t                   oPastor John and wife Kathy  
 

 
 

Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace   

RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH


WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH 

Sunday Morning, April 22, 2018

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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

  “My Savior’s Love”   (Verses 1, 2, 4, & 5)                      Page 512

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SCRIPTURE READING

    Psalm 80

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OFFERTORY

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WORSHIP HYMN

  “Jesus Paid It All”                                                            Page 210

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SPECIAL MUSIC

  To be announced.

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Message Title

     “Four Gospel Truths That Apply To All Believers

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CLOSING HYMN

  “Amazing Grace”                                                             Page 202 

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Saved by grace

--Ephesians 2:8 - 10-- 

  “Why does God save sinners by grace alone, apart from any works performed by us?  It is God’s purpose ‘that no flesh should glory in his presence ... He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.’  Therefore Paul emphasizes this point, that salvation is ‘not of works, lest any man should boast’.  If there was anything which the sinner could do that would contribute anything towards his salvation, then at least a part of the glory of salvation must be attributed to man. God will not allow that. He will not share his glory with another. Salvation is by grace alone, without works. Salvation is not the work of man; neither is it a co-operative work of God and man together, God doing his part and man doing his part. Salvation is the work of God and the work of God alone. ‘We are his workmanship.’ God has created us new creatures in Christ Jesus by the mighty power of his sovereign grace. Let all proud, foolish thoughts of self-salvation by the works of the flesh be for ever put out of your heart and mind. ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.’ We will praise the God of heaven for his great grace, because he has saved us and not we ourselves.

    What is the sure result of God’s saving grace? ‘We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ Good works will not save anyone. But you may be sure of this: whenever the grace of God comes, bringing salvation to the heart, good works will follow. When grace reigns in the heart it produces good works. The good works which grace produces are the works of faith and love, righteousness and peace, patience and goodness.

    Salvation is accomplished by the grace of God, without works. Salvation is given through faith in Christ. And salvation produces good works.”

Pastor Don Fortner

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“Accepted in the beloved.”

--Ephesians 1:6-- 

  “What a state of privilege!  It includes our justification before God, but the term ‘acceptance’ in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine complacence, nay, even of divine delight.  How marvellous that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should be the objects of divine love!  But it is only ‘in the beloved.’  Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience, at least, that is their apprehension.  When their spirit is lively, and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth!  But when their souls cleave to the dust, they are the victims of the fear that they are no longer accepted.  If they could but see that all their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low despondencies do not really depress them in their Father’s sight, but that they stand accepted in One who never alters, in One who is always the beloved of God, always perfect, always without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, how much happier they would be, and how much more they would honour the Saviour!  Rejoice then, believer, in this: thou art accepted ‘in the beloved’.  Thou lookest within, and thou sayest, ‘There is nothing acceptable here!’  But look at Christ, and see if there is not everything acceptable there.  Thy sins trouble thee; but God has cast thy sins behind his back, and thou art accepted in the Righteous One.  Thou hast to fight with corruption, and to wrestle with temptation, but thou art already accepted in him who has overcome the powers of evil.  The devil tempts thee; be of good cheer, he cannot destroy thee, for thou art accepted in him who has broken Satan’s head.  Know by full assurance thy glorious standing.  Even glorified souls are not more accepted than thou art.  They are only accepted in heaven ‘in the beloved’, and thou art even now accepted in Christ after the same manner.”

 

--C. H. Spurgeon

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

     We will come to The Lord’s Table during our worship service this evening (DV).

***** Cleaning duty this week:  Michael and Lindsey Smith *****

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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK

Monday                          Wednesday                     Friday

Psalm 38                         Luke 3                             Revelation 16

Psalm 39                         Luke 4                             Revelation 17

Psalm 40                         Luke 5                             Revelation 18

Psalm 41                         Luke 6                             Revelation 19

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Every enlightened child of God rejoices in these Holy Words from God to His enlightened blood-bought children:: “. I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).  Knowing our sinful proneness to wander would grip our heart’s with constant fear if we didn’t know that our God loves us with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3).  God’s love for His elect is like Himself: PERFECT; ETERNAL; IMMUTABLE, and perfect love casteth out fear (1 John 4:18).  Brethren, it is God Himself working in us who keeps us looking to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, reminding us that our Blessed Redeemer, “... by his own blood, ... entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12).                                                                                 

Pastor

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

  “God never changes in His affections for His people or His purpose of good toward them. It is for this reason, and no other, that our salvation is sure and certain. Four thousand years of human rebellion did not cause God to abandon His promise of a Substitute to redeem His people; and our few years floundering in this world cannot move Him from His purposed grace toward us. What a comfort! Our salvation is not founded upon the shifting sands of our righteousness, confessions, or faithfulness, but on the bedrock of Divine consistency.”

Pastor Joe Terrell

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THE GROUNDS OF SALVATION IS MERCY

  “In the year that king Ahaz died, the LORD sent Isaiah forth with the message of the destruction of all his enemies.  We find it in Isaiah 13 and 14.  But in Isaiah 14: 1 the LORD declares why he brings this judgment upon his enemies, ‘For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.’

    The nation of Israel was typical and representative of the church and kingdom of God.  We who believe are the sons of Jacob, the Israel of God, the people of God’s covenant (Rom. 3:28, 29; Gal. 3:7 - 9; 6:15, 16; Philip. 3:3.)  Believers became God's children, not by our believing, but by the grace of God (Rom. 8:29 - 31; 9:7 -16; Gal. 4:6.)  Having chosen us in Christ in eternal election, as the objects of his mercy, God will never turn from us to do us good. ‘He will yet choose Israel.’ (Jer. 31:3; Isaiah 49:16 - 19.) 

    Therefore, in the midst of pronouncing this awful judgment upon the world, the LORD of covenant mercy tells us that the reason God's judgment shall come to pass is because the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel (v1.) 

    From start to finish, the salvation of every believer is due only to the mercy and grace of our sovereign God.”

Pastor Clay Curtis

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    All who are dead spiritually, religious or not, speak a different language than those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them.  Even that old wretched man, that God’s children are still plagued with, will, at times, fill our thoughts with the language of the world.  However, those who have heard the life-giving voice of Jesus Christ have been enlightened by the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us, and all of us speak the same gospel language of Sovereign Grace.   All of us believe the one true Gospel of God’s Sovereign Amazing Grace that He freely bestows upon His elect through the perfect redeeming work of Jesus Christ our Savior.  Grace, for the glory of Christ our Blessed Redeemer, flows from the lips of those who have the honor of talking about spiritual truths.                       

Pastor

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“The foolish notion of universal redemption (the doctrine that Christ died for everyone) is as blasphemous as it is foolish. We rejoice to hear God say of our Redeemer, “He shall not fail!” The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage. Every sinner for whom the Lord Jesus died shall live forever with him.”                                     

Pastor Don Fortner

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“WHO MAKETH THEE TO DIFFER?”

  “From the Scriptures and experience, I have learned that whatever is in the worst of men and women is in the best of them, and whatever is in the best of them is in the worst of them.  In the very best and worst of Adam’s children there is a mind which is enmity against God, and there is in each of them a heart which is deceitful above all things and desperately (incurably) wicked (Rom. 8:7; Jer. 17:9; Gen. 6:5; 8:21).

    As Mr. Newton said, ‘There is indeed a difference amongst men, but it is owing to the restraints of Divine Providence, without which earth would be the very image of hell ... education and interests, fear and shame, human laws, and the secret power of God over the mind, combine to form many characters that are extremely decent and respectable, but none can praise himself, for WHO MAKETH THEE TO DIFFER?

    ’I am what I am’, said the apostle Paul, ’by the grace of God’.  It is owing to the mercy and grace of God alone that all of us are not already in hell; and whatever degree of human dignity and decency, morality and manners which we may possess and manifest, is due to the mercy and grace of God.  How much more, then, must we ascribe all spiritual knowledge and understanding, gifts and enjoyments to the sovereign, free grace of God in Christ.  ’WHO MAKETH THEE TO DIFFER?’  The children of God cry with one voice, ’TO GOD BE THE GLORY’!”                                            

Brother Maurice Montgomery

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  “Grace and truth are fitly and inseparably joined together. We cannot have grace without truth, nor truth without grace. Those who reject grace, reject truth, and those who reject truth, reject grace. ‘Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 5:21).  The grace which saves the sinner is not mere pity and sentiment such as we find in the creature. The grace which saves sinners is established on the principles of an honored  law and a satisfied  justice (Romans 3:23 - 26). Grace does not ignore the law nor set aside its requirements. No! It establishes the law (Romans 3:31).  Grace establishes the law because it has a Substitute who perfectly fulfilled the law and endured the death penalty for all who believe, in order that God may be both just and justifier.”

 Pastor Henry Mahan