Monthly Archives: July 2012

Miscellaneous Quotes (45)

Posted on by
Reply

“Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent: God does as He pleases, only as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him.” – A. W. Pink

“True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His Law, and in His people.” – George Whitefield

“Grace doesn’t free you from the call to obey, but liberates you from the delusion that you can obey your way into God’s acceptance.” – P. Tripp

“Christians are in themselves no wiser than are other men. What they have, they have by grace. They must be ‘all things to all men.’ But it is not kindness to tell patients that need strong medicine that nothing serious is wrong with them. Christians are bound to tell men the truth about themselves; that is the only way of bringing them to recognize the mercy, the compassion, of Christ. For if men are told the truth about themselves, and if they are warned against the false remedies that establish men in their wickedness, then, by the power of the Spirit of God, they will flee to the Christ through whom alone they must be saved.” – Cornelius Van Til

“In modern day evangelism, this precious doctrine [of regeneration] has been reduced to nothing more than a human decision to raise one’s hand, walk an aisle, or pray a ‘sinner’s prayer.’ As a result, the majority of Americans believe that they’ve been ‘born again’ (i.e., regenerated) even though their thoughts, words, and deeds are a continual contradiction to the nature and will of God.” – Paul Washer

“A soul dead in sin is insensible to any real distress because of sin; a heart destitute of love to God, feels no distress because it does not love Him. A graceless sinner never longs for grace: an unrenewed person never thirsts for holiness, and a dead soul never breathes after life. Take heart, then, O believer, for your soul-sorrow is the prelude to your soul’s eternal joy.” – Octavius Winslow

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

“It is a moral and spiritual impossibility for a person to come to Christ apart from the Father’s drawing. What we find now is that it is a moral and spiritual impossibility for the person given by the Father to the Son NOT to come. There is, by Jesus’ verdict, the invariable conjunction of these two diverse kinds of action: ‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…’ There is invincible efficacy in the Father’s action, and this means grace irresistible.” – John Murray

Addressing those who convert from a profession of faith in the Gospel to Roman Catholicism, Dr. James White speaks of “… the standard ‘conversionist blindspot’ problems that we have seen over and over again with those who think that jumping into the arms of Romanism will give them the certainty they have come to conclude God’s Word and Spirit are incapable of providing, especially the obvious one: your fallible choice to follow Rome (which is NOT the ‘only game in town’) means that your level of certainty can never rise above the level of your own fallible choice.”

“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born.” – Ronald Reagan
Continue reading →

Simul Justus et Peccator

Posted on by
Reply

In this excerpt from his teaching series,” Dr. R.C. Sproul teaches the essence of the Reformation view of justification as he explains Martin Luther’s latin phrase, “Simul Justus et Peccator.”

Transcript

Perhaps the formula that Luther used that is most famous and most telling at this point is his formula simul justus et peccator. And if any formula summarizes and captures the essence of the Reformation view, it is this little formula. Simul is the word from which we get the English word simultaneously. Or, it means ‘at the same time.’ Justus is the Latin word for just or righteous. And you all know what et is. Et the past tense of the verb ‘to eat.’ Have you et your dinner? No, you know that’s not what that means. You remember in the death scene of Caesar after he’s been stabbed by Brutus he says, “Et tu, Brute?” Then fall Caesar. And you too Brutus? It simply means and. Peccator means sinner.

And so with this formula Luther was saying, in our justification we are one and the same time righteous or just, and sinners. Now if he would say that we are at the same time and in the same relationship just and sinners that would be a contradiction in terms. But that’s not what he was saying. He was saying from one perspective, in one sense, we are just. In another sense, from a different perspective, we are sinners; and how he defines that is simple. In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God’s scrutiny, we still have sin; we’re still sinners. But, by imputation and by faith in Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is now transferred to our account, then we are considered just or righteous. This is the very heart of the gospel.

Will I be judged in order to get into heaven by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ? If I had to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I would completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed. But when we see that the righteousness that is ours by faith is the perfect righteousness of Christ, then we see how glorious is the good news of the gospel. The good news is simply this, I can be reconciled to God, I can be justified by God not on the basis of what I did, but on the basis of what’s been accomplished for me by Christ.

But at the heart of the gospel is a double-imputation. My sin is imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to me. And in this two-fold transaction we see that God, Who does not negotiate sin, Who doesn’t compromise His own integrity with our salvation, but rather punishes sin fully and really after it has been imputed to Jesus, retains His own righteousness, and so He is both just and the justifier, as the apostle tells us here. So my sin goes to Jesus, His righteousness comes to me in the sight of God.

John 3:16 – Sermon Notes

Posted on by
1

Yesterday, for the first time ever in any of my sermons, I focused exclusively on the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16. Here are my sermon notes:

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

GOD SO LOVED – The word “so” often denotes intensity. For instance, a man may say to his wife, “I love you sooooo much,” as he wishes to express the measure and depth of his love. Though this is a popular understanding of this verse, that is NOT how the word “so” is being used in John 3:16.

There is another way of using the word “so” in English, which describes the way in which something occurs. When a mother is seeking to train her children how to place cutlery on the dining room table, she might well place the knife and fork in position and say, “now when you put the knife and fork down on the table, place them just so” (or in this way).

In John 3:16 it is this “just so” concept that is in view. We could rightly read the text as “God’s love for the world is seen in this way…” A note in the margin of the ESV states this concerning “For God so loved the world” as it reads, “Or For this is how God loved the world.”

THE WORLD – There are at least ten different uses of the word “world” (Greek kosmos) in John’s gospel. Context is a most vital component in determining the meaning of words. Here, the word kosmos is being used in a general way to speak of humanity, of Jews and Gentiles.

GOD GAVE HIS SON – God’s love for the world is seen in tangible terms – the giving of His Son…

PURPOSE – God gave His Son with a particular goal in mind.

Notice there is a strong element of particularity (rather than universality) here. The purpose was not to save everybody on the planet (past, present and future) but to save those who believe in Christ.

WHOEVER BELIEVES – Literally, the text reads “in order that every the one believing in Him…” It says “every” or “all the ones believing…” That’s hard to express in English but in essence, it is saying “all the believing ones.” That’s what is being communicated. It is saying that there is no such thing as a believing one who does not receive eternal life, but who perishes. Though our English translation says “whoever believes,” the literal rendering is accurately translated as “every believing one” and the emphasis is NOT AT ALL on the “whosoever,” but on the belief.

The ones BELIEVING will not have one consequence, but will have another. They will not perish but will have everlasting life.

Why?
Continue reading →