WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday Morning, July 19, 2015
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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
“The Solid Rock” Page 404
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SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 106:21 - 43
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OFFERTORY
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WORSHIP HYMN
“More About Jesus” Page 389
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SPECIAL MUSIC
To be announced.
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Message Title
“The Full Assurance of Hope”
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CLOSING HYMN
“My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” Page 405
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"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us”
Hebrews 6:18).
“The two immutable things here are the decree of God and the oath of God. By the decree of his will and the oath of his covenant, knowing that ‘it is impossible for God to lie’, we find in Christ our ‘strong consolation.’ Our assurance and consolation before God are not found in our feelings, experiences, personal holiness, or even in our faith, but in God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are men and women who have fled for refuge unto him, like the man slayer in the Old Testament fled for refuge to one of the cities of refuge. .........
The words ‘lay hold upon’ are very strong. They mean to lay hold firmly, as with a death grip. When Satan would pull us off of Christ, we hold him fast. It is our faith in Christ, our hope in him that the fiend of hell would destroy. His messengers are preachers who cunningly try to get us to take refuge somewhere else.
An Anchor - ‘Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil’ (Hebrews 6:19).
Our hope is fastened within the veil. It is ‘a nail in a sure place.’ It is a sure and steadfast hope. Our ship may be tossed to and fro, but it cannot be wrecked. Christ is the Pilot. The Scriptures are the compass. God’s promises are the tackling. Hope is the anchor. Faith is the cable holding it. The Holy Spirit is the Wind that drives it.
The Forerunner - ‘Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec’ (Hebrews 6:20).
As the high priest in Israel entered into the holy of holies once a year, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, has gone into the Holy Place. There he has taken possession of Heaven as our Forerunner. By the merit of his own blood he has obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12). Our great Forerunner has gone to heaven to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25; 1John2:1 - 2) as a Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a Priest after the order of righteousness and of peace. The order of his priesthood is an everlasting and unchangeable order.”
Discovering Christ in Hebrews by Pastor Don Fortner (Excerpt)
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“The Full Assurance of Hope” (Hebrews 6:11)
A self-righteous religionist, who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ, is nothing but a hypocrite. He CANNOT have any assurance of hope, let alone a Full Assurance of Hope. WHY? Because all he has is a head knowledge of Christ and His Gospel. The Spirit of Jesus Christ does not dwell in his heart. He does not have a living union with the risen, exalted God-man, Jesus Christ, who is the true and living God. If he should fall away, if he leaves the assembly of the saints where the true Gospel is preached, he is manifesting that he never was regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, that he never was a true follower of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:19). Those are the very ones the Word of God is referring to in Hebrews 6:4 - 6.
But our Lord says this about His saints: “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak” (Hebrews 6:9). God’s enlightened saints have been given a new heart. We have a true genuine love for Jesus Christ the Lord, for His Gospel, and for His people. We are motivated by that love to live for His glory. We do what we can to promote the true Gospel of God’s amazing sovereign grace. We love those for whom Christ died. That love is manifested by the way we minister to one another’s needs in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s just a partial list of those things that accompany salvation, which things are done by God-given faith for the glory of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Saviour. And it is the sincere desire of our Lord’s ordained preachers, that all of God’s saints show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end (Heb. 6:11).
The believer’s “Full Assurance of Hope” is found in Jesus Christ, AND ONLY IN JESUS CHRIST, and in His perfect redeeming work for His chosen people! Hebrews 6:19 says “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil”. Every true follower of Jesus Christ, by God-given faith, has laid hold upon the risen, exalted Son of God, who has entered into heaven itself there to appear in the presence of God for us. Jesus Christ is not in heaven, waiting for sinners to make a decision for Him. He is seated on His sovereign throne of power as the Blessed Surety of His chosen, blood-bought children. Under the preaching of His gospel, our Blessed Redeemer speaks to our enlightened minds, giving us strong consolation, that He is “The Full Assurance of Hope” to those who, by faith, have laid hold on Him.
Pastor
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
We will come to The Lord’s Table during our worship service this evening, God willing.
***** Cleaning duty this week: John & Kathy Reeves *****
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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK
Monday Wednesday Friday
Genesis 16 Psalm 10 Matthew 13
Genesis 17 Psalm 11 Matthew 14
Genesis 18 Psalm 12 Matthew 15
Acts 10 Acts 11 Acts 12
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"It is GOOD for me that I have been AFFLICTED; that I MIGHT LEARN Thy ways" (Psalm 119:71).
“God's ways and God's word are best learned by experience and in time of trouble. When our Lord is pleased to lay His hand heavily upon us, we do not soon forget the lessons learned. When the Lord singles out a believer or a church for special affliction and adversity, it is not for punishment nor lack of love for them; it is for eternal blessings and because He does love them. ‘Whom the Lord loveth’ he chastens, corrects, and teaches! When Job sat before his friends, who was afflicted? THE ONE GOD LOVED! When Paul stood before King Agrippa, who wore the chains? THE ONE GOD LOVED! Humanly speaking, which path of life would you prefer to live on earth, that of Esau or Jacob? Esau had the life of prosperity and ease; Jacob was full of trouble and conflict, BUT GOD LOVED JACOB! Thank God He has loved us in Christ and is pleased to teach us His ways by dealing with us in such a way that we are weaned from the world and find our life, comfort, and hope only in Him. A person who measures his blessings and relationship with God by his prosperity, health, happiness, and worldly comforts makes a fatal mistake. ‘If ye be without chastisement, whereof all believers are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons’ (Heb. 12:8). Paul said, ‘Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me’ (II Cor. 12:9-10). He who sends the trial for His glory and my good will supply the grace sufficient. Those who know the Redeemer, also know that when we are weak, we are strong; when we are poor, we are rich; when we are empty, we are full; when we die) we live!”
Pastor Henry Mahan
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“Two Immutable Things” (Hebrews 6:18)
“In this precious view of the subject, observe the reason God the Father hath assigned, for this special act of grace, both in promising, and confirming that promise with an oath, namely, that the heirs of promise might see, and depend upon the immutability of his counsel; that there is nothing fickle, or inconstant, in the mind of God towards his people; but that he is of one mind, and none can change him: and, therefore, they might have a strong consolation, who have taken refuge in a Covenant God in Christ. Now, Reader! beg of God the Almighty Promiser of such precious things, that you may have always grace; to believe in Him also, as an Almighty Performer of such unspeakable mercy: and, as it is a mercy which is wholly founded in God, and hath nothing to make it sure, in the will or performance of man; you may give God the credit of God, and never for a moment disbelieve the record which he hath given of his Son, (1 John 5:10 - 12). And if these things are true, (as who will dare to question), what must those men be about, or how do they give us any testimonies of their being taught of God, who would insinuate that the everlasting safety of the Church in Christ is doubtful, and that the final perseverance of the saints is unscriptural, and highly dangerous? So then it appears, that God himself is willing, more abundantly, that the heirs of promise should be firmly established, in the blessed consolation of His sovereign, and unchangeable will, and which he hath for that purpose made sure by oath, for their eternal safety and happiness.”
From Robert Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary on Hebrews (Excerpt)
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--Hebrews 6:1 - 14--
“It seems a great change in this chapter from the sad tone at the beginning to the joyous note at the end; but, indeed, there is no contradiction between the two. Paul is but giving us two sides of the truth, — both equally true, — the one needful for our warning, the other admirable for our consolation. God will not leave you, my brethren, he has pledged himself by covenant to you, and he has given an oath that his covenant shall stand. Wherefore, be of good courage, and press forward in the divine life, for your work of faith and labour of love are not in vain in the Lord; so let us ‘lay hold upon the hope set before us’.
--C. H. Spurgeon
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“Those who halt between two opinions know just enough of God’s Word that you cannot enjoy the things of this world, and have just enough of this world that you can find no peace in the promises of God’s Word. You have the fears of the Word, without its hopes. You have the duties of the Word, without its joys. You have to act like godly people act, but there is no heart in it. You have to sit at the table spread with the bread of life, but cannot eat it. You get among the saints and try to talk like they do and you sound like someone trying to speak a foreign language he learned from a book.”
Pastor Milton Howard
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CHRIST IS ALL
"100% Cotton" That's the label I like my clothes to wear. I like 100% cotton; that miraculous material grown by God. I prefer everything in cotton, from the clothes I wear to the sheets I rest upon. Give me none of that man-made polyester. It doesn't wear well with me and I can't rest comfortably with it.
I like preaching that is “100% CHRIST”; the preaching of the Lofty Lord and Sovereign Savior sent by God. Give me none of that ‘polyester preaching’; that man-made gospel. It doesn't wear well with me and I can't rest in it. Give me Christ in all my preaching for He is ‘all and in all’.
I find great comfort in wearing it. It is a soothing pillow to this weary head and I will rest upon it.”
Pastor Paul Mahan
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The Gospel
“Those who WEARY of hearing the gospel, who LOSE INTEREST in hearing the gospel, and LOSE THEIR NEED of hearing the gospel of Christ, and His redeeming love and grace, have never REALLY heard the gospel at all. If one can leave Christ, he has never truly met Him! (John 6:65-69).”
Pastor Maurice Montgomery
