Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 1-26-2014
Bible TextMark 10:46
Date25-Jan-2014
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Christ Heals Blind Bar-Adams (32 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
Audio CD Quality Listen: Christ Heals Blind Bar-Adams (128 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
 

January 26, 2014

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

 

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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     “How is the believer dead to the world when he lives in the world, works a regular job, raises a family, and owns property in the world?” a young student asked his Bible teacher. The teacher sent him out to a gravesite of a friend with instructions to criticize the dead friend, harass him, and find fault, and then praise him with glowing terms and brag on him to excess. Upon his return, the teacher asked, “What did your friend say when you criticized him?” “Nothing.” “How did he react when you praised him?” “It made no difference to him; he is dead!” “That is what it means to be dead to this world,” said the teacher. Its applause means nothing and its hatred means nothing. We neither admire the people of this world nor do we fear them. The riches of this world are but the fancy of fools, and the honors of this world mean little or nothing; for to be a child of God is the highest calling. The religious traditions and ceremonies of the world have no attraction or meaning when Christ is all! That which was once important to us we now consider loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ, our Lord. This spiritual life in Christ cannot be explained; it must be experienced. ---Henry Mahan                                                       

 

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Ezekiel 34: 12: As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13: And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

 

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WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED?

     Holy Scriptures teach an effectual atonement based upon the fact of Who He was who died to atone. Such a blood shedding could never be in vain in any sense when we consider the infinite value of the person who shed His blood. Paul, to show the value of the atonement, first tells us who He is Who died; “Jesus Christ,” he said; and then, “and him crucified.” Well how much value do we put on Jesus Christ? Better yet, how much value does God the Father put on Him? The Father calls Him a Savior, a great one, a mighty one, and says of Him, “He shall deliver them.” (Is 19:20). The fact that it is Christ’s blood is what makes it effectual. “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.” What else could the blood of such an infinite One do but accomplish the task for which it was shed? “He came to save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21). And how was He to accomplish such a great task? By giving His own blood! By pouring it out while hanging on a cross! The blood atoned for sins and cleanses from all sins because it is Christ’s blood. One man said it this way, “the words ‘the blood’ never stand alone; the One Who shed the blood is invariable specified, for it is the Person that gives value to the work; the saving efficacy of the Death depends entirely upon the fact that He Who died was the Son of God.” Let us first and foremost receive the testimony of the Holy Scriptures concerning the infinite and eternal value of the Son of God. Having received that testimony in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, then we will never undervalue that atonement which such an infinite person accomplished. I am convinced this is one reason some deny the effectual atonement of Christ; they place little value on Him. Let every man examine his own conscience. Can you, knowing who He is, say to Him with a clear conscience, “you failed?” “You, the Lord of glory, died in vain?” Can you say such a thing without your conscience smiting you” What think ye of Jesus crucified must be answered in the light of what think ye of Jesus Christ himself. ---Bruce Crabtree


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BLIND BEGGARS
Mark 10: 46:…blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

     All who the Lord shall save are like Bartimaeus.  What he was outwardly by nature is what he was inwardly by nature: blind, poor, and unable to work to provide life.  All he could do was sit and beg mercy from another. We are so blind by nature that we cannot even see we need salvation. When God gives us sight the first thing we behold is that our flesh profits nothing. Only then will a sinner come to Christ empty and begging mercy.

 

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". . . AND THOU BECAMEST MINE"

Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

     His, whatever else I am, I am His. In this context, I am accurately depicted by God as a cursed, loathsome, forsaken, polluted dead baby lying in an open field, and so I was before He passed by me, but I was His dead baby. The Apostle Paul as a believer cried out, O wretched man that I am (Rom 7:24), and I must daily cry with him, but I’m His wretch. The Caananite woman cried to the Lord Jesus for mercy, but He dismissed her as an unworthy dog. Yet, she answered in effect, Truth Lord, but I’m your dog. (Mt 15:21-28).

Since the Master called me, covered me, covenanted with me, cleansed me, clothed me and claimed me (vs 6-10), refer to me in whatever way that you will, I am His. My sin is covered by Christ’s work as my Representative, I am washed in His precious blood, clothed in His perfect righteousness and claimed as His own son. I am nothing, yea less than nothing and vile, but in Christ, I am very beautiful even in the sight of God Himself (vs 13).
     Is there any man or devil who thinks to bring a charge against me? Should any wish to argue either the wretched vileness of my nature or any aspect of the incessant river of iniquity that has flowed from my mind, heart, lips and hands since my birth, you would have an infinite supply from which to choose. But being given to Christ by the Father, I am His, and He has pled my case upon His own exemplary merits (John 17). Therefore, malign me for the worm that I am and you’ll get no argument from me, but know that I am His worm, and through Christ’s comeliness (vs 14), I am precious and beautiful to Him, and someday I shall be like Him.

His forever, only His. Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ has filled this sinner’s heart

                                                                                  Chris Cunningham

 

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     The certainty that Christ shall bring each of his redeemed the gospel and quicken them to life and faith in him is that God promised it to Christ the same as God promised it to Abraham. (Gal 3: 16) That promise is the very reason that Christ laid down his life. “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3: 8, 13-14)