“All our obedience, every resolve to do good, and every work of faith is ‘by his power’ and so that the Lord Jesus would be glorified because of the grace he gives. Yes, we must pursue obedience, but that obedience must always be cruciform, formed by Christ’s cross. We must seek to obey because of the cross, find the grace to obey because of the cross, and live free from condemnation whether we succeed or fail in the light of the cross. The cross must be our only story, as Paul boldly proclaimed: ‘For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor. 2:2).”
- Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson – Counsel from the Cross
via Of First Importance
I couldn’t have said it better. Thanks “Of First Importance.”
“The gospel, in brief, is the good news about the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. Consider for a moment that the eternal Son of God relinquished the glories of heaven to become a man, a human being like you and me. He lived a perfect and sinless life (unlike you and me), fulfilling every requirement of God’s holy law in a way we could never hope to accomplish. And then in a glorious display of God’s love for sinners like us, he willingly received the full fury of God’s righteous wrath against sin by dying for our sins on a cruel Roman cross.
Because God’s absolute and perfect holiness demands an equivalent holiness from all who come before him, in ourselves we are hopelessly lost and condemned. But Jesus, who had no sin of his won to pay for, took our place, paid our penalty, and suffered our punishment. Because his death as our substitute was perfectly sufficient to pay for our sin, God vindicated him by raising him from the dead. So now all who place their trust in Jesus’ work on their behalf and turn from their sin will be forgiven, counted righteous in him, and saved from judgment for all eternity . . . all by God’s marvelous grace. This is the gospel. This is the good news. Better news simply does not exist!”
- Gary & Betsy Ricucci, Love That Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace
(I know nothing more of this book than the quote here.)
“In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown—and onward is the goal. Whether it is for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love—the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith.
“Looking into the future, the Christian sees sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of eternal glory. Looking further yet, the believer’s enlightened eye can see death’s river passed. He sees himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and made to sit together with Him on His throne.”
—Charles Spurgeon, “The Grand Object of the Eye of Faith”
We have a great year and a great future in store for us. We have no reason to doubt or worry. We have Him, who carries us, who knows every second of our future and has it all under control.
May you all have a glorious 2010, and may you grow to be more like Jesus everyday, as you walk this journey as His disciple.
“Jesus Christ is not merely the means of our rescue from damnation; he is the goal of our salvation. If he is not satisfying to be with, there is no salvation.
He is not merely the rope that pulls us from the threatening waves; he is the solid beach under our feet, the air in our lungs, and the beat of our heart, and the warm sun on our skin, and the song in our ears, and the arms of our beloved.”
- John Piper, Taste and See (via Of First Importance)
The gospel IS relevant in and of itself beloved; and it needs no dressing up, or propping up to make inroads into the depraved sinful hearts of unregenerate men or women today in any culture. It alone is the power of God unto salvation.
by Steve Camp
You have no doubt heard the arguments: … Above all else, we have got to stay in step with the times. … They don’t really care if they are worldly. They just don’t want to be thought uncool. … Whole churches have thus deliberately immersed themselves in "the culture"–by which they actually mean "whatever the world loves at the moment." … In the name of connecting with "the culture" they want their people to know they have seen all the latest … They seem to know every fad top to bottom, back to front, and inside out. They’ve adopted both the style and the language of the world–including lavish use of language that used to be deemed inappropriate in polite society, much less in the pulpit. They want to fit right in with the world, and they seem to be making themselves quite comfortable there.
by John MacArthur – quoted on CampOnThis
Postmodernism has become the new hermeneutic by which the ECM interprets Scripture rather than Scripture being the true hermeneutic which clearly interprets postmodern culture.
Again, it bears repeating –
The gospel IS relevant in and of itself beloved; and it needs no dressing up, or propping up to make inroads into the depraved sinful hearts of unregenerate men or women today in any culture. It alone is the power of God unto salvation.
by Steve Camp
The Sword (the Word of God) rightly expounded and divided and The Swordsman (the Holy Spirit) rightly obeyed and honored, are both necessary for the preaching of God’s Word to bear the fruit heaven in ministry.
—great quote from Steve Camp’s blog
Steve Camp blogged on Jonathan Edwards’ "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" yesterday. Christians just don’t talk much about that anymore – an angry God that is. It certainly is not ALL God is. He is truly Love, perfect Love; and Good, perfect Goodness. But to be perfect love and goodness, He must also HATE sin. And He does. His Word tells us so. In fact, everything we can know for a fact about God is found in His Word. We have no other source for truly knowing Him as He is. We can’t make up our own little ideas of what we think God SHOULD be like. We take Him as He is, and as the Sovereign of the Universe.
You can head over there if you want to read or listen to Edward’s sermon.
If you don’t know who Jonathan Edwards is, you won’t find him on your local Christian radio station or your inspirational cable channel. He was a godly pastor whose preaching began the Great Awakening in the first half of the 18th century in America. Read more about him at Monergism.com.
Read part of the life of Jonathan Edwards. How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear beside such a sun! But even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me.
— Robert Murray M’Cheyne
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