Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

February 12, 2023

 Weekly Schedule of Services

Proverbs 19:27: Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

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The paradox of the mystery of godliness is that the way to purity and peace of conscious is through the God-given consciousness of corruption in ourselves and righteousness only in Christ.  By this God keeps us coming to the Fountain open for sin and uncleanness.  For God’s child, it never ceases this side of heaven.

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A baby bird will not leap from the nest and fly until it is made uncomfortable in the nest.  A sinner will never fly to Christ until God makes us know our sin.  This is what keeps the believer coming to Christ. Repentance is toward God.  When God makes us dissatisfied with our present condition and makes us behold that Christ alone meets our need then we fly to Christ like a bird from the nest.

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Our Savior told the Pharisee’s that hell would be more tolerable for publicans and harlots than for the self-righteous.  The nature of self-righteousness is to not see sin in self only others.  It is not sin that keeps the sinner from coming to Christ, it is self-righteousness.

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Faith is grown by the grace and knowledge of Christ in the grace and knowledge of Christ.  It was by hearing of Christ’s faithfulness to us that God gave us faith.  It is how God increases faith. He makes faith stand, not in our power, but in the power of God (1 Cor 2:4-5)

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SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

     While it is true that when comparing men, some are more righteous than others; that is an undeniable fact. Judah said concerning Tamar, “She is more righteous than I.” There are countless examples of this we have all seen in each of our lives. However, this is not how God sees. “All things are naked and open to Him with whom we have to do.” God sees things as they are. “And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That being the case, self-righteousness is a contradiction in terms. Self-righteousness is the greatest oxymoron imaginable. It is only when a man sees who God is that he sees this about himself. When a man sees this about himself, he will trust the righteousness of Christ as his righteousness before God. He knows his self-righteousness to be nothing but filthy rags before God. 

–Todd Nibert

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Afflictions are as nails, driven by the hand of grace, which crucify us to the world. The husbandman ploughs his lands, and the gardener prunes his trees, to make them fruitful. The jeweler cuts and polishes his diamonds, to make them shine the brighter. The refiner flings his gold into the furnace, that it may come out the purer. And God afflicts his people, to make them better. “To thank God for mercies,” said a pious divine of the last century, “is the way to increase them: to thank him for miseries, is the way to remove them. – Afflictions are then blessings to us, when we can bless God for afflictions: whose single view, in causing us to pass through the fire, is only to separate the sin he hates from the soul he loves.” And, in all his dealings with them, let them remember, that, though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion.

–Augustus Toplady

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When our old fleshly nature causes a believer to become proud, Christ sends the word into our heart and brings his child low.  If need be, our Sovereign sends some painful providence.  The effectual result will be that Christ causes his child to “stand by faith.”

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WAITING ON THE LORD

“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning” (Psalm 130:5-6).

Waiting on the Lord does not imply idleness on the part of the believer. His people are active in the kingdom of God; zealous of good works (Titus 2:14); diligent about their Father’s business (Luke 2:49); vigorous in spreading the gospel by whatever means the Lord supplies (Acts 5:41- 42).  Our God highly disapproves of idleness; “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1).

       However, we do wait on Him for direction, open doors, liberty, wisdom, and for results. Here is the source, strength and the sweetness of our waiting, “In His WORD I do hope.” His WORD is always successful (Isaiah 55:11); His WORD is always true (Psalm 33:4); His WORD is living (John 1:14) and powerful (Heb. 4:12). The apostle Paul declared that he labored hard in preaching the WORD, but he waited on the Lord for the results. Listen to what he said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6). Let us be diligent laborers in the kingdom of God, always striving to preach the WORD, Jesus Christ, but let us be just as diligent to wait on the Lord for the results. His blessings are worth waiting for (1 Cor. 1:30).

–Tom Harding

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2 Corinthians 1:14: As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Our rejoicing is in Christ for the grace our Savior has bestowed upon us.  We rejoice in our brethren that Christ made them rejoice in him. He made them rest in Christ as their Righteousness and Holiness. He made them faithful to Christ and faithful to his people.  Rejoicing in them we rejoice in HIM.