Brennan Manning: Vulgar Grace

"My life is a witness to vulgar grace–a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up a 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. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying theif’s request–”Please, remember me”–and assures him, “You bet!” A grace that is the pleasure of the Father, fleshed out in the carpenter Messiah, Jesus the Christ, who left His Father’s side not for heaven’s sake but for our sakes, yours and mind. 

This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. 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. He is enough. Jesus is enough."

What is Justification?

Gold:

"Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone." ~ Westminster Larger Catechism

John Stott: The Cross Cuts Us Down to Size

"Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size."

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Horatius Bonar: Only the Certainty of Love

“Terror accomplishes no real obedience. Suspense brings forth no fruit unto holiness. No gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor can subdue one lust, or correct our crookedness of will. But the free pardon of the cross uproots sin, and withers all its branches. Only the certainty of love, forgiving love, can do this.” 

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Sinclair Ferguson: Grace is Jesus

"Grace is not some appendage to Christ’s being. All there is is the Lord Jesus Himself. And so when Jesus speaks about us abiding in Him and He abiding in us – however mysterious it may be, mystical in that sense – it is a personal union.

Christianity is Christ because there isn’t anything else. There is no atonement that somehow can be detached from who the Lord Jesus is. There is no grace that can be attached to you transferred from Him. All there is is Christ and your soul.” 

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Tim Brister: Where the Problem Lies

"The worldly culture tells us that the center of our problems are out there, but the gospel tells us that the problem lies in our hearts. Only the gospel can bring transformation from within, and as long as wrongly diagnose the location of the disease, we will fail to access the cure.

Only a true grasp of the gospel can liberate us from the lies we have told ourselves. Not only are we  dishonest about our sin and neediness, but we are not fearful or closed off from inviting others to being honest with themselves and ourselves as well. Tripp is right. We participate in “the blind leading the blind” when we refuse to see sin rightly and live as a community that makes self-atonement by pretending and performing in attempts to circumvent the power of the gospel to change our lives. How blind are we? We would rather live in the chains of self-deception through the lens of pride than the freedom of self-discovery through the lens of Scripture.

A gospel-centered community is counter-cultural because it identifies the real problem (our hearts) and has the only, lasting cure to solve it (the gospel). Instead of pretending to be self-righteous, we give permission and invite others to help us change by exposing self-deception and blind spots in a community radically shaped by grace and governed by truth. I am not who I am in my pride and self-deception. I am who I am in Christ and my acceptance through his imputed righteousness and substitutionary death on the cross. The challenge is to live in latter through repenting of the former, and the counter-cultural community changed by the gospel will serve as the canvas upon which the sunrise of God’s Word illuminates our lives.

When I know my Sin-bearer drank the bitter cup and atoned for ever last one of my sins, why should I hide? What could be known about me that is not already covered in the blood? When I know that God’s righteous judgment of my sin was carried out on His Son in my place on that cursed tree, I live in the fact that there is no condemnation for me, and no accusation of the enemy can silence the Advocate whose precious blood speaks for me. If these truths are ruling the affections of our hearts, then we can live as a people who invite truth in the place of deception, believing that the truth will set us free."

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Zach Hunter: Grace on the Ground

"The truth is, it’s much easier to feel compassion and show grace to people half a world away than it is to be kind to the people we live with, the jerk who took our parking space or the “idiot” who disagrees with our political views."

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Matt Patrick: The Gospel According to Hoosiers

Here's a strong illustration of grace from the movie Hoosiers starring Gene Hackman:

"...Things are going downhill, and according to the Hickory community, it’s all due to Coach Dale’s unconventional coaching methods (e.g. playing with only 4 players in an awesome scene).  Eventually, a town meeting is demanded by the angry Hickory community in order to decide, once and for all, whether Coach Dale is to remain the coach of Hickory High.

With a very court room kind of aura, the scene begins with Coach Dale spilling his heart out—confessing that he coached the team in an honest and diligent manner.  When the gentleman officiating the meeting opens the floor for comments concerning Coach Dale, Mrs. Law herself, Ms. Fleener, volunteers to speak.  I still remember the first time I saw the film, I cringed watching her walk up to the podium, anticipating the hammer of Myra Fleener to finish him off, to kick him while he’s good and vulnerable.

The moment is here. Everyone is expecting the hammer, BUT (Ephesians 2:4) as she arrives to the podium, Ms. Fleener opens a piece of paper (with tears in her eyes) and reads with a shaky voice:

“I think, in order to be fair… I think it would be a big mistake to let Coach Dale go.Give him a chance.”

This is the last thing you expect from Ms. Fleener, who hasn’t shown an ounce of sympathy for Coach Dale the entire film. Fleener is the ultimate t-crosser and i-dotter, yet, she vouches for the hothead coach—therefore being an agent of grace. “Giv[ing] him a chance” for Fleener translates as, “I know he doesn’t deserve it…I know he has a past, but give him a break.”  This is huge.  The lawgiver of the narrative proves to be the agent of compassion.

Mrs. Fleener, like all lawgivers (i.e. everyone) has the potential to squash its subject with our ample demands and expectations.  Lawgivers stalk their subject, or at least that’s what Fleener did to Coach Dale. One might expect, at any moment of the film, for Coach Dale to cry out:

Think of how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not think about somebody chasing you down all the time.–Flannery O’Connor

That’s it. Grace means the chase is over. Throwing her hands up in submission, Ms. Fleener stopped chasing Coach Dale. Grace is the end of chasing."

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Paul Tripp: Law & Grace

"When I hear a sermon that is essentially law-driven, that is, asking the law to do what only the grace of Jesus Christ can accomplish, I am immediately concerned about the preacher. I immediately wonder about his view of himself, because if he had any self-consciousness about his own weakness and sin, he would find little hope and comfort for himself and his hearers in that kind of sermon. 

You see this dynamic in the Pharisees. Because they thought of themselves as righteous, perfect law givers, they had no problem laying unbearable law burdens on others. Their misuse of the law had its roots not only in bad theology but also in ugly human pride. They saw law keeping as possible, because they thought they were keeping it. And they thought that others should get up and keep it as well as they did. They were the religious leaders of their day, but they were arrogant, insensitive, uncompassionate, and judgmental. They were not part of what God was doing at the moment; no, they were in the way of it."

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C.S. Lewis: Forgiveness

"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

Good News For Sinners Like Us

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Look at how Paul describes us in this passage: “weak” “ungodly” and “sinners.” These are certainly not flattering descriptions. But, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that, apart from God’s grace, these are indeed accurate descriptions.

Contrary to what Western culture and our narcissism might tell us, we aren't awesome. But there is a sweet freedom in discovering that we no longer have to try to pretend that we are. 

The scandalous gospel of grace says that, in Christ, God loves us anyway. He sees us as we truly are. He sees our pride, lust, greed, and apathy. We are perfectly and piercingly known, yet loved in Christ. That is liberating news! That tells us that we are free from having to impress God or anyone else and can simply rest in the finished work of Christ on our behalf.

While we were sinners, Christ died for us. It doesn't get much better than that.

He didn't come for those who had already cleaned up their act. He didn't come for perfect people. He came for the sick, the wicked, the desperate, and the poor in spirit. He came for real people with messy issues. He came and died for real sinners like us. That’s good news.

J. Gresham Machen: Christ Will Do Everything or Nothing

"If Christ provides only a part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the awakened conscience sees clearly that our wretched attempt at goodness is insufficient even to bridge that gap. 

The guilty soul enters again into the hopeless reckoning with God, to determine whether we have really done our part. And thus we groan again under the old bondage of the law. 

Such an attempt to piece out the work of Christ by our own merit, Paul saw clearly, is the very essence of unbelief; Christ will do everything or nothing, and the only hope is to throw ourselves unreservedly on His mercy and trust Him for all."

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A Picture of Grace

Now this is a testimony worth sharing. Christ is exalted, man is minimized, and grace is proclaimed.



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Richard Ganz: The Holiness of God

This is good stuff. It's a much-needed message. 

I'm convinced that the more we understand of God's holiness, the more we will begin to comprehend the depth of our sin and our subsequent need for his grace. Which, in turn, will lead us to deeper and sweeter worship.

Scotty Smith: Redemptive Discontent

Here's a beautiful prayer from Scotty Smith:

"Lord Jesus, We ask you to renew and intensify our inner craving for you. Make us so faint that unless you hydrate our hearts with the gospel, and feed us with the bread of grace we will surely perish...

Give us redemptive discontent until our hearts rest again in you. Give us the gift of unrelenting gospel desperation."

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Jared Wilson: Joy Amidst Pain

“Because the gospel is true, then, even when we aren’t happy we can know the deeper joy because of the circumstances of God’s goodness and love” 

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A Reminder

Jack Miller once said: "Cheer up; you’re a lot worse off than you think you are, but in Jesus you’re far more loved than you ever could have imagined."

The bad news is bad (we aren't awesome and we have stirred the wrath of a holy God); but the good news of grace is really good. It's so good that we can never, in this life, fully comprehend it.

God knows who we really are. He sees past our fake smiles and knows our deepest secrets, insecurities, shame, remorse, guilt, pride, and idolatry. Yet, in Christ, he loves us anyway.

He loves us not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of who he is and what he has done.

Jesus lived a sinless life, died in our place bearing our sins, credited to us his righteousness, and adopted us into his family. We are now, in Christ, beloved sons and daughters of God - despite our brokenness and mess.

This is the scandalous gospel of grace. This is truly good news.

Our sin runs deep, but God’s grace runs deeper.

Our love for God ebbs and flows, but his love for us, in Christ, never fails. 
It is unwavering.
It is sure. 

The Explicit Gospel (Free Audio Book This Month)

This month's free ChristianAudio.com download is Matt Chandler's the Explicit Gospel.

Here's the link. Enjoy!

Jerry Bridges: Living By Works, Not By Grace

"My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever “‘well”‘ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. 

In this sense, we live by works, rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the “‘sweat”‘ of our own performance. Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to ‘”try harder’.” 

We seem to believe success in the Christian life is basically up to us; our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way. The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily."

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Michael Horton: Our Best Just Isn't Good Enough

"The bad news is far worse than making mistakes or failing to live up to the legalistic standards of fundamentalism. It is that the best efforts of the best Christians, on the best days, in the best frame of heart and mind, with the best motives fall short of that true righteousness and holiness that God requires.

Our best efforts cannot satisfy God’s justice. Yet the good news is that God has satisfied his own justice and reconciled us to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. God’s holy law can no longer condemn us because we are in Christ."

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David Powlison: Better than Unconditional Love

“Unconditional love says, ‘I love you just as you are.’ But the Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, ‘God accepts you just as Christ is.'"

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Jerry Bridges: Guilt & Grace

Here is some gold from Jerry Bridges:

"Our need is not to be measured by our own sense of need, but by what God had to do to meet that need. Our situation was so desperate that only the death of his own Son on a cruel and shameful cross was sufficient to resolve the problem.

Many people erroneously think that God can just forgive our sins because he is a loving God. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cross speaks to us not only about our sin but about God’s holiness…

The cross…is an expression of God’s wrath toward sin as well as his love to us. It expresses his holiness in his determination to punish sin, even at the cost of his Son. And it expresses his love in sending his son to bear the punishment we so justly deserved...

We cannot begin to understand the true significance of the cross unless we understand something of the holiness of God and the depth of our sin.”

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Elyse Fitzpatrick: Grace for Parents

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Brennan Manning: It's Not Cheap, It's Free

"My life is a witness to vulgar grace—a grace that amazes as it offends. . . . 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. . . . 

It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility."

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Michael Horton: The Gospel Doesn't Make Sense to Us

"To the extent that we remain pilgrims in this life, the gospel will remain strange even to us. Until the day we die, we will struggle to believe the bad news and Good News that God announces to us. We do not just naturally think that we are born in sin, spiritually dead, helpless, and unable to lift a finger to save ourselves or impress a holy God. As a result, it does not just occur to us that our greatest need is to be redeemed, justified, regenerated, sanctified, and glorified by God’s saving work in his Son and by his Spirit. 

 If the ‘Good News’ that we proclaim is determined by what we already know—or think we know—it isn’t really news. Limited to whatever we already think is relevant, practical, and useful, the message will never be surprising, disorienting, and troubling. It can never throw us off balance or cause us reevaluate our priorities and interpretations of reality." 

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Tim Keller: Righteousness in Christ Alone

"If the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost. 

For there is no middle ground between Christian righteousness and works-righteousness. There is no alternative to Christian righteousness but works-righteousness; if you do not build your confidence on the work of Christ, you must build your confidence on your own work. On this truth and only on this truth the church is built and has its being."

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Band Recommendation: Citizens

Looking for some Christian music that isn't over-produced and boy-band esque? Check out Citizens by Mars Hill Music.

Now That Twitter is Passé...

For those who are interested (I'm talking to you mom), I am now on twitter.

Here is the link.

Enjoy the weekend!

Paul David Tripp: Christ is Our Righteousness

“You have limited righteousness. Does that statement bother you? Actually, it needs to be strengthened. You and I have no independent righteousness at all! All our righteousness has been given to us by Christ. He is our righteousness.”

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Timothy Keller: Costly Grace

"When we grasp that we are unworthy sinners saved by an infinitely costly grace, it destroys both our self-righteousness and our need to ridicule others." 

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Sam Storms: Substitution

"If Christ did not suffer and satisfy the wrath of God in the place of sinners, I simply have nothing to say to a lost and dying world that could even remotely be regarded as “good news” (gospel). 

I can offer them spiritual therapy, wisdom for living, and a measure of psychological and emotional encouragement. But I have nothing to say that will serve them, much less save them, when they come to stand before the Great White Throne of God."

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John Piper: The Supremacy of Christ

Awesome!



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Michael Beates: Grace in Weakness

“Our culture says, ‘Avoid the broken and the disabled.  Hide your weakness and blemishes.  Act as if they simply aren’t there.’  But the Scriptures give story after story and proposition after proposition saying instead, ‘Understand that you – all of you in some sense or another – are broken. Stop avoiding the truth and embrace it.’  

For in that embrace we begin to grasp the power of God through his grace made manifest in human weakness” 

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Greg Koukl: Bad Arguments Against Religion

Greg Koukl is one of my favorite Christian apologists. The guy is brilliant, articulate, and Reformed (which sets him apart in my book).

His material has been such an encouragement to me lately. If you are looking for a shot in the arm to bolster your faith, give his resources a try.

This particular lecture below is fantastic.

Also, he is perhaps best known for his book entitled Tactics: A Game Plan For Discussing Your Christian Convictions.

Lastly, Greg has a fantastic video (and book) dismantling moral relativism. You can find that video here.

Edward Shillito: Jesus of the Scars

After witnessing the carnage and horrors of WWI, Edward Shillito wrote these powerful words:

"If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace...

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone."

John Stott: Substitution Lies at the Heart of Sin and Salvation

“The concept of substitution may be said  to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.

Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accept penalties which belong to man alone.”

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John Stott: A God Who Suffers

"We have to learn to climb the hill called Calvary, and from that vantage-ground survey all life's tragedies. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it supplies the essential perspective from which to look at it …

Sometimes we picture [God] lounging, perhaps dozing, in some celestial deck-chair, while the hungry millions starve to death … . It is this terrible caricature of God which the cross smashes to smithereens."

Justin Holcomb: Grace is the Opposite of Karma

“Grace” is the most important concept in the Bible, in Christianity, and in the world. The shorthand for grace is mercy, not merit.

Grace is getting what you don’t deserve and not getting what you do deserve. Grace is the opposite of karma. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely, the peace of God given to the restless, the unmerited favor of God. Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving. Grace is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it. Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues. Grace is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against him. Grace is one-way love."

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R.C. Sproul: Grace is for Beggars

"Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God's grace and God's grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. 

Grace is for other people - for beggars. We don't want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there."

Don Carson: A Savior Who Suffered

"Frequently it is when we are crushed and devastated that the cross speaks most powerfully to us. The wounds of Christ then become Christ's credentials. The world mocks, but we are assured of God's love by Christ's wounds."

Jerry Bridges: Salvation and Sanctification by Grace

“We could not take one step in the pursuit of holiness if God in His grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union with His risen Son. Salvation is by grace and sanctification is by grace.”

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Grace on Twitter (Part 2)

"Love for Jesus happens, not when you tell people how much they need to love Jesus, but when you tell people how much Jesus loves them." - Tullian Tchividjian

"Isn't it amazing that no matter how you performed yesterday, if you're God's child you awoke today to new mercies." - Paul David Tripp

"The world is already drowning in its efforts at life; it does not need lifeguards who swim to it carrying the barbells of their own... efforts." - Robert Farrar Capon

"No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, & never preach again until you have something worth preaching" C.H. Spurgeon via Matthew Sims

"Christian growth is forgetting about yourself." - Gerhard Forde

"He spent 33 years being righteous for you, fulfilling the Law in your place. Why on earth would you think his love for you depends on you?" - Elyse Fitzpatrick

Paul Zahl: Justification by Works = The Opposite of Grace

"If I can do enough of the right things, I will have established my worth. Identity is the sum of my achievements. Hence, if I can satisfy the boss, meet the needs of my spouse and children, and still do justice to my inner aspirations, then I will have proven my worth. 

There are infinite ways to prove our worth along these lines. The basic equation is this: I am what I do. It is a religious position in life because it tries to answer in practical terms the question, Who am I and what is my niche in the universe? 

On this reading, my niche is in proportion to my deeds. In Christian theology, such a position is called justification by works. It assumes that my worth is measured by my performance. Conversely, it conceals, thinly, a dark and ghastly fear: If I do not perform, I will be judged unworthy. To myself I will cease to exist." 

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John Stott: A Savior Who Suffers

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. 

But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. 

There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. 

From The Cross of Christ (one of the most beautiful books I have ever read).

John Newton: Only the Gospel...

“The Gospel removes difficulties insuperable to human power. It causes the blind to see, the deaf to hear; it softens the heart of stone and raises the dead in trespasses and sins to a life of righteousness. No force but that of the Gospel is sufficient to remove the mountainous load of guilt from an awakened conscience, to calm the violence of tumultuous passions, to raise an earthly soul from groveling in the mire of sensuality or greed, to a spiritual and divine life, a life of communion with God.”

“No system but the Gospel can communicate motives, encouragements, and prospects, sufficient to withstand and counteract all the snares and temptations with which the spirit of this world, by its frowns or its smiles, will endeavor either to intimidate or to bribe us from the path of duty. But the Gospel, rightly understood and cordially embraced, will inspire the slothful with energy and the fearful with courage. It will make the miser generous, melt the churl [rude person] into kindness, tame the raging tiger in the breast, and, in a word, expand the narrow selfish heart and fill it with a spirit of love to God, a cheerful and unreserved obedience to his will, and benevolence to mankind.”

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Ichabod Spencer: The Aim of Gospel Ministry

"To cut off the sinner from all reliance upon himself, his merits and his powers; and throw him, naked and helpless, into the hands of the Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ in faith; should be the one great aim of the ministry."

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O Love of God

Christian, God loves you and he has shown that love to you in Christ.
On the cross, we see selfless love on full display.

I will admit that we don’t always believe that he loves us. 

We are prone to wander from this amazing truth. 

We are so quick to forget the reality of his love for us, but God loves us nonetheless.

If you are a believer, you can rest knowing that God loves you dearly. 
He loves you as you are, not as you will be; and nothing can ever separate you from that love.

St. Paul says it best: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

God loves you. When you don’t feel that love - he loves you.

When you mess up - he loves you.

When you have your private devotions (and then get arrogant about it) - he loves you.

When your heart is burning for God - he loves you.

When your heart is far from God and you are in the midst of spiritual famine - he loves you.

When you win - he loves you.

When you lose - he loves you.

This is incredible news! The everlasting Creator of all things, the omnipotent, omniscient God of the universe loves you and I on a personal level.

He loves you despite your lust, your pride, your hubris, your Phariseeism, your lack of devotion, your greed, and your anger.

He simply loves you because of who he is, not who you are.

He loves you because of what he has done, not what you do.

It is an eternal love. It is a one-way love. It is a love without conditions.

In Christ, God loves you.

Believe it!

Tullian Tchividjian: Identity

"The law is God’s first word, but thank God it’s not the last.  The last word is the one that comes straight from the mouth of Jesus himself, when he says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

If you’re a Christian, here’s the good news: Who you really are has nothing to do with you — how much you can accomplish, who you can become, your behavior (good or bad), your strengths, your weaknesses, your sordid past, your family background, your education, your looks, and so on. Your identity is firmly anchored in Christ’s accomplishment, not yours; his strength, not yours; his performance, not yours; his victory, not yours."

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J. I. Packer: Weakness is the Way

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. - 2 Cor. 12:9

Portrait

"The Bible is the portrait of Jesus Christ." - John Stott

Matt Chandler: Forgiveness

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Elyse Fitzpatrick: He is Preeminent

“We neglect the glorious gospel when we fail to recognize his preeminence. How frequently we forget that everything is for him and about him. We forget that he is to be first, in our honor and in our worship. 

Whenever the gospel slips from our conscious thought, our religion becomes all about our performance, and then we think everything that happens or will ever happen is about us. 

When I forget the incarnation, sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension, I quickly believe that I'm supposed to be the unrivaled supreme, and matchless one. 

It's at this point that I'm particularly in need of an intravenous dose of gospel truth. He is preeminent.” 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Christianity or Morality?

“Christianity is confused with morality.  It has been very common in this country in all ranks of society.  It is what is sometimes called ‘public school religion,’ which was started by Dr Thomas Arnold of Rugby.  His idea of Christianity was that ‘it is morality touched with emotion,’ nothing more!  The Christian is the perfect little gentleman, the man who does not do certain things!

But that is not Christianity; that is not the kingdom of God.  You can do that yourself.  Yet that is what Dr Arnold taught; it is nothing but ethics and morality, a negative, cold, miserable religion, something that was always prohibiting everything and never giving anything at all.

Now it is a part of the preaching of the gospel to say things like that.  I do not defend the Victorians; I think they did great harm to the kingdom of God.  They really did bring it down, most of them, to the level of morality and respectability and they made their Sunday a cheerless joyless day. . . .

So, according to them, Christianity is that which makes men and women miserable, which makes them feel that they are always failures.  They try to be better, and they cannot succeed, but they must go on trying because it is the only way to get into the kingdom of God, to get into heaven.  It is by your life and your own activities that you do it; so you go on trying and trying and, in the words of Milton, you ‘scorn delights and live laborious days,’ ever trying but never succeeding.”

The Kingdom of God (Wheaton, 1992), pages 73-74.

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C. S. Lewis: Grace in Marriage

"We must go back to our Bibles. The husband is the head of the wife just in so far as he is to her what Christ is to the Church. He is to love her as Christ loved the church–read on–and gave his life for her (Ephesians 5:25).

This headship, then, is most fully embodied not in the husband we should all wish to be but in him whose marriage is most like a crucifixion; whose wife receives most and gives least, is most unworthy of him, is–in her own mere nature–least lovable. For the Church has no beauty but what the Bridegroom gives her; he does not find, but makes her lovely. The chrism of this terrible coronation is to be seen not in the joys of any man’s marriage but in its sorrows, in the sickness and sufferings of a good wife or the faults of a bad one, in his unwearying (never paraded) care or his inexhaustible forgiveness: forgiveness, not acquiescence.

As Christ sees in the flawed, proud, fanatical or lukewarm Church on earth that Bride who will one day be without spot or wrinkle, and labors to produce the latter, so the husband whose headship is Christ-like (and he is allowed no other) never despairs."

–C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves,  [via]

Jesus Loves Barabbas

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John Stott: This is Love

“Only one act of pure love, unsullied by any taint of ulterior motive, has ever been performed in the history of the world, namely the self-giving of God in Christ on the cross for undeserving sinners. 

That is why, if we are looking for a definition of love, we should look not in a dictionary, but at Calvary.”

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A Tale of Two Cups (Good Friday Message)

Here is a brief (8 minute) message that I gave last week on Good Friday. 

Richard Sibbes: Victory Through Resurrection

“Christ hath conquered all our spiritual enemies; and his resurrection is an evidence of his conquest. For if he had not conquered he could not have risen; and therefore when he rose again he bade his disciples not to fear (Mat. 28:10).

Fear not death, for I have overcome death; and witnessed the same by my resurrection. Fear not sin, for I have satisfied for it. Fear not the devil: I by my resurrection have bruised his head; nor the world, for I have overcome it.

He hath trode upon the necks of all our spiritual enemies, and conquered them all. Fear not, for if once you be risen with Christ, you are begotten to a lively hope.”

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The Cup and the Crucifixion

Fresh stuff from Odd Thomas over at Humble Beast:
 

Grace in Practice

This guy is showing us Protestants what 'grace in practice' looks like. 

Tullian Tchividjian: Grace & Men

Perhaps messages like this are too much. Maybe the critics are right when they say that the "grace folks" have taken things too far. Sometimes I wonder if those men and women, whom I have great  respect for, who call for "balance" are correct.

All I can say is that I love preaching like this! The gospel message, not the "be better" or "try harder" message, gets me through the day. The message of God's radical grace in Christ for sinners is nourishment to my hungry soul.

Honestly, the "balanced" preachers and their masterful expositions bore me to tears. I unsubscribe. 

I will admit that I am an addict. I need grace, grace, and more grace - gospel, gospel, and more gospel - Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus. 

We all have our proof texts. My "balanced" friends make good arguments from Scripture for what they believe, and I appreciate their call to caution.

I will just say that the whole of Scripture seems to clearly state that men are wicked as hell, yet God's love for them in Christ trumps that wickedness. He is faithful even though they (we) are faithless.

Praise God for Jesus!