{"id":6587,"date":"2024-04-17T22:59:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T22:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6587"},"modified":"2024-04-17T22:59:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T22:59:16","slug":"bulletin-edition-april-2024-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6587","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition April 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cHerein is\nOur Love made Perfect\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 John\n4:17<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHerein is our love made\nperfect.<\/em>\u201d Those words, as suggested by our translators in the margin of our\nBible, might be better translated, \u201cHerein is his love with us made perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \nJohn is not talking about us loving God perfectly or loving one another\nperfectly. Our love is anything but perfect love. John is talking to us about\nthe knowledge and revelation of God\u2019s perfect love for us in Christ in the\nsweet experience of his saving grace. He is here describing the \u201cgrace\nwherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \nGod\u2019s love toward us, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost in\nthe saving revelation of Christ, is made perfect in us when we are made to see\nand experience and enjoy the fulness, completion, and perfection of our\nsalvation in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \nGod\u2019s love is made perfect in us (1 John 4:12), it is brought to its end and\nfulfilment, when it is made known in us, when we are born of God and given\nfaith in Christ. Then it is that \u201cthe love of God is shed abroad in our\nhearts by the Holy Ghost<\/em>\u201d (Romans 5:1-5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

CHRIST MADE ALL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To God\u2019s elected sinners, saved by grace alone, the Lord Jesus\nChrist <\/p>\n\n\n\n

is always revealed as; the Sun that calls them from darkness\ninto His <\/p>\n\n\n\n

glorious light, the Fountain that washes them clean before His\nthrone, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Bread that satisfies their hunger, their singular source of\nLife, their <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace with God, their justification before His Holy throne, and\nall their <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I have not seen Christ Jesus as all of these, I have not been\nmade <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to see Him at all. For truly God makes Christ \u201call in all\u201d to\nHis sheep. Caleb Hickman <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If salvation depends upon our being or doing anything, we shall\ninevitably be lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank God, it does not; for the great fundamental principle of\nthe gospel is that Christ is all: man is nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a mixture of Christ and man—it is all of\nChrist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The peace of the gospel does not rest in part on Christ\u2019s work\nand in part on man\u2019s work; it rests wholly on Christ\u2019s work, because that work\nis perfect, perfect forever; and it renders all who put their trust in Him as\nperfect as Himself! Christ must either be a whole Savior or no Savior at\nall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moment a man says, \u201cExcept you be this or that, you cannot\nbe saved,\u201d he totally subverts the gospel; for in the gospel I find Christ\ncoming down to me, just as I am–a lost, guilty, self-destroyed sinner; and\ncoming, moreover, with a full remission of all my sins, and a full salvation\nfrom my lost estate, all perfectly wrought by Himself on the cross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

C. H. Mackintosh  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“WE\nLOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US”.<\/strong>              I\nJohn 4:19<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            We\nmay differ on many points. But in this one thing every true child of God is\nlike every other child of God-“We love him\u201d. We do not love him as we\ndesire. We do not love him as we know we should. We do not love him as we soon\nshall. But we do really love him. It is not possible for a man to experience\nthe grace of God in salvation and not love the God of all grace. It is not\npossible for a man to know the efficacy of Christ’s blood in his own soul and\nnot love his gracious Redeemer. It is not possible for a man to have his heart\nrenewed by the power of the Holy Spirit and not love the Spirit of life. In\nspite of our many weaknesses, sins, and failures, we do honestly and sincerely\nconfess, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know also that we would\nnever have loved him if he had not loved us first. The love of God for us\nprecedes our love for him. “He first loved us.” He loved us before we\nhad any desire to be loved by him. He loved us before we sought his grace. He\nloved us before we had any repentance or faith. He loved us before we had any\nbeing. He loved us eternally. Does he not say, I have loved the\nwith an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I called\nthee”? He chose us, redeemed us, and called us because he loved us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only does God’s love for\nus precede our love for God, but God’s love for us is the cause of our love for\nhim. “We love him, because he first loved us.” This heart of mine was\nso hard, this will was so stubborn, that I would never have loved the\nLord, if he had not intervened to conquer me with his love. In the midst of my\nsin and corruption, he passed by, and behold it was “the time of\nlove”. He revealed his great love for me in Christ. Beholding the\ncrucified Christ, dying in the place of sinners, the love of God conquered this\nrebel’s heart. Trusting Christ as my only Savior, I am compelled to love him,\nbecause he first loved me. And now I know that whatever I am, by the grace of\nGod, I am because he loved me. Tell me, my brother, Is it not so with\nyou?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n Eternal\n love!
\n <\/strong>
\n <\/em>-Spurgeon’s sermon, “Good Cheer for Christmas”<\/em>
\n
\n Every child of God is the object of eternal\n love<\/strong>–
\n love without beginning and without end.
\n This is one of the fat things full of marrow.
\n
\n Is it so, that I, a believer in Jesus, unworthy as I am,
\n am the object of the eternal love of God?
\n
\n What transport lies in that thought!
\n
\n Long before the Lord began to create the world, he had
\n thought of me.
\n Long before Adam fell or Christ was born,
\n and the angels sung their first choral over Bethlehem’s
\n miracle, the eye and the heart of God were towards his
\n elect people.
\n
\n He never began to love them, they were always
\n “a people near unto him.”
\n Is it not so written-“I have loved you with an\n everlasting
\n love, therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn you”?\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n The\n ocean of Divine love!<\/strong>
\n <\/em>(by Octavius Winslow)<\/em>
\n
\n The love of God to His people was as eternal
\n as the eternity of His being, as everlasting as
\n His uncreated nature. “I have loved you with
\n an everlasting love.” It panted, it yearned for
\n an outlet. It sought and found it in Christ.
\n
\n Nowhere in the heavens above, or in the
\n earth beneath, or in the waters under the
\n earth; no star, no flower, no creature, so
\n reveals, expresses, and embodies the love
\n of God as the gift of His dear Son to die
\n for our sins!
\n
\n Oh, what love is this!
\n
\n “God so loved the world!”
\n
\n So loved, that He gave Jesus!
\n
\n Jesus is the most precious exponent of God’s
\n love: Jesus descends from the bosom of His
\n love; Jesus draws aside the veil of His love;
\n Jesus is God’s love expressed, God’s love
\n incarnate, God’s love speaking, laboring,
\n dying, redeeming! Beyond this it would
\n seem impossible that love could go.
\n
\n Jesus is the channel through which the\n ocean
\n of Divine love<\/strong> washed the shores of this earth,
\n its soul healing waves spreading like a sea of
\n life over our sin tainted, curse blighted, sorrow
\n stricken humanity.
\n
\n Oh, let every affection of our heart, every
\n faculty of our soul, every power of our mind,
\n every action of our life, embody as its grateful
\n response the words of the adoring apostle,
\n “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!”\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n The\n decipherer…
\n <\/strong>
\n by Toplady<\/em>
\n
\n To unconverted persons, a great part of the Bible
\n resembles a letter written in ciphers.
\n
\n The blessed Spirit’s office is to act as God’s decipherer<\/strong>,
\n by letting His people into the secret of celestial
\n experience, as the key and clew to those sweet
\n mysteries of grace which were before as a garden
\n shut up, or as a fountain sealed, or as a book
\n written in an unknown character.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

His\nsecret power and influence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

“<\/strong> <\/sup><\/strong>No man can come to me, except the\nFather which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last\nday.” John 6:44
\n
\n“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying<\/em>,
\nYea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
\ntherefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

None can really come to Jesus by faith, unless this drawing power<\/strong> is put\nforth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holy Spirit\u2014that gracious and blessed Teacher, acts upon\nthe soul by His secret\npower and influence<\/strong>, puts ‘cords of love’ and ‘bands of mercy’\naround the heart, and by the attractive\ninfluence<\/strong> that He puts forth, draws<\/strong> the soul to Jesus’ feet; and in due\ntime reveals Him as the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely\none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Spirit reveals and manifests these precious things of\nChrist to the soul, He raises up a living faith whereby Jesus is sought unto,\nlooked unto, laid hold of, and is brought into the heart with a divine power,\nthere to be enshrined in its warmest and tenderest affections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All through its Christian pilgrimage, this blessed Spirit\ngoes on to deepen His work in the soul, and to discover more and more of the\nsuitability, beauty, and blessedness of the Lord Jesus, as He draws the soul\nmore and more unto Him. There is no maintaining of the light, life, and power\nof God in our souls, except as we are daily coming unto Jesus as the living\nstone, and continually\nliving upon Him<\/strong> as the bread of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we\nbecome children of God? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I answer,\nfirst, by “eternal election<\/strong>;” and therefore we are called\n“a chosen generation,” 1 Pet. 2:9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 By \u201cpre-adoption<\/strong>“.\nAnd, because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your\nhearts, crying, Abba, Father,” Gal. 4:6. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3, By regeneration<\/em>.<\/strong>\nGod, who from everlasting willed our adoption in Christ, begets us by his word,\nunder the prolific operations of his Spirit operating and working with it.\n“God of his own will begat us with the word of truth,” James,\n1:18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word\ncomes to the elect, “not as the word of man,” 1 Thes. 2:15; “not\nin word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,” 1\nThess. 1:5. When this is the case, the word, under the operation of the Spirit,\nbecomes a spiritual embryo; or, as Peter terms it, an incorruptible seed;\n“being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the\nword of God, that lives and abides for ever,” 1 Peter, 1:23. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the\nquickening influences of the word and Spirit the sinner is brought to a\nspiritual sense of his state; he feels the severity of the law, the terrors of\nGod, and the fears of death. These generally entangle the quickened sinner more\nor less. The ever-blessed and glorious Trinity are jointly concerned in this\nwork of quickening the sinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God gave us\nlife in Christ Jesus; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ is\nthe resurrection and the life; and the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holy Ghost\nappears the Spirit of life, and quickens us to feel our need of “the bread\nof God that came down from heaven;” as you see in the parable of the\nprodigal son, who cried out, “I perish with hunger,” and yet was\nconvinced there was enough of the bread of life in his father’s house. Thus God\ngave us life in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit quickens us to feel the need of\nit, and in time leads us to feed on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word of\nGod does not quicken unless the Spirit attend it. Some “hold the truth in\nrighteousness,” and the gospel comes to some in word only; but when Jesus\nspeaks to the sinner’s heart, the Spirit of God applies the word, and life and\npower are felt. “The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and they are\nlife.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true\nthe Psalmist says, “This is my comfort in my affliction, thy word hath\nquickened me;” yet he owns the Spirit of God as the life of that word, as\nappears by his prayer, “Take not thy holy Spirit from me.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this\npowerful sensation the will is humbled, and sweetly inclined to choose the\nbetter part. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of my power.\u201d Psalm\n110:3. The soul longs for reconciliation with his offended God; and the word of\nGod at times gives a little encouragement to faith and hope; but fresh\ndiscoveries of sin, attended with Satan’s temptations, encourage doubts, fears,\nand unbelief. Thus the soul labours between feeble faith and unbelief, languid\nhope and slavish fear. This is the travail of the soul that is quickened, and\ndrawing near his delivery; as it is written, “A woman when she is in\ntravail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but, as soon as she is delivered\nof the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man child is\nborn into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you\nagain, and your heart shall rejoice,” John, 16:21, 22. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this\nspiritual travail the soul is kept in spiritual activity: every power is in\nmotion after God, though it has such a burden of imaginary and real evils to\nwade through. “I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent\nsearch,” Psal. 77:6. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world,\nwith its trifles, is detested, and the one thing needful will be uppermost. The\ntrouble of his mind crucifies him to popularity, and secret retirement best\nsuits the frame of his heart: this keeps him from his old companions; the word\nof God becomes his hourly study and meditation; and a saving knowledge of God\nis the ultimate desire of his soul. “Through desire a man, having\nseparated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom,” Prov.\n18:1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

William\nHuntington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHerein is Our Love made Perfect\u201d 1 John 4:17 \u201cHerein is our love made perfect.\u201d Those words, as suggested by our translators in the margin of our Bible, might be better translated, \u201cHerein is his love with us made perfect.\u201d       John is not talking about us loving God perfectly or loving one another perfectly. […]<\/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-6587","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\/6587","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=6587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6588,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions\/6588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}