{"id":6340,"date":"2022-11-17T09:57:41","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T09:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6340"},"modified":"2022-11-17T09:57:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T09:57:41","slug":"poor-naked-penniless-worthless-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6340","title":{"rendered":"Poor, naked, penniless, worthless?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Poor<\/strong>,<\/strong> naked<\/strong>,<\/strong> penniless<\/strong>,<\/strong> worthless?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius Winslow, \u201cMorning Thoughts\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you, a time is coming and
 now is when the dead shall hear<\/strong> the voice
 of the Son of God and those that hear will live.\u201d
        John 5:25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the special<\/strong>, direct<\/strong>, and effectual<\/strong> call<\/strong> of
the Spirit, in the elect of God, without which all
other calling is in vain.  The Spirit effectually
works in the soul with an inward, supernatural,<\/strong>
secret power<\/strong>. There is an energy put forth with
the call, which . . .
  awakens the conscience<\/strong>,
  breaks the heart<\/strong>,
  convinces the judgment<\/strong>,
  opens the eye of the soul<\/strong>, and
  pours a new and an alarming sound
    upon the hitherto deaf ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark the blessed effects<\/strong> . . .
  the scales fell from the eyes<\/strong>,
  the veil is torn from the mind<\/strong>,
  the deep fountains of evil in the heart<\/strong> are broken up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sinner sees himself as . . .
  lost and undone
  without pardon,
  without a righteousness,
  without acceptance,
  without a God,
  without a Savior,
  without a hope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awful condition!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat shall I do to be saved?\u201d is his cry! \u201cI am
a wretch undone! I look within<\/strong> me, all is dark
and vile; I look around<\/strong> me, everything seems
but the image of my woe; I look above<\/strong> me, I
see only an angry God. Whichever way I look,<\/strong>
is hell! <\/strong>And were God now to send me there,
just and right would He be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, blessed be God, no poor soul that ever
uttered such language, prompted by such
feelings, ever died in despair! That faithful
Spirit who begins the good work, effectually
carries it on, and completes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presently He leads him to the cross<\/strong> of Jesus
and unveils to his glimmering eye of faith a . . .
  suffering,<\/strong>
  wounded,<\/strong>
  bleeding,<\/strong>
  dying Saviour;<\/strong>
and yet a Saviour with outstretched arms!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Saviour speaks; oh, did ever music sound
so melodious? \u201cAll this I do for you . . .
  this cross<\/strong> for you,
  these sufferings<\/strong> for you,
  this blood<\/strong> for you,
  these stretched out arms<\/strong> for you.
Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Look
unto Me, and be saved!
Are you lost? <\/strong>I can save you!
Are you guilty?<\/strong> I can cleanse you!
Are you poor? <\/strong>I can enrich you!
Are you sunk <\/strong>low? I can raise you!
Are you naked?<\/strong> I can clothe you!
Have you nothing<\/strong> to bring with you?
  No price?<\/strong>
  No money?<\/strong>
  No goodness?<\/strong>
  No merit?<\/strong>
I can and will take you to Me, just as you are . . .
  poor<\/strong>,
  naked<\/strong>,
  penniless<\/strong>,
  worthless<\/strong>;
for such I came to seek,
for such I came to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLord, I believe,\u201d exclaims the poor convinced soul!
You are just the Savior that I need. I needed one
that could and would save me . . .
  with all my vileness<\/strong>,
  with all my rags<\/strong>,
  with all my poverty<\/strong>.
I needed one that would . . .
  save me fully<\/strong>,
  save me freely<\/strong>,
save me as an act of mere unmerited, undeserved<\/strong>
grace! <\/strong>I have found Him whom my soul loves! and
will be His through time, and His through eternity!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus effectually<\/strong> does the blessed Spirit call<\/strong> a sinner,
by His especial, invincible, and supernatural power<\/strong>,
out of darkness into marvelous light!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tell you the truth, a time is coming and has
 now come when the dead will hear the voice of
 the Son of God and those who hear will live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poor, naked, penniless, worthless? (Octavius Winslow, \u201cMorning Thoughts\u201d) \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you, a time is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those that hear will live.\u201d        John 5:25 There is the special, direct, and effectual call ofthe Spirit, in the elect of God, without which allother calling is in vain.  The Spirit effectuallyworks in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-octavius-winslow","category-total-depravity","category-rewards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340","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=6340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6341,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340\/revisions\/6341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}