{"id":1806,"date":"2012-01-14T03:01:18","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T03:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1806"},"modified":"2012-01-14T03:01:18","modified_gmt":"2012-01-14T03:01:18","slug":"the-life-boat-of-free-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1806","title":{"rendered":"The life-boat of free grace!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The life-boat of free grace!<\/strong><\/p>\n

(James Smith, \u201cThe Complaint!\u201d 1864)<\/p>\n

\u201cI am cast down!\u201d <\/em>And\u00a0why <\/em>are you cast down?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is burdened with a sense of my short-comings!
\nEvery\u00a0duty <\/em>I perform is so imperfect.
\nEvery\u00a0purpose <\/em>I form is so soon frustrated.
\nEvery\u00a0hope <\/em>of seeing better days is so soon beclouded.
\nMy\u00a0heart <\/em>is so fearfully depraved.
\nMy\u00a0life <\/em>is so unlike the life of Jesus.
\nMy\u00a0temper <\/em>is so unholy.
\nMy\u00a0prayers <\/em>are so brief and heartless.
\nMy\u00a0praises <\/em>are so feeble and fitful.
\nI\u00a0do <\/em>so little good.
\nI\u00a0live <\/em>to so little purpose.
\nMy\u00a0evidences <\/em>are so dim.
\nMy\u00a0prospects <\/em>are so overcast.
\nI am harassed sometimes with the fear of death<\/em>.
\nI cannot realize the glories of\u00a0Heaven<\/em>.
\nI am dissatisfied with the\u00a0world<\/em> \u2014 and yet glued to it!
\nI hate\u00a0sin<\/em> \u2014 and yet fall into it!\u00a0
\nI am a riddle, a mystery, a mass of inconsistency! <\/em>
\nIs it, then, any wonder that I am cast down?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, if you look at\u00a0yourself<\/em>, and pore over the things you have named \u2014 then it is no wonder that you are cast down! They are enough to cast anyone down! But if you carry them to thethrone of grace<\/em>, if you there\u00a0confess <\/em>them before God, if you look to Jesus<\/em> to save you from them \u2014 then, in spite of them \u2014 you will not long be cast down.<\/p>\n

I know it is difficult to do this. There is a\u00a0natural proneness<\/em> to pore over such things. One feels at times a\u00a0secret liking <\/em>to indulge in gloomy thoughts.<\/p>\n

But we must look away from\u00a0self<\/em> \u2014 for if we do not, we shall become anxious, doubting and gloomy! We must\u00a0run the race<\/em>, not looking at\u00a0our <\/em>imperfections, short-comings, and failures \u2014 but looking unto\u00a0Jesus<\/em>. He knows what we\u00a0are<\/em>. He knew what we\u00a0would<\/em> be<\/em> \u2014 before He called us by His grace; yes, before He shed His blood for us!
\nHe\u00a0loved <\/em>us, as sinners.
\nHe\u00a0died <\/em>for us, as sinners.
\nHe\u00a0called <\/em>us, as sinners.
\nHe\u00a0saves <\/em>us, as sinners. He will have all the glory of saving us, and He will get great glory by doing so, because we are such great sinners;<\/em> and do not, cannot,\u00a0do <\/em>anything to\u00a0repay<\/em> Him for His wondrous love! Salvation is by\u00a0free grace<\/em> \u2014 from first to last! Believe this, and it will raise up your drooping mind!<\/p>\n

The life-boat of free grace<\/strong> has put you on board the\u00a0vessel of salvation<\/em>, and that will convey you safely to the\u00a0port of glory! <\/em>Do not look at your spiritual destitution, or feebleness, or incapacity, or imperfections \u2014 but trust in your\u00a0Pilot<\/em>, rely on your\u00a0Captain<\/em>, and expect His mercy and merit to land you safe in Heaven at last!<\/p>\n

As imperfect as you now are<\/em>, and as imperfect you\u00a0will be<\/em> \u2014 your\u00a0dying prayer<\/em> will still be,\u201cGod be merciful unto me \u2014 a sinner!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Hope in God!
\nHis\u00a0mercy <\/em>is great unto the heavens,
\nHis\u00a0grace <\/em>is as free as the air,
\nHis\u00a0love <\/em>is as changeless as His nature,
\nHis\u00a0promise <\/em>is as immutable as His love.<\/p>\n

Hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him. He will save you for His own sake, and present you before assembled worlds as a\u00a0monument of His mercy,<\/em> and a trophy of His grace!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The life-boat of free grace! (James Smith, \u201cThe Complaint!\u201d 1864) \u201cI am cast down!\u201d And\u00a0why are you cast down? \u201cMy heart is burdened with a sense of my short-comings! Every\u00a0duty I perform is so imperfect. Every\u00a0purpose I form is so soon frustrated. Every\u00a0hope of seeing better days is so soon beclouded. My\u00a0heart is so fearfully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,61,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-james-smith","category-believers-assurance","category-grace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","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=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions\/1807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}