December 5, 2010
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
Weekly Schedule of Services
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Sunday: |
10:00 AM |
Bible Class |
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11:00 AM |
Morning Service |
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Thursday: |
7:00 PM |
Mid-week Service |
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THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY
Isaiah 33: 15-17
If we open our ear, our eye and our hand to any who would turn us from Christ we will surely begin to deal with our brethren as the oppressor, the briber, the shedder of innocent blood.
Oh, God now arise. Exalt yourself in our hearts and in our midst. Turn us that we might behold only the King in his beauty. Then shall our eye be single for Christ and our eye, and ear, and hand shut from the subtlety of Satan by which he deceived Eve. Lord, cause us to behold your Power and Wisdom that we may become a quiet habitation, that our troubled hearts be settled, that our cunning adversary be resisted steadfast in faith, knowing that each brother and sister suffers these same afflictions in this world. And let us not forget that after we have suffered a while you shall deliver us and all shall have been for your glory and our good.
Oh, rejoice in these painful trials. Let us lift up the hands that hang down and make straight paths for our feet--straight to Christ!
WHO DID AHAZ REJECT?
Isaiah 7
It was the LORD that sent the gospel to Ahaz. Though an earthen vessel was used it was the LORD declaring to Ahaz that no enemy would harm his chosen city. It was the Lord declaring that the Sign--the Covenant--the Word which assures the heart of the believer is God in human flesh, Christ Jesus, Immanuel. But Ahaz had already made a covenant with a man. Therefore, in pretense of piety, Ahaz refused to ask. So it was that Ahaz rejected the Lord alone and his free salvation.
THE MAKING OF FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS
When the LORD sanctified to Hezekiah's heart, both the Word of the gospel together with the trial the LORD had sent, Hezekiah came down off his throne and covered himself in sackcloth and ashes, received the Word the LORD sent and prayed thusly, "Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou [art] the LORD, [even] thou only (Isaiah 37:20).
Every believer holds an office into which God has placed us and responsibilities. But God makes us faithful fathers/children by making us to know he is the Father, we the children. He makes faithful husbands/wives by making us to know Christ is the Husband, we the bride. He makes faithful employers/employees by making us to know Christ is the Master, we are his servants. He makes us stewards of riches by making us to know Christ is the Steward and Bishop of our souls, the hidden Treasure, the Head of the church, and we are empty vessels, that the power may be of God and not of us.
So it was with Hezekiah. This is how it could be said of Hezekiah, “He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him" (2Ki 18:5.)
Faithful Men Are Still Only Men At Best
When Joshua was defeated at Ai, he acknowledged the failure, sought the face of the Lord, and went back and won the battle. When he was tricked into making league with the Gibeonites, he admitted the mistake publicly, and then he made it work to the benefit of the nation and to God's glory.
There is a very important lesson here. A person's faithfulness is not to be judged by isolated acts, but by the tenor of his life. Faithful men are still only men at best. They often fall and fail. But they do the best they can and keep going when they know they have erred, learning from their failures. Experience is a tough teacher. It always gives the exam first and then teaches the lesson afterward. But there is no teacher like it. Joshua turned to the Lord in his failures, found both forgiveness and renewed strength, and continued serving the Lord God and His people. How gracious God is! He not only uses a crooked stick to draw a straight line, He forgives the crooks in the stick, and gets glory to Himself in using it.
-- 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
By Don Fortner
Every believer must look to Christ to strengthen us by his grace and encourage one another that we faint not in adorning the doctrine in our walk because since the doctrine is offensive to the circumcision they are never looking to Christ but only to us to find cracks in our armor.
SERMONS
After clicking on the following sermon links you will go to sermon notes where you will find an option at the top of the page to access the audio.
Ask of Him
Thine Eye Shall See the King (no audio)
Looking…Lest
ARTICLES
Cain's Offering
Abel's Offering
The LORD's Respect
Hardness of Heart
Final Word
ARTICLES FROM OTHERS
But This Man
He Careth for You
One and Only One
Be Not Children in Understanding
He Showed Them His Hands and His Side
PRINTABLE TRACTS
A Good Place to Rest and Raise our Young
Saved in Childbearing
A Letter to a Preacher
The Church Were Everybody is a Nobody
O Ye of Little Faith