able to contribute to our painting project yesterday.  It was hard work but much was accomplished.  All of you did an outstanding job.

ð  Our worship service for this evening has been cancelled.

ð  A WORK DAY is scheduled for next Saturday commencing at 9:00 AM.

ð  Our monthly Music & Testimony Night is scheduled for next Sunday evening. 

*** HAPPY FATHER’S DAY ***

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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK

Monday                      Wednesday             Friday

Psalm 13                      Psalm 14                  Psalm 15

Genesis 28                   Genesis 29               Genesis 30

1 Peter 5                      2 Peter 1                  2 Peter 2

Romans 16                  1 Corinthians 1          1 Corinthians 2                    

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17). 

   “Have you thought what a comfort it is to have a God we can trust, a God who condescends to think on us, to consider our needs, and then supply them?  What if all we had to believe in was ‘the laws of nature’, ‘mother nature’, ‘the big Guy’, ‘a Supreme Being’, or, ‘the man upstairs’?  What if all we had to look forward to was some set of ‘laws’ and ‘powers’ acting apart from God?  There are many who try to get away from the thought of a personal God; One who redeems, preserves, and provides for His people.  The Bible declares a personal God who takes a special interest in His people, and thinks on them with a tender, gracious consideration.  This is what David said, ‘How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!’ What a blessing it is to be able to pray, ‘Our Father, who art in Heaven.’  The greatest blessing is to know God thinks on us.” 

Pastor Milton Howard

THINK ABOUT IT!

   “We are gathered here today in the name of and in the presence of the living God of the Bible, that eternal Being before Whom, and of Whom, and from Whom we deserve nothing but judgment, separation and destruction.  Who dares, then, to gather before and in the presence of THIS GOD with thoughts of entertainment, games and fun?  Who but those who have no true concept of God and sin at all?  Those who know nothing of the holiness and justice of God and His hatred for sin.”

Pastor Maurice Montgomery

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    “A missionary to a remote tribe was attempting to translate the scriptures into their language, and he had difficulty finding a word for obedience; a virtue that few of the natives practiced.  One day, as he went home from the village, his dog stayed behind.  The missionary called his dog to come and follow him.  The dog came running at top speed.  An old native by the roadside said in the native tongue, your dog is all ear."  The missionary got hold of that expression at once and so had a beautiful word for obedience:  A believer is all ears to the words of his Lord!”

Pastor Henry Mahan

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   “I am saddened when I think of the myriads of people who, in earnestness and sincerity, will meet today and listen to useless, graceless, Christless sermons. They will be admonished about morality and human kindness, but they will not hear of God’s free and sovereign grace. Be thankful that God has put you where you can hear about mercy for the sinful through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Pastor Jim Byrd

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   “The Bible is a book that records the activity of God, not man. It is not a record of man seeking and searching after God and striving to find him. It is the exact opposite. It is man going astray and God coming after him. As he came down in the garden of Eden at the beginning when man sinned, so he has been coming down ever since, and he came down supremely in the person of His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”                        Martyn Lloyd-Jones

CHRIST IS THE GOSPEL!

 

   “The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned His ministers to ‘preach the gospel’ or good news (Mark 16:15).  However, in the New Testament we generally find them preaching Christ (e.g., Acts 5:42; 8:5; 9:20; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 1:19; 4:5).  Is there a disagreement here between preaching the gospel and preaching Christ?  There is absolutely no disagreement here.

     A faithful gospel preacher declares to those converted under his ministry that ‘the gospel which I preached to you’ is the good news ‘that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that Christ was buried, and that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that Christ was seen’ (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

     The Holy Spirit says the ‘gospel of God’ is ‘concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord’, and equates it with the ‘gospel of Christ, the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’ (Romans 1:1-4, 16). This is good news indeed!  Christ is the gospel or good news! The good news is Christ!

     Accordingly: We preach the ‘glorious gospel’ (1 Timothy 1:11) by preaching the glorious Christ.  We preach the ‘gospel of the grace of God’ (Acts 20:24) by preaching Christ, who is Himself the “the grace of God that brings salvation” (Titus 2:11). We preach the ‘gospel of peace’ (Isaiah 52:7 /Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15) by preaching Christ, who is Himself our Peace (Micah 5:5; Ephesians 2:14-16; Judges 6:24; Isaiah 9:6).  We preach the ‘gospel of your salvation’ (Ephesians 1:13) by preaching Christ, who is Himself our salvation (Luke 2:25-30; Psalm 27:1).  We preach the ‘everlasting gospel’ (Revelation 14:6) by preaching the good news of the eternal Christ and the eternal salvation found in Him.

     If a preacher does not preach Christ, he thereby indicates that he either has no good news for you or that what he preaches instead of Christ is better news than Christ.

     As for me, I confess ‘Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!’ (1 Corinthians 9:16) – and CHRIST IS THE GOSPEL!


Missionary Daniel E. Parks