I am sure you have seen the popular religious slogan used by so-called churches today: \u201cThe Church Where Everybody Is Somebody\u201d. Fact is, the church is a place where everybody is a nobody. The Church is made of unworthy sinners. All members know that. Ask them. Ask Jacob, he will tell you: \u201cI am not worthy of the least of [God\u2019s] mercies.\u201d Ask Abraham: \u201cI am but dust and ashes.\u201d Ask Job: \u201cI abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.\u201d Ask David: \u201cWho am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?\u201d Ask Mephibosheth: \u201cWhat is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?\u201d Ask John: \u201cI must decrease.\u201d Ask Paul: \u201cI am less than the least of all the saints.\u201d Ask any of the saints of God and they will all tell you that they are nothing. \u201cYou see your calling don\u2019t you brethren? how God hath chosen \u2026 things which are not\u201d (I Cor. 1:26-28). As Matthew Henry once said: \u201cSince God made everything from nothing, if He is going to make anything out of us, we have to be a nothing.\u201d Scripture says, \u201cIf any man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself\u201d (Gal. 6:3).<\/p>\n
Do you know yourself to be a worthless, helpless, useless, sinful nobody? \u2026 that God doesn\u2019t need you and that the Kingdom of God doesn\u2019t need you? If so \u2026 welcome to the family of God! For the church is a place where everybody is a nobody and Jesus Christ is Somebody \u2026 the only One Who is of real value and worth, yea the altogether lovely One, the Holy One of God. As the people said of David, so say the saints of the Son of David: \u201cThou art worth ten thousand of us!\u201d The saints in Heaven are singing to the Lord Jesus Christ right now, \u201cThou art worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But wait! God says of the saints on earth, \u201cYe are the salt of the earth \u2026 of whom the world is not worthy.\u201d This is a wonderful paradox, that all who see themselves unworthy, He calls worthy. All who call themselves unclean, God pronounces clean. All who feel they are nothing, God says they are His jewels, His peculiar treasure! Why? Because Christ hath made them righteous, holy, worthy. Because He died for them, and because of the invaluable price He paid, they are now of infinite worth to Him and the Father. Because Christ is formed in them, they are now fruitful, faithful, obedient and full of goodness. That is what God says of them. Isn\u2019t that what you think of them? All the saints are told to esteem others better than themselves. We feel that we are nothing, less than the least, not fit to be called a disciple, but highly esteem our brethren. That\u2019s as it should be. We think ourselves to be nothing while esteeming our brethren very highly. A wonderful thing isn\u2019t it? That though we are nothing in ourselves, yet, in Christ, we are called sons of the God!<\/p>\n
\u2013Paul Mahan<\/p>\n
The whole apparatus of religion<\/p>\n
(J. C. Philpot, “Reviews”)<\/p>\n
“I see that you are very religious in every way.”<\/p>\n
Acts 17:22<\/p>\n
Religion, in some shape or other, is indispensable<\/p>\n
to the very existence of civilized society. There is<\/p>\n
a natural religion–as well as a spiritual religion.<\/p>\n
Natural conscience is the seat of the former;<\/p>\n
a spiritual conscience the seat of the latter.<\/p>\n
One is of the flesh–the other of the Spirit.<\/p>\n
One for time–the other for eternity.<\/p>\n
One for the world–the other for the elect.<\/p>\n
One to animate and bind men together as<\/p>\n
component members of society–the other to<\/p>\n
animate and bind the children of God together<\/p>\n
as component members of the mystical body<\/p>\n
of Christ.<\/p>\n
True religion is what the world does not want<\/p>\n
–nor does true religion want the world.<\/p>\n
The two are as separate as Christ and Belial.<\/p>\n
But some religion the world must have!<\/p>\n
And as it will not have, and cannot have<\/p>\n
the true–it will and must have the false.<\/p>\n
True religion is . . .<\/p>\n
spiritual and experimental,<\/p>\n
heavenly and divine,<\/p>\n
the gift and work of God,<\/p>\n
the birthright and privilege of the elect,<\/p>\n
the peculiar possession of the heirs of God.<\/p>\n
This the world has not, for it is God’s enemy–not<\/p>\n
His friend–walking in the broad way which leads<\/p>\n
to perdition–not in the narrow way which leads<\/p>\n
to eternal life.<\/p>\n
Worldly religion cannot exist without an order of<\/p>\n
men to teach it and practice its ceremonies. Hence<\/p>\n
come clergy, forming a recognized priestly caste.<\/p>\n
And as these must, to avoid confusion, be governed,<\/p>\n
all large corporate bodies requiring a controlling power,<\/p>\n
thence come bishops and archbishops, ecclesiastical<\/p>\n
courts, archdeacons–and the whole apparatus of<\/p>\n
clerical government.<\/p>\n
The ceremonies and ordinances cannot be carried on<\/p>\n
without buildings set apart for the purpose–thence<\/p>\n
churches and cathedrals.<\/p>\n
As prayer is a part of all religious worship, and carnal<\/p>\n
men cannot, for lack of the Spirit, pray spiritually–they<\/p>\n
must have forms of devotion made ready to their hand,<\/p>\n
thence come prayer-books and liturgies.<\/p>\n
As there must be mutual points of agreement to hold<\/p>\n
men together, there must be written formulas of doctrine<\/p>\n
–thence come articles, creeds, and confessions of faith.<\/p>\n
And finally, as there are children to be instructed, and<\/p>\n
this cannot be safely left to oral teaching, for fear of<\/p>\n
ignorance in some and error in others, the very form<\/p>\n
of instruction must be drawn up in so many words–<\/p>\n
thence come catechisms.<\/p>\n
People are puzzled sometimes to know why there is<\/p>\n
this and that thing in an established religion–why we<\/p>\n
have churches and clergy, tithes and prayer-books,<\/p>\n
universities and catechisms–and the whole apparatus<\/p>\n
of religion. They do not see that all these things have<\/p>\n
sprung, as it were, out of a moral necessity, and are<\/p>\n
based upon the very constitution of man–that this<\/p>\n
great and widespread tree of a human religion has<\/p>\n
its deep roots in the natural conscience; and that all<\/p>\n
these branches necessarily and naturally grow out of<\/p>\n
the broad and lofty stem.<\/p>\n
The attachment, then, of worldly people to a worldly<\/p>\n
religion is no great mystery. It is no riddle for a Samson<\/p>\n
to put forth–or requiring a Solomon to solve.<\/p>\n
Christian Racism<\/p>\n
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons (James 2:1)<\/p>\n
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord<\/em> of glory, with partiality. (NKJV)<\/p>\n The Spirit of God reminds us, as brethren, against elevating one person while neglecting another. Sinful men glorify or reject one another based on race, gender, class, religious-practice and other things. Fact is, in ourselves and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all one, putrid, mass of filth before the thrice-holy God. By God’s grace, we believe that God did not choose any of his elect based on anything in us, good or bad. Why then would we show favor to one and reject another based on anything produced by men? God would have his one race glory in no other but the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Why then would we glory in man by choosing one above another? The glory of the Lord so far excels all, that when we behold him by faith, every imaginary difference between Jew and Gentile, male and female, rich and poor, the one who thinks he keeps the law and the one who knows nothing of God’s law vanishes. Believers are complete in him, no sin, no schisms, and no differences.<\/p>\n The only true distinguishing characteristic that exists between sinners in this world is that some refuse to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ while others have been irresistibly made to glory only in the one who has made them the very righteousness of God. Knowing therefore, who it is that makes one sinner to differ from another, let us glorify him, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. \u2013Clay Curtis.<\/p>\n Unbelieving Christians?<\/p>\n Tommy Robbins<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth\u201d 2Th 2:13<\/p>\n There is no such animal as a Bible believing Christian that doesn\u2019t know and believe the gospel of God\u2019s redeeming grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, there are those who perpetually promote themselves by trying to bridge the gulf between free-will, Armenian, works religion and the Gospel of The Free Grace of God. There is absolutely no agreement between the two.<\/p>\n Gospel preachers and Christians don\u2019t have a need to return to the gospel, they already have (by the grace of God) come to Christ and they do believe and preach the gospel. Those who don\u2019t believe it and preach it have not yet been regenerated and called. Regeneration by God the Spirit and belief of the gospel is the distinguishing difference.<\/p>\n The preaching of the gospel is the means whereby God, in sovereign grace and mercy, calls His elect to faith in Christ Jesus. \u201cFor after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe\u201d 1Co 1:21. There is not one whom God has called by His Spirit, and revealed the Lord Jesus Christ to, that continues to follow false preachers and a false gospel. \u201cWhen He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers\u201d John 10:4-5.<\/p>\n The revelation of Christ to a dead sinner is salvation and is the revelation of the truth. \u201cIn Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise\u201d Eph 1:13.<\/p>\n Are there those who are saved (Christians) who do not believe and love the gospel? Emphatically NO! \u201cBut ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you\u201d John 10:26.<\/p>\n Contending for the Truth<\/p>\n Contending for the truth against the errors of modern religion is the duty of God’s servants. I hope our spirit is one of genuine love to all the chosen of God; but today’s rule of charity which requires us to keep silent on certain points in order to avoid controversy, I utterly despise. It is treason to the Lord Jesus to be silent on any point where He has spoken and the honor of His gospel is concerned. It is easy on the flesh to deal in generalities, to denounce hyper-this or hyper-that, and to claim to be a friend to all; but it is required of the loyal servant of King Jesus to maintain His crown-rights and to stand up for His gospel of glory and grace.\u00a0\u00a0 Tom Harding.<\/p>\n Hold Fast To Christ the Truth<\/p>\n Clay Curtis<\/p>\n The apostle Paul went to Jerusalem in order to preserve the true gospel for the Galatian churches and for all the churches of the Gentiles. When Paul would not subject himself to the false brethren who insisted that in addition to faith in Christ, the believer must also be circumcised; the lover’s of works did what the proponents of falsehood always do. When they could not avail against the Lord and his gospel, they then attempted to slander God’s messenger personally in any and every way they could.<\/p>\n Just as their false gospel began and ended with man so their scheme to discredit Paul began and ended with man. They pointed their hearers to men, to the fact that the other apostles, namely, James, Peter, and John had lived with Christ for three years; they heard the Lord’s sermons; they witnessed Christ perform miracles; they themselves preached and performed miracles while Christ was on earth. But what of this Paul? They pointed out that he never saw Jesus in the flesh. Their argument being, “So then whom ought you to believe: Paul, who stands alone, a mere disciple of the apostles, one of the last and least; or will you believe those grand apostles who were sent and confirmed by Christ Himself long before Paul?”<\/p>\n As the proponents of gospel truth always do, Paul’s rebuttal did not begin with man nor end with man, but was the word of God. He said, “whatsoever [the apostles] were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man\u2019s person (Lev. 19:15.) Paul said, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1: 8.)<\/p>\n Instead, of entangling himself in the trap of self-defense as his enemies hoped he would, Paul kept the issue of Christ’s person and finished work as the focus of everything that he said. For the issue was not the honor of the apostles, or of Paul’s honor, the issue was the truth of the gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n Paul asserts that the apostles added nothing to him. That is, when Paul communicated to the apostles that he preached salvation by faith in Christ apart from the works of the law, they found no fault with his gospel. Neither did the apostles correct him in any point or make any addition to the gospel Paul preached. His message of free grace was so complete and perfect, containing the whole counsel of God, that they had nothing to add unto it. This showed that by the Spirit of Christ who revealed the truth in Paul, as well as his brethren the apostles, he was not behind them in knowledge and gifts in the least degree.<\/p>\n So the very argument that his accusers used to slander his name backfired. Paul says, on the contrary, instead of rejecting him, the very apostles which these false brethren pretentiously highly esteemed not only agreed with him in every point but also confirmed their agreement by giving Paul and Barnabas the rights hands of fellowship.<\/p>\n Brethren, learn from the apostle Paul. When the enemies of God’s free grace in Christ attempt to slander you or lead you on a rabbit trail always bring them back to the feet of Christ Jesus the Lord. Any other response will only turn your eyes, and all those involved, from your Redeemer to man. That is the chief endeavor of the enemies of Christ. As we see here, every argument waged against us will turn out to be an argument against the accusers themselves if we but hold fast to Christ Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am sure you have seen the popular religious slogan used by so-called churches today: \u201cThe Church Where Everybody Is Somebody\u201d. Fact is, the church is a place where everybody is a nobody. The Church is made of unworthy sinners. All members know that. Ask them. Ask Jacob, he will tell you: \u201cI am not […]<\/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-2434","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\/2434","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=2434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2435,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions\/2435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}