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July 3, 2016

Everything in this world comes to pass and is ruled according to the sovereign, eternal, unalterable, all-inclusive, and sure purpose of our God for the salvation of his elect (Ephesians 1:11; 3:11; 2 Timothy. 1:9-10).

Daily Readings for the Week of July 3-10, 2016

Sunday Proverbs 3-7 Thursday Proverbs 20-22

Monday Proverbs 8-11 Friday Proverbs 23-26

Tuesday Proverbs 12-15 Saturday Proverbs 27-31

Wednesday Proverbs 16-19 Sunday Ecclesiastes 1-4

· Conference Offering – July 31^st

· Quarterly Fellowship – August 7^th

· Our pastor is preaching today for Rescue Baptist Church in Rescue, California, where Bro. Gene Harmon is pastor.

· We are delighted to have Bro. David Eddmenson and his wife, Teresa, with us today. Bro. Eddmenson is pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky.

· Bro. Tom Harding, pastor of Zebulon Baptist Church in Pikeville, Kentucky, will be here to preach the gospel Tuesday evening.

Happy Birthday! Winna Groover-6^th Rex Bartley-9^th Billie Hopkins-9^th

Happy Anniversary: Jim & Susan Grant-4^th

Nursery Duty this Week

Diane Campbell (AM) — Debbie Bartley (PM) — Tuesday: Ruth Wall

Our Sovereign God Maintains His Universal Throne — Don Fortner

(Tune: #39 — This is My Father’s World — SMD)

1. Our sov’reign God maintains His universal throne;

In heav’n, and earth, and hell He reigns, and makes His wonders known!

His counsels and decrees, firmer than mountains stand;

He will perform whate’er He please; and none can stay his hand!

2. All things His will controls; and His all-wise decree

Has fixed the destinies of all in matchless sov’reignty. —

Jacob by grace He saved, and gives no reason why;

But Esau’s heart He left depraved. — And who shall dare reply?

3. What if the Potter takes part of a lump of clay,

And for Himself a vessel makes and casts the rest away?

Who shall resist His will, or say, “What doest Thou?”

Jehovah is the Sov’reign still; and all to Him must bow!

4. My soul, bow and adore the Lord in all His ways;

His sov’reignty none can explore; but I will trust His grace!

“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things:

To Whom be glory evermore! Amen! Amen! Amen!”

“According to His Purpose”

Romans 8:28

Truly, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform!” How amazing, how marvellous his grace is! Our God works everything “together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” That fact is stated plainly in Romans 8:28-30. Read it and rejoice in the marvellous grace of our God and in his great purpose of grace in Christ.

“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. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

God of Purpose

Contrary to popular opinion, the God of the Bible, the one true and living God is a God of purpose. In Isaiah 14 we read of Lucifer’s fall. The old serpent is hissing at the God of Glory. The blustering dragon is puffing and spewing fire from his nostrils at the throne of God, vowing to take over the throne of God and shove God off his throne. In response to Satan’s rage our God declares that his throne is unshaken and that the salvation of his people is a matter of certainty. He says…

“Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand…This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:24-27)

The fact is, everything in this world comes to pass and is ruled according to the sovereign, eternal, unalterable, all-inclusive, and sure purpose of our God for the salvation of his elect (Ephesians 1:11; 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9-10). It is written, ― “Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed” (Jeremiah 51:29), “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth” (Romans 9:11). The purpose of God is absolute and unconditional.

Grace Unconditional

As the purpose of God is absolute and unconditional, the grace of God, by which we are saved, is also absolute and unconditional. The Scriptures are crystal clear in stating this. Nowhere in the Sacred Volume is salvation ever attributed to, conditioned upon, or determined by man’s works, man’s will, man’s choice, or man’s decision. Every aspect of salvation is specifically declared to be the work of God alone (John 1:12-13; Romans 9:11-18).

Free, Sovereign, Unconditional, Immutable,

Eternal, Indestructible Grace

Romans 8:1-30

Grace is never spoken of in the Book of God as God’s response to man’s choice, but just the opposite. According to Holy Scripture the believer’s faith in Christ is the result of God’s eternal choice of his people in Christ. Grace is not conditioned upon something in us. Grace cannot be earned, won, merited, or even attracted or influenced by us in any way. Grace is “unmerited favor.” Grace is God’s sovereign, eternal, and free favor toward sinners who fully deserve his wrath.

Were I to choose one passage of Holy Scripture that spells out God’s grace most clearly, one passage that identifies and defines God’s sovereign purpose of grace in Christ, it would be Romans chapter 8. In this eighth chapter of Romans the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, plainly declares what God has done for chosen sinners in Christ and why he has done it. Look at what our great God has done for us by his great grace in Christ, our great Savior.

1. He has freed us from all condemnation and from the cruel, oppressive, galling bondage of the law (vv. 1-4).

2. He has given us new life in Christ by his Spirit (vv. 5-14).

3. He has given us his Spirit, the Spirit of adoption (vv. 15-16).

4. Grace has made us heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (v. 17-18).

5. Grace gives us the hope of the resurrection (vv. 19-25).

6. The Lord God has given us the earnest of the Spirit, the pledge and seal of resurrection glory with Christ (vv. 26-27).

7. And God has given us the knowledge and assurance of his wise and good providence (v. 28).

But, why? Why has the holy Lord God done all these things for us? What is the basis of his gracious operations? What is the source from which we have all these blessings, privileges, and benefits of grace? — All the blessings, privileges, and benefits of grace flow to us from and were infallibly secured to us by God’s eternal purpose of grace, according to which he created, rules, and disposes of the universe (vv. 28-30).

In verses 29 and 30 we have the Holy Spirit’s own commentary on verse 28. Here he explains to us what is meant by those words “according to his purpose.” Our experience of salvation in time is the result of God’s accomplishment of our salvation in eternity “according to his purpose.”

With regard to the accomplished redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of God’s elect, God the Holy Ghost says, “the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3). All the works of grace, by which believing sinners shall at last enter into that rest awaiting us with Christ in Heaven’s Glory, “were finished from the foundation of the world.” That is to say, all the works of God’s free, saving grace in Christ that sinners come to experience in time were done from eternity.