Grace Community Church of Rock Valley, IA, 1616 18th Street, Rock Valley, IA (2026)

06/15/2026

God Chooses Losers www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/61321193216

06/15/2026

June 15

Say, “Well, I still don’t know if it’s for me.” Well, listen to this promise from God. It’s in the book of Isaiah: “Look unto Me, all you ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is no other.” Now, the only question you gotta ask in determining whether or not that promise applies to you is this: Do you live on the earth? Well, yeah. Okay, the promise is to you. And no one has the authority to rob you of the promise. And I can say this: God has power to do what He promised. He said, “Look to Me and be saved.” And He didn’t say, “Look to Me and be saved because you’ve been convicted of your sins.” He didn’t say, “Look to Me and be saved because you’re sad enough about your sins or you felt your sins enough.” He said, “Look to Me and be saved because I am God.” Do you believe He’s God? Yeah, there isn’t any other. Do you live on the earth? Yeah. Well, then look, turn to Him. That’s the promise. Look to Him. Quit looking to yourself. Quit trying for yourself. Quit working. Turn from self and unto Him, and you will be saved. That’s not my theology; that’s God’s promise. And since everyone would agree they live on the earth, the only reason that a person wouldn’t turn to the Lord, look to the Lord, is because they don’t believe they need to. I don’t think I would be found wrong in this. Everyone who does not believe, you will find at the very root of their unbelief is self-righteousness. No matter how much they may try to cover it up with humility, if you believe God, you’ll come. And if you come, you will be saved.

If you believe Him—despite all the sin that you’ve done, despite the wickedness of your heart, despite the dullness and foolishness of your heart and mind, despite the wickedness of your ways—you come to Him. He will give you rest. He will forgive your sins. He will blot them out. He will cast them behind His back. You will be justified in His sight. He will declare you to be righteous, and He will give you all the blessings that a righteous man deserves. You say, “Boy, that’s too much for me to believe.” Well, I can understand that. It’s certainly not natural. We don’t treat people that way, but God does. Peter preached this. He said in Acts chapter 13, through Him—that is through Jesus Christ—and through faith in Him, we are justified from all things we could never be justified from in the law of Moses. He did not say through doing the best we can and then trusting Him for the rest. He just said through Him, through His person, through His work, through faith in Him, just laying the whole of our soul’s salvation on Him, we are justified. From all those things we could never be justified from in the law of Moses. Everything the law of Moses condemns us for, the blood of Christ justifies us from them.

Now that’s the promise of God. So who will we believe? Will we believe God in His promise, or will we believe theologians who like to keep people under bo***ge by twisting doctrines and applying them in ways that they were never intended to be applied? Yes, God chose a people. Yes, Jesus Christ died for them. Yes, the Holy Spirit calls them. Yes, it’s true, no man can come to the Son except the Father draws Him. All of that is absolutely true. But you don’t have anything to do with that. You have to do with the promise. He said, “Come to Me.” So why don’t you? Why don’t you? Come to Him today. Come to Him every day. Come to Him always. For there’s nowhere else to go. May God grant us an understanding and a heart of faith/

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06/15/2026

Title: For Jonathan's Sake
Speaker: Eric Van Beek
Date: June 14, 2026
Bible: 2 Samuel 9 www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/61426174637239

06/14/2026

Gospel-Centered Living www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/614201725561064

06/14/2026

June 14

In the book of Ephesians chapter 1, it says, "He works all things according to the counsel of His own will." Now, some would say that just means God does whatever he wants to do. Well, that's true. He says in the Old Testament, "I will do all my pleasure." But when Paul is writing there in Ephesians chapter one, he says he works all things according to the counsel of his own will. He means that God has a will, an end game, a purpose to be accomplished in this reality you and I live in. And he works everything in this reality to bring about that purpose, that will. It's the glorification of himself in his Son through the salvation of his people by the work of Jesus Christ. That's the end game. It says that this creation was made by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. Everything that's going on in this creation is for the purpose of bringing about the universal declaration that he is Lord, he's worthy to be Lord, and to glorify the Father by honoring the Son. And this involves the salvation of all he has chosen, all for whom Christ died, all whom the Spirit calls, all who believe.

And so when he says, "I pray that he'll fill you with the knowledge of his will," he's talking about that our minds would be utterly captivated with those principles of the gospel of grace laid out here in the scriptures for us, and that they would guide our thinking on everything else. The gospel is the light. You know, the sun is the light of this world. But we don't look at the sun, do we? But we see everything by the sun. Now, the gospel is like that, except that we do... we learn the gospel. We look directly at it, so to speak. But also, we learn to look at everything else in light of that gospel. We learn to value everything else in the light of this will of God, the salvation of his people to the glory of his Son. And you know, the more we do that, the less we are concerned about the downs of this life and the less we get wrapped up in the so-called ups of this life; we become more stable.

Paul spoke to the Ephesians of growing, maturing, and he said, "so that you won't be shaken, so that you won't be tossed about like a ship in the winds, just unmoved." And this comes through the knowledge of God's will. And it's a spiritual wisdom and understanding. Now, we can't think of anything unless we have a natural understanding of the facts concerning it. I mean, you know, for instance, you can't believe the gospel if you've never heard it. And there are those who have heard it and know its doctrines and never believed it. But there's no one who ever believed it that did not hear its most basic doctrines. But here it's speaking of a spiritual wisdom and understanding that goes beyond merely understanding doctrines. It's coming to know them... maybe a better way to put this, it's coming to know him through these doctrines.

I'm glad when people believe in unconditional election, but I'm even happier when they come to trust the one who chose. My heart rejoices when someone sees what is popularly called limited atonement, though that's a bad name for it. But I'm much more pleased yet when they understand the power and success of him who made atonement for our souls.

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06/13/2026

June 13

Now, the Bible is a book of Christ. From beginning to end, its purpose is to make Christ known to us. And specifically, it makes Christ known to us in his capacity as our Savior. Now, you cannot separate salvation from Christ or Christ from salvation. When we preach Christ, we are preaching Christ as Lord, no doubt, but His Lordship—the fact that He is the sovereign King of this universe—His Lordship is for the specific purpose of enabling him to control all things so as to ensure the salvation of everyone for whom he shed his blood. So when we speak of Christ, we are not speaking of him fully until we have declared him as savior.

And then we can't speak of salvation... rightly unless we talk about the Lord Jesus. Now, you say, well, that makes all the sense in the world. Why would you even need to say something like that? Well, that's because you haven't sat in some of the worship services I sat in when I was being raised. Because salvation was in a sense—now they never would have agreed to this phrasing, but this is the way it ended up coming across—salvation was a commodity that Jesus Christ had, but it was not something that was really an expression of himself. And while you couldn't have salvation without making this free will decision for Jesus, you could have salvation without Jesus. That is, I don't mean you couldn't have salvation without Jesus doing something for you, but they saw salvation as simply going to heaven instead of hell.

Well, that's part of salvation. I'm not going to deny the value of it. But salvation is something far more than simply changing our destination. It's a change of destiny. It's a change from being dead in trespasses and sins to being alive unto God. It's a change from being a rebel against God to being reconciled to God. It's to go from having no interest, maybe even outright hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ, to where being changed to where he is the top, the most loved, the greatest desire of the heart. Our Lord prayed there in John 17, Father, I would that those that you have given me would be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And all of God's people hear our Lord pray that, and they say, even so, Lord, let it be.

Popular way of beginning evangelism, opening the subject of the gospel and salvation to people was something like, if you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go? And you know what that does? It immediately makes salvation about where you are rather than what you are and with whom you are. It makes salvation to be just simply spending eternity in a nicer place. But it says here, verse nine—you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Now, that word "souls," just like in English, Greek words don't always mean the same thing every time. But as near as I can tell from the scriptures, man is a unique creature made of flesh or body and spirit. He doesn't have a soul, he is a soul. Flesh and spirit bound together in a single individual—that's a soul. Sometimes they've even translated it simply life. I think that's a poor way to do it, but it grasps at least part of it. All that you are, that's a soul. And therefore this salvation which we have, which we are receiving—notice he says we are receiving it, not that we shall, we are. Why? Well, part of it's already been done, isn't it? I mean, it's already been worked in us. We've been made alive spiritually. Our eyes have been opened to the truth. We have heard the gospel and not only heard it, we've understood it. We've received it. We have experienced the forgiveness of sins. We are in the process of receiving this salvation.

And this salvation continues to work in us. It continues to change the patterns of our thinking. You probably don't notice it happening, but it is. The more we hear the gospel, the more we can become conformed to the principles that it lays down. And the more our lives are directed by the principles of the gospel rather than the principles of the world. It's slow—the Bible calls it growth—but it happens. Tim James says, and he was trying to illustrate spiritual growth this way, he says, you know, I'm a whole lot bigger than I was when I was a little boy, but I've never seen myself grow. If you ever can see yourself grow, watch out—you're looking at something, you're dreaming. It's a slow thing, but we are receiving salvation, and at the end, the end of our lives, or the end of all time, however you want to put it, it shall be completed. And we shall be able to say no longer that we are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls—we'll say we have in full received the goal and end of our faith, the salvation of our persons, body and spirit.

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06/13/2026

Psalm 73

1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

06/12/2026

Christ's Willing Sacrifice www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/328251642358107

06/12/2026

June 12

Now, the king asked Ziba, why have you brought these? Now, here is an indication of the hypocrisy of Ziba. It also shows us something to be wary of in religious people that seem to make a big show of their affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. If Ziba had been acting favorable towards David all along, David wouldn't have had to ask this question. Ziba had never acted as though he was particularly fond of David. In fact, he probably didn't like David at all because, you know, once Mephibosheth was in the royal household, there was no way for Ziba to control Saul's household to his own advantage. He was put once again in the position of a slave with no say in anything. So he probably didn't like David, and he probably never showed any particular kindness or affection towards him, and all at once he shows up with what would be a rather expensive gift to give. So David says, why have you brought these? You know, this is a good question.

Now, we can't answer it for anybody else. And sometimes we can scarcely answer it for ourselves. But why is it that we follow Christ? Remember when one time when John the Baptist was baptized, the Lord went by and John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." And two of John's disciples—it was John the Baptist's disciples. It was John who became a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and Andrew. They were the two men. They began to follow the Lord. And you know what the Lord did? He didn't turn around and say, well, I'm so glad that you have decided to follow me. He didn't flatter them. He turned around and said, what are you seeking? That's a good question. Not everybody who makes a show of loving Christ and following Christ is following him for the right reason.

Now, again, we can't judge that for another person. But it is a good idea if we look into our own hearts as much as we're able to discern what is there, and especially under the preaching of the gospel, which will make known the thoughts and intentions of the heart, according to the book of Hebrews. Because we don't want to be found out at the end that we were following Christ for fleshly, selfish reasons. There are people who follow Christ simply so they can go to heaven. And their concept of heaven is in fleshly things, in riches and pleasures. And some follow Christ for temporal blessings. I mean, if you watch the false prophets on television, it'd be rather obvious that what those false prophets are peddling are earthly blessings. And nothing more. They talk about, you know, send me money and you'll get more. Let's do this, do that, give this, give that, and you will get. But those who love Christ for who He is and for what He came to do, follow Him because they want to be with Him, and they want to be like Him, and they want their sins put away, and they want to be righteous, good people. Of course, they want that because the Holy Spirit has called them to want that.

But we need to be careful, and while we can't… well, we might ask someone this very same question. Well, why are you following Christ? I ask it sometimes when I'm preaching, but it's one of those rhetorical questions you're not really expecting them to answer because they can even learn a good answer and you wouldn't know the difference. It's one of those questions for man, as Paul says, so let him examine himself if he's of the faith.

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06/11/2026

Christ Desires Us www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/31425027533400

Grace Community Church of Rock Valley, IA

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