“Man cannot be saved by perfect\nobedience, for he cannot render it; he cannot be saved by imperfect obedience,\nfor God will not accept it” – C.H. Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hope of a believer is not some long drawn-out\ntheological statement. The hope of a believer can be summed up in two words,\nJesus Christ. 1Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the\ncommandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope\u201d\n Any more than this is hopeless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Chapman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the\njudgment,\u201d Hebrews 9:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since it is written in our hearts that, \u201cIt is appointed unto\nman once to die and after that, the judgment,\u201d we have a natural aversion to\ndeath and a great fear of what comes afterward. If we have heard the\ngospel of Jesus Christ and professed to believe it, we have a natural tendency\nto look for some evidences or proof that we are, indeed, believers in Christ\nand heirs of God\u2019s promise. Religion and our natural conscience are all\ntoo ready to provide us with various standards by which we may judge our faith:\nIs it doctrinally sound? Has it been confirmed by some deep emotional\nexperience or some strange and otherwise unexplainable event? Have we\nexperienced the ability to lay aside notable sins? Do we love the\nbrethren sufficiently? Do we regularly testify of Christ to others? Do\nwe read our Bibles and pray enough? But there is a deadly poison in such\nself-examination for in each of them there is a looking to self and our\nassurance must never arise from anything about us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we would know our hearts, we must not look at them or listen\nto what they tells us for, \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things and\ndesperately wicked. Who can know it?\u201d Our hearts might needlessly condemn\nus, or worse, they might falsely acquit us. We must never trust our own\njudgments about ourselves. Rather, we must let the Word of God (which,\naccording to Peter, is the gospel) expose our hearts and reveal the truth of\nthem to us. And this gospel exposure can be accomplished by considering\nthe events of Calvary and these questions: Who is that on the cross? The\nSon of God. What is He doing there? Bearing the Wrath of God. Why\ndid He die? To fulfil the Demand of God in payment for sin. Why was He\nraised from the grave? His death satisfied the Justice of God. Why is He\nnow seated at the right hand of God? He has the Acceptance and Approval\nof God. And, quite miraculously, the knowledge of these things will\nreveal our hearts to us. When the child of God makes these things the\nobject of his spiritual examination, God\u2019s Spirit witnesses with his spirit\nthat he is, indeed, a child of God. -Joe Terrell<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.\nHebrews 13:8 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am so thankful that as I grow older and things change, inside\nand out, that there is One who never changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1). His love never changes with time, for He loved me with an\neverlasting love that knows no change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2). His power never changes. He is just as able to keep me from\nfalling today as when I first began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3). His Word never changes: \u201cGod is not a man, that He should\nlie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He\nnot do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?\u201d (Numbers. 23:19)\nHas He not magnified His Word above His Name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4). His election of me shall never change. He will never cast\noff those whom He has chosen, for they will never do anything that He did not\nknow about and has not already taken care of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5). The power of His blood shall never change. It still cleanses\nfrom all sin. No matter how deep the stain has gone, His blood washes it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6). His Sacrifice will never change, it will never lose its\neffectiveness because it is always fresh in the midst of the Throne of God:\n\u201cAnd I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and\nin the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain\u2026.\u201d (Rev. 5:6). We\nhave a living sacrifice standing in the midst of the Throne of God. When we\nrise out of our beds in the morning and go through our changes, just remember\nthat there is One who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Rock\nChrist Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
-John Chapman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IT IS THE BLOOD THAT SAVES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new\ntestament, which is shed for many.”–Mark 14:24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never did those lips, upon which grace shed its divinest,\nsweetest fragrance, utter words so precious as these. The language is\nfigurative, but the truth is literal. “This is My\nblood,” <\/em>or, this cup is the ’emblem’ of “My blood of\nthe new testament,” <\/em>the new covenant, “shed for\nmany,” <\/em>for the sins of beings whom no man can number. We are thus\nbrought into contact with the most essential and vital doctrine of the Bible,\nthe great Atonement of the Son of God. <\/em>Beloved, the blood of\nJesus is very precious to a poor, guilt-burdened sinner. It is the\nblood that saves him. <\/em>There is everything you need in the blood of\nJesus, forgiveness for every guilt-burdened, healing for every sin-wounded\nconscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blood of Jesus speaks peace, the blood brings us into the holiest,\nand places us in the very presence of the Father. It is the blood that keeps\nthe heart pure, and supplies it with the most powerful motive to holiness. It\nis the blood that sustains the soul in death, and after death places it before\nthe throne in robes washed white, with the “new song” breathing from\nits joyous lips. My soul, consider the blood of Jesus in two or three essential\npoints of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the blood of the Incarnate God. Herein lies its intrinsic\nworth, its essential efficacy. The Deity of the Saviour gave it all its merit\nto atone, and all its virtue to cleanse. We marvel not that the apostle should\ndenominate it, “the precious <\/em>blood of Christ, as of a\nlamb without blemish.” It is the most precious thing in the universe–it\nis the precious blood of Him whose person is precious to those who believe. Is\nit, my soul, precious to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, then, remember that faith <\/em>alone is\nnecessary to make its saving virtue ours. Believe only, and all the sovereign\nefficacy of Christ’s blood is ours. This “precious blood” and\n“precious faith” constitute the two most precious things in the\nuniverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look at it, also, as applied <\/em>blood. We know\nthat the blood of the paschal lamb would have availed nothing to the Israelites\nwhen the angel of death swept through the land to slay the first-born of the\nEgyptian, had it not been really and visibly sprinkled upon their\ndwellings<\/em>. It was the applied <\/em>blood that saved them. So\nmust it be with the blood of Jesus, our Passover slain for us. If we want to be\nplaced in a state of non-condemnation, if we desire to be quite sure that we\nare safe from eternal death, the blood of Jesus must be applied <\/em>to\nthe conscience. Rest not short of this, my soul! Clearly this is the mind of\nthe Spirit in those remarkable words of the apostle, “You are\ncome <\/em>to the blood of sprinkling.” There is a present <\/em>coming\nto the blood of Jesus, and this gives us a present salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the blood of Jesus that sanctifies. <\/em>It\nsets us apart as a holy people for God, it cleanses the heart from vain thoughts,\nworldly imaginations, and impure desires–from the taint and defilement of\nindwelling sin. Rest not short, then, of the applied <\/em>blood of\nJesus. This will remove all your doubts, quell all your fears, and bring you\ninto perfect peace. The Holy Spirit is prepared to take of the blood of the\ncovenant, and sprinkle it upon your heart, and then all will be peace<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blood will give you great power in prayer<\/em>.\nComing to God with this plea, you may open all your heart to Him, confess every\nsin, disclose every sorrow, make known every need, and reveal, as in the light\nof the noontide sun, every secret cloistered there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a word, it is the blood of Jesus that SAVES, saves us from a\npresent condemnation, and saves us to a future and eternal salvation. There is no\nsalvation elsewhere. Here is pardon for the vilest sinner, for the\nblood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. <\/em>Yes, dear Lord! it is\nYour blood, Your own blood, possessing all the dignity and virtue of Your\nGodhead, and this will be my song and my joy through eternity, “Unto\nHim who loved us, and washed us from our sins IN HIS OWN BLOOD, <\/em>and\nhas made us kings and priests unto God and His Father–to Him be glory forever\nand ever. Amen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The eternal God is your refuge.”<\/em> Deuteronomy\n33:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is, to my mind, much sweetness in the contrast between the\neternal God being the refuge of his people, and the lying refuges that most\nhide their heads in. God’s people need an eternal <\/em>refuge. They\nhave a never-dying soul; and unless they have a never-dying refuge, it is not\nsufficient for a never-dying soul. Works! these are for time; the never-dying\nsoul needs something to stand when works and wonders cease. Doctrines,\nopinions, sentiments, ordinances, the good opinion of men, the applause and flattery\nof the creature–these are of the earth, earthy; they fail when a man gives up\nthe spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a child of God needs a refuge, not merely that his soul may\nanchor in it in time, but that when time is ended, when the angel proclaims,\n“There shall be time no longer,” and his liberated soul escapes its\nprison-house, and is wafted into the presence of the eternal God, it may find\nin Him at that solemn moment a refuge. No, all through eternity, in the rolling\ncircle of its never-ending ages, the soul will still need a refuge. For could\nit even in eternity exist for a moment out of Christ–in a word, were the\nrefuge of the elect anything but eternal, the moment the limited time of their\nshelter closed, the frowns of God would hurl them into perdition; so that nothing\nbut an eternal God can ever be a refuge for a never-dying soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does not say, “His grace is your refuge.” No; because\ngrace will end in glory. Nor does it say, “His mercy is your refuge,”\nfor his mercy will end in blessing and praise. Nor does it say, “His\nattributes or his perfections are a refuge.” It drops the gifts, and leads\nthe soul up to the Giver, as though God’s own gifts and mercies were not\nsufficient, but that the immortal soul must have the immortal God, and the\nnever-dying spirit is only safe in the bosom of an eternal Jehovah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John\n6:37 All that the Father giveth me\nshall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt.\n16:17 And Jesus answered and said\nunto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not\nrevealed it<\/em> unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C.H.Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n No lips can communicate the love of Christ to another\u2014until Jesus\nHimself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and bland\u2014unless the\nHoly Spirit fills them with life and power. Until our Immanuel reveals Himself\nwithin\u2014the soul cannot truly see Him. If you would see the sun\u2014the sun must\nreveal itself, and only by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is\njust so with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Purify your heart by any educational process you may select;\nelevate your mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power\u2014yet\nthis can never reveal Christ to your soul. The Spirit of God must come with\npower\u2014and then in that mystic holy of holies\u2014the Lord Jesus will display\nHimself to the sanctified eye\u2014as He does not unto blind unbelievers. Christ\nmust be His own mirror!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great mass of this bleary-eyed world can see nothing of the\nineffable glories of Immanuel. He stands before them . . . Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with celestial\neye-salve<\/em>, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated the soul to a\nheavenly taste\u2014only then is Jesus truly understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “To you who believe\u2014He is precious!” To you, He is the\nchief corner-stone, the Rock of your salvation, your all in all; but to others\nHe is “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” Happy are those\nto whom our Lord manifests Himself, for His promise to such, is that He will\nmake His abode with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O Jesus, show Yourself to me now! Favor me with a glimpse of Your\nall-conquering charms!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it; That\nHe might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,\nor any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”<\/em> Ephesians\n5:25, 27<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are we ourselves as viewed by our own eyes? Full of spots,\nwrinkles, and blemishes!<\/em> And what do we see in ourselves\nevery day, but sin and filth and folly?<\/em> What evil is there in\nthe world that is not in us, and in our hearts? It is true others cannot read\nour hearts. But we read them\u2014yes, we are every day, and sometimes all the day\nreading them. And what do we read there? Like Ezekiel’s scroll, it is\n“written within and without”\u2014and we may well add, if we rightly read\nwhat is there written, we have every reason to say it is “full of\nlamentations, and mourning, and woe.” For I am sure that there is nothing\nthat we see there every day and every hour, but would cover us with shame and\nconfusion of face, and make us blush to lift up our eyes before God, or almost\nto appear in the presence of our fellow man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But neither others, nor we ourselves, now see what the church one\nday will be, and what she ever was in the eyes of Jesus! He could look through\nall the sins and sorrows of this intermediate period, and fix His eye upon the\nbridal day\u2014the day when before assembled angels, in the courts of heaven, in\nthe realms of eternal bliss, He would present her to Himself a glorious\nchurch, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish<\/strong>, but holy,\nand without fault. O what a day will that be,<\/em> when the Son of\nGod shall openly wed His espoused bride\u2014when there shall be heard in heaven,\n“as the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and\nas the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God\nomnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the\nmarriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”\nRevelation 19:6, 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Man cannot be saved by perfect obedience, for he cannot render it; he cannot be saved by imperfect obedience, for God will not accept it” – C.H. Spurgeon The Hope of a believer is not some long drawn-out theological statement. The hope of a believer can be summed up in two words, Jesus Christ. […]<\/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-6206","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\/6206","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=6206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6207,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions\/6207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nwithout beauty or loveliness,
\na root out of a dry ground,
\nrejected by the vain, and
\ndespised by the proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n