Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 12-31-2017
Bible TextNumbers 22:9
Date30-Dec-2017
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
 

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

 

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.

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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The videos are now listed as individual sermons, as well as full servicesclick 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)