{"id":5746,"date":"2020-07-11T23:08:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T23:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5746"},"modified":"2020-07-11T23:08:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T23:08:25","slug":"bulletin-edition-july-2020-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5746","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition July 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One perfect sweet!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The following is by\nSpurgeon) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You are fairer than\nthe children of men.” Psalm 45:2 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire person of Jesus\nis but as one gem, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

his life is all along but\none impression of the seal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is altogether complete;\nnot only in his several parts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but as a gracious\nall-glorious whole. His character is not<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a mass of fair colors mixed\nconfusedly, nor a heap of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

precious stones laid\ncarelessly one upon another; he<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a picture of beauty and a\nbreastplate of glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In him, all traits are in\ntheir proper places, and assist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in adorning each other. Not\none feature in his glorious<\/p>\n\n\n\n

person attracts attention at\nthe expense of others; but<\/p>\n\n\n\n

he is perfectly and\naltogether lovely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, Jesus! your power, your\ngrace, your justice, your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tenderness, your truth, your\nmajesty, and your immutability<\/p>\n\n\n\n

make up such a man, or\nrather such a God-man, as neither<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heaven nor earth has seen\nelsewhere! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your infancy, your eternity,\nyour sufferings, your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

triumphs, your death, and\nyour immortality, are all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

woven in one gorgeous\ntapestry, without seam or rent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are music without\ndiscord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As all the colors blend into\none resplendent rainbow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so all the glories of heaven\nand earth meet in you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and unite so wondrously,\nthat there is none like you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in all things; nay, if all\nthe virtues of the most excellent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

were bound in one bundle,\nthey could not rival you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are mirror of all\nperfection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have been anointed with\nthe holy oil of myrrh and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cassia, which your God has\nreserved for you alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as for your fragrance,\nit is as the holy perfume,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the like of which none other\ncan ever mix, even with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the art of the apothecary.\nYour every spice is fragrant,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the compound is divine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Oh, sacred symmetry!\noh, rare combination,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of many perfects, to make\none perfection!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, heavenly music, where\nall parts do meet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one sweet strain, to make\none perfect sweet!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“O you afflicted,\ntossed with tempest, and not comforted.” Isaiah 54:11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Lord here compares his\nsuffering Church to a ship at sea, laboring in a heavy storm, driven out of her\ncourse by contrary winds, as was Paul’s case in the Adriatic, and doubtful\nwhether she will ever reach the harbor; as the hymn says, “Half a wreck by\ntempests driven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a picture of a\ntempest-tossed soul! Sun and stars beclouded, compass lost, chart useless,\npilot absent, and breakers ahead! Many, very many of the Lord’s dear family are\nthus “tossed with tempest;” some with a tempest of doubts and fears;\nothers with a tempest of lust and corruptions; some with a tempest of rebellion\nand fretfulness; others with a storm of guilt and despondency, or with gloomy\nforebodings and dismal apprehensions. Thus they are driven from their course,\ntheir sun and stars all obscured; no clear evidences, no bright manifestations;\ndarkness above, and a raging sea beneath; no harbor in sight, and hope of\nreaching the desired haven almost gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is further said of\nZion, that she is “not comforted;” that is, not comforted by, nor\ncapable of comfort from, any other than God. This I look upon as a very\ndecisive mark of a work of grace upon the soul. When a man is so distressed in\nhis feelings, so cast down in his mind, and so troubled in his conscience, that\nnone but God can comfort him, we seem to be at once on the footsteps of the\nSpirit. We do not find hypocrites on this ground. False professors can easily\ntake comfort; they can steal what God does not give, and appropriate what he\ndoes not apply. But Zion’s special mark is that she is “not\ncomforted,” that her wounds are too deep for human balms, her sickness too\nsore for creature medicines. God has reserved her comfort in his own hands;\nfrom his lips alone can consolation be spoken into her soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JEHOVAH’S JEWELS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They shall be Mine,\nsays the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels.”–Mal. 3:17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That which the merchant\nregards as most costly, and the bride as most ornamental, Jehovah condescends\nto employ to illustrate the character and relation of His saints–“My\nJewels.” My soul, if, through sovereign grace, you have been quarried from\nyour dead and sinful nature, and have been made a living and polished stone in\nthe house of your God, sit down a while and meditate upon the precious, soul-quickening\ntruths taught you by this beautiful and expressive similitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It speaks, first, touchingly\nof the love the Lord has for you, as one of His jewels. How much His saints\nhave to learn of the greatness of His marvelous love! And, although it has\ndepths we cannot sound, heights we cannot reach, dimensions we cannot measure,\nyet, as a little child may dip its tiny shell into the ocean rolling in its\nimmensity at its feet, so may we be able to comprehend in some measure the love\nof Christ, which passes knowledge. And apart from a personal and spiritual\nexperience of Christ’s love, what avails it to us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It speaks, also, of the\nrarity of the Lord’s people. Jewels are not common, every-day things. How rare\nare real Christians, true believers in Christ! How many can talk about\nreligion, and about churches, and about ministers, and about societies, and\nabout sacraments, who have not been converted, are not born again, who know\nnothing experimentally and spiritually of the Lord Jesus Christ–nothing of the\nblessedness of a broken heart for sin, nothing of the healing application of\natoning blood! Oh how few among those who crowd the sanctuary and encircle the\ncommunion-table, are safe for eternity! Lord, are Your jewels so rare? Oh may I\nmake full proof of being one of them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jewels are precious. Who can\nfully estimate the preciousness to Jesus of His saints? Their persons are\nprecious, their faith is precious, their love is precious, their sacrifices are\nprecious, their petitions in prayer and ascriptions of praise are unutterably\nprecious, to the heart of Christ, upon whose breast-plate they are set as\nstones of light and glory. They must be precious for whom a precious Christ\npoured out His most precious blood!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jewels are polished stones.\nTaken from the quarry of nature, they need the chiseling of the Jeweler, and\nthe purifying of the Refiner, before they prove their genuineness, and emit\ntheir luster. “The Lord tries the righteous.” And oh, the untold\nblessings that spring from the discipline of His hand! “Not joyous, but\ngrievous now, yet afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to\nthose who are exercised thereby.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How beautiful, also, are\nthese precious jewels! Washed in the blood of the Lamb, clothed with the\nrighteousness of God, adorned with the graces of the Spirit, complete in\nChrist, and lovely through His loveliness put upon them, no marvel that He\nshould thus commend their beauty and completeness–“You are all fair, my\nlove; I see no spot upon you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jewels are guarded with\nvigilance and care. Is there a being in the universe more vigilantly watched,\nincessantly upheld, or divinely kept, than the believer in Jesus? Destined to\ndeck His brow when the Savior comes in His glory, wearing His many crowns, none\nof these shall perish; but all shall constitute a “crown of glory in the\nhand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Savior, set me as a\nseal upon Your heart, as a seal upon Your arm, and when You come in Your\nkingdom, may I be found among those redeemed and precious ones of whom thus it\nis written, “They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when\nI make up my jewels.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O you vainglorious\nchurches!<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spurgeon, “A Most\nNeedful Prayer Concerning the Holy Spirit” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Not by might nor by power,\nbut by my Spirit,’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

says the Lord Almighty.\nZech. 4:6 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everybody may be saying,\n“How wondrously that church <\/p>\n\n\n\n

flourishes! What power! What\ninfluence! What numbers!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And suddenly some radical\nevil which had been eating <\/p>\n\n\n\n

out the very soul of the\nchurch may come to its issue, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and then in a moment all the\napparent prosperity will <\/p>\n\n\n\n

subside, and the Philistines\nwill rejoice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Spirit of God\ndeparts from a church, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

what remains is but its old\nrecords, ancient creeds, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

title deeds, traditions,\nhistories and memories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The great power of the\nchurch does not lie in the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

power of her organizations.\nYou may have good <\/p>\n\n\n\n

schemes for work, wisely\narranged and managed, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but they will be a failure\nwithout the divine energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too often excellent methods\nare rigidly adhered <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to, and confidently relied\nupon, and yet without <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Holy Spirit they are\nsheer folly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formal routine satisfies\nmany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Souls are not saved by\nsystems, but by the Spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations without the\nHoly Spirit are windmills without wind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methods and arrangements\nwithout grace are lamps without oil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the most scriptural\nforms of church government and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

effort, are null and void\nwithout the “power from on high.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor does the strength of a\nchurch lie in her wealth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money avails nothing to a\nchurch devoid of grace; it <\/p>\n\n\n\n

does but increase the evil\nwhich is corrupting within. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O you vainglorious churches,\nyou may gild your domes, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

you may make your pillars of\nalabaster, and cover your <\/p>\n\n\n\n

altars with precious stones,\nyou may clothe your priests <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in scarlet and in fair white\nlinen, you may make your <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ceremonies imposing, your\nprocessions gorgeous, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

your music enchanting, but\nall this avails nothing if <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Spirit of God is gone;\nall that remains to you is <\/p>\n\n\n\n

as sounding brass, and a\ntinkling cymbal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor does the strength of a\nchurch lie in her numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a large church\nwithout the Lord’s presence, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but a mass of chaff to be\nscattered with a whirlwind, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

or to rot on the threshing\nfloor? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor does the strength of a\nchurch lie in her doctrines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Laodicea church did not\nhold false doctrines, yet <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she was nauseous to the\nLord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth may be held in\nunrighteousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orthodox churches may become\nlifeless corpses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Not by might nor by power,\nbut by my Spirit,’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

says the Lord Almighty.\nZech. 4:6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust His heart \u2014 even\nwhen you can’t trace His hand!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(John MacDuff, “The\nPromised Land!” 1859)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And He led them forth\nby the right way \u2014 that they might go to a city of habitation.” Psalm\n107:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God’s thoughts are not as\nour thoughts \u2014 neither are His ways as our ways! This truth is strikingly\nexemplified in the manner in which He led the Israelites from Egypt to the\npromised land. We would have chosen the way that was nearest and most direct \u2014\nbut God decided otherwise. He led them round about through the wilderness, and\nthat for the space of forty years! And not merely was it the most distant way \u2014\nbut it was the most dangerous way as well. It was a land of deserts and of pits\n\u2014 a land of drought and death \u2014 a land that no man passed through, and where no\nman dwelt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as strange as it\nappeared, we are fully justified in saying that it was wisely arranged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their long detainments;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their tiresome and\ncircuitous wanderings;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their fierce conflicts with\nthe Moabites and the Amalekites;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the bitter waters which they\nhad to drink; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the fiery serpents with\nwhich they were stung \u2014 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

all fulfilled the high\npurposes of Him who is excellent in counsel, as well as wonderful in working.\nHowever contrary His way might have been to theirs \u2014 yet “He led them\nforth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And His dealings with His\npeople now, are still as unusual, and as much opposed to all their preconceived\nplans \u2014 as were His dealings with the Israelites! He has crossed their own\nschemes, and thwarted their most fondly-cherished purposes! He always effects\nHis own ends \u2014 in His own way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian, what is your\nduty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to cherish high\nthoughts of God in all His inscrutable dealings towards you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to trust His heart \u2014\neven when you can’t trace His hand; believing that “all the paths of the\nLord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to follow His guidance\ncontinually; for as He led His people of old with “the cloud by day, the\npillared fire by night” \u2014 so He has promised to direct all your steps, and\npreserve all your goings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to wait His time; for\nalthough the way may appear long and tedious \u2014 yet remember, “all is well,\nthat ends well.” And what will the end be? “And the ransomed of the\nLord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their\nheads! They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee\naway!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I will lay your\nfoundations with sapphires.” Isaiah 54:11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Before we can stand firmly\nin the things of God we must have a good foundation, something solid for our\nfaith, our hope, our love, our all, to rest upon. This God promises to lay for\nhis afflicted Zion–“I will lay your foundations with sapphires.”\n“A gift,” we read, “is a precious stone in the eyes of him that\nhas it.” Every testimony, then, that God gives to the soul, every promise\nbrought into the heart, every manifestation of mercy, every visit of love, or\napplication of truth, we may call, in a spiritual sense, a sapphire; for it is\nindeed a precious stone, radiant with heaven’s own hue. When God thus lays his\nsapphires in the soul, they afford a solid foundation for faith. And as they\nare laid by the hand of God himself, they must be firm; as they are sapphires,\nthey must be indestructible. These sapphires, it is true, may every one of them\nbe buried in the dust of carnality and worldly-mindedness; the filth and\nsewage, the mud and slush, of our fallen nature may roll over them flood after\nflood. But are they injured thereby? is their nature changed, their value\nimpaired, their hue tarnished, their luster faded and gone? They may be hidden\nfrom view, their setting be obscured, and their faces for a while be dimmed,\nbut one ray from the Sun of righteousness will bring them again to light; one\ntouch of the Polisher’s hand will restore all their beauty. Grace has no more\ncommunion with sin than a diamond with an ash-heap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One perfect sweet! (The following is by Spurgeon) “You are fairer than the children of men.” Psalm 45:2 The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and his life is all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether complete; not only in his several parts, but as a gracious all-glorious […]<\/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-5746","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\/5746","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=5746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5747,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions\/5747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}