Paul Zahl: Grace = The Change Agent of Life

"Grace is one-way love. Take an inventory of yourself. Watch other people about whose happiness you care. You will see it over and over: one-way love lifts up. One-way love cures. One-way love transforms. It is the change agent of life."

I Like Adoption

If you haven't had an opportunity to watch this video yet, you should check it out. It is a powerful picture of the gospel.
 

Tim Keller: Christmas Is the End of Thinking You Are Better Than Someone Else

"There’s a place in one of Martin Luther’s nativity sermons where he asks something like, “Do know what a stable smells like? You know what that family would have smelled like after the birth when they went out into the city? And if they were standing next to you, how would you have felt about them and regarded them?” He is saying, I want you to see Christ in the neighbor you tend to despise—in the political party you despise, in the race you despise, in the class of people you despise.

Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are." [via] 

Adapted from “Mary,” sermon by Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, December 23, 2001. 

Written Beneath A Crucifix

Powerful words penned by Les Miserables' Victor Hugo after the death of his daughter in 1847:

"You who weep, come to this God, for he weeps.
You who suffer, come to him, for he cures.
You who tremble, come to him, for he smiles.
You who pass, come to him, for he remains."

[via]

Isaac Wimberley: God With Us

Jeff Vanderstelt: Good News For Christians

[via JT]

We Were Made For So Much More

 “You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing." - Walker Percy

The Essence of Christianity

Last night I was reading Eric Metaxas' celebrated biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I came across this summation of Bonhoeffer's theology in the words of Metaxas. I thought it was great:

"The essence of Christianity is not about religion at all, but about the person of Christ... Religion was a dead, man-made thing, and at the heart of Christianity was something else entirely—God himself.

[Bonhoeffer] aggressively attacked the idea of “religion” and moral performance as the very enemies of Christianity and of Christ because they present the false idea that somehow we can reach God through our moral efforts.This led to hubris and spiritual pride, the sworn enemies of Christianity. “Thus,” he said, “the Christian message is basically amoral and irreligious, paradoxical as that may sound.”"

Odd Thomas: The Incarnation

We Were Made For So Much More

"A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones." - Charles Darwin


I agree with you Charles.

No Ifs, Ands, or Buts: The Message of Grace

This is a helpful reminder from Brennan Manning:

"My message, unchanged for more than fifty years, is this: God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.  It is the message of grace… A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five… A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands, or buts… This grace is indiscriminate compassion.  It works without asking anything of us… Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover.  Grace is enough… Jesus is enough." [via]

Gerhard Forde: Christian Progress

"Am I making progress? If I am really honest, it seems to me that the question is odd, even a little ridiculous. As I get older and death draws nearer, I don’t seem to be getting better. I get a little more impatient, a little more anxious about having perhaps missed what this life has to offer, a little slower, harder to move, a little more sedentary and set in my ways.

Am I making progress? Well, maybe it seems as though I sin less, but that may only be because I’m getting tired! It’s just too hard to keep indulging the lusts of youth. 

Is that sanctification? I wouldn’t think so! One should not, I expect, mistake encroaching senility for sanctification! But can it be, perhaps, that it is precisely the unconditional gift of grace that helps me to see and admit all that? I hope so. The grace of God should lead us to see the truth about ourselves, and to gain a certain lucidity, a certain humor, a certain down-to-earthness." [via]

Michael Horton: The Only Reason I Can Sleep Well At Night

“My conscience does not render a positive verdict in God’s courtroom when I look inside myself. The only reason I can sleep well at night is that even though my heart is filled with corruption and even though I am not doing my best to please him, I have in heaven at the Father’s right hand the beloved Son, who has not only done his best for himself but has fulfilled all righteousness for me in my place."

From Christless Christianity via OFI

Charles Spurgeon: Without the Cross...

"Without the cross there would have been a wound for which there was no ointment, a pain for which there was no balm." [source] 

Erwin Lutzer: He Bore the Sting For Us

"Jesus went through darkness that we might have light. He was cursed that we might be blessed. He was condemned that we might be able to say, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." He suffered hell for us that we can enjoy heaven with Him... 

Sin, like a loathsome serpent, clung to Him, but He bore the sting for us. We can hide behind the wall of His grace and know that we are safe from wrath."

A Hole In Our Holiness?

Mark Galli recently reviewed Kevin DeYoung's book 'The Hole in our Holiness.'

This review  is an incredible look at the human condition (even post-regeneration) and it is rubbing a lot of Christians the wrong way. Personally, I agree with the theology behind what Mark is saying. 

Mark is gracious in his critique of the book, and refreshingly honest about his own struggles.

If you have the time, stop by CT and read the review in its entirety.  For everyone else, here are some highlights:

"What I've discovered is this: The older I've grown, the more I realize how layered and subtle is my sin; the more spiritually mature I am, the more I realize, along with Jeremiah, how desperately wicked my heart is. In that sense, as I run the last laps of life, I'm much less impressed with my outward progress, and more aware than ever of my sin, and more and more in a constant state of repentance. Others compliment me on my "progress"—I no longer have a temper, I'm more considerate of my wife, more compassionate toward others, and so on and so forth. But they cannot see my heart, and if they did, they'd run in fear, repelled by the cauldron evil that remains. Perhaps I've simply failed in the pursuit of holiness. Or maybe the pursuit of holiness is not so much a striving to adopt a life of habitual virtue but learning how to live a life of constant repentance.

[DeYoung] says that those who pursue a righteous life are “susceptible to judgmentalism and arrogance.” What I think he fails to see is that those who pursue holiness with the passion that he pleads for are more than “susceptible” to these temptations; they will inevitably become self-righteous. This is my personal testimony and the witness of history. DeYoung points us to the Puritans as examples of holiness. But there is a reason that the Puritans have a reputation for priggishness and self-righteousness. Having been a student of the Puritans myself, I know their movement started out with the best of motives—to live godly lives in a sinful world. But their passion for holiness led inevitably to self-righteousness. Their historical reputation is due in part to secular bias, but it is also due to historical facts.

…while I applaud the reminder that we are called to be holy, and while I recognize that there is some deliberate effort involved, I believe that a conscious and purposeful pursuit of holiness is about the worst way to go about it. I cannot think of a person I know or a historical figure who has aspired to holiness without suffering from spiritual pride. This has certainly been the case in my own spiritual journey. The times I have deliberately tried to become godly are when I have become most like the devil—irritable, judgmental, arrogant, and prideful to start with. The paradox is when I stop trying to be holy, and simply repent as the sinner I am, I become more patient, kind, and loving."

Right on Mark! 

Ray Ortlund: How to Read the Bible

"There are two ways to read the Bible.  We can read it as law or as promise.

If we read the Bible as law, we will find on every page what God is telling us we should do.  Even the promises will be conditioned by law.  But if we read the Bible as promise, we will find on every page what God is telling us he will do.  Even the law will be conditioned by promise.

In Galatians 3 Paul explains which hermeneutic is the correct one.  “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.  For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18).

So, if we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or grace, demand or provision, threat or promise — if we want to know how to read the Bible in an apostolic rather than a rabbinic way — we can follow the plot-line of the Bible itself and see which comes first.  And in fact, promise comes first, in God’s word to Abram in Genesis 12.  Then the law is “added” — significant word, in Galatians 3:19 — the law is added as a sidebar later, in Exodus 20.  The hermeneutical category “promise” establishes the larger, wraparound framework for everything else added in along the way.

The deepest message of the Bible is the promises of God to undeserving law-breakers through his grace in Christ.  This is not an arbitrary overlay forced onto the biblical text.  The Bible presents itself to us this way.  The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there, fulfilled in Christ and revered by us.  But they do not provide the hermeneutic with which we make sense of the whole.  We can and should understand them as qualified by God’s gracious promise, for all who will bank their hopes on him." [source] 

3 Sermon Recommendations

There have been three messages lately that have really stuck with me, and I thought I would share them with you. If you are looking for Christ-centered, grace-filled preaching, here you go:

First, Tullian Tchividjian preached a message last week entitled God Comes Down Part 1. It is fantastic! Definitely check that one out. You will be blessed by it. I was able to listen to it again this morning and it was even better the second time.

Dr. Warren Gage, of Knox Theological Seminary, preached what I would describe as a theological masterpiece. If you want to hear a man preach Christ with both knowledge and zeal - give this a listen.

Lastly, Timothy Keller's message entitled Justified by Faith could be a case study in how to preach the gospel to an audience ranging from the pious to the skeptic. It's a gem that speaks to the very heart of mankind and provides the only possible solution to our ills - Jesus.

CJ Mahaney: Singing the Gospel To Yourself

If you watch this video, you are in for an 8.5 minute gospel feast. This is the good stuff. Why churches and minsters would talk about anything else perplexes me.



[via]

Becoming Increasingly More Aware of My Need of Christ

I was listening to a solid Christmas message this morning and heard this helpful reminder:

"If you understood just how desperate you were, just how broken you were, you would be unapologetic in your clinging to God's grace."

I think the speaker is right. I so often fail to understand my own desperate need of Christ on a daily basis. Pride and self-sufficiency are always right outside my door waiting to overtake me. May God help me realize, once again, my need of His grace and my utter dependence on Him.

William Romaine: Pardoned

“It is true, I have sin in me, but it is pardoned. God has forgiven me all trespasses. I stand before him in my surety, who undertook for me, and I am perfect in him. The Father chose me in his Son: he looks upon the face of his Beloved, and sees me in him. In him he is well pleased, so he is with me. As he loves him, so he loves me. This is the glorious privilege which by faith I now enjoy.

I deny sight and sense, and I stick to the word of God. I adhere strictly to its testimony concerning me, believing myself to be dead indeed unto sin in Christ, and in him absolutely freed from guilt and condemnation. The Father is at peace with me, and he loves me in his Son, and with the same love with which he loves him—his Father and my Father." [via]

The Truth Hidden In Plain Sight

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." - Robert Jastrow (astronomer) [source]

John Newton: Boasting is Excluded for Christians

This is theological gold:

“They [true Christians] love much, because much has been forgiven them. They dare not, they will not ascribe anything to themselves—but are glad to acknowledge, that they must have perished (if possible) a thousand times over, if Jesus had not been their Savior, their shepherd, and their shield. When they were wandering—he brought them back; when fallen—he raised them; when wounded—he healed them; when fainting—he revived them. By him, out of weakness—they have been made strong:  he has taught their hands to war, and covered their heads in the day of battle.

In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of his excellence, have been occasioned by the humiliating proofs they have had of their own vileness. They would not have known so much of him—if they had not known so much of themselves.” [via]

Newton's words bring to mind this story from Luke's Gospel.

Jacob Goff: Permission to Sin?

I instinctively bristle at writing like this, but perhaps this is exactly the kind of thing I need to hear on a daily basis. This is the writing of someone who has experienced God's scandalous grace. Enjoy:

“Should we sin all the more that grace may abound?” This is the question Paul anticipates his hearers to ask after he explains how deep grace goes. I had never anticipated this question - despite spending tons of time in church growing up. Why not? Because most preachers are afraid to preach like Paul.

Today, we think anticipating this question is necessarily sinful. You heathens - we think - of course all you care about is how much you can get away with. And we suppress our own impulse to ponder this question. But what if this question is an indication - the indication - that we are beginning to wrap our minds around the gospel?

If you leave a pastor’s sermon and this question is rolling around in your head, “Does this mean I can do whatever I want?” then your probably beginning to understand.

Like many things in this mad world, asking the right questions is a harder task than having the right answer. But Paul’s answer is important: Should we sin all the more that grace may abound? By no means. Or, colloquially, Hell no! But then, he goes right back to talking about grace. Paul doesn’t say, Of course you idiots are obsessed with what you can get away with – you need to be more spiritual like me! He knows talking that way will only encourage pharisaism, and he also knows that this is the point that will help us see God’s love for us in Jesus at its starkest and most offensive level. The truth is, God just keeps on forgiving.

So, if our impulse is to sin after hearing about grace, what is the cure? More meditating on the gospel. More grace. (Read Romans 6 for yourself, Paul seems obsessed with Christ’s work on our behalf. The climax grows and grows, Romans 8 – there is therefore now no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ. And if you think Paul is, like many pastors, going to point you to your strength and determination to make your life right with God, take a gander at the chapter sandwiched between these two, Romans 7, “I do the things I don’t want to do, who is going to deliver me from this body of death?” Thanks be to God, indeed. We need Jesus more than we imagined!)

So, does God’s forgiveness mean we have permission to sin? Can we just keep on sinning?

Robert Farrar Capon writes:

God, in the act of creating you, gave you permission to do any damned fool thing you could mangage to bring off. Forgiveness neither increases nor decreases God permissiveness; instead, it just fishes us out of the otherwise inescapable quicksand we so stupidly got ourselves into and says, ‘There! Isn’t that better?’

To repeat the central point of this post, and perhaps the bible, God just keeps on forgiving you. Should we keep on sinning? No! But don’t expect God to suddenly stop forgiving you. Christ blood covers your rebellion – all of it." [via]

Tim Keller: Getting Out

If Christ Has Not Been Raised...

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. - 1 Corinthians 15:14, 32

There is only one reason why I am a Christian - and it has nothing to do with our American Christian subculture, sanitized Christian music, cute messages addressing my felt-needs, morality, values, the "victorious Christian life,"  metro-sexual worship leaders, or supposed crowns some say I will earn. I am a Christian - by God's grace - because of the objective fact that Jesus Christ walked out of the grave 2,000 years ago.

If Jesus has not been raised, I am to be pitied. If Christ's body is ever recovered and his resurrection is proven to be a hoax, I am out. I will be on the first flight to Amsterdam ready to party like it's 1999...  for tomorrow I die.

Martin Luther: All of Grace

“The fatuous idea that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving sinners. God must therefore first take the sledge-hammer of the Law in His fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness and its brood of self-confidence, self wisdom, and self-help. When the conscience has been thoroughly frightened by the Law it welcomes the Gospel of grace with its message of a Savior Who came–not to break the bruised reed nor to quench the smoking flax–but to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, and to grant forgiveness of sins to all the captives.” [via]

Exploring Covenant Theology

Here is a podcast recommendation for those interested in learning the basics of covenant theology. 

Michael Horton sits down with Mike Brown and Zach Keele, authors of the new book, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored.

Also, here [Part 1 & Part 2] are some more in-depth lessons on this important issue.

Of First Importance

"Whenever we don't actively focus on the gospel, we passively drift back into self obsession and self righteousness." - Michael Horton

Grace in the Midst of Doubt & Spiritual Famine

I have talked to several people lately who are struggling – who are waning in their passion for Christ and are wrestling with certain doubts. If that is you, if you are struggling right now as well, be encouraged. The Christian life is (thankfully) bigger than you and I.

The Christian faith, unlike every other worldview or religion, is not about how we feel today or how zealous we are in our good works. It is about the objective fact that God the Son came down to earth, took on flesh, lived a sinless life, fulfilled the law, died on a cross, bodily rose again for our justification (as evidenced by the eyewitness account of over 500 men and women), and promises to return in glory and power. 

Now, for those whom he called, there is no condemnation ever! Those who are in Christ can freely live under the banner of “It is finished.” That is what Christianity is about. It is not about our performance.

Hang in there! We are allowed to struggle and doubt; but know that God will never let go of his children. His grip will not falter. His righteousness is still enough. His grace is still sufficient even for your low moments, even for your doubts.

If you are struggling, if you are in a season of spiritual famine, take some time today to thank God that this thing is not about you. 

Though we tend to be faithless - though we are prone to wander - he remains faithful for he cannot go against his nature. That is good news!

Tim & Kathy Keller: Gospel-Driven Love in Marriage

"We must say to ourselves something like this: “Well, when Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn’t think, ‘I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.’ No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us—denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him—and in the greatest act of love in history, he stayed. He said, ‘Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.’ He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely. That is why I am going to love my spouse."” [via]

Wanna Be A Good Theologian?

"A theologian is made, not by thinking or reading or speculating, but by living and dying and being damned." -Martin Luther

Death Swallowed

This is a great video.

Joel Beeke: An Unbreakable Covenant

"We rest on this unbreakable covenant. In this covenant of grace, we meet a giving God and stand before Him as Abram did, as receiving parents...

With regard to the salvation promised to us in the covenant, we are receiving sinners approaching a giving God. What have we contributed to our own salvation? Absolutely nothing; it is all of grace. Thank God for His covenant, and for the burning lamp that passed through the pieces of the animals, which confirmed that covenant to Abram and to all who are in Christ, Abram’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29)." [via]

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Justification (Great News For Sinners)

"But this is the amazing message, and this is what is meant by justification – that God tells us that, as the result of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of his life, his death and his resurrection, if we believe on him and trust ourselves solely and entirely to him, God pardons and forgives our sins.

Not only that, he declares that we are free from guilt: more than that, justification includes this. He not only declares that we are pardoned and forgiven and that we are guiltless, he also declares that we are positively righteous. He imputes to us, that is, he puts to our account, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was entirely without sin, who never failed his Father in any way, and who never broke a Commandment or transgressed any law. God gives to us – puts upon us – the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and then looks upon us and pronounces that we are righteous in his holy sight. That is the biblical doctrine of justification." [via]

Kim Riddlebarger: Imputation

"When we renounce our own righteousness and place our trust in Jesus Christ, God places our sins upon Jesus, who becomes a curse, paying for our sins. Through that same faith, God imputes or reckons to us the perfect righteousness of the Son of God. Thus God sees us as though we had never sinned and as though we had kept the law of Moses perfectly, even though we remain sinners." [source] 

Tullian Tchividjian: Identity

"Our identity is anchored not in the "do" of law but the "done" of the gospel." [source]

Phil Ryken: A Desperate Need For Grace

“We begin at the beginning, with our desperate need for grace. From the moment we came into the world as helpless babies, right up until this exact second, we are utterly and completely dependent on the grace of God for everything we have, including life itself. What is more, if we have any hope of life after death—eternal life—it is only because of God’s free and undeserved grace for us in Jesus Christ.

Until we understand this, it is impossible for us to have the relationship with God that we truly need. But when we do understand this—when we understand our absolute need for Jesus—then his grace changes everything." [source]

Carl Trueman: Triumph of the King

"Based upon rational, empirical inquiry, one would have to say that the man on the cross is a filthy criminal of some kind. Why else would he be dying such an indescribable death as a punishment? 

The cross is a disgrace, both by the standards of Roman law and Jewish custom, and thus the one upon whom such a punishment is inflicted must be the lowest kind of criminal imaginable. 

In addition, one would have to say that he is broken, crushed, defeated.

As he dies on the cross we see no king, no victory over sin, no cause for rejoicing or glorifying the one who hangs there... 

However, approaching the event with the eyes of faith and with the criteria provided by God's revelation of himself, [one] sees a very different picture: not a sinner, but the only sinless man; not defeat, but triumph; not wrath, but mercy.

What we have on the cross is not the defeat of a criminal, but the triumph of the king of glory; not the victory of the powers of evil, but the victory of good over evil; not the hopeless curse of God, but the blessing of God by which all may be saved." 

[source - page 43]

Happy Reformation Day!

HT: Desiring God

Michael Horton: Law & Gospel

"In God's Word we hear both law (commands to be obeyed) and gospel (good news to be believed). The perennial temptation of the church in every age is to confuse these two words. 

Sometimes the law is dissolved into the gospel; more frequently, the gospel becomes absorbed into the law. We often hear calls to "live the gospel" or even to "be the gospel." In effect, this means that our own conformity to the righteousness that God demands becomes the message, rather than Christ's life, death, and resurrection. When God speaks his law, we finally have a true measure of our lives. There is no room for excuses. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, not only in what we have done but in what we have failed to do.

Yet when God speaks his gospel, it is a strange and surprising announcement. Although God could justly condemn all of us, he has planned and executed our redemption at the greatest personal cost: the suffering of his own Son. 

In the fullness of time, the Son became flesh. He fulfilled all righteousness during his life, in our place, and then bore our curse and was raised on the third day as the glorified head of his body, the church. All of our righteousness, holiness, and redemption are found in Christ alone; and because he lives, we too will be raised in glory beyond the reach of sin and death. 

The law promises life on the condition of perfect obedience; the gospel promises life in Christ alone, through faith alone. Only in Christ can any sinner dare to stand unashamed before the face of God." [via]

Jacob Goff: The Gospel For the Burned and Wounded

"If you are burned out by Christianity, if you feel you have failed the standards too many times, if you avoid God with as much intensity as you avoid your selfless friends, then perhaps you need to hear the gospel once more.

The gospel says, You are free by Christ’s blood because he says so. God has made a promise that won’t be broken. You didn’t earn it, and it’s not your job to prove that you could have earned it... It is unconditional, slightly offensive, and wildly liberating." [via]

Rod Rodenbladt: To Those Christians Who Have Failed

"Christian failures are going to walk into heaven, be welcomed into heaven, leap into heaven like a calf leaping out of its stall, laughing and laughing, as if it’s all too good to be true.

It isn’t just that we failures will get in. It’s that we will probably get in like that! 

We failures-in-living-the-Christian-life-as-described-in-the-Bible will probably say something like, “You mean it was that simple?!” “Just Christ’s cross & blood?! Just His righteousness imputed to my account as if mine? You gotta be kidding!” “And all of heaven is ours just because of what was done by Jesus outside of me, on the cross – not because of what Christ did in me” – in my heart, in my Christian living, in my behavior?!” “Well, I’ll be damned!” But, of course, that’s the point isn’t it? As a believer in Jesus as your Substitute, you won’t be damned! No believer in Jesus will be. Not a single one!" [via]

Betty McNeely: Mud-Pie Makers

"Here’s the grace message; We are not perfect. Our kids are not perfect. We don’t drive the perfect car, have the perfect house or the perfect figure. We don’t say perfect things, we don’t think perfect thoughts. But we are greatly loved by the only Perfect One in the universe and He loves us as the snotty-nosed, foolish mud-pie makers that we are.

We are His children and there is NOTHING that can separate us from His love."

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”–1 John 3:1

[via]

Martin Luther: Look Upon Christ

"Believe in Jesus Christ, crucified for thy sins. If thou feel thy sins, and the burden thereof, look not upon them in thyself, but remember that they are translated and laid upon Christ, whose stripes have made thee whole. This is the beginning of health and salvation." [via]

Grace in Marriage

[via]

Martin Luther: He Took Our Sins

“Christ is inno­cent so far as His own Per­son is con­cerned; there­fore He should not have been hanged from the tree. But because, accord­ing to the Law, every thief should have been hanged, there­fore, accord­ing to the Law of Moses, Christ Him­self should have been hanged; for He bore the per­son of a sin­ner and a thief—and not of one but of all sin­ners and thieves. For we are sin­ners and thieves, and there­fore we are wor­thy of death and eter­nal damna­tion. But Christ took all our sins upon Him­self, and for them He died on the cross. There­fore it was appro­pri­ate for Him to become a thief and, as Isa­iah says (53:12), to be ‘num­bered among the thieves.’

And all the prophets saw this, that Christ was to become the great­est thief, mur­dered, adul­terer, rob­ber, des­e­cra­tor, blas­phe­mer, etc., there has ever been any­where in the world. He is not act­ing in His own Per­son now. Now He is not the Son of God, born of the Vir­gin. But He is a sin­ner, who has and bears the sins of Paul, the former blasphemer, per­se­cu­tor, and assaulter; of Peter, who denied Christ, of David, who was an adul­terer and a mur­derer, and who causes the Gen­tiles to blas­pheme the name of the Lord (Rom. 2:24). In short, He has and bears all the sins of all men in His body—not in the sense that He has com­mit­ted them but in the sense that He took these sins, com­mit­ted by us, upon His own body, in order to make sat­is­fac­tion for them with His own blood…" [source]

Jonathan Edwards: Freedom of the Will & Corruption of the Heart

"The key problem with a sinner... is that though the human will is free, the sinful heart is corrupt, and  thus leads mankind to naturally choose sin over righteousness."

From: Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God

We Were Made For So Much More

“The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.” -Woody Allen

William Bridges: Exceeding Great Mercy

"You say, suppose that a man’s sins be exceeding great, gross and heinous; for I do confess that possibly a godly man may sin some sin against his light, and against his conscience sometimes; but as for me, my sin is exceeding great, gross and heinous, and have I not just cause and reason now to be discouraged?

No, not yet, for though your sin be great, is not God’s mercy great, exceeding great? Is not the satisfaction made by Christ great? Are the merits of Christ’s blood small? Is not God, the great God of heaven and earth, able to do great things? 

You grant that God is almighty in providing for you, and is He not almighty also in pardoning? Will you rob God of His almightiness in pardoning? You say your sin is great, but is it infinite? Is not God alone infinite? Is your sin as big as God, as big as Christ? Is Jesus Christ only a Mediator for small sins? Will you bring down the satisfaction of Christ, and the mercy of God, to your own model?"

From A Lifting Up for the Downcast [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: Good News For Those in Need

"The gospel is for those who have realized that they can’t carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Only when God drives us to the end of ourselves do we begin to see life in the gospel. Which is another way of saying that only those who stand in need of a savior will look for or recognize a savior. 

Fortunately, Christianity in its original, most authentic expression understands God chiefly as savior and human beings chiefly as those in need of being saved." [via]

We Were Made For So Much More

"I wish everyone could get rich and famous and [have] everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that’s not the answer." - Jim Carrey [source]

Charles Spurgeon: Looking Unto Jesus

“It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ.

He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.”

All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.”" [via]

Valley of Vision: Contentment

"Heavenly Father...

Let me willingly accept misery, sorrow, [and] temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to You, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Your love.

When Your Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labor to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there.

Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself. 

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in my self I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things."

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Help Me O God

Yesterday I was rereading a message that I had prepared and taught last year, and I was taken aback by the outline. 

Grace, the grace that I was teaching that night, was absolutely scandalous. Had a Pharisee or a legalist heard that message I might have been run out of town on charges of antinomianism. 

It was a beautiful manuscript: God was big, man was small, our situation was dire, justice was deserving, yet grace in Christ was amazing.

Now, I fear that I have slipped into a state of apathy. The gospel doesn't seem to captivate me like it once did. I accomplish tasks, I stay busy, I minister, but I am afraid I am not as stirred by the love of God as I once was.

Father please help me to fall back in love with you. Please amaze me once more with your grace.

Exhortations can't help me, law will do little for me now, "how to" tips are for someone else - I need grace, I need the gospel, I need Jesus. 

I need my eyes to be opened once more to your scandalous and eternal love for this wretched man.

Please hear my cry O lover of my soul. Stir me once more. Lead me back to Calvary.

Mattie Montgomery: Fatherhood & Christianity

This is an interesting video that I found on Joe Thorn's blog:

Dane Ortlund: Divine Favor

"The gospel calls us to believe the unbelievable: the radiant sun of divine favor is shining down on me, and while the clouds of my sin and failure may darken my feelings of that favor, the favor cannot be lessened any more than a tiny, wispy cloud can threaten the existence of the sun. The sun is shining. It cannot stop. Clouds or no clouds, sin or no sin—the sun is shining on me. Because of Another." [via]

John Piper: The Gospel of God's Glorious Grace

“The gospel is the good news that God is the all-satisfying end of all our longings, and that even though he does not need us, and is in fact estranged from us because of our God-belittling sins, he has, in the great love with which he loved us, made a way for sinners to drink at the river of his delights through Jesus Christ.

And we will not be enthralled by this good news unless we feel that he was not obligated to do this. He was not coerced or constrained by our value. He is the center of the gospel. The exaltation of his glory is the driving force of the gospel. The gospel is a gospel of grace! And grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” [via]

The Top Ten R.C. Sproul Lectures

Ligonier Ministries has compiled what they consider to be R.C. Sproul's top ten lectures. You can find them here. 

Be sure to check them out when you have the time. Personally, I found lecture #10 particularly convicting.

Valley of Vision: In Christ

"How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!

Without him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast;
in him I draw near and touch his kingly sceptre.

Without him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes;
in him I gaze upon my my Father-God and Friend.

Without him I hide my lips in trembling shame;
in him I open my mouth in petition and praise.

Without him all is wrath and consuming fire;
in him is all love, and the repose of my soul.

Without him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish;
in him its gates are barred to me by his precious blood.

Without him darkness spreads its horrors in front;
in him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon.

Without him all things call for my condemnation;
in him they minister to my comfort, and are to be enjoyed for my thanksgiving.

Praise be to thee for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus."

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Tim Keller's New City Catechism

Tim Keller recently announced New City Catechism. “A joint adult and children’s catechism consisting of 52 questions and answers adapted by Timothy Keller and Sam Shammas from the Reformation catechisms.”

It is a beautiful app for your ipad. Download it for free here. 

Alistair Begg: Declared Righteous

Matt Chandler: Grace When We Fall

“The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death.” [via]

Martin Luther: Christ is Our Righteousness

"So then, have we nothing to do to obtain righteousness? No, nothing at all! For this righteousness comes by doing nothing, hearing nothing, knowing nothing, but rather in knowing and believing this only–that Christ has gone to the right hand of the Father, not to become our judge, but to become for us our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness, our salvation! 

Now God sees no sin in us. For in this heavenly righteousness, sin has no place. So now we may certainly think, “Although I still sin, I don’t despair, because Christ lives–who is both my righteousness and my eternal life.” In that righteousness I have no sin, no fear, no guilty conscience, no fear of death. I am indeed a sinner in this life of mine and in my own righteousness, but I have another life, another righteousness above this life, which is in Christ, the Son of God, who knows no sin or death, but is eternal righteousness and eternal life. 

For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost…On this truth and only on this truth the Church is built and has its being." [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: A High View of Law & Grace

"A high view of the law... demolishes all notions that we can do it–it exterminates all attempts at self-sufficient moral endeavor. We’ll always maintain a posture of suspicion regarding the radicality of unconditional grace as long as we think we have the capacity to pull it off. Only an inflexible picture of what God demands is able to penetrate the depth of our need and convince us that we never outgrow our need for grace–that grace never gets overplayed... 

So a high view of law equals a high view of grace. A low view of law equals a low view of grace."

Heavenly Identity

Matt Chandler: Created to Worship

“It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurisms now normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping — ascribing worth to — something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off.” [via]

Tim Keller: Marriage & the Gospel

C. S. Lewis: Faith

“Faith…is the art of holding onto things your reason has once accepted, in spite of our change of moods.”

Jared Wilson: Living In Light of "It Is Finished"

[via]

We Were Made For So Much More

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.” When Kroft asked him, “What’s the answer?” Brady responded, “I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find.”  -Tom Brady interview with Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes, 12.23.07.

Gerhard Forde: Law & Grace

"The law says, ‘do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘believe in this,’ and everything is already done." [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: Good News For Those Who Have Crashed and Burned

"Failing to believe the gospel leads to slavery because now finding peace, joy, meaning, and satisfaction is up to me. I’m on my own. This is why we give into temptation–we’re desperately looking under every rock and behind every tree searching for something to make ourselves happy, something to save us, something to set us free. 

The gospel declares that I don’t need to save myself, defend myself, legitimize myself, justify myself, free myself, or in any other way, ensure that the ultimate verdict on my life is pass and not fail. The gospel frees me from the obsessive pressure to avoid the judgement of joylessness, the enslaving demand to find happiness. 

Walker Percy has described humanity as waiting for news. Christianity announces that the news has come: I’m not on my own. It’s not on me. 

We all know that “further, better, and more aggressive living” on our part isn’t producing life for us, and so the gospel comes as good news to those who have crashed and burned. What I need and long for most has come from outside of me–from “above the sun”–in the person of Jesus." [via]

R.C. Sproul: The Active Obedience of Jesus

This is important:



[via]

Tim Keller: Our Greatest Hope

"God’s reckless grace is our greatest hope."     [via]

Spurgeon: Grace for the Spiritually Sick

"I have no gospel to preach to the self-righteous, no, not a word, Jesus Christ Himself came not to call the righteous, and i am not going to do what he did not do, No, I ask you rather to look at that righteousness of yours till you see what a delusion it is. It is not half so substantial as a cobweb. Be finished with it! Flee it! 

"They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick" (Mark 2:17). Is it not equally clear that the great remedies of grace and redemption are for the sick in soul? They cannot be for the whole, for they cannot be of use to such. If you feel that you are spiritually sick, the Physician has come into the world for you. If you are altogether undone by reason of your sin, you are the very person aimed at in the plan of salvation. I say that the Lord of love had precisely such as you in his eye when he arranged the system of grace. 

He that is a dirty sinner is the kind of man that Jesus Christ came to make clean, Come in your disorder. Come to your heavenly Father in all your sin and sinfulness. come to Jesus just as you are: leprous, filthy, naked. Come, though despair is brooding over you, pressing upon your chest like a horrible nightmare."[via]