Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 10-8-2017
Bible TextMatthew 22:37-40
Date07-Oct-2017
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
 

October 8, 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.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: watch videos of our full services—click here.

 

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SUNDAY’S READING IN PROVERBS

 

Proverbs 10: 8: The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

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CONFESSING CHRIST

 

Matthew 10: 32: Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33: But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

 

What Christ is to us on earth is what we will be to Christ in heaven. If he is dear enough to us for us to confess him before men here then we will be dear enough to him for him to confess us before his Father there. If we confess Christ, it will be to the praise of the glory his grace.  But if we deny him there will be no one to blame but ourselves.

 

     If we would confess Christ then what he reveals about himself in our hearts we are to speak openly in light.  We cannot fear men who hate Christ. Our reverence is for Christ. Christ forewarns us that when we declare the truth of Christ we should not expect peace but a sword.  If a person’s love for their dearest relations prevents them from confessing Christ then they are not worthy of Christ.  We must be ready to bear suffering for his name. (Mt 10: 24-38)

 

     Now, those who turn from Christ for their own wisdom (like the Pharisee’s who cast out the man that Christ gave sight) think that they are confessing Christ.  When rebuked by faithful men, they boast of being persecuted for God’s glory.  But it would be laughable for Simon Magus to claim to be bearing the fiery furnace or the lions’ den when the apostle Peter rebuked him, saying, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sigh off God.” (Acts 8: 21)  Apostle Peter said, “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But, if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” (1 Pet 2: 20)

 

   Yet, it was a true confession of Christ when the man who Christ gave sight defended Christ while his parents and religious leaders rejected him.  When a believer stands with Christ when rejected by their dearest loved ones then that is confessing Christ! (Jn 9: 20-28) Our hearts break with them to have to suffer such sorrow.  But our Savior said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Mt 5:11-12)

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When we encounter false preachers and false professors in religion speaking and doing perverse things, it is sometimes our reaction to seek scripture to refute their teachings. But rather than seeking how we can use scripture to refute promoters of lies, we should instead obey scripture which says to turn away from such. (Rom 16: 17-18; 2 Thess 3: 6, 3: 14; 1 Tim 6: 5; Titus 3: 10; 2 Tim 2: 16, 23; 2 Jn 1: 10-11)

 

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ELECTION UNTO SALVATION

By Pastor Frank Tate

 

God’s election of a people to save is a doctrine clearly proclaimed and dogmatically insisted upon in God’s Word.  All of God’s purpose of salvation begins with God electing a people to save.  Everything God has ever done has been for the redemption of His people by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  God created the world and put man in it so men could be redeemed by Christ.  God allowed Adam to fall so there would be sinners saved by Christ.  God preserves people who are yet in their sin so His elect will be saved when Christ is revealed to them and in them.  God will allow this world of sin and rebellion to continue until all of His elect have been brought to faith in Christ.  None of that would be possible without God’s election of a people.  Thank God for His electing love!

 

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SIMPLICITY AND SINCERITY

By Pastor John Chapman

 

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3)

 

Our Lord spoke in the plainest language, He spoke in such a way even the most unlearned could understand Him. When He spoke, grace poured from His lips. He never complicated the message of God’s grace to sinners in Him. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). How hard is that to understand? Therefore, we who preach must strive for simplicity in our preaching Christ to sinners. We dare not complicate that which He kept simple. Paul wrote, “I do not frustrate the grace of God” (Gal. 2:21).

 

     How do we frustrate the grace of God? By complicating it with lofty, high-sounding words, by adding to it, or by taking away from it, purposefully leaving things out.

 

     We can also frustrate the grace of God by not preaching it in sincerity. The preaching of Christ and him crucified is the most sincere undertaking we will ever do. It is God’s chief glory and he will not put up with insincerity, whether in the pulpit or the pew. Satan will use any means possible to draw us away from simply proclaiming Christ in his person and work.

 

     So let us guard our minds from such assaults and temptations by immersing ourselves in His word, in prayer, and sound gospel preaching.

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THE BLANKET OF GRACE!

By Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

 

And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.” (Ruth 3:9)

 

The skirt of God’s grace is a blanket of goodness and mercy to a sinner in need. Job said: “Naked came I into this world and naked shall I return.” Every sinner will stand before God! All those outside of his grace will stand there naked, destitute, and rejected! But every sinner who receives the blanket of grace (and that blanket is the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ himself) will stand there covered, secure, and accepted!

 

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POSTIVE AND NEGATIVE FULFILLED

 

Matthew 22: 37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38: This is the first and great commandment. 39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death;

 

The positive fulfillment of the law is to love God and to love thy neighbor as thyself.  The negative fulfillment of the law is death which is the wage the just law of God must pay for sin.  The only one to ever fulfill the law is Christ.  Christ fulfilled the positive side of the law toward God and toward his people by fulfilling the negative side of the law for God and for his people.

 

    First, as God’s righteous servant, he fulfilled the positive law of love to God by fulfilling the negative law for God by dying under the justice of God. This was love to God because he did it to manifest how God is both just and the Justifier of all who believe on him. It was love to God because by pouring out justice upon Christ unto death, God’s righteousness  was manifest in that he executed all who he will save to the full satisfaction of justice.  Therefore, God can show his people mercy without doing harm to his justice.

 

    Also, as his people’s righteous Head, Christ fulfilled the positive law of love to his people by fulfilling the negative law for his people by dying in our place and justifying us from all our sins.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15: 13) This should shut every sinner’s mouth from boasting that we have ever loved another as ourselves.

 

     Christ fulfilling the negative side of the law for God and for his people is the fulfilling of the positive because it is the perfect act of selfless love.  This is why God is satisfied with none but his Son and those who believe on his Son.  And this why every believer is satisfied with none but his Son. Christ is the LORD our Righteousness.