Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

October 16, 2022

 Weekly Schedule of Services

Proverbs 19: 10: Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

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If Jesus Christ is made to me all that I need, then what am I worried about? Col 2:10 “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power…”                                                       

 –John Chapman

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Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. (Psalm 115:3-4)

Let me ask: if it be so very absurd to worship the work of other men’s hands, what must it be to worship the work of our own hands? Perhaps you say, "God forbid that I should do so." Nevertheless, let me tell you: trust, confidence, reliance and dependence for salvation are all acts, and very solemn ones too, of divine worship and upon whatsoever you depend, whether in whole or in part, for your acceptance with God and for your justification in His sight, whatsoever you rely upon and trust in for the attainment of grace or glory, if it be anything short of God in Christ, you are an idolater to all intents and purposes.

–Augustus Toplady

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Whenever thou who believest in Jesus doth hear the law in its thundering and lightning fits, as if it would burn up heaven and earth, then say thou, I am freed from this law, these thunderings have nothing to do with my soul; nay, even this law, while it thus thunders and roareth, it doth both allow and approve of my righteousness [Psalm 71:16]. I know that Hagar would sometimes be domineering and high, even in Sarah’s house, and against her; but this she is not to be suffered to do, nay, though Sarah herself be barren: wherefore serve it also as Sarah served her, and expel her out of thy house. [Beloved] my meaning is, when this law with its thundering threatenings doth attempt to lay hold on thy conscience, shut it out with a promise of grace; cry, The inn is taken up already, the Lord Jesus is here entertained, and here is no room for the law. Indeed if it will be content with being my informer, and so lovingly leave off to judge me, I will be content, it shall be my sight, I will also delight therein; but otherwise, I being now made upright without it, and that too with that righteousness which this law speaks well of and approveth, I may not, will not, cannot, dare not, make it my saviour and judge, nor suffer it to set up its government in my conscience; for by so doing I fall from grace, and Christ Jesus doth profit me nothing. [AMEN!]        

–John Bunyan

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THY GOD REIGNETH!

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7)

    “How many preachers can you listen to and hear of a sovereign, reigning God?  And is any news good news to an old guilty sinner which does not have its foundation in such a God?   No, absolutely not.  Nothing can speak peace to the heart of a Holy Spirit made sinner unless it comes from the God of sovereign purpose and sovereign grace.  Such a sinner has ‘no confidence in the flesh’.  He is fearful of himself and distrusts himself; and needs to hear of a salvation which is planned, provided and carried out to its final, eternal consummation by a faithful God Who cannot and will not fail.  He is too much like old Peter and must often hear his Master say, ‘I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.’   What he is in himself would soon turn his hope into despair, but he rests his sinful soul in the ‘SURE MERCIES OF DAVID.’  And as his own unfaithfulness looms up before him, he says with David of old, ‘YET God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and SURE: and this is all my salvation and all my desire.’  Only the salvation of a sovereign, reigning God can speak peace to this sinner’s heart.  ‘THY GOD REIGNETH!’ is good news to me.”

–Maurice Montgomery

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The tabernacle vessels were sanctified by God choosing them as are God’s elect by God choosing us in Christ. They were sanctified by the blood of a lamb as are God’s elect by the blood of Christ Jesus our Redeemer. Then they were sanctified by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on those vessels as are God’s elect by the Holy Spirit purging our conscience in the new birth (Hebrews 9: 18-28)

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The old covenant had glory hence Moses face shined when descending from the mount.  The new covenant has much more glory.  The Spirit of the Lord makes us behold Christ, creating a new man within in the image of Christ. Thus the Spirit liberates us from the glory of the old to the greater glory of the new covenant of life (2 Cor 3: 18).  This is why when Stephen preached the gospel to those who stoned him his face shined like an angel (Acts 6:15).

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Six Signs of Trouble

Every true believer fears the removal of God’s presence and power. David prayed, “Take not thy Spirit from me.” Paul feared that, “while preaching to others, I might become a castaway.” My thoughts are that this condition is manifested in the following ways:

1.      We begin to experience no blessing nor benefit from the reading or preaching of the Word. When the Word ceases to convict, rebuke, burn in my heart, and cause me to rejoice in Christ, then God is not speaking to me; for God speaks through his Word.

2.      We are in trouble when we feel satisfied with our spiritual progress and become puffed up with knowledge. We become authorities instead of learners; having arrived, our humble spirit is in creed alone, not experience.

3.      We can be absent from the fellowship of believers and worship of the Lord without feeling a great loss and an empty heart.  A man who can be warmed by his own fire is either dead or dying spiritually.

4.      We begin to be critics and find fault with others. The Spirit of God leads a man to feel that he is “less than the least,” “chief of sinners.” When the Spirit of God is not present, we become judges and fault-finders.

5.      When our souls are not vexed by the sin within us and the conversation of men about us, when we can feel comfortable in the presence of those who never knew our God, when we can conform to the ways of natural men and the trend of materialism, the light of God is dim or extinguished.

6.      When our thoughts become self-centered and the general welfare, well-being, and joy of others is of no great concern to us, we are certainly not motivated by the Spirit of God. Selfishness, like self-righteousness, is not of God. The heart filled with God’s love and grace dwells on others; to make them happy is to be happy. 

– Henry Mahan