December 6, 2009
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
Of Princeton, New Jersey

Matthew 7: 13: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
Sunday 10 AM Bible Class
11 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7:00 PM Mid-week Service

WEB ADDRESSES
www.sovereign-grace.us/
www.sermonaudio.com/sgbcpnj
http://www.freegraceradio.com/

MAILING ADDRESS
7 Birch Street
Pennington, New Jersey, 08534
Phone: 615-513-4464
Email: clay@sovereign-grace.us

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THE SANCTIFYING WORD
JC Philpot
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

When the gospel comes "not in word only, but also in power," it comes "in the Holy Ghost," that is, in and with the teaching and testimony of the Holy Ghost. It is this coming "in the Holy Ghost" which gives truth in its power such a sanctifying influence on the heart.

But you will ask, perhaps, What is a sanctifying influence? It is the communication of holy feelings, heavenly desires, and gracious affections; in a word, it is the breathing into the soul of that sweet spirituality of mind which is life and peace. If we are among the people of God, he chose us in Christ "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." If he chasten us in this time-state, it is "for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Heb. 12:10). It is this holiness of heart, this heavenly-mindedness which I mean when I speak of the sanctifying influence of truth in its power.

Now did truth ever come into your soul with any measure of this sanctifying influence? Did you ever long to get away from the chapel, go home to your room, fall upon your knees, and have blessed fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ? And were you ever so favoured when you did get home? Or sometimes when alone, in reading, or meditation, or secret prayer, did the word of God ever come into your soul with that sweet unction, savour, and dew that it seemed to make the very room in which you were holy ground?

I remember when God was pleased to reveal his dear Son to my soul in my sick room many years ago, I was afraid almost to go out of my room lest I should lose the sweet, holy feelings and blessed spirituality of mind which I then and there enjoyed. Depend upon it, there is a holiness of heart and affection, an inward holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; and depend upon it, whenever truth comes into a believer's soul, it comes with that sanctifying influence, which not only gives him a meetness for, but is a blessed foretaste of the inheritance of the saints in light.

AS WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY
(2 Corinthians 4: 1-7.)
God makes his preachers able to minister only the message of Christ by making them experience the Power and Wisdom of Christ through the ministry of the message of Christ. Through this ministration of righteousness the Holy Spirit overwhelms God's ministers with the gift of spiritual life which no hidden, dishonest, crafty, deceitful ministries were ever able to accomplish in them. Therefore, having received this ministry from Christ, in the very same plain speech with which they received this mercy so they minister to others. They do not grow weary of manifesting the single message that Christ is the Righteousness, the Power and the Wisdom of God unto salvation. Being persuaded so fully that God saves through this open, honest, single message of their Reigning King they know with all confidence that if their gospel remains hid from some, it is hidden to them that are lost. The god of this world blinds the lost man so that he does not realize that he rejoices not in the unhidden gospel but loves the hidden things of dishonesty. Still, for the sake of Jesus Christ their Lord, God's messengers do not faint from preaching Christ crucified, rather than themselves. They know the only hope of the lost is that God will shine the light of the gospel of Christ into their heart causing them to behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. God has given his ministers this treasure in powerless flesh so that the Power which excels from the first hour unto final salvation may be of God and not of them.

THE GOLDEN RULE
Matthew 7: 12: Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
In the beginning of his sermon the Lord said, "I came to fulfill" the law and the prophets. By his grace, we believe he fulfilled every dot and dash of the very law he has taught us in this, his sermon on the mount so that he has made us the righteousness of God in him. By the power of his grace, the Holy Spirit has given us the love of God in our hearts so that his love for us causes us to delight in his word: in being quickly reconciled to our adversary (5: 25), in putting off the lust of the flesh (5:30), we delight in truth (5:37), in mercy rather than an eye-for-eye (5:39), in being gracious without partiality (5:44), in making no show of serving our God (6:1-18), in seeking the righteousness of God and providing for those in his kingdom.

And because his love has been imparted in us in the new birth, when the Lord tells us not to condemn but to ask God (Mt 7: 1-11) we realize that believing Christ and trusting sinners into the hands of the God we love is the heart of the golden rule. It is the love that true believers have of God. We have been made willing to lay down our wisdom, means, and old constraints for God's way of simply holding forth the good news of Christ. As we do, we turn to God in prayer on behalf of sinners, trusting him to give life in those who are yet without Christ, as well as to strengthen brethren who err from the truth.

Our constraint is knowing that this obedience and love did not come into our own hearts by man disciplining us into compliance, by religious men attracting us by their various ministries, or by our own power. Therefore, by grace, we continue to patiently endure, trusting Christ alone and visiting helpless sinners, not with oppressive words, but in the sweet songs of the gracious One who is the Power and Righteousness of God unto salvation. In all our own failings, this is exactly what we would have others to do unto us, because this is the law and the prophets.

SERMONS
Burden and Hope of the Valley
The Golden Rule
Paul's Service and Gospel

ARTICLES FROM OTHERS
Wormy Doctrine
If God Is Sovereign - Is Man Responsible?
Christ: A Living Reality
Natural Man Can Never Know Them
Preaching The Gospel