April 28, 2019
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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Proverbs
13: 6: Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but
wickedness overthroweth the sinner.
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Divine sovereignty, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the certain
preservation of God’s elect are like salt and pepper and bread and butter on
the table. Wherever the gospel feast is spread they are always on table. Pastor Don Fortner
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Believers love one another by believing on
Christ, by abiding in the doctrine of Christ and by persevering unto the end
doing so. The apostle John addressed his
brethren as those “whom I love in the
truth…for the truth’s sake” (2 Jn 1-2). Brethren,
we were once like Cain; we hated the brethren because of the truth. But now that God has made us pass from death
to life, we love the brethren because of the truth.
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HE IS
A LIAR
1 John 4: 20: If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
John
declares the certainty that God makes his child love our brethren. The apostle boldly calls men liars who say
they love God who they have not seen, when they do not love God’s image before
their eyes, that is, believers created after God’s image. Most preachers in our day are self-sent flesh-pleasers
who would not dare preach with John’s boldness.
The self-saved they pander to are so thin-skinned they can only hear kid-glove
ambiguity rather than dogmatic truth.
But if ever a sinner hears God’s preacher and the Spirit of God quickens
him to see himself a liar, he finds that preacher has shown him true love
because he preached the truth boldly to him.
Thank God for giving his preachers and giving them boldness to speak the
truth in unmistakable clarity. And thank
God for giving his people love in our hearts for God as well as for our brethren
whom we love in the truth and for the truth’s sake!
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PREACHING OR MEDDLING
True preaching strikes at the heart of the
hearer. When Paul spoke to Felix and his
wife Drusilla, he spoke of righteousness, temperance and judgment. When John
the Baptist spoke to Herod, he told him it was not lawful for him to have his
brother’s wife. Were they preaching or meddling? If we are to be honest with
men and women, we must strike at their hearts, we must take the word of God and
apply it to sinners where they live, which is in their hearts, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”
We cannot preach in generalities but in truth and reality. Listen to Paul. “Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1Cor. 6:9-11 Yes, such were some of you and some of you
still are. And it is to you who still are I say, repent and flee to Jesus
Christ who can wash away all sin.
Pastor John Chapman
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MARVEL NOT
Cain and Able were not only brothers physically
but each professed to be brothers
spiritually. There was no way to tell
this was not the case. More than likely Cain
assembled at the place of worship for many years as a professing believer right alongside Abel. Cain came all those years with his bloodless
offering while Abel came with the blood of a lamb. But God only tells us about one day when Cain’s
attitude changed toward Abel. His issue
with Abel festered until at last Cain could not contain his heart. He killed that one he once pretended to love. What happened? On that day God made Cain hear the gospel. God declared that Cain’s works were evil and that
his brother’s works were righteous. After
years of feigning love, God stripped away Cain’s false refuge. There was nothing Cain could do to hide his
carnal heart. It was enmity against God. Therefore, it was enmity against God’s child.
Brethren, hear God’s word! When a
professing believer’s attitude changes so that we become their enemy, do not
marvel. Until God gave us life to love
salvation by Christ, apart from our works, we had the same enmity against God
in our minds. We loved the world and
hated God’s people. It is only by God’s irresistible
grace in the new birth that we have passed from death to life. Only by God giving us a heart to rejoice in
God’s free justification by the blood of Christ do we have love in our hearts
for brethren who confess their works vanity and love the gospel of Christ our
Redeemer. So do not be amazed if the
world hates you. Instead, be amazed that
we do love the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to
life because nothing short of God’s grace forming Christ in our hearts could make
us love those who love that salvation is by God’s grace alone, in Christ alone,
through faith alone. “For this is the message that ye heard from
the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother. And wherefore slew he
him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not,
my brethren, if the world hate you. We
know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1
Jn 3: 11-14)
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THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO THIS MONTH
Around thirty-five years ago this month, God
made me willing to confess faith in Christ in believer’s baptism. As I thought on this, several things came to mind.
One, I am amazed how quickly thirty-five years have passed; yesterday, I
was that teenager being baptized; now here I am in my fiftieth year. Seek God while he may be found because this
life truly is “a vapor, that appeareth
for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (Ja 4:14; Is 55:6-8 )
Also, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness. At the time God first gave me ears to hear, there
were older, middle-aged and younger preachers who faithfully preached the
gospel of Christ to me. All these years
later, some of those preachers are with the Lord; the middle-aged and younger
preachers are now the older; and Christ has raised up more under-shepherds providing
his church faithful preachers as he promised (Jer 3:15; 23:4; Eph 4: 11-12). God has kept the majority of my brethren who
confessed faith in Christ so that they either departed this life in faith or
are still assembling, rejoicing in Christ even as we did from the beginning. Many are now sick; some even know they are
dying and will be with the Lord soon; but their witness to the faithfulness of
God and the sufficiency of his grace overflows my heart with gratitude, reminding
me that we serve a covenant-keeping God who faithfully fulfills all his
promises.
Then,
I think of our victorious Redeemer. Knowing
the cause of our aging, sickness and death, I am comforted to know that Christ
so thoroughly saves his people from our sins that when my dear brethren drop
the body of this death, they shall awake face-to-face with our Redeemer and
know him even as he now knows them; our glorious Savior shall even raise their corrupt
bodies incorruptible; they shall worship our Beloved uninterrupted forever and
ever all because Christ Jesus our Lord is the victorious Redeemer who never
loses one of his redeemed.
These days my heart aches like never before for loved ones who do not
know our Savior; I pray that if it be God’s will, he will draw them to cast all
their care on Christ that we might rejoice together as brethren at the feet of
our Savior. But at the same time, God
comforts my heart as I behold young believers marrying believers and choosing
to raise their children under the preaching of the gospel. I love to look out over this congregation to
see young couples looking into God’s word together as I preach. If you are a young believer waiting because
you want to marry a believer, I commend you.
Wait on the Lord!
Today,
more than ever, I am grateful to God for brothers and sisters in Christ. You cannot put a price on God’s gift of
brethren who by God’s grace are willing to suffer for Christ’s sake so that
they are there to defend you, comfort you and be a true friend when you need them. Brothers and sisters, God has truly blessed
us with unsearchable riches in his Son.
I hope these few words will cause you to join me in thanking God for the
multitude of his tender mercies. After
thirty-five years, the fact that I, the greatest of all sinners, still believe the
same gospel of God’s grace, is a testimony that truly, God’s mercies are new
every morning; great is the faithfulness of our God.