A good book should leave you slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. - William Styron

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Great Gain of Godliness by Thomas Watson

"A secure sinner thinks all is well, because all is in peace. He hears others speak of a 'spirit of bondage', and the terrors they have felt for sin, yet he thanks God that he never knew what trouble of spirit meant; he thinks his conscience is good because it is quiet. When the devil keeps the palace 'all is in peace' (Luke 11:21). The Philosopher [Aristotle] says, one great sign of an earthquake is excessive calmness of air. Ungrounded peace presages an earthquake of conscience." p. 23

"To be holiest in evil times is an indication of the truth of grace. To profess religion when the times favour it is no great matter. Almost all will court the Gospel Queen when she is hung with jewels. But to own the ways of God when they are decried and maligned, to love a persectued truth, this evidences a vital principle of goodness. Dead fish swim down the stream, living fish swim against it. To swim against the common stream of evil shows grace to be alive...Let us keep up the vigour of our zeal in degenerate times...Sin is never the better because it is in fashion, nor will this plea hold at the last day, that we did as the most. God will say, Seeing you sinned with the multitude, you shall go to hell with the multitude. Oh, let us keep pure among the dregs; let us be like fish that retain their freshness in salt waters; and as the lamp which shone in the smoking furnace (Gen. 15:17).
...Let all this make us maintain the power of holiness in the worst times. Though others wonder we do not sin after the rate that they do, yet remember, it is better to go to heaven with a few than to hell in the crowd."

Monday, September 7, 2015

The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink

"Here then is a sure resting-place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God. Not a hair of our heads can be touched without His permission... What assurance, what strength, what comfort this should give the real Christian! "My times are in Thy hand" (Psa. 31:15) Then let me "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Psa. 37:7)."

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd

"Christianity explains the actual reality of the world, and therefore unbelievers living in accordance with their own ideologies--whatever those may be-- have a very hard time because they are attempting to do this in God's world, which functions according to His will and plan, not theirs."

"Many don't see the importance of learning theology. One explanation for this is the common misconception...that associates theology with a specialized form of knowledge for a select few. Another reason is...many look at their belief in God as an irrational leap of faith as opposed to rational truth. This is terribly dangerous thinking because it hinders us from actually living out our faith as God has purposes us to do."

"Can you come to that place where you know intimately that Christ is sufficient? That's where idols die, because we see their wretchedness and counterfeit nature. Who wants a counterfeit when you can have the real thing? And in case you're wondering where that place is,  it is at the cross. Many times, it is through affliction that we are able to see this clearly."

"Our sinful nature tends to swing the pendulum too far, going either to the side of God's love, by over-accommodating, or to the side of God's holiness, with harsh judgementalism. We have to depend on God for the proper perspectives in reaction. God's love is demonstrated by showing others the truth over a lie, by our own meekness and humility in the attitude of our approach, and by actually listening, caring about the other person, not just whether he or she is right or not. We demonstrate God's holiness by loving His truth, submitting all else to it, and properly understanding our own sinfulness as a wretched counterfeit."

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Let Christians beware of approaching the brink of evil, or the appearance of it, though many do this in public matters, for which perhaps they plead plausibly. Men cannot thus sin against their brethren, without offending Christ, and endangering their own souls. - Matthew Henry

Galatians by Ryken

God deals with us according to His promises, not according to our works... Salvation in Christ does not rest on a law that we inevitably break; it rests on a promise that God cannot break... This is the grace of God, that He does not deal with us on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of His promise... And now that we are in Christ, our standing before God does not fluctuate with the inconsistency of our daily obedience. On the basis of the promise that He made before the law, God loves us with an unconditional love.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray

As a bonus, here are 2 quotes from page 10. :)

The love of God from which the atonement springs is not a distinction-less love; it is a love that elects and predestinates. God was pleased to set His invincible and everlasting love upon a countless multitude and it is the determinate purpose of this love that the atonement secures. - Murray, 10

Love is not something adventitious; it is not something that God may choose to be or choose not to be. He is love, and that necessarily, inherently, and eternally... [I]t belongs to the very essence of electing love to recognize that it is not inherently necessary to that love which God necessarily and eternally is that He should set such love as issues in redemption and adoption upon utterly undesirable and hell-deserving objects. It was of the free and sovereign good pleasure of His will, a good pleasure that emanated from the depths of His own goodness, that He chose a people to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.... The atonement does not win or constrain the love of God. The love of God constrains to the atonement as the means of accomplishing love's determinate purpose. -Murray, 10

A Study in Galatians by Ryken

What we believe and how we behave cannot be separated. There is an unbreakable bond between theological integrity and spiritual vitality. (George, 1994) ... Christianity is not simply something we know; it is something we do. It is not merely a belief system or a moral code; it is a theology that comes to life. - Ryken, p. 207