There are many tyrants!
\n(Henry Law, “Leviticus”)
\n“If the Son shall make you free, you
\nshall be free indeed.” John 8:36.
\nEach soul, apart from Jesus, is a poor slave.
\nThere are many tyrants, and their yoke is hard.
\nSATAN enchains the heart, and drags His
\nvassals to vile service. They have no will;
\nno power, to resist. By nature all lie
\nprostrate at Satan’s feet.
\nBut Jesus wrestles with this cruel tyrant,
\nhurls him from his throne, breaks his
\nscepter, and gives him a death wound.
\nThis vile WORLD, also, a foul tyrant.
\nIts smiles allure.
\nIts frowns deter.
\nIts fashions force compliance.
\nIts laws exact submission.
\nIt drives its millions to a slavish toil.
\nBut when Jesus unmasks this monster’s
\nhideous filth; when He reveals the beauties
\nof the Gospel; then the chain snaps, the
\ntyrant is loathed, and its debasing ways
\nare shunned. The Gospel sets free from
\nthe world’s snares.<\/p>\n
The Gospel
\n(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
\nThe gospel is the ‘master work’ of Jehovah,
\npresenting the greatest display of His manifold
\nwisdom, and the most costly exhibition of the
\nriches of His grace. In constructing it He would
\nseem to have summoned to His aid all the
\nresources of His own infinity . . .
\nHis fathomless wisdom,
\nHis boundless love,
\nHis illimitable grace,
\nHis infinite power,
\nHis spotless holiness,
\nall contributed their glory, and conspired
\nto present it to the universe as the most
\nconsummate piece of Divine workmanship!
\nThe revelations it makes,
\nthe facts it records,
\nthe doctrines it propounds,
\nthe effects is produces,
\nproclaim it to be the “glorious
\ngospel of the blessed God.”
\nWe live encircled by SHADOWS . . .
\nour friends are shadows,
\nour comforts are shadows,
\nour supports are shadows,
\nour pursuits are shadows, and
\nwe ourselves are shadows passing away.
\nBut in the precious gospel we have SUBSTANCE,
\nwe have reality, we have that which remains
\nwith us when all other things disappear, leaving
\nthe soul desolate, the heart bleeding, and the
\nspirit bowed in sorrow to the dust.
\nBut the gospel . . .
\nguides our perplexities,
\nmitigates our griefs,
\nsanctifies our sorrows,
\nheals our wounds,
\ndries our tears,
\nbecause it leads us to . . .
\nthe love,
\nthe tenderness,
\nthe sympathy,
\nthe grace of JESUS.
\nThe gospel . . .
\nreveals Jesus,
\nspeaks mainly of Jesus,
\nleads simply to Jesus,
\nand this makes it “glad tidings of great joy,” to
\na poor, lost, ruined, tried, and tempted sinner!<\/p>\n
Poor, miserable, paltry works of a polluted worm!
\n(Philpot, “The Loss of All Things for Christ’s Sake”)
\n“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we
\nproudly display our righteous deeds, we find they
\nare but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither
\nand fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away.”
\nIsaiah 64:6
\nWe once thought that we could gain heaven by
\nour own righteousness. We strictly attended to
\nour religious duties, and sought by these and
\nvarious other means to recommend ourselves
\nto the favor of God, and induce Him to reward
\nus with heaven for our sincere attempts to obey
\nHis commandments.
\nAnd by these religious performances we thought we
\nwould surely be able to make a ladder whereby we
\ncould climb up to heaven. This was our tower of
\nBabel, whose top was to reach unto heaven, and
\nby mounting which, we thought to scale the stars.
\nBut the same Lord who stopped the further building
\nof the tower of Babel, by confounding their speech
\nand scattering them abroad on the face of the earth;
\nbegan to confound our speech, so that we could not
\npray, or talk, or boast as before; and to scatter all
\nour religion like the chaff of the threshing floor. Our
\nmouths were stopped; we became guilty before God;
\nand our bricks and mortar became a pile of confusion!
\nWhen, then, the Lord was pleased to discover to our
\nsouls by faith, His being, majesty, greatness, holiness,
\nand purity; and thus gave us a corresponding sense of
\nour filthiness and folly; then all our creature religion
\nand natural piety which we once counted as gain, we
\nbegan to see was but loss; that our very religious duties
\nand observances, so far from being for us, were actually
\nagainst us; and instead of pleading for us before God as
\nso many deeds of righteousness, were so polluted and
\ndefiled by sin perpetually mixed with them, that our
\nvery prayers were enough to sink us into hell, had
\nwe no other iniquities to answer for in heart, lip or life.
\nBut when we had a view by faith of the Person, work,
\nlove, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we began
\nmore plainly and clearly to see, with what religious toys
\nwe had been so long amusing ourselves, and what is
\nfar worse, mocking God by them.
\nWe had been secretly despising . . .
\nJesus and His sufferings,
\nJesus and His death,
\nJesus and His righteousness,
\nand setting up the poor, miserable, paltry
\nworks of a polluted worm in the place of
\nthe finished work of the Son of God.<\/p>\n
John Newton’s tombstone
\nIn his old age, when he could no longer see to read, John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace” heard someone recite this verse, “By the grace of God \u2014 I am what I am.” 1 Corinthians 15:10. He remained silent a short time, and then said:
\nI am not what I ought to be. Ah! how imperfect and deficient.
\nI am not what I might be, considering my privileges and opportunities.
\nI am not what I wish to be. God, who knows my heart \u2014 knows I wish to be like Him.
\nI am not what I hope to be. Before long, I will drop this clay tabernacle, to be like Him and see Him as He is!
\nYet, I am not what I once was \u2014 a child of sin, and slave of the devil!
\nThough not all these \u2014 not what I ought to be, not what I might be, not what I wish or hope to be, and not what I once was \u2014 I think I can truly say with the apostle, “By the grace of God \u2014 I am what I am!”
\nAt the age of 82, Newton said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner \u2014 and that Christ is a great Savior!”
\nJohn Newton’s tombstone reads: “John Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy!”
\n“By the grace of God I am what I am!” 1 Corinthians 15:10<\/p>\n
The Gospel crucible!
\n(John MacDuff, “Ripples in the Twilight” 1885)
\n“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God!” 1 Corinthians 1:18
\nIt will never cease to be one of the marvels of Christianity, that her antidotes are the same in every climate, every age, and every bosom. Just as the chemist can infallibly pronounce on the action of the various elements he throws into his crucible \u2014 so in the Gospel crucible, cast the human heart in its every form and type, that of . . .
\nthe degraded African,
\nthe superstitious Hindu,
\nthe ferocious Arab,
\nthe reprobate European \u2014
\nthe Gospel of Christ, by a heavenly alchemy, melts that heart! It dissolves . . .
\nthe pride of reason,
\nthe power of superstition,
\nthe curse and misery of vice!
\nIt is the only universal balm!
\nIt was tried . . .
\non ignorant fishermen of Galilee,
\non poor wayside beggars of Judea,
\non hardened Roman soldiers and
\non crouching slaves of sin and Satan.
\nIt was tried on the great persecutor of the church \u2014 and by him on the disciples of Plato on Mars Hill. It was tried amid the tears of Bethany \u2014 and amid the courtly splendor and uncongenial influences of Caesar’s household. And in not one of all these varied cases, has it failed!
\nThe king clothed in ermine,
\nthe pauper clothed in rags,
\nthe statesman in his senate-house,
\nthe merchant at his desk,
\nthe artisan in his workshop,
\nthe cottager at her wheel \u2014
\nall feel the power of the same Gospel, all own the beauteous simplicity of the same healing words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ \u2014 and you shall be saved!”<\/p>\n
“WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS, THERE IS LIBERTY”
\nOf all bondage and slavery in the world, there is none more horrible than the bondage of sin. Tell me of Israel in Egypt preparing their tale of bricks unsuppled with straw; tell me of the slave beneath the lash of his cruel task-master, and I confess it is a bondage fearful to be borne; but there is one far worse — the bondage of a convinced sinner when he is brought to feel the burden of his guilt; the bondage of a man when once his sins are baying him, like hounds about a weary stag; the bondage of a man when the burden of his sin is on his shoulder — a burden too heavy for his soul to bear — a burden which will sink him forever in the depths of everlasting torment, unless he doth escape from it.
\nMethinks I see such a person. He hath ne’er a smile upon his face; dark clouds hath gathered on his brow; his songs are groans; his smiles are tears; and when he seems most happy, hot drops of grief roll in burning shower, scalding furrows on his cheek. Ask him what he is, and he tells you he is “a wretch undone.” Ask him how he is, and he confesses that he is “misery incarnate.” Ask him what he shall be, and he says, “he shall be lost in flames forever, and there is no hope.” Behold him alone in his retirement: when he lays his head on his pillow, up he starts again: at night he dreams of torment, and by day he almost feels that of which he dreamed. Such is the poor convinced sinner under bondage. I speak to those who understand it. You have passed through that gloomy Slough of Despond; you have gone through that dark vale of penitence: you have been made to drink the bitter cup of repentance: and I know you will say, “Amen” when I declare that of all bondage this is the most painful — the bondage of the law, the bondage of corruption. “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me” from it? But the Christain is free; he can smile now, though he wept before; he can rejoice now, whereas he lamented. “There is,” he says “no sin upon my conscience now; there is no crime upon my breast; I need not walk through the earth fearful of every shadow, and afraid of every man I meet, for sin is washed away; my spirit is no more guilty; it is pure, it is holy; there no longer resteth the frown of God upon me; but my Father smiles: I see his eyes — they are glancing love: I hear his voice — it is full of sweetness. I am forgiven, I am forgiven, I am forgiven! All hail, thou breaker of fetters! Glorious Jesus! … “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is libery” from the bondage of sin.
\nCharles H. Spurgeon<\/p>\n
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
\nI can imagine the day of judgment. All are gathered before the throne of God. Those who are robed in the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness are gathered to His right hand. The rest wait to hear His voice of condemnation, “Depart from Me!” Does anyone have anything to say? If there be one who has no sin, let him step forth and say so. Come forth, my friend, and state your case! What about the righteousness and holiness in which you boasted while on earth? Come forward and tell about your works, your gifts, your denomination; you found much comfort in those things once. You who scoffed at substitution, who laughed at free grace, imputed righteousness and covenant mercies —you are not laughing now! Why is your face so pale? Why do you tremble so? You never trembled before but always had so much confidence in your decision and boasted of being as sure for heaven as if you were already there! Why do you not tell God what you did for Him on earth? It is quite evident that He did nothing for you. But I remember that you said, “God has done all that he could do and salvation is up to you.” What a terrible time to discover what you should have known, “SALVATION IS OF THE LORD!” “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Why do you not speak? Is it because of the awesome, infinite “HOLINESS, OF HIS PRESENCE”? You clutch your righteous garments about you and they are nothing but filthy rags now, and you know it! You think of your prayers, your religious activities, your debates over doctrine; and they are all so much rubbish in the light of His presence. And now you are praying? What is it that you cry? “O rocks and mountains, fall on me, and hide me from the face of Him that sits upon the throne.” I wish that you had cried as fervently for Christ to hide you, cleanse you, and cover you —HE WOULD HAVE!
\nThomas Brooks said, “The preaching of this and that opinion may please a man’s fancy, but it is only the preaching of Christ that changes a man’s heart.”
\nHenry Mahan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are many tyrants! (Henry Law, “Leviticus”) “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36. Each soul, apart from Jesus, is a poor slave. There are many tyrants, and their yoke is hard. SATAN enchains the heart, and drags His vassals to vile service. They have no will; no […]<\/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-4419","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\/4419","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=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4420,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/4420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}