May 4, 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
Be sure to check the order of service, announcements,
nursery schedule, etc., in the attachment.
All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
So that the preaching of the glory of Christ is the full
focus of our attention, for those attending with children 4 and under, we have a nursery equipped with a
digital flat screen television broadcasting all services, with faithful ladies
to care for the little ones.
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Martin Luther said in effect that if
a man was ashamed of the one truth that was under attack in his own day, then
he was ashamed of the truth period. It seems that one truth under
attack today is God’s right to determine what is morally right and what is
morally wrong, what is sin and what is not.
A teen ager just told me this week that there was no such thing as
filthy language; it’s only filthy to you if you deem it to be
filthy. Yet God says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth.” God has determined what is filthy and what is
not.
Many in our day want unfettered liberty to live in open and profane sin
and they are offended when they are told that God gives no such liberty.
This is a truth we must not be ashamed of in our day. Bruce Crabtree
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A DISTINCTIVE GOSPEL
God does not have to save
any guilty sinner, and that means any of us.
He would be just and righteous if he condemned us all without
explanation. This is what we merit. But this gospel states clearly (and this is
the “good news”) that God chose to save some.
Why some and not all? To that
question there is no answer. People in
his day were asking the same question, “Why
doth he (God) yet find fault? For who
hath resisted his will? And Paul
replies with a reprimand, “Nay but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that
formed it, why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:19-20)
The marvel is that God
chose to save any. In the day of
judgment no condemned sinner will be able to say that God is unjust and that he
does not merit God’s righteous condemnation. Nor will any saved sinner be able to say
that he merited the salvation which God provided for him in grace and
mercy. Could God have saved all fallen
sinners if He so desired? He certainly
could, but he chose not to.
The “good news” of the gospel is that there is a substitute who has
stood in the place of every repentant sinner and bore the wrath of God in his
place. He did this for all whom the
Father had given him from all eternity.
It is for them that he prays in John 17.
They are “His Sheep.” The Father gave them to him; and he died for
them (John 10:15, 29). Substitution is
at the very heart of the gospel. Christ
did not simply give his life to make salvation possible for those who
contribute their part to what he has done by repenting and trusting
Christ. He it is that gives repentance
and faith (2 Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8).
Christ did not say to the religious Jews of his day that they were not
of his “sheep” because they did not
believe; rather, he says, “Ye believe not
because you are not of my sheep.” If
they had been his sheep they would have believed. The “good
news” is that all whom the Father has given to the Son, and for whom he
died will believe and manifest true repentance and faith. This they will do willingly and with
gratitude in their hearts. It is God’s
work. He cannot fail.
All this is very
different from what we are being told today.
Today’s “gospels” are centered
on man and what he has to do to make the work of Christ effective for him. The good news is that God has done all that
is required to satisfy his righteousness and justice, and that all who come to
Christ have eternal life through the work of Christ, their substitute alone. This is the gospel, the only gospel and we cannot
and must not unite with those who do not proclaim it. Anything else is not the gospel.
– Bill Clark
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Salvation from Separation
2 Thessalonians 1: 6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7: And to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, 8: In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9: Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power; 10: When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed)
in that day.
The
unbeliever will be condemned with righteous tribulation—“seeing it is a
righteous thing with God.” He will
experience the just vengeance of God—“in flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It
is the “fire that is never quenched; the worm that never dies.” Hell will be the punishment of everlasting
destruction—“who shall be punished with everlasting destruction.” It is not the end of being, but the end of
all well-being; not the end of life, but the end of all the comforts of life, the
“second death.” (Rev 20: 6; 21: 8) Hell
will be “separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power.”
Christ saved his people from this separation by experiencing it in the
place of God’s elect on the cross: righteous tribulation, the flaming fire of
vengeance, everlasting destruction when on the cross Christ suffered the living
death that never dies, and all was by separation from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power. (Is 53: 8) Darkness covered the earth for
three hours. (Mt 27: 46) On the cross, Christ paid the wages of the second
death which his people owed to divine justice. But because Christ offered
himself through the eternal Spirit, he conquered eternal and everlasting damnation
for his people. (Heb 9: 12; Jn 19: 28, 30) The wages of sin—the death that
never dies—was condemned and Christ put death to death for his people (Rom 8:3)
What will heaven be for those who leave this world resting in Christ? Instead of righteous tribulation and just
vengeance, to you who are troubled, we will experience righteous rest and just acquittal;
instead of everlasting destruction, everlasting life; instead of everlasting damnation,
everlasting glorification, “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” We will spend eternity everlastingly admiring
our Redeemer when he comes “to be admired in all them that believe.” How will we receive all this? Will it be by our great works or goodness or
wisdom? No. Look at the parenthesis in
v10: Paul said, “because our testimony
among you was believed.”
Believe this testimony of my
Redeemer and live. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come
quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”