November 27, 2011
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7:00 PM Midweek Service
SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
10:15 a.m. Bible Study
Short Break
11:00 a.m. Service
- Opening Hymns
- Scripture Reading
- Message
- Closing Hymns
ANNOUNCEMENT
We will plan to have service on Sunday, December 25 at 11 am
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FORMER THINGS AND NEW THINGS
Isaiah 42: 9
Scripture is God’s declaration of things which God foretold would come to pass, which God himself brings to pass. All these things glorify the triune God in the salvation of his elect by his Son Christ Jesus.
Father of Many Nations
Before Abraham had a child God said to him, “I have made thee a father of many nations.” (Genesis 17: 4-5.) The former things came to pass. What are the new things God reveals in the heart of the believer by that? In eternity before as yet one of God’s elect was created, God the Father said to his Son Christ Jesus, “I have made thee a father of many nations.” He gave to Christ a people chosen of God to be saved out of every tribe and kindred on the face of this earth. Our text speaks of: praise “from the end of the earth”. (Ps 139: 16; Ro 4:17; Ep 1: 9-12.)
Slaves in Egypt
Over 400 years beforehand, God told Abraham that his descendants would become slaves in Egypt. The former things are come to pass. What are the new things that God reveals in the hearts of his children by those former things? Adam’s sin which put all God’s elect in the bondage of spiritual death was known by God before the foundation of the world. It was according to the purpose of God in bringing glory and praise to himself in the salvation of his elect through the righteousness and blood of Christ Jesus, the Son of God (1 Co 15: 22; Ro 5: 17.)
The Passover Lamb
Long before Christ came forth God promised Israel he would pass over the first born children of Israel through the blood of a lamb. The former things are come to pass. What are the new things God reveals in our hearts by those former things he brought to pass? (Jn 1: 36; 1 Co 5: 7.) In Christ all his people—his firstborn—died and are justified in our Substitute. All must and shall be brought out of the bondage of spiritual death into the light of faith in Christ by his grace.
The Land of Canaan
Beforehand, God promised to deliver the children of Israel into the land which God promised. The former things are come to pass. What are the new things God reveals in the heart of his regenerated child by those former things? (Jn 6: 39.) Not one who God gave to Christ, not one who Christ redeemed out of bondage, not one whom the Spirit shall regenerate shall be lost but all shall be delivered into the new heavens and the new earth (Rev 21: 9-27.) God does not save by accident, but exactly according to his eternal purpose (Ep 1: 11.)
The Gospel
All events in time from the first to the last have been as perfectly done in the Divine mind from eternity as they are perfectly done in the moment he brings them to pass in time. Christ is the Lamb Slain from the foundation of the world. May we learn from the former things which God has promised and brought to pass to trust the new things God will do for us. It is impossible for God not to be faithful and true (Is 46: 9-11.) He has saved us, is saving us and shall save us. Rest in his Word.
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O the wonder, the glory and beauty of God’s Word. It’s beyond our ability to fully understand and appreciate it. But we marvel at what we do understand. God uses many things to describe His Word: everyday, ordinary, yet wonderful and necessary things. He likens His Word to things such as: Light, Bread, Milk, Honey, Meat, Fire, Water, Hammer, Sword, Plough, Seed, Rain, Dew, Treasure, Gold, Net, Mirror. . . a Kiss! All this and more is God’s Word for His people. Paul Mahan
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From THE POOR MAN'S MORNING AND EVENING
PORTIONS by Robert Hawker
Amos 9: 9: For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations; like as corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
Blessed promise to my poor soul; sifted, blown about by temptation. Look then to Jesus with it, and plead it under every new sifting time. Corn must be sifted, for it is much covered at times with tares and chaff. And so must the seed of Jesus, that the precious may be known and separated; "for what is the chaff to the wheat?" saith the Lord. Oh Lord, if it please thee, for thou knowest the necessity of it, sift me, try me, separate me, not only from the ungodly, with whom I am constrained to dwell, but from myself, from my own trifling, vain conversation, from the corruption of indwelling sin in my fallen nature, from the vain thoughts which lodge within me. Yes, precious Jesus; sift all, and every thing which is unsuitable to thee, and let the whole fall through the sieve, that thou alone mayest remain with me, for sure I know my God hath said, though his Israel be sifted, yet not the least grain of the true wheat shall be lost.