{"id":5431,"date":"2019-09-09T04:18:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T04:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5431"},"modified":"2019-09-09T04:18:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T04:18:53","slug":"bulletin-edition-september-2019-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5431","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition September 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“For the\nlaw of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin\nand death.” Romans 8:2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

We by\nnature and practice are slaves to sin and Satan. We are the sport of the prince\nof the power of the air, who takes us captive at his will. We are held down\nalso by many hurtful lusts; or, if free from gross sin, are slaves to pride,\ncovetousness, or self-righteousness. Perhaps some idol is set up in the\nchambers of imagery which defiles all the inner man; or some snare of Satan\nentangles our feet, and we are slaves, without power to liberate ourselves from\nthis cruel slavery. We groan under it, as the children of Israel under their\nburdens, but, like them, cannot deliver ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nsooner or later the truth comes to our aid; the truth as it is in Jesus flies\nto the rescue of God’s oppressed family; the blessed Spirit opens it up and\nseals it upon the heart with a divine power. As, then, under his gracious\ninfluences they believe the truth, and feel its power and savour in their heart,\na liberating influence is communicated; their fetters and shackles are\nloosened; the bondage of sin and Satan, and the power and strength of evil are\nsensibly broken, and a measure of holy freedom is enjoyed. There is no other\nway of getting from under the bondage of the law but by the application of the\ngospel, and by believing what the gospel reveals. As the truth, then, comes to\nthe heart as the very word of the living God, power comes with it to believe;\nfaith is raised up to credit the testimony; and as faith begins to credit the\ntruth of God and receive it in hope and love, there is a sensible loosening of\nthe bonds; and then the chains and fetters drop off of themselves. It is with\nthe soul as it was with Peter in prison–when the angel came, and a light\nshined in the prison, and the angel’s words fell upon his ears, “the\nchains fell from off his hands.” There remained nothing then to bar his\nexit; for “the iron gate that leads unto the city opened to them of its\nown accord.” So whatever chains or fetters may hold the soul, let the\nangel of mercy come; let the message of salvation be revealed, the chains of\nunbelief drop off, the iron gate of hardness gives way, and the truth makes the\nsoul blessedly free (John 8:32).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\nthese dry bones live?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfollowing is from Spurgeon\u2019s sermon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nRestoration and Conversion of the Jews\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 582.\nEzekiel 37:1-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men, by\nnature, are just like these dry bones<\/p>\n\n\n\n

exposed\nin the open valley. The whole spiritual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

frame is\ndislocated; the sap and marrow of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

spiritual\nlife has been dried out of manhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human\nnature is not only dead, but, like the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bleaching\nbones which have long whitened in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the sun,\nit has lost all trace of the divine life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will and\npower have both departed. Spiritual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

death\nreigns undisturbed. Yet the dry bones<\/p>\n\n\n\n

can live.\nUnder the preaching of the Word, the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

vilest\nsinners can be reclaimed, the most stubborn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wills can\nbe subdued, the most unholy lives can<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be\nsanctified. When the holy \u201cbreath\u201d comes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the\nfour winds, when the divine Spirit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

descends\nto own the Word, then multitudes of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sinners,\nas on Pentecost’s hallowed day, stand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

up upon\ntheir feet, an exceeding great army,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to praise\nthe Lord their God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For\nhe is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition\nbetween us.” Ephes. 2:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEHIND\nthis wall Jesus did once stand, and although thus partially obscured, yet to\nthose who had faith to see Him, dwelling though they were in the twilight of\nthe Gospel, He manifested Himself as the true Messiah, the Son of God, the\nSaviour of His people. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day,” says Jesus,\n“and he saw it, and was glad.” But this wall no longer stands. The\nshadows are fled, the darkness is dispersed, and the true light now shines.\nBeware of those teachers who would rebuild this wall; and who by their\nsuperstitious practices, and legal representations of the Gospel, do in effect\nrebuild it. Remember that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness\nto every one that believes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nbehind “our wall” that Jesus stands\u2014the wall which we, the new\ncovenant saints, erect. Many are the separating influences between Christ and\nHis people; many are the walls which we, alas! allow to intervene, behind which\nwe cause Him to stand. What are the infidelity, I had almost said atheism, the\ncarnality, the coldness, the many sins of our hearts, but so many obstructions\nto Christ’s full and frequent manifestations of Himself to our souls? But were\nwe to specify one obstruction in particular, we would mention unbelief as the\ngreat separating wall between Christ and His people. This was the wall which\nobscured from the view of Thomas his risen Lord. And while the little Church\nwas jubilant in the new life and joy with which their living Savior inspired\nthem, he alone lingered in doubt and sadness, amid the shadows of the tomb.\n“Except I thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Nothing\nmore effectually separates us from, or rather obscures our view of, Christ than\nthe sin of unbelief. Not fully crediting His word\u2014not simply and implicitly\nrelying upon His work\u2014not trusting His faithfulness and love\u2014not receiving Him\nwholly and following Him fully\u2014only believing and receiving half that He says\nand commands\u2014not fixing the eye upon Jesus as risen and alive, as ascended and\nenthroned, leaving all fullness, all power, all love. Oh this unbelief is a\ndead, towering wall between our Beloved and our souls!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet\ndoes He stand behind it? Does it not compel Him to depart and leave us forever?\nAh no! He is there! Oh wondrous grace, matchless love, infinite patience!\nWearied with forbearing, and yet there! Doubted, distrusted, grieved, and yet\nstanding there\u2014His locks wet with the dew of the night\u2014waiting to be gracious,\nlonging to manifest Himself. Nothing has prevailed to compel Him to withdraw.\nWhen our coldness might have prevailed, when our fleshliness might have\nprevailed, when our neglect, ingratitude, and backslidings might have\nprevailed, never has He entirely and forever withdrawn. His post is to watch\nwith a sleepless eye of love the purchase of His dying agonies, and to guard\nHis “vineyard of red wine night and day, lest any hurt it.” Who can\nadequately picture the solicitude, the tenderness, the jealousy, with which the\nSon of God keeps His especial treasure? And whatever would force Him to\nretire\u2014whether it be the coldness that congeals, or the fierce flame that would\nconsume\u2014yet such is His deathless love for His people, “He withdraws not\nHis eyes front the righteous” for one moment. There stands the “Friend\nthat sticks closer than a brother,” waiting to beam upon them a glance of\nHis love-enkindled eye, and to manifest Himself to them as He does not unto the\nworld, even from behind our wall.
\nOctavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believers\nerr in many things, fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in many\nways, and sin is mixed with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all they\ndo; but in the tenor of their<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lives all\nbelievers are faithful, seeking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the will\nand glory of God in all things<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and above\nall things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we\nbecome increasingly aware of our<\/p>\n\n\n\n

personal\nsinfulness and corruption, as<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we are\nhumbled by the depravity of our<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hearts,\nnothing is more comforting,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cheerful,\nand reassuring to God\u2019s saints,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

than the\nknowledge of the fact that in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the eyes\nof Christ we stand perfect in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

beauty of\nhis righteousness, the beauty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which he\nhas put upon us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Don\nFortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\nare many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that\nshall stand.” Proverbs 19:21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A man in\nhis fleshly mind is generally devising some method or other whereby he may\nescape a practical subjection to the gospel; some way or other whereby he may\nescape walking in the path of self-denial and mortification of the flesh, and\nthe crucifixion of “the old man with the affections and lusts.” He is\ngenerally seeking some way or other to indulge the flesh, and yet, at the same\ntime, to stand in gospel liberty–to have everything that can gratify his\ncarnal mind, and, at the same time, have a well-grounded hope of eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the\nLord says, “No, these two things are not compatible; he that shall live\nwith Christ must die with Christ; he that shall reign with Christ must suffer\nwith Christ; he that shall wear the crown must carry the cross.” So, that\nwhatever devices there be in a man’s heart, or whatever ways and plans he shall\nundertake to bring his devices to pass, “the counsel of the Lord still\nshall stand.” Divine sovereignty shall fulfill that which divine\nsovereignty has appointed, and the purposes of God shall stand upon the ruins\nof the purposes of the creature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is\nour mercy (so far as we are children of the living God), it is our mercy, that\nit should be so. Where would we have been this moment, if the devices in our\nhearts had succeeded? We would have been in hell. Where would we have been,\nsince the Lord has been pleased, as we trust, to quicken our souls into\nspiritual life, if all our devices had succeeded? Our “eyes would have\nstood out with fatness,” and we would have “had more than heart could\nwish.” We would have been now, if the Lord had left us to our own devices,\nindulging in some dreadful temptation, or already have disgraced our name\nbefore the Church of God; or, if we had escaped that, we would have only a name\nto live, while our hearts were secretly dead before God; have had “a form\nof godliness, while we inwardly or outwardly denied the power thereof.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\ntherefore it is our mercy that the devices of our hearts should not stand, but\nthat “the counsel of the Lord” should prevail over all the purposes\nof our base nature. When a man is brought to the right spot, and is in a right mind\nto trace out the Lord’s dealings with him from the first, he sees it was a kind\nhand which “blasted his gourds and laid them low;” it was a kind hand\nthat swept away his worldly prospects, which reduced him to natural as well as\nto spiritual poverty, which led him into exercises, trials, sorrows, griefs,\nand tribulations; because, in those trials he has found the Lord, more or less,\nexperimentally precious. Jacob found it so; he blessed the Lord for the path he\nhad led him in. Though his days had been few and evil, he could see how the\nLord had “fed him all his life long unto that day,” amid all the\nchanging vicissitudes through which he had passed in body and soul; and he\nblessed that hand which had guided him through that difficult way, and yet\nbrought him to a “city of habitation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanctification\n& Holiness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius\nWinslow, “The Christians Journey”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\nhimself is our sanctification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nChrist, by the Spirit grows in us, and we<\/p>\n\n\n\n

become\nconformed to the image of Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nbecomes our sanctification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We grow\nholy only as we approximate to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the\nnature, the spirit, and image of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is\ntrue holiness, and nothing else is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holiness\ndoes not consist in fastings, in prayers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in\nreligious duties, rites, and ceremonies. How<\/p>\n\n\n\n

many\nthere are in the present day who are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

religiously\nand rigidly observing all these external<\/p>\n\n\n\n

things,\ndreaming of holiness and fitness for heaven,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without\none particle of real sanctification!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a\nfearful and fatal delusion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your\nsanctification, beloved, is Christ: Christ growing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in you,\n“who of God is made unto us wisdom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

righteousness,\nsanctification, and redemption.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beloved,\nyou have to battle with indwelling sin, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to\nconflict with outward temptation. But never forget<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that you\nare to live upon Christ as much for your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sanctification\nas for your justification; that His grace<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is\npledged to subdue your iniquities, to arm you in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the\nconflict, to give you skill in the holy fight, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the final\nvictory over all your enemies. And in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

proportion\nas Christ grows in you, you will grow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in a true\nhatred of sin, in a deepening love of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

holiness,\nand thus in real, gospel sanctification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2 J.C.Philpot We by nature and practice are slaves to sin and Satan. We are the sport of the prince of the power of the air, who takes us captive at his […]<\/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-5431","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\/5431","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=5431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5432,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431\/revisions\/5432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}