April 21, 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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REMINDER:
FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 7PM
The
fourth Friday bible class for our young people is this week. We have a new, big screen television with sermon
on video in the auditorium for the parents and anyone else who wants to attend. Brother Ben Moyer is scheduled to teach the
class to our young people Friday then to us all the first hour next Sunday. Pray for him as the Lord enables you.
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Proverbs 13: 5: A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame
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“He is
not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.“
(Matthew 28:6)
What
does it mean for sinners like us to know that the Lord is risen? First of all it means, He died! The sinless
one died! Why did he die? How could he die? He died because the sin of His people was
pressed into Him, and He was judged before the throne of God for the sin that
He carried. The only way that the spotless, holy Lamb of God could die was by
bearing the sin of His people. So the
fact that He died means, that’s exactly what He did! But The glorious
announcement continues…
He was laid in a tomb after suffering the
righteous judgment and punishment of God so that His people wouldn’t have to,
but He is not still in that tomb! He is
risen! That means: the sin is gone, the
punishment is over, and God is satisfied! God the Father is satisfied with Christ, and
He is satisfied with us IN CHRIST! Every
bit of that happened, exactly as the Lord Jesus Christ said it would happen. Which means, the all knowing God is the very
One who saved us. And to all who’s sins were put away in His death, burial, and
resurrection, He says: “Come! Come see
the place where I laid for you. Come unto Me and you will find rest for your
weary soul.”
When the burden and guilt of our sin begins
to bring us down into utter despair,
let’s remember the word that He sent to us
through His messenger: “He is not here:
for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
Pastor Gabe Stalnaker
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THE
CRY OF ALL CRIES
As
Christ hung on the cross “from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the
ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?
That is to say, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me.” (Mat 27: 45-46; Mar 15: 33-34) The answer to this
question is the truth the devil abode not in; the truth for which he was cast
out of heaven; the truth he has raged against from then until now. It is because the answer to this question is
the very glory of God. Every word of
this question is important.
My God, My God—As Christ suffered being forsaken of God, he owned
God to be his God, manifesting his unwavering faith (Ps 22: 7-10). From his birth to his death, Christ lived in
uninterrupted holy obedience to God (Php 2:6-8). His is the faith by which the righteousness of
God is manifest and by which every believer is justified (Rom 3:21-22; Gal 2:
16).
Why Hast—"Hast” is past tense. The work of redemption is finished (Heb 10:10-18). Christs fulfilled the law, justifying
his people, by laying down his life—one
time. Now, all who he justified must
(and shall) be called to faith by the Holy Spirit because the same
righteousness that demanded we be condemned, demands we be given eternal life.
Thou—The hiding of
the sun’s light typified the curse of the second death that God made Christ bear
due to him bearing the sin of his people.
The condemnation of hell is “destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess 1:9) Christ suffered that living death on the
cross as God removed the glory (the light) of his presence and power. Though Christ is the delight of God his Father,
showing his strict justice, God showed no respect of persons not even to his
Son. He hid the light of his countenance
from him. Christ’s physical death was the exclamation
point, declaring he had accomplished dying the second death for his people so
that we never will.
Forsaken Me—Why did God forsake Christ on the cross? Christ, himself, declares the answer, “But thou art holy…But I am a worm, and no
man.” (Ps 22: 3, 6) God forsook Christ because God is righteous. God forsook Christ to manifest he is the righteous
Judge (Gen 18: 25). The way God commanded
judges to judge is how God himself judges (2 Sam 23: 3; Deut 16: 18-20; 25: 1; Ex
23: 6; 1 Ki 8: 32; Pro 17: 15; 24: 23-26; Is 5: 20-24). God declares throughout his word that to make
his sinful people the righteousness of God, God had to make his spotless Lamb
sin for us (2 Cor 5:21; Is 53:6, 11; 1 Pet 2:24). It was the only way God could justly pour out the
wages of sin on our Substitute; the only way God could honor his law; the only
way God could justify his people. Oh,
that God would reveal the importance of this in our hearts! The answer to this cry is the very reason God
made the world, the very reason for the fall, the very reason Christ took flesh,
the very reason he was crucified, our very salvation—the righteousness of God (Rom 3: 25-26; 8: 33-34). God declares it on every page of his holy
word! His righteousness is the gospel by
which he births his children again of incorruptible seed! To declare his righteousness is the purpose for
which his church remains in this world. God’s
righteousness is the gospel—"for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed” (Rom 1: 16-17). Take away God’s righteousness manifest in
Christ on the cross, we have no gospel! Miss it, we miss salvation! But thank God, Christ shall reveal God’s
righteousness in the heart of each of his redeemed!
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WHY
CHRIST’S CHURCH PREACHES GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Psalm 22: 24: For he hath not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but
when he cried unto him, he heard.
When Christ
finished the work of manifesting God’s righteousness in the justification of
his people, God heard him. Therefore,
the Father raised Christ and gave him the glory of revealing his righteousness in
our hearts, the same as God gave him the glory of revealing God’s righteousness
on the cross. So it is Christ, through
the preaching of the gospel of God’s righteousness, through the Holy Spirit, that
reveals God’s righteousness in our hearts.
He said, “I will declare thy name
unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that
fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him,
all ye the seed of Israel.” (vv22-24; Heb 2: 11-12). God truly has rewarded us double! The same Redeemer who justified us by manifesting
the righteousness of God on the cross is our Prophet who reveals the
righteousness of God in our hearts so that we experience being made righteous
through faith.
Does
any wonder why we preach the glorious good news of the righteousness of God
continually? It is because the
righteousness of God is the message that Christ, himself, effectually makes his
church proclaim and the one message by which Christ makes his lost sheep to be
born of him. It is God’s righteousness that
makes those newly born of God willing to unite and proclaim this good news with
us! How do we know this? It is what
Christ himself said he would accomplish in his people by declaring God’s name through
the gospel, “A seed shall serve him; it
shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this” (Ps 22: 30-31).
Brethren, is not the righteousness of God great
comfort to you? Are you not thankful that
the LORD loveth righteous judgment? This
is all our salvation! The righteousness of
God that required Christ bear our sin is the righteousness that made the just
Judge forsake our Substitute by which Christ justified us on the cross. It is the righteousness that demanded we hear
the gospel and be given life. It is the
righteousness we heard preached by which we were born again. It is the righteousness by which we are
established and no weapon can harm us (Is 54:14-17). And it is the righteousness by which God
assures us that he shall never forsake us but shall preserve us forever—"For the LORD loveth judgment, and
forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever.” (Ps 37: 28) This is why Christ’s church
preaches the righteousness of God. It is
who our God is and it is all our salvation!