March 03, 2013
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
Order of service, announcements, nursery
schedule, etc., are in attachment. All
articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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Why No Answer?
Isaiah
50: 2-3
The Lord Jesus asked, “Wherefore,
when I came, was there no man? when I
called, was there none to
answer?” Sinner, why have you not
answered the call of the Redeemer which you hear going out in the preaching of
the gospel? Christ says, “Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?
or have I no power to deliver?” By the
work of Christ’s hand, Christ redeemed a multitude on the cross. He has all
power in heaven and earth; he is able to deliver; he is able to save to the
uttermost all who come unto God by him, seeing he everliveth to make
intercession. (Dan 6: 27; Heb 7: 25) Christ says in verse 3, “Behold, at my
rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh,
because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with
blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” So sinner why have you not answered his
call? The problem is not with Christ; the
problem is that you do not believe Christ.
If you do not answer him now, when you stand before Christ in the Day of
Judgment (and you will) what will you answer him then?
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HEARKEN UNTO GOD!
Isaiah
46: 1-4
Anything a man puts confidence in other than Christ is an idol. An idol does not have to be made into an
image; it may be only in the imagination of a man’s heart. (Eze
14: 3)
Bel and Nebo were the chief idol gods in Babylon. They were hauled away on wagons. Can you picture those weary horses burdened
under the heavy load as they pulled the wagons loaded with those broken statues? Christ bears the burden of his people. But anything other than Christ will not only
fail to bear our burden, it will itself become a heavier burden upon us. (Is 2: 20-22) In these four verses God declares that he
has, is and shall always carry those he has made. Now, let’s hearken unto God.
God is the Eternal I AM
God changes not. As he was the
first moment he opened the heart of his child to behold his glory in the face
of Christ Jesus, so he is now. (Mal 3: 6)
At times our hearts are ablaze with zeal for him. But even when we are
smoking flax, even though our weary steps may falter, God our Father is the same
in his love and grace, in his power and protection, in his promises and truth,
in his faithfulness and care of those he has everlastingly loved. Believer, our
God has made an everlasting covenant in our hearts and it is impossible for God
to lie. Therefore all who have fled for refuge to Christ have strong consolation:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Heb 6: 18; 13: 8)
I Have Made You
Whatever confidence is made of man will go to the dust when man goes to
the dust. Then what a fearful thing it will be to face holy God without an
Advocate! Yet, even you who are yet
rejecting Christ were made of God because in God “we live and move and have our
being. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and
man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17: 28-29) God says, “Hearken unto me!”
Those born of him spiritually, God says, “I have made you.” (Heb 3: 14; Is
43: 21) We were made in his purpose of grace when he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. When Christ descended into the womb of the virgin then
were all his children in him. (Ps 139: 16)
On the cross, Christ made us the righteousness of God putting away all
our sin and in the new birth, we were made
the righteousness of God in Christ: justified,
sanctified, complete in Christ. (Deut 33: 27; 1 Cor 6: 11; Col 2: 10) What
peace to know that none can unmake what God has made!
I Will Carry You
When the Spirit
of God regenerated us, he made us to see just how real Christ bore us and
carried us: “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed.” (Is 53: 4-5; 1 Pet 2: 24) Through
all our days of rebellion, our Savior carried us when as yet we did not even
know he was doing so. (Is 63: 9; Deut 1: 31)
He carried us to hear his gospel, making us his new creation, creating
us in righteousness and true holiness. All
these many days it is Christ who has carried us. He promises when these bodies become too racked with
sickness to carry us, “Even to your old age I AM HE; and even to hoar hairs
will I carry you.”
Every poor
sinner who is yet without Christ must bear all themselves: the weight of guilt,
the weight of your idols (for they cannot carry you), and the burden of the
law. Yet Christ says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Mt 11:
28-29) The great Shepherd of the sheep “shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and
shall gently lead those that are with young. (Is 40: 11) Do you see how much
better the true and living God is than any idol? God says, “Hearken unto me!” “There is no God
else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else. (Is 45: 21-22)
I Will Deliver You
Believer,
our gracious Father already “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (Col 1: 13) As he carries us from the womb to old
age so often we have had the sentence of death in ourselves “that we might not
trust in ourselves but in God who raiseth the dead.” Yet through all our
trials, God “delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we
trust that he will yet deliver us; (2 Cor 1: 10) Out of all affliction and temptations, out of the hand of every
enemy, from this body of sin and death, from death eternal, and at last from
the grave and all corruption our great God and Savior has and shall deliver us
out of all. And God shall deliver us into something: that new heaven and new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (Rev 21: 1-6)
Therefore our unchanging God and Savior says, “Hearken unto me!” So
the next time all those distracting voices try to turn us aside, hearken unto
his voice! (Ps 73: 26) “For this God is
our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” (Ps 48: 14)