Tag Archives: quotes

The irony of desiring to study God’s holiness

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R.C. Sproul from his book, The Holiness of God:

The Holiness of God

It’s dangerous to assume that because a person is drawn to holiness in his study that he is thereby a holy man. There is irony here. I am sure that the reason I have a deep hunger to learn of the holiness of God is precisely because I am not holy. I am a profane man – a man who spends more time out of the temple than in it. But I have had just enough of a taste of the majesty of God to want more. I know what it means to be a forgiven man and what it means to be sent on a mission. My soul cries for more. My soul needs more.

This captures well the paradox of my own desires. Like Sproul, I desire to know of God’s holiness precisely because I am not holy myself. I pray for humility as I progress in my understanding of God’s holiness, and as I strive for obedience in becoming holy as God is holy.

Lecrae on the church.

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I really love “The Bride” by Lecrae. Here’s verse 3:

Some don’t get it so they hate
They say she’s on a paper chase they say she’s really fake
So they go start a ministry so they can do the work
But they don’t understand how Jesus feel about His church
And yeah they make disciples
They got plenty conversions
They take care of the widows and the orphans they be workin
But none of them are churchin
No church structure
No elders and no discipline
They don’t have a conductor
And they so they don’t submit
But quite a few of them baptize
People how I pray that you’d look at this thing from God’s eyes
Take responsibility inside the whole council not just the area where you might have a mouthful
Who should people submit to
Who will conduct the discipline
If excommunicated what body will they be missing then
Look at Ephesians 4 where Paul gets practical
First Timothy and Titus if you thinking I’m irrational

That’s more biblical ecclesiology in a single verse of a song than most pastors could communicate in a sermon… or even in their own ecclesiology!

Confession of Sin Endears Christ to the Soul.

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From DesiringGod.org.

Thomas Watson:

Confession of sin endears Christ to the soul. If I say I am a sinner, how precious will Christ’s blood be to me! After Paul has confessed a body of sin, he breaks forth into a gratulatory triumph for Christ: “I thank God through Jesus Christ” (Romans 7:25).

If a debtor confesses a judgment but the creditor will not exact the debt, instead appointing his own son to pay it, will not the debtor be very thankful? So when he confesses the debt, and that even though we should forever lie in hell we cannot pay it, but that God should appoint his own Son to lay down his blood for the payment of our debt, how is free grace magnified and Jesus Christ eternally loved and admired!

The Doctrine of Repentance, 1668, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2009), 35.

Bonhoeffer on cheap grace:

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Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate… Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.

Tozer on treasuring God.

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“The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”

A.W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God)

Romans 12:9-16

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“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

Paul, Romans 12:9-16