{"id":2448,"date":"2013-03-16T07:38:41","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T07:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=2448"},"modified":"2013-03-16T07:38:41","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T07:38:41","slug":"bulletin-articles-issue-164-march-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=2448","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Articles Issue #164 MARCH 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

A faint symbol of unutterable affection!<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Charles Spurgeon, “Gleanings among the Sheaves”)<\/p>\n

“Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16<\/p>\n

In calling the Lord Jesus “altogether lovely,” the redeemed Church<\/em> asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful; but to her it is the very center and soul of glory. He is never without beauty to her! She presses His pierced feet to her embrace\u2014and looks upon His wounds as jewels! Fools stand by His cross and find many a theme for jest and scorn; but she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded love!<\/p>\n

“You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved\u2014with no imperfection<\/em> in You!” Song of Songs 4:7. Viewing Him in every office and relationship\u2014she cannot discover a flaw! <\/strong>She knows too well, His perfect Godhead<\/em> and His spotless manhood<\/em>\u2014to offer a moment’s shelter to the thought of a blemish<\/em> in His immaculate person! She abominates every teaching that debases Him! She spurns the most gorgeous religious drapery <\/em>that would obscure His beauteous features! Yes, so jealous is she of His honor, that a hint against His unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath\u2014and speedy would be her execration, and relentless her execution of the heresy! Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so much\u2014as a word against her beloved Redeemer. To all true believers, this is high treason and an offense which cannot be treated lightly.<\/p>\n

Jesus is without a single blot or blemish<\/em>\u2014yet this negative <\/em>praise, this bold denial of any fault\u2014is far from representing the fullness of the loving admiration of the Church. Jesus is positively <\/em>lovely in her eyes! Not merely lovely\u2014His beauties are attracting <\/em>beauties, and His glories are such as charm <\/em>the heart. But although this utterance of the Church is the very climax of the language of praise, and was doubtless intended as the pinnacle <\/em>of all description\u2014yet it is not possible that this one sentence, even when expanded by the most careful meditation, should be able to express more than a mere particle<\/em> of the admiration felt. Her description towers above all others; but its stature fails to reach the towering height of Heaven-born love. It is but a faint symbol of unutterable affection!<\/strong> It is a choice pearl <\/em>washed on shore, from the deep sea of Divine love.<\/p>\n

“Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16<\/p>\n

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Where then, are all my spots?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Susannah Spurgeon, “A Basket of Summer Fruit”)<\/p>\n

“You are all beautiful, My beloved; there is no spot<\/em>
\nin you!” Song of Songs 4:7<\/p>\n

“Ah!” I hear some timid, trembling believer say, “Such \u00a0a text can have nothing to do with me!<\/em> I am the very opposite of all that is beautiful and spotless. The eyes
\nof my soul have seen hideous sights within, which I can never forget; and I loathe myself and my sin so much,that though I believe God has forgiven me for Christ’s
\nsake\u2014I feel it impossible to take those precious words as addressed to one so sinful and imperfect as myself!”<\/p>\n

Yet, trembling soul, I would bid you take courage, and look up! Christ’s love for His people is marvelously set forth in this Song of Songs<\/em>. The same precious blood
\nwas poured out to redeem the least lamb <\/em>of the flock,as for the choicest sheep!<\/em><\/p>\n

Come, then, timid one\u2014rejoice in the blessed fact that you are indeed precious to the Lord\u2014and He says, “You are all beautiful, My beloved!” Adoringly bow before Him in wonder\u2014at the miracle His love has wrought in you.<\/p>\n

It ill becomes the bride of Christ to ignore His loveliness<\/em>, which He has put upon her, and go about bemoaning the scars and blemishes which His great love overlooks and forgets.<\/p>\n

It is quite true that, in themselves, believers are sorrowfully imperfect and sinful; but if the Lord Jesus, in His marvelous mercy, unrobes Himself to cover over their unrighteousness, they may well be content to be thus made “beautiful” in His
\nsight. We cannot comprehend the mystery and sublimity of Divine love; but it is the sole and all-sufficient reason for the dear Lord’s estimate of us; and when He uses such endearing language\u2014our hearts melt and are ravished by His wondrous
\ncondescension. With reverence we say it\u2014when our dear Master deigns to address us in accents of love and admiration, our souls are thrilled with heavenly bliss, and we are uplifted beyond all the sorrows and vexations of this world, into an
\natmosphere of unspeakable spiritual joy!<\/p>\n

“My beloved!”<\/em> Oh, say it again, dear Savior! Let the music of Your voice touch and vibrate through the deepest chords of my nature, and awaken sweet responses in my soul! You are the fount and source of all love; oh, fill me, overwhelm
\nme, plunge me in this sea of mercy and of grace! I would be swallowed up in it\u2014knowing no other joy or bliss comparable to that of being able to say, “My Beloved is mine\u2014and I am His!”<\/p>\n

“There is no spot in you.” Can our loving Lord really mean this? He does, indeed! “Where then, are all my spots<\/strong>, dear Lord, for they were legion\u2014and sin must render me vile and loathsome in Your pure sight?”<\/p>\n

All the sins\u2014past, present, and future\u2014all the deformity and blackness\u2014are cleansed away by Christ’s blood\u2014covered by His righteousness! And so completely is this done, that God Himself can find no remnant or stain of that which would
\nhave meant eternal death to an unwashed soul. The poor sinner is lifted from the depths of sin\u2014to the heights of heavenly bliss! “What kind of love is this?” It is so Divine and incomprehensible that, in the contemplation of it, we are lost in wonder and amazement!
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\nLord Jesus, what a glorious Savior You are! All the sin, which made Your bride so black and vile\u2014was laid upon You!<\/em><\/p>\n

“There is no spot in you.” An old writer says\u2014”Now, if God <\/em>sees no spot\u2014why should you <\/em>be prying after one? \u00a0Poring over your misery, searching after your blackness \u00a0and depravity\u2014will be no help to you. This only keeps your eyes off <\/em>Jesus, instead of up unto <\/em>Jesus. You cannot look two ways at once. How did the poor serpent-bitten Israelites in the wilderness get relief and healing? By
\nlooking to their sores, their wounds, their malady? Oh, no! It was by looking to the brazen serpent! And if you would get relief\u2014it must be by looking to Jesus Christ!”<\/p>\n

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Unquenchable!<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Bonar, “The Love That Passes Knowledge”)<\/em><\/p>\n

“Many waters cannot quench love; neither<\/strong> can rivers drown it.”<\/strong> Song of Solomon 8:7<\/p>\n

Let us take this verse as descriptive of the love<\/strong> of Christ<\/strong>, the “love that passes knowledge.” \u00a0Nothing in heaven, or earth, or hell is able to extinguish or cool the love of Christ<\/strong>; the one love whose dimensions are beyond all measure!
\nIt is unquenchable!<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The waters of SHAME AND SUFFERING sought to quench<\/strong> and drown it. They would have hindered its outflowing, and come (like Peter) between the
\nSavior and the cross; but this love refused to be arrested on its way to Calvary; it would not be either quenched<\/strong> or drowned. Herein was love! It overleaped all the barriers in its way. Its fire would \u00a0not be quenched<\/strong>, its life would not be drowned!<\/p>\n

2. The waters of DEATH sought to quench<\/strong> it. Their waves and billows went over him. The grave sought to cool or quench<\/strong> it; but it proved itself stronger
\nthan death. Neither death nor the grave could alter or weaken it. It came out of both as strong as before. Love defied death, and overcame it!<\/p>\n

3. The waters of OUR UNWORTHINESS could not quench<\/strong> nor drown love. In general we find love drawing to the loveable; and when anything unseemly
\noccurs, withdrawing from its object. Not so here. All our unfitness and unloveableness could not quench<\/strong> nor drown his love. It clung to the unlovely, and
\nrefused to be torn away!<\/p>\n

4. The waters of OUR LONG REJECTION sought to quench<\/strong> it. After the gospel had showed us that personal unworthiness could not arrest the love of Christ, we continued to reject him and his love. Yet his love surmounted this unbelief, and
\nsurvived this rejection. In spite of all it remained unquenched!<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. The waters of OUR DAILY INCONSISTENCY sought to quench<\/strong> it. Even after we have believed, we are constantly coming short. Ah! what inconsistencies,
\ncoldness, backslidings, lukewarmness, doubtings, worldliness, and such like, are daily flowing over this love to quench<\/strong> its fire and drown its life! Yet it survives all; it remains unquenched <\/strong>and unquenchable!<\/strong> All these infinite evils in us are like “waters,” “many waters”; like “floods”; torrents of sin, waves and billows of evil; all constantly laboring to quench<\/strong> and drown the love of Christ! And truly
\nthey would have annihilated any other love; any love less than divine. But the love of Christ is unchangeable and everlasting! His love is invincible, and irresistible as death; it is a jealous love, unyielding and inexorable as the grave! All earth and heaven together would be ineffectual to cool or quench<\/strong> His mighty love! The love of Christ truly passes knowledge. It is infinite like himself. It emerges out of every
\nstorm or flood. It survives all our unworthiness, and unbelief, and rejection!<\/p>\n

Here, then, is the love of Christ! Its breadth, length, height, and depth, are absolutely immeasurable!<\/p>\n

Sinner, resort immediately to the fountain of the Redeemer’s blood, while it is yet open. Come, without delay: “Wash, and be clean.” “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let each one who hears them say, “Come.” Let the thirsty ones come\u2014anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge.” If you thus come to the fountain of living water, you will be able to adopt the language of Cowper, and say\u2013<\/p>\n

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins
\nAnd sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains<\/p>\n

The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day;
\nAnd there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God Are saved, to sin no more
\nFor since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply
\nRedeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die<\/p>\n

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
\nLies silent in the grave Then in a nobler, sweeter song
\nI’ll sing thy power to save\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 William Cowper, 1800.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A faint symbol of unutterable affection! (Charles Spurgeon, “Gleanings among the Sheaves”) “Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16 In calling the Lord Jesus “altogether lovely,” the redeemed Church asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may […]<\/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-2448","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\/2448","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=2448"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}