December
30, 2018
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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SUNDAY’S
READING IN PROVERBS
Proverbs
12: 18: There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of
the wise is health.
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THANK
YOU!
Brethren,
thank you for your gift to my family and me.
We thank God for you. Thank you
for being faithful in assembling to hear the gospel and in your love toward one
another. Thank you for the giving of your
time and labor to keep our building looking nice and all of the needs met. On a weekly basis I hear from someone in some
part of the country sending their thanks for the services and sermons online
and I tell them it is because of you. I
am especially thankful for the unity the Spirit of God has given you in your
bond for one another and for Melinda and me. My prayer for us in the upcoming year is that God
grows us in our knowledge of Christ and in our love toward one another. You remind me often that nothing is as
important as having our families under the gospel of Christ. I pray God will grow us even more in that
understanding and make us even more committed to our Redeemer, His gospel and
His people. May God make it truly a happy new year for you
and your families and for us together as the body of Christ.
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Here we are once again on the steps of a new
year. But except for a new calendar, and
perhaps a few changes in our lives, most things will remain the same after one
tick of the clock transports us from 2018 to 2019. Still, may the dawn of the new year remind us of
the true and faithful words of he that sits upon the throne, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). As we thank God for the blessings he gave us
this past year and as we ask his blessings upon us in the new, let us rejoice
and be most thankful that “if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things
are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 5: 17-18).
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A GOOD RESOLUTION
Over the next week or two we will hear people
declare their new year’s resolutions. “Resolution”
is a noun meaning a firm determination to do something. The verb form is “resolve.” Each time you hear someone mention a new year’s
resolution over the next few weeks remember the resolution that the apostle
Paul made, “For I determined [resolved]
to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified” (2 Cor 2: 1.) That is my resolution while among you,
not just for the new year, but always.
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BONDSERVANT BRETHREN
When the Apostle Paul was under house arrest in
Rome he had liberty to receive all who came to him (Acts28:30,31) and, thereby,
he preached Christ to many. It seems that on one occasion a poor young man who
was vaguely familiar to Paul came and heard him and the message Paul preached
powerfully moved him. The young man was Onesimus whom Paul had seen some years earlier
at Colosse in the house of Philemon where the local believers met. Onesimus was
a servant, perhaps a slave in that society, in the house of Philemon. In those
days Onesimus had heard the gospel preached by Paul and others but it had no
effect on him at all. He despised the faith of his master, Philemon, and the
others who gathered there for worship and he deeply resented the comfortable
position that Philemon occupied. Moved with envy and a resentment, Onesimus had
abused the trust that Philemon had placed in him; probably he had stolen property
and escaped from the household. Just as
in C21st Britain where many vagrants end up in London, Onesimus had made his
way to Rome and there he had found the lowest strata of society. We have no way
of knowing for certain but it is likely that he heard another vagrant saying
that he or she was going to hear a preacher of marvellous divine truth. In the gracious providence of God, Onesimus, realizing
that he had hit ‘rock bottom’ went along and heard Paul preach the message of
redemption in Jesus Christ. He had probably heard exactly this message from
Paul’s lips years before in the house of Philemon, but this time in Rome, just
as he had done with Lydia (Acts16:14), the Lord opened his heart to hear and
receive the message preached. By God’s sovereign grace, Onesimus was
transformed into a precious brother in Christ, useful in service to Paul. We do not know for how long he stayed with
Paul, but Paul knew that the right thing was for Onesimus to return to Philemon
and be reconciled and restored, even though Paul so much valued Onesimus. So
Paul sent him with this little letter, written (rather than dictated) by Paul
himself. In it, he asked Philemon to
receive Onesimus as a faithful brother in Christ whilst respecting the need to
put right in whatever way Philemon had been wronged by Onesimus. We can be sure
that Onesimus returned to Philemon with apprehension as to what might happen to
him, but the truth of the gospel made Philemon generous in forgiveness to
Onesimus, and it also made Onesimus keen to restore all that he owed to the man
he had defrauded. The reason is simple; both Philemon and Onesimus knew that God
in heaven saw everything they both did, that in Christ he had redeemed them
from their sins and saved them both, Onesimus and Philemon, from just
condemnation, and therefore what could they both do but render due service and
gracious forgiveness each to the other? Is
this not a graphic illustration of the transforming power of the gospel of
God’s grace, irrespective of social status? Pastor
Allan Jellet, Knebworth Grace Church, Welwyn Garden City, England
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HOLY GOD WILL RESTORE
Isaiah
57: 15: For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of
the contrite ones. 16: For I will not
contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail
before me, and the souls which I have made. 17: For the iniquity of his covetousness was I
wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the
way of his heart. 18: I have seen his
ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him
and to his mourners. 19: I create the fruit of the
lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the
LORD; and I will heal him. 20: But
the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up
mire and dirt.
God is holy, the high and lofty One that
inhabits eternity. His name is
holy. But he who dwells in the high and
holy place also dwells with his children in whom he has created a contrite and
humble spirit. Our sin-nature is the
opposite: hard and proud. When all we
had was a sin-nature we could only hear the gospel as the words of a man
preaching. Hardness would not let us
even consider God was speaking, much less, bow.
Pride would not let us confess our sins nor ask God for mercy. But
remember, even now that God has given us a new spirit there is still in us a
sin-nature that is the same. That is why
not only must God give us a new contrite and humble spirit in regeneration, but
continually, Christ must subdue our fleshly nature and revive the new.
When
our sin-nature takes us captive, God contends with us by chastening and hiding
himself from us (v17). But due to our
sin-nature, until God makes it effectual in our hearts, he says we go on
backwards in the way of our flesh. What
a terrible place for a believer to be! We
act like we did when all we had was a sin-nature: preaching becomes only the
words of the preacher, self-righteousness reigns, we look down on brethren who
love us, we cannot submit to God, confess our sins nor ask for mercy.
But
though there is change in us, there is none in God. Oh, what mercy! God says that he will not contend with us
forever, else our spirit would fail (v16). Oh, what amazing, immutable grace! God says that he sees our ways. Yet, he will heal us. He will lead us also and restore comforts
unto us. Not only to us who are in this state,
but God says he will even restore comforts to our brethren who have been mourning
for us. (v18)
So,
brethren, when our own sin-nature takes us captive or when we mourn for a
brother or sister in that state, remember, God is holy. He changes not! As he dwells in the high and holy place, God
also dwells with his child to whom he has given a new spirit TO REVIVE the spirit of the humble, and TO
REVIVE the heart of the contrite ones (v15). He will not contend forever; our wise
Father shall make it effectual in his child:
he will heal; he will restore comforts. God will bring us to see, once again, that
were he to leave us to ourselves, we would be the wicked who are like the
troubled sea, unable to rest, only able to cast up mire and dirt. But God is holy! He shall restore and revive so that we praise
and glorify him for “I create the fruit
of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,
saith the LORD; and I will heal him” (v20)