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When we speak of the centrality of the gospel we refer to the fact that every aspect of our salvation stems from the gospel. We mean that the gospel is truly the power of God for salvation in that it is through the gospel we are called, regenerated, converted, sanctified, and finally glorified. We mean that Jesus Christ, God come in the flesh, as he lived, died and rose again, gave meaning to all history and human existence. We mean that the gospel is the only means we have of beginning, continuing, and persevering in the Christian life . . . . When we approach sanctification as attainable by any means other than the gospel of Christ–the same gospel by which we are converted–we have departed from the teaching of the New Testament.
(Goldsworthy, The Gospel in Revelation, 171)--HT: The Road to Emmaus
I promise you, some of the best people in your churches are getting tired. They don’t need another rah-rah pep talk. They don’t need to hear more statistics and more stories Sunday after Sunday about how bad everything is in the world. They need to hear about Christ’s death and resurrection. They need to hear how we are justified by faith apart from works of the law. They need to hear the old, old story once more. Because the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.
Kevin DeYoung
--HT: Between Two Worlds
“The point I am making is quite offensive to us today. It is that God hides himself from us that he cannot be had on our terms, and that he cannot be accessed from “below” through natural revelation. In the malls, and in much of life, we encounter nothing like this. We expect access. We expect to be able to get what we want, when we want it, and on our terms."
-- David Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant
HT: Of First Importance
In the Western world, the idea that God could be angry with us is now implausible, and in this context assurance [faith] is little more than a sentimental belief in our own inherent goodness - exactly the kind of faith held by the reprobates. . . And the notion is now commonplace that because we can never have exhaustive knowledge, and all our knowledge takes place in a context, we can never have certain knowledge at all. Yet this simply fails to understand the nature of God's revelation of himself, and can ultimately not account for the certainty of faith that drips from every page of Paul's letters. . .
God has spoken to us in ways we can understand, given himself to us in the finite flesh of Christ and the finite words of human speech; while these revelations do not exhaust God in himself, they are yet true, reliable, and foundations for certainty.
-- Carl Trueman, Blogging the Institutes
D.L. Moody had an interesting response to the question of whether a Christian should be "open-minded," a claim we constantly hear today:
"A great many people say, you must hear both sides; but if a man should write me a most slanderous letter about my wife, I don’t think I would have to read it; I would tear it up and throw it to the winds. Have I to take up a book that is a slander on my Lord and Master, who has redeemed me with His blood? Ten thousands times no! I will not touch it."
Christian journalist Nick Harrison also has a good answer:
"It’s one of Satan’s lies that we must be 'open-minded' about our spiritual beliefs. But no, a Christian whose faith is founded on solid rock has no reason to test out the sand around him . . .
HT: Apprising Ministries
"Men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants."
--William Penn
Without saving faith, all moral virtues are but splendid sins!
Unbelief nullifies everything!
It is the dead fly in the ointment!
It is the poison in the pot!
All the moral virtues,
all the benevolence of philanthropy,
all the kindness of unselfish sympathy,
all the talents of genius,
all the bravery of patriotism
--give no title to Divine acceptance, for
"without faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. 11:6)
C.H. Spurgeon
