{"id":1795,"date":"2012-01-14T02:50:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T02:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2012-01-14T02:50:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-14T02:50:08","slug":"growing-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1795","title":{"rendered":"Growing worse?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Growing worse?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(John Angell James, \u201cChristian Progress\u201d 1853)<\/p>\n<p>One of the last lessons we effectually learn, is<br \/>\nthat true godliness is a constant conflict in a<br \/>\nbeliever\u2019s heart\u2013between sin and holiness.<\/p>\n<p>Some sincere believers mistake a clearer view, and<br \/>\ndeeper sense of their depravity, for an actual increase<br \/>\nof sin. The Christian seems sometimes to himself, to<br \/>\nbe\u00a0<strong>growing worse<\/strong>, when actually it is only that he<br \/>\nsees more clearly what in fact he really is!<\/p>\n<p>In the early stages of our Christian life, we have<br \/>\nusually but a slender acquaintance with the evil<br \/>\nof our sinfulness, and the depravity of our heart.<br \/>\nThe mind is so much taken up with pardon and<br \/>\neternal life, that it is but imperfectly acquainted<br \/>\nwith those depths of deceit and wickedness,<br \/>\nwhich lie hidden in itself.<\/p>\n<p>At first we seem to feel as if the\u00a0<strong>serpent <\/strong>were killed.<br \/>\nBut we soon find that he was only asleep\u2013for by the<br \/>\nwarmth of some fiery temptation,\u00a0<strong>he is revived and<br \/>\nhisses at us again!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nothing astonishes an inexperienced believer more<br \/>\nthan the discoveries he is continually making of the<br \/>\nevils of his heart. Corruptions which he never dreamt to<br \/>\nbe in him, are brought out by some new circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>It is like turning up the\u00a0<strong>soil<\/strong>, which brings out worms<br \/>\nand insects, which did not appear upon the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Or to vary the illustration, his increasing knowledge<br \/>\nof God\u2019s holy nature, of the perfect law, and the<br \/>\nexample of Christ\u2013is like opening the shutters, and<br \/>\n<strong>letting light into a dark room<\/strong>, the filth of which,<br \/>\nthe inhabitant did not see until the sunbeams<br \/>\ndisclosed it to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growing worse? (John Angell James, \u201cChristian Progress\u201d 1853) One of the last lessons we effectually learn, is that true godliness is a constant conflict in a believer\u2019s heart\u2013between sin and holiness. Some sincere believers mistake a clearer view, and deeper sense of their depravity, for an actual increase of sin. The Christian seems sometimes to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-angell-james","category-total-depravity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1796,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}