|
73e31a3
|
Failure to deal with the presence of sin can often be traced back to spiritual amnesia - forgetting our new, true, real identity. As a believer, I am someone who has been delivered from the dominion of sin and who therefore is free and motivated to fight against the remnants of sin in my heart. You must know, rest in, think through, and act upon your new identity - you are in Christ
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
f55a7c9
|
Yes, people will tell us they believe in a "God of love." But they are self-deceived, and their lives reveal it. They neither love Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength in return, nor do they worship Him with zeal and energy. The truth is that their mantra "My God is a God of love" is a smokescreen, a phantasm of their imagination. Underneath it all is a deep mistrust of God--otherwise, why not yield the whole of life in joyful abandon t..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
d532db9
|
True faith takes its character and quality from its object. Its strength therefore depends on the character of Christ. Even those of us who have weak faith have the same strong Christ as others!
|
|
faith
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
5cf0bcf
|
The work of atonement took place in the presence of the God of heaven. Indeed, it involved a transaction within the fellowship of the persons of the eternal Trinity in their love for us: the Son was willing, with the aid of the Spirit, to experience the hiding of the Father's face. The shedding of the blood of God's Son opened the way to God for us (Acts 20:28). That is both the horror and the glory of our Great High Priest's ministry. Terr..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
a2aede2
|
As the early church fathers delighted in saying, Christ took what was ours so that we might receive what was His.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
cbafb67
|
Karl Barth once wittily remarked, "One can not speak of God simply by speaking of man in a loud voice."
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
252d66c
|
God protects us from Satan even at times when we are not aware of His protection. But how can we develop Jesus-like discernment? By Spirit-aided digestion of the solid food of God's wisdom.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
6e3009d
|
So long as Jesus Christ is there, in heaven before God for us, our salvation will last.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
95a22d8
|
The benefits of the gospel are in Christ. They do not exist apart from him. They are ours only in him. They cannot be abstracted from him as if we ourselves could possess them independently of him.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
5a45df4
|
Here are wonders upon wonders: the Strong One is weak; the Infinite One lies in a manger; the Prince of Life dies; the Crucified One lives; the Humiliated One is glorified. Meekness and majesty, indeed! Behold, then, your newborn King! Come and worship Him!
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
4573a22
|
Underline this thought: assurance, peace, access to God, knowledge that He is our Father, and strength to overcome temptation all depend on this-the Son of God took our flesh and bore our sins in such a way that further sacrifice for sin is both unnecessary and unintelligible. Christ died our death, and now in His resurrection He continues to wear our nature forever, and in it He lives for us before the face of God. He could not do more for..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
344824b
|
When we see salvation whole--its every single part is found in Christ, we must beware lest we derive the smallest drop from somewhere else.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
698355a
|
The fallacy here? The subtle movement from seeing forsaking sin as the fruit of grace that is rooted in election, to making the forsaking of sin the necessary precursor for experiencing that grace. Repentance, which is the fruit of grace, thus becomes a qualification for grace. This
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
6fb567c
|
The knowledge of our union with Christ...gives us confidence in prayer. It was when Jesus had begun to expound the closeness of this union that he also began to introduce the disciples to the true heart of prayer. If Christ abides in us and we abide in him, as his word dwells in us, and we pray in his name, that God hears us (Jn 15:4-7). But all of these expressions are simply extensions of the one fundamental idea: If I am united to Christ..
|
|
union-with-christ
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
45e64f2
|
Such contentment is never the result of the momentary decision of the will. It cannot be produced merely by having a well-ordered and thought-through time- and life-management plan calculated to guard us against unexpected twists of divine providence. No, true contentment means embracing the Lord's will in every aspect of His providence simply because it is His providence. It involves what we are in our very being, not just what we do and c..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
921cd67
|
That life begins with God's working, not with our "doing."
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
85f6a29
|
Seeing human need with perfect clarity, Jesus felt it with unparalleled intensity.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
7e78821
|
Faith is not the ground or basis upon which we are justified, but the means, the "instrument," by which we are united to Christ, in whom our justification, our "right-wising" with God, has been accomplished."
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
8aca09b
|
Go back to the school in which you will make progress in being a Christian. Study your lessons, settle the issue of ambition, make Christ your preoccupation-and you will learn to enjoy the privileges of being truly content.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
5262956
|
Thus the essence of legalism is rooted not merely in our view of law as such but in a distorted view of God as the giver of his law.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
0343f32
|
I am not asking you to do that because the tree is ugly--actually it is just as attractive as the other trees. I don't create ugly, ever!11 You won't be able to look at the fruit and think, That must taste horrible. It is a fine-looking tree. So it's simple. Trust me, obey me, and love me because of who I am and because you are enjoying what I have given to you. Trust me, obey me, and you will grow.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
70ea85f
|
the Son of God took our nature and came "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3) in order to exchange places with Adam, so that His obedience and righteousness might for our sakes be exchanged for Adam's (and our) disobedience and sin (Rom. 5:12-21). Exchange"
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
df1e3fb
|
Repentance, turning from sin, and degrees of conviction of sin do not constitute the grounds on which Christ is offered to us. They may constitute ways in which the Spirit works as the gospel makes its impact on us. But they never form the warrant for repentance and faith.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
ff60e6a
|
When I am tempted and feel the power of sin and its tug on my affections, the gospel gives me something to say: 'Christ bled and died for this sin--I will therefore have nothing to do with it. I am now united to Christ by the indwelling of the Spirit--how can I drag him into my sin?
|
|
temptation
sanctification
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
e18f67c
|
Third, hear our loss of focus on the gospel in our songs. This is no comment on musical styles and tastes, but simply an observation about the lyrical content of much that is being sung in churches today. In many cases, congregations unwittingly have begun to sing about themselves and how they are feeling rather than about God and His glory.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
fc7bc2b
|
True discernment means not only distinguishing the right from the wrong; it means distinguishing the primary from the secondary, the essential from the indifferent, and the permanent from the transient. And, yes, it means distinguishing between the good and the better, and even between the better and the best.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
c0d0768
|
growing in faith and love for Christ, revealed as He is in Scripture, will be the greatest of all preservatives against being led astray. The person who is saturated in the teaching and spirit of the Gospels will have his or her senses "trained ... to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:14, NIV) and to know what is truly Christ-like and Christ-honoring."
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
eb70453
|
we are always entertaining the delusion that we will go on forever in this world. The result is that the very things which ought to be of assistance to us in our pilgrimage through life, become chains which bind us.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
91056cc
|
In undiluted monergism, He called the galaxies into being, and He gives life to the dead in the same way
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
bd92cbc
|
Can you take in what you have overheard in the High Priestly Prayer of John 17? It is like a light momentarily switched on in a darkened room and then extinguished. Did you really see such treasures? Has Jesus actually prayed that my faith will not fail (Luke 22:31-32) and that I will be kept by God's power for such glory (1 Peter 1:5-11)? Is even my name engraved on His shoulders and inscribed on His heart? Do you understand how much your ..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
81954b8
|
Jesus' sinlessness should not be equated with emotionlessness.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
c3fab10
|
When we behold the glory of Christ in the gospel, it reorders the loves of our hearts, so we delight in him supremely, and the other things that have ruled our lives lose their enslaving power over us.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
f750632
|
For if we seek salvation, the very name ofJesus teaches us that he possesses it.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
063b9b6
|
When we see salvation whole, its every single part is found in Christ, And so we must beware lest we derive the smallest drop from somewhere else.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
a5749fc
|
The genius of the divine way of salvation by faith is that in it we are personally, actively united to Jesus Christ, but in a way that contributes nothing to His work. Faith is by definition noncontributory; it is the reception of Christ, not an addition to His finished work. B. B. Warfield finely puts it this way: It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ.... It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Ch..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
6a3fc44
|
you cannot destroy love for the world merely by showing its emptiness. The world-centered love of our hearts can be expelled only by a new love and affection-for God and from God. The love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist in the same heart
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
87e5f80
|
Fast-forward to Calvary and the coming of the Spirit. As Moses ascended Mount Sinai and brought down the Law on tablets of stone, now Christ has ascended into the heavenly Mount, but in contrast to Moses, he has sent down the Spirit who rewrites the law not now merely on tablets of stone but in our hearts.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
ae69700
|
The ongoing function of God's law is not to serve as a standard to be met for justification but as a guide for Christian living. Thus, according to the Confession of Faith: True believers be not under the law as a covenant of works to be thereby justified or condemned yet it is of great use to them as well as to others as a rule of life.34
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
472f3ea
|
The gospel is designed to deliver us from this lie. For it reveals that behind and manifested in the coming of Christ and his death for us is the love of a Father who gives us everything he has: first his Son to die for us and then his Spirit to live within us.27
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
02eae34
|
Before all time; prior to all worlds; when there was nothing "outside of" God Himself; when the Father, Son, and Spirit found eternal, absolute, and unimaginable blessing, pleasure, and joy in Their holy triunity-it was Their agreed purpose to create a world. That world would fall. But in unison-and at infinitely great cost-this glorious triune God planned to bring you (if you are a believer) grace and salvation."
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
a0c800c
|
The subtle danger here should be obvious: if we speak of the cross of Christ as the cause of the love of the Father, we imply that behind the cross and apart from it he may not actually love us at all. He needs to be "paid" a ransom price in order to love us." --
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
8577298
|
In the New Testament the basic command of old covenant life, 'Be holy as I am holy', now means, 'Become like Jesus.' God involves himself in this work as the triune Lord: the Father commands it; the Son has died to provide the resources for it; the Spirit indwells us in order to effect it in our lives. As Augustine famously prayed, God commands what he wills and gives what he commands.
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
cc23cc6
|
Confessional orthodoxy coupled with a view of a heavenly Father whose love is conditioned on his Son's suffering, and further conditioned by our repentance, leads inevitably to a restriction in the preaching of the gospel. Why? Because it leads to a restriction in the heart of the preacher that matches the restriction he sees in the heart of God!
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |
|
41627d0
|
Biblical repentance, then, is not merely a sense of regret that leaves us where it found us. It is a radical reversal that takes us back along the road of our sinful wanderings, creating in us a completely different mind-set. We come to our senses spiritually (Luke 15:17). Thus the prodigal son's life was no longer characterized by the demand "give me" (v. 12) but now by the request "make me . . ." (v. 19). This lies on the surface of the N..
|
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson |