{"id":290,"date":"2010-11-01T03:27:06","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T03:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=290"},"modified":"2010-11-02T06:39:33","modified_gmt":"2010-11-02T06:39:33","slug":"bulletin-articles-issue-44-october-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=290","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Articles Issue #44 October 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the gospel bids the sinner cease from his Toiling<\/strong> and trust
\nalone in Jesus, having nothing and being nothing in himself, but
\ntaking Jesus to be his all in all; and when it adds that even this is
\nthe gift of God’s Spirit, then it puts before him an available
\nmethod for the weakest, guiltiest, and most distressed. Many of
\nthe medicines prescribed by these physicians do not touch the
\ncase at all. As I have already shown you, outward ceremonies
\ncannot by any possibility affect the inward nature; and the mere
\nperformance of good works, and the utterance of excellent
\nprayers, can have no effect in quieting the conscience.
\nConscience cries, ‘I have offended God; how may I be reconciled
\nto him? My past sins clamor for vengeance; God is not just if he
\nnot punish me. Oh! where shall I find peace for my soul? Where
\nbut in the bosom of the Mediator?
\nOnly at Calvary is the medicine for a wounded conscience to be
\nfound. From those five wounds of our blessed Lord, healing
\nstreams are flowing still; he that looks to Him shall find peace
\nand comfort and full salvation; but the doing and the feeling, and
\nthe performing of this and that, and ten thousand things beside,
\nare all a mockery, a delusion, and a snare, they touch not the
\ncase. The disease of fallen humanity is wholly incurable except
\nby the hand of Omnipotence.
\nIt is as easy for us to create a world as to create a new heart; and
\na man might as well hope to abolish cold and snow as hope to
\neradicate sin from his nature by his own power; he might as well
\nsay to this round earth, ‘I have emancipated thee from the curse
\nof labor’, as say to himself, ‘I will set myself free from the
\nbondage of sin’. Jehovah alone can save, it is his prerogative.
\nThose who tell me that they are to have a finger in it, that they
\nand their deceivers, the priests, can assist a little in salvation, that
\ntheir tears, their groans, their cries, their repentances and their
\nhumbling, can do at least a something, are deceived. These fly in
\nthe face of God, rob Him of His dearest prerogative, impugn His
\nword, rob Him of His glory, and provoke Him to jealousy. God is
\nsovereign and will be treated as such. Woe unto the man who
\ncontends with Him!<\/p>\n

Brethren and sisters, let me say plainly this one word<\/strong>, and then
\nleave this point. Rest assured, that wherever in salvation you see a
\ntrace of the creature’s power or merit, you see a work that is
\nspoiled and polluted. If there be in the fountain one drop of
\nanything but Jesus’ blood, it will not cleanse; if there be in the
\nrobe one single thread of anything but what Christ worked out
\nfor us while here below, the whole robe is polluted, and will not
\nserve as a wedding garment. For a needy soul the work must be
\nChrist’s from top to bottom, all of Him, and all of grace. But if
\nthere be anything of human merit, or anything else that cometh of
\nman, the work is marred upon the wheel, and God will not accept
\nit. These are some of the reasons why these physicians fall to
\nbring health and cure.
\nFrom Physicians of No Value
\nby C. H. Spurgeon<\/strong><\/p>\n

He died for His patients!<\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/strong>(William S. Plumer, “The Rock of Our Salvation” 1867)
\n“The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. You are sick from head to foot–covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds!” Isaiah 1:5-6<\/p>\n

Often in Scripture, sin is spoken of as a disease, a sickness, a hurt.
\nChrist, as the great Physician, has the only sovereign balm.
\nSin is a dreadful <\/strong>disease! Yes, it is the very worst <\/strong>disease! It was the first<\/strong>, and so is the oldest <\/strong>malady. It infected man very soon after his creation. For six thousand years sin has committed its ravages and been gaining inveteracy. No other disease is so old.
\nSin is also a universal <\/strong>disease! Other maladies have slain their thousands; but sin has slain its millions! The whole world is a graveyard, full of death and corruption. No person ever lived without sin. As soon as we begin to live, we begin to transgress.
\nNot only is every man sick, but our whole nature is diseased!<\/strong>
\nOur understanding <\/strong>is darkened.
\nOur memory <\/strong>is polluted.
\nThe\u00a0thoughts <\/strong>of our heart are only evil continually.
\nOur throats <\/strong>are open graves.
\nOur tongues <\/strong>practice deceit.<\/p>\n

The poison of vipers is on our lips<\/strong>.
\nOur mouths <\/strong>are full of cursing and bitterness.
\nOur feet <\/strong>are swift to shed blood.
\nRuin and misery mark our ways<\/strong>, and the way of peace we do not know.
\nOur eyes<\/strong> behold vanity.
\nOur hands <\/strong>are full of bribes and of blood.
\nOur heart <\/strong>is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
\nWe love <\/strong>darkness rather than light.<\/p>\n

We are utterly diseased with sin!
\nSin makes men spiritually blind, and deaf, and dumb, and lame, and lethargic. Sin is a terrible compilation of diseases. It is a rottenness in the bones. It is a maddening fever, a wasting consumption, a paralysis of all the powers. Human nature is wholly corrupt!
\nSin is a perpetual <\/strong>disease. It rages day and night; on the sea and on the land; in the house of mirth and in the house of God.
\nSin is a hereditary <\/strong>disease. We are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.
\nSin is also contagious<\/strong>. Sinners are enticers, seducers, corrupters.
\nSin is also the most deceitful <\/strong>and flattering <\/strong>disease. One of its strong delusions is, “You shall not die!” See the throng of ungodly people marching to perdition–the slaves of Satan, the servants of corruption, the enemies of God! Their mirth would make one think them to be the happiest of people–and not, as they really are–condemned criminals, on their way to the eternal prison-house of inflexible justice! Sin has its delusive dreams. The worse a man is, the better he thinks himself to be.
\nSin is the worst <\/strong>disease, because it is the parent of all other diseases. But for sin, we would never have seen a human being in pain, or sicken, or die. Suffering and agony have one parent–sin!
\nOther diseases are calamities–but sin is a wickedness<\/strong>! Sin is not a misfortune–sin is a crime! It is a wicked thing to be a sinner. Transgression brings guilt. God is angry with the wicked every day. The more sinful anyone is–the more is God displeased with him.
\nSin is the most loathsome <\/strong>of all diseases. Pride is the worst kind of malady. No heart is so vile as a hard heart. No vileness compares with an evil heart of unbelief. No sight is so appalling as a sight of vile affections. Sin is horrible and abominable to God!
\nSin is also the most dolorous <\/strong>disease. They multiply their sorrows–who hasten after transgression. The most bitter cries that ever were heard–were extorted by sin.
\nOther diseases do but kill the body–but sin kills soul and body in hell forever!<\/strong> Sin will rage more violently beyond the tomb than on earth. It will be followed by eternal regrets and reproaches, eternal weeping and wailing, eternal wrath and anguish!
\nSin cannot be cured <\/strong>by any means of human devising. All reformations can never cure the heart. “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess,” said the Pharisee–while spiritual wickedness reigned within. We may weep and lament over our sins–but that will neither dethrone sin nor atone for it! Our tears are nothing; our works are nothing; all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags; they are of no avail.<\/p>\n

The only remedy for sin<\/strong> is found only in Jesus! He is the Physician of souls. None but He can cure a sin-sick soul. He makes no charge for all His cures! He died for His patients!<\/strong> His blood cleanses from all sin. With His stripes we are healed. Christ’s death atones. By His sufferings we have remission of sin. In all cases where it is applied, the gospel remedy<\/strong> is sovereign and effectual. It availed for the dying thief, for the bloody Saul of Tarsus, for the cruel jailor, and for millions and millions who once esteemed themselves as vile, and as worthy of everlasting death!<\/p>\n

And now, poor, sin-sick, dying soul–flee to this Physician, submit your case to Him, and seek for the healing remedy! If you stay away, you must die! “The wages of sin is death.”<\/p>\n

“The blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin!” 1 John 1:7<\/p>\n

SPLENDID SINS? by Spurgeon-<\/strong>
\nYou will as surely be lost if you trust to your good works, as if
\nyou had trusted to your sins.
\nThere is a ‘clean’ path to hell as well as a ‘dirty’ one. There is as
\nsure a road to perdition along the ‘highway of morality’, as sure as
\ndown the slough of vice.
\nIf your faith is not fixed in Jesus, your best works will be but
\nSPLENDID SINS.
\nAll the performance of duties will not bring you salvation. Trust
\nJesus, and you are saved. Trust self, and you are lost. There is
\nyour only hope, poor shipwrecked mariner– yonder
\nconstellation of the cross with those five stars, the wounds
\nof Jesus- look there and live. One glance and you are saved.
\nThose soul-quickening words, “Believe and live,” comprehend the
\nwhole gospel of God.
\nMay the Divine Spirit lead you now out of self, unto Christ.<\/p>\n

For me, a poor worthless sinner!<\/strong>
\n“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so
\nthat we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
\nby His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
\n(from Octavius Winslow’s “Morning Thoughts”)
\nBlessed announcement! Not the less hateful, nor hated, is the sin
\nbecause it is forgiven and entirely blotted out. Oh no! Let the
\nLord touch your heart, Christian reader, with a sense of His
\npardoning love, with the assurance of His forgiveness, and you
\nwill go and hate, and mortify, and forsake it, more resolutely and
\neffectually than ever. And must the Son of God become the Son of
\nman, that those who are by nature children of wrath, might
\nbecome the sons of God!\u00a0 Must God, the eternal God, the high and lofty One, stoop so low
\nas to become incarnate, and that for sinners; for me, a poor
\nworthless sinner!
\nTo save me from eternal woe, must the Son of Man suffer,
\nagonise, and die; die in my stead, die for my sins, die an accursed
\ndeath!
\nAh! Lord, what must sin be, what must my sin be! How little
\nhave I thought of it, how little have I mourned for it, still less
\nhave I hated it as I ought to have hated it! Lord, how vile, how
\nunutterably vile I am!
\nOh hated sin! Do You forgive it, Father of my “mercies? This
\nonly makes it more hateful still<\/p>\n

(J. C. Philpot, “Steps of Thankful Praise” 1865)<\/strong>
\nSin has thoroughly diseased us, and poisoned our very blood.
\nSin has diseased our understanding, so as to disable it from
\nreceiving the truth.
\nSin has diseased our conscience, so as to make it dull and heavy,
\nand undiscerning of right and wrong.
\nSin has diseased our imagination, polluting it with every idle,
\nfoolish, and licentious fancy.
\nSin has diseased our memory, making it swift to retain what is
\nevil, slow to retain what is good.
\nSin has diseased our affections, perverting them from all that is
\nheavenly and holy, and fixing them on all that is earthly and vile.
\n“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for
\nour iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon
\nHim, and by His wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5<\/p>\n

WHAT IS FAITH? Here is a sevenfold definition of faith I
\npicked up from a sermon by Ebenezer Erskine a long, long time
\nago.<\/strong>
\n1. Faith is the gift of God. It is not the product of a free will. It is
\nthe operation of the Spirit of God by the Word of God and is
\nthe parent of all other grace.
\n2. Faith has Christ Jesus as its principal object, for it is faith in
\nChrist Jesus \u2014 our Lord, Savior, Mediator and Hope. Christ is
\nthe bread; faith is the mouth which eats. Christ is the brazen
\nserpent; faith is the eye that looks.
\n3. Faith is receiving Christ, not just hearing about Him or
\nacknowledging Him, but a committal to Him. Is Christ food?
\nThen eat! Is Christ living water? Then drink! Is Christ the
\nrefuge? Then flee to Him! Is Christ Lord? Then worship Him!
\n4. Faith is to rest upon Christ. \u201cRest in the Lord\u201d (Psalm 37:7).
\nFaith is not an isolated act based upon an intellectual
\nknowledge of some facts, but is a trusting in and resting upon
\nChrist to perform all that I need.<\/p>\n

5. Faith is to rest upon Christ alone! The word \u201calone\u201d is
\nimportant. Most men, by nature, try to add something to the
\nsacrifice and intercession of Christ. God has established a
\nbridge of communication between heaven and earth by the
\nobedience and blood of Christ, and every other passage is
\nblocked by the holiness and justice of God.
\n6. Faith rests upon Christ as he is presented in the Gospel. We
\nask no other sign than the Word of God. Faith is to believe the
\nrecord that God hath given concerning His Son. \u2014 \u201cHe that
\nhath the Son of God hath life.\u201d
\n7. Faith rests upon Christ for salvation, sanctification,
\nrighteousness and full redemption! The goal of faith is the
\nsalvation of our souls; and this our Lord undertook in the
\neternal covenant and which He completed on Calvary when
\nHe cried, \u201cIt is finished!\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the gospel bids the sinner cease from his Toiling and trust alone in Jesus, having nothing and being nothing in himself, but taking Jesus to be his all in all; and when it adds that even this is the gift of God’s Spirit, then it puts before him an available method for the weakest, […]<\/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-290","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\/290","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=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}