January 26, 2014
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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“How is the believer dead to
the world when he lives in the world, works a regular job, raises a family, and
owns property in the world?” a young student asked his Bible teacher. The
teacher sent him out to a gravesite of a friend with instructions to criticize
the dead friend, harass him, and find fault, and then praise him with glowing
terms and brag on him to excess. Upon his return, the teacher asked, “What did
your friend say when you criticized him?” “Nothing.” “How did he react when you
praised him?” “It made no difference to him; he is dead!” “That is what it
means to be dead to this world,” said the teacher. Its applause means nothing
and its hatred means nothing. We neither admire the people of this world nor do
we fear them. The riches of this world are but the fancy of fools, and the
honors of this world mean little or nothing; for to be a child of God is the
highest calling. The religious traditions and ceremonies of the world have no
attraction or meaning when Christ is all! That which was once important to us
we now consider loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ, our Lord.
This spiritual life in Christ cannot be explained; it must be experienced. ---Henry
Mahan
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Ezekiel 34: 12: As
a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places
where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13: And I will bring
them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring
them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
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WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST AND HIM
CRUCIFIED?
Holy Scriptures teach an effectual
atonement based upon the fact of Who He was who died to atone. Such a blood
shedding could never be in vain in any sense when we consider the infinite
value of the person who shed His blood. Paul, to show the value of the atonement,
first tells us who He is Who died; “Jesus Christ,” he said; and then, “and him
crucified.” Well how much value do we put on Jesus Christ? Better yet, how much
value does God the Father put on Him? The Father calls Him a Savior, a great
one, a mighty one, and says of Him, “He shall deliver them.” (Is 19:20).
The fact that it is Christ’s blood is what makes it effectual. “The
blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.” What else could
the blood of such an infinite One do but accomplish the task for which it was
shed? “He came to save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21). And how was He
to accomplish such a great task? By giving His own blood! By pouring it out
while hanging on a cross! The blood atoned for sins and cleanses from all sins
because it is Christ’s blood. One man said it this way, “the words ‘the
blood’ never stand alone; the One Who shed the blood is invariable specified,
for it is the Person that gives value to the work; the saving efficacy of the
Death depends entirely upon the fact that He Who died was the Son of God.” Let
us first and foremost receive the testimony of the Holy Scriptures concerning
the infinite and eternal value of the Son of God. Having received that
testimony in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, then we will never
undervalue that atonement which such an infinite person accomplished. I am
convinced this is one reason some deny the effectual atonement of Christ; they
place little value on Him. Let every man examine his own conscience. Can you,
knowing who He is, say to Him with a clear conscience, “you failed?” “You, the
Lord of glory, died in vain?” Can you say such a thing without your conscience
smiting you” What think ye of Jesus crucified must be answered in the light of
what think ye of Jesus Christ himself. ---Bruce Crabtree
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BLIND BEGGARS
Mark 10: 46:…blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side
begging.
All who the Lord shall save are like Bartimaeus. What he was outwardly by nature is what he
was inwardly by nature: blind, poor, and unable to work to provide life. All he could do was sit and beg mercy from another.
We are so blind by nature that we cannot even see we need salvation. When God
gives us sight the first thing we behold is that our flesh profits nothing.
Only then will a sinner come to Christ empty and begging mercy.
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". . . AND THOU BECAMEST MINE"
Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold,
thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy
nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
His, whatever else I am, I am His. In this context, I am accurately
depicted by God as a cursed, loathsome, forsaken, polluted dead baby lying in
an open field, and so I was before He passed by me, but I was His dead baby.
The Apostle Paul as a believer cried out, O wretched man that I am (Rom 7:24),
and I must daily cry with him, but I’m His wretch. The Caananite woman cried to
the Lord Jesus for mercy, but He dismissed her as an unworthy dog. Yet, she
answered in effect, Truth Lord, but I’m your dog. (Mt 15:21-28).
Since the Master called me, covered
me, covenanted with me, cleansed me, clothed me and claimed me (vs 6-10), refer
to me in whatever way that you will, I am His. My sin is covered by Christ’s
work as my Representative, I am washed in His precious blood, clothed in His
perfect righteousness and claimed as His own son. I am nothing, yea less than
nothing and vile, but in Christ, I am very beautiful even in the sight of God
Himself (vs 13).
Is there any man or devil who thinks
to bring a charge against me? Should any wish to argue either the wretched
vileness of my nature or any aspect of the incessant river of iniquity that has
flowed from my mind, heart, lips and hands since my birth, you would have an
infinite supply from which to choose. But being given to Christ by the Father,
I am His, and He has pled my case upon His own exemplary merits (John 17).
Therefore, malign me for the worm that I am and you’ll get no argument from me,
but know that I am His worm, and through Christ’s comeliness (vs 14), I am
precious and beautiful to Him, and someday I shall be like Him.
His forever, only His. Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ has filled this sinner’s heart
Chris Cunningham
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The certainty that Christ shall bring
each of his redeemed the gospel and quicken them to life and faith in him is
that God promised it to Christ the same as God promised it to Abraham. (Gal 3:
16) That promise is the very reason that Christ laid down his life. “And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the
gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed….Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3: 8, 13-14)