{"id":5700,"date":"2020-04-18T22:31:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T22:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5700"},"modified":"2020-04-18T22:31:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T22:31:42","slug":"bulletin-edition-april-2020-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5700","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition April 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If I wash myself with\nsnow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

By nature, man knows nothing\nof the purity and perfection of God\u2014or the deep sinfulness and corruption of\nthe creature. There is a veil over man’s heart\u2014a veil of ignorance\u2014of\ndelusion\u2014of unbelief\u2014of self-deception as regards the nature of sin. No man is\nvitally and experimentally acquainted with\u2014its hideous nature\u2014its awful\ndepths\u2014its subtlety\u2014its workings\u2014its movements\u2014its cravings\u2014its lustings\u2014the\nheights to which it rises\u2014the depths to which it sinks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the Lord the Spirit\ntakes a man really and vitally in hand\u2014and He truly begins His sovereign work\nof grace upon the soul\u2014He commences by opening up to the astonished eyes of the\nsinner, something of the real nature of sin. He not only shows him the huge,\nhigh, wide-spreading branches of sin\u2014but bids him look down and see how\ndeeply-rooted sin is in his very being\u2014that sin is not an accident\u2014a faint blot\nthat may soon be washed out\u2014a something on the surface, like a skin disease\nthat may be healed by a simple ointment. He shows him that sin is seated in his\nvery bones\u2014that this deep-rooted malady has taken possession of him\u2014that he is\na sinner to his very heart’s core\u2014that every thought, every word, every action\nof man’s whole being\u2014is one mass of sin, filth, and pollution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if he attempts, as most\nawakened sinners do attempt\u2014to purify himself\u2014to ease his guilt by lopping off\na few external branches\u2014if he attempts to wash himself clean from iniquity, the\nSpirit will teach him the meaning of Job’s words, “If I wash myself with\nsnow, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You will plunge me in the ditch. My\nown clothes shall abhor me.” (Job 9:30, 31). Until at last God brings him\nto this spot\u2014that he is a sinner throughout\u2014yes, that he is the chief of\nsinners\u2014that every evil lodges in his heart\u2014and the seed of every crime dwells\nin his fallen nature. When a man is brought here, he is brought to the place of\nthe stopping of mouths\u2014his own righteousness is effectually cut to pieces\u2014his\nhopes of salvation by his works are completely removed from under him. Those\nrotten props are cut away by the hand of the Spirit from the sinking soul, that\nhe may fall into himself one mass of confusion and ruin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And until he is brought\nhere, he really can know nothing\u2014of a free-grace salvation\u2014of the\nsuperaboundings of grace over the aboundings of sin\u2014of God’s electing love\u2014of\nChrist’s substitution and suretyship\u2014of His atoning blood\u2014of His justifying\nrighteousness\u2014of His dying love. He can know nothing of the rich provisions of\nalmighty power and eternal mercy that are lodged in the fullness of Christ. He\nhas\u2014no eyes to see\u2014no ears to hear\u2014no heart to feel\u2014no arms to embrace a whole\nChrist\u2014a precious Christ, a Savior from the wrath to come\u2014who has stood in the\nsinner’s place and stead\u2014made full atonement for sin\u2014fulfilled the law\u2014brought\nin everlasting righteousness\u2014and justified the ungodly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you plunge into\neternity clutching the airy fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius Winslow,\n“From Grace to Glory” 1864) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do not hesitate to\npronounce the doctrine of “baptismal regeneration” to be the\nparamount lie of Satan \u2014 the most subtle and fatal weapon which this arch foe\nof our race ever forged for the destruction of men’s souls in eternal\nperdition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not build your hope of\nglory upon your baptism. You are lost to all eternity if you do. You must be\nborn again \u2014 if ever you enter the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you plunge into eternity\nclutching the airy fiction, the fatal notion, that you passed from spiritual\ndeath into spiritual life in your baptism; that in baptism you were\nregenerated, adopted, justified, made holy and saved; you have staked your\neternal happiness upon the most fatal lie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many instances, the\nunhappy victim of this delusion passes away \u2014 undeceived until the deception is\ntoo late to rectify!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crimson hieroglyphics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is from\nSpurgeon\u2019s sermon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A WARNING AGAINST\nHARDNESS OF HEART”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a grievous token of\nhardness of heart<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when we can live contentedly\nwithout the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

present enjoyment of the\nSavior\u2019s face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt whatever\nthat living among<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sinners has a hardening\ntendency even upon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian men. You cannot\nwalk about in this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

great lazar-house, without\nreceiving some contagion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though you were pure in\nheart, the prince of this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

world would make you his\nprey. It were hard to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dwell in so foul a world as\nthis without contracting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

some impurity. Those black\ncoals which fill this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

earthly cellar, if they will\nnot burn us, will at least<\/p>\n\n\n\n

blacken us. When so many\nfires of sin are pouring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

forth their smoke, the\nwhitest of linen cannot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

escape the falling black\nsoot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If \u201cthe thought of\nfoolishness is sin,\u201d then even<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to think of sin exercises a\npolluting influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I read a description of\nanother man\u2019s sin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without getting my heart\nhardened? I question<\/p>\n\n\n\n

if reading the daily reports\nof crime in the police<\/p>\n\n\n\n

news is not a very fertile\ncause of sin. Great<\/p>\n\n\n\n

crimes usually produce their\nlike in congenial<\/p>\n\n\n\n

winds, and even in the\npurest hearts their<\/p>\n\n\n\n

recital cannot but have an\ninjurious effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tree of knowledge of\ngood and evil bears<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dangerous fruit; it were\nwell if we restrained<\/p>\n\n\n\n

our curiosity, and left foul\ndeeds alone, unknown,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

unread by us. What good can\ncome from turning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

over the foul dunghill of\ncrime? Let those traverse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

our sewers whose business it\nis to do so; were it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not better for the most of\nus to keep out of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who are called in\nprovidence to deal daily<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the coarser sins had\nneed to set a special<\/p>\n\n\n\n

watch over themselves lest\nthey fall by little and little. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He who handles sharp-edged\ntools, is apt to cut his<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fingers, and none the less\nso because the knife is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

made of the best steel. Let\nus walk warily among<\/p>\n\n\n\n

men, like a man with naked\nfeet when going over<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thorny ground, lest our hurt\nbe grievous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I daily feel that the\natmosphere of earth has as<\/p>\n\n\n\n

much a tendency to harden my\nheart, as to harden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

plaster which is newly\nspread upon the wall; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

unless I am baptized anew\nwith the Spirit of God,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and constantly stand at the\nfoot of the cross,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

reading the curse of sin in\nthe crimson hieroglyphics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of my Savior\u2019s dying\nagonies, I shall become as<\/p>\n\n\n\n

steeled and insensible as\nthe mass of professors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

already are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shame on us, that any of us\nshould be guilty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of such tampering with that\naccursed thing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which slew the Lord of\nglory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great deal of talk\nabout religion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

How many there are who are\nmistaking the ‘form of religion’ for the power of it\u2014mistaking ‘doctrines\nlearned in the head’ for the teachings of the Spirit in the soul! There is a\ngreat deal of talk about religion\u2014but how few know anything of\u2014what true\nreligion is\u2014the secret of vital godliness\u2014the inward teachings and operations\nof the Spirit upon the heart! Many men speak fluently enough of doctrines, and\nof the blessed truths of the gospel. But what good can mere doctrines do for\nme\u2014unless they are sealed on my heart, and applied with divine power to my\nconscience? Without this, the greatest truths can do me no good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the Lord lays us\nlow, puts us into the furnace, and drags us through the waters\u2014He shows us that\ntrue religion, vital godliness, is something deeper, something more spiritual,\nsomething more supernatural, something that stands more in the teachings of God\nthe Spirit and His operation on the heart, than ever we dreamt of before we\nentered upon the trial. We might have had the clearest views of doctrinal\ntruth\u2014and yet these were but ‘dim notions floating in the head,’ before we came\ninto the furnace. But these things now are seen in a different light, and felt\nin a totally different manner. What before was but a doctrine\u2014becomes now a\nmost certain truth. And what before was but a sound sentiment\u2014is now sealed as\na living reality in experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Lord, then, brings us\ninto the dust, He strips away our ‘mere notional, doctrinal religion.’ He\nbegins to open up to our heart the real nature of vital godliness\u2014that it is\nsomething deeper, something more spiritual, something more powerful, something\nmore experimental than anything we have ever yet known\u2014that it consists in the\nteachings and leadings of God the Spirit in the conscience. As soon as this is\nfelt, it strips a man of everything he has learned in the flesh\u2014and brings him\ndown to the dust of death. And when brought there, the blessed Spirit opens up\nthe truths of the gospel in a way he had never known before. Many people know\nthe truth in the letter\u2014but how few by the teachings and operations of God the\nSpirit in the heart! They have sound views of the way of salvation\u2014but it has\nnever been wrought out with a mighty power into their soul. They have clear\nheads\u2014but their hearts are not broken into contrition and godly sorrow. Their\nminds are well-instructed in the truths of the gospel\u2014but these truths have not\nbeen communicated by an unction from the Holy One. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until a man is made to see\nthe emptiness of a mere profession\u2014to have his free-will stripped and purged\naway\u2014and to be brought out of that empty religion so generally current\u2014and is\nbroken down into humility at the footstool of divine mercy\u2014he will not feel the\npower, the reality, the sweetness, and the blessedness of the overwhelming love\nof God displayed in the gospel. Until the soul is thus stripped\u2014until the\nvessel is thus emptied\u2014these things cannot be known\u2014nor is it in a condition to\nreceive the glorious riches of free grace. Until the dross and tin is removed\nfrom the heart\u2014the pure metal cannot shine. Until this chaff is blown away\u2014the\nwheat lies heaped up in one confused mass on the threshing floor. The Lord,\ntherefore, will test His work on the heart\u2014for He is a jealous God, and He will\nnot give His glory to another\u2014but reserves to Himself, His prerogative of\nsovereign mercy, and of saving to the uttermost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

REST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John MacDuff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Come to Me, all you\nwho are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I will ask the Father,\nand He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you\nforever.” John 14:16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gracious Hospice opened by\nChrist to His disciples in the near prospect of His departure, was the promise\nof a divine Comforter, whose advent would more than compensate them for His own\npersonal absence and loss; not a temporary visitant, like the angels who from\ntime to time gladdened both dispensations; not like the Abrahams, and Elijahs,\nand Isaiahs, and Davids, and Baptists–brilliant passing meteors shining for a\nseason and then lost in the darkness–no satellite with reflected or derivative\nlight, but an abiding Presence and glory “above the brightness of the\nsun.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This heavenly Paraclete was\nto “teach them all things;” to “guide them into all truth;”\nto energize, with superhuman wisdom and power–a continued strength and\ninspiration for His people in the time to come. And, best of all, He was to be\nthe ever-present Revealer of an absent Lord, magnifying Him in the affections\nof His Church and people–“He shall glorify Me for He shall receive from\nMe, and shall show it unto you.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Pentecost there was the\nfull realization of the promise. The windows of heaven were then opened, and\nshowers of blessing descended. The gathered disciples were “baptized with\nthe Holy Spirit and with fire,” each brow haloed with flame–a radiance of\nunearthly brightness. It was the predicted “times of refreshing.” The\nprophetic announcement was fulfilled–“He shall come down like rain upon\nthe mown grass, and as showers that water the earth.” Multitudes were\nenabled to call Christ “Lord, by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living as we do under\n“the dispensation of the Spirit,” we have in His bestowal and name a\ntrue Refuge and House of Rest. He is emphatically the Spirit of peace, brooding\nwith halcyon calm over the chaos of unrest. COMFORTER is surely the most\nprecious of balm-words for the weary and heavy laden, the sin-burdened and\nsorrow-burdened. Filled with all joy and peace in believing, we “abound in\nhope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Filled with the\nSpirit”–that is the secret and explanation of the rest this Hospice\naffords. Its every window is thrown open to catch the divine breath and echoes\nfrom the everlasting hills. There replenished and recruited with His varied\ngifts, the traveler is ready to prosecute his upward and onward way, with the\nnew song on his lips–“Your Spirit, O God, is good; lead me into the land\nof uprightness.” The chalice of joy given by the divine Agent is so full\nof the living water of which He is the emblem, that there is no room in it for\nthe poison-drops of sin, the contamination of any baser earthly admixture.\nRather, in His hands, life is like the vessels of Cana, not only filled to the\nbrim, but the contents are gradually transfused and transfigured into the wine\nof heaven. Commonest blessings and joys are in Him sanctified, and become\nsacramental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In the last day, that\ngreat day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let\nhim come unto Me, and drink. This spoke He of the Spirit” (John 7:37, 39).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May it be mine personally to\nappropriate this richest boon and legacy bequeathed by the departing Savior to\nHis Church and people; recognizing in the presence and supporting grace of\n“the Comforter” the chief well of refreshment for pilgrims\n“passing through the Valley of Baca.” It is an additional encouragement,\ntoo, in pleading for the peerless gift, that the divine Father is harmonized\nwith the divine Son in the loving and bountiful bestowment. Does an earthly\nparent delight in lavishing tokens of affection on his offspring? “How\nmuch more shall your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit unto those who ask\nHim?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy those who are able, in\nsome feeble measure, yet with lowly confidence, to join in the apostle’s\ntestimony\u2013 “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy\nSpirit, which is given unto us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting\nplace, let the weary rest. This is the place of repose.” Isaiah 28:12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I wash myself with snow J.C.Philpot By nature, man knows nothing of the purity and perfection of God\u2014or the deep sinfulness and corruption of the creature. There is a veil over man’s heart\u2014a veil of ignorance\u2014of delusion\u2014of unbelief\u2014of self-deception as regards the nature of sin. No man is vitally and experimentally acquainted with\u2014its hideous […]<\/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-5700","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\/5700","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=5700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5701,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5700\/revisions\/5701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}