Quote of the Day

God indeed may be reconciled to the sinner, but never to the sin.

 

Stephen Charnock

Quote of the Day

Patience! patience! you are always in a hurry, but God is not.

  

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Day

There can be little doubt, that the very obscurities of Hebrew form one of its chief recommendations to men, whose favorite delight is to grapple with difficulties, and to explore what is dark, dubious and uncertain.  But though this taste, within certain limits, is useful and praiseworthy, it is extremely dangerous, when indulged in excess, especially on subjects of Biblical investigation.  There is small scope for invention, in matters of Biblical criticism, and the closer we adhere to Divine authority the less likely are we to fall into human paradox.

The Septuagint comes before us, as the most ancient authorized interpretation of the Hebrew.  Such an authority quenches the spirit of theory, and rebukes the love of invention.  We then remain pupils and scholars, and sit patiently at he the feet of the original, and the version..  This is painful and humbling to human genius, but it is the best attitude of the Christian student and divine.  It should not be charged, as any imperfection of the Greek version, that it keeps us, from the elation of theorists and from the pride of dogmatists. When poor mortals sit down to study the Word of God, their first and most painful lesson is to abjure the love of originality.  It is their business to translate, not to invent; to follow; not to lead; to copy, not to originate.  The Greek version of the Old Testament, when united to the original, is admirably adapted to cherish and nurture this intellectual docility.  It should be used, as the teacher of the Christian student, in his approach to the awful mysteries of the Cross.  He will acquire from it far more valuable discipline, than from all the technical canons of Biblical critics.

 

Edward William Grinfield

Quote of the Day

…Dr Lloyd-Jones believed that, while the truth ought to result in profound emotion, the cultivation of 'emotionalism' was thoroughly alien to true Christianity.  Feeling alone he saw as not merely valueless, it was positively dangerous.  'Emotionalism is ever the most real, because the most subtle, enemy of evangelicalism.'  True feeling must be a result of truth believed and understood, and he frequently gave warning against that type of service where attempts are made to induce emotion by 'working up'  the meeting with music and choruses, or by the telling of moving stories.  'tears are a poor criterion for faith, being carried away in a meeting by eloquence or singing or excitement is not the same as committing oneself to Christ.'  To aim at emotion is the surest way to produce counterfeit Christians. 

Thus his belief was that where feeling could be restrained it ought to be restrained.  The power of God was more likely to be known in a solemn stillness than amid noise and excitement.

- From Iain Murray's biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Quote of the Day

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.  Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved to be steady…  (It) is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point (of attack).

 

Martin Luther

Quote of the Day

What I most desired Thou hast denied, yet I praise Thee:  On what account, I know not, yet I praise Thee: Thou hast done it; that silences me. Thy will makes it indisputable, and renders it my indispensable duty to fall in with it….But what matters it how the affairs of a present world go, if the interests of the next world are secured?....what avails it though the outward man decay, if the inner man grow? Though the temporal condition be perplexed, if the conscience be possessed of spiritual peace? I praise Thee that Thou interposest Thy providence, even in disappointing my enterprises; and dost not give me up to the blind desires of mine own heart, and to wander at random in counsels of mine own.  I can resolve the present case into nothing but Thy will; yet I rejoice more to fall in with Thy will, and to be submissive to Thy disposal, than to have my will in every point performed... 

 

James Meikle

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There is one further feature of Dr. Lloyd-Jones' preaching which needs to be added.  It was customary among evangelical Christians at this date to encourage the practice of giving 'testimonies' as a form of evangelistic witness…For one thing, he noticed that the giving testimonies tended to reduce all conversions to a similar pattern to standardize experience in away which went beyond Scripture.  And yet, at the same time, testimony-givers were prone to emphasize what made their story noteworthy.  No doubt the motives were often well intentioned, but the effect could easily be carnal and man-centered.  Hearers readily became impressed with the dramatic and unique features of a story, instead of with the grace of God which is identical in every conversion…….

He knew that the argument from experience could be matched by the claims and apparent results of other 'gospels'.  Do Christians claim to have obtained happiness and deliverance from fears?  So do the converts to Christian science and to other cults.  'Our case,' he was never to tire of saying, 'is not based upon experience, it is based upon great external facts.'  The business of preaching is the proclamation of the revealed truths of gospel history - truths indeed confirmed by experience, but independent of experience in their objective reality.  

- From Iain Murray's two volume biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1st Volume)

Quote of the Day

What use is there, it may be asked, in learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew?  We can read the Bible very well in German."  "Without languages, we could not have received the Gospel…Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket that guards the jewels; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and, as the Gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude.  If we neglect the languages, we shall not only eventually lose the Gospel, but be unable to write in Latin or in German.  No sooner did men cease to cultivate them than Christendom declined, even until it fell under the power of the pope.  But now that languages are again honored, they shed such light that all the world is astonished, and every one is forced to acknowledge that our Gospel is almost as pure as that of the apostles themselves.  In former times the holy Fathers were frequently mistaken, because they were ignorant of languages; and in our days there are some who, like the Waldenses, do not think the languages to be of any use; but although their doctrine be good, they have often erred in the real meaning of the sacred text; they are without arms against error, and I feel very much that there faith will not remain pure.

Martin Luther

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There are plenty of believers dreaming what they might do, but far few saints simply doing what they should do.

John MacArthur

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Thomas(Stonewall) Jackson's first wife died in childbirth(the child died as well).  In a letter to his aunt at the time he writes:  "I frequently go to the dearest of earth's spots, the grave of her who was so pure and lovely -  but she is not there.  When I stand over the grave, I do not fancy that she is thus conlined, but I think of her as having a glorified existence."  For a long time he visited her grave daily…In one of his note-books appears the following entry, showing his desire to profit by his great sorrow:  "Objects to be effected by Ellie's death:  To eradicate ambition; to eradicate resentment; to produce humility.  If you desire to be more heavenly-minded, think more of the things of heaven, and less of the things of earth.

Quote of the Day

Satan labours what he can to provoke the Christian to heart sins - to stir up and forment these inward motions of sin in the Christians bosom. Hence it is, he can go about no duty, but these - his imps, I may call them - haunt him; one motion or other darts in to interrupt him, as Paul tells us of himself, 'When he would do good, evil was present with him.' If a Christian should turn back whenever these cross the way of him, he should never go on his journey to heaven. It is the chief game the devil hath left to play against the children of God - now his field-army is broken, and his commanding power taken away which he had over them - to come out of these his holds where he lies skulking, and fall upon the rear with these suggestions. He knows his credit now is not so great with the soul as when it was his slave. Then no drudgery work was so base that it would not do at his command; but now the soul is out of his bondage, and he must not think to command another's servant as his own. No, all he can do is to watch the fittest season - when the Christian least suspects - and then to present some sinful motion, handsomely dressed up, to the eye of the soul, that the Christian may, before he is aware, take this brat up and dandle it in his thoughts, till at last he makes it his own by embracing it; and this he knows will defile the soul; and, may be, this boy sent in at the window, may open the door to let in a greater thief. Or if he should not so prevail, yet the guilt of these heart sins, yea, their very neighborhood will be a sad vexation to a gracious heart, whose nature is so pure that it abhors all filthiness - so that to be haunted with such notions, is as if a living man should be chained to a stinking carcass, that wherever he goes he must draw that after him; and whose love is so dear to Christ, that it cannot bear the company of those thoughts without amazement and horror, which are so contrary and abusive to his beloved. This makes Satan so desirous to be ever raking in the unregenerate part, that as a dunghill stirred, it may offend them both with the noisome streams which arise from it.

William Gurnall

Quote of the Day

While God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires.

Jerry Bridges

Quote of the Day

How did the early Church ever function without the “expertise” we have today? Yet those Christians turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6), and they did it without any celebrity testimonies, without modern management techniques, without psychotherapy, without mass media, and without most of the means the contemporary church seems to view as essential. All they had was God’s Word and the power of His Spirit, but they knew that was sufficient.

John Macarthur

Quote of the Day

(Matt. 5:28-42) This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law.  The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties.  The old Israel had been both - the chosen people of God and a national community, and it was therefore his will that they should meet force with force.  But with Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore it must patiently endure aggression……At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs.  He is absolutely free from possessions and bound to Christ alone.  Again, his witness to this exclusive adherence to Jesus creates the only workable basis for fellowship, and leaves the aggressor for him to deal with……By his willingly renouncing self-defense, the Christian affirms his absolute adherence to Jesus, and his freedom from the tyranny of his own ego.  

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer