Dever on Justification

"Christ's giving of himself satisfied the demands of the Father's justice against us. He did it alone; we played no part in it whatsoever. Justification, however, includes us and our faith in a way propitiation did not. We must believe in order to be justified...Justification is something God does for us, and yet he does it through the instrumentality of our faith-not in any way because of our faith, but it is by faith that we take hold of and appropriate the gift of justification. The great application of this study, therefore, is that you believe. Believe that Jesus was so raised, and believe that he was so raised so that you would be justified before God. Friend, if you would be saved, you must believe this message to be the truth, and you must trust God...you are only justified when you believe. The nature of this saving, justifying faith is not merely a historical faith-'Oh yes, I think that happened.' No, justifying faith is trust in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, reliance on him as your only substitutionary Savior."

Mark Dever, It Is Well

Carson on Penal Substitution

"The way that Jesus propitiates his Father is in the Father's wise plan. All of God's justice is worked out in Christ, who takes our curse and penalty in his own body on the tree. That is why Christians speak of satisfying the wrath of God. This expression does not mean that God is up in heaven smirking, 'This really satisfies me.' It means that the demands of his holiness are met in the sacrifice of his own Son. His justice is satisfied in Jesus' propitiatory sacrifice so that all may see that sin deserves the punishment he himself imposed, and the punishment has been meted out. This vindicates God so that he himself is seen to be just, as well as the one who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). Justification is first and foremost about the vindication of God. God simultaneously preserves his justice while justifying the ungodly. That is the heart of the gospel...Do you want to see the greatest evidence of the love of God? Go to the cross. Do you want to see the greatest evidence of the justice of God? Go to the cross."

D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus

Thoughts on Worship

"Although there are several Greek words in the New Testament that we translate 'worship', none of them mean 'singing'. Kind of odd, don't you think? Even in the Old Testament, God never intended that his people confine worship to sacrifices at the temple. Worship that pleased God couldn't be restricted to certain actions, forms, or rituals...In the New Testament there's an even stronger move away from identifying meetings and rituals as essential to our worship. Jesus made it possible for all of life to be experienced as worship in spirit and truth...Evangelism is worship...Serving others is worship...Giving is worship. Romans 12:1 is one of the most familiar passages that connect worship to all of life...So what does it look like to worship God all the time? It's doing everything to draw attention to his greatness and goodness...Biblically speaking, there's no sacred/secular distinction in our lives."

Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters

Whitefield on Imputed Righteousness II

"This is a golden chain indeed! and, what is best of all, not one link can ever be broken asunder from another. Was there no other text in the book of God, this single one sufficiently proves the final perseverance of true believers: for never did God yet justify a man, whom he did not completely sanctify; nor sanctify one, whom he did not completely redeem and glorify: no! as for God, his way, his work, is perfect; he always carried on and finished the work he begun; thus it was in the first, so it is in the new creation; when God says, 'Let there be light', there is light...Those whom God has justified, he has in effect glorified: for as a man's worthiness was not the cause of God's giving him Christ's righteousness; so neither shall his unworthiness be a cause of his taking it away; God's gifts and callings are without repentance: and I cannot think they are clear in the notion of Christ's righteousness, who deny the final perseverance of the saints; I fear they understand justification in that low sense, which I understood it in a few years ago, as implying no more than remission of sins: but it not only signifies remission of sins past, but also a federal right to all good things to come...As the obedience of Christ is imputed to believers, so his perseverance in that obedience is to be imputed to them also; and it argues great ignorance of the covenant of grace and redemption, to object against it."

George Whitfield


This sermon quote is in reference to I Corinthians 1:30. See the Thursday, May 27 entry for the first Whitefield quote on imputed righteousness.

Clean Nose + Closed Mouth = Poor Witness

"Millions of Christians live with a low-grade feeling of guilt for not openly commending Christ by their words. They try to persuade themselves that keeping their noses morally clean is a witness to Christ. The problem with this notion is that millions of unbelievers keep their noses morally clean. Christians will-and should-continue to feel bad for not sharing their faith. Christ is the most glorious person in the world. His salvation is infinitely valuable. Everyone in the world needs it. Horrific consequences await those who do not believe on Jesus. By grace alone we have seen him, believed on him, and now love him. Therefore, not to speak of Christ to unbelievers, and not to care about our city or the unreached peoples of the world is so contradictory to Christ's worth, people's plight, and our joy that it sends the quiet message to our souls day after day: This Savior and this salvation do not mean to you what you say they do. To maintain great joy in Christ in the face of that persistent message is impossible."

John Piper, When the Darkness Will Not Lift

Facing Failure

"Failure. It's an equal opportunity affliction visiting rich and poor alike. Failure defies and levels and confounds even the best laid plans. Failure is as old as history itself. Just flip through your Bible...Like death, taxes, and really bad haircuts, failure finds us all. I hear you: 'What grand news, Dave! As long as we're discussing my inevitable failure, why not just tell me I'm overweight and odoriferous?' First, I'm not really sure what odoriferous means, so I would never call you that. Second, if God is truly sovereign, there must be a place for failure in his plan. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible declares God's supreme control over events. If he can't work through our screw -ups, he's guilty of false advertising. Like it or not, the sovereign God is Lord over our failures. In fact, he works through them. Failure isn't simply God's nightstick to whack us back into submission. It's an experience where we can discover God's love, his irresistible grace, and the true potency of the gospel. But to get to those discoveries, we must see failure as the place where some ambitions go to die so other things might come alive."

Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition

Supporting the Local Church

I ran across these suggestions from Kevin DeYoung on "How to be a difference maker in the local church." These are from his presentation at the Next 2010 conference. I am convinced that we all need to take these things to heart. Here are a few:

*Find a good local church
*Get involved
*Become a member
*Stay there as long as you can
*Be patient with your leaders
*Rejoice when the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed
*Bear with those who hurt you
*Give people the benefit of the doubt
*Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet
*Enjoy the Sundays that "click"
*Pray extra hard for the Sundays that don't