John Owen: you will battle till the end

“To mortify a sin is not utterly to kill, root it out, and destroy it, that it should have no more hold at all nor residence in our hearts. It is true this is that which is aimed at; but this is not in this life to be accomplished. There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any sin, but he aims at, intends, desires its utter destruction, that it should leave neither root nor fruit in the heart or life. He would so kill it that it should never move nor stir anymore, cry or call, seduce or tempt, to eternity. Its not-being is the thing aimed at. Now, though doubtless there may, by the Spirit and grace of Christ, a wonderful success and eminence of victory against any sin be attained, so that a man may have almost constant triumph over it, yet an utter killing and destruction of it, that it should not be, is not in this life to be expected.”

~ John Owen

Read Full Post »

We will be judged by our dearest friend

What inexpressible joy, that our dear Lord, who loveth our souls, and whom our souls love, shall he our judge! Will a man fear to be judged by his dearest friend ? or a wife by her own husband ? Christian, did Christ come down and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for thee, and will he now condemn thee? Was he judged, condemned, and executed in thy stead and now will he condemn thee himself? Hath he done most of the work already, in redeeming, regenerating, sanctifying, and preserving thee, and will he now undo all again? Well, then, let the terror of that day be never so great, surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all.

~ Richard Baxter

Read Full Post »

That was random #29

I haven’t posted random quotes for quite sometime.  I actually have done so 28 times on this blog but the last time was over a year ago.  Well, Barry York posted some good quotes he had read over the last month so I thought I would resurrect this tradition.  Enjoy (especially the last one):

“The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves, and enjoyed one another before the world was. Apart from the fact that God delights to communicate and spread his goodness, there had never been a creation or redemption.”

Richard Sibbes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“In no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.”

Augustine (from his work On the Trinity)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” 

Jim Elliott

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“When Luther threw an inkwell at the devil, he symbolized his whole career.”

Richard Lovelace

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The doctrine of election… is the family secret of the children of God.”

J.I. Packer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’ve often reflected on the rather obvious thought that when his disciples were about to have the world collapse in on them, our Lord spent so much time in the Upper Room speaking to them about the mystery of the Trinity.   If anything could underline the necessity of Trinitarianism for practical Christianity, that must surely be it!”

Sinclair Ferguson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I have sinned not only against the law of God, but against the love of God.”

John Flavel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Spiritual pride is very  apt to suspect others; whereas a humble saint is most jealous of himself, he is so  suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.”

Jonathan Edwards

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mommy, I would rather have all my owies and God than have no owies and no God.” 

Five year-old Victoria, niece of Joel Beeke, upon seeing a Buddhist child while recovering in a hospital from severe injuries.  She also told her mother, ”All these owies are OK, Mommy. Jesus had owies much worse than mine, and He did nothing wrong, but I have sinned my whole life.”

Read Full Post »

Doubt killing promises

Justin Taylor in the January 2013 edition of TableTalk:

“Even though Charles Spurgeon lived about two hundred years after John Bunyan, I think Spurgeon regarded Bunyan as a friend. He said the book he valued most, next to the Bible, was The Pilgrim’s Progress. “I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire.”

Perhaps one of the reasons Spurgeon resonated with this classic was its realistic portrayal of depression, doubt, and despair. Spurgeon and Bunyan, like their Savior, were men of sorrow, acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). When Bunyan went to prison for preaching the gospel, his heart was almost broken “to pieces” for his young blind daughter, “who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides.” Spurgeon’s depression could be so debilitating that he could “weep by the hour like a child”—and not know why he was weeping. To fight this “causeless depression,” he said, was like fighting mist. It was a “shapeless, undefinable, yet all-beclouding hopelessness.” It felt, at times, like prison: “The iron bolt which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in gloomy prison, needs a heavenly hand to push it back.”

Read the rest here.

Read Full Post »