{"id":5912,"date":"2021-02-13T20:07:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2021-02-13T20:08:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:08:07","slug":"bulletin-edition-january-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5912","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition February 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ANOTHER\nGOSPEL <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2\nCorinthians 11:4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\ntime to time there arises a debate on what constitutes “another\ngospel”. We all know that there are differences among true and honest\nbelievers over various doctrines. When do these differences cross the line from\nmere differences to heresy? When must we cry, “That is another\ngospel!”? The answer is so simple that there should never again be a\ndebate on the issue. It is “another gospel” when the message is of “another\nJesus!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis the only issue worth dividing over, and on this issue we must divide with\nall who disagree. Who is the true Jesus? Of all the adjectives I could use to\ndescribe our Lord in the gospel, the one that seems most fitting to me is “the\nsuccessful Jesus.” The true Jesus is the one who “by Himself\n(actually did) purge our sins” (Heb. 1:3), the one in whose hand the will\nof Jehovah prospered (Is. 53:10), the one who is the Word from God that does\nnot return to God empty but actually accomplishes what God sent Him to do\n(Is.55:11), the one who has already successfully “obtained eternal\nredemption for us, (Heb. 9;12) That Jesus, and only that Jesus in the Jesus of\nthe gospel! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other\nJesus’s may be very nice and kind; they may fill your heart with warmth and\nyour eyes with tears, but they cannot save your soul! Only the Jesus of\ndefinite, successful, and therefore, particular redemption can deliver your\nsoul to God without spot and blemish. <\/strong>Trust Him, and tolerate no other! Fix\nyour soul fast to Him and your soul shall live! Trust any other Jesus and you\nshall perish.!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>Joe Terrell <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

What does the word “gospel” signify? Its literal\nmeaning is either “God’s word” or message, or rather, “good\nnews,” or “good tidings,” which is more agreeable to the\noriginal. But if it be “good news,” it must be good news of something\nand to somebody. There must be some good tidings brought, and there must be\nsome person by whom, as good tidings, it is received. In order, then, that the\ngospel should be good news, glad tidings, there must be a message from God to\nman, God being the Speaker, and man the hearer; he the gracious Giver, and man\nthe happy receiver. But if the gospel means good news from heaven to earth, it\ncan only be worthy of the name as it proclaims grace, mercy, pardon,\ndeliverance, and salvation, and all as free gifts of God’s unmerited favour.\nOtherwise, it would not be a gospel adapted to our needs; it would not be good\nnews, glad tidings to us poor sinners, to us law-breakers, to us guilty\ncriminals, to us vile transgressors, to us arraigned at the bar of infinite\njustice, to us condemned to die by the unswerving demands of God’s holiness.\nAnd as it must be a gospel adapted to us to receive, so must it be a gospel\nworthy of God to give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gospel then, pure, clear, and free, is good news or glad\ntidings, as proclaiming pardon through the blood of Jesus and justification by\nhis righteousness. It reveals an obedience whereby the law was magnified and\nmade honourable, and a atoning sacrifice for sin by which it was forever\nblotted out and put away; and thus it brings glory to God and salvation to the\nsoul. It is a pure revelation of sovereign mercy, love and grace, whereby each\nPerson in the divine Trinity is exalted and magnified. In it “mercy and\ntruth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other.” As revealed\nin it, “truth springs out of earth” in the hearts of contrite\nsinners, and “righteousness,” eternally satisfied by Christ’s\nobedience, “looks down from heaven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you love a pure, a clear, a free gospel, “the gospel of\nthe grace of God,” you love it not only because it is so fully suitable to\nyour needs, so thoroughly adapted to your fallen state, but because you have\nfelt its sweetness and power; because it not only speaks of pardon, but brings\npardon; not only proclaims mercy, but brings mercy; not only points out a way\nof salvation, but brings salvation, with all its rich attendant blessings, into\nyour heart. It thus becomes “the power of God unto salvation to everyone\nthat believes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARTICULAR\nAND EFFECTUAL REDEMPTION <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you\nknow, there is a great division among religious people over the doctrine of\nredemption. I am truly sorry that the division exists; but it does. Christ and\nhis doctrine have always caused division among religious people. The great\nmajority of religious people believe what is called Universal, General\nRedemption. They believe that Christ shed his blood for every person in the\nworld, and that the intention of Christ in his death was the eternal salvation\nof every person in the world. It seems evident to me that three inescapable\nconclusions must be drawn from such doctrine: (1) If it was our Lord’s\nintention to redeem and save all men, and yet all men are not saved, then the\npurpose of Christ in his death is frustrated. (2) If the Lord Jesus Christ shed\nhis blood for every person in the world, and some of those for whom he died go\nto hell anyway, then, in that measure, Christ died in vain. And (3) If Christ\ndied to make an atonement for all men, and some men yet perish under the wrath\nof God, then Christ has failed in his mission; his work of redemption is a\nfailure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nare blasphemous absurdities which we cannot and will not endure. They rob\nChrist of his glory in redemption, destroy the foundation of our hope, and call\ninto question the eternal Godhood of our Saviour. (If Christ could fail in\nanything he attempted, or intended, to do, he could not be the Almighty God!)\nIf the commonly accepted doctrine of Universal, General Redemption is to be\nbelieved, these shocking conclusions must be accepted! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare some, however, among whom we are glad to be numbered, though we may be a\ndespised few, who believe in the Bible doctrine of Particular and Effectual\nRedemption. We believe that the shed blood of Christ was of infinite value, but\nthat the intention of Christ in his death never was the salvation of all men.\nWithout question, if Christ had intended to save all men by his death, if that\nhad been the purpose and object of his atonement, all men would have been\nsaved. But the salvation and redemption of all men never was his purpose. We\nbelieve, according to the scriptures, that THE INTENTION OF OUR LORD\u2019S\nATONEMENT AND THE EFFECTS OF HIS ATONEMENT ARE THE SAME. IT WAS HIS INTENTION\nTO REDEEM GOD\u2019S ELECT BY THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOOD AND BY THE SHEDDING OF HIS\nBLOOD ALL OF GOD\u2019S ELECT ARE REDEEMED. This is clearly the doctrine of Holy\nScripture. The Bible never speaks of those people for whom Christ died as being\nredeemable, justifiable, pardonable, or saveable; but they are the redeemed,\njustified, pardoned, and saved. (Read: Isa. 53:4-12; Matt. 20:28; 26:28; John\n10:11, 14-16; 19:28-30; Acts 20:28, Rom. 3:24-26; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4-5;\n3:13; Eph. l:7; Col. 1:20-21; I Tim. 1:15; II Tim. 1:9-10; Tit. 2:14; Heb.\n9:12; 24-26; 10:10-14; I Pet. 1:18-20; 2:21-24; I John 1:7,9; 2:1-2). These\ntwenty-five passages of Holy Scripture plainly reveal two essential facts about\nthe death of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The Son of God voluntarily laid down His\n life as a Substitute for a particular people, and <\/li>
  2. By his death at Calvary the Lord Jesus\n Christ effectually accomplished the eternal redemption of all God’s elect,\n those people for whom he died. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What\nChrist intended to do in His sacrificial death He has done. He has effectually\nredeemed us from the curse of the law, put away our sins, brought in an\neverlasting righteousness, purchased to Himself a people, and perfected forever\nthose who are sanctified, or set apart in God’s eternal election as the objects\nof His love and grace. We reject as heresy any doctrine that denies or\ndiminishes the efficacy of our Lord’s atoning sacrifice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\nFortner <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    BELIEVING WITH THE HEART There is no learning of Christ apart from\nDivine Truth (Matt. 11:28-30; John 17:3; II Cor. 4:6; I John 5:20), yet one may\nbe able to summarise and recite all of the revealed facts concerning Christ and\nHis accomplished redemption and still be unreconciled to God and under His\ncurse. What I am saying is this; it isn\u2019t the mere knowledge of the truth as it\nis in Jesus that saves the soul, but a love of Christ in that truth (II Pet.\n2:19-22; II Thess. 2:9-12). It isn\u2019t a mere intellectual belief and ritualistic\nconfession through which guilty sinners enter into a saving interest in Christ,\nbut a \u201cbelieving with the heart\u201d (Rom. 10:10), a meeting, a welcoming, a\nloving, and an embracing of Christ in the truth, as the truth, as the Gospel,\nas the \u201cGood News\u201d (Romans 10:8-17). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maurice Montgomery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “The gospel of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Don Fortner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no grace but free and sovereign grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no election but eternal and unconditional election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no redemption but particular and effectual redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no salvation but by the irresistible grace<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and omnipotent power of God the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is no security but by the absolute preservation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    of God’s immutable goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And any pretended gospel that does not proclaim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    these things is, as Paul says, “another gospel’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    that is damning to the souls of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S GRACE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     by Don Fortner–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    given me– the task of testifying to THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    GRACE.”   Acts 20:24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace is the solitary source from which the goodwill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    love, and salvation of God flow to his chosen people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace is completely unmerited and unsought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is altogether unattracted by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace cannot be bought, earned, or won by anything in us or done\nby us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If it could, it would cease to be grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace is bestowed upon sinners without attraction,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    without condition, without qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When God’s saving grace comes to a sinner, it comes as a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    matter of pure charity, unsought, unasked, and undesired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you search the Scriptures, you will find that there are five\nthings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    which always characterize the grace of God. Whenever men speak\ncontrary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    to these five things they deny the grace of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The grace of God is eternal (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Tim. 1:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. The grace of God is free (Rom. 3:24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. The grace of God is sovereign (Rom. 9:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. The grace of God is distinguishing (1 Cor. 4:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. The grace of God is in Christ, only in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace is not something God offers to sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Grace is the operation of God in sinners, by which he<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    effectually saves the objects of his everlasting love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gospel of God is the message of grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To the self-righteous religionist, it is a stumbling block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To the learned, philosophical worldling, it is foolishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because there is nothing in the gospel to gratify the pride of\nman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gospel of God declares that man can never be saved,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    but by the grace of God. It declares that apart from Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the unspeakable gift of God’s grace, there is no salvation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and that the state of every human being is desperate, hopeless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and irretrievable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gospel addresses men and women as depraved,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    guilty, condemned, perishing sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It puts us all upon one level-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gospel declares that the purest moralist is in the same<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    condition as the vilest profligate, that the zealous religionist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    is no better than the most profane infidel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Without Christ, without grace, all are lost!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The gospel addresses every descendant of Adam as a fallen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    polluted, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinner, utterly incapable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    of changing his ruined condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The grace of God in Christ is our only hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All men, by nature, stand before God’s holy law as justly\ncondemned<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    felons, awaiting the execution of his wrath upon us (John\n3:18,36;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rom.3:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our only hope is grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Grace is a provision for men who are–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    so FALLEN that they cannot lift the ax of justice,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    so CORRUPT that they cannot change their own nature,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    so AVERSE TO GOD that they cannot turn to him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    so BLIND that they cannot see him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    so DEAF that they cannot hear him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and so DEAD that God must himself open their graves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and lift them into resurrection” (George S. Bishop).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The only hope any sinner has of salvation and eternal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    life is the grace of God freely bestowed upon sinners<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    through Jesus Christ,the sinner’s Substitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The only bestower of grace is God the Holy Spirit,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    who is called “the Spirit of grace” (Zech. 12:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He is the One who applies the gospel to the hearts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    of chosen, redeemed sinners by his effectual, saving power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He QUICKENS God’s elect while they are yet spiritually dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He CONQUERS the rebel’s will, MELTS the hard heart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    OPENS the blind eye, and CLEANSES the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He gives ears to hear, eyes to see, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    a heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ANOTHER GOSPEL  2 Corinthians 11:4  From time to time there arises a debate on what constitutes “another gospel”. We all know that there are differences among true and honest believers over various doctrines. When do these differences cross the line from mere differences to heresy? When must we cry, “That is another gospel!”? The answer […]<\/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-5912","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\/5912","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=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}