Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 9-8-2019
Bible Text1 Corinthians 1:9
Date07-Sep-2019
Article Type Bulletin
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Fellowship of Jesus Christ (32 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Fellowship of Jesus Christ (128 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
 
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

 
Services Broadcast Live @ www.FreeGraceMedia.com/live

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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. 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The videos are now listed as individual sermons, as well as full servicesclick here.
 
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Proverbs 13: 22: A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

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THAT I MAY WIN CHRIST

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Phil. 3:8.

What does it mean to WIN CHRIST? It doesn't mean that we can win His favor, or win His blessings by some act that we do, nor does it mean that we can win His special attention and get Him to do something special for us because we have done something to receive special treatment from Him. 

     That can't possibly be what it means; for that is earning not winning Christ. You may say, "Well, preacher, if it doesn't mean these things, what does it mean?"

     When the apostle talked about his desire to WIN CHRIST, I believe he meant mainly one thing. It was that Christ Himself was the prize; Christ Himself was the goal for him. Christ became all in all. 

     In the light of our Lord's glorious Person and His accomplished redemption, Paul counted everything else but dung and rubbish; willing to lose all, his own ambition, opportunities and attainments in the world. He counted anything that would detract from Christ's glory that would hinder his conformity to His Lord as loss.           

     Our Lord Jesus Himself said it like this, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake and the gospel's the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:35-36). 

     "If you don't count all loss for Christ in this world, it will be your eternal loss."  
                                                                                                             Pastor Don Bell

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CALLED UNTO THE FELLOWSHIP
 
1 Corinthians 1: 9: God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
Union with Christ is the only way we can have spiritual life.  Christ said,  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (Jn 15: 4-5)  The branch does not give life to the root but the root the branch. So it is when God the Father calls us into fellowship with Christ. We receive spiritual life from Christ the Life (Jn 17: 21-23)  Believer, you are a “habitation of God through the Spirit!”
  
     This is as amazing, as it is essential, when God forms Christ in us then we become “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Pet 1: 4) Only by partaking of Christ’s divine nature do we escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  We partake of all that Christ is and all that he accomplished by his obedience.  This blessing of the last Adam is figured in the first.  When Adam broke the law, all Adam’s children were in Adam’s loins.  Therefore, we all became unrighteous by Adam’s disobedience. Once born of Adam, we became partakers of Adam’s sinful nature. The result is our nature is enmity against God.  So all the credit goes to Adam for making us unrighteous and unholy by his disobedience.  
  
     Likewise, when Christ fulfilled the law, all his children were in Christ’s loins.  Therefore, we became righteous by Christ’s obedience.  Once born of Christ, we became partaker of Christ’s holy nature. So Christ gets all the glory for making us righteous and holy by his obedience (Rom 5: 19).  The result is that we believe and confess Christ and love God and our brethren. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1Jo 4:10-16).
 
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THE FELLOWSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD
 
1 Corinthians 1: 9: God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
When God gives us the same faith, by the same Spirit, by the same Truth, by the same grace then “we have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” and “fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn 1: 3-7).
 
     The fellowship of believers is in God’s Son, Jesus Christ in the gospel. (Php 1: 5)  Having been given the Light of Christ, we have “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5: 11).  Christ is the tie that binds us in Spirit and in Truth.  Fellowship with Christ means each believer jointly partakes of everything that Christ possesses. When the Son of God took on him the seed of Abraham under the law, his life was our life, his suffering our suffering, his death our death, his resurrection our resurrection. Now, through the new birth and faith in Christ, we experience the truth that his righteousness is our righteousness, his holiness our holiness, his acceptance with the Father our acceptance, his inheritance our inheritance—“ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).   Every chosen, redeemed, regenerated child of God is one, even as Christ and the Father are one!  This is what makes our assembly a peaceful place. We are not in competition with each other. We are not trying to earn better rewards than one another.  We are one!  Therefore, we “fellowship in ministering to the saints” (2 Cor 8: 4). We seek the good of one another.  When one suffers, we all suffer; when one rejoices, we all rejoice.  
  
    Knowing what great inseparable unity God has graciously given us in and by his Son, Christ Jesus our Lord, let us endeavor to keep this precious unity.  “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor 1: 10).  How could we do otherwise, knowing that it is through the precious blood of our Redeemer who laid down his life for us that God has called us unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord!