Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 8-16-2020
Bible TextIsaiah 64:1-2
Date15-Aug-2020
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Pray For God's Presence (32 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
Audio CD Quality Listen: Pray For God's Presence (128 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
 

August 16, 2020

SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

Meeting Location and Mailing Address

251 Green Lane

Ewing, NJ, 08368

Clay Curtis, pastor

Telephone: 615-513-4464

Clay@FreeGraceMedia.com

Schedule of Services

Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class

Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service

Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service

 

Services Broadcast Live @ www.FreeGraceMedia.com/live

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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 servicesclick here.

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Proverbs 15: 7: The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

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Satan has never succeeded at thwarting God’s purpose, harming God’s church, impeding the spread of the gospel or the growth of God’s kingdom, or injuring one of God’s elect. — Satan is God’s devil, not his rival! He is God’s servant, not his error!  Pastor Don Fortner

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A BELIEVER IS A MYSTERY

The believer is a mystery to others and to himself also. He is sanctified yet feels himself to be the chief of sinners.            He loves God's law and will, yet he wrestles with an inward desire to have his own way. He has great sorrow and heaviness of heart for many reasons, yet he rejoices in the Lord always. His spirit longs to depart and be with Christ, yet his flesh clings to this earth. He knows that he is secure in Christ, yet he examines his faith continu­ally.                                Pastor Henry Mahan

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RECONCILED BY DEATH, SAVED BY LIFE

For a person to be reconciled to God, the sin that makes him God’s enemy must be dealt with to the satisfaction of divine justice. The law of God is quite explicit, “the soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezek18:4,20). But God in grace has decreed that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient, him being the Substitute for the multitude of people placed in eternal union with him before time began. Because Christ has died as the innocent victim that God decreed and shed his precious blood in which was the divine life of the God-Man, God’s justice has no outstanding case against his elect. His people’s sin is removed by Christ’s death and so God and his people are reconciled.

     But I am so glad it didn’t end there. The Lord Jesus Christ, having accomplished redemption for his people, rose from the dead and lives for evermore. And because he lives, his people live in him sanctified, qualified and destined for eternal glory. This is salvation to the uttermost; reconciled by Christ’s death that dealt with our sin but saved by his life as he lives in his people here, now and on into eternity.  Pastor Allan Jellett

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PRAY FOR GOD’S PRESENCE

Isaiah 64:1: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2: As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence.

In Isaiah’s day, the nation of Israel was in a terrible condition the same as it is in ours.  Isaiah cried that God’s presence might be known.  The one thing the true church of God needs more than anything else is the presence of God.  When the Lord makes his presence known—“the mountains flow down.”  Christ’s presence melted Abraham’s hard heart in the garden like a volcanic mountain flowing down in streams of lava. He makes the mountain of our rebellious heart flow down even as Mt. Sinai melted at his presence when he gave the law. On the cross he made the mountain of the law, with its curse and condemnation against his people, flow down in righteousness.  Knowing how the presence of our Savior melted our hearts may our earnest prayer be for God’s presence by which the “mountains flow down” that “the nations may tremble at thy presence.” 

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Here is a word from God that should brighten the day for you – "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung upon the cross, he was made to be a curse, an object of Divine wrath and Judgment, so that we who believe might never endure the curse of God's wrath. He did not simply make it possible for us to be redeemed. He did not simply make us redeemable. The text says, "Christ Hath redeemed us from the curse of the law!" This redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central theme of Holy Scripture, the foundation of our faith, and the only hope we have of eternal salvation.   Pastor Don Bell 

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When it comes to walking as becometh saints I see only failure in myself.  I do not excuse it.  I abhor it.  But God has wrought in me godly sorrow, earnestness to right the wrong, indignation against my sin, fear of offending such a good and gracious God, and a desire to take revenge on my old man of sin.  He has made me cry in my own words those same requests David cried in Psalm 51: purge me, make me hear, hide thy face from my sin, create in me a clean heart, cast me not away, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation (Ps 51: -13).

     Concerning self we should put forth effort to put off our old man and put on the new as if up to us alone.  At the same time we should ever acknowledge that we can only do so by God’s grace and power.  We should have this attitude so that we never excuse our sin but give the Holy Spirit all the glory whenever we are enabled to put off the old and put on the new.   

     Yet, concerning our brethren overtaken we should have a different spirit.  We should remember that they are righteous in Christ.  It is their old man that has overtaken them.  Only their Master is able to make them stand.  So we should love them, forgive them, and pray for them as we encourage them to turn from self to Christ. 

      In other words, toward ourselves we should be ready to take revenge on our sinful flesh while depending entirely on the Lord to make us do so.  But toward our brethren we should be “kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you”, while asking their Master to give them grace and power to stand.