t                   oPastor John and wife Kathy  
 

 
 

Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace   

RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH

May 5, 2019

“Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ”                                                                                             2 Corinthians 4:14-16

 

Message

“Renewed Day by Day”

“The everlasting covenant”

(Hebrews 13:20 - 21).

    We delight and take comfort in the fact that the Lord our God has established for us a covenant ordered in all things and sure.  Its blessings upon the Israel of God, the church of Christ, are innumerable (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8: 10; 10: 16-17).  In our text, the apostle Paul tells us four things about the covenant of God's grace.

1. Jesus Christ is the central figure in this covenant.  The covenant of, grace is an eternal agreement between the three persons of the sacred Trinity for the salvation of God's elect.  But at the heart and foundation of the covenant is 'our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep'.  According to the Father's command, the great Shepherd agreed to die for his sheep and assumed the responsibility of bringing them all safe to heaven. Because of Christ's covenant engagements on our behalf, the Lord God says of his elect, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom!'  God the Father says of his Son, 'I have laid help upon one that is mighty!'

2. This covenant was sealed and ratified by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:15-17).  Having fulfilled everything agreed upon in the covenant, the Son of God sealed it with his blood.  Now the covenant has the force of a will or testament. The inheritance of the crucified Christ must be given to his redeemed, believing people.

3. This is a covenant that cannot be broken.  It is everlasting, and therefore immutable. All who were given to Christ were redeemed by Christ, will come to Christ and will be raised again at the last day!  God promised it.  He swore by his holy name that he would do it!  And it will be done!

4. God has so arranged things in the covenant of grace that he will get all the glory of it.  His glory he will not share with another.  He must have the glory exclusively.  He must have the glory eternally.  Let us give him the glory now.  'Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and thy truth's sake!'

                                                    Pastor Don Fortner

“LIFE FIRST THEN WE RESPOND”

 The very moment that we are born again, then we begin to see, to comprehend the Truth, and believe! Then seeing, believing, and trusting Christ alone, we fall in love with our Lord because of the new spiritual heart within us! The gift of God’s grace (Spiritual Life) is now ours! The gift of life has been performed in the sinner giving him faith to now trust his LORD completely. Now he sees his Lord “high and lifted up” Where he was spiritually dead (depraved) and totally blind before, he has been now transformed supper-natually from death to life! He is born from above a new creation!

TRUE REPENTANCE:          

(Isaiah 6:1-5)

  Now that he sees his Lord truly. He sees himself honestly as well! He knows himself a sinner among sinners, in a world as lost and dead as he was! True repentance flows from his broken and contrite heart, and he therefore RUNS naturally to Christ by faith! Wild horses could’nt keep him from coming…. for now HE MUST HAVE CHRIST! He has been MADE WILLING….by the POWER of God!

Elder Mike Loveless

An exert of

“FREEWILLARD” 

“The atonement does not change the nature and character of God, but rather, the atonement honors and magnifies the character of God.  The death of Christ is not the cause of God’s love, but the result of it.  God is not merciful because Christ died.  Christ died because God is merciful.  In order that every attribute might be expressed, glorified, and honored, God gave His Son to be the Savior of His chosen people!  Thank God!  There is an atonement BEFORE THE LORD!”

Pastor Henry Mahan

ANNOUNCEMENTS

·       Join us for our FELLOWSHIP DINNER concluding this morning service.

·       We will come to THE LORD’S TABLE during our afternoon worship service, Lord willing

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

GOD THE FATHER'S FAITH

O that we could have the faith to believe in Jesus Christ just as God the Father does.

Ephesians 1:12 KJV

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ." We need God and His faith to believe the way He commands in His word.                                                                                                                                                      Philippians 2:5 KJV

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"

 How do we get God's faith? How do we let this mind be in us? We are all vessels, empty without life like a vacant house.

Romans 5:5 KJV

"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."

  If there be any hope then let it be on God's gracious nature to give you the gift of faith. If God makes His abode in our heart He makes it His home, His throne and we know that it was His will, His power, His anointed Jesus Christ that came to us and not we to Him. We can now believe because we have the gift of faith, God's faith, to believe His Word. When He gives faith it's the whole package.

Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ask Him for His faith, for it is your only hope.

                                          ~Elder Bill Silva

"ORDAINED TO ETERNAL LIFE"

--Acts 13:48--

   “Paul had preached the gospel clearly in power of the Holy Spirit. When the Jews heard the message, they walked out in angry protest; but the Gentiles desired that it be declared to them again (v. 42). When the Jews heard the story of substitutionary redemption, ‘they were filled with envy and spoke against those things...contradicting and blaspheming’; but when the Gentiles heard it ‘they were glad’ (w. 45, 48).  When the Jews heard the gospel of the grace of God, they despised it, rejected it, and put it away from themselves, judging themselves to be unworthy of everlasting life; but the Gentiles ‘glorified the Word of the Lord’ (vv. 46, 48).  What made the difference?  Luke gives the answer in plain, simple, unmistakable words: ‘As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.’  The doctrine of the text is undeniable - All who believe the gospel were from eternity ordained by God to eternal life.  And all who were ordained by God to eternal life shall believe the gospel.  God will save his own elect.”

                                                     Pastor Don Fortner

DO YOU FIND DELIGHT IN THE GOSPEL?

   “The things that are WRITTEN and that are PREACHED by us concerning salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ are not only written and preached to encourage sinners to believe Him and come to Him that they might be saved, but the gospel is written and preached to you who believe that you may have confidence and assurance of your interest in Christ, and having come to Him, you are still coming.  How is faith confirmed?  How is faith increased?  Even by the preaching of the gospel, by having the person and work, the righteousness and sacrifice of our Lord explained to us again and again.  Eternal life is to be found nowhere but in Christ.  And in order that those who are already in Christ through faith might have assurance and grow in grace and the knowledge of Him, the preacher is to magnify over and over again THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF OUR BLESSED LORD!

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy."
Psalm 103:8

                           Pastor Henry Mahan

"Nothing, Except . . ."

“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27).

   “God’s revelation of Himself in the Scriptures is a vast ocean of knowledge and wisdom of which the combined understanding of all mankind is but a drop.  If the vast sum of all the volumes, both of what has been written and what has been spoken truthfully concerning God’s Word were all amassed it would amount to a mere handful of jewels from His infinite and unsearchable riches.  While His children marvel at what we do see and are overwhelmed at times with a comparatively clear view (by His grace) of His glories, we mourn the extent to which our sin has blinded us and the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know.  The most distinguished scholar as well as the newest of babes in Christ has need daily, as His disciples, to ask Him for the simplest and most basic needs: ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’  ‘Lord, increase our faith.’

     Another effect which comes with each step of truth we take is the increasing realization that we owe all spiritual understanding to the free, revealing grace of God.  In this school, the intelligent student has no advantage over the idiot; the well-behaved will not excel beyond the trouble maker.  Both will see when the understanding is enlightened by the Teacher and until then, both will be equally in the dark.  How humbling is the free grace of God to the wicked pride of man! His gospel has nothing for any who are able to receive it or do anything to deserve it, but gives precious hope to the most wretched offender.

     We are most blessed, as Christ declared Peter to be, (Mt. 16:17) whose testimony revealed a higher learning than that which man can bestow.  Lord we bow to Thy prerogative each time we speak, write, read or hear and acknowledge that it shall profit

NOTHING, except . . .”

                                        Pastor Chris Cunningham

May 12, 2019

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 

1John 1:7 

Message

“Children of Light”

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ø  Pastor Rick Warta’s conference with Missionary Lance Hellar is scheduled to begin May 17th starting at 7:30 PM.

Ø  There is a food sign up sheet in the foyer.

Ø  We have our Church workday scheduled for Saturday

June 22nd for our upcoming conference

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 

Having attained the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ from the Scripture or by the dispensation of the truth in the preaching of the gospel, we would esteem it our duty frequently to meditate thereon.

                                  ~ John Owen

By [adoption,] God transfers us strangers and foreigners (who were the servants or slaves of Satan) from the family of the old Adam and the power of darkness and admits us into His own family and the kingdom of light and gives us the dignity of sons. He not only bestows upon us the glorious name of dearly beloved sons with he distinctions and honors pertaining to them, but also gives us a right to all His goods of grace as well as of glory. All this comes under the name of inheritance as acquired not by any merit but given by the mere grace of the Father.

                                                                 ~ Francis Turretin

 “THE GRAND DESIGN of the Heavenly Father in creation, providence, and salvation is to have a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, populated by a holy people out of all nations, perfectly conformed to the likeness of His Son.  This work He gave to our Lord Jesus in the eternal council and covenant to accomplish, to perfect, and to deliver to Him at the end.  And ‘He shall not fail nor be discouraged ‘til it is done’.”

                                                     Pastor Henry Mahan

May 19, 2019

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. 

2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Message

“Who Is Sufficient”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Nothing About Christ Gets Old

I get worried about people unto whom the Gospel gets old. I wonder if eating or breathing gets old to them! For a man who knows Christ, nothing about him gets old—It is something new every day!                                                                                                                                                                        Scott Richardson

Who?

  My usual practice is to go to the church building on Saturday and set out the bulletins, walk around and look at the empty building, make sure the nursery is clean, pick up any papers left in the assembly area, and so forth. It always gets to me - it's a little depressing to think about all the years we've been meeting yet how so few actually come. It saddens me to think of various people who have come for a while, then, for one reason or another, quit because the gospel is too narrow or didn't fit into their ‘systems.’

  But then I remember that our Lord had nowhere to lay His head, and I recall the fact that tomorrow, by His grace, THIS VERY PLACE will be the site of the preaching and believing of His sovereign mercy. There are some of God's sheep here, and for that reason I would not want to be at any other location!!!

  Brother Jack Shanks told me that when he got discouraged about such things, he would look out at the few gathered and ask “who hath believed our report?” and he would see that ‘you' have believed this report;’ yes YOU who faithfully come week in and week out, you who support this very work with your offerings of love and generosity! Let us cherish these times for we are truly blessed of our God to meet once more in His suitable, adoring and wonderful name.

                                                                         Drew Dietz

May 26, 2019

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise

Eph 1:13 

Message

“Quickened”

ANNOUNCEMENTS

·       Next Sunday is our FELLOWSHIP DINNER

·       We will come to THE LORD’S TABLE following the afternoon worship service, Lord willing 

In Christ is all Spiritual Blessings

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” Ephesians 1:3

How vast the spiritual blessings that the believer has in Christ. They are so many that they exceed number. They are so great that they could never be measured, and to the believer in Christ, they are so precious that no value could ever be placed upon them!

Paul brings forth some of these blessings mentioned in verse three throughout the remainder of the chapter:

The believer is chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (v.4),

In Christ the believer is holy and blameless before God (v.4),

In Christ the believer is predestined to adoption by God (v.5),

In Christ the believer is accepted in the beloved by God (v.6),

In Christ the believer is redeemed by His Blood (v.7),

In Christ the believer has the forgiveness of all our sins (v.7),

In Christ the riches of God's grace abound to God's people (v.7-8),

In Christ the believer has made known to them the mystery of God's will (v.9),

In and through Christ alone the believer has obtained an eternal Inheritance and is predestinated to this eternal inheritance in Christ according to God's will (v.11),

The believer in Christ has been given spiritual ears to hear the word of truth (v.13),

The believer in Christ is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (v.13),

The believer in Christ has the eyes of their understanding enlightened and knows the hope of His calling -- the effectual call of God which calls a sinner to Christ (v.18),

The believer in Christ knows the exceeding greatness of God's power (v.19-20) as God has called them and saved them out of the pit of sin they were in. They are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, have fled to Christ, and it is all a work of our almighty Sovereign God!

Oh how precious these spiritual blessings are to the believer in Christ. They are precious to us because they are all found in, and come to us through, the Lord Jesus Christ alone! He is our Savior, our Redeemer and our King! Praise His mighty name!

                                                                 Pastor Wayne Boyd