{"id":6360,"date":"2022-12-06T06:45:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T06:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6360"},"modified":"2022-12-06T06:45:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T06:45:54","slug":"bulletin-edition-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6360","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition December 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\ngreatest liar, thief, adulterer and murderer<\/strong>
\n
\n(Martin Luther)
\n
\n“<\/strong>For\nhe hath made him to be<\/em> sin for us, who knew no sin; that we\nmight be made the righteousness of God in him.<\/strong>“<\/strong> 2 Corinthians 5:21
\n
\nJesus became the\ngreatest liar, thief, adulterer and murderer<\/strong>
\nthat mankind has ever known–not because He committed these
\nsins–but because He was actually made sin for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If my pocket was full of\nstones!<\/strong>
\n
\n(Letters of John Newton<\/a>)
\n
\nJohn 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was\ntaken in adultery, in the very act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 8:5 Now Moses in the\nlaw commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nIf my pocket was full of stones<\/strong>, I\nhave no right to throw one at the greatest sinner upon earth. I have either\ndone as bad, or worse than he \u2014 or I certainly would have done so, if the Lord\nhad left me to myself \u2014 for I am made of just the same materials. If there is\nany difference between myself and the greatest wretch \u2014 it is wholly of\nsovereign grace!
\n
\n“But by the grace of God I am what I am!” 1\nCorinthians 15:10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not satisfied with anything that has my fingerprints on\nit.  I can only find satisfaction in that which God finds satisfaction in.\n \u201cHe shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied.\u201d  God is\ncompletely satisfied with the work of His Son.  He is perfectly satisfied\nwith all for whom Christ died!  Christ is satisfied with what He did in\ntheir behalf.  That is why He sat down at the right hand of God.  He\nleft nothing undone!  The Spirit is satisfied with the work of the Son.  \u201cBy\none offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof also\nthe Holy Ghost is a witness to us.\u201d  If the Father, Son, and Spirit are\ncompletely satisfied with what Christ did, I am too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Todd Nibert<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heart of God’s child<\/strong>
\n
\n(J. C. Philpot<\/a>, “The Heir of Heaven\nWalking in
\nDarkness, and the Heir of Hell Walking in Light”)
\n
\nThere is much . . .<\/strong>
\n  presumption,
\n  pride,
\n  hypocrisy,
\n  deceit,
\n  delusion,
\n  formality,
\n  superstition and
\n  self-righteousness
\nto be purged out of the heart of God’s\nchild<\/strong>.
\n
\nBut all these things . . .<\/strong>
\n  keep him low,
\n  mar his pride,
\n  crush his self-righteousness,
\n  cut the locks of his presumption,
\n  stain his self conceit,
\n  stop his boasting,
\n  preserve him from despising others,
\n  make him take the lowest room,
\n  teach him to esteem others better than himself,
\n  drive him to earnest prayer,
\n  fit him as an object of mercy,
\n  break to pieces his free will, and
\nlay him low at the feet of the Redeemer, as
\none to be saved by sovereign grace alone!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love covers, overlooks,\nspeedily forgives and forgets<\/strong>
\n
\n(Don Fortner)
\n
\n“Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins.” Proverbs\n10:12
\n
\nHatred<\/strong> is the selfish principle of an unregenerate man. It may be\nvarnished by religion and smoothed by hypocrisy, but it is a subterranean\nstorm, continually stirring up mischief and evil. Hatred creates or keeps alive\ncarnal strifes. It causes coldness. It creates disharmony. It stirs up envy,\nmalicious talk, and evil suspicions. Hatred carps at the least infirmity in\nothers, and aggravates the least fault. Hatred resents the most trifling\noffence. It is provoked by the least imaginary wrong. ‘An ungodly man digs up\nevil.’ Such strifes are kindled to the great dishonour of God. They mar the\nbeauty of the gospel. Let us resist this evil of the old man by watchfulness\nand prayer ‘and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God’.
\n
\nLove<\/strong> is the fruit of the Spirit. It covers a multitude of evils.\nLet us study 1 Corinthians 13 in all its detail, and make it the pattern for\nour lives. Let this be the mirror of our hearts and the standard of our\nprofession. Love covers, overlooks,\nspeedily forgives and forgets<\/strong>. Love invents reasons to avoid\nstrife. Love puts the best possible construction on doubtful matters. Love\nseeks unity and agreement. Love does not rigidly examine a brother’s failures.\nIt will not deliberately expose a brother’s faults. It refuses to uncover the\nsins of another.
\n
\nTo refrain from gross slander, while leaving room for needless and unkind\ndoubt, is not covering sin. Nor is the ‘seven-times forgiveness’ the true\nstandard of love. Love, like its divine Author, covers ALL sins.
\n
\n<\/em>Who among us does not need the full extent of this covering? What is our\nbrother’s evil against us<\/em>, compared with our sin against God?<\/em> Can\nwe hesitate to blot out our brother’s few dollars, who look for a covering for\nour debt of ten million dollars to God? Let us imitate Christ’s spirit of forbearing,\nforgiving, self-sacrificing love!
\n
\n“Be ye kind to one another and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even\nas God for Christ\u2019s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32
\n
\nAnd above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall\ncover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wonderful medicine!<\/strong>
\n
\n<\/strong>(Letters of J. C. Philpot<\/a>)
\n
\n\u201cwho forgiveth all thine iniquities;
\nwho healeth all thy diseases\u201d Psalm\n103:3
\n
\nWhat a mass of . . .
\n  filth and folly,
\n  blindness and ignorance,
\n  deceit and hypocrisy,
\n  carnality, sensuality, and devilism are we!
\n
\nProne to all that is bad, utterly averse to all
\nthat is good–bent upon sin–hating holiness,
\nheavenly-mindedness, and spirituality–what
\nearthly wretches, guilty monsters, abominable
\ncreature are we!
\n
\nAnd if our minds are sometimes drawn upwards
\nin faith and affection, and we pant after the living
\nGod–how soon, how almost instantly, do we drop
\ndown again into our earthly self<\/em>, whence we are
\nutterly unable to rise until the Blessed Spirit lifts
\nus out again! What fits of unbelief, shakings of
\ninfidelity, fevers of lust, agues of carelessness,
\nconsumptions of faith, hope, love and zeal; yes,
\nwhat a host of diseases dwell in our poor soul!
\n
\nBut they all admit of a twofold cure–that\nwonderful<\/strong>
\nmedicine<\/strong> which John saw run from\nthe wounded side
\nof the Redeemer–blood and water; the one to heal,
\nthe other to wash; the one to atone, the other to
\ncleanse; justification by blood, and sanctification
\nby the washing of regeneration and renewing of the
\nHoly Spirit.
\n
\n“but if we walk in the light, as he is in\nthe light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ\nhis Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
\n    1 John 1:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mere notional knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The distinction that we are drawing between a gracious\nknowledge<\/strong> of the truth\u2014and a mere notional knowledge<\/strong> is\nplain enough to every discerning child of God. He carries daily in his own\nbosom a test which discovers to him the difference between the knowledge which\npuffs up\u2014and the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom he has\nsent, which is eternal life. He deeply feels that “the anointing which teaches\nof all things and is truth, and is no lie,” widely differs from a few\nspeculative notions; and that the heavenly wisdom which is “first pure,\nthen peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good\nfruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy,” as far exceeds a natural,\nnotional knowledge of the truth<\/strong> as the reality exceeds the\ncounterfeit, and precious metal worthless dross and clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one, he sees and feels, is grace, the other nature; one is\nspirit, the other flesh; one is power, the other form; one is light, life,\nliberty, and love; the other darkness, death, bondage, and enmity; by the one\nJesus is revealed and made experimentally known, the kingdom of God set up in\nthe heart, and Christ formed within, the hope of glory; by the other, pride and\nself are set up, the flesh pleased and gratified, and a name to live\nsubstituted for the work of faith with power. By the one, sin is repented of\nand forsaken; the world put under the feet; and every fruit and grace of the\nSpirit brought forth into living and active exercise. By the other, the heart\nis deceived; the conscience hardened; sin indulged; the strong man armed kept\nin possession of his palace; the flesh gratified; and the world loved and\neagerly pursued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the one, the saints of God are highly esteemed and dearly\nloved\u2014their company sought after, their trials and afflictions sympathised\nwith, their infirmities borne with, and they esteemed the excellent of the\nearth, with whom we wish to live and die. By the other, the real people of God\nare despised and hated, their company avoided, their experience misunderstood\nor misrepresented, and the heady, high-minded, dead, and lifeless professors\npreferred before them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need we say more? Who that has eyes to see the state of the\nprofessing church, or is favoured with any spiritual discernment to distinguish\nbetween the living family of God and those who have a name to live but are\ndead, will not say that these things are true<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point at which we have been aiming is to show the blessedness of\nthat spirit of wisdom and knowledge which the Lord bestows on his people and to\ndistinguish it from that mere speculative, natural, and notional acquaintance\nwith the truth, which is commonly called head knowledge. Now, this heavenly\nprinciple, this gracious, enlightened apprehension of the spiritual\nunderstanding, needs to be fed and nurtured that it may not gradually pine away\nfor lack of suitable nourishment, but rather thrive and grow. Various, indeed,\nare the ways which the Lord employs to strengthen and sustain this heavenly\nprinciple, such as temptation, trials, afflictions, a daily cross, and a\ncontinual conflict. But his chief means, and that to which all others are but\nsubordinate, is the word of truth. The promises applied with a divine power to\nthe heart; the invitations and exhortations scattered up and down the sacred\npage; the grand and glorious truths of the everlasting gospel, shining like so\nmany brilliant constellations in the skies of the inspired record; the\ntestimony everywhere given in the Scriptures to the Person and work of the Son\nof God, from the first promise in Eden to the closing prayer, “Even so\ncome Lord Jesus;” (Rev. 22:20;) the opening up of the word of truth by the\nlight, life, and power of the Holy Spirit; and the sealing evidence afforded\nthereby that these are the true sayings of God\u2014such is the food of that\nheavenly understanding which the Lord bestows on his people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cWho did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” <\/em>1 Peter\n2:22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purer than the purest crystal, more transparent than the brightest\nsun, was the character of Jesus. It needed but the visual organ purged from the\nblinding and distorting effects of sin to have looked into the deepest recesses\nof His heart, to have seen every pulse, to have read every thought, and to have\nfathomed every purpose of His soul–so open, transparent, and childlike was He.\nHis foes sought with deception to ensnare Him, but He was too innocent to be\nensnared. The moral atmosphere of His being was too pure and translucid for\ntheir wicked purposes to find a single fault. They could fix no thought, excite\nno passion, rouse no imagination within His breast that would have left a taint\nor a cloud upon that pure, bright spirit of His. What He declared of Satan\ncould with equal truth have been affirmed of ungodly men–“The prince\nof this world comes, and has nothing in me.” <\/em>They found no evil\nin Him upon which their own sinfulness could work. Wickedness could not for a\nmoment exist in an atmosphere so holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the integrity and honesty of Jesus as the fulfilment\nof a prophecy: “Neither was any deceit in His mouth” <\/em>(Isa.\n53:9). Ponder carefully, my soul, every fulfilment of prophecy concerning your\nprecious Jesus. 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.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The greatest liar, thief, adulterer and murderer (Martin Luther) “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.“ 2 Corinthians 5:21 Jesus became the greatest liar, thief, adulterer and murderer that mankind has ever known–not because He committed these sins–but because He was […]<\/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-6360","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\/6360","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=6360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6361,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6360\/revisions\/6361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}