The Lord’s Day ~ October 21, 2018
The Preparation for Worship
"Be still, and know that I am God."
Prelude (let us quiet our hearts and voices as the music begins)
Welcome and Announcements
The Adoration of God
*Call to Worship – Isaiah 59:21
*Psalm of Praise – ARP Psalter 104A, vv. 1-2
Speaker: Our help is in the name of the Lord,
All: Who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)
*The Invocation and Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
*The Hymn of Exaltation – Hymn 349, vv. 1, 2, 5
(O Thou Who the Shepherd of Israel Art)
The Old Testament Reading – Ezekiel 36:22-32
*The Response of Praise (Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah)
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy pow'rful hand;
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more,
feed me till I want no more.
The Confession of Sin
The Call to Repentance – Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 10
Q 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?
A: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but be his fatherly hand.
Q 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things?
A: That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.
The Prayer of Confession (after silent confession)
Almighty God, the message we have heard is that You are light and in You there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with You and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as You are in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make You a liar and Your word is not in us. Therefore, we confess our sins to You and ask You to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In Jesus name. Amen. (1John 1:5-10)
The Assurance of Pardon – Lamentations 3:22 "It is by the LORD’s kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."
*The Hymn of Gratitude – Hymn 528
(My Faith Looks Up to Thee)
The Means of Grace
The Pastoral Prayer
The Worship of Giving
*The Doxology (Hymn 731)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above, ye heavenly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Scripture – John 6:37-45
The Sermon – Irresistible Grace: Redemption Applied
The Response and Blessing
*The Hymn of Consecration – Hymn 469, vv. 1-4
(How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place)
*The Benediction
* Congregation Standing
---------------------------------
Irresistible Grace
In historic Reformation thought, the notion is this: regeneration precedes faith. We also believe that regeneration is monergistic. It means essentially that the work of regeneration in the human heart is something that God does by His power alone—not by 50 percent His power and 50 percent man’s power, or even 99 percent His power and 1 percent man’s power. It is 100 percent the work of God. He, and He alone, has the power to change the disposition of the soul and the human heart to bring us to faith.
In addition, when He exercises this grace in the soul, He brings about the effect that He intends to bring about. When God created you, He brought you into existence. You didn’t help Him. It was His sovereign work that brought you to life biologically. Likewise, it is His work, and His alone, that brings you into the state of rebirth and of renewed creation. Hence, we call this irresistible grace. It’s grace that works. It’s grace that brings about what God wants it to bring about. If, indeed, we are dead in sins and trespasses, if, indeed, our wills are held captive by the lusts of our flesh and we need to be liberated from our flesh in order to be saved, then in the final analysis, salvation must be something that God does in us and for us, not something that we in any way do for ourselves.
However, the idea of irresistibility conjures up the idea that one cannot possibly offer any resistance to the grace of God. However, the history of the human race is the history of relentless resistance to the sweetness of the grace of God. Irresistible grace does not mean that God’s grace is incapable of being resisted. Indeed, we are capable of resisting God’s grace, and we do resist it. The idea is that God’s grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it. It is not that the Holy Spirit drags people kicking and screaming to Christ against their wills. The Holy Spirit changes the inclination and disposition of our wills, so that whereas we were previously unwilling to embrace Christ, now we are willing, and more than willing. Indeed, we aren’t dragged to Christ, we run to Christ, and we embrace Him joyfully because the Spirit has changed our hearts. They are no longer hearts of stone that are impervious to the commands of God and to the invitations of the gospel. God melts the hardness of our hearts when He makes us new creatures. The Holy Spirit resurrects us from spiritual death, so that we come to Christ because we want to come to Christ. The reason we want to come to Christ is because God has already done a work of grace in our souls. Without that work, we would never have any desire to come to Christ. That’s why we say that regeneration precedes faith.
(R. C. Sproul, Ligonier.org)
Announcements
Our Prayer Meeting is held this Wednesday at 7:00 at the church.
Piedmont Emergency Relief Center (PERC is Piedmont’s Food Pantry): There is a red tub in the library/copy room if you would like to donate dry goods to the Piedmont Emergency Relief Center.
The Preparation for Worship
"Be still, and know that I am God."
Prelude (let us quiet our hearts and voices as the music begins)
Welcome and Announcements
The Adoration of God
*Call to Worship – Isaiah 59:21
*Psalm of Praise – ARP Psalter 104A, vv. 1-2
Speaker: Our help is in the name of the Lord,
All: Who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)
*The Invocation and Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
*The Hymn of Exaltation – Hymn 349, vv. 1, 2, 5
(O Thou Who the Shepherd of Israel Art)
The Old Testament Reading – Ezekiel 36:22-32
*The Response of Praise (Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah)
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy pow'rful hand;
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more,
feed me till I want no more.
The Confession of Sin
The Call to Repentance – Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 10
Q 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?
A: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but be his fatherly hand.
Q 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things?
A: That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.
The Prayer of Confession (after silent confession)
Almighty God, the message we have heard is that You are light and in You there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with You and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as You are in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make You a liar and Your word is not in us. Therefore, we confess our sins to You and ask You to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In Jesus name. Amen. (1John 1:5-10)
The Assurance of Pardon – Lamentations 3:22 "It is by the LORD’s kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."
*The Hymn of Gratitude – Hymn 528
(My Faith Looks Up to Thee)
The Means of Grace
The Pastoral Prayer
The Worship of Giving
*The Doxology (Hymn 731)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above, ye heavenly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Scripture – John 6:37-45
The Sermon – Irresistible Grace: Redemption Applied
The Response and Blessing
*The Hymn of Consecration – Hymn 469, vv. 1-4
(How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place)
*The Benediction
* Congregation Standing
---------------------------------
Irresistible Grace
In historic Reformation thought, the notion is this: regeneration precedes faith. We also believe that regeneration is monergistic. It means essentially that the work of regeneration in the human heart is something that God does by His power alone—not by 50 percent His power and 50 percent man’s power, or even 99 percent His power and 1 percent man’s power. It is 100 percent the work of God. He, and He alone, has the power to change the disposition of the soul and the human heart to bring us to faith.
In addition, when He exercises this grace in the soul, He brings about the effect that He intends to bring about. When God created you, He brought you into existence. You didn’t help Him. It was His sovereign work that brought you to life biologically. Likewise, it is His work, and His alone, that brings you into the state of rebirth and of renewed creation. Hence, we call this irresistible grace. It’s grace that works. It’s grace that brings about what God wants it to bring about. If, indeed, we are dead in sins and trespasses, if, indeed, our wills are held captive by the lusts of our flesh and we need to be liberated from our flesh in order to be saved, then in the final analysis, salvation must be something that God does in us and for us, not something that we in any way do for ourselves.
However, the idea of irresistibility conjures up the idea that one cannot possibly offer any resistance to the grace of God. However, the history of the human race is the history of relentless resistance to the sweetness of the grace of God. Irresistible grace does not mean that God’s grace is incapable of being resisted. Indeed, we are capable of resisting God’s grace, and we do resist it. The idea is that God’s grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it. It is not that the Holy Spirit drags people kicking and screaming to Christ against their wills. The Holy Spirit changes the inclination and disposition of our wills, so that whereas we were previously unwilling to embrace Christ, now we are willing, and more than willing. Indeed, we aren’t dragged to Christ, we run to Christ, and we embrace Him joyfully because the Spirit has changed our hearts. They are no longer hearts of stone that are impervious to the commands of God and to the invitations of the gospel. God melts the hardness of our hearts when He makes us new creatures. The Holy Spirit resurrects us from spiritual death, so that we come to Christ because we want to come to Christ. The reason we want to come to Christ is because God has already done a work of grace in our souls. Without that work, we would never have any desire to come to Christ. That’s why we say that regeneration precedes faith.
(R. C. Sproul, Ligonier.org)
Announcements
Our Prayer Meeting is held this Wednesday at 7:00 at the church.
Piedmont Emergency Relief Center (PERC is Piedmont’s Food Pantry): There is a red tub in the library/copy room if you would like to donate dry goods to the Piedmont Emergency Relief Center.
The ARP Church has published a Psalter in conjunction with Crown and Covenant Publications. Read here about the Preface and History of Psalm singing in the ARPC.
