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September 20, 2015
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
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. Check the announcements.
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All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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THE BODY OF SIN AND DEATH
We are repeatedly told, that the carnal mind, and the natural man, and the body flesh, and the like; are not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can be. (See Rom 8:5 and chapter.) I am well aware, it hath been supposed by some,…that when the Holy Ghost…is thus speaking of the inability of the natural man to receive the things of God, and that the carnal mind is enmity against God; the Lord is supposed to allude to his Church and people, during the time of their unregeneracy. But here is the mistake. The natural man, the body of sin and death, is, and must be unavoidably, the same in nature, after a work of grace hath passed upon the soul, as before. It is wholly nature, wholly the same mass of flesh and blood. If the body was made holy, as the soul is, by regeneration, it would be no longer liable to corruption, whereas, the hourly tendencies of the body, by reason of sin, is to its original dust. Hence, in distinction to this, when the Apostle Peter is relating to the Church, the blessedness of their being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, he adds, which liveth and abideth forever, 2Pet 1:21. Had the Apostle considered the body of believers included in this new birth of the soul; the body, no more than the soul, would any longer be the subject of corruption. And Paul, in confirmation of the same, more than twenty years after his regeneration, speaking of himself, and his body of sin and death, which he carried about with him, and in which he said dwelt no good thing; declared, that he was carnal, and sold under sin, Rom 7:14. I venture to conclude, in what I am sure every child of God in their experience, as well as Paul, cannot but join issue; that in the blessed act of regeneration, it is the spiritual part that is renewed, and not the carnal. While God the Holy Ghost quickens the soul, which was before dead in trespasses and sins; the body, still remains in the unrenewed state of fallen nature. Grace works not upon the old man, while the new man after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Not an atom of the body is sanctified; and not an atom of the soul, left unholy.
Blessed be God! the hour is hastening, when this mass of sin and corruption; which now interrupts the soul, will interrupt her no more. To the grave it is daily going. And there, (saith the soul in her best hours,) let it go. From thence, it will arise, by the power of the Lord Jesus, to whom, notwithstanding all its unworthiness; it is united a glorified body, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish, Eph 5:27; Phil 3:21. Robert Hawker
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THE LORD IS MY INHERITANCE
Christ says, “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance.” (Ps 16: 5) Christ Jesus had contentment in the LORD God from the LORD God. Christ looked to the future joy of his inheritance when his Father would be glorified and Christ glorified in him, together with his people. This is why Christ was about his Father’s business until he said, “It is finished!”
Brethren, everything we possess in this life shall be taken from us in the day of death. No inheritance in this world is lasting. But we are God’s inheritance in Christ, “For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.” (Ps 135: 4) Therefore, as the LORD said to Christ our High Priest, God says to us who Christ has made priests, “Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.” (Nu 18: 20)
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THE LORD IS THE PORTION OF MY CUP
Christ Jesus said, “The LORD is the portion…of my cup.” (Ps 16: 5) This is pictured in the old testament. God provided every daily need for his priests, the children of Levi. (Nu 18: 21) Though they were the least of the tribes, they had the greatest daily portion of the land without any labor by their hands.
Brethren, every blessing God gives us is not due to our works but by Christ our Savior. Everything God provided his priests were sacrifices which had been offered to God. Those offerings pictured Christ. Christ offered himself to God for us therefore God fills our cup with every spiritual blessing. Christ and his people are God’s inheritance as were those sacrifices and God is ours as it was with the children of Levi. (Deut 18:1-2)
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THE SECRET TO CONTENTMENT
Ps 16: 5: The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 6: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 7: I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8: Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 9: I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
The man speaking is a contented man. Is there anyone who wants to know the secret to contentment? Who is this happy man that speaks in this Psalm? The apostle Peter quoted from verse 8 declaring the contented man in this Psalm is the GodMan, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 2: 25)
Did the circumstances of our Lord’s life make him content? No. Scripture says he is “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” (Is 53: 3) He owned no property in this earth. Yet he said, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” What few friends he had left him when he needed them most. Yet he says, “My heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:” Our affliction is light compared to Christ’s suffering. So if Christ, who had the most sorrowful life that any man ever had, could have contentment then it must be possible for us to have the same, whose lives are not nearly as bitter as his. What, then, is this secret of contentment?
1) Contentment is to have the LORD as the portion of our inheritance and our daily provision, maintaining us now and forever—v5: The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
2) Contentment is resting in the truth that Christ’s providence falls unto us in every detail of our lives as it pleases him and that he reserves for us a heavenly inheritance—v6: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
3) Contentment is having the LORD to counsel us in the inward man through his gospel--v7: I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
4) Contentment is knowing we have our sovereign Redeemer always before us and at our right hand and that by his righteousness and power we shall never be moved—v9: I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Even in the midst of bearing our sins on the cross, these are the blessings that made our Substitute say, v8 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. By God’s grace giving us these blessing we can say the same with great contentment.
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