{"id":3761,"date":"2016-05-22T07:21:28","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T07:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2016-05-22T07:21:28","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T07:21:28","slug":"bulletin-edition-299-may-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3761","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition #299 May 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Do I Obtain This Freedom?<\/strong>
\nJohn 8: 31-36<\/p>\n

As the Lord preached the gospel “many believed on him\u201d.\u00a0 But as soon as the Lord spoke of being made free those who did not believe, protested, saying, \u201cWe be Abraham\u2019s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Servant Abideth not in the House Forever<\/strong>
\nThe Lord Jesus answered those who claimed freedom by their natural relationship to Abraham, saying, \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Those who have not been born of the Spirit of God and given faith in Christ Jesus are children of the flesh, of the bondwoman,\u00a0 under the law and must be cast out as allegorized in Abraham\u2019s son Ishmael\u00a0 (Galatians 3: 21-31; John 3: 19-21)<\/p>\n

What is Bondage?<\/strong>
\nBondage is the natural state of every person.\u00a0 Each are born under the curse and power of the law of sin and death.\u00a0 No sinner has power to escape but is under the threats of the curse constantly. (Galatians 3: 10.) This is true not only of those who live a profane life, but even those who are the straightest in religion (James 2: 10.) All who are born of the flesh are on the same ground\u2014cursed! (Romans 3: 13-19, 23.)<\/p>\n

What is it to be Free Indeed?<\/strong>
\nThe Lord said, \u201cbut the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Those born of the Spirit of God and given faith in Christ have been made free indeed by the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Sin is mixed with everything the believer does, yet no threat of the law shall ever be executed upon one for whom Christ died.<\/p>\n

How Has the Son Made his Children Free?<\/strong>
\nThe Son of God was made of a woman taking on him the nature of his elect (Hebrews 2: 16).\u00a0 He was made under the law, proven the spotless Lamb of God without any sin of his own (Galatians 4: 4-5; 1 Peter 1: 18-19; 2: 22.)\u00a0 In the perfection of obedience, Christ willingly submitted to the LORD who laid on him the iniquity of all his elect, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree (Isaiah 53: 6; 2 Corinthians 2: 25; 1 Peter 2: 24).\u00a0 Therefore, God was just to curse Christ in place of his children (Galatians 3: 13.)\u00a0 The iniquities which separated his children from God, the sins which hid God\u2019s face from his children, separated Christ from God in our place when he cried out, \u201cMy God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d (Isaiah 53: 9; Matthew 27: 46.)\u00a0 Having bruised our Substitute with his stripes every believer is healed and God is just to show us mercy. In that Christ died, he died unto sin once: but in that Christ liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Isaiah 53: 5; 1 Peter 2: 24; Romans 6: 10-11; 8: 1-4; Hebrews 8: 12; Isaiah 26: 12.) So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9: 28.)\u00a0 By his blood, Christ has delivered us from the penalty of sin.\u00a0 In regeneration, we are delivered from sin\u2019s dominion and our conscience is purged from the guilt of sin. When we lay aside this earthly frame in death, we shall be freed from the body and being of sin into\u201cthe glorious liberty of the sons of God\u201d (Rom. 8:23).<\/p>\n

Will Complete Freedom Make a Believer Continue in Sin?<\/strong>
\nDoes your liberty in America make you want to live in a third world country? The price our Redeemer paid to make us free causes sin to break the believer\u2019s heart and makes us draw nearer to him (Psalm 51.) Freedom in Christ is the only soul-refreshing good news that will make a sinner truly obedient from the heart, glorifying God in their body and in their spirit because they are not their own but bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20). He shall ordain peace for us because he has also worked all our works in us (Isaiah 26: 12).\u00a0 His Spirit refreshes, revives, guides, and holds us up, saying to the believer–“My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12: 19).<\/p>\n

How Do I Obtain this Freedom?<\/strong>
\nChrist came to where they were and spoke into their hearts. \u201cAs he spake these words, many believed on him\u201d (John 8: 30). Has he come to where you are?\u00a0 Has he spoken to your heart through the gospel?\u00a0 Do you find yourself believing on him? Has his power made you want to forsake all your vain refuge and be found in him?\u00a0 If so then confess him and continue in him!\u00a0 The Lord says, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free\u2026.If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Clay Curtis.<\/p>\n

A FULL-TIME ADVOCATE<\/strong>
\n\u201cMy little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.\u201d – I John 2:1
\nThis Scripture encourages the believer to trust and hope in the mercy of God AT ALL TIMES! It does not say, \u201cIf any man is holy, prayerful, and always faithful, he has an advocate\u201d; but it says, \u201cIf any man SIN, he has an advocate with the Father.\u201d It does not say, \u201cIf any man sins, he forfeits his right to Christ\u2019s advocacy.\u201d Grace that can be forfeited because of human failure is not grace at all. Mercy that is conditioned upon the merit of the creature is not mercy at all. If my title to glory rests upon my works, either BEFORE OR AFTER conversion, it is a total failure. This Scripture declares that at all times, under all circumstances, Jesus Christ is our righteousness, our sanctification, our advocate, and our redemption. So when I sin, when I consider my past or present and come creeping to my closet with a guilty conscience and an aching heart, I can rejoice in the mercy of my Father; for I have an advocate \u2013 JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS!
\nPastor Henry Mahan.<\/p>\n

When I say that I am a Christian, what am I saying? Am I saying that I am now clean in my living and have victory in my life over sin because I am a Christian and have more strength to live? If you hear me say this, are you left feeling that this is a \u201cholier than thou\u201d attitude? Unfortunately that is what most people mean when they say they are a Christian – but that is not a Christian! In the first place, a Christian is one who was lost and is now found. A Christian is a forgiven sinner. A Christian is one who stumbles and sins and continually needs Christ. A Christian is conscious of his weakness and failures and stands in constant need of God\u2019s grace. A Christian has all of the trials a non-Christian has. When I say I am a Christian, I say I am a sinner saved by the free and sovereign grace of God. Unlike all other religions, Christianity is primarily and fundamentally a sinner\u2019s religion. Todd Nibert.<\/p>\n

‘If You Be Circumcised’<\/strong>
\nJoe Terrell<\/p>\n

Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. (Galatians 5:2)
\nIt is a man\u2019s guilt that makes Christ necessary for Him; but it is a man\u2019s righteousness that will render Christ ineffective for him. The blood of Christ is the remedy for a man\u2019s sin, but what shall avail for a remedy for a man\u2019s righteousness? Only the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit of God is able to overcome a man\u2019s resistance to the grace of the blood and to make him despair of even his righteousness. But, to refine the point even more, it is the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in revealing the testimony of the blood of Christ that breaks the self-righteous will of man and makes him submit to Christ as his only righteousness before God. So it is the blood poured out by Christ that remedies the sin of a man, and it is that same blood revealed by the Holy Spirit that remedies the righteousness of man.<\/p>\n

Who will be justified before God?<\/strong>
\nI recently asked a local religious leader who would be justified before God at the judgment seat of Christ (John 5:21-22)? To which he replied, \u201cI believe all good people will be in heaven.\u201d To which I said, \u201cWhat is the basis or root cause of goodness?\u201d The religious man said, \u201cHe thought that the standard to which we would gain eternal heaven was based upon how many goods works we produced.\u201d This man, like most religious lost people have no concept what God Almighty requires (Gal. 3:10). Because God is Holy and all men sinful, the best we can produce will never satisfy His demand (Isa. 64:6). The scriptures plainly and powerfully proclaim that, \u201cthere is none good, no not one\u201d (Rom. 3:9-12). Certainly, any thinking person would see that creature merit and righteousness is excluded in the scheme of God\u2019s salvation. The only way any guilty sinner can be justified before God is to have a perfect justifying righteousness provided by God Himself without any contribution from the sinner (Rom. 4:1-7). This indeed is the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is based upon His performance not ours (Psalm 57:2). No wonder the apostle said, \u201cYea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Phil. 3:8-9).<\/p>\n

If any man thinks that he is justified before God by his good works he is tragically and dreadfully mistaken (2Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5). What a horrible rebuke of the effectual, substitutionary sacrifice and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, to entertain thoughts of self glory, self righteousness and self salvation (Phil. 2:6-9; Luke 16:15). Paul made this very argument to the Galatians church. \u201cI do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain\u201d (Gal. 2:21).<\/p>\n

The Lord Jesus Christ alone is all any sinner needs to stand in God\u2019s presence justified. Those in Christ by sovereign adoption, effectual calling, powerful regeneration and saving faith have no other hope (2Thes. 2:13-16) nor ground on which to stand. Some might ask, \u201cIs the Lord Jesus Christ enough?\u201d If the Lord Jesus Christ is all you have, God says that is enough! Here is one of many scriptures that tell us this blessed truth, \u201cFor in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power\u201d (Col. 2:9-10).
\nPastor Tom Harding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Do I Obtain This Freedom? John 8: 31-36 As the Lord preached the gospel “many believed on him\u201d.\u00a0 But as soon as the Lord spoke of being made free those who did not believe, protested, saying, \u201cWe be Abraham\u2019s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be […]<\/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-3761","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\/3761","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=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3764,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions\/3764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}