April 8, 2018
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
MEETING LOCATION
251 Green Lane
Ewing, NJ, 08368
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
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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SUNDAY’S READING IN PROVERBS
Proverbs 11: 8: The righteous is
delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
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"It is true that I have sin in
me, but it is pardoned. God has forgiven me all trespasses. I stand before Him
in my Redeemer, Who undertook for me, and I am perfect in Him. The Father chose
me in His Son: He looks upon the face of His beloved, and sees me in Him. In Christ
He is well pleased, so He is with me! As He loves Christ - He loves me! This is
the glorious privilege which by faith I now enjoy. I deny sight and sense, and
I believe the Word of God! I adhere strictly to the Word of God concerning me,
believing myself to be dead indeed unto sin in Christ, and in Him absolutely
freed from guilt and condemnation. The Father is at peace with me, and He loves
me in His Son, with the same love with which He loves Christ - His Father and
my Father. With this persuasion I go to war with my corruptions. They are
fighting against everything that is dear and precious to my soul. But having
the promised grace of the almighty Savior for my help, I desire to set upon
them in His name. I am at war with sin but at peace in Christ!" William
Romaine (1714-1795)
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There is not a hint of universal
redemption in the Book of God. Every text, every prophecy, and every type in
Holy Scripture dealing with redemption declares it to be the effectual,
accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for his elect — Limited Atonement.
Pastor Don Fortner
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THE EFFECTUAL ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
Christ shedding His blood assures that every elect person will be brought to
faith in His blood. There are those who believe that their faith makes the
death of Christ effectual. That Christ died for all men without exception - as
much for one as the other - the only difference being that one believes and the
other does not. But it is not faith that makes the death of the Lord Jesus
effectual but it is the death of Christ that assures us that every elect soul
will be justified by faith in time. Listen to this Scripture; “He (God) shall see of the travail of his
(Christ) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge SHALL MY RIGHTEOUS
SERVANT JUSTIFY MANY; FOR HE SHALL BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES.” Why is any man
justified by faith? Because Jesus Christ bore his iniquities. Christ shedding
His blood assures that every elect person will be brought to faith in His
blood.
Pastor Bruce Crabtree
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I see no
reason to contradict and fuss with that professing Christian who insists that
Christ has done no more for him than he did for Judas. Maybe the poor man is
right. How can you contradict him if he is telling you the truth? I just
take him at his word and leave it at that. But don’t imagine
that Peter believed Christ did no more for him than he did for Judas.
Both men had horrible falls into sin. One betrayed Christ and the other
denied him. Christ left Judas to die in his sin and go to his own place –
to hell. Christ made intercession for Peter and delivered him from what
otherwise would have been a damnable fall. Ask Peter if Christ did more for him
than he did for Judas. Ask any believer who has truly been taught of God
and he will tell you; “If the Lord had not intervened and pleaded my cause as he
did, my sin would have damned me just as Judas’s sin damned him.’ And every God
taught sinner has lived to say with Peter, “Lord you know all things, you know
I love you.” Pastor Bruce Crabtree
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THE DEVIL’S FIRST METHOD OF ATTACK
“I will let you go, and your little ones…not
so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire.” (Ex 10: 10-11)
The third time Pharaoh that offered
Moses compromise, he said, “Leave your
little ones behind and ye that are men go.”
In the very beginning, this was the devil’s first method of attack
in the garden. He got Adam to turn his back on God using Adam’s wife. Our dearest loved ones are often used by the
devil to tempt us to depart from Christ, his gospel and his people. In fact, I
cannot think of a single believer I know that has not faced this trial in some
capacity. Years ago I knew someone who
professed to believe the gospel of particular redemption, sovereign election,
and irresistible grace. But they compromised with those who preach universal
atonement and free will because their father and mother believed it. Often, when someone denies doctrine clearly
taught in God’s word it is because father or mother, husband or wife, son or
daughter denies it. Yet, our Redeemer
will not allow even those we love most to be a point of compromise. He said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.” (Mt 10: 37) It is painful when loved ones oppose us. But a
cross always is. Still, Christ says, “And he that taketh not his cross, and
followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10: 38) Believer, take up the
cross by standing with Christ and Christ will honor it!
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LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED
Hebrews 3: 12: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13: But
exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
A hardened conscience is frightening
to think about. When I first began
playing the guitar it hurt my fingers to press the strings to make chords. But as I practiced callouses formed on my
fingers. In time I could play for hours without
hurting at all. It is the same with a
sinner. The little child’s conscience is tender. He is sickened with remorse at the least
offense against father or mother. But as years pass the more he practices sin the
more his conscience grows harder. It becomes easier to sin and easier to suppress
a guilty conscience. Unless God intervenes in irresistible grace creating in him
a new heart, in time his conscience becomes so calloused that he is incapable
of being disturbed even at the vilest evil. The professing believer who is able
to push aside rebuke he hears in the preaching of the gospel while ignoring his
conscience is hardening his heart. He grows more and more hardened until at
last his unbelief proves that God never created a new heart within him. Knowing this deceitfulness of sin, brethren, let
us continually take heed that we do not harden our hearts at even the least
rebuke we hear in the preaching of the gospel.
At the very first prick of conscience, let us turn to Christ like a little
child and confess our sins, asking Christ to direct our steps
and to keep us from the evil.
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And another angel came and stood at
the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne (Revelation 8:3).
Christ, the ever living Messenger of the covenant, the exalted Savior
and Mediator of His church, now perfumes heaven with the savor of His glorious
intercession for His people. The merit of Him being heard on our behalf is
totally according to His obedient and finished life and death in the redemption
of His people. But what comfort to a frail and needy sinner, one desiring but
always struggling to pour out his heart unto the God of all grace, to know by
faith that in the hour of our need, the sweet fragrance of His precious
intercession is added to the prayers of His people and thereby those prayers
are heard and accepted by God totally upon the merit of Christ. Pastor Marvin Stalnaker
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No believer enjoys the suffering that
comes with trials which our sovereign Savior sends. But our Savior said, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
(Jn 15: 2) As John Trapp said, “Better to be pruned to grow than cut up to be
burned.”