In verse sixteen Paul addresses this congregation as, Men of Israel and you that fear God. Men of Israel--were the natural descendants of Jacob, whose name was Israel. You that fear God-refers to the Gentiles. Some were proselytes, meaning they professed Jehovah and were circumcised; others professed to worship Jehovah but had not submitted to circumcision which was required to be a true proselyte-these particularly were called God-fearers.

So in this synagogue sits Jew and Gentile. They each believed they were the children of God because of some thing accomplished in their person. The Jews believed they were children of God because they were the natural-born descendants of Abraham. The Gentiles believed they were the children of God because they had converted to the Jews religion. All believed they were accepted based on some form of obedience to the law.

If you wonder how the folks in this assembly might have regarded God and his Christ all you have to do is remember how you regarded him before the Holy Spirit quickened you to newness of life. We do not have to know the backgrounds, or the cultural influences around them, all we have to consider is the natural heart. Whether a sinner is a direct descendant of Abraham or whether they are a Gentile, the unregenerate heart has always hated God the same and loved the self-righteous deeds of the flesh the same. Paul knew that.

Every unregenerate sinner thinks God favors sinners because God has respect to something in our persons. When the Jews boasted that God loved them because they were the natural descendants of Abraham, they were saying God loves me because "I am"--not because of THE I AM. Gentiles make the same boast when saying that God loves all men without exception. By nature man considers man gods, surely god would love me, I am somebody! When the descendants of Abraham made their boast that they were righteous because they were sons of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." By God's grace, he carries sinners in the spirit, back before the foundation of the world to behold that our salvation began in sovereign grace with THE I AM-THE TRIUNE GOD OF GLORY-long before we came along boasting of what I am. Paul knew men had to be brought down to the dust because he once made the same boast and had to be brought down to the dust.

SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH Of Princeton, New Jersey

LOCATION & TELEPHONE
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd floor
150 Washington Street, Rocky Hill, NJ, 08553
Pastor's Telephone: 615-513-4464

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, morning worship begins at 10am followed by observing the Lord's Table. Afterwards we have lunch together.)