Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

February 27, 2022

Weekly Schedule of Services

Proverbs 17:25: A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

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Imagine a hospital that would have no dealings with sick people.  That is the church of the Pharisee.  When the Pharisees murmured that Christ received sinners, the great Physician told them “They that be whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.”  (Mt 9:12)  All who think they can contribute to their salvation really imagine themselves to be whole.  Therefore, they have no need of Jehovah Rapha, “I am the LORD that healeth thee.”  Christ greatly offended the Pharisees in that day and still does in this day when they hear Christ speak to them through the preaching of the gospel, saying, “But go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Mt 9:13) “Ah, but once we repent then it is a co-effort between us and Christ!”, says the Pharisee.  By that they reveal they still have not learned what it meaneth.  Repentance is the continual call of Mercy whereby the believing sinner is continually coming to the great Physician who alone heals.

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“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 Jn. 1:2  Being in good physical health is something that every man naturally desires, but while we’re all striving to maintain good health, we still behold ourselves getting older and weaker. But when a believer begins to contemplate how healthy he truly is, in Christ, he’s got great reason to rejoice. He’s had an old stony heart removed and a new heart of flesh imparted. He has new eyes to see something of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and new ears to hear the glorious voice of the Savior that speaks to His own. The believer is now spiritually alive in Christ and he shall never die (Jn. 11:26). O, may the Holy Spirit give us more understanding as to how healthy we are in Him.                  

–Marvin Stalnaker

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“He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.” Is. 42:4

There is a beautiful song in our hymnal titled: “How Great Thou Art.” The third verse of that song says, “And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in – that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin…Then sings my soul!” Once salvation is revealed to a child of God, from that moment forward the soul of that child sings the glory and greatness of the God who saved him or her. The body may break, but the soul will never stop singing! The heart may ache, but the soul will never stop singing! Everything about the physical, mental, and emotional state of the child may be silenced under the overwhelming weight and oppression of sin but knowing what the blood of Christ has done for sinners will cause the soul of that child to never stop singing, “My Savior God, to Thee; How great Thou art, How great Thou art!”         

–Gabe Stalnaker

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“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

     Men live on the earth and divide it into countries ruled over by kings. They divide it into states and territories and give them names. They divide the land among themselves into farms and ranches, and issue deeds of ownership. But the earth is not man’s; it is the Lord’s. He said, “Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine” (Job 41:11).

     Men are but tenants, subject to eviction at any moment. The great land-owner and sovereign sits in the heavens and laughs at the title deeds of these worms in the dust. “The fullness thereof” may mean the fullness of its entirety; its wealth, its life, its past, present, and future. The SEA is full of water, despite all the creatures, despite all that feed upon it. The AIR is full, notwithstanding all the lungs that breathe it. The SOIL is full, though billions of trees, plants, and vegetables derive nourishment from it.

     All the earth and all that dwell on the earth belong to the Lord Jesus. They are His sons or His servants; they are His sheep or His goats; they are His vessels of mercy or His vessels of wrath; but all are His. And here is the chief reason, given in verse 2 of the same Psalm: “For He hath founded it.” HE CREATED IT! He has the right to do with His own what he will. O that men would be wise and praise the Lord, kiss the Son, and bow before Him in worship and subjection. “There is no want to them who fear the Lord and wait upon Him.”

–Henry Mahan

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LIFE AND REST

Matthew 12:1: At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

Christ is our Sabbath because he is our Rest and our Life.  The Lord led the disciples through this cornfield on the sabbath day on purpose.  He did it to teach them (and us) that he is our Rest and our Life.  Luke says, “it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first,…” (Lu 6:1) Like Christ is the last Adam after the first, like he is the second Covenant after the first, so Christ is the second Sabbath after the first.  He was eternally before all three. Scripture says, “He taketh away the first that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:9).

     The Lord is our Sabbath Rest because he is our Life. We have eternal life because Christ is our righteousness. Eternal life is righteousness.  Scripture says, “if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness.” (Rom 8:10) Christ is our Life because he is our Righteousness.

     Not only is Christ our Life, he provides all for our temporal life.  Everything necessary for life is from Christ’s hand. The world is his. That cornfield was his.  These disciples were his.  He led them through the cornfield on the sabbath day because he knew his disciples were hungry. So he provided them corn.  He knew they needed to be reminded that he is their Sabbath-rest so he did this on the sabbath day to teach them he is the Sabbath rest of the believer.

     These two things are connected: Rest and Life. Christ is our Rest because he is our Life and Christ is our Life because he is our Rest. Knowing Christ is all to us spiritually and know Christ provides all for our temporal life, we have rest. We know he has and shall provide all (Jn 6:35; Ps 37:25).

     Oh, what rest to have the assurance that Christ is our Life.  He has and shall provide all.  Therefore, Christ is our Rest!