Quote of the Day

The Bible assuredly knows nothing of those qualms about good works, by which we only try to excuse ourselves and justify our evil works.  The Bible never draws the antithesis between faith and good works so sharply as to maintain that good works undermine faith.  No, it is evil works rather than good works which hinder and destroy faith.  Grace and active obedience are complementary.  There is no faith without good works, and no good works apart from faith….But all our good works are the works of God himself, the works for which he has prepared for us beforehand.  Good works then are ordained for the sake of salvation, but they are in the end those which God himself works within us.  They are his gift, but it is our task to walk in them at every moment of our lives, knowing all the time that any good works of our own could never help  us to abide before the judgment of God.  We cling in faith to Christ and his works alone.  For we have the promise that those who are in Christ Jesus will be enabled to do good works, which will testify for them in the day of judgment.  They will be preserved and sanctified until the last day…From this it follows that we can never be conscious of our good works.  Our sanctification is veiled from our eyes until the last day, when all secrets will be disclosed.  IF we want to see some results here and assess our own spiritual state, and have not the patience to wait, we have our reward.  The moment we begin to feel satisfied that we are making some progress on the road of sanctification, it is all the more necessary to repent and confess that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.  Yet the Christian life is not one of gloom, but of ever increasing joy in the Lord.   God alone knows our good works, all we know is His good work……The believer will be justified, the justified will be sanctified and the sanctified will be saved in the day of judgment…The fruit of their liberation from sin through the death of Christ is that whereas they once surrendered their members as servants to iniquity, they may now use them in the service of righteousness unto sanctification (Rom.6:19-22)  ……How does this come to pass?...How can the sinner become righteous without impairing the righteousness of God?  The answer is that God justified himself by appearing as his own advocate in defense of his own righteousness……The justification of the sinner therefore consists in the sole righteousness of God, wheirin the sinner is utterly and completely unrighteous, and has no righteousness whatever of his own, side by side with the righteousness of God.  Whenever we desire an independent righteousness of our own we are forfeiting our only chance of justification, which is through God and his righteousness, God alone is righteous….The ground  for our justifcation is the justification of God.  "That thou [i.e. God] mightest be justified in thy words, and mightest prevail when thou comest to judgement" (Rom. 3:4).  All that matters is that God's righteousness should prevail over ours, that God's righteousness should be maintained in His own eyes, and that he alone should be righteous.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

 A Reformation is not arbitrarily made, as charters and revolutions are in some countries. A real reformation prepared during many ages, is the work of the Spirit of God. Before the appointed hour, the greatest geniuses and even the most faithful of God's servants cannot produce it; but when the reforming time is come, when it is God's pleasure to renovate the affairs of the world, the divine life must clear a passage, and it is able to create of itself the humble instruments by which this life is communicated to the human race. Then, if men are silent, the very stones will cry out.

 

J. H. Merle D'aubigne

Quote of the Day

…the more Jesus preached to the same crowds again and again, the more His messages were filled with rebukes and urgent pleas for their repentance.  He was not impressed with the size or enthusiasm of large crowds.  He was not interested in accumulating the kind of disciples whose main concern was for  what they might get out of the relationship.  He never upholstered his message to make it more cushy for popular opinion, and he never turned down  the rhetorical heat in order to keep the congregation as comfortable as possible.  If anything, His approach was the exact opposite.  He seemed to do everything He could to disquiet the merely curious who were unconverted.  They absolutely loved it when He did miracles.  He rebuked them for that, and He made sure they could not ignore his message." 

 - John Macarthur

Quote of the Day

 Tolerance and passivity define today’s approach to parenting. Restraint and correction are deemed too confining for the child’s psyche. Self-esteem has superseded self-control. Parents are afraid to correct wrong behavior. They are urged by experts to let their children express themselves freely. Too many parents are utterly absent from their own children’s sphere of moral influence. The child’s nature is simply permitted to take its course, and by the time the parent realizes the utter depravity of the child’s heart, things are already on a course for calamity.

John Macarthur

Quote of the Day

In space, astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that draws them to the center. Where there is no "moral gravity"- that is, no force that draws us to the center- there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us where we were never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is foolishness. Instead of gravity, flippancy. Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point will never serve to keep our feet on solid rock. Our reference point, until we answer God's call, is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up.

Elisabeth Elliot

Quote of the Day

It is Christ who is to be exalted, not our feelings. We will know Him by obedience, not by emotions. Our love will be shown by obedience, not by how good we feel about God at a given moment. “And love means following the commands of God.” “Do you love Me?” Jesus asked Peter. “Feed My lambs.” He was not asking, “How do you feel about Me?” for love is not a feeling. He was asking for action.

 

Elisabeth Elliot

Quote of the Day

There may be circumstances in your earthly lot which at this moment are peculiarly trying.  You look around and wonder how this or that circumstance will terminate.  At present it looks very dark--clouds and mists hang over it, and you fear lest these clouds may break, not in showers upon your head, but burst forth in the lightning flash and the thunder stroke!  But all things are put in subjection under Christ's feet!  That which you dread cannot take place except by His sovereign will--nor can it move any further except by His supreme disposal.  Then make yourself quiet.  He will not allow you to be harmed.  That frowning providence shall only execute His sovereign purposes, and it shall be among those all things which, according to His promise, shall work together for your good.  None of our trials come upon us by chance!  They are all appointed in weight and measure--are all designed to fulfill a certain end.  And however painful they may at present be, yet they are intended for your good.   When the trial comes upon you, what a help it would be for you if you could view it thus, “This trial is sent for my good.  It does not spring out of the dust.  The Lord Himself is the supreme disposer of it.  It is very painful to bear; but let me believe that He has appointed me this peculiar trial, along with every other circumstance.  He will bring about His own will therein, and either remove the trial, or give me patience under it, and submission to it.

 

J. C. Philpot

Quote of the Day

There is a vast difference, however, between a childlike faith and a childish faith, though the two are often confused. A childish faith balks at learning the things of God in depth. It refuses the meat of the gospel while clinging to a diet of milk. 

R. C. Sproul

Quote of the Day

But what we suffer from to-day is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt -- the Divine Reason. Huxley preached a humility content to learn from Nature. But the new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. Thus we should be wrong if we had said hastily that there is no humility typical of our time. The truth is that there is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it is practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.

At any street corner we may meet a man who utters the frantic and blasphemous statement that he may be wrong. Every day one comes across somebody who says that of course his view may not be the right one. Of course his view must be the right one, or it is not his view. We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. We are in danger of seeing philosophers who doubt the law of gravity as being a mere fancy of their own. Scoffers of old time were too proud to be convinced; but these are too humble to be convinced. The meek do inherit the earth; but the modern skeptics are too meek even to claim their inheritance. 

 

G. K. Chesterton

Quote of the Day

I used to ask myself the question, - 'Am I afraid to die? If I should drop down dead in my room, can I say that I should joyfully close my eyes?' Well, it often happened happened that I could not honestly say so.  Is used to feel that death would be a very solemn thing.  'Ah, then!' I said, 'I have never believed in Christ, for if I had put my trust in the Lord Jesus, I should not be afraid to die, but I should be quite confident.'  I do not doubt that many a person is saying, 'I cannot follow Christ, because I am afraid to die; I cannot believe that Jesus Christ will save me, because the thought of death makes me tremble.' Ah, poor soul, there are many of God's blessed ones, who through fear of death have been much of their lifetime subject to bondage!  ...I know that, when he gets more grace he will rejoice at the thought of death; but I do know that there are many quite safe, who will die rejoicing in Christ, who now, in the prospect of death, feel afraid of it.  My aged grandfather once preached a sermon which I have not yet forgotten.  He was preaching from the text, 'The God of all grace,' and he somewhat interested the assembly, after describing the different kinds of grace that God gave, by saying at the end of each period, 'But there is one kind of grace that you do not want.'  After each part of his theme, there came the like sentence, 'But there is one kind of grace you do not want.'  And then he wound up by saying, 'You don't want dying grace in living moments, but you shall have dying grace when you need it.  When you are in the condition to require it, you shall have grace enough if you put your trust in Christ.'  In a party of friends, we were discussing the question whether, if the days of martyrdom should come, we were prepared to be burned.  I said, 'I must frankly tell you that, speaking as I feel to-day, I am not prepared to be burned; but I do believe that, if there were a stake at Smithfield, and I knew that I was to be burned there at one o'clock, I should have grace enough to be burned there when one o'clock came.'

 

C. H. Spurgeon

Quote of the Day

As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the Divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow. God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature.

Stephen Charnock

Quote of the Day

Assurance concerns the realization that a person has eternal life.  But security is a true fact whether or not an individual has assurance of that or not.

Charles Ryrie

Quote of the Day

Their (the Christian's) breach with the past is an accomplished fact.  Their "former" manner of life has come to an end (Eph. 4:22).  "Ye were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8).  Whereas they had once performed the shameful and "unfruitful works of the flesh," the Spirit now produces in them the fruit of sanctification. 

This is why Christians are no longer to be called sinners, in the sense of men who are still living under the dominion of sin (the only apparent exception is in 1 Tim. 1:15, but that is a personal confession).  On the contrary, they were once sinners, ungodly, enemies (Rom.5:8, 19, Gal. 2:15, 17), but now through Christ they are holy.  As saints they are reminded and exhorted to be what they are.  But this is not an impossible ideal, it is not sinners who are required to become holy, or that would mean a return to justification by works and would be blasphemy against Christ.  No, it is saints who are required to be holy, saints who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol. The Lord whom we trust binds us so firmly to himself that we are freed from superstition and a desire for miracles. The person to whom God has given faith has faith in him, whatever happens.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

Jesus does not enjoin his disciples to marry, but he does sanctify marriage according to the law by affirming its indissolubility and by prohibiting the innocent party from remarrying when the guilty partner has broken the marriage by adultery.  This prohibition liberates marriage from selfish, evil desire, and consecrates it to the service of love, which is possible only in a life of discipleship.  Jesus does not depreciate the body and its natural instincts, but he does condemn the unbelief which is so often latent in its desires…Even our bodies belong to Christ and have their part in the life of discipleship, for they are members of his Body.

  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

STAYING SINGLE TO SHOW THE TRUTH.

Keep your marriage vows in such a way as to tell the truth about the unbreakable covenant love of Christ.  But to close this chapter, I want to emphasize that what Jesus says here in Mark 10:10-12 is incredibly good news - even to those who have been divorced and are remarried.  Here's why:  Jesus says, 'Don't divorce your spouse and marry someone else.  If you do, you've committed adultery."  Why is it adultery?  Ultimately, it is adultery because it betrays the truth about Christ that marriage is meant to display.  Jesus never, never does that to his bride, the church.  He never forsakes her.  He never abandons her.  He never abuses her.  He always loves her.  He always takes her back when she wanders.  He always is patient with her.  He always cares for her and provides for her and protects her and, wonder of wonders, delights in her.  And you - you who are married once, married five times, married never - if you repent and trust Christ - receive him as the Treasure who bore your punishment and became your righteousness - you are in the bride. And this is how he relates to you. ….The radical call of Jesus never to divorce and remarry is a declaration of the gospel by which people who have failed may be saved.  If  Christ were not this way, we would all be undone.  But this is how true, how faithful, how forgiving he is.  Therefore, we are saved.

John Piper

Quote of the Day

Today it is true almost everywhere, that we are far more concerned about the results of the gospel than we are about the purity of it! We are more concerned in the blessing of man than we are about the glory of Christ! Is not that true? Is it not true that the first great question asked everywhere today is, what are the 'results? What is the fruitage? How many people have been saved in your church last year? I am not saying that the question has no importance, but I do say that, if that is the first question that is asked, it only shows what a low level we are living on! The first question we ought to ask is, How scripturally is the gospel being preached in your church? Is the preacher magnifiying Christ? Is the preacher emphasizing the absolute sufficiency of his finished work? Does the preacher make it plain that God does not ask the sinner to do anything, that Christ has done all for him?

Ah, my friends, when the preachers today are tested by that, there are mighty few of them that will survive the test. How many are there today who tell the poor sinner that he has got to give his heart to God! Well, you say, isn't that right? Isn't that true? Must not the sinner give his heart to the Lord if he is going to be saved? Oh, the tragedy that such a question has to be asked! We talk about progress and advancing; why, we need indoctrinating in the ABC of the gospel! No, my friends, no sinner was ever saved by giving his heart to God. We are not saved by our giving, we are saved by God's giving. Well, but doesn't it say in Scripture, 'Son, give me thine heart'? Yes, it does, but that is not addressed to an unconverted sinner, that is addressed to a son! After God has saved you by grace alone, then your first duty is to dedicate yourself to his service, to give your heart to him, to be used by him as he wills and where he wills and when he wills, and to realize that you are no more your own but the purchased property of another. .....

Arthur W. Pink