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The Plan Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese\nthings hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was\naltogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in\norder before thine eyes.\u201d Psalm 50:21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nplan today is to make sure the church is as much like the world as possible, so\nthat unregenerate people will not feel uncomfortable and will be attracted to\nits ministry! Turn the church into a theater; worship into a musical display;\nministers into actors and clowns to amuse and entertain; sermons into\npolitical, patriotic or philosophical essays; and the living God into a good\nbuddy whose attributes are adjustable to any culture or creed. This will\nattract the flesh and successfully quench the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n~Scott Richardson<\/p>\n\n\n\n —–<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are we trying to win the favour of man or of\nGod? Do we seek to be men-pleasers? If we are seeking the favour and approval\nof men, we are not the bond-serv\u00adants of Jesus Christ. Our aim is to be true to\nthe Word of God, and in doing so we will be true to our hearers. This gospel of\nthe free grace of God is glorifying to God and honouring to all of His excel\u00adlent\nattributes; His love and mercy, His infinite wisdom, His righteous justice, and\nHis immutable holiness. This gospel of the free grace of God in Christ is the\nonly hope that sinful, corrupt men have; for if righteousness comes by any\nobedience to the law at all, not only did Christ die in vain, but no son of\nAdam has any hope of being saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Henry Mahan <\/p>\n\n\n\n —-<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gospel of God or Another Gospel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We read numerous times in Scripture\nof \u201cThe Gospel of God.\u201d<\/em> Is my gospel the Gospel of God? The\nGospel of God is the Gospel that lines up with the Old Testament Scriptures,\ngives God all the glory in salvation, gives the pre-eminence to Jesus Christ in\nall things, does not violate or contradict any of the attributes of God,\nactually honors the law\u2019s demand for perfect obedience and punishment for\ndisobedience, meets the sinner where he is\u2026dead in sins\u2026and gives him life,\nsaves the very chief of sinners, provides all God requires, keeps a man saved,\nenables a man to face death and judgment with perfect peace, conforms a sinner\nto perfect likeness to Christ, and enables him to rest in Christ\u2019s finished\nwork. If it fails to do any of those things, it is not the Gospel of God, but\nanother gospel that will not save! ~Todd Nibert<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Power of God<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\npower of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass\nwhatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, and\nwhatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve\u2026as holiness is the\nbeauty of all God\u2019s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to\nall the perfections of the Divine nature. How vain would be the eternal\ncounsels if power did not step in to execute them. Without power, His mercy\nwould be but feeble pity, His promise an empty sound, His threatening\u2019s a mere\nscarecrow. God\u2019s power is like Himself \u2013 infinite, eternal, incomprehensible;\nit can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature. \n \n ~Steven\nCharnock<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n Respecter of Persons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All\nthe attributes of God are most clearly seen at the crucifixion of the Lord\nJesus Christ. Nowhere, in all God\u2019s doings, are His Divine glories illuminated\nwith the spotlight of truth more brightly. His love, righteousness, mercy,\njustice, immutability, and holiness, to name a few, are most glorified at\nCalvary\u2019s Cross. So it is with our God being, not a \u201crespecter of persons\u201d.\nActs 10:34, Eph. 6:9, Rom 2:11. God\u2019s justice is equal to all. It is without\nprejudice toward any, and always in strict compliance with His Holy law. If God\nspared not His own Son when He found sin on Him; if it pleased the Lord to\nbruise Him, how could He overlook one sin in you or me? He will by no means\nclear the guilty. Does the cross not prove that? He (the Father) shall see the\ntravail of His (Son) soul, and shall be satisfied<\/strong>: by His knowledge\nshall my righteous Servant justify<\/strong> many; for He shall bear their\niniquities. Is. 53:11.\n \n \n \n ~GE<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Moses asked the Lord to show him His glory, what attribute\ndid the Lord give him first? \u201cI will make all My goodness to pass\nbefore thee.\u201d <\/em>God is good all the time. He is essentially\ngood, absolutely good, and all He does is good! All of His\nattributes are holy and all of His attributes are good. His way of\nsalvation by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is a declaration of His\ngoodness! Paul said in Romans 2:4, \u201cIt is the goodness of\nGod that leadeth thee to repentance.\u201d <\/em>If you and I ever repent,\nit is an act of God\u2019s goodness toward us, and not our goodness. Only\nGod is good. \u201cThere is none that doeth good, no not\none.\u201d <\/em>I hope we never think, speak, or act in a way that clouds\nHis goodness. I repeat, God is good all the time. All He\ndoes is good because He is good. He is a good God! That\nis why He has mercy and grace. His goodness is seen in His giving and His\nforgiving. HE IS GOOD! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Established Hearts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBe not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a\ngood thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have\nnot profited them that have been occupied therein\u201d <\/em>(Hebrews 13:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Multitudes are \u201ccarried\nabout with divers and strange doctrines,\u201d <\/em>the many different doctrines of\nmen that are strange, totally foreign to the Scriptures and contrary to the\ngospel of Christ, the character of God, and the person, work and offices of\nChrist as our Mediator. The doctrine of Christ is one. Truly, it is a good\nthing to have our hearts established with grace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is written, \u201cWith the\nheart man believeth unto righteousness\u201d <\/em>(Romans 10:10). The Lord God\nrequires, \u201cKeep thy heart with all diligence\u201d <\/em>(Proverbs 4:23). \u201cMy\nson, give me thine heart\u201d <\/em>(Proverbs 23:26). Faith is a heart work.\nRepentance is a heart work. The confession of sin is a heart work. Prayer is a\nheart work. Worship is a heart work. Our Lord declares in Matthew 5:8 that the\npure in heart shall see God, and no one else. In all things spiritual, the\nheart is the principle thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grace of God establishes\nthe hearts of men. It does not leave us floundering in religious mysticism,\nreligious intellectualism, and philosophical speculation. Believing hearts are\nconvinced, persuaded, and settled regarding the righteousness of God and the\nway to God. Being built upon that foundation God himself has laid, Christ\nJesus, we are established in the love of God, convinced of acceptance with God,\nthe complete expiation of our sins, and our righteousness before God in and by\nChrist. Trusting Christ, we are no longer looking for the way to God and\neternal life, but are established in the way. We no longer grope about in the\nblindness and darkness of religious confusion, but walk in the light of\nrevealed truth, firmly looking for and expecting eternal happiness by, with,\nand in Christ, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our hearts are established\nwith the gospel of the grace of God, the doctrine of the grace of God, the\ntruth of the grace of God, and by the work of the grace of God. We understand\nthat salvation, justification, and eternal life are the result of God\u2019s grace\nto us in Christ Jesus, not by deeds of the law or works of the flesh (2 Timothy\n1:8-11; Titus 3:5-7). Let us never be unsettled, tossed about, and carried away\nfrom the gospel of God\u2019s free and sovereign grace in Christ by the many winds\nof strange doctrine, which come our way from the lips of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Work-mongers and religious legalists are occupied with outward, carnal\nthings: eating and not eating certain meats, the keeping of sabbath days, and\nthe observance of religious ceremonies. Such carnal practices gratify the\nflesh, but do not profit their souls. These things cannot justify, sanctify,\nestablish the heart, or give peace to the soul (Romans 14:17; Colossians\n2:16-23). It is Christ alone who is all our acceptance with God. \u201cBut of him\nare ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,\nand sanctification, and redemption\u201d <\/em>(1 Corinthians 1:30). Don\nFortner<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The great storehouse of all heavenly treasures<\/em><\/strong> \n \n \n Thomas Brooks<\/em><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Plan Today \u201cThese things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.\u201d Psalm 50:21. The plan today is to make sure the church is as much like the world as possible, […]<\/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-6871","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\/6871","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=6871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6872,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6871\/revisions\/6872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a0(John 1:14), “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1:16), “From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another.”<\/em>
There is in Jesus, not only a sufficiency of grace, but an all-sufficiency. He has enough to supply all our needs; and not only enough for us–but for all the saints who have ever lived or shall live!
Jesus is a fountain of mercy and grace. From His fullness, as from an overflowing fountain, streams every spiritual blessing. He fills our empty vessels again and again, and still the fountain overflows.
The more grace we draw from Jesus, the more is still in Him. The sun is nevertheless bright, after all the light we receive from it. In the same way, Jesus is nevertheless full, after all the grace we receive from Him. Grace from the heart of Jesus, is ever flowing out to His people:
\u00a0 grace upon grace,
\u00a0 blessing upon blessing,
\u00a0 mercy upon mercy.
There is in the crucified Jesus, grace sufficient to all the difficulties, necessities, and desires of His poor people. Jesus is . . .
\u00a0 a garment to cover and adorn them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 a counselor to advise them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a captain to defend them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a prince to rule them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a prophet to teach them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a priest to make atonement for them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a husband to protect them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a father to provide for them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a brother to relieve them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a foundation to support them,
\u00a0 \u00a0 a head to guide them,
\u00a0 and a treasure to enrich them!
Jesus is the great storehouse of all heavenly treasures. In Him, are laid up all the riches of divine grace. From Him, all believers receive grace, not only at their first conversion, but all along their pilgrim way. His blessings do not come occasionally, but one after another: ceaseless, boundless, sufficient for every step of the Christian life.
Jesus is all-sufficient for a believer. He is . . .
\u00a0 the bread to nourish him,
\u00a0 \u00a0the physician to heal him,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the rock to support him,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the ark to shelter him,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the sun to enlighten him,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and the fountain to cleanse him!
What more can any Christian desire to save and satisfy him; and to make him holy and happy, in time and in eternity?
Jesus is a treasury of all spiritual blessings, and these are all for His redeemed people! If there is anything lacking in us, it is not because there is any lack in Jesus. The fountain is full, but the hand of faith must be stretched out to receive.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
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