March 24, 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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Our gracious God blessed John and Kelsie with
a baby boy this past week. Elias James
Keller was born Tuesday, March 19, at 2:13am.
He weighs 8 lbs 2oz and is 20 inches tall. Both Kelsie and Elias are healthy—Brother
Greg C came home from the hospital. He
still has a virus so remember him as the Lord enables you.
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Gospel
preaching is the means by which God saves his elect, nourishes his children,
feeds his sheep, comforts his saints, edifies his church, and shows us his
will. To neglect the preaching of the gospel is to despise God’s ordinance,
destroy your own soul, and lead all those you influence to hell. Pastor
Don Fortner
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The
Lord Jesus Christ filling his earthen vessel with the gospel, filling his
pulpit with his earthen vessel, filling his pew with his people, filling his
house with the preaching of his gospel and filling the heart of one of his lost
sheep with his everlasting covenant is a part of Christ’s Mediatorial work the
same as is his work on the cross. Christ
has all power in glorified humanity in Zion above that he might be “the Head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that FILLETH ALL IN ALL..” “He that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he
might FILL ALL THINGS” (Eph 1: 22-23; 4: 10).
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One of
the saddest conditions I can be in is when I am convinced that the word preached
is to me personally, and though it is according to scripture, though it spoken
in love, though it is to point me to Christ, yet I only hear the voice of a man
and am offended. But the most blessed
condition I can be in is when I am convinced of the same, and though my sin
revives, though all my goodness dies, and though my tears flow, yet I hear the
voice of my Redeemer and from a heart of faith I am enabled to cry out, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the
feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth!” (Is 52:7)
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The sinner who does not worship God’s Way worships
his own.
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Communion with God
Isaiah 26:7-9
Communion with God manifests itself in
many ways. But in these verses Isaiah shows us five specific things involved in
it.
- Communion with God causes the believer
to walk in the path of righteousness (v. 7).
All
who are justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them are sanctified
by the holiness of Christ imparted to him in the new birth. Believers are new
creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), “partakers of the divine nature”
(2 Peter 1:4). That new man created in us in righteousness and true holiness
(Ephesians 4:24) is “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
And that new man walks with God in uprightness (Ephesians 4:17-23). Any
doctrine that teaches or implies that a person’s character and conduct are
unimportant, so long as he believes in Christ, is not the doctrine of Christ.
- Communion with God manifests itself in
waiting for him (v. 8).
This
waiting does not imply idleness or indifference, but faith and diligence. To
wait upon God is to believe him. Unbelief hurries and worries. Faith waits.
Unbelief is fearful and cowardly. Faith is confident and courageous. To wait
upon God is to stand upon the tiptoe of faith expecting him to fulfil his promise.
To wait upon him is to serve him (Proverbs 27:18), to do his bidding, to serve
his household, to do his will.
- Communion with God causes the believer
to desire his Lord.
“The
desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee” (v. 8). —
God’s name represents his character, his Word, and his glory. This is what we
desire to know and see. And we desire to remember him at all times, to have him
always before our hearts.
- Communion with God causes men and
women to seek him (v. 9).
The
person who trusts Christ is one who is seeking him. The person who walks with
God by faith is seeking him (Philippians 3:9-14). Constantly knowing our
ever-increasing need of our God, we seek him. And…
- Communion with God enables the
believer to learn by the providential judgments of his heavenly Father
(v. 9).
The
wicked inhabitants of the earth neither learn by God’s favor, nor by his
judgments. But the believer, while he walks in this world, walks with God and
is taught of God. He learns much by the works of God, even by the judgments of
providence.
He
learns to look upon temporal things as temporal and eternal things as eternal (2
Corinthians 4:17-18). He learns to value Christ, his people, and his gospel
aright. And he learns righteousness (Hebrews 12:11), the value of righteousness
and where righteousness is to be found — in Christ alone!
We have no righteousness but the
obedience of Christ unto death as our Substitute. We have no holiness, but the
holiness of Christ imparted to us in the new birth. And we have no communion
with God but in, by, and with Christ Jesus.
Pastor
Don Fortner
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REMEMBER
HIS HOLINESS
The
children of God find our greatest comfort knowing that “God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.” Hannah thanked God that “There is none holy as the Lord.”
When Isaiah beheld “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple” the seraphims gave humble reverence by covering face and
feet, as “one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his
glory.” The four beasts fly before
the Lord and “rest not day and night, saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” And there on the cursed tree, as our
Substitute bore the sword of divine justice in place of his people, even in the
midst of that great forsaking required to make righteousness and peace kiss, our
gracious Savior made certain that his poor people know it is the very glory of God
that he was manifesting, when he cried, “But
thou art holy, 0 thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Oh, every sinner saved by grace rejoices that
God loves us with an everlasting love.
We adore our heavenly Father for his endless tender mercies. His abundant goodness fills our hearts and
puts praise on our lips. But above all
our great High Priest instructs his people, “Sing
unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his
holiness.”
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PERFECT LOVE
1 John 4: 16: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to
us…17: Herein is our love made
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so
are we in this world. 18: There is no
fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
God works in us so that “we have known and believed the love that God
hath to us.” Herein is God’s love made
perfect within us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as Christ is loved of the Father, so are we
loved of the Father in this world. That’s
right! This is amazing but this is
true! In his high priestly prayer Christ
said “Thou hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me.” Even more amazing is that
God does not merely make us know his love by merely teaching us. He makes us know the love he hath to us by putting
his perfect love in us. Christ said, “I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare it: that the LOVE WHEREWITH THOU HAS LOVED ME MAY BE IN THEM, and I in
them” (Jn 17:26). There is no fear
in love when God has put in us the perfect love he hath to us, which is the perfect
love wherewith he loves Christ; but God’s perfect love casts out fear. He casts fear out of us because fear has
torment. Even an earthly father who loves
his children does not want them living in fear, tormented that he will cast
them out. How much more our heavenly Father! Brethren, “ye
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together” (Rom 8:15-17 ). Now, we
can live unto God with no fear of condemnation, holy and righteous before him
in Christ, even as God’s promised our father Abraham, “That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of
our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before
him, all the days of our life” (Lu 1: 74-75)