April 12, 2015
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Full Service Live & on Video on YouTube.
Search by pastor’s name.
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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. Check the announcements.
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All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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“I believe it to be one of the most fatal devices of Satan to turn aside useful gospel ministers from their proper work into idle speculations...The prophecies will interpret themselves by their fulfillment, but no expositor has yet arisen who has been able to do it. Providence is the true interpreter of prophecy; - ‘God is His own Interpreter, And He will make it plain.’ But for us to try the mysterious visions of Daniel and John before they are fulfilled will, I believe, be worse than folly.”—Charles Spurgeon
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When I hear it said, “Such and such do not believe the doctrines of sovereign grace and substitution, but they love the Lord and are saved,” I wonder and ask, “What then was the Bible written for?” Is it no infallible expression of the mind of GOD? Is it no standard of Truth? Are we to believe what appeals to us and deny the rest? God forbid! God’s Word declares the oneness of Truth and condemns every departure from the Truth as a direct attack on God himself! Do not tell me that a man’s heart is right with God when his head contains a creed of error and denies the person and work of the Redeemer.—Horatius Bonar
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Psalm 22: 1: « To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. » My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?...3: But thou art holy…6: But I am a worm, and no man…
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The title of the twenty-second Psalm is Aijeleth Shahar—the morning hart. The whole Psalm refers to Christ, containing much that cannot be applied to another: parting his garments, casting lots for his vesture, etc. He is described as a kindly, meek and beautiful hart, started by the huntsman at the dawn of the day. Herod began hunting him down as soon as he appeared. Poverty, the hatred of men, and the temptation of Satan, joined in the pursuit. There always was some "dog,"or "bull, "or "unicorn, "ready to attack him. After his first sermon the huntsmen gathered about him, but he was too fleet of foot, and escaped. The church had long seen the Messiah "like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains, " had "heard the voice of her Beloved, "and had cried out, "Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills;" sometimes he was even seen, with the dawn of the day, in the neighborhood of the temple, and beside the enclosures of the vineyards. The church requested to see him "on the mountains of Bether", and upon "the mountains of spices." The former probably signifying the place of his sufferings, and the latter the sublime acclivities of light, glory, and honour, where the "hart" shall be hunted no more. But in the afternoon, the huntsmen who had been following the "young roe" from early daybreak, had succeeded in driving him to the mountains of Bether. Christ found Calvary a craggy, jagged, and fearful hill—"a mountain of division." Here he was driven by the huntsmen to the edges of the awful precipices yawning destruction from below, while he was surrounded and held at bay by all the beasts of prey and monsters of the infernal forest. The "unicorn,"and the "bulls of Bashan, "gored him with their horns; the great "lion" roared at him; and the "dog" fastened himself upon him. But he foiled them all. In his own time he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He wasburied in a new grave; and his assailants reckoned upon complete victory. They had not considered that he was a "morning hart." Surely enough, at the appointed time, did he escape from the hunter's net, and stand forth on the mountains of Israel ALIVE, and never, NEVER to die again. Now he is with Mary in the garden, giving evidence of his own resurrection; in a moment he is at Emmaus, encouraging the too timid and bewildered disciples. Nor does it cost him any trouble to go thence to Galilee to his friends, and again to the Mount of Olives, "on the mountains of spices, "carrying with him the day dawn, "robed in life and beauty for ever more."—Christmas Evans
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Acts 2: 34: For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35: Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
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EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER: HOLY JUSTICE
Ephesians 1: 19: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,…
There are several instances of resurrection in the scripture. But the Holy Spirit does not use them to glorify the exceeding greatness of God’s power “to usward who believe.” What made the resurrection of Christ from the dead such an unparalleled act of the exceeding greatness of God’s power? One reason is because the measure of power by which Christ was raised has to do with why Christ died and what he accomplished thereby. We can measure the power of Christ’s resurrection by the power of Christ’s death. For the same reason our Savior’s death exceedingly surpassed all other deaths, the power of his resurrection exceedingly surpasses all other resurrections. We will look at this in several ways over the next few weeks. This time we will consider the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s holy justice.
First, Christ’s death manifests the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s holy justice. The spotless Lamb of God willingly presented himself to the Father who laid on him the iniquity of all his elect. (Is 53: 6; 2 Cor 5: 21; 1 Pet 2: 24) When our sins were found on our Substitute, the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s justice would by no means yield, even when the sin-bearer was God’s only begotten Son. In Christ Jesus being forsaken by God on the cross we behold the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s justice upon all on whom sin is found. (Mt 27:46)
Secondly, in Christ’s resurrection to glory we behold the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s holy justice satisfied. (Is 53: 11) Before our Substitute gave up the Ghost, he cried, “It is finished.” (Is 49: 8; Jn 19: 30) By his death, Christ “condemned sin in the flesh.” (Rom 8: 3) His death snapped death’s cords for himself and “usward who believe.” “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” (Acts 2: 24) “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. “ (Eph 2: 6)
Believer, rejoice! By Christ’s finished work, the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s justice which demanded our death now demands we live! (Is 26: 19; Hos 6: 2; 13: 14) “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Co 15:55-57)