December 31, 2017
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 10: 20: The tongue of
the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little
worth. 21: The lips of the
righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
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Brethren, I thank you for another good
year. God has given you a faithful,
loving, generous spirit. I thank God every day for you and ask God’s mercies
upon you. We have so much to be thankful
for as we come to the end of a year. As
we thank God for those things remember that some are suffering from various
trials; cease not to pray for brethren. My
prayer for the upcoming year is that God would increase our desire, not only to
assemble to hear the gospel preached, but also to read His word with hearts to
seek Christ. May we do so for our
personal benefit but also teaching our children.
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We live in a day when we are to have charity for every
body and everything but God and truth, and when we are to have none for them.
Men are to be allowed to reject truth, and set up something or anything to
oppose it, and we must have charity for them, but none for the truth itself;
but this is not the charity of the gospel, for that rejoiceth in the truth. William Gadsby (1773-1844)
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Certainly it is a strange security
that possesseth the hearts of men, when we are obliged to suffer the vengeance
of the wrath of the eternal God by our many sins, and yet can sleep quietly. Thomas
Manton (1620-1677)
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One of
the key points that differentiates the religion of works and the religion of
grace is that the religion of works declares what the sinner must do to accept
the Lord Jesus while the religion of grace declares what the Lord Jesus has
done for God to accept the sinner.
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Vanity of Things -- “And
the devil, taking Him (Christ) up into an high mountain, shewed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, ‘All
this power will I give thee and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto
me; and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all
shall be thine.’ ”Luke 4:5-7
We cannot fully
understand what power has been given to Satan by our Lord, yet the Lord does
not dispute what he says here. Apparently it is somewhat in the
power of the devil to bestow material things upon some. These things are what
he uses to take us captive and worship him, the god of riches, possession,
things. And these things, the things of the world, are what most people
strive for and live for; perishing things, which consume us and make us
idolaters, which leads to our destruction.
We are warned “love
not the world nor the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.” And since most of us have many things,
we are again warned, “If riches increase, set not your heart upon
them.” Therefore, it is not necessarily a blessing of God to
have an abundance of things.
Oh that we could
see things as they are; see things as the Lord sees them and was not in
the least tempted by them. It is significant that these things were
viewed from “an high mountain.” Perhaps that is how we
need to view things.
If you have
ever traveled by airplane then you have been afforded a ‘bird’s-eye-view’
of things. You have seen things the way our Lord saw them . . . the way
we should view them. I recently flew a long way over many different
states, in which were all manner of things to be seen. Way down
there I saw all the things that people love and live for. There
were houses by the sea, which looked like little cottages which could be so
easily swept away by the ocean which came so precariously close. There
were farms with animals grazing, where the finest horse could not be
distinguished from a mule. There were huge playgrounds and sporting
fields, where everyone looked like little ants scurrying around needlessly, and
aimlessly. There were little automobiles running around everywhere,
each looking no different than another; all looking like little
toys. I saw anything and everything which human beings live and die for,
all of which looked so insignificant and fragile from on high.
“Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” “For
the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal.” (Col.3:2, II Cor.4:18) Pastor
Paul Mahan
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“ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:22)
I know that
many interpret this as suggesting that we avoid any conduct, behavior, and
actions that, while they may not be wrong for us, yet they give the appearance
of wrong doing. This is good advice, but not what the apostle is talking about.
He is speaking, as in the preceding verse, of doctrinal evil! For example, when
there is preaching, teaching, and interpretation of Scripture which, when tried
by the Word, does not appear to be false or wrong, but there is an unhappy
suspicion in the mind, a doubt or fear entertained, a concern that there is
poison somewhere, then avoid it! The truth of God is clear and gives glory to
His name! Pastor Henry T. Mahan
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WHAT MEN ARE THESE WITH THEE?
“And
God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?” (Nu 22: 9)
Balaam was a false prophet. (2 Pet 2:
15) When God’s enemies came to hire Balaam to curse God’s people, Balaam told
them to spend the night while he sought direction from God. It was during the
night that God asked Balaam this question.
God knows the company we keep in this world. (Job 34: 21; Ps 138: 6) Everything
God was doing here was for his people. God watches over his people and protects
them from evil. But God also knows the
proud and brings them down for the sake of his people. (2 Sam 22: 28) So God knew who the men were that were with
Balaam. But God will have Balaam to answer this question with his own mouth.
As we enter a new year, this is a good question for every believer to
always answer about ourselves, “What men
are these with thee?” Am I in the company of God’s chosen, redeemed,
sanctified people? Or am I in the company
of God’s enemies? Am I seeking the glory
of my Redeemer? Or am I seeking the
mammon of unrighteousness which Balaam loved?
If God took notice of the company that was with this false prophet then
God certainly knows the company that his people keep.
Does it matter, before God, what company a believer keeps? It certainly does. Believers are instructed throughout the
scriptures to “walk in the way of good
men, and keep the paths of the righteous.” (Pro 2: 20) From the time our Redeemer entered this earth
until he bore the sins of all God’s elect people, he suffered rejection from
God-hating sinners and self-righteous religionists. We should expect to be rejected for the same
reasons he was: one company will reject us because we refuse to condone their
sin, the other company will reject us because we refuse to condone their freewill,
self-righteous religion. But since Christ suffered for us we should no longer
keep company with such men but “live the
rest of our time in the flesh, not to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God.” (1 Pet 5: 3-5)
We have to work, go to school and live alongside sinners. Therefore, we should always be ready to teach
sinners the gospel and receive sinners.
But we should never be yoked with sinners or approve of sinners who live
in constant rebellion against God, whether they be outside of religion or
within religion.
Balaam did not flee to Christ. He chose the wages of unrighteousness,
making his company the enemies of God. But believer, “What men are these with thee?” Our company is Christ, the Friend
who sticks closer than a brother. Our company
loved us with the infinite, unchanging, unchangeable love of God. Our company
are brethren bought with the price of Christ’s precious blood, delivered from
this present evil world, and saved by the Lord. Ours is a company of pilgrims on our way to heavenly Canaan who shall pass over to a goodly land! Let us
thank God as we answer the question, “what men are these with thee?” Therefore, throughout the New Year and
beyond, in every situation, let us be
like Peter and John when they were released from prison by the enemies of God,
“And being let go, they went to their own company…” (Acts 4: 23)