October 28, 2018
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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ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Men, as you cut the grass now, we are mainly only mulching leaves
so be sure to blow the leaves into the yard before you cut. If the grass looks fine then just blow the
leaves into a small area so you can mulch them without having to cut the whole
yard. Thank you for taking care of this
each week throughout the year. You have
managed to keep the yard looking very good.
This morning Brother Scott
Keller and Brother Kevin Thacker will be bringing the messages. I am scheduled to preach in the conference at
Grace Baptist Church in Lewisville, Arkansas where Brother Darvin Pruitt is
pastor, alongside Brothers Bruce Crabtree and David Eddmenson.
Next week for our first
Sunday lunch together, we will have a Thanksgiving themed meal. We hope all can stay and enjoy that.
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SUNDAY’S READING IN
PROVERBS
Proverbs 12: 9: He that is despised, and hath a servant, is
better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.
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A LOVING HUSBAND
It is easy to submit to
someone who loves our sacrificially. For
a man to insist that his wife submit to his authority without earning her
respect by putting her needs before his own, can only cause resentment. The Lord proved His love for His wife by
giving Himself for her. He always speaks
kindly to her. He is always tender and
patient with her. He reminds her
constantly how precious she is to Him. She
in return, delights in submission to His loving authority. “Husbands
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it”
(Ephesians 5:22-33). Pastor Greg Elmquist
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“HE SHALL NOT FAIL”
Isaiah 42:4
We trust an undefeated and undefeatable Savior. — “He shall not
fail!” The Son of God can never be frustrated in his purpose, defeated in
his design, or hindered in his work. Christ was not conquered at Calvary. He
conquered. He did not die as the helpless victim of circumstances. He died as
the Lord of all things, the one who rules all circumstances. And he will not be
defeated in the end. — “He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be
satisfied!” The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a
miscarriage. The Lion of the tribe of Judah must prevail. The Word of God
universally proclaims the infallible efficacy of Christ’s atonement. That which
the Son of God accomplished at Calvary was an effectual atonement for all the
sins of God’s elect. The gospel of God is the revelation of the glorious,
absolute, saving efficacy of Christ’s atonement. All for whom the Son of God
suffered the wrath of God shall be made the righteousness of God in him! Pastor Don
Fortner
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GOD’S SOVEREIGN GRACE
I often speak of God’s sovereign grace. But some people are
not familiar with this term, although God’s people have used it for centuries.
I have been asked “What is God’s sovereign grace?”
The doctrine of God’s sovereign grace
combines the doctrines of His sovereignty and His grace.
The doctrine of God’s sovereignty
teaches that God is the Lord of all (Deuteronomy 10:17; 1 Timothy 6:15).
God alone does as He pleases, unaided and unhindered by any one or thing (Psalm
115:3; 135:6; Isaiah 46:10; Daniel 4:35). And God never fails (Luke 1:37;
18:27). For there is nothing too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:27, 17, Job 42:2).
The doctrine of God’s grace
teaches that God saves sinners through His unmerited favor to them, totally
apart from any work performed by them or any virtue found in them (Ephesians
2:8f; Titus 3:4-6; Romans 9:16).
The doctrine of God’s sovereign
grace, which combines His sovereignty and His grace, teaches that God is
sovereign in dispensing His grace to the recipients of His salvation. He may
give it and save, or He may withhold it and harden. He declares, “I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I
will have compassion” (Exodus 33:19). “... Therefore He has mercy [or grace]
on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Romans 9:15-18).
The doctrine of God’s sovereign
grace is denied by those who preach its opposite, the doctrine of man’s
“free will” in salvation. They aver that man’s “free will” determines
whether or not God’s will to save sinners succeeds or is thwarted. They thereby
deny God’s sovereignty, omnipotence, grace, and His very deity.
If God hardens their hearts – like
He hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Romans 9:15-18) – they deserve it!
We who know the bondage of our will
to sin and Satan, and desire salvation from them, and acknowledge that our own
works will not save us, plead for God’s sovereign grace. Will you? Missionary
Daniel E Parks
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TWO DIFFERENT PORTIONS
Isaiah 57: 6: Among the smooth stones of the stream is
thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a
drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?...12: I
will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
This is God’s word to idolaters in Israel.
The majority forsook the Rock of salvation to worship the “smooth stones of the stream.”
Under the old covenant, God used images
and ceremonies to show types and figures of Christ. We no longer use images because Christ has
come as the fulfillment of those types and shadows. But even then the believer worshipped God
only through faith in Christ (Heb 11: 13). For instance, Jacob built an altar of stones. But the altar typified Christ our Altar
through whom the believer must come to God and Jacob came to God through faith
in Christ. (Heb 13: 9) But those without the Spirit of God only saw altars of
stone, ceremonies and offerings. They imitated
the form. But they worshipped the form and
the god of their imagination. The same happens
today. Suppose two people use the same form
of worship: each comes to a building on Sunday, each sings, each appears to pray
and each hears a sermon preached. While one truly worships God by the Spirit,
the other worships his coming to a church building, his singing and hearing. He imagines his god is pleased with his form
of religion. But the true and living God
looks on the heart. He says it is idolatry
the same as worshipping a stone. Many who
justly condemn the use of images, worship the works of their own hands by claiming
they give themselves life or bring themselves to Christ or make themselves
righteous and/or holy by their obedience to the law. It is the same idolatry as worshipping a
stone. God says, “Should I receive comfort in these…I will declare thy righteousness, and
thy works; for they shall not profit thee.” God says the idolater’s
inheritance is the object he worships.
The believer has but one object of worship,
Christ Jesus our Sure Foundation (Is 28: 16).
He is the Foundation Stone laid by God our Father who elected his Son
and his people in his Son in eternity. The
Lord Jesus is our “tried stone” tried by God under the law, under temptation, on
the cruel cross and found faithful, righteous and holy. He is our “precious
corner stone” because by his precious blood he redeemed God’s elect from the
curse of the law, making us his purchased possession, never to be lost. Christ alone is our acceptance with God, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is
laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3: 11).
Like the idolater, God has made the object of our worship to be our
inheritance, “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot” (Ps 16:5; Nu 18: 20; Deut 18: 1-2).
The lesson in this passage is that every
man’s inheritance shall be the object of his worship. The idolater worships self. Therefore, he shall inherit eternal separation
from God under the wrath of God with sinners like himself. God’s saints worship Christ. Therefore, we shall inherit Christ and eternal
life with him. God’s people are so one
with Christ that Christ is not only our inheritance and we are his. We say, “The
LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lam 3: 24). While scripture says, “the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is
the lot of his inheritance.” (Deut 32: 9).
May God make Christ the sole object of our
worship now and forever!