July 1, 2012
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd
Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
ANNOUNCEMENT: Don
Fortner is scheduled to preach for us Thursday-Saturday, July 19-21, at the
firehouse at 7:30pm Th & Fri and 10:00am Sat. We will plan to have a meal
after the Saturday service.
JULY B-day:
Melinda C—5th (Be
sure to see the fireworks display for Melinda the day before. It can be viewed anywhere in the USA.)
********
Pray
often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge
for Satan. John Bunyan
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ONE WHO SAYS, “RESTORE!”
Isaiah 42: 22
Sinners are the victims of our own
robbery, the spoiling of our own ravenous, deceitful hearts. Among the fallen sons of men there is none to
deliver, “None saith restore.” But there
is one who says, “Restore!” Christ Jesus
himself is the full restoration and restitution Almighty God has provided to
himself for his elect. Christ is the one who speaks “restoration” into the
heart saving each of his children from our poverty-sin-stricken state into the
equal and all-good restoration and restitution of God’s grace!
Grace
and Mercy of God
God demands by his own law the
restoration and restitution for those who are the victims of robbery. (Ex 22:1-4,
7) He provided for those who had fallen
into utter poverty who could not pay their debts. In the jubilee year, on the day of atonement,
the silver trumpets were blown throughout the land and the whole land was to
rest. Every man who had lost his inheritance had it restored to him free and
clear. All debts cancelled. Every
prodigal son went home to his father’s house to rejoice with his family. All work ceased. God promised to provide increase in the
fields. This meant good for the poor as
well as for the one who helped the bankrupt in his poverty. This is all a
picture of Christ in whom atonement is made and the believer restored freely to
God. God only required they believe him and not oppress one another and God
only requires we believe his Son and love those begotten of him. (Lev 25; 26:
4-6)
None
Saith, “Restore”
Isaiah 42 says, “But this is a people
robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in
prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none
saith, Restore.” What a sad state! None believed God. Instead of restoring they oppressed. Oh, they went through a form of religion, pretended
to believe, pretended to set the poor free, “But afterward they turned, and
caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return,
and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids” (Jeremiah 34:
11) Doing so they robbed God of his glory and God turned them over to
captivity. This is the sad condition of
fallen humanity, “None saith “Restore!”
In our nation in our day poor sinners are without jobs, having nothing
with which to pay. Still, creditors exact
payment with interest. We are taxed and
oppressed more. And will-working religion
is the worst of all! We hear great
swelling words of “restoring” but where Christ is not declared as the only
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption of bankrupt sinners, “None
saith, Restore”. Those they claim to let
go free through faith are then made to return and brought into bondage under the
law for servants and handmaids. (Isaiah 58: 6)
Sinner, how would it fill your soul with joy to know that all your sin-debt is
paid? You are not reading this by
accident. You are not brought to the end
of yourself by accident. God is able by
his sovereign hand over all things to put his elect child under every possible
burden to make us to see it is his gracious hand bringing us to hear him. Christ is the only place the peace of full
restoration is found. Do you hear the
silver trumpet blowing?
One
Who Saith, Restore
God says to his elect child of grace,
“I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the
LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man
seeketh after. (Jeremiah 30: 17) Christ
was made sin, bore the just due for his people and restored his people fully to
God in righteousness. He said, “They
that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that
would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored
that which I took not away.” (Psalm 69: 4)
Christ is the double restitution required by law. Not only has he justified his people, he makes
us eternally righteous and holy forever through the Spirit and gospel of his
grace, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the
LORD’S hand DOUBLE for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40: 2)
Made
Restorers
Christ makes his newly created child
a restorer. Believers give nothing to
God but what God has already given freely by his grace. Through faith the believer bows before God with
only Christ, the full restoration and double requirement God demands. As Joseph filled the sacks of his brethren
sending them back to their father so Christ fills us in the new creation,
sending us to our heavenly Father accepted in the Beloved (Genesis 42:25)
And believers are restorers of our
brethren. (Galatians 6: 1). In the year
of jubilee the children of Israel were required by law but they would not
restore. But in the gospel jubilee
sinners are made partakers of the divine nature, the love of God abides in us
when Christ is formed in us. Thereby,
his love for us causes us to love those begotten of him restoring one another
with this glorious gospel and toward all who are yet robbed and plundered in sin.
(Galatians 6: 1-2; Ephesians 4:32)
Believer, as poorly as your attempts are at trying to obey your Restorer, as
faulty as you are in restoring your brethren, though all the enemies of our own
flesh and those around may accuse, God does not. We are righteous before God in Christ. Lord, teach us that about each of our
brethren.
Restitution
of All Things
Believer, stand fast in the gospel. Look nowhere else but to Christ. (Hebrews
6: 10; Galatians 6: 9) Soon, there is coming a day called “the restitution of
all things.” (Ac 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:52) With that final trumpet our eternal
jubilee will truly begin. Every restored
child of God shall begin to enjoy the eternal bliss of restoration such as the
heart of man has never conceived!
Atonement and forgiveness in its greatest magnificence! Perfection of liberty, rest and bounty beyond
imagination! Brotherly love in unfailing
perfection! All because there is one who
says, “Restore!”