Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 5-17-2015
Bible TextIsaiah 52:3
Date16-May-2015
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
 

 

May 17, 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

 

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.   Check the announcements.

 

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All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.

 

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

·       No Fourth Friday Fellowship next week, May 22.

·       Crawfish Boil, Sat, May 23, 11am-until, at 7 Birch St, Pennington. All are invited.

·       Pastor Donnie Bell is scheduled to preach here next Sunday, May 24. No lunch after services since we will spend the day with each other Saturday.

·       Missionary Lance Heller is scheduled to preach here Sat-Sun, June 27-28, 10:15 am each day. Lunch will be served after each service.

·       Pastor Don Fortner is scheduled to preach in our annual summer meeting, Thurs-Sat, July 30-Aug 1; service times will be Thurs and Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday morning at 10:15am. We will have ice cream after services Friday and lunch after services on Saturday.

 

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A pastor once asked someone in the congregation, “If you do such and such what will our enemies say?” The man replied, “Do you care what our enemies say?” The pastor answered, “I care as little as any what people say; but I care a great deal what people have a right to say.” What a good distinction! Human opinion should not matter to us when it comes to worshipping our Lord in faith. But when it comes to our actions giving our enemies reason to reproach the name of our God then it should matter to us very much what people say. Our actions either adorn the gospel or bring disgrace.  If we are truly grateful for Christ then we will endeavor to do the former rather than the latter!

 

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HE WHO TAKES NO USURY

 

Psalm 15:1: «A Psalm of David.» LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?...5: He that putteth not out his money to usury…

 

    Those shall dwell with God eternally, who by God’s grace delight in this law in our inward man, trusting Christ our Righteousness who fulfilled it perfectly for us, who justified us from our sins of breaking it.

    “Usury” is drawing interest on money or possessions lent. God forbids oppression, extortion, and taking advantage of the poor. (1 Thess 4: 6; Ex 22: 25; Lev 25: 35-37; Am 2: 8; Deut 23:15) This command also includes a positive side. From a cheerful heart, we are to provide for the poor, expecting nothing in return, as we trust God to provide. (Deut 15:7-8, 10-11) In addition, this law applies spiritually to the preaching of God’s grace in Christ. The root word of “usury” means “to bite, devour.” At Galatia, instead of freely giving the riches of the gospel then waiting for God to give the increase, they were using the law for personal gain—usury. Paul said, “If ‘ye bite and devour’ one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another…Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, ‘restore’ such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 5: 14; 6: 1-2) So, we see that none of us has fulfilled this law in perfection, without sin.

    Yet, our Redeemer has! Christ freely paid all the debt his poor people owed, taking no usury of us. “I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Is 45: 13; Is 52: 3)  Christ freely provided us faithful brethren who he made willing to give cheerfully of themselves so we could hear the gospel and Christ called us to partake of his unsearchable riches. Christ not only restored what we lost in Adam but made restitution giving us far more: eternal redemption, eternal righteousness, eternal life.  He provides all we need continually, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8: 32)     

    God’s grace and love constrains his people to be cheerful restorers as it did Zaccheus. (Lu 19: 8) “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Cor 8: 9) Someone wrote, “As humility is the repentance of pride, as alms-giving is the repentance of covetousness, as forgiveness is the repentance of malice, so restitution is the repentance of usury.”

 

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REDEEMED!

 

Isaiah 52: 3: For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

 

     Under the Old Testament, if a man was too poor to pay his debts, he could sell himself to his creditors and become their bondman. This is why the LORD says Judah was captive in Babylon. There was no one else to blame. They sold themselves for nothing. Abject slavery was the only compensation they received for sinning against God.

     We sold ourselves. (Ja 1: 13-14) Each of us are sell-outs to sin and Satan. We sold ourselves for nothing! Satan did not have to show us all the “the kingdoms of the world and their glory” like he did our Savior.  Esau sold his birthright for bowl of soup. Golden carrots do not have to be dangled before our eyes to make us sin; we sell ourselves for nothing.  Sin pays nothing. The return is bitterness, sorrow, pain, suffering and death. (Ja 1: 15; Rom 5: 12) We cannot deliver ourselves from this slavery because we owe eternal death. (Job 14: 4; 15: 14; Jer 13: 23) We need Christ the Kinsmen Redeemer!

     Sinner, are you in bondage to sin, unable to free yourself? If the answer is no then there is no good news for you. We have to be a helpless sinner for the gospel to be good news. But for God’s people who cannot save themselves, God says, “Ye shall be redeemed without money.” When a foreign country holds captive exiles, they usually demand a ransom be paid for their release. But like Cyrus paid nothing to the king of Babylon when he redeemed Judah, Christ paid nothing to the devil, except crushing his head as God promised. (Gen 3: 15) Likewise, our eternal redemption from the law’s curse, as well as the believer’s future redemption from this world, is obtained without the sinner paying anything. (Rom 3:24) But what great payment was made! God’s own Son willingly was made of a woman, made under the law, made sin for us, suffered the wrath of God unto death. Doing so, he declared God just and the Justifier. By his precious blood, Christ paid the ransom in full!  (Heb 9:12)

     Believer, next time we complain about anything being too costly, too demanding of our time, too far a distance to travel to worship and serve Christ or next time we have trouble freely forgiving our brethren, let us remember Christ endured the agony and shame of MY cross, the agony that was MY due and now, I am justified freely by his grace.  The blood of Christ is the antidote for our murmuring and hard-heartedness, even as it is for our sin. It is the power that makes a believer lay down all for the cause of Christ. If Christ crucified doesn’t mortify the deeds of our flesh, chase away our doubts, end our anxious cares and make us live for him then nothing will!