THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGrow in grace and in\nthe knowledge of our Lord and Savior\u201d (II Peter 3:18). This is an\nimperative. This is a command to grow in grace and with the command of\nGod also comes the ability! In the coming year, by grace, we want to grow\nin grace. We want to grow in our need of grace, love of His grace,\nunderstanding of grace, and graciousness. We want to grow in the\nbeatitudes; grow in poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and\nthirsting for righteousness! We want to grow in being pure in heart,\nbeing merciful, a peacemaker and being persecuted for righteousness. We\nwant to grow in our love to the Savior, love to our brethren, and love to all\nmen. We want to grow in the fruit of the Spirit. We want to grown\nin humility, generosity, and zeal for His glory. We want to grow in\nbeing approachable and non-judgmental. We want to grow in being a\nfriend. We want to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior and our\nability to preach Him in simplicity and clarity. Since this is all a part\nof growth in grace, none of us should despair of this but be encouraged. \nBy grace may this new year be a year of growth for us all. Happy New\nYear! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Todd Nibert<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The voice from the cross did not summon men to do, but to be\nsatisfied<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with what was done, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d The sacrifice of the Lord\nJesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christ is the only perfect thing which has ever been presented\nto God<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on man\u2019s behalf. \u201cIt shall be perfect to be accepted, there\nshall be no<\/p>\n\n\n\n
blemish therein\u201d Lev. 22:21. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott Richardson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who Gets the Glory?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you wish to know if the\ngospel you are hearing preached is the gospel of God, ask yourself this\nquestion, \u201cWho gets the glory?\u201d If you wish to know whether your religious\nexperience is of the flesh or of the Lord, ask yourself the same thing, \u201cWho\ngets the glory?\u201d Also, examine all your gifts, works, and missionary efforts by\nthe same rule, \u201cWho gets the glory?\u201d God will not share His glory! That which\nis of God, from God, and for God’s glory will be blessed with His presence and\npower \u201cthat no flesh should glory in His presence. … that, according as it is\nwritten, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:29,\n31). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Henry Mahan<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMake His glory thy aim, and\nthy happiness will be His glory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n~Robert Hawker<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of Christ’s condemnation\u2014flows our justification! Christ is not sweet\u2014until sin is made bitter to us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Flavel (1628-1691)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now then, there is but one\nthing with which Almighty God is satisfied \u2013 entirely satisfied \u2013 and that is\nTHE PERSON AND WORK OF HIS SON! It is with Christ that we must be\nsatisfied, not with ourselves, nor anything about us! When we cease from\nALL our labors, and ALL our righteousness, and ENTER INTO HIS REST, pardon and\npeace will come without delay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n \n~Horatius Bonar 1808-1889<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t Eat the Blood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did God forbid His\npeople from eating blood? (Lev. 17:10-11, Acts 15:20). The precious blood of\nChrist shed on Calvary\u2019s Cross was not an offering made to man. God was doing\nbusiness with God. Christ offered Himself without spot TO<\/strong> God.\n(Heb. 9:14). He entered into heaven and sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat\nnot made with hands, obtaining eternal redemption for His people. (Heb. 9). The\nblood, as an atoning sacrifice, is not for us. It is for God<\/strong>. To\nbelieve that the death of Christ is an offering God is making to man, to be\naccepted or rejected by his free will, is to eat the blood. God\u2019s judgment to\nman for eating blood is to be \u201ccut off\u201d. God said, \u201cwhen I<\/strong> see\nthe blood, I will pass over you.\u201d (Ex. 12:13). God saw the travail of Christ\u2019s\nsoul and was satisfied. (Is. 53:11). Saving faith is not \u201capplying the blood\u201d.\nThat\u2019s already been done. Saving faith is being satisfied with that which God\nis satisfied, the atoning sacrifice Christ made of His precious blood to\nGod. \n \n Greg Elmquist<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no\nmore; death hath no more dominion over him.” Romans 6:9<\/strong> The resurrection of Christ was the consummation of His glorious\nvictory. Until this moment, the Redeemer had all the appearance of one\nvanquished in the great fight. He was left slain upon the battle-field. Indeed\nit would appear that He had really endured a momentary defeat. He was now under\nthe dominion of death; and as death was the consequence and penalty of sin, so\nlong as He was subject to its power, He still lay beneath the sins of His\npeople. Cancelled although they were by the blood He had just shed, the great\nevidence of their remission did not and could not transpire until the\nresurrection had passed. What gloom now enshrouded the church of God! The Sun\nof Righteousness was setting in darkness and in blood; and with it was\ndescending into the tomb, the hopes of patriarchs and prophets, of seers and\napostles. The “king of terrors” had laid low his illustrious victim;\nand the cold earth had closed upon His sacred body, mangled and lifeless. Oh,\nwhat a victory did hell and sin, death and the grave, now seem to have\nachieved! But the “triumphing of the wicked is short.” In three days\nthe tomb, at the mighty fiat of Jehovah, unveiled its bosom, and yielded back\nits Creator and Lord. The Sun of Righteousness ascended again in cloudless\nglory and peerless majesty, to set no more forever. The church of God, now\n“begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ\nfrom the dead,” arose from the dust, and put on her beautiful garments.\nNow was the scene changed. His enemies, no longer wearing even the semblance of\nvictory, were overthrown and vanquished. Hell was disappointed, and its gates\nforever closed against the redeemed. Sin was thrown to an infinite distance,\nand “death had no more dominion over him, God having loosed its pains, because\nit was not possible that He should be holden of it.” He rose a mighty and\nan illustrious Conqueror. And all this conquest, let it not be forgotten, was\nachieved in behalf of a chosen and a beloved people. It was our battle that He\nfought, it was our victory that He won. Therefore, called though we are to\n“wrestle against principalities and against powers,” and exhorted\nthough we are to “take unto us the whole armor of God,” we are yet\nconfronted with enemies already vanquished. It would seem as though we were\nsummoned, not so much to go out upon the field of battle, as upon the field of\nconquest; not so much to combat with the foe, as to gather up the spoils of\nvictory. For what is every successful conflict with our spiritual adversaries\u2014what\nis every corruption mortified\u2014what is every temptation resisted\u2014what is every\nsin overcome\u2014but a showing forth the great victory already won by the Captain\nof our salvation? Every triumph of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a regenerate\nman is a display of the triumph of Him who, in hanging on the cross, and in\nrising from the grave, “spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show\nof them openly, triumphing over them in it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n WAS CHRIST A SINNER?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was Christ a sinner? For many years misguided\npeople have loved to debate this question. The answer is absolutely\nnot! Here is a more important question. Was the sin of God\u2019s elect\nliterally transferred to Christ? The answer is absolutely!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know that no mortal man can fully understand\nthe imputation of sin to Christ or the imputation of righteousness to God\u2019s\nelect. That is just fine because our belief in substitution is not based\nupon what we can understand or logically explain. Our faith is based upon\nthe Word of God. It doesn\u2019t matter if I can understand something. \nThe only thing that matters is what does the Word of God say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no doubt that the Word of God teaches\nthat the sin of God\u2019s elect was literally transferred to Christ. The Word of\nGod says Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin (I Cor. 5:21). The Word of\nGod says Christ redeemed His people from the curse of the law by being made a\ncurse for them (Gal 3:13). Sin was so literally transferred to Christ\nthat in Psalm 40:12 the Savior called the sin of His people \u201cmine iniquities\u201d.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinners like us desperately need to be made\nrighteous. Our only hope of being made righteous is Christ being made sin for\nus. The imputation of righteousness to God\u2019s elect is only as real as the\nimputation of sin to Christ. I can only be made truly righteous if Christ truly\ntook my sin and put it away with the blood of His sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This glorious truth cannot be understood by\nworms like us. It can only be believed by God given faith. God give\nus faith to quit debating and start believing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank Tate<\/p>\n\n\n\n All glory to the gospel of Free Grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Henry Law, “The Raven” 1869)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ is<\/strong> the sum and substance of the Bible!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n chosen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n sent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n anointed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n accepted of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ wondrous in His person<\/strong>, the mighty<\/p>\n\n\n\n God, therefore infinitely glorious to save.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ loving<\/strong> from everlasting to<\/p>\n\n\n\n everlasting, with love knowing . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n no origin,<\/p>\n\n\n\n no end,<\/p>\n\n\n\n no intermission,<\/p>\n\n\n\n no degrees;<\/p>\n\n\n\n with love always . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n unchangeably the same,<\/p>\n\n\n\n perfect,<\/p>\n\n\n\n pure,<\/p>\n\n\n\n intense,<\/p>\n\n\n\n enduring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ hanging on the accursed tree, laying<\/p>\n\n\n\n down His life a sufficient ransom price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ by His death<\/strong> . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n closing the gates of hell,<\/p>\n\n\n\n quenching God’s fiery wrath,<\/p>\n\n\n\n paying all demands,<\/p>\n\n\n\n satisfying every claim,<\/p>\n\n\n\n glorifying every attribute,<\/p>\n\n\n\n washing out each crimson stain of all His ransomed flock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ gloriously fulfilling every iota of the glorious<\/p>\n\n\n\n Law, saying to each command, ‘I fully have obeyed’;<\/p>\n\n\n\n and then transferring the vicarious obedience, as<\/p>\n\n\n\n divine righteousness, to His bride the Church, as<\/p>\n\n\n\n her robe for heaven; her luster in the courts above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ purchasing the Holy Spirit<\/strong>, and sending<\/p>\n\n\n\n Him to bless the Church with all His powers . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n to teach,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to sanctify,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to comfort,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to adorn,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to beautify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ rising <\/strong>from the grave, a proof that God is<\/p>\n\n\n\n satisfied, and all redemption fully earned; a pledge<\/p>\n\n\n\n that the ransomed in their turn shall put on the<\/p>\n\n\n\n beauties of a resurrection body, worthy of a<\/p>\n\n\n\n resurrection state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ ascending<\/strong> . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n to the right hand of the Majesty on high;<\/p>\n\n\n\n representing all His people in Himself;<\/p>\n\n\n\n bearing their names upon His heart;<\/p>\n\n\n\n receiving all gifts for them;<\/p>\n\n\n\n pouring down all blessings on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ coming<\/strong> . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n to institute a glorious reign,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to change the living,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to raise the dead,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to execute eternal judgment,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to fill all heaven with glory,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to awaken the eternal song of never ending hallelujahs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n O my soul, what a flood of tidings of great joy!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All things are yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things present!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things to come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All are yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All glory to the gospel of Free Grace!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR \u201cGrow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior\u201d (II Peter 3:18). This is an imperative. This is a command to grow in grace and with the command of God also comes the ability! In the coming year, by grace, we […]<\/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-6513","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\/6513","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=6513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6514,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions\/6514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOut of His agony\u2014comes our victory!
\nOut of His pain\u2014comes our ease!
\nOut of His stripes\u2014comes our healing!
\nOut of His gall and vinegar\u2014comes our honey!
\nOut of His curse\u2014comes our blessing!
\nOut of His crown of thorns\u2014comes our crown of glory!
\nOut of His death\u2014comes our life!
\nO what a melting consideration is this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\nOctavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n