Bethel Baptist Church

Originally Presented: March 2nd, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:30-33 If the Jews are God's chosen people, then why aren't they all being saved?  Is there some deficiency in the promises of God?  These are the questions Paul is writing about in Romans 9-11.  He presents two answers to the question, "Why aren't all Jews saved?" The first answer is the statement of divine sovereignty in election (...

Originally Presented: February 17, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:22-29 Having said that not all the people of Israel are true Israelites (Rom 9:6), and that God's choice of Jacob and not Esau was an example of God's sovereign purpose (Rom 9:11), and that God has mercy on some, while He hardens others (Rom 9:18)   . . . the question might arise as to why God did not have mercy on the entire nati...

Special Guest Speaker: Rev. Greg Hands Scripture Reading: Acts 15:30-35

The attribute of God that answers to our longing for justice is the notion that God is the righteous Judge and that He deals with everyone on the basis of His righteousness.  We all have a deep-seated longing that wicked people are punished for their evil deeds and that honorable people are rewarded for their good deeds. When we speak of God's justice, we are talking about the legal notion of how...

Originally Presented: February 10, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:18-23 This passage in Romans plumbs the depths of the design of God's mysterious sovereignty in salvation more deeply than perhaps any other Biblical text.  If God is a God of love, why would He create a man in the full knowledge that He would eventually send him to hell for his disobedience?  This is the question Paul's 'objector...

Scripture Reading: Luke 2 Almost all of the traditions which surround the Christmas season are rooted in non-Christian festivals of the past.  The date of Christmas (December 25) was associated with a Roman celebration called Saturnalia.  Evergreens were used as decorations because they represented enduring life.  Gifts were exchanged within families and between friends.  The Druids thought mistle...

Originally Presented: February 3rd, 2008   Romans 9:12-20 In the first five verses, Paul poses the question as to why the Jews, with all their spiritual privileges, were not being saved.  His stunning answer is that not all ethnic Israel is true Israel (Rom 9:6).  It is only the chosen "children of promise" who will be saved.  Paul's Old Testament illustrations of God's choosing some and not other...

Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25 One of the wonderful doctrines of the Christian faith is the truth that Jesus was born to a virgin … that He did not come into existence as a human being in the same manner as all other people.   And at the Christmas season, we sing about this virgin birth. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright; 'Round yon virgin mother and child . . .   Christ by...

Originally Presented: January 27, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:6-13 God made many precious promises to the people of Israel in Old Testament times. But when Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of those promises, came, the Jews rejected Him.  What is to become of God's promises?  Has His Word somehow failed?  Paul's strident answer to this question is a resounding, "No,  The Word of God has not fa...

Scripture Reading: Micah 4:9 - 5:5a There are many prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming of Jesus Christ in His first advent, beginning with a very early reference in Genesis 3:15.  One of the wonderful predictions of the coming of Christ is found in Micah 5. Micah lived and wrote 700 years before Christ, during a time of rampant wickedness … idolatry (Mic 1:7), greed (2:2), thiever...

Originally Presented: Jan 13, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:1-6 The question that Romans 9-11 answers is the question of the future of the people of Israel, God's own chosen people.  Having rejected Christ  the Jews now live separated from God and unable, in their present state, to have any intimate communion with Him.  Why have they not embraced Christ?  What will become of the people of Israe...

Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-6, 14-19 The Christmas story begins in the garden of Eden.  We are in need of a 'second Adam' because the 'first Adam' failed to obey the command of his Creator. There was one, and only one, command for Adam and Eve to submit to.  ", , , but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat" (Gen 2:16). Genesis 3 records the darkest day in the history o...

Originally Presented: January 6, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:1-6 Romans 9-11 has been likened to the north wall of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland, known by mountain climbers for its difficulty.  This section of Romans is the most difficult part of the book to grasp and contains some of the most problematic, and sometimes controversial, verses in the Bible. It helps to see these three chapt...

Scripture Reading: Nahum 1:1-9 "To an age which has unashamedly sold itself to the gods of greed, pride, sex, and self-will, the Church mumbles on about God's kindness, but says virtually nothing about His judgment" (Packer, Knowing God , 148). The Bible has much to say about God's wrath about rebellion against Him.  Arthur Pink says that there are more references in the Bible regarding God's wrat...

Originally Presented: November 4, 2007 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:35-39 If Romans 8 is the highest peak in the theological mountain range that is the book of Romans, then verses 35-39 of chapter 8 are the summit of that great doctrinal peak.  This glorious passage is the emotional climax of the book and is meant to instill in us courage and hope and sheer delight in the living God. In Romans 8:35...

The Love of God "There are many today who talk about the love of God, who are total strangers to the God of love.  The Divine love is commonly regarded as a species of amiable weakness, a sort of good-natured indulgence; it is reduced to a mere sickly sentiment, patterned after human emotion.  Now the truth is that on this, as on everything else, our thoughts need to be formed and regulated by wha...

Originally Presented: October 28, 2007   Scripture Reading: Romans 8:34 There are two verses in the New Testament which, explicitly, say that Jesus intercedes for Christians . . . Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25.  According to the Hebrews passage, this intercession is part of Jesus' ministry as our High Priest. This intercession ministry of Christ takes two forms.  The first way Jesus intercedes for...

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10 One manifestation of God's goodness is sometimes called 'common grace,' which is given to all people.  Another manifestation of God's goodness is what is sometimes called 'special (or specific) grace.' This is the saving grace of God.  God grants the favor of saving grace on those whom He gives to the Son (cf. Jn 6:37; 17:2,6). The closest one-word definition of...

Originally Presented: October 21, 2007                       Scripture Reading: Romans 8:31-34  Romans 8:32 is about as stunning a declaration (in the form of a rhetorical question) as we find on the pages of the Bible.  It is intended to inspire our confidence, to foster our faith, and to increase our joy. In verse 31 Paul asks, "What shall we say to these things?" beginning to bring to a close a...

IN PRISON WITH THEM Since 1996, one Sunday in November has been designated the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church."  It is a significant remembrance for us.  David Barrett, formerly of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, is one of the foremost authorities on the state of Christianity in the world today.  Dr. Barrett estimates that from the beginning of the Church to the...

Originally Presented: October 14, 2007 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:28-32 In Romans 8:29,30 Paul takes us, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, into the infinite mind of God.  To say the least, it is a realm in which we are way out of our element.  Our limited minds cannot begin to fully grasp the wonders of divine intention.  It is wonderful to plumb, as far as we are able, the depths of God's d...

One of the attributes of God that is often named is His goodness.  Even children learn to recite this perfection in their prayer before meals: "God is great.  God is good.  And we thank Him for this food.  Amen." The goodness of God can be defined as "that perfection of God which prompts Him to deal bountifully and kindly with all His creatures" (Berkhof, Systematic Theology , 70).  The goodness o...

Originally Presented: September 16, 2017   Scripture Reading: Romans 8:28  This verse in Romans is one of the most sweeping promises in the Bible.  Through the centuries it has rendered comfort and strength to those who trust its truth.  The context of the verse is the suffering Christians endure on this earth and verse 28 is, in fact, the third specific reason in this passage why Christians shoul...

THE ONLY TRUE GOD And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True . . . and His name is called The Word of God. Rev 19:11,13 The truth of God is "that perfection of His being by virtue of which He fully answers to the idea of the Godhead, is perfectly reliable in His revelation, and sees things as they really are" (Berkhof, Systematic Theology...

Originally Presented: Sept 9, 2007  Scripture Reading: Romans 8:26-27 Romans 8 is filled with encouragement for the Christian heart.  This encouragement repeatedly comes by way of Paul's description of the work of the Holy Spirit in our souls and lives.  The Holy Spirit sets us free in Christ (v 2), grants us life and peace (v 6), is the means of God's raising us from the dead (v 11), helps us put...