November
17, 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.
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SECONDARY IMPORTANCE?
By Henry Mahan
I have noticed that the main issue that men grapple with over the
doctrine of election is not whether or not the Scriptures teach it. Any honesty at all will make a man admit the
Scriptures do teach this doctrine. What
men grapple with is whether or not it is essential to believe this doctrine and
preach this doctrine. Most preachers
will admit the Bible does teach election, but they relegate it to a doctrine of
secondary importance (Judgment day will reveal the motive behind such actions).
But will the Scriptures support such a position? In Exodus 33:18 Moses said to God, “Show me
Thy glory…” To which God replied, “…I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”
Paul quotes this in Romans 9 to answer the carnal mind’s objection to
election (Romans 9:14-15). According to
Scripture, God’s glory and election go together. If the glory of God can be thought to be
doctrine of secondary importance, so can the doctrine of election. But we know the glory of God is of primary importance. What does that make God’s electing mercy in
Christ.
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THE CURSED MAN & THE BLESSED MAN
Jeremiah 17: 5: Thus saith the LORD;
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and
whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6: For he shall be like the heath in the
desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched
places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7: Blessed is
the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8: For he shall
be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by
the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and
shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit.
What a great contrast! This is not a moral issue, it is a heart issue. No word could be plainer. A man cannot trust in God and trust in
man. It is not possible to do both and be
saved by grace alone. Salvation is not
partly by free will and partly by free grace; partly by man’s works and partly
by Christ’s work. Either a sinner is
saved by his works (which he cannot be) or he is saved by grace (which he must
be) but it can never be both. Salvation
is entirely of the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from the works of the flesh.
Contrast in Plants
The
cursed man is like a desert heath; the blessed man as a tree planted by the
waters.
A heath means destitute. It was a
scrubby, shrub, fruitless, seedless and useless. It is a description of naturally religious man.
The man who trusts in his will, works, power, wisdom, and whose heart departs
from the Lord, is trusting in a curse and is cursed in every way there is to be
cursed. The dead sinner is a fruitless, scrubby, little, heath plant dwelling
in a salt land where no fruit can be produced.
The blessed man is one who is planted by God in Christ: planted in
Christ by divine election, planted in the likeness of Christ’s death and
resurrection, planted in the house of the Lord by his regenerating, calling
grace. (Jn 15: 1; Is 60:21; 61:3) By God’s
grace, through faith, Christ becomes the Blessed Man in whom we are blessed,
our River of Life. We are trees of righteousness in Christ the Tree of Righteousness
in whom we are engrafted. (Ps 1: 3; Is
61: 3; Rev 22: 1-4) Believers grow in
rich soil of his love, with much water of the Holy Spirit and the Word
preached, are evergreen, fragrant in Christ by grace through faith, rooted and
grounded in his love. (Eph 3: 17) What a contrast between the sinner trusting
in himself and the believer who is the planting of the Lord.
Contrast in Sight
The cursed “shall
not see when good cometh”; the blessed “shall not see when heat cometh but her
leaf shall be green.”
When good
comes, like the sound of the gospel, then those looking to the arm of the flesh
are not benefited in the least. One of
the saddest things in the world is when men have the rare privilege to have the
gospel of Christ preached near them yet they regard it with complete
indifference. Or when men attend for a
time then become contentious and walk away from the gospel. It had been better not to have heard than
afterward to turn away. (Heb 10: 26-27)
Yet, those blessed of God “shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf
shall be green.” While the heat of
persecution for the truth, the heat of trials, the heat which requires
commitment and faith in the Lord, withers and dries up the man whose root is in
self, the blessed man is given a continual supply of the Water of Life from
Christ the River of Life so the heat only makes his “leaf green.” The Lord sends the heat to the man trusting
in his flesh to dry him up. (Mk 4: 16-17) But God sends the heat to the blessed
man to make him more fruitful, to make his roots run deeper into Christ the
River of Life, to make his branches cling more firmly to Christ the Tree of
Righteousness. (Jn 15: 2) Believer, why would God have our leaves to be green? Green leaves give shade from the heat. Dead leaves
fall from the tree and cause a mess to clean up.
Contrast in Fruit Bearing
The cursed man “shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a
salt land and not inhabited”; the blessed man “shall not be careful in the year
of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
There is no spiritual fruitfulness from the man who is trusting in his
will, his works, or his worth. He
inhabits “parched places”, “the wilderness”, “a salt land and not inhabited.”
Yet, when draught comes, the believer planted and rooted in Christ shall
not be careful because he has plenty of spiritual water from the ever-flowing
River of Life. Let the world change like
the seasons, let natural waters dry-up, the believer never ceases bearing fruit
due to the goodness of Christ; let man curse us, Christ’s church is kept and
watered every moment by Christ. (Is 27: 2-3; Ps 92:14)
What a striking contrast between those planted in Christ and those trusting
in the arm of flesh. One is most blessed; the other most cursed. The Lord Jesus Christ is the unceasing source
of eternal life, strength, and fruitfulness. Cast all your care on him and abide
in him!