July 28, 2013
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd
Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, nursery schedule, etc.,
are in attachment. All articles in the
bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
WHY GOD SAVES BY GRACE
Isaiah 48: 9-11
God sent Israel into Babylon because of her great sin, not to destroy
her in wrath, but to refine her in mercy.
But there was nothing in them to merit his mercy and grace. (Isa 48: 4, 8) Why then did God show them mercy and grace? Why does he show you and I mercy and grace? He says, “For my name’s sake.” (Is 48: 9-11)
For the Righteousness of His Name
God does not cut off his elect though our sins fully merit it because of
Christ our Righteousness. God deferred
his anger from his elect to Christ who bore our sins in his own body on the
tree. (Is 53: 8) Christ was cut off
by the full stroke of God’s fury and justice in the place of God’s people so
that God is righteous to be merciful toward us rather than cutting us off. (1
Jn 1: 9; 2: 1; Ps 106: 44-45)
For
the Praise Due to His Name
It is
judgment satisfied by the grace of God which brings his children to praise his
name. (Rom 2: 4) In all his righteous, merciful dealing with us: in electing us
in Christ, in predestinating us to be conformed to the image of Christ, in adopting
us to himself by Christ, in redemption through Christ’s blood, in keeping us by
his grace in Christ, it is all “that we should be to the praise of his glory.”
(Eph 1:12, 14; Is 45:25)
For the Faithfulness, Love and Wisdom of His Name
God our Father faithfully promises to remember our sins no more. But our Father is never pleased with our
sin. God will chasten us because God’s
name is the God of faithfulness.
By
doing so God makes us to know his name is love. God will not spoil his child by
letting us stray in our vain way. For the sake of his great love as a Father
toward his child he shall correct us. (Heb 12: 6-7, 10)
God’s
name is also wisdom. We behold wisdom in
how he corrects us without consuming us. “Behold, I have refined thee, but not
with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (v10) Silver
requires intense fire until all the dross is consumed. But God does not use fire so fierce that he
consumes us. In his wisdom, God our Father tempers the fire in measure and
mercy so as never to consume us, only to humble us, to make us partaker of his
holiness. (Isa 27:8-9; Ps 103: 10-
14; Heb 12: 1-13)
For
the Holiness of His Name
God will not allow our enemies to count his name common. He has pity for his holy name. (Eze 36:
19-24) God will not lose one for
whom Christ died. The blood of Christ cannot be shed in vain or the seal of the
Holy Spirit broken. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. He
will never cease to love his loved ones.
He says, “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for
how should my name be polluted?” (v11)
For
the Glory of His Name
God says, “I will not give my glory unto another.” (v11) God will be gracious to whom he will for that
is his glory. (Ex 33: 18-19) In Christ is where we see that glory like Moses when
God put him in the cleft of the rock. (Ex 34: 6-7) God’s purpose in saving
sinners, and his purpose in saving sinners the way he does, is to reveal his
glory. If this is God’s reason for saving and keeping us then this ought to be
our primary object as we seek to serve him. For the glory of his name, go and
sin no more; for the glory of his name, look no more to the idols of this world;
for the glory of his name, delight to do his will; for the glory of his name, let
us keep ourselves from everything impure and unclean. Only the grace and glory
of his great name working effectually in the newly created heart does that.
Sinner, turn to God and ask mercy and he will receive you, but not
because of any good in you. Believer, return to the Lord and he will receive
you, but not because of any good in you. (Jer 3: 21-23) Why then does God save
by grace? He says, “for my name’s sake!” “Save us, O God of our salvation, and
gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to
thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.” (1 Chr 16: 35)
*******
The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the
present-day evangelist. He announces a
Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin.
And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes
who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from
their carnality and worldliness. Arthur W. Pink – 1886-1952
*******
Reckon Yourselves Dead Unto Sin
“Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom.
6:11).
Our
sins were crucified with Christ. They were put to death when He died, for
He was our covenant head and we were legally represented by Him. The law
has no more right to condemn us than it has to condemn Him. Justice is bound to
deal with us as it has with our Saviour. “He that is dead is freed” from
the sin for which He died; so are we! If we do not see this complete
mortification in Him, sin will reign in us. No sin can be crucified in heart or
life unless it be first pardoned in conscience. If the believer does not see
HIS PERFECT DEADNESS IN CHRIST, he will open wide a door to unbelief. If a
believer does not see HIS COMPLETENESS IN CHRIST, he leaves room for attacks of
self-righteousness and legalism. If Christ be not all, self will feed personal
merit and importance. William Romaine