{"id":6146,"date":"2022-01-31T23:55:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6146"},"modified":"2022-01-31T23:55:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:55:47","slug":"bulletin-edition-january-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6146","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition January 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One everlasting memorial of\nanguish and suffering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(John MacDuff, 1818\u20141895)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev.\n5:11\nAnd I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and\nthe beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten\nthousand, and thousands of thousands;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev.\n5:12\nSaying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,\nand riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an anthem is this! No harp is unstrung, no voice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

silent. One strain thrills on every tongue\u2014”Worthy is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Lamb who was slain!” What an attestation to . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  God’s immaculate holiness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  His burning purity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  His unimpeachable rectitude,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  His boundless mercy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Heaven, there shall still be one everlasting memorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of anguish and suffering\u2014in a place where pain never<\/p>\n\n\n\n

enters and suffering is unknown!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, when the Redeemer puts the coronation anthem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the lips of His worshipers, He reveals Himself, not in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

glories of Godhead\u2014but as a slain Lamb, wearing the marks of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

humiliation. He tells them to make Calvary still their\nmeditation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and His Cross and Passion the great centre of eternity. The\nprint<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the nails in His hands, and the spear-mark in His side, are\nnot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mementos of shame but of victory\u2014remembrancers of a love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

whose depths the ages cannot fathom! The vision of the text thus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

becomes the mightiest of preachers, replete to the multitudes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

above, with the story of grace. There is a tongue in every wound<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the glorified Sufferer\u2014silently but expressively proclaiming\nthe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

great love that He had for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the slain Lamb, Jesus proclaims that the same heart which<\/p>\n\n\n\n

throbbed in anguish on the Cross\u2014still beats on the Throne;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that He is still the Almighty Friend. Precious assurance! Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

unchanged and unchangeable! This same Jesus, who mingled<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His tears with the widow at the gate of Nain; who wept over<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the memory of a cherished friendship, and was melted in a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

flood of tenderest compassion over an apostate land; this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

same Jesus, who breathed balm-words of comfort on the very<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eve of His own agony, and in the midst of it welcomed a dying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

felon to Paradise\u2014is now, with a heart of unaltered love and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sympathy\u2014wielding the scepter of universal empire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wonderful medicine!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Letters of J. C. Philpot)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 diseases.” Psalm 103:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a mass of . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  filth and folly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  blindness and ignorance,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  deceit and hypocrisy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  carnality, sensuality, and devilism are we!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prone to all that is bad, utterly averse to all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that is good\u2014bent upon sin\u2014hating holiness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heavenly-mindedness, and spirituality\u2014what<\/p>\n\n\n\n

earthly wretches, guilty monsters, abominable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

creature are we!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if our minds are sometimes drawn upwards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in faith and affection, and we pant after the living<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2014how soon, how almost instantly, do we drop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

down again into our earthly self, whence we are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

utterly unable to rise until the Blessed Spirit lifts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

us out again! What fits of unbelief, shakings of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

infidelity, fevers of lust, agues of carelessness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

consumptions of faith, hope, love and zeal; yes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what a host of diseases dwell in our poor soul!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they all admit of a twofold cure\u2014that wonderful<\/p>\n\n\n\n

medicine which John saw run from the wounded side<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the Redeemer\u2014blood and water; the one to heal,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the other to wash; the one to atone, the other to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cleanse; justification by blood, and sanctification<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The blood of Jesus, cleanses us from every sin.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1 John 1:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no\ngood thing.” Romans 7:18<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Lord will cause His people to know their total weakness and\ninsufficiency to keep themselves, and that, too, not notionally, not\ntheoretically, nor from what they hear, or from what they read, but from their\nown deep personal experience of the truth: yes, He is perpetually causing them\nto learn it. I do not allude merely to that blessed period when the Holy Spirit\nfirst lays His axe at the fabric of their self-righteousness- truly they first\nlearn it then- but it is a truth they become growingly acquainted with; it is a\nlesson they are made daily to learn; and he becomes the most perfectly schooled\nin it, who watches most narrowly his own heart, is most observant of his own\nway, and deals most constantly and simply with the cross of Jesus. With regard\nto the way which the Lord adopts to bring them into the knowledge of it, it is\nvarious. Sometimes it is by bringing them into great straits and difficulties,\nhedging up their path with thorns, or paving it with flints. Sometimes it is in\ndeep adversity after great prosperity, as in the case of Job, stripped of all,\nand laid in dust and ashes, in order to be brought to the conviction and the\nconfession of deep and utter vileness. Sometimes it is in circumstances of\nabsolute prosperity, when He gives the heart its desire, but sends leanness\ninto the soul. Oh, how does this teach a godly man his own utter nothingness!\nSometimes it is by permitting the messenger of Satan to buffet- sending and\nperpetuating some heavy, lingering, lacerating cross. Sometimes by the removal\nof some beloved prop, on which we too fondly and securely leaned- putting a\nworm at the root of our pleasant out-spreading gourd, drying up our refreshing\nspring, or leading us down deep into the valley of self-abasement and\nhumiliation. But the great school in which we learn this painful yet needed and\nwholesome lesson, is in the body of sin which we daily bear about with us. It\nwas here Paul learned his lesson, as the seventh chapter of his letter to the\nChurch at Rome shows, and for which Epistle the saints of God will ever have\nreason to praise and adore the blessed and eternal Spirit. In this school and\nin this way did the great apostle of the Gentiles learn that the most holy,\ndeeply taught, useful, privileged, and even inspired saint of God was in\nhimself nothing but the most perfect weakness and sin. Do not be cast down,\ndear reader, if the Lord the Spirit is teaching you the same lesson in the same\nway; if He is now ploughing up the hidden evil, breaking up the fallow ground,\ndiscovering to you more of the evil principle of your heart, the iniquity of\nyour fallen nature, and that, too, it may be, at a time of deep trial, of\nheavy, heart-breaking affliction. Ah! you are ready to exclaim, “All these\nthings are against me. Am I a child of God ? Can I be a subject of grace, and\nat the same time be the subject of so much hidden evil, and of such deep,\noverwhelming trial? Is this the way He deals with His people?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, dear believer, you are not solitary nor alone; for along\nthis path all the covenant people of God are traveling to their better and\nbrighter home. Here they become acquainted with their own weakness, their\nperpetual liability to fall; here they renounce their former thoughts of\nself-power and of self-keeping; and here, too, they learn more of Jesus as\ntheir strength, their all-sufficient keeper, more of Him as their “wisdom,\nrighteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” Cheer up, then, for the\nLord your God is leading you on by a safe and a right way to bring you to a\ncity of rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ’s furnace!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius Winslow, “Daily Need Divinely Supplied”\n1870)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He will sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver \u2014 He shall\npurify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. ” Malachi 3:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I will refine them as silver is refined and purify them as\ngold is tried” Zechariah 13:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and\npurifying of your Lord . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what inward corruption,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what carnality,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what worldliness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what self-seeking,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what creature idolatry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  what God dishonouring unbelief!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying\nfires of Christ’s furnace!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My soul \u2014 your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a consolatory thought that our refining is in the hands of\nJesus \u2014 in the hands that were pierced for us on the cross!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus shapes all your trials!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus sends all your afflictions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus mixes all your sorrows!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver\nand purifies you as gold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, O my soul, tremble not . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  at the knife that wounds you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  at the flame that scorches you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  at the cloud that shades you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  at the billows that surge above you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is in it all \u2014 and you are as safe as though you had\nreached the blissful climate . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  where the vine needs no pruning,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and where the ore needs no purifying,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  where the sky is never darkened, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

upon whose golden sands where no storms of adversity ever blow,\nor waves of sorrow ever break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark the Refiner’s position. “He will SIT as a refiner and\npurifier of silver.” It would be fatal to his purpose, if the human\nrefiner were to leave his post while the liquid mass was seething in the\ncauldron. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and\nremoving the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten\nore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just so, Christ sits as a Refiner . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and with an eye that never slumbers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and with a patience that never wearies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and with a love that never chills,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and with a faithfulness that never falters,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He watches and controls the process that . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  purifies our hearts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  burnishes our graces,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  sanctifies our nature, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon\nour soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the\nfire, “that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold\nthat perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and\nhonor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sweet and soothing is the truth that the believer is not\nalone in the fire! The Refiner is with us, as with the three Hebrew children\npassing through the king’s burning furnace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord will have us be polished stones. As some believers are\nmore rusty and some more alloyed than others \u2014 they need a rougher file, and a\nhotter furnace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may account for the great severity of trial through which\nsome of the Lord’s precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His\nheart, are they for this refining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look up, my soul, to your Refiner!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knife is in a Father’s hand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flame is under a Saviour’s control!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be still, be humble, be submissive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Heed the rod \u2014 and the One who appointed it!” Micah\n6:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was silent; I would not open my mouth \u2014 for You are the\none who has done this!” Psalm 39:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One mass of moral corruption!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Winslow, “The Inner Life in its Relapsed Influence”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where divine grace does not exist in the heart, there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is nothing to stunt the growth, or to check the progress,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or to restrain the power of the soul’s depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fountain pours out its streams of corruption and death,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bidding defiance to all human efforts either to purify or\nrestrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education can’t restrain the power of the soul’s depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public sentiment can’t restrain the power of the soul’s\ndepravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human law can’t restrain the power of the soul’s depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moral persuasion can’t restrain the power of the soul’s\ndepravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Self love’ can’t restrain the power of the soul’s depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these instruments fail in the attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is going on in the soul a process of moral decay,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which, if not averted by divine grace, must terminate in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the intolerable and interminable pangs of the second<\/p>\n\n\n\n

death; the soul departing into eternity, one mass of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

moral corruption!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let one grain of God’s grace fall into this corrupt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fountain, and there is deposited a counteracting and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

transforming element, which at once commences a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

healing, purifying, and saving process. And, what<\/p>\n\n\n\n

parental restraint, and the long years of study,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and human law, had failed to do, one hour’s deep<\/p>\n\n\n\n

repentance of sin, one believing glance at a crucified<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savior, one moment’s realization of the love of God,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

have effectually accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O the intrinsic preciousness, the priceless value, the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sovereign efficacy of God’s converting, sanctifying grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effecting a lodgement in the most debased and corrupt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heart, grace revolutionizes the whole soul, changing its<\/p>\n\n\n\n

principles, purifying its affections, ennobling its sentiments,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and assimilating it to the Divine holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All true sanctification<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no victory over the indwelling power of sin, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

there is no pardon for the guilt of sin, but as the soul deals<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the blood of Christ. The great end of our dear Lord’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

death was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is the great<\/p>\n\n\n\n

work of Satan. To overcome this, to break its power, subdue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its dominion, repair its ruins, and release from its\ncondemnation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the blessed Son of God suffered the ignominious death of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cross. All that bitter agony which He endured, all that mental<\/p>\n\n\n\n

suffering, the sorrow of His soul in the garden, the sufferings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of His body on the cross–all was for sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, then, the close and beautiful connection between the death<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of Christ–and the death of sin. All true sanctification comes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through the cross! Seek it there. The cross brought into your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

soul by the eternal Spirit will be the death of your sins. Go to\nthe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cross! Oh, go to the cross of Jesus! In simplicity of faith, go\nwith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the strong corruption; go with the burden of guilt; go to the\ncross!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will find nothing but love there, nothing but welcome there,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nothing but purity there. The precious blood of Jesus\n“cleanses us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from all sin.” And while you are kept low beneath the\ncross, your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

enemy dares not approach you, sin shall not have dominion over<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you, nor shall Satan, your accuser, condemn you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One foot in hell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Horatius Bonar, “The Three Crosses”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Verily, I say unto thee today shalt thou be with Me in\nparadise.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luke 23:43<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The saved thief is a specimen of what the cross is appointed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to do. Sin abounding, grace super-abounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is yon cross erected for? To save souls!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, it saves one of the worst; one who had done<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nothing but evil all his days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that blood flow for? To wash away sin!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, it washes one of the blackest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does yon Sufferer die for? To pardon the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

guiltiest! Not merely to save from hell, but to open<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradise to the chief of sinners\u2014to open it at once;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not after years of torment, but “today.” Today\n“with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me.” Yes, Jesus goes back to heaven with a saved<\/p>\n\n\n\n

robber at His side! What an efficacy in the cross!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What grace, what glory, what cleansing, what healing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what blessing\u2014at yonder cross! Even “in weakness”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Son of God can deliver\u2014can pluck brands from<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the burning\u2014can defy and defeat the evil one! Such<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is the meaning of the cross! Such is the interpretation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which God puts upon it, by saving that wretched thief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See how near to hell a man may be\u2014and yet be<\/p>\n\n\n\n

saved! That thief, was he not on the very brink of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

burning  lake\u2014one foot in hell; almost set on fire by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hell? Yet he is plucked out! He has done nothing but<\/p>\n\n\n\n

evil all his days\u2014down to the very last hour of his life;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

yet he is saved. He is just about to step into perdition,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when the hand of the Son of God seizes him and lifts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

him to Paradise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, what grace is here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What boundless love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What power to save!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who after this need despair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truly Jesus is mighty to save!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See how near a man may be to Christ\u2014and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

yet not be saved. The other thief is as near the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savior as his fellow\u2014yet he perishes. From the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

very side of Christ\u2014he goes down to hell. From<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the very side of his saved fellow\u2014he passes into<\/p>\n\n\n\n

damnation. We see the one going up to heaven<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014and the other going down to hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is astonishing\u2014and it is fearful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, what a lesson\u2014what a sermon is here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One everlasting memorial of anguish and suffering (John MacDuff, 1818\u20141895) Rev. 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Rev. 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, […]<\/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-6146","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\/6146","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=6146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6147,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6146\/revisions\/6147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}