{"id":6096,"date":"2021-08-01T07:05:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T07:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6096"},"modified":"2021-08-01T07:05:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T07:05:01","slug":"bulletin-edition-august-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6096","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition August 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consider Jesus\u2013 as Without Deceit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cHe did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” 1\nPeter 2:22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purer than the purest crystal, more transparent than the\nbrightest sun, was the character of Jesus. It needed but the visual organ\npurged from the blinding and distorting effects of sin to have looked into the\ndeepest recesses of His heart, to have seen every pulse, to have read every\nthought, and to have fathomed every purpose of His soul–so open, transparent,\nand childlike was He. His foes sought with deception to ensnare Him, but He was\ntoo innocent to be ensnared. The moral atmosphere of His being was too pure and\ntranslucid for their wicked purposes to find a single fault. They could fix no\nthought, excite no passion, rouse no imagination within His breast that would\nhave left a taint or a cloud upon that pure, bright spirit of His. What He\ndeclared of Satan could with equal truth have been affirmed of ungodly\nmen–“The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me.” They\nfound no evil in Him upon which their own sinfulness could work. Wickedness\ncould not for a moment exist in an atmosphere so holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the integrity and honesty of Jesus as the fulfilment of\na prophecy: “Neither was any deceit in His mouth” (Isa. 53:9). Ponder\ncarefully, my soul, every fulfilment of prophecy concerning your precious\nJesus. It will fortify you against the assaults of infidelity and the\nsuggestions of Satan, and enlarge your knowledge of, and deepen your love to,\nthe Saviour. Behold the fulfilment of this remarkable prediction–“Neither\nwas deceit found in His mouth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no deceit in THE TRUTHS WHICH JESUS TAUGHT. All that\nthe Father revealed to Him He made known to His disciples. He falsified\nnothing, obscured nothing, kept back nothing. What a lesson for us! Are we\nministers of Christ? Then it is our solemn duty to guard against deceit and\nhypocrisy in our ministrations of the truth. There must be no adulteration of\nthe Word, nothing doubtful in our statement of the Deity and Atonement of\nChrist, no mental reservation in preaching the doctrines of grace, no denying\nor neutralising the Person and work of the Spirit, not the slightest vestige of\ncraftiness or deceitfulness in handling the word of the living God. Woe unto us\nif we preach not the great truths of the gospel as Christ taught them! We must\npreach Christ only and wholly, and with Paul be able to testify–“We have\nrenounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor\nhandling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth,\ncommending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” My\nsoul! beware of holding the truth with guile!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus was guileless in ALL HIS ACTIONS. Everything that He did\nwas as open and as transparent as the light of day. Thus, my soul! learn of\nHim. Let there be nothing doubtful or ambiguous in your dealings with the\nworld; no deceit or equivocation in your communion with the saints; but let\nevery action and motive and end be as clear and pure as the sun’s noontide\nsplendour. Lord, in all things “let integrity and uprightness preserve\nme.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, Jesus was without guile in HIS WALK BEFORE GOD. He\ncould say, and He only, “I do always those things which please Him.” It\nis here, O my soul, you have the most closely to commune with your own heart,\nand to weigh and ponder and scrutinise every step you take. “You, Most\nUpright One, do weigh the path of the just.” Oh, walk before God with a\nperfect heart, and let your prayer be–Lord, search me! and should I not be\nreal, honest, transparent–graciously, effectually root up every noxious weed,\nespecially that hateful weed of hypocrisy, from Your own garden; and let no\nprinciple or motive, aim or end exist but what You approve, and what will be\nfor Your honour and glory. By the sanctifying grace of Your Spirit, by the\nsearching power of Your word, by the hallowed discipline of temptation,\naffliction, and sorrow, make me an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ\nJesus.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” 1\nPeter 2:22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

How rare, and all the more beautiful because of its rarity, is a\npurely deceitless spirit! A transparent medium through which the light of\nHeaven comes and goes: open, candid, just, honourable, sincere; scorning every\nunfair dealing, every hollow pretension, every narrow prejudice. Wherever such\ncharacters exist, they are like “apples of gold, in pictures of silver.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such, in all the loveliness of sinless perfection, was the Son\nof God! His truthfulness and sincerity shining the more conspicuously amid the\nartful and malignant deceits alike of men and devils. Passing by manifold\ninstances in the course of His ministry, look at its manifestation, as the hour\nof His death approached. When, on the night of His apprehension, He confronts\nthe assassin band, in meek majesty He puts the question, “Whom do you\nseek?” They said to Him, “Jesus of Nazareth!” In guileless\ninnocence, He replies, “I am He!” “Are You the King of the\nJews?” asks Pilate, a few hours after. An evasive answer might again have\npurchased immunity from suffering and indignity \u2014 but once more the lips which\nscorned the semblance of evasion reply, “Yes, it is as you say!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How He loved the same spirit in His people! “Behold,”\nsaid He, of Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”\nThat upright man had, we may suppose, been day after day kneeling in prayer\nunder his fig-tree, with an open and candid spirit \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Musing on the law he taught,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And waiting for the Lord he loved.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See how the Saviour honoured him; setting His own divine seal on\nthe loveliness of this same spirit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take one other example: when the startling \u2014 saddening\nannouncement is made to the disciples, “One of you shall betray Me!”\nthey do not accuse one another; they attempt to throw no suspicion on Judas;\neach in trembling apprehension suspects only his own treacherous heart,\n“Lord, is it I?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much of a different “mind” is there abroad! In the\nschool of the world (this painted world,) how much is there of what is called\n“policy,” double-dealing! \u2014 accomplishing its ends by distorting\nmeans; outward artificial polish, often only a cloak for falseness and\nselfishness! \u2014 in the daily interchange of business, one seeking to overreach\nthe other by tricky arts \u2014 sacrificing principle for temporal advantage. There\nis nothing so derogatory to religion as anything allied to such a spirit among\nChrist’s people \u2014 any such blots on the “living epistles.” “You\nare the light of the world.” That world is a quick observer. It is sharp\nto detect inconsistencies; and slow to forget them. The true Christian has been\nlikened to an anagram \u2014 you ought to be able to read him up and down, every\nway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be all reality, no counterfeit. Do not pass for current coin,\nwhat is base alloy. Let transparent honour and sincerity regulate all your\ndealings! Despise all deceitfulness; avoid the sinister motive \u2014 the underhand\ndealing; aim at that unswerving love of truth that would scorn to stoop to base\ncompliances and unworthy equivocations; live more under the power of the\npurifying and ennobling influences of the gospel. Take its golden rule as the\nmatchless directory for the daily transactions of life \u2014 “So in\neverything, do unto others \u2014 what you would have them do unto you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn Israelite Indeed, in Whom is No Guile\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cJesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him,\nBehold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!\u201d(John 1:47)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In his commentary on this verse John Trapp wrote, \u201cHere\nChrist wondereth at his own work of renovation, as wonderful, doubtless, as\nthat of creation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn Israelite Indeed\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord Jesus tells us that Nathanael was an Israelite indeed.\nHe was not simply one who was a physical descendant of Abraham. \u2014 \u201cFor all are\nnot Israel which are of Israel\u201d (Romans 9:6). Nathanael was an Israelite\nindeed, one of the \u201cchildren of promise\u201d (Galatians 4:28), one of \u201cthe Israel\nof God,\u201d of Abraham\u2019s spiritual seed, one of God\u2019s true Israel, an heir of\ncovenant grace. He was circumcised inwardly by God the Holy Spirit (Colossians\n2:11-12; Philippians 3:3), not just outwardly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That part of the verse is easy. But the next thing our Lord\nJesus says about Nathanael is not as easily understood. \u2014 \u201cBehold an Israelite\nindeed in whom is no guile.\u201d We are often urged to be without guile; but here\nour Lord declares of a man, \u201cBehold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!\u201d\nHow are we to take those words? Guile is hypocrisy, deceit, cunning,\ncraftiness, duplicity, dishonesty. Does our Savior mean for us to understand\nthat Nathanael had no guile?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only four times in Holy Scripture do we read of people being\nfree of guile, here, in Psalm 32:2, 1 Peter 2:22, and in Revelation 14:5. In\nPsalm 32 we are told that the forgiven sinner is one in whose spirit there is\nno guile. In 1 Peter 2:22 the Holy Spirit tells us that our Lord Jesus had no\nguile. And in Revelation 14:5 we are told that those who stand before God in\nheaven have no guile. We read in Revelation 21:27 that none can enter that\nblessed place called heaven who have any guile, but only those whose names were\nwritten as perfect and without guile in \u201cthe book of life of the Lamb slain\nfrom the foundation of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guileless Spirit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forgiven sinner, the heaven-born soul is one in whose spirit\nthere is no guile (Psalm 32:1-2). Certainly Nathanael was that. He was a true\nchild of God, a true believer in difficult times. He was one of a very little\nflock. Like Simeon and Anna, he was living by faith and waiting prayerfully for\nthe promised Redeemer when our Lord began his ministry. He had that which grace\nalone can give, an honest heart, a heart without guile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Without question, pardoned\nsinners are upright, righteous, and without guile in the course of their lives.\nThey are not dishonest, hypocritical people. The Lord God declares of all his\nchildren that they are \u201cchildren that will not lie\u201d (Isaiah 5 63:8). But that\ncannot be our Lord\u2019s meaning here. He here declares that Nathanael was a man in\nwhom there was \u201cno guile\u201d and asserts that they and only they in whom is no\nguile are true Israelites. Yet, every heaven-born soul knows the plague of his\nown heart. All who are taught of God know that they are by nature full of\nguile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Exaggeration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When our Lord declares that Nathanael is without guile and\nasserts that all who are Israelites indeed have no guile, was he exaggerating,\nor was he stating the truth? He was stating the truth, pure, absolute truth.\nAll who trust Christ are Israelites indeed (Philippians 3:3). And all God\u2019s\nelect are a people in whom there is no guile, no duplicity, no hypocrisy,\nnothing false!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a declaration of personal, or personally\naccomplished, holiness. Those who know the plague of their own hearts know\nbetter. Yet, when the Lord Jesus described Nathanael with these words, \u201can\nIsraelite indeed, in whom is no guile,\u201d Nathanael realized that he was and is\nthe Christ, the all-knowing God in human flesh. When he answered the Saviour,\nsaying, \u201cWhence knowest thou me?\u201d he as good as said, \u201cTruly, I am a guileless\nman by the grace of God, and you could not know that if you were not the God\nwho has made me a new creature by your grace. \u2014 \u2018Thou art the Son of God. Thou\nart the King of Israel!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s people are a people with no guile. This is a plain\nstatement of fact. It is not an exaggeration. All who are saved by the grace of\nGod are without guile\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatively \u2014 We stand guileless before the holy Lord God\nbecause we are in Christ, one with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eternally \u2014 We have been accepted in Christ, the Lamb slain from\nthe foundation of the world, from eternity, \u201caccepted in the Beloved\u201d (Ephesians\n1:3-6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judicially \u2014 The Lord God declares that there is no sin, no\niniquity, no guile recorded against us in the record books of heaven (Jeremiah\n50:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Spirit \u2014 In the new birth God the Holy Spirit creates in the\nchosen, redeemed sinner a new nature that is truly righteous and holy, a nature\nthat cannot sin (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; 1 John 3:6-10). That new\nnature is \u201cChrist in you\u201d (Colossians 1:27; 2 Peter 1:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because they are in Christ and Christ is in them, every saved\nsinner is, like Nathanael, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile! That in\nthem which is born of God, that new man created in righteousness and true\nholiness, that new nature that cannot sin because it is born of God is\naltogether without guile (1 John 3:6-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Are you an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sham difficulties!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon on John 1:47<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nathaniel, The Man Needed for the Day”  #2068.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objections which most unsaved people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

raise are not their real objections, but only<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pretended difficulties to hide their real<\/p>\n\n\n\n

reasons for opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most scorn Christ because they<\/p>\n\n\n\n

do not want to give up their sin!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pick up some technical question; some<\/p>\n\n\n\n

difficulty raised by geology or evolution, or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

something or other, and they make a fuss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

over it; while the real impediment is that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they are living  an unclean life and do not<\/p>\n\n\n\n

want to give up their evil ways!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where the true difficulty lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they do not care to mention the real<\/p>\n\n\n\n

impediment to their coming to Christ, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

therefore they pretend that they are the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

victims of some awful mystery, or terrible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dogma which frightens them out of their<\/p>\n\n\n\n

salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the bugbears which these deceivers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

set up. They deceive themselves more than<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they deceive anybody else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the sincere seeker who does not play<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at sham difficulties but who speaks out at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

once and tells what the point is that hinders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

him from coming to Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, men do not find Jesus, for there is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

deceit in their hearts and they do not really<\/p>\n\n\n\n

desire to find Him. They do not really want<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to know Him, and so they remain ignorant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let there be no trifling, no mocking God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Last Great Day, when that curtain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

shall be drawn back which hides from our<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eyes all souls that are lost; if we are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

permitted to look into that dreadful place;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we shall not find there a soul that ever<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sincerely cried to God for mercy through Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hell is filled through that deceitfulness of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the natural heart which will not let them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

receive Jesus and His salvation. They blind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their own eyes to the light of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…The light from heaven came into the world,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 but they loved the darkness more than the light,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 for their actions were evil.  They hate the light<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 because they want to sin in the darkness. They<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 stay away from the light for fear their sins will<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 be exposed and they will be punished.” John 3:19-20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consider Jesus\u2013 as Without Deceit Octavius Winslow \u201cHe did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22 Purer than the purest crystal, more transparent than the brightest sun, was the character of Jesus. It needed but the visual organ purged from the blinding and distorting effects of sin to have looked […]<\/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-6096","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\/6096","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=6096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6097,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096\/revisions\/6097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}