April 7, 2019
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
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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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Proverbs
13: 3: He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his
lips shall have destruction.
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“When
Adam by transgression fell,
And
conscious, fled his Maker’s face,
Linked
in clandestine league with hell,
He
ruined all his future race.
The
seeds of evil once brought in,
Increased
and filled the world with sin.
But
lo! The Second Adam came,
The
serpent’s subtle head to bruise;
He
cancels his malicious claim,
And
disappoints his devilish views;
Ransoms
poor sinners with His blood,
And
brings the sinner back to God.
[To
understand these things aright,
This
grand distinction should be known:
Though
all are sinners in God’s sight,
There
are but few so in their own.
To
such as these our Lord was sent;
They’re
only sinners who repent.]
[What
comfort can a Savior bring
To
those who never felt their woe?
A
sinner is a sacred thing;
The
Holy Ghost hath made him so.
New
life from Him we must receive,
Before
for sin we rightly grieve.]
This
faithful saying let us own,
Well
worthy ‘tis to be believed,
That
Christ into the world came down,
That
sinners might by Him be saved.
Sinners
are high in His esteem,
And
sinners highly value Him.” —Joseph Hart
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One of the old preachers is reported to have said, “I preach as one who may never preach again,
as a dying man to dying men.” How
solemn a thought that is to those of us charged with preaching. Let us not tickle the ears of dying men with
the trifles of earthly issues and vain religion. But does this principle not apply in some way
to the man who listens? Ought we not say
every time we come to worship, “I listen
as one who may never hear again, as a dying man among dying men”? God grant us the same seriousness in hearing
as we expect in preaching! -Pastor Joe Terrell
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FAITH
WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE
When Christ gives a
new heart and sanctifies his people, our Lord teaches his child to love one
another and live the rest of our days by faith, trusting the precious promises
of God to be all fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus our Savior. “For in
Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but
faith which worketh by love.” (Gal 5: 6) Please understand what that verse
means. It is not your law keeping nor is
it your absence of law keeping that has a bearing on whether or not you are
saved. Salvation is through faith in
Christ. It is Christ alone who makes his
child to differ and saves all those given to him of the Father.
Also, those saved by grace are not motivated
by law nor are they without law. We do
all from the single constraint of Christ’s love for us. It is not our love for Christ that motivates us
in the new heart, though we do love Christ by God giving us a new heart. But it is Christ’s love for us that
constrains the believer. Beholding
Christ loving me who am altogether unlovable by my sins and transgressions
which are against him, I am constrained to love my brethren whose sins and transgressions
against me are far less.
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OUR PERPETUAL
FAST AND REST
The children of Jacob, like millions in our
day, thought that they observed the Sabbath Day by fasting from their pleasures
on one day out of the week. God asked them
this question, “Is it such a fast that I
have chosen? A DAY for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as
a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a
fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?” (Isa 58:5) They thought that by afflicting
their soul and mourning and fasting from the pleasures of this world for one
day, while forcing others to do the same, that they were pleasing God.
But
God said, “Is not this the fast that I
have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the
heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest
the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh?” (Is 58: 6-7) All these things are found only in Christ our
Sabbath through faith. Through faith in
Christ the bands of the self-righteous, who bound us by the yoke of the law,
are loosed from off us. Through faith in
Christ the curse of the law, as well as the oppression of the self-righteous, is
removed from off us. Through faith in
Christ the Bread of life is dealt to us who are hungry sinners. Through faith in Christ us poor sinners are
brought to his house and enriched. Through
faith in Christ we who are naked and destitute of any righteousness of our own are
covered in the righteousness of Christ alone.
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DEALING
OUR BREAD TO THE HUNGRY
By only the
constraint of Christ’s love for us believers deal our bread to the hungry by
telling others how Christ broke our yoke by bearing our sins on the cross. We bring the poor to our house—Christ’s
church—to hear the good news of our Redeemer.
The gospel is the means God has chosen to reveal that Christ is the
covering for the nakedness of his people. (1 Cor 1: 21) Beholding what great
things Christ has done for us in his great mercy and grace, we rejoice to show
mercy rather than deal harshly with others.
When others deal harshly with us, Christ makes his child remember how
mercifully and kind Christ deals with us constantly. He says, “Be
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4: 32); “Forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye.” (Col 3: 13)
Also, believers take the physical burdens
off others anyway we can. We literally
give them bread and a coat and whatever they need. Christ does it for us every
day. He says to every believer, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind…your Father knoweth that ye have
need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these
things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell
that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a
treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither
moth corrupteth.” (Lu 12: 29-33)
To rest in Christ from all our works, to use
everything he has given us to promote his gospel, to sacrificially seek the
good of his people, all the while trusting that Christ has and shall provide
everything we need here and hereafter, this is living by faith, motivated only
by Christ’s love.
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“I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house
of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted
themselves to the ministry of the saints).” 1 Cor. 16:15 What an epitaph of the house of
Stephanas…Christ was their Life, and the Holy Spirit moved them to be dedicated
to the service of God’s people. Their obedience was obviously not merely for
show but was done as unto the Lord Himself…”Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it
unto Me.” Matt. 25:40. They were enthusiastically obsessed with doing that
which they could for the glory of God and the good of God’s people…O that we
might truly be found with such a heart, not for the praise of men, but for His
sake. Pastor Marvin Stalnaker