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
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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 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.