Martin Luther on Romans: “It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”

“Since justification is due to grace and not to nature, since acceptation of works performed in grace is grace, and since it is again grace that the merits of Christ are made ours, it is appropriate to attribute the whole Christian life to grace. And thus the claim for man, namely, that he is master over his works from beginning to the end, is destroyed. So, therefore, the origin of the works of Christian life is predestination, its means is justification, and its aim is glorification or thanksgiving—all these are the achievements not of nature but of grace.” – Johann von Staupitz

“All of human history moves forward toward its divinely appointed end under the absolute control of God.” – Steven Lawson

“We tend either to ignore the future, because we are so consumed in the drama of the here and now, or to see it as simply a continuation of our present lives, with our loved ones there and sickness and death gone. But in Jesus we see a future that has continuity and discontinuity. In his resurrected life, Jesus has gone before us as a pioneer of the new creation. Perhaps we dread death less from fear than from boredom, thinking the life to come will be an endless postlude to where the action really happens. This is betrayed in how we speak about the “afterlife”: it happens after we’ve lived our lives. The kingdom, then, is like a high-school reunion in which middle-aged people stand around and remember the “good old days.” But Jesus doesn’t promise an “afterlife.” He promises us life—and that everlasting. Your eternity is no more about looking back to this span of time than your life now is about reflecting on kindergarten. The moment you burst through the mud above your grave, you will begin an exciting new mission—one you couldn’t comprehend if someone told you. And those things that seem so important now—whether you’re attractive or wealthy or famous or cancer-free—will be utterly irrelevant.” – Russell Moore

“Many of our students come to us having been carefully nurtured and discipled in the biblical story and have already begun to lay hold of the breadth of it. Many others, however, come only with the story of the larger culture or that of popular Christian culture or with stories that invite them to see the Christian faith as being about and relevant to only their private lives—a spiritual existence that is always to be distinguished from the life of the body, the material world, and the work-a-day world of human social existence. Students are often more than a bit surprised to hear an understanding of the gospel and the Christian life that embraces the entirety of their lives, indeed, the whole of God’s creation.

Putting the issue in the most explicit terms, the scope of God’s redemption in Christ is as big as the scope of God’s creative work. The God who sent his Son to die for me is the God who created all things in the first place, and His redemptive goal is nothing less than to push sin out of every inch and aspect of His creation. I have been redeemed in Christ for a purpose: to be a redemptive agent in the reclamation of “all things.” We should not miss what is at stake here. God is jealous for his works. He surrenders nothing to the forces of sin and death. If the Kingdom of God stands for the realization of God’s good will in the world (an affirmation and living out of the way things ought to be) then the loving grace of God lays claim to all things, destroying the Devil’s work and returning every bit of God’s world—every aspect, place, and thought—to its rightful Lord.” – Mike Williams, Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Seminary and author of Far as the Curse Is Found

“The church and the Christian should not be interested only, or even primarily, in the general social effects of salvation, but in the fact that men and women should be brought nearer to God, and should live for his glory. When the church gives the world the impression that she is interested in revival only in order to heal certain moral sores, she is denying her own message. I am not primarily interested in revival in order that the streets of our cities may be cleansed; I am interested in it because I believe that for any man not to glorify God is an insult to God. I know that such a man is held bound, and my desire for him is that he may come to know God and glorify him in his daily life. The church is not interested primarily in the social consequences of irreligion. As I read my history, I see that it was because our fathers and grandfathers made that very error, towards the end of the Victorian era, that Christendom is in its present position. They became so interested in social conditions that they forgot this primary truth. They thought that if everybody was kept in order by certain Acts of Parliament, all would be well. But that is morality, and not Christianity.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Sanctified Through the Truth, 17.

“The wonder of the cross is not the blood, but whose blood and to what purpose.” – Donald English

True faith clings to God even when God’s activity seems hidden.

“No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God. The fact that “the Lord reigneth” is indisputable, and it is this fact that arouses the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“Theology is a serious quest for the true knowledge of God, undertaken in response to His self-revelation, illumined by Christian tradition, manifesting a rational inner coherence, issuing in ethical conduct, resonating with the contemporary world and concerned for the greater glory of God.” – John Stott

“Our sins have been put away. To use the language of the Scriptures, they are completely removed, put behind God’s back, blotted out, remembered no more, and hurled into the depths of the sea.” – Jerry Bridges

“The Sovereignty of God is the stumbling block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we go contending with God about His sovereignty it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God as an absolute sovereign, and the sovereign of our souls; as one who may have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will.” – Jonathan Edwards

“There is as much providence in the creeping of an aphis upon a rose leaf as in the marching of an army to ravage a continent.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him.” C.H. Spurgeon

“For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him – they will never yield Him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him.” – John Calvin

“The apostles… in addressing others also whom they conceive to be living in habits of sin, and under the wrath of God, they rather advise them to amend their ways as a preparation for their coming to Christ, than exhort them to throw themselves with deep prostration of soul at the foot of the cross, there to obtain pardon and find grace to help in time of need… Doubtless there have been too many who, to their eternal ruin, have abused the doctrine of Salvation by Grace; and have vainly trusted in Christ for pardon and acceptance, when by their vicious lives they have plainly proved the groundlessness of their pretensions. The tree is to be known by its fruits; and there is too much reason to fear that there is no principle of faith, when it does not decidedly evince itself by the fruits of holiness… Repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, was the sum of the apostolical instructions.” – William Wilberforce

“The more afflictions you have been under, the more assistance you have had for this life of holiness.” – John Flavel

“A humble soul is quick-sighted: he sees the rod in Father’s hand; he sees honey upon the top of every twig, and so can bless God; he sees sugar at the bottom of the bitterest cup that God doth put into his hand; he knows that God’s house of correction is a school of instruction; and so he can sit down and bless when the rod is upon his back. A humble soul knows that the design of God in all is his instruction, his reformation, and his salvation.” – Thomas Brooks

“The day is coming when hypocrites will be stripped of their fig-leaves.” – Matthew Henry

“Thus Satan leads poor creatures down into the depths of sin by winding stairs, that let them not see the bottom whither they are going. He first presents an object that occasions some thoughts; these set on fire the affections, and they fume up into the brain, and cloud the understanding, which being thus disabled, Satan now dares a little more declare himself, and boldly solicit the creature to that it would even now have defied. Many who at this day lie in open profaneness, never thought that should have rolled so far from their profession; but Satan beguiled them, poor souls, with their modest beginnings. O Christians, give not place to Satan, no, not an inch, in his first motions. He that is a beggar and a modest one without doors, will command the house if let in. Yield at first, and thou givest away thy strength to resist him in the rest; when the hem is worn the whole garment will ravel out, if it be not mended by timely repentance.” – William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 1:77

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” – Henry Ford

“To the wind with what the world thinks about us. We are not to seek the approval of earth, but the honor of heaven.” – Paul Washer

“Let the grief you bear, the evil you dread, the sadness and loneliness you feel, but conduct you closer and yet closer within the loving, sheltering heart of God. No fear can agitate, no sorrow can sadden, no foe can reach you there! The moment you find yourself resting in child-like faith upon God, that moment all is peace!” – Octavius Winslow

“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”… It is the prerogative of an infinitely Holy God to deal with wicked men in anyway He so desires. God often finishes what the wicked begin; deliberately, self-consciously, & judiciously, delivering just punishment & lifting His Hand of restraint, He hardens hard hearts even further. Kings MUST either bend or break before Jehovah; they must be humbled or ruined. Either way, it is GOD’s choice for His OWN Purposes!” – Joe Morecraft

“The world’s friendship is ever brittle. Trust to it, and you have trusted a robber; rely upon it, and you have leaned upon a thorn; ay, worse than that, upon a spear which shall pierce you to the soul with agony. Yet Solomon says he had found “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Not in the haunts of his unbridled pleasures, nor in the wanderings of his unlimited resources, but in the pavilion of the Most High, the secret dwelling-place of God, in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, the Friend of sinners.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“What an awesome thought – Christ represents us in heaven! The perfect, spotless, Lamb of God pleads his own blood and righteousness on our behalf at the Father’s right hand. He’s the perfect representative! He doesn’t forget a single need. He never takes a break. He knows exactly what it’s like for us. He knows just what to say and ask for on our behalf. What’s amazing is that he chooses us to represent him on earth. For some unknown reason he hasn’t chosen many who are wise, reputable or strong, but he’s chosen weak, flawed, sinful people to represent him to a dying world. What an honor! What a privilege! What a joy! What a high calling! And since he chose us, he will empower us and pour out his Spirit on us mightily, change our character, give us gifts, produce fruit, give us power and victory over sin – in other words, make us like himself – that we might represent him and his glory to the world. What are we to show the world of Jesus? We are to display his holiness, righteousness and purity. His joy, gentleness, patience and long-suffering. We’re to demonstrate his faithfulness and heart to serve. We represent him by word as well as deed, thanking and praising him, proclaiming his good news and appealing to people to turn to him. So whatever you do today, whether you post on Facebook, go to lunch with co-workers, or take your kids to the playground, remember you represent Jesus! So pray for the power of the Spirit to do that in a way that pleases him.” – Mark Altrogge