March 23, 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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Accepted
in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6)
Jacob sent presents to his offended brother Esau (Genesis 32) desiring
to earn Esau’s appeasement. Jacob’s only hope was that by doing or giving
enough, “peradventure he will accept of me (Gen. 32:20). Is this not the carnal
thinking of the world’s religion? Man thinks that God’s acceptance and favor is
based upon the sinner’s work, will and ability. The carnal heart thinks that if
it can be sincere enough, can dot every “I” and cross every “T”, peradventure
the Lord will accept me. The Scripture never speaks of God’s acceptance of His
people as being a “maybe” acceptance based upon the sinner’s ability and carnal
work. God’s acceptance of the saints in Christ Jesus is a blessing spoken of as
being according to God’s will and purpose and a blessing that has been
eternally done…”accepted in the Beloved.”
Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, redeemed by His precious
blood and robed in His glorious righteousness, the Lord’s people are highly
favored objects of His mercy accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Marvin
Stalnaker
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Faith Cometh by Hearing
Lately, I have been spending time at the doctor’s office picking out new
hearing aids. Some of the facts that I
have spoken to you about previously have been on my mind again, with some
additional thoughts, plus three applications.
The three tiny bones in the middle ear are the first bones to develop
when we are in the womb. According to my
audiologist, at twenty-two weeks an unborn child can hear. This is by God’s design. Surely it is because “Faith cometh by
hearing.” (Ro 10: 17) For instance, after telling Mary that she would bear the
Messiah in her womb, the Angel of the Lord told her that Elizabeth “hath also
conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was
called barren.” So John the Baptist was
26 weeks old, the bones in his ear developed, so he could hear from his mother’s
womb. Therefore, when Mary went out to
the country to tell Elizabeth the good news of Christ Jesus our Lord, “it came
to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in
her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.” (Lu 1: 41) We do not have to wonder if that leap by John
the Baptist was a leap of faith because the Holy Ghost, by which Elizabeth spoke,
tells us it was, “And she spake out with a loud voice, and
said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And
whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as
soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my
womb for joy.” (Lu 1: 42-44)
First, never underestimate God’s ability to give faith to a child
through the hearing of faith, even in its mother’s womb. Is it beyond your reasoning ability that God
could give faith to a child in the womb?
Everything God does is beyond our reasoning ability. “With men it is
impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” (Mr 10:
27)
Secondly, never underestimate the importance of hearing the gospel
preached. Every aspect of hearing the
gospel preached gives Christ all the glory. It is Christ who sends the
preacher, who prays the Father to send forth the Holy Spirit by whom we are
born again, by whom Christ is made all in the new heart. So when our triune God is using a nobody to
preach to a nobody, as God comes forth to make Christ all in the heart of his
child, no flesh glories in his presence, but those who glory, glory only in the
Lord. And that is the very reason the
Holy Spirit says it pleased God to save through the foolishness f preaching.
(see 1 Cor 1: 21, 28-31) So when we read the following scripture, know that it
is God who gets all the glory, from sending the preacher to making his elect
hear the word preached in faith, “How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!...So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom 10: 14-15, 17)
Thirdly, it may be that one reason it pleased God to give faith through
the hearing of the gospel is because hearing is the one thing that requires us
to do nothing in order to do it while it is the one thing that requires us to do
something in order not to do it. So if
we do hear, God gets the glory; if we do not hear, no one is to blame but us. Oh brethren, “the foolishness of God is wiser
than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Cor 1: 25)
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Intro to “The Crook in the Lot” by Thomas Boston
"Consider the work of God: for who can make that
straight which He has made crooked?"—Eccles. 7:13.
A just view of afflicting incidents is altogether necessary to a Christian
deportment under them; and that view is to be obtained only by faith, not by sense;
for it is the light of the world alone that represents them justly, discovering
in them the work of God, and consequently, designs becoming the Divine
perfections. When they are perceived by the eye of faith, and duly considered,
we have a just view of afflicting incidents, fitted to quell the turbulent
motions of corrupt affections under dismal outward appearances.
It is under this view that Solomon, in the preceding part of this chapter,
advances several paradoxes, which are surprising determinations in favor of
certain things, that, to the eye of sense, looking gloomy and hideous, are
therefore generally reputed previous and shocking. He pronounces the day of one's
death to be better than the day of his birth; namely, the day of the death of
one, who, having become the friend of God through faith, has led a life to the
honor of God, and service of his generation, and in this way raised to himself
the good and savvy name better than precious ointment. In like manner, he
pronounces the house of mourning to be preferable to the house of feasting,
sorrow to laughter, and a wise man's rebuke to a fool's song. As for that, even
though the latter are indeed the more pleasant, yet the former are the more
profitable. And observing with concern, how men are in hazard, not only from the
world's frowns and ill-usage, oppression making a wise man mad, but also from
its smiles and caresses, a gift destroying the heart. Therefore, since whatever
way it goes there is danger, he pronounces the end of every worldly thing
better than the beginning of it. And from the whole he justly infers, that it
is better to be humble and patient than proud and impatient under afflicting
dispensation; since, in the former case, we wisely submit to what is really best;
in the latter, we fight against it. And he dissuades from being angry with our
lot, because of the adversity found in it. He cautions against making odious
comparisons of former and present times, in that point insinuating undue reflections
on the providence of God: and, against that querulous and fretful disposition.
He first prescribes a general remedy, namely, holy wisdom, as that which
enables us to make the best of everything, and even gives life in killing
circumstances; and then a particular remedy, consisting in a due application of
that wisdom, towards taking a just view of the case: "Consider the work of
God: for who can make that straight which He has made crooked?"