{"id":6394,"date":"2023-01-23T02:48:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T02:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6394"},"modified":"2023-02-17T21:07:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T21:07:31","slug":"bulletin-edition-january-2022-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6394","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition January 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I CAN\u2019T MESS IT UP!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dear friend was talking about how blessed the gospel of\nChrist’s grace was.  I can’t remember all the details we talked\nabout.  I suppose we talked about electing love and redeeming grace and\nhow the Lord in tender mercy called us out of darkness with a call we could not\nresist, and has kept us till that very day, and refused to let us go. \nWhen saints get to talking about spiritual things they often talk about such\nsubjects as these.  When our discussion was almost over, my dear friend put\nthe icing on the cake, as it were.  “And the best thing about this\ngospel,” he said, “I can’t mess it up!”  Jesus has finished\nthe work, it is already done, so, “I can’t mess it up.”  I am in\nChrist accepted and complete, and sealed unto the day of redemption; in Christ\nnow and in Christ forever so, “I can’t mess it up.”  I feel like\nI have messed up everything else but, thanks be unto God I can’t mess this\nup.  I can’t mess this up.  It is un-messed-up-able.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce Crabtree<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will all end in mercy!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Smith, “It Will All End in Mercy!” 1856<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We know that God causes everything to work together for\nthe good of those who love God, and are called according to His purpose!”\nRomans 8:28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are a sincere believer in Jesus, whatever may be your\npresent difficult circumstances, however trying, however perplexing: “It\nwill all end in mercy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may not think so now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be writing bitter things against yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be misinterpreting the designs of God’s providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be doubting the precious promises of God’s holy Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But notwithstanding your mistakes, your doubts, your fears, your\nfalse conclusions–“It will all end in mercy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You do not think so; nor did Jacob once, nor did Joseph once,\nnor did Job once–nor did thousands once, who are now in glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were mistaken, and so are you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They judged by appearances, and so do you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They changed their minds, and so will you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All your troubles are appointed in infinite love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  They are all weighed out by sovereign goodness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They are all limited by perfect wisdom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There is no ‘chance’ in what happens to the\nChristian!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Everything is divinely arranged and\nappointed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheer up, my poor weary fellow-traveler! You will soon arrive at\nHome; and then you will see clearly and enjoy sweetly the blessed truth–that\nto the believer “all will end in mercy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take comfort, poor afflicted fellow-Christian! Your afflictions\nare God’s furnace, in which He is refining you! He is only fitting you to\noccupy a mansion in Heaven, and to sing the sweet and everlasting song–the\ntheme of which will be, “It all ended in mercy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear not, poor feeble, fickle, faltering follower of Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though your faith is weak,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

though your fears are strong,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

though your doubts are painful,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

though you conclude that your case is singular and your\ncondition hopeless;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“the year of release is at hand,” and then . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  your doubts will expire,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  your fears will flee away,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  your groans will be silenced,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  your feeble hopes will be realised,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  for “It will all end in mercy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brother, are you in poverty, under persecution, or in bodily\nsickness? Cheer up! Your light shall soon “break forth as the\nmorning!” Write it down in your memorandum book, or impress it upon your\nmemory. Or what is better still, pray the Holy Spirit to give you the sweet\ninward assurance of the fact that “It will all end in mercy.” For\n“we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those\nwho love God, and are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was listening to a man object to Romans 9:20, \u201cNay but O man,\nwho are you to reply against God.\u201d  I have heard that objection many\ntimes.  God is not giving a sufficient answer to, \u201cWhy does He yet find\nfault, for who has resisted His will.\u201d  Simply answering that question\nwith, \u201cWho are you to reply against God\u201d is not an answer but an authoritarian\nreply.  My answer to the man\u2019s objection was this.  There is one\ndifference between you and me that makes our response so different. I believe\nmyself to be a sinner who deserves to be damned.  You do not believe that\nabout yourself, therefore you believe God owes some kind of account to\nyou. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cA WORM, AND NO MAN\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 22:6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanging upon the cursed tree as our Substitute, our Saviour\ncried, \u201cI am a worm, and no man.\u201d Shall we for whom he suffered and died esteem\nourselves higher than he esteemed himself? Yet, we act more like snakes than\nworms. Strike at a snake and he will lift his angry head, hiss at you, and\nstrike back. Strike at a worm, and what does he do? Nothing. The worm is a\nhumble creature, without any inclination or ability to defend itself or attack\nanother. It is totally dependent upon its Creator. Its only defence is to\nretreat and take refuge. May God give us that spirit. It is the spirit of\nChrist. Let us, when attacked, retreat to and take refuge in him. He alone is\nour Rock, our Salvation, and our Defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The King in His beauty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty<\/strong>.”<\/em> Isaiah\n33:17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Where in heaven or on earth can there be found such a lovely\nObject as the Son of God? If you have never seen any beauty in Jesus you have\nnever seen Jesus\u2014He has never revealed Himself to you\u2014you never had a glimpse\nof His lovely face\u2014nor a sense of His presence\u2014nor a word from His lips\u2014nor a\ntouch from His hand. But if you have seen Him by the eye of faith\u2014and He has\nrevealed Himself to you even in a small measure\u2014you have seen a beauty in Him\nbeyond all other beauties, for it is a holy beauty, a divine beauty, the beauty\nof His heavenly grace, the beauty of His uncreated and eternal glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How beautiful and glorious does He show Himself to be in His\natoning blood and dying love. Even as sweating great drops of blood in\nGethsemane’s gloomy garden, and as hanging in torture and agony upon Calvary’s\ncross\u2014faith can see a beauty in the glorious Redeemer, even in the lowest\ndepths of ignominy and shame! How is your Beloved better than others? My\nBeloved is dark and dazzling, better than ten thousand others!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If therefore the Son makes you free<\/strong>, ye shall\nbe free <\/strong>indeed.”<\/em> John 8:36<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

To be made free<\/strong> implies a liberty from\nthe WORLD<\/em> and the spirit of covetousness in the heart. If we\nwere to follow into their shops some who talk much of ‘gospel liberty,’ we\nmight find that the world’s fetter had not been struck off their heart\u2014that\nthey had a ‘golden’ chain, though invisible to their own eyes, very closely\nwrapped round their heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is a being made free<\/strong> from the power\nof SIN<\/em>. I greatly fear, if we could follow into their holes and\ncorners, and secret chambers, many who prattle about gospel liberty, we would\nfind that sin had not yet lost its hold upon them, that there was some secret\nor open sin that entangled them, that there was some lust\u2014some passion\u2014some\nevil temper\u2014some wretched pride or other\u2014that wound its fetters very close\nround their heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And also there is a being made free<\/strong> from SELF<\/em>\u2014proud\nself, presumptuous self, self-exalting self, flesh-pleasing self, hypocritical\nself\u2014self in all its various shapes and turns\u2014self in all its crooked hypocrisy\nand windings. If the Son sets you free, you will be freeindeed!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way to escape from the power of sin!
\n
\n<\/strong>(Charles Spurgeon<\/a>,\n“The Way” #942)
\n
\nThe great object of a penitent soul is to get away from the tyranny and slavery\nof evil habits and of corrupt desires.
\n
\nThe saints in glory overcame through the blood of the Lamb\u2014and there is no\nother way of overcoming. The precious blood of atonement wherever sprinkled,\nkills sin; and he who lives in the full belief of it will be purified from\nsinful habits.
\n
\nIt is living under a sense of divine love as manifest in Christ; it is living\nwith the full conviction of pardon through the blood, which brings to us\nfreedom from the reigning power of sin.
\n
\nThere is no way to get the likeness of Christ, except by learning of His love.\nYou imitate Christ, and so become like Him. You commune with Christ\u2014and as you\ntalk with Him, His character sacredly operates upon yourself, and you are\nchanged from glory to glory, as by the image of the Lord.
\n
\nChrist is the way to escape from the power of sin! <\/strong>The moment\nwe forget Christ, and then seek after personal sanctification\u2014we are trying to\nget to our journey’s end by declining to tread the road to it.
\n
\nIt is impossible to grow in grace, except by abiding evermore at the foot of\nthe cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He redeemed me! He redeemed me! He redeemed me!<\/strong>
\n
\n(The Preacher’s Book<\/a>, 1885) Author unknown
\nThe tears of a slave girl<\/em> just going to be put up for\nsale, drew the notice of a gentleman as he passed through the auction mart of a\nsouthern slave state. The other slaves of the same group, standing in a line,\nfor sale like herself, did not seem to care about it \u2014 while each knock of the\nhammer made her shiver.
\n
\nThe gentleman stopped to ask why she wept, and was told that the others were\nused to such things, and might even be glad for a change from a hard, harsh\nmaster \u2014 but that she had been brought up with much kindness by a good owner,\nand she was terrified to think who might buy her.
\n
\n“What is her price?” <\/em>the stranger asked. He stood a\nmoment in deep thought when he heard the greatness of the ransom, but paid it\nnevertheless.
\n
\nBut no joy came to the poor slave girl’s face when he told her that she was\nfree. She had been born a slave, and knew not what freedom meant. Her tears\nfell fast on the signed parchment which her deliverer brought to prove it to\nher. She only looked at him with fear. At last he prepared to go on his way, and\nas he told her what she must do when he was gone, it began to dawn on her what\nfreedom was.
\n
\nWith sudden joy, she cried out, “I will follow him! I will serve\nhim all my days!”<\/em> And to every reason urged against it, she only\ncried, “He redeemed me! He redeemed me! He redeemed me!<\/strong>“
\n
\nWhen strangers afterwards visited that master’s house, and noticed, as all did,\nthe loving, constant service of the glad-hearted girl, and asked why she was so\neager with unbidden service night and day \u2014 she had but one answer, and she\nloved to give it: “He redeemed me! He redeemed me!”
\n
\nSo may it be with us. When any note the joy <\/em>in our looks,\nthe love <\/em>in our voice, the freedom <\/em>of our\nservice \u2014 we have but one answer, “He redeemed me!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 126<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration from captivity is the Lord’s gracious work. In due\ntime the sorrow of the righteous shall be swallowed up in joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. “When the Lord turned again the captivity of\nZion, we were like them who dream.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the days of Babylonish bondage were fully run, what transports\nof joy thrilled through Israel’s sons! Their minds were almost bewildered by\nthe grand event. The good tidings seemed almost as the mocking of an illusive\nvision of the night. So when deliverance from Satan’s yoke is realized, what\nfloods of delight overpower the soul! We were born captives in the devil’s\nprison-house, his shackles held us tightly bound. We were slaves toiling under\na cruel tyrant. But when Jesus comes and grants liberty we awake to a new world\nof happiness. We breathe the air of freedom. We exult with joy unspeakable and\nfull of glory. We are tempted to exclaim, “Can this be real?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and\nour tongue with singing; then said they among the heathen, The Lord has done\ngreat things for them.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their homeward march was lively with exuberant thanksgiving. The\nvoice of pious melody was heard around. The heathen beheld the marvelous\nreturn. At once they exclaimed that One mightier than man had come forth for\ntheir rescue. May we ever ascribe our redemption to free grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. “The Lord has done great things for us, whereof\nwe are glad.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord, indeed, has done great things for us. Omnipotence has\nmightily come forth to save us from the grasp of Satan. Jesus, the incarnate\nGod, has grappled with our deadly foe. He has snatched us from his thraldom.\nThe great God brings salvation. Shall we not rejoice and sing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the\nstreams in the south.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the heat of summer burns, many torrents show dry channels.\nThe cattle, thirsting for refreshing waters, are mocked with empty beds. But\nwhen the rains return, their channels are again replenished, and gladness\nsmiles beside their banks. So when the days of banishment are passed, the\ncaptives move homeward with delight. May the Lord speedily bring this joy to\nthose who groan beneath Satan’s cruel yoke!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5-6. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He\nthat goes forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again\nwith rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An image from rustic life gives comfort. The husbandman in\nhopeful toil casts the seed into the furrows. Months pass and there is no sign\nof life. In due season spring returns. The fields again are clad with verdure.\nSummer glows with ripening rays. The harvest is gathered in amid full shouts of\njoy. So a long period of dreary waiting may depress the soul; but the promised\ndeliverance comes, and sorrow flees in shouts of fervent joy. May this be\nspeedily our glad experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry Law<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I CAN\u2019T MESS IT UP! A dear friend was talking about how blessed the gospel of Christ’s grace was.  I can’t remember all the details we talked about.  I suppose we talked about electing love and redeeming grace and how the Lord in tender mercy called us out of darkness with a call we could […]<\/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-6394","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\/6394","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=6394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6407,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions\/6407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}