{"id":1929,"date":"2012-03-31T06:45:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-31T06:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1929"},"modified":"2012-03-31T06:46:38","modified_gmt":"2012-03-31T06:46:38","slug":"bulletin-articles-issue-115-march-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1929","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Articles Issue #115 March 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

M<\/strong>ARK <\/strong>11:27-33<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b6 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in<\/p>\n

the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes,<\/p>\n

and the elders, (28) And say unto him, By what authority doest<\/p>\n

thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these<\/p>\n

things? (29) And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also<\/p>\n

ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by<\/p>\n

what authority I do these things. (30) The baptism of John, was it<\/p>\n

from heaven, or of men? answer me. (31) And they reasoned with<\/p>\n

themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say,<\/p>\n

Why then did ye not believe him? (32) But if we shall say, Of men;<\/p>\n

they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a<\/p>\n

prophet indeed. (33) And they answered and said unto Jesus, We<\/p>\n

cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell<\/p>\n

you by what authority I do these things…….<\/p>\n

I am inclined to think, <\/strong>that those sworn enemies to CHRIST,<\/p>\n

who are said here to have come to JESUS in the temple,<\/p>\n

demanding his authority, came in a public body, by way of<\/p>\n

confronting him; and as those who were sent by the<\/p>\n

Sanhedrim for that purpose, and determined to silence him,<\/p>\n

and put an end to his preaching. The LORD, JESUS had turned<\/p>\n

out the buyers and sellers from the temple, and had “healed<\/p>\n

the blind and lame\u201d which came to him for that purpose into<\/p>\n

the temple; and was now teaching the people while walking<\/p>\n

about the temple, as was the custom in those days among a<\/p>\n

set of philosophers, who walked with the pupils as they<\/p>\n

taught them. Let the Reader figure to himself the LORD JESUS<\/p>\n

thus attacked, and observe the wisdom of the LORD in his<\/p>\n

answer. By directing not only the minds of his enemies to the<\/p>\n

subject of John’s ministry, but also those to whom he was<\/p>\n

preaching his Gospel, the LORD took the most effectual<\/p>\n

method to throw to the ground their opposition, and establish<\/p>\n

his mission. They dared not admit John’s ministry to be of<\/p>\n

divine appointment; for in so doing they would have<\/p>\n

acknowledged CHRIST, for the whole of John\u2019s office pointed<\/p>\n

to CHRIST. And most probably the congregation to whom JESUS<\/p>\n

was then preaching, had been among John’s disciples; so that<\/p>\n

to have denied John’s mission, would have been dangerous.<\/p>\n

The wretched state to which they were reduced, therefore, in<\/p>\n

confessing their ignorance, serves to show the awful delusion<\/p>\n

under which those men were. And Reader, when we recollect<\/p>\n

that this transaction took place only a few days before<\/p>\n

CHRIST\u2019S death, the matter becomes yet more awful<\/p>\n

concerning them; for though put to silence and unable to<\/p>\n

answer CHRIST, they departed from him only with more<\/p>\n

determined hatred to seek his immediate death. Reader! You<\/p>\n

and I shalt have read this account to very little profit, if it<\/p>\n

doth not teach us to what a desperate state the heart of man<\/p>\n

is capable of being hardened; and at the same time the<\/p>\n

distinguishing mercy of GOD in every instance where grace is<\/p>\n

given to believe the record GOD hath given of his dear Son! 1<\/p>\n

John 5:10-11.\u00a0\u00a0 Robert Hawker. (poor mans commentary)<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cHe That Believeth And Is Baptized\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark 16:16<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em>Our Savior declares, \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.\u201d <\/em>This text of Scripture has been wrested by many to their everlasting destruction; but it is a text full of gospel truth that needs to be understood and obeyed by all.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe that believeth\u201d – <\/em><\/strong>To believe is to trust, or lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to give up and renounce all self-reliance and rely upon Christ alone for salvation. Those who believe on Christ know their need of him. They have been made to see the fullness, sufficiency, worth, and efficacy of Christ as the sinner\u2019s Substitute and Savior. They come to him as poor, perishing, condemned, impotent sinners. They venture upon him, commit themselves to him, and live upon him. To believe on Christ is to look to him like the Jews of old looked upon the brazen serpent and lived. They looked not upon themselves, nor upon the pole that held the brazen serpent. They looked not upon Moses, nor upon the serpents that bit them. They looked upon the serpent of brass; and looking on that, they were healed. Even so, we are saved not by looking at ourselves, or at the ordinances of divine worship, or upon the men who preach Christ to us, but by looking upon Christ himself. \u201cLook unto me,\u201d <\/em>he says, \u201cand be ye saved.\u201d <\/em>If you would be saved, you must look to, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd be baptized\u201d – <\/em><\/strong>Faith must precede baptism. It is the one and only pre-requisite for baptism. Only those who have faith in Christ are to be baptized (Acts 8:36-37). Yet, all who believe are to be baptized. This is not an option. Baptism is the believer\u2019s public confession of faith in and identification with Christ. To be baptized is to submit to the ordinance of God to which our Lord Jesus himself submitted as the servant of God, when he was immersed in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Baptism is a matter of obedience to Christ our King. All who were converted at Pentecost were immediately baptized. The jailer and his household, as soon as they believed, were baptized in the name of Christ. This outward confession always follows God\u2019s salvation. The outward sign does not save; but it does picture our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. Therefore, being saved, believers follow their Lord into the watery grave and arise from it to walk with him in the newness of life (Rom. 6:3-6).<\/p>\n

\u201cShall be saved\u201d – <\/em><\/strong>They have been saved already in the sense that they are already redeemed, justified, regenerated, and called. Otherwise they could not believe. Faith is not the cause of salvation, but the result. Faith is not a work by which we accomplish God\u2019s salvation, but the operation of God in us which is salvation (Col. 2:12). All who believe on Christ shall be saved everlastingly. Believing on Christ, we possess and enjoy God\u2019s salvation. Being baptized, we confess it.<\/p>\n

Don Fortner<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Look to the Lord Jesus Christ<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The meaning of a word is more clearly understood by how it is used. For example, if I were to shout the word “Look!” you would direct your sight expecting to see something out of the ordinary. On the other hand, if I were to say, “I look to you concerning this matter,” you would understand that I was trusting and depending upon you for the accomplishment of it. Now, the message of the gospel is LOOK! Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold HIM! Behold the glory and excellence of His person; the Son of God who was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” yet never ceased to be what He was, “The Mighty God.”<\/p>\n

Behold Him in his work as the Substitute and Redeemer of His people, Whose obedience and sacrifice in the room and stead of those He represented, satisfied the demands of law and justice, by which He established righteousness, made atonement for sin and reconciled us to God. Behold Him seated on the right hand of God, our Great High Priest, the God-Man Mediator, Who has entered heaven and occupies it as our Forerunner and Representative, Who also makes intercession for us.<\/p>\n

Look to Him waiting and expecting to receive salvation from Him, trusting and depending upon Him. “Look unto and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.” “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Pennington.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Faith<\/p>\n

The problem with sinners is not that we are unwilling to do something to save ourselves, but that we are unwilling to do nothing that we might be saved by another (John 3: 19, 20).<\/p>\n

Faith takes nothing from you, faith takes nothing done by you, faith demands you add nothing, only believe and continue believing, not in anything you have done or not done. Faith is casting your care, your whole self, your whole eternal salvation into the hands of Jesus Christ. – Clay Curtis<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”\u20142 Cor. 13: 14.<\/p>\n

Here, my soul, set up thy pillar. Baptised as thou hast been into the joint name, love, praise, and adoration, of the Holy Three in One; and blessed as thou hast been, and art, in their joint mercies, grace, and favour; here every day, and all the day, seek thy portion and blessing, as the united source of all thy salvation. End the year, and begin the year, under those precious tokens of God in Christ; and daily keep up a lively communion and friendship with each, as the blessed cause of all thine happiness. Jehovah, in his threefold character of person, is engaged to perfect what he hath begun: and it is, and should be thy happiness to be for ever viewing the testimonies of it, in the holy scriptures of truth. God thy Father hath so loved the church in Jesus, as to give him to the church, and the church to him; and God the Son hath so loved the church, as to give himself for it; zeal for his Father’s honour, and longing for the salvation of his people, led him through all the work of redemption, and now engageth his heart, until he hath brought home all his redeemed to glory: and God the Holy Ghost is unceasingly engaged to render the whole effectual, by taking of the things of Christ, and shewing them to his people. See to it then, my soul, that every day, and all the day, thou hast the love-tokens of each person of the Godhead; for this will make thee blessed upon earth, and blessed to all eternity. Hail! holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Bless both him that writes, and him that reads, with thy grace: and open and close the year with grace, until grace be consummated in everlasting glory. Amen and Amen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Morning and evening portions Robert Hawker.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cTHE center of our holy religion is the Cross. The central thought of the whole of Christianity is Christ and the great point in Christ\u2019s history is His Crucifixion. We preach Christ\u2014but more\u2014we preach Him Crucified!\u201d\u2014Charles Spurgeon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARK 11:27-33 \u00b6 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, (28) And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? (29) And Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929","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=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1931,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions\/1931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}