Miscellaneous Quotes (63)

“Peace if possible. Truth at all costs.” – Martin Luther

“Let all the ‘free-will’ in the world do all it can with all its strength; it will never give rise to a single instance of ability to avoid being hardened if God does not give the Spirit, or of meriting mercy if it is left to its own strength.” – Martin Luther

“Through the creeds and confessions, we abide in the health and safety of ‘the communion of the saints.'” — Douglas Kelly

“If being terminal is a reason to end a baby’s life (or an adult’s) then we should all be put down. Each of us has a fatal condition.” – R. C. Sproul

“A Christian is the result of the operation of God, nothing less, nothing else. No man can make himself a Christian; God alone makes Christians… A Christian is one who has been created anew; and there is only One who can create, namely, God. It takes the power of God to make a Christian.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“There is nothing here to teach that a man can be saved, then lost, then saved again. Such a thing is taught nowhere in the Scriptures. There is only one reason why people ever teach anything like that and that is that they forget the doctrine of regeneration. They put so much emphasis on a man’s decision.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – To God’s Glory)

“Are you aware of this calling of God? All things work together for good to them who are the called according to His purpose. Has He laid His hand upon you and arrested you and apprehended you?… Whether you are or are not a church member, if the truth of the gospel does not ravish your heart, if you do not feel that it is the most glorious thing you have ever heard, you have never been called.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – The Perseverance Of The Saints)

“A man does not become a Christian by taking a decision. He is made a Christian by God, who had marked him out before the foundation of the world and who sees to it that he is born, and sees to it that he believes.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – God’s Sovereign Purpose)

“Luther examined the Great Commandment, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Luke 10:27). Then he asked himself, ‘What is the Great Transgression?’ Some answer this question by saying that the great sin is murder, adultery, blasphemy, or unbelief. Luther disagreed. He concluded that if the Great Commandment was to love God with all your heart, then the Great Transgression was to fail to love God with all the heart.” – R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“The parent who neglects child discipline loves himself more than he loves the child.” – R.C. Sproul

“Small numbers make no difference to God. There is nothing small if God is in it.” – D.L. Moody

“Theology that doesn’t make us sing has failed in its mission, no matter how correct it may be.” —Gerrit Scott Dawson

For the Calvinist, it [the atonement] is like a narrow bridge which goes all the way across the stream; for the Arminian it is like a great wide bridge which goes only half-way across. – Loraine Boettner

Salvation

In the 9th sermon of John Piper’s epic series on the book of Romans he comes to Romans 1:16 (9 sermons and he’s only 16 verses in!), “What is salvation?” The text is one you know well, I’m sure: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Piper argues that salvation is best understood here as,

the final triumph of the gospel in bringing believers to eternal safety and joy in the presence of a holy and glorious God.

This definition is helpful in the way it summarizes several crucial points about the Christian doctrine of salvation:

First, Salvation comes through believing the gospel. The Bible teaches us that anyone—absolutely anyone—is a prime candidate for salvation. The only requirement is that they believe the good news of who Jesus is and what he did on the cross. Paul says this news is “the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Notice the present tense of the word “believes”—those who would be saved must not only be converted to faith in Christ but must also persevere in that faith (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).

Second, Salvation has come … and is coming. We who believe in Christ “have been saved” (Ephesians 2:8), and yet we are still awaiting the “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Paul captures this reality when he says that believers have been “sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30) by the Holy Spirit: we are sealed for redemption (salvation), but the day of its fulfillment is still coming.

Third, Salvation is safety and joy before a holy God. The term salvation acknowledges that we have been saved from something. But what? The New Testament mentions a number of things that we are in bondage to apart from God’s salvation: demonic powers, the corruption of our bodies, sin, and so on. However, it is clear that the ultimate obstacle to our being saved is the holiness of God himself. “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9). Salvation is both from and to: the gospel grants us safety from God’s wrath, which then frees us to enjoy the wonders of a saving God for all eternity.

HT: TC