{"id":6022,"date":"2021-04-18T13:22:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T13:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6022"},"modified":"2021-04-18T13:22:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-18T13:22:56","slug":"bulletin-edition-april-2021-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6022","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition April 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SONS OF GOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

from Spurgeon\u2019s sermon, SONS OF GOD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are born into God\u2019s family, it is a miracle of mercy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the ever-blessed exhibitions of the infinite love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of God which without any cause in us, has set itself upon us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are this day an heir of heaven, remember you were<\/p>\n\n\n\n

once the slave of hell. Once you wallowed in the mire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you should adopt a swine to be your child,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you could not then have performed an act of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

greater compassion than when God adopted you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if an angel could exalt a gnat to equal dignity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with himself, yet the gain would not be such a one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as that which God has conferred on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has taken you from the dunghill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and he has set you among princes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light and Dark in Spiritual Experience<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A child of God is like a person in a beautiful palace; if there is\nlight in it, he sees the splendid objects around him, and enjoys them; but if\nthe light is removed, he is nevertheless in the palace still, and surrounded\nwith the same splendid objects as before, though he cannot see them. So, though\nthe believer\u2019s frames and sensible comforts may have their ebbs and flows, his\nstate, Godward, is invariably the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~Augustus Toplady<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to\nbecome the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name.” John 1:12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Wherever faith is given to the soul to “receive”\nChrist, there will be mingled with this faith, and blessedly accompanying it,\nlove to the Lord of life and glory; and sometimes we may know the existence of\nfaith when we cannot see it, by discerning the secret workings and actings of\nlove towards that Savior, in whom God has enabled us to believe. There will be,\nfrom time to time, in living souls a flowing forth of affection towards Jesus.\nFrom time to time, he gives the soul a glimpse of his Person; he shows himself,\nas the Scripture speaks, “through the lattice;” passing perhaps\nhastily by, but giving such a transient glimpse of the beauty of his Person,\nthe excellency of his finished work, dying love, and atoning blood as ravishes\nthe heart, and secretly draws forth every affection of the soul, so that there\nis a following hard after him, and a going out of the desires of the soul\ntowards him. Thus, sometimes as we lie upon our bed, as we are engaged in our\nbusiness, as we are occupied in our several pursuits of life; or at other times\nunder the word, or reading the Scripture, the Lord is pleased secretly to work\nin the heart, and there is a melting down at the feet of Jesus, or a secret,\nsoft, gentle going forth of love and affection towards him, whereby the soul\nprefers him before thousands of gold and silver, and desires nothing so much as\nthe inward manifestations of his love, grace, and blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thus a living soul “receives” Christ; not merely\nas driven by necessity, but as also drawn by affection. He does not receive\nChrist, merely as a way of escape from “the wrath to come,” merely as\na something to save the soul from “the worm that dies not, and the fire\nthat is not quenched;” but mingled with necessity, sweetly and powerfully\ncombined with it, and intimately and intricately working with it, there is the\nflowing forth of genuine affection and sincere love, that goes out to him as\nthe only object worthy our heart’s affection, our spirit’s worship, and our\nsoul’s desire. And we cannot say that less than this comes up to the meaning of\nthe Scripture expression–“to receive Christ.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and\ntruth.” John 1:14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

C.H.Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believer, you can bear your testimony that Christ is the only\nbegotten of the Father, as well as the first begotten from the dead. You can\nsay, “He is divine to me, if He is only human to all the world beside. He\nhas done that for me\u2014which none but a God could do! He has subdued my stubborn\nwill, melted a heart of adamant, opened gates of brass, and snapped bars of\niron! He has turned my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy; He\nhas led my captivity captive, and made my heart rejoice with joy unspeakable\nand full of glory. Let others think as they will of Him\u2014to me He must be the\nonly begotten of the Father\u2014blessed be His name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And He is full of grace. Ah! had He not been\u2014I would never have\nbeen saved. He drew me when I struggled to escape from His grace; and when at\nlast I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to His mercy-seat He said,\n‘Your sins which are many\u2014are all forgiven you\u2014be of good cheer.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And He is full of truth. True have His promises been, not one\nhas failed. I bear witness that never any servant had such a master as I have;\nnever any brother had such a kinsman as He has been to me; never any spouse had\nsuch a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never any sinner had a better\nSavior; never any mourner had a better comforter than Christ has been to my\nheart. I desire none beside Him. In life\u2014He is my life; and in death\u2014He shall\nbe the death of death. In poverty\u2014Christ is my riches. In sickness\u2014He makes my\nbed. In darkness\u2014He is my star. In brightness\u2014He is my sun. He is my manna in\nthis wilderness. He shall be heavenly manna when I come to the heavenly Canaan.\nJesus is to me\u2014all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood. And of truth\nand grace He is full, infinitely full. My soul, this night, bless with all your\nmight ‘the only Begotten.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ must be all!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot keep our eye too exclusively<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   or too intently fixed on Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All salvation is in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All salvation proceeds from Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All salvation leads to Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for the assurance and comfort of our salvation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ must be all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ the beginning;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ the centre; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh sweet truth to you who are sensible of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your poverty, vileness, and insufficiency,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and of the ten thousand flaws and failures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of which, perhaps, no one is cognisant but<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God and your own soul!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, to turn and rest in Christ;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    a full Christ;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    a loving Christ;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    a tender Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

whose heart’s love never chills,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from whose eye darts no reproof,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ must be all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Christ, who is our life.” Coloss. 3:4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

THE renewed man is a living soul, in consequence of his union\nwith the life of Christ. We too little trace the life which is in us to the\nlife which is in Jesus. The Spirit Himself could not be our life apart from our\nunion to Christ. It is not so much the work of the Spirit to give us life, as\nto quicken in us the life of Christ. The apostle thus briefly but emphatically\nstates it\u2014”Christ, who is our life.” Hence we see the relation and\nthe fitness of the second Adam to the Church of God. In consequence of our\nfederal union to the first Adam, we became the subjects of death\u2014he being\nemphatically our death. And in consequence of our covenant union to the second\nAdam, we become the subjects of life\u2014He being emphatically “our\nlife.” Hence it is said, “The second Adam is a quickening\nspirit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headship of Christ, in reference to the life of His people,\nis written as with the point of a diamond in the following passages:\u2014”In\nHim was life;” “The Son quickens whom He will:” “The dead\nshall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall lave;”\n“I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he\nwere dead, yet shall he live;” “He that eats me, even he shall live\nby me.” Now this life that is in Christ becomes the life of the believer\nin consequence of his union with Christ. “You are dead, and your life is\nhid with Christ in God;” “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I\nlive; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” And what is the crowning act of\nChrist as the life of His people? What but His resurrection from the dead?\n“We are risen with Christ;” “You are also risen with Him;”\n“That I may know the power of His resurrection.” This doctrine of the\nLord’s resurrection is the pivot upon which the whole system of Christianity\nhinges. He is risen, and in virtue of this, His people are partakers of a\nresurrection-life to eternal glory. It is utterly impossible that they can\nperish, for they have already the resurrection-life in their souls. Their own\nresurrection to everlasting life is pledged, secured, antedated, in consequence\nof the risen Christ being in them the hope of glory. Thus is Christ the life of\nHis people. He is the life of their pardon\u2014all their iniquities are put away by\nHis blood. He is the life of their Justification\u2014His righteousness gives them\nacceptance with God. He is the life of their sanctification\u2014His grace subdues\nthe power of the sins, the guilt of which His blood removes. He is the life of\ntheir joys, of their hopes, of their ordinances; the life of everything that\nmakes this life sweet, and the life to come glorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rebellious, filthy, frightful, ugly child!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Spurgeon’s sermon, “ADOPTION”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADOPTION is that act of God, whereby men who were by nature<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the children of wrath, even as others, and were of the lost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and ruined family of Adam, are from no reason in themselves,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but entirely of the pure grace of God, translated out of the\nevil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and black family of Satan, and brought actually and virtually<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the family of God; so that they take his name, share the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

privileges, and they are to all intents and purposes the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

actual offspring and children of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an act of pure grace. No man can ever have a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

right in himself to become adopted into God’s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adoption is the pure gratuitous effect of divine grace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and of that alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us give all thanks to the free grace which overlooked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the hole of the pit from which we were digged, and which<\/p>\n\n\n\n

passed over the quarry whence we were hewn, and put<\/p>\n\n\n\n

us among the chosen people of the living God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a king should adopt any into his family, it would likely<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be the son of one of his lords– at any rate, some child of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

respectable parentage. He would never take the son of some<\/p>\n\n\n\n

common felon, or some gypsy child, to adopt him into his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God has taken the very worst to be his children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sons of God all confess that they are the last persons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they should ever have dreamed he would have chosen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beloved, when God passed by the field in which we were lying,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

he saw no tears of penitence in our eyes till he put them there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

himself; he saw no contrition in us until he had given us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

repentance; and there was no beauty in us that could<\/p>\n\n\n\n

induce him to adopt us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, we were everything that was repulsive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if he had said, when he passed by, “You are cursed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be lost for ever!” it would have been nothing but what<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we might have expected from a God who had been so long<\/p>\n\n\n\n

provoked, and whose majesty had been so terribly insulted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no! He found a rebellious child, a filthy, frightful, ugly\nchild!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took it to his bosom, and said, “Black though you are,\nyou<\/p>\n\n\n\n

are lovely in my eyes through my son Jesus; unworthy though<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you are, yet I cover you with his robe, and in your brother’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

garments I accept you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And taking us, all unholy and unclean, just as we were,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

he took us to be his– his children, his forever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then, an act of simple, pure, gratuitous grace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and of nothing else, because he will have mercy on<\/p>\n\n\n\n

whom he will have mercy, and because he delights to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

show the marvellous character of his condescension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is, we are by nature utterly lost and ruined, and there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is not a saint in heaven that would not have been damned, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that did not deserve to be damned in the common doom of sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason why God has made a distinction is a secret to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

himself; he had a right to make that distinction if he pleased,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and he has done it. He has chosen some unto eternal life, to the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

praise of his glorious grace. He has let others alone to be<\/p>\n\n\n\n

punished for their sins, to the praise of his glorious justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in one as in the other, he has acted quite rightly, for he\nhas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a right to do as he wills with his own creatures. Seeing they\nall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

deserved to be punished, he has a right to punish them all. So\ntoo,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as he has reconciled justice with mercy or mated it with\njudgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has a right to forgive and pardon some, and to leave the\nothers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to be unwashed, unforgiven, and unsaved– willfully to follow\nthe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

error of their ways, to reject Christ, despise his gospel, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ruin their own souls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SONS OF GOD from Spurgeon\u2019s sermon, SONS OF GOD If we are born into God\u2019s family, it is a miracle of mercy! It is one of the ever-blessed exhibitions of the infinite love of God which without any cause in us, has set itself upon us. If you are this day an heir of heaven, […]<\/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-6022","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\/6022","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=6022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6023,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6022\/revisions\/6023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}