{"id":5865,"date":"2020-11-15T09:53:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T09:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5865"},"modified":"2020-11-15T09:53:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T09:53:32","slug":"bulletin-edition-november-2020-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5865","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who makes you different from\nanyone else?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Charles Spurgeon)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who maketh thee to differ from another?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What hast thou, that thou did\u2019t not receive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 And if thou dids\u2019t receive it, why dost thou boast as if\nthou hads\u2019t not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is grace\u2014free sovereign grace, which has made you to differ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should any here, supposing themselves to be the children of God,\nimagine that there is some reason “in them” why they should have been\nchosen\u2014let them know that as yet they are in the dark concerning the first\nprinciples of grace, and have not yet learned the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ever they had known the gospel, they would, on the other\nhand, confess that they were . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  the off-scouring of all things,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  undeserving,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  ill-deserving,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and Hell-deserving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would ascribe it all to distinguishing grace, which has\nmade them to differ; and to discriminating love, which has chosen them out from\nthe rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great Christian, you would have been a heinous sinner\u2014if God had\nnot made you to differ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O! you who are valiant for truth, you would have been as valiant\nfor the devil\u2014if sovereign grace had not laid hold of you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A seat in Heaven shall one day be yours, but a chain in Hell\nwould have been yours\u2014if grace had not changed you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can now sing His love; but a licentious song would have been\non your lips\u2014if grace had not washed you in the blood of Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are now sanctified, you are quickened, you are justified;\nbut what would you have been today\u2014if it had not been for the interposition of\nthe divine hand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is not a crime you might not have committed\u2014there is not a\nfolly into which you might not have run.  Even murder itself you might\nhave committed\u2014if grace had not preserved you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shall be like the angels; but you would have been like the\ndevil\u2014if you had not been changed by grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore never be proud, though you now have a wide domain of\ngrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you had not a single thing to call your own\u2014except your sin\nand misery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are now wrapped up in the golden righteousness of the\nSavior, and accepted in the garments of the Beloved! But you would have been\nburied under the black mountain of sin, and clothed with the filthy rags of unrighteousness,\nif He had not changed you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And are you proud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you exalt yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O! strange mystery, that you who have nothing but sin and\nmisery, should exalt yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That you, a poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of your\nSavior, should be proud!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go, hang your pride upon the gallows as high as Haman! Hang it\nthere to rot, and execrate it to all eternity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely of all things most to be despised\u2014is the pride of a\nChristian. He, of all men, has ten thousand times more reason than any other to\nbe humble, and walk lowly with his God, and kindly and meekly toward his\nfellow-creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By the grace of God I am what I am!” 1 Corinthians\n15:10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the\nhaughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in\nthat day.” Isaiah 2:11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

How does the Lord humble? By discovering to man what he is; by\nopening up the depth of his fall; by making him feel what a vile and guilty\nwretch he is before the footstool of mercy; by breaking him to pieces; by\nslaughtering and laying him low; by making him abhor himself in dust and ashes.\nWas not that the way the Lord took with the saints of old? How did he humble\nIsaiah? Was it not by some discovery of his divine Majesty, to make him cry,\n“I am a man of unclean lips!” How did he humble Daniel? Was it not by\nmanifesting himself in his almighty purity, and turning Daniel’s loveliness\ninto corruption? How did he humble Hezekiah? By laying him upon a sick-bed, and\nlaying his sins and iniquities with weight and power upon his conscience. None\nof these men produced humility in themselves. How did the Lord humble Job? By\nsifting him in Satan’s sieve, and discovering as that riddle moved to and fro\nin Satan’s hands the pride, peevishness, and self-righteousness of his carnal\nmind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many who cannot bear to hear the malady touched upon.\nThey cannot bear to hear the corruptions of the heart even hinted at. But what\nreal humility can a man have except through a knowledge of himself? How can I\nbe humbled except I feel that in myself which covers me with shame and\nconfusion of face, and makes me loathe and abhor myself before the eyes of a\nheart-searching God? Therefore the more the glorious majesty of heaven is\npleased to unfold itself in all its divine purity in my conscience, and the\ndeeper discovery I have of what I am as a fallen wretch, a guilty sinner, the\nmore will my heart be humbled, the more shall I be lowly and abased, the more\nshall I loathe myself in dust and ashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest\nattainments in the school of Christ\u2014and the brightest evidences that He is\nindeed our Master. John newton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in\nthe night?” Job 35:10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Who but God could give songs in the night? No saint on earth, no\nangel in heaven, has power to tune our hearts to a single note of praise in the\nhour of their grief; no, nor could any creature above or below breathe a word\nof comfort, of hope, or of support, when heart and flesh were failing. Who but\nthe incarnate God has power enough, or love enough, or sympathy enough, to come\nand embosom Himself in our very circumstances\u2014to enter into the very heart of\nour sorrow\u2014to go down into the deepest depth of our woe, and strike a chord\nthere that, responding to His touch, shall send forth a more than angel’s\nmusic? It is God who gives these songs. He is acquainted with your sorrows: He\nregards your night of weeping: He knows the way that you take. He may be lost to\nyour view, but you cannot be lost to His. The darkness of your night-grief may\nveil Him from your eye, but the “darkness and the light are both alike to\nHim.” Then repair to Him for your song. Ask Him so to sanctify your sorrow\nby His grace, and so to comfort it by His Spirit, and so to glorify Himself in\nyour patient endurance of it, and so to make you to know the why of your trial,\nand your trial so to answer the mission on which it was sent, as will enable\nyou to raise this note of praise\u2014”You have turned for me my mourning into\ndancing: You have put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end\nthat my glory may sing praise to You, and not be silent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In giving you a throne of grace, God has given you a song,\nmethinks, one of the sweetest ever sung in the house of our pilgrimage. To feel\nthat we have a God who hears and answers prayer\u2014who has done so in countless\ninstances, and is prepared still to give us at all times an audience\u2014oh! the\nunutterable blessings of this truth. Sing aloud then, you sorrowful saints; for\ngreat and precious is your privilege of communion with God. In the night of\nyour every grief, and trial, and difficulty, do not forget that in your lowest\nframe you may sing this song\u2014”Having boldness to enter into the holiest by\nthe blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, I will draw near, and pour out my\nheart to God.” Chant, then, His high praises as you pass along, that there\nis a place where you may disclose every need, repose every sorrow, deposit\nevery burden, breathe every sigh, and lose yourself in communion with God\u2014that\nplace is the blood-besprinkled mercy-seat, of which God says, “There will\nI meet with you, and I will commune with you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah! but perhaps you exclaim, “Would that I could sing! I\ncan weep, and moan, and even trust, but I cannot rejoice.” Yes, but there\nis One who can give even you, beloved, a song in the night. Place your harp in\nHis hands, all broken and unstrung as it is, and He will repair and retune it;\nand then, breathing upon it His Spirit, and touching it with His own gentle\nhand, that heart, that was so sad and joyless, shall yet sing the high praises\nof its God. How much of God’s greatness and glory in nature is concealed until\nthe night reveals it! The sun is withdrawn, twilight disappears, and darkness\nrobes the earth. Then appears the brilliant firmament, studded and glowing with\nmyriads of constellations. Oh the indescribable wonder, the surpassing glory,\nof that scene! But it was the darkness that brought it all to view; thus is it\nin the Christian’s life. How much of God would be unseen, how much of His glory\nconcealed, how little should we know of Jesus, but for the night-season of\nmental darkness and of heart-sorrow. The sun that shone so cheeringly has set;\nthe grey twilight that looked so pensively has disappeared; and just as the\nnight of woe set in, filling you with trembling, with anxiety, and with fear, a\nscene of overpowering grandeur suddenly bursts upon the astonished eye of your\nfaith. The glory of God, as your Father, has appeared\u2014the character of Jesus,\nas a loving tender Brother, has unfolded\u2014the Spirit, as a Comforter, has\nwhispered\u2014your interest in the great redemption has been revealed\u2014and a new\nearth redolent with a thousand sweets, and a new heaven resplendent with countless\nsuns, has floated before your view. It was the darkness of your night of sorrow\nthat made visible all this wonder and all this glory; and but for that sorrow\nhow little would you have known of it. “I will sing of mercy and of\njudgment: unto You, O Lord, will I sing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suffering, sorrowful believer! pluck your harp from your willow,\nand, with the hand of faith and love, sweep it to the high praises of your God.\nPraise Him for Himself\u2014praise Him for Jesus\u2014praise Him for conversion\u2014praise\nHim for joys\u2014praise Him for sorrows\u2014praise Him for chastenings\u2014praise Him for\nthe hope of glory\u2014oh praise Him for all! Thus singing the Lord’s song in a\nstrange land, you will be learning to sing it in diviner sounds\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With those just spirits that wear victorious palms,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hymns devout, and holy psalms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singing everlastingly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and\nthe song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God\nalmighty; just and true are Your ways, O King of saints. Who shall not fear\nYou, O Lord, and glorify Your name? for You only are holy: for all nations\nshall come and worship before You.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE MEEK AND LOWLY PILGRIM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and\nI will give you rest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and\nlowly in heart–and you shall find rest unto your souls.” Matt. 11:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the sequel to our motto-verse, the expansion of the\nrest-saying of the loving Rest-Giver. None who have entered into the spirit of\nthese words, but must recognize and find in them a gracious Hospice–a chamber\nof the “House Beautiful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No man,” says Luther, “if he were the gentlest\nand kindest in the world, could have such a gentle bearing as Christ had.”\nHe further tells of a legend regarding the Apostle Peter, that his eyes were\nalways red with weeping and on being asked the cause; the reply was–“I\nweep when I recall the most sweet gentleness of Christ with His apostles.”\nPossibly the remembrance of that sweet gentleness and forbearance towards\nhimself was the most touching of all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note the Savior’s special message, in the meditation of today,\nto His burdened and weary ones. He virtually says–“Exchange burdens. Part\nwith your own and take Mine. Make trial of My yoke, and bear it for My sake. It\nwill be heavy without Me; but with My grace and blessing it will be easy and\nlight. I do not promise in the rest I confer to ‘remove your shoulder from the\nburden,’ to give you immunity from care, and trial, and exactions; but I will\ndo better–I will impart strength and endurance to bear.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The existence of many is a pursuit after spurious and\ncounterfeit rest, misnamed happiness–an aimless, vapid life of pleasure\nengrossed with objects which bring with them no sense of satisfaction or\ncompensation–a dull, weary round in the world’s monotonous tread-mill. This is\nnot the rest Christ promises to His weary ones. Often the world’s burdens, too,\nare weighted with unworthy accompaniments–wounded pride, injured self-love,\ndisappointed ambition, the harboring of proud, vain-glorious thoughts. Here is\na recipe for tranquillity of soul which the gospel may well claim as all its\nown–“For I am meek and lowly in heart.” It has well been called the\nbirth-song of Christianity–“He has put down the mighty from their seats,\nand has exalted the humble and meek.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was by these principles the new creed won its way on\nearth–not by material agencies. The martial spirit, the greatest of the\nold-world forces, had its day and its collapse. The serene, gentle spirit,\nnurtured among the hills of Nazareth, fought a bloodless war and conquered,\nwith the sole weapons in His armory–weapons which He Himself\nassayed–“meekness and lowliness.” Rich and poor, master and slave,\nowned the magic of “this new thing on the earth;” they took His yoke\nupon them, and, by strange paradox, all who tried found in the bearing of it\nrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further–gather from this gracious saying the bliss of\nendurance, submission, forbearance, love; lifted above the fret and fever of\nthe world, the clash of debasing rivalries. Be not aspiring after great things,\nor envious of others, tempted to quarrel with outer circumstances–in other\nwords, showing dissatisfaction with the appointments of God, making base\nsurrender of duty to self-interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quiet mountain-lake is a beautiful thing, sleeping on its\nshadows, no ripple to disturb the placid mirror. But what is more inspiring and\ninvigorating is the stream which issues from it, hurrying impetuously onward,\nbattling its way over rock and boulder, to water and fertilize the plains\nbelow. Build your Hospice in the faithful study of Christ’s spotless character\nand example, in its humility and self-sacrifice, combined with active\nconsecration in doing His Father’s will. “I am meek–I am lowly.”\nThese are the two silver and golden bells–curfew-chimes ringing to deepest and\ntruest rest. They together constitute the true “patent of nobility.”\nIn the possession of calm, elevated peace in Himself, as on a mount of\ntransfiguration, the tumults of passion are hushed, and with the favored\ndisciple on Hermon you are able to exclaim–“It is good for us to be\nhere.” Moreover, included in this is the blessed privilege, taught by the\nmeek and lowly Master, of helping other weary ones to bear their burdens and\ncarry their crosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I know we are not here<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our own selfish ease;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kingliest One the earth has known<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lived not Himself to please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they who have truly learned of Him<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How a burden can give rest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And joyfully share the great human care,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have learned life’s secret best.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful and touching is the plea of the apostle immediately\nfollowing–“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of\nChrist.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest. This is the\nplace of repose.” Isaiah 28:12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places\nwhither thou goest.” Jeremiah 45:5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

There is a life given to the elect when the blessed Spirit\nquickens their souls–a life eternal, communicated to them out of the fullness\nof the Son of God. This life is a personal, individual life; and thus there\nseems to be a sweetness contained in the expression, “your life.”\n“Your life will I give unto you for a prey.” This life which is\ntreasured up in the fullness of Christ is breathed into the soul in the\nappointed time by the Holy Spirit, is kept alive there by his almighty power,\nand will burn brighter and brighter in the realms of endless day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we may observe, from the expression made use of in the text,\nthat this life which is given to the child of God, is given to him in a\npeculiar way. “Your life will I give unto you for a prey.” The word\n“prey” points out that this life is an object of attack. We hear of\n“beasts of prey,” and of “birds of prey,” and the\nexpression implies a carnivorous animal. Thus the words, “Your life will I\ngive unto you for a prey,” imply that there are ravenous beasts that are\ncontinually seeking to devour this life, voracious enemies upon the watch, who\nare eager to prey upon this life, which God the Holy Spirit has kindled in the\nsoul. How accurately and how experimentally do these words describe the inward\nkingdom of God! Eternal life is given by God; and kept by him when given;\npreserved by his power from ever being extinguished. And yet preserved by a\nperpetual miracle, like a burning lamp set afloat upon the waves of the sea;\nor, to use a figure that I have somewhere seen, like a lighted candle carried\nover a hill in the midst of a gale of wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, “our life is given us for a prey;” and the\npower, faithfulness, and wisdom of God are manifested in keeping this life\nunhurt amid all its enemies. As Daniel was preserved in the den of lions; and\nas the three men were preserved in the burning fiery furnace; so the life of\nGod is preserved in the soul, in the midst of lions, as David says, “My\nsoul is among lions” (Ps. 57:4), and amid the fires, “Glorify you the\nLord in the fires” (Isaiah 24:15). So that the life of the child of God is\none continual conflict between faith and unbelief, between enmity and love,\nbetween the grace of God and the rebellion of the carnal mind, between the\nsinkings of the drooping spirit and the liftings-up of the light of God’s\ncountenance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who makes you different from anyone else? (Charles Spurgeon) “Who maketh thee to differ from another?  What hast thou, that thou did\u2019t not receive?  And if thou dids\u2019t receive it, why dost thou boast as if thou hads\u2019t not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7 It is grace\u2014free sovereign grace, which has made you to differ! […]<\/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-5865","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\/5865","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=5865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5866,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions\/5866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}