\u201cYes, he is altogether lovely.\u201d Solomon\u2019s Song 5:16.
\n\u201cAnd you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.\u201d Ephesians 2:1
\nUntil God by His Spirit quickens the soul into spiritual life, there must be a determined rejection of Christ. However a man may receive Him into his judgment, the inward bias of his heart and the secret speech of his soul is, \u201cNot this Man, but Barabbas!\u201d If, then, there are any who do believe in Him, receive Him, love Him, and have a blessed union with Him\u2014it all springs from the quickening Spirit of God working with power in their souls. Wherever the quickening power of God\u2019s Spirit has passed upon a man\u2019s conscience, he is invariably brought to see and feel himself to be a sinner. This inward sight of self cuts him off, sooner or later, from\u2014all self-righteousness\u2014all false refuges\u2014and all vain confidences with which he may seek to prop up his soul. The Lord will convince all His people of their lost state before Him\u2014and cast them as ruined wretches into the dust\u2014without hope, strength, wisdom, help, or righteousness\u2014except that which is given to them, as a free gift, by sovereign grace.
\nThis work of grace in the conscience, pulling down all a man\u2019s false refuges, stripping him of every lying hope, and thrusting him down into self-abasement and self-abhorrence\u2014is indispensable to a true reception of Christ. Whatever a man may have learned in his head, or however far he may be informed in his judgment\u2014he never will receive Christ spiritually into his heart and affections, until he has been broken down by the hand of God in his soul, to be a ruined wretch. When a man is effectually brought here, the Lord is pleased, for the most part, to open up to his astonished view, and to bring into his soul, some saving knowledge of the Lord of life and glory. He casts into the mind a light, and He brings into the heart a power, whereby the glorious Person of Christ, His atoning blood, dying love, finished work, and justifying righteousness\u2014are looked upon by spiritual eyes\u2014touched by spiritual hands\u2014and received into a spiritual and believing heart.-J.C. Philpot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYes, he is altogether lovely.\u201d Solomon\u2019s Song 5:16. \u201cAnd you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.\u201d Ephesians 2:1 Until God by His Spirit quickens the soul into spiritual life, there must be a determined rejection of Christ. However a man may receive Him into his judgment, the inward bias of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-j-c-philpot","category-christ-his-person-and-excellencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122","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=2122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2123,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}