Jerry Bridges: Should I Depend on My Own Law-Keeping?

"Dependence on one’s law keeping and faith in Christ are mutually exclusive. In fact, faith involves a total renunciation of dependence on one’s good works and instead total reliance on Jesus Christ and His righteousness." via: CQ

Michael Horton: What is the Gospel?

Louie Giglio: The Gospel-Driven Life

Jonathan Dodson: Preaching the Gospel

"We should avoid preachy self-righteousness because it communicates something opposite to the gospel. 

Preachy self-righteousness says: "If you perform well (morally or spiritually), God will accept you." But the gospel says, "God already accepts you because Jesus performed perfectly on your behalf."

There's a hell of difference between the two. The gospel sets us free from performance and releases us into the arms of grace. Self-wrought performance is a death sentence, but the obedience of Christ on our behalf is eternal life.

What people need to hear is grace, audacious, seems-too-good-to-be-true-but-so-true-it's-good grace." HT: Resurgence

"Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us." - John Stott

Ronnie Martin: A Call to Brokeness

The call to brokenness is a call to openness. It’s an altered vision. It doesn’t mean that our lives enter into a continuous state of disrepair so that God can use what “working” functions we have left for his glory. Brokenness is the gentrification of our hearts. It means that the heart we had was condemned and the only way for God to make it fit for use was to demolish it and rebuild it from the ground up. Same body, new heart. 

The reason it hurts so bad is that we all love our old hearts. We love the familiar pulse and well-worn rhythm that our old hearts provided for us. They filled us with adrenaline, pumping the blood of self-indulgence through our veins . . . until we remember that they didn’t at all. We remember that they shut us into the cells of our own self-belief, closing us off from the liberation of godly self-denial.

The beauty of low self-esteem is that we finally have the hearts to highly esteem God. It’s not that we all turn into Debbie Downers and drench ourselves in self-loathing and self-pity. No, there’s no time for that when our eyes are fixed firmly on our Lord. via GC

Doug Wilson: Gospel

HT: CFG

Kim Riddlebarger: Justification

"If we do not understand how it is that we as sinners are declared right before a holy God (which is what it means to be “justified”), we may not only misunderstand the gospel–and therefore risk standing before God on the day of judgment expecting that our own righteousness will be sufficient–but we will miss out on the wonderful comfort which this doctrine provides for us.

The good news is that as justified sinners–our sin has been reckoned to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness has been reckoned to us (Romans 5:12, 18-19)–we now possess the greatest gift imaginable, a conscience free from fear, terror, and dread (2 Tim. 4:18). 

The knowledge that our sins are forgiven and that God is as pleased with us every bit as much as he is with his own dear Son (2 Corinthians 5:21), not only quiets our conscience and creates a wonderful sense of joy and well-being, but it also provides powerful motivation to live a life of gratitude before God (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). In fact, understanding this doctrine is the only way we will be able to give all glory and thanks to God, which is the ultimate goal of our justification."

Jesus is the Truer and Better Politician

via Z

Martin Luther: Rest

"We find no rest for our weary bones unless we cling to the word of grace."