Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper. . . .
– Proverbs 28:13a
Jesus Christ, the Son of David, sent his ambassadors, his apostles and ministers, after all his servants the prophets, to his people, but they treated them shamefully, as Hanun did David’s ambassadors, mocked them, abused them, slew them; and it was this that filled the measure of their iniquity, and brought upon them ruin without remedy; for Christ takes the affronts and injuries done to his ministers as done to himself and will avenge them accordingly.
– Matthew Henry
I now see that duties are ours, events are the Lord’s.
When our faith goes to meddle with events, and to hold a court, as it were, upon God’s Providence, and begins to say, “How wilt Thou do this or that?” we lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm. And he steers well.
– Samuel Rutherford
The great commission makes disciple-making the normal agenda and priority of every church and every disciple.
– Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
For your own sake, and your children’s sake, cherish and revere him whom you have chosen to be your pastor. Already he loves you; and he will soon love you as “bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.” It will be equally your duty and your interest to make his labors as pleasant to him as possible. Do not demand too much. Do not require visits too frequent. Should he spend, in this way, half of the time which some demand, he must wholly neglect his studies, if not sink early under the burden. Do not report to him all the unkind things which may be said against him; nor frequently, in his presence, allude to opposition, if opposition should arise. Though he is a minister of Christ, consider that he has the feelings of a man.
– Edward Griffin
The zealous advocates for the cause of Christ will be ready to plead it in all companies, as occasion offers. The [witnesses] of Christ must not think it enough to speak a good word for Christ once a week, but should be daily speaking honorably of Him to such as meet with them.
– Matthew Henry
Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater.
– J. I . Packer
[W]e are not washed by Christ, that we may plunge ourselves again into new filth, but that our purity may serve to glorify God. Besides, he teaches us, that nothing can proceed from us that can be pleasing to God until we are purified by the blood of Christ; for as we are all enemies to God before our reconciliation, so he regards as abominable all our works; hence the beginning of acceptable service is reconciliation.
– John Calvin
We quickly learn that God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate “temple” in which his Spirit dwells than he is in preserving our reputations. . . . He prefers that his people live in disciplined gratitude and holy joy rather than in pushy self-reliance and glitzy happiness. He wants us to pursue daily death, not self-fulfillment, for the latter leads to death, while the former leads to life.
– D. A. Carson
The Church is the mirror that reflects the whole effulgence of the Divine character. It is the grand scene in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe. The revelations made to the Church—the successive grand events in her history and, above all, the manifestation of ‘the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ’—furnish even to the heavenly intelligences fresh subjects of adoring contemplation.
– Charles Bridges
The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; [he] is just, good and does good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
— “Of Religious Worship” from the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) & The London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8, 9
The whole life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas day and his Good Friday are but evening and morning of one and the same day.
– John Donn
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
– John 3:16
Worship is the fuel and goal of missions. Missions exits because worship does not. . . . Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord. . . . I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.
– John Piper
Anyone who reads the Gospels—and especially [Luke]—knows that Jesus is a friend of the poor and oppressed. The story of Zacchaeus testifies that Jesus is a friend of the rich—even rich oppressors—as well. Luke’s story of the incarnation is not developed according to a stereotype of justice in which the poor are befriended and the rich condemned. The fellowship of Jesus is not offered as vindication of poor and condemnation of rich, but as “good news of great joy” (2:20) to all who are lost, whether poor or rich.
– James Edwards
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.
– J. I. Packer
If we take it all for granted, if we think life just shows up with this stuff already in place, if we trick ourselves into believing that everyday household items come from the grocery rather than from a gracious God, we walk right past countless reasons for [thanksgiving] without even knowing it.
– Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves.
– J. I. Packer
The gospel is boldly advancing under the contested reign and inevitable victory of Jesus the King.
– D. A. Carson