{"id":3356,"date":"2015-07-25T07:44:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T07:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3356"},"modified":"2015-07-25T07:49:38","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T07:49:38","slug":"3356","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3356","title":{"rendered":"Communion with God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Communion with God<\/strong><\/p>\n

By J. C. Philpot<\/p>\n

Nothing distinguishes the divine religion of the child of God, not only from the dead profanity of the openly ungodly, but from the formal lip-service of the lifeless professor\u2014so much ascommunion with God<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How clearly do we see this exemplified in the saints of old. Abel sought after fellowship with God when \u201che brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof,\u201d for he looked to the atoning blood of the Lamb of God. God accepted the offering, and \u201ctestified of his gifts\u201d by manifesting his divine approbation. Here was fellowship between Abel and God. Enoch \u201cwalked with God;\u201d but how can two walk together except they be agreed? And if agreed, they are in fellowship and communion. Abraham was \u201cthe friend of God;\u201d \u201cThe Lord spoke to Moses face to face;\u201d David was \u201cthe man after God\u2019s own heart\u201d\u2014all which testimonies of the Holy Spirit concerning them implied that they were reconciled, brought near, and walked in holy communion with the Lord God Almighty.<\/p>\n

So all the saints of old, whose sufferings and exploits are recorded in Hebrews 11 lived a life of faith and prayer, a life of fellowship and communion with their Father and their friend; and though \u201cthey were stoned, sawn asunder, and slain with the sword;\u201d though \u201cthey wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented;\u201d though \u201cthey wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,\u201d yet they all were sustained in their sufferings and sorrows by the Spirit and grace, the presence and power of the living God, with whom they held sweet communion; and, though tortured, would \u201caccept no deliverance,\u201d by denying their Lord, \u201cthat they might obtain a better resurrection,\u201d and see him as he is in glory, by whose grace they were brought into fellowship with him on earth.<\/p>\n

This same communion with himself is that which God now calls his saints unto, as we read, \u201cGod is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,\u201d (1 Cor. 1:9<\/a>,) for to have fellowship with his Son is to have fellowship with him. As then he called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldees, so he calls elect souls . . .
\nout of the world,
\nout of darkness,
\nout of sin and death,
\nout of formality and self-righteousness,
\nout of a deceptive profession,
\nto have fellowship with Himself, to be blessed
\nwith manifestations of His love and mercy.<\/p>\n

To this point all his dealings with their souls tend to bring them near to himself, all their afflictions, trials, and sorrows are sent; and in giving them tastes of holy fellowship here, he grants them foretastes of that eternity of bliss which will be theirs when time shall be no more, in being\u00a0forever swallowed up with his presence and love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even in the first awakenings of the Spirit, in the first quickenings of his grace, there is that in the living soul which eternally distinguishes it from all others, whatever be their profession, however high or however low, however in doctrine sound or unsound, however in practice consistent or inconsistent. There is, amid all its trouble, darkness, guilt, confusion, and self-condemnation, a striving after communion with God; though still ignorant of who or what he is, and still unable to approach him with confidence. There is . . .
\na sense of His greatness and glory;
\na holy fear and godly awe of His great name;
\na trembling at His word;
\na brokenness,
\na contrition,
\na humility,
\na simplicity,
\na sincerity,
\na self-abasement,
\na distrust of self,
\na dread of hypocrisy and self-deception,
\na coming to the light,
\na laboring to enter the strait gate,
\na tenderness of conscience,
\na sense of helplessness and inability,
\na groaning under the guilt and burden of sin,
\na quickness to see its workings, and an alarm
\nlest they should break forth\u2013all which we never
\nsee in\u00a0a dead, carnal professor<\/strong>, whether the
\nhighest Calvinist or the lowest Arminian.<\/p>\n

In all these\u00a0carnal professors<\/strong>, whatever their creed or name, there is a hardness, a boldness, an ignorance, and a self-confidence which chill and repel a child of God. Their religion has in it no repentance and no faith\u2014therefore no hatred of sin or fear of God. It is a mere external, superficial form, springing out of a few natural convictions, and attended with such false hopes and self-righteous confidence as a Balaam might have from great gifts, or an Ahithophel from great knowledge, or the Pharisee in the temple from great consistency, but as different from a work of grace as heaven from earth.<\/p>\n

How different from this is he who is made alive unto God. His religion is one carried on between God and his own conscience, in the depths of his soul, and, for the most part, amid much affliction and temptation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communion with God By J. C. Philpot Nothing distinguishes the divine religion of the child of God, not only from the dead profanity of the openly ungodly, but from the formal lip-service of the lifeless professor\u2014so much ascommunion with God. How clearly do we see this exemplified in the saints of old. Abel sought after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-j-c-philpot","category-christ-and-his-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356","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=3356"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3356\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}