t                   oPastor John and wife Kathy  
 

 
 

Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace   


 

RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH

 February 

February 2, 2020

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

              Galatians 6:14-16                                                    

                                                      Bibile Study "Simon Peter An Apsotle to Christ  (pt41)"                                       

MESSAGE

“Who Gets The Glory?”

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday Rom. 9-10     Monday Gen. 16-19     Tuesday Josh 21-24

Wednesday Ps 12-14     Thursday Job 9-10

                      Friday Isa 23-28            Saturday Matt 11-13


Life from the dead

“AND YOU hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

  “What is the new birth?  It is nothing less than a resurrection from the dead!  Three blessed truths are set forth in this text, in which the children of God can read their experience.

1.     You were dead.  Spiritual death, like physical death, may be more manifest in one than it is in another. For example, Jairus' daughter looked almost as though she were still alive, but she was, in reality, just as dead as Lazarus who had been in the grave for four days.  Many around us are morally upright, honest and good in the eyes of men, but spiritually they are just as dead as the harlot, the drunk and the blasphemer.  All men are by nature dead in trespasses and sins.  We died in our father, Adam.  We are legally dead, born under the sentence of the law.  Some are less corrupt than others.  But all are utterly destitute of spiritual life. Sin brings forth death and death, sooner or later, brings forth corruption.  The natural man's corrupt heart corrupts his entire being.  And being dead, we were utterly helpless and impotent.

2.     But here is the marvellous intervention of divine grace: you have been quickened.  God has, by almighty power, given you life from the dead!  This is the new birth.  It is not a decision of man's free will.  It is not a co-operative effort on the part of God and man together.  It is a resurrection to life, accomplished by the life-giving voice of the Son of God! (John 5:21, 24, 25.)  God Almighty sovereignly interposes his love, grace and mercy to give life to dead sinners!

3. Now, children of God, you are alive!   We were dead, but now we are alive.  And we owe it all to the manifold grace of our triune God.  Dwell no longer in the graveyard of sin.   No longer be held in bondage by the fear of the law.  Speak to God as a living child to his living Father.  Are we alive?  Then we are one with Christ!  Let us, as living men who were dead, live to love and glorify our Saviour.”

Pastor Don Fortner

WHAT IS SIN?

Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)

WHAT is sin? Ah, what man is capable of supplying an adequate answer: “Who can understand his errors?” (Psa 19:12). A volume might be written thereon and still much be left unsaid.

  Only the One against Whom it is committed can fully understand its nature or measure its enormity. And yet, from the light that God has furnished us, a partial answer at least can be gathered. For example, we read in 1John 3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law”; and that such transgression is not confined to the outward act is clear from “the thought of foolishness is sin” (Pro 24:9). But what is meant by “sin is the transgression of the law”? It means that sin is a trampling upon God’s holy commandment. It is an act of defiance against the Lawgiver. [Because] the Law [is] “holy, and just, and good” (Rom 7:12), it follows that any breach of it is an evil and enormity1 that God alone is capable of estimating.

   All sin is a breach of the eternal standard of equity. But it is more

than that: it reveals an inward enmity that gives rise to the outward

transgression. It is the bursting forth of that pride and the self-will that resents restraint, that repudiates control, that refuses to be under authority, that resists rule. Against the righteous restraint of law, Satan

opposed a false idea of “liberty” to our first parents: “Ye shall be as

gods” (Gen 3:5). And he is still plying the same argument and employing the same bait. The Christian must meet it by asking, “Is the disciple to be above his Master, the servant superior to his Lord?”        Christ was “made under the law” (Gal 4:4), lived in perfect submission thereto, and has left us an example that we should follow His steps... Sin, then, is an inward state that precedes the evil deeds. It is a state of heart that refuses to be in subjection to God. It is a casting off the divine Law and setting up self-will and self-pleasing in its stead.

        “…it is the gospel of Christ that is the primary force in establishing and confirming the people of God.  The gospel will build Christians and make them sturdy, thus the gospel is the heart of genuine apostolic gospel ministry!  It is when the gospel is ministered to believers that they find Christ to be precious; by the gospel, they discover the road to true holiness, spiritual strength and godly character.”

                                    Miles McKee

As every knee must bow to the dominion of Christ, so every tongue must confess that Jesus is the Lord.

   (1) The devils and wicked men shall be forced at the last to acknowledge the power of Christ, whose authority they have always rebelled against. And as Pharaoh and the Egyptians cried out, “Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth against us” (Exo 14:25), so shall the stoutest-hearted sinners one day flee from the presence of Christ and call to the mountains to shelter them “from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev 6:16). And all the implacable enemies of Christ shall be forced through spite and rage to gnaw their tongues, gnash their teeth, and say, as that cursed apostate Julian, “Thou hast overcome me, O Galilean.”

  (2) All the saints and angels shall with one consent own, acknowledge, and praise Jesus Christ as the Lord and as their Lord. They shall acknowledge Him to be the Lord their Maker and their Savior; and so they shall cry “Hosanna” to Him! And they shall acknowledge Him to be their Lord and Sovereign; and they shall cast down their crowns at His feet and with everlasting hallelujahs sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev 5:12-13).

                                                                           William Taylor

“Our nature struggles fiercely against being saved without our works and tries to deceive us with a grand illusion of our own righteousness.  So we may find ourselves attracted to a life that merely appears to be righteous.  Or because we know we aren’t righteous; we may be frightened by death or sin.  Therefore, we must learn that we should have nothing to do with any other way of becoming righteous, except through Christ alone.”

                                                                               Martin Luther

“Reasons We Must Give God All The Glory”

It should be obvious to any honest reader of the Holy Scriptures that God alone is worthy of all praise and all glory.

There’s a reason why God the Holy Spirit moved Paul the apostle to write these words:

·       “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”

                                              (1 Thess. 5:18).

 WHAT IS THE REASON?  Let me just share a few Scriptures that I trust will help us to understand the reason we are to thank our God for all things:

·       All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to God by Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18).

·       And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).

·       For of him (of Jesus Christ) and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever.  Amen. (Rom. 11:36).

Brethren, God our Father has put all things into the Sovereign Hand of Jesus Christ our Lord.  All things are under His feet.  He is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

If we can get a handle on this truth, we won’t go too far wrong in our efforts to serve God with a sincere desire

that Jesus Christ is the One we must  give all glory to in our walk before Him through our pilgrimage journey:  God Himself has purposed that ALL THINGS - CREATION; ADMINISTRATION; AND SALVATION; WOULD BE FOR THE GLORY OF HIS DARLING SON, JESUS CHRIST THE LORD!

                                             Pastor Gene Harmon

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (1John 5:11-12).

  “‘This is the record’ declared the apostle John; this is the sum and substance of all that is written and preached. God out of His pure free grace is pleased to give unto us eternal life. This life is the spiritual life lost in the fall, life forever free from sin, sorrow, and death. This life is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  This life is not only purposed in Him, promised through Him, and purchased by Him but He is that life! (Colossians 3:4) He that has the redeeming Christ, the interceding Christ, the indwelling Christ, has life!”

                                             Pastor Henry Mahan

Mercy is, properly speaking, the name of Jesus. For David, speaking of grace, and pleading for it before the Lord, saith as an argument and plea for receiving it, "There is mercy (that is, there is Jesus Christ) with Thee," Psalm 130:4. And when Zacharias prophesied, under the influence of God the Holy Ghost, at the coming of Christ, he said it was "to perform the mercy promised," Luke 1: 72. The Lord Jesus is that MERCY promised!

                                         Robert Hawker

HIS BLOOD ALONE!

  “The vital thing to understand about the blood of Christ is this: IT IS ENOUGH!  Nothing else is needed to accomplish the salvation of all for whom His blood was shed.  Not His blood plus my works; not His blood plus my ‘decision’, not His blood plus the ordinances; not His blood plus church membership; not even His blood plus my faith -  His blood purchased my faith.  HIS BLOOD ALONE paid the price required by his justice, and His blood alone can make a sinner clean. ‘By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having OBTAINED (not made possible) eternal redemption for us’ (Hebrews 9:12).”

                                      Pastor Don Bell

February 9, 2020

Eph 1:17-18 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 

                                                      Bibile Study "Simon Peter An Apsotle to Christ  (pt)"                                       

MESSAGE

Sincere Milk 

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday Rom. 11-12    Monday Gen 20-23     Tuesday Judge 1-6

Wednesday Ps 15-17           Thursday Job 11-12

Friday Isa 29-33                 Saturday Matt 14-16

      Three little robins sit in their nest right above my back-garage door.  They sit there day after day in absolute helpless dependency.  If mama robin does not bring food and put it into their mouths, they will soon die.  They seem to be always hungry, and whenever mom approaches, they open their mouths wide, trying to get all the food they can.

I would to God that we, as believers, could be as those little robins when it comes to spiritual food, the “Bread of Life” – “Jesus Christ and Him crucified for guilty sinners”; when it comes to reading or hearing the Word of God; that we could always do so with such eagerness and hunger.

“Break Thou the bread of life, Dear Lord to me,

As Thou didst break the loaves, Beside the sea:

Beyond the sacred page, I seek Thee, Lord;

My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word.”

     Unbeliever, your helpless dependency is as great as those little robins in their nest.  If God does not cause you to hunger and bring you food, you will soon die... die in your sins!  If God does not open your heart to hunger and thirst after Christ and to receive Him as He is; to submit to Him, to love Him, to cleave to Him as your most prized possession, your doom is inevitable!  Perhaps the Lord has already caused you to hunger after Christ and life.  Perhaps you truly desire salvation from sin.  “He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.” (Luke 1:53) What wonderful news for hungry sinners!  Believe!  Believe on Christ!  Believe on Christ now!  He that believeth shall be saved. 

                      Maurice Montgomery


While in this world, the lost sinner is weary of dying, while the child of God is weary of living.

                                      DLE

"Let every person do his duty in the station of life into which God has called him. No person is to vaunt himself above others or find fault with the efforts of others while lauding his own. Let everybody serve in love.”

                            Martin Luther


February 16, 2020

Galatians 2:20-21

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

                                                      Bibile Study "Simon Peter An Apsotle to Christ  (pt)"                                       

MESSAGE

“My Ways”

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK 

Sunday Rom. 13-14     Monday Gen. 24-27     Tuesday Judge 7-11

Wednesday Ps 18-20           Thursday Job 13-14

                  Friday Isa 34-39                 Saturday Matt 17-19


'To him give all the prophets witness'

Acts 10:43

 “The Bible is a book with one message and purpose. The message of the Bible is redemption by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and its purpose is the salvation of sinners for the glory of God.

   This is the thing I want you to see: the singular purpose of Holy Scripture is to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible was written to show us our blessed Saviour. This fact was beautifully illustrated by our Lord himself when he came into the synagogue at Nazareth.  He opened the book of God and read to the people from the prophecy of Isaiah.  Then he closed the book, laid it down and, as the people waited to hear his sermon, he said, 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears' (Luke 4:18-21).  Sitting before them, God in human flesh, our Saviour said, 'I am the one of whom the prophet spoke!'

    The risen Christ met two of his disciples on the Emmaus road and walked with them.  As they talked together, he opened the Scriptures to them and caused them to understand that all the Scriptures spoke of him (Luke 24:27, 44-47).  When Philip the evangelist met the Ethiopian eunuch, the eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53.  Beginning at that place, Philip 'preached unto him Jesus' (Acts 8:35).  When Peter stood up and preached to the Gentiles at Caesarea, he said, 'To him [the Lord Jesus Christ] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins' (Acts 10:43). When Paul came to Thessalonica, 'As his manner was, [he] went in unto them [in the synagogue], and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ' (Acts 17:2-3).  In the book of Hebrews, when Christ came into the world, we are told that he said, 'Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God' (Heb. 10:7).

   Jesus Christ and him crucified is the sum and substance of Holy Scripture.”

                                                                                                  Pastor Don Fortner

February 23, 2020

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 

                                  Lamentations 3:22-25

                                                      Bibile Study "Simon Peter An Apsotle to Christ  (pt)"                                       

MESSAGE

Worthy of Heaven

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday Rom. 15-16     Monday Gen. 28-31     Tuesday Judg 12-16

Wednesday Ps 21-23           Thursday Job 15-16

                  Friday Isa 40-44                 Saturday Matt 20-22


ANNOUNCEMENT

·       Fellowship dinner is scheduled for next Sunday

THE GRACE OF GOD

  “Many professing Christians seem to believe that the term ‘by God’s grace’ merely means that God made something available to them, which they by natural wisdom and ability took advantage of; but this is far from the truth. The grace of God, as Arthur Pink once said, ‘is an almighty power, an invincible dynamic, a principle victorious over all resistance.’  When the apostle Paul said, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am’, he did not  mean that God merely opened unto him certain avenues of spiritual progression and advancement, which he wisely took advantage of; but rather, he meant that God through His powerful and efficacious grace had changed him from what he was formerly into what he was presently.  The grace of God did not merely provide salvation and preach salvation to Saul of Tarsus (later Paul), but brought salvation to him.  God stopped his wild, rebellious, religious career of murder (Acts 9:1-8); that’s the grace of God! Paul said, ‘God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (II Cor. 4:6).  That’s the grace of God!  And wonder of wonders!  ALL that God did for Paul was in direct contrast to what he so justly deserved.  This is grace indeed—sovereign, amazing triumphant grace.”

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.

                                                     Brother Maurice Montgomery

_________________________ ________________________

 “Some people would have us believe that if we preach pure grace it will lead people to licentious living.  They say if we remove the law as a guide or motivation for Christian living, people will have nothing to keep them holy.  They say to tell a person to just follow Christ doesn't provide enough structure and will lead people to careless living.  Is that where the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus leads?  Grace preachers have always been, and always will be, falsely accused of this devilish lie.  The apostle Paul spent most of his time defending the gospel of grace against this lawmongers view of self-righteousness.  ‘What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid’ (Romans 6:15).  No, grace does not lead to sin, grace leads to Christ.  He is able by the law of love and faith to restrain our flesh and make us His workmanship.”                Pastor Greg Elmquist