May 4, 2008

SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
Of Princeton, New Jersey

Isaiah 59: 16: And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17: For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd floor
150 Washington Street, Rocky Hill, NJ, 08553

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
Sunday 10 AM Bible Class
11 AM Morning Worship
Thursday 7:00 PM Mid-week Service
(The first Sunday of each month we meet at 10 AM for morning worship then observe the Lord's Table. After services we have lunch together.)

WEB ADDRESSES
www.sovereign-grace.us
www.freegraceradio.com

MAILING ADDRESS
114 Laning Avenue
Pennington, New Jersey, 08534
Clay Curtis, pastor
Phone: 609-818-1887
Email: clay@sovereign-grace.us

Believing Is No Small Thing!
Henry Mahan
To believe God is no small thing! It is the evidence of a heart reconciled unto God; it is the proof of our being weaned from our own works and deeds; it is a clear sign of the true conviction of sin; it is honoring to Christ, our only Redeemer; it is the essence of true worship; and it is the root of sincere obedience.

The person who believes God in spite of his sin and infirmities, who believes God in spite of fleshly wisdom and opposition, who believes God come what may, gives the Lord God more honor and glory than the cherubim and seraphim in their continual adoration.

HEIRS OF THE WORLD
Romans 4: 13: For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Abraham was an heir of the world (Heb 11: 8-10, 13.) Likewise, every believer has this same promise of enduring substance by faith. We have this promise, can be persuaded of it, embrace it and confess that we, too, are strangers and pilgrims on this earth because this promise is sure in the covenant made by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christ is the Seed promised to Abraham. It is God's Son whom God has made heir and, by grace, all those in him are joint-heirs (Gal 3: 16; Rom 8: 16; I Cor 3: 21-23.)

Yet, this promise that Abraham should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham through the law but through faith. Abraham, like all who are saved by grace, transgressed against God in the garden in Adam. No sinner has ever been saved through the law. When our wise God temporarily put the nation Israel under a temporary covenant, he did it to show his elect from among every nation that salvation is by grace the same way Abraham was saved. The Lord magnified this fact by waiting 15 years to give the sign of circumcision and 430 years to give the law at Sinai. The moral law shows God's chosen people the depth of our one transgression in the garden. As a shadow the ceremonial law shows God's elect the perfect atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those saved in national Israel, during the time the old covenant was in force were saved through faith, not through the law, the same as Abraham before and saints after. When Christ died the veil was rent from top to bottom showing fully that the whole Mosaic covenant has ended (Gal 3: 17-19; 21-29.) As a further indication that God's promise of salvation is in Christ through faith and not through the law, the Lord destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD. The law is satisfied for all God's elect, the work of righteousness is finished by Christ, and believers created anew in Christ Jesus are restored to a better, more secure standing, than Adam had in that first creation--not through obedience to the law but through faith in Christ our Lord.

The main point that all the apostles made when they were moved by the Holy Spirit to stand fast against those who would take a believer from Mt. Zion back to Mt. Sinai is shown here in Romans 4: 14: For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Peter said that for a believer to be brought back under the law is to tempt God (Acts 15: 10, 11.) Paul said that for a believer to go back to the law after that you believe on Christ is to count the death of Christ vanity (Gal 2: 21; 5: 2-4.)

The same law of God's infinite love for totally helpless sinners which the Lord wrote on Abraham's heart (when his heart was circumcised by the Holy Spirit) is the same law which God has written on the hearts of every believer ever saved, Jew or Gentile, under the law or not (Rom 2: 28, 29; 4: 16; 7: 6; Heb 10: 16, 17.) This law written on the heart is not the law of Mt. Sinai it is the law of Mt. Zion. Believers are not lawless, but under the law of liberty, led of the Spirit of Christ, the Rule of our life (Heb 12: 18-26; 1 Cor 9: 21; Gal 5:18; Rom 8:1.)

Newness of spirit can not be explained to anyone who has never experienced the power of God in the heart. But those who have experienced it refuse to be brought back under the yoke by any man after that they have been set free by Christ the Lord (Joh 8:36; 2 Cor 3: 17.) It is through faith in Christ the Seed that all the promises of God flow freely to us. Those who trust Christ by faith are right now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus the Lord, even as our father Abraham. What a blessing!

VICTORY
I Corinthians 15:56, 57
The law showed me the strength of my sin. But Christ Jesus fulfilled the law on my behalf. Sin inflicted the sting that caused my spiritual death. But Christ Jesus put away my sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now the law is satisfied toward me. My sin is no more. And life eternal is mine. That is the definition of victory. Victory was given me free of charge. That is the definition of grace. Victory is mine because God gave his Son who gave himself for me. That is the definition of love. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry
Mt 21:35: And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another....41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.