SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
MEETING LOCATION
251 Green Lane
Ewing, NJ, 08368
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Clay@FreeGraceMedia.com
MAILING ADDRESS:
7 Birch Street
Pennington, NJ, 08538
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
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NURSERY
We have a nursery equipped with a digital flat screen television
broadcasting all services live, for children four and under.
All articles by the pastor unless
otherwise noted.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The
videos are now listed as individual sermons, as well as full services—
click here.
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Proverbs
12: 6: The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the
mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
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GOD DOES NOT SEE INIQUITY IN HIS PEOPLE
“He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel” (Numbers 23:21)
Every son of Adam is
nothing but sin. If we are honest, all we see in ourselves is sin.
Then why does God, who sees everything exactly as it is, say that He doesn’t
see iniquity in His people? Because HE TOOK THE SIN OF HIS PEOPLE AWAY IN
CHRIST. Christ was made sin for His people in such reality that there is
no sin left in them – Christ took it all away.
The sacrifice of Christ for the sin of His people put their sin away so
completely, in such current reality, that there is no iniquity left in
them. The Father does not behold iniquity in His people because there is
no sin to see – Christ has taken it all away and removed it by the blood of His
sacrifice. Pastor Frank Tate
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“The
God of Consolation”
Romans
15:5
As he is “the
God of patience,” the Lord our God is “the God of consolation!” All
true, real, solid comfort comes from him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, his dear Son,
is “the consolation of Israel.” He is our Comfort.
God the Holy Spirit is “the Comforter” sent down from heaven to comfort
chosen, redeemed sinners. He comforts by
the gospel in his gracious work of saving conviction (John16:7-11). He comforts believing sinners by the
doctrines and promises of his Word, giving strong consolation to the heirs of
promise, by the ordinances of divine worship which are the breasts of
consolation to his children. And he
comforts his people by faithful gospel preachers, the church’s “Barnabases,”
her sons of consolation (Acts 4:36)
O Spirit
of God, grant us “to be like minded one toward another.” Paul’s prayer
here is that “the God of patience and consolation” might make us
patient, longsuffering, and forgiving, and a source of comfort to one another,
according to his own example in Christ (Ephesians 4:30 - 5:2).
When I
have forgiven every wrong against me, have borne every hard word or thought,
and have overlooked every weakness and comforted every fallen friend, I still
have not endured one atom of what Christ bore for me and from me (Matthew
18:21-22).
This is how we “may
with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Romans 15:6).
God is glorified when,
believing on his dear Son, we are united in his Son and seek to be of help and
comfort to one another by our patience and forbearance with one another, and by
our forgiveness of one another.
Pastor Don Fortner
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Judge
Not – Matthew 7:1
Those who do not know the scriptures
wrongly interpret this passage as they do nearly all that is written. We cannot take one verse alone, but scripture
must be compared with scripture. In
Leviticus 19:15, the Lord said, “In
righteousness shalt thou judge thy
neighbor.” In John 7:24, the
Lord said, “Judge not according to the
appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Wickedness and ungodly behavior must be
judged and condemned by those who love truth and righteousness. Sin must be called sin and exposed for the
evil that it is. This is what false
prophets and their followers refuse to do, because their own deeds are evil,
saying, “Judge Not!”, to keep from offending anyone and losing
members and money. So you see, the Lord
most certainly did not mean that we should never make judgments. He was speaking to His disciples (and to all
believers), telling us not to look down on someone as their superior,
condemning and passing sentence as if we were their judge, for if we do not
show mercy, we will not find mercy, and if we pass unbending judgment or
censure upon someone, with the same
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.
Let me illustrate…
Years ago a passenger was traveling on a
sailing vessel which had a harsh and cruel captain. One of the sailors was about to be whipped
unmercifully by the captain, and the passenger asked him to show mercy. The
captain replied: “I never show mercy!” The passenger then replied: “You better hope then that you are without
sin, for if you ever need mercy from God, you will find none!”
The
Lord led the apostle Paul to expound this subject more clearly, when he said
concerning our brethren: “Who art thou
that judgest another man’s servant? to
his own master he standeth or falleth” (Rom.14:4). God is the absolute and final Judge of His
people, not us. He alone looks on the
heart and has perfect knowledge. While
judgments are to be made, let them always be righteous, without partiality,
bias or prejudice, and always according to truth. And let our judgments never be without
mercy. May we always consider ourselves,
the beam in our own eyes, our gross sins and terrible shortcomings, before we
censure our brother for his sins.
Pastor
Paul Mahan
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Believer,
if a killer murdered your father would you welcome him to live in your father’s
house? Our Everlasting Father submitted to death because he bore our sin. He made us his holy habitation (Eph 2:
19-22). Shall we welcome the murderer
into his house? If Righteousness has made us his servants then his fruit makes
us look only to him for righteousness, while hating sin and yielding our
members as servants to righteousness unto holiness! (Rom 6: 6-23)
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LAY IT
TO HEART AND CONSIDER
Isaiah 57: 1: The righteous perisheth, and no
man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none
considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. 2:
He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one
walking in his uprightness.
Those
chosen, redeemed and sanctified by God are “the
righteous and merciful.” (Is 57: 1) They are made righteous by Christ’s
blood (Is 45:24; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 6: 11-18); they are made merciful by
experiencing God’s mercy in the free forgiveness of their sins. (Ps 37: 21) Yet, when God takes his saints
away, none lay it to heart, none consider.
But if God has made us wise we will.
Lay it
to heart and consider that when the righteous are taken their influence is
removed from this world. David said, “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for
the faithful fail from among the children of men.” (Ps 12: 1-2) Lay it to
heart and consider that if the righteous and merciful die then the unrighteous
and unmerciful shall certainly die, too! God says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than
to go to the house of feasting: for that is
the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” (Ecc 7: 2) Lay it to heart and consider
that when God has called the last one that Christ redeemed then judgment shall
come upon the whole world. (2 Pet 3: 9, 15) Each time a new believer confesses
faith in Christ, we should consider that this may be the last one!
Most
of all, lay it to heart and consider that in this life, those who reject Christ
do not have peace with God, only “a
certain fearful looking forward to judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the advesaries.” (Heb 10:7) Without the righteousness of Christ,
physical death will only be the beginning of an everlasting, living death under
the wrath of God. Yet, those who trust
all into Christ’s hands, even now in this life thave peace with God through the
blood of Christ (Rom 5:1). They rest in
their beds at night in peace and walk by day in uprightness before God robed in
the perfection of Christ. So physical
death will only be a welcome blessing to them.
They are taken away from the evil to come and shall not see judgment
because Christ bore their judgment on the cross. Death merely ushers them into eternal peace
with the Prince of peace. Their bodies even
rest in the grave till the day Christ raises them anew in glorified
perfection. Lay this to heart and
consider!
Those
who meet God with no righteousness of their own, only the righteousness of
Christ, enter a new heaven and new earth where there is no sin, no strife, no
sorrow, no sickness, and no death, only righteousness forever with God! Consider what it will be like united with
Christ perfectly with the whole church of God singing his praises triumphantly,
knowing Christ even as we are known, with only a heart to love one another
perfectly! If we knew what believers
experience when they die, we would wonder why we ever wept at the death of
God’s saints! May God make us lay it to
heart, consider and cast all our care on Christ today!