Wednesday 30 April 2014
Tuesday 29 April 2014
Friday 25 April 2014
Thursday 24 April 2014
Tuesday 22 April 2014
Saturday 19 April 2014
Tuesday 15 April 2014
Monday 14 April 2014
Wednesday 9 April 2014
Ligonier Academy (March 2014)
"Every man, therefore, who expects justification by works, must see to it, not that he is better than other men, or that he is very exact and does many things, or that he fasts twice in the week, and gives tithes of all he possesses, but that he is sinless." - Charles Hodge
Spiritual understanding is not achieved by means of natural intelligence or by academic learning. —Sinclair Ferguson http://bit.ly/o8lTuo
"Many explanations have been forthcoming for John Knox’s influence and that of the Scottish Reformation. No doubt there were many factors at work in the providence of God that brought about such spiritual renewal. But Knox’s own conviction was this: 'God gave His Holy spirit to simple men in great abundance.'" —Sinclair Ferguson from "John Knox" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Spiritual understanding is not achieved by means of natural intelligence or by academic learning. —Sinclair Ferguson http://bit.ly/o8lTuo
"Many explanations have been forthcoming for John Knox’s influence and that of the Scottish Reformation. No doubt there were many factors at work in the providence of God that brought about such spiritual renewal. But Knox’s own conviction was this: 'God gave His Holy spirit to simple men in great abundance.'" —Sinclair Ferguson from "John Knox" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo (March 2014)
"During the time of the sixteenth-century Scottish Reformation, Knox’s ministry of preaching and prayer were so well known that the Roman Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, is reputed to have said, 'I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.'" —Burk Parsons from "Give Me Scotland, or I Die" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: In his commentary on Romans, Douglas J. Moo writes, “God’s wrath is the inevitable and necessary reaction of absolute holiness to sin.” The Lord must judge sinners, and we cannot endure this judgment, but Christ bears it in our place if we trust in Him alone. There is no room in any of this for our good works to secure our place in heaven, and we must be clear on this. Sinners can only be justified on the principle of faith, and we cannot boast in anything we have done.
Coram Deo: John Calvin writes that after justification “there is sanctification, by which our hearts are prepared to keep the law; it is indeed imperfectly done, but there is an aiming at the work.” Sanctification follows justification, so justification upholds the law also in that once we are justified and receive the Holy Spirit, only then can we begin to do what the law requires. The justified do what God commands, albeit not perfectly and never in a way that merits righteousness before the Lord.
"The perseverance of the saints isn’t ultimately about our tenacious clinging to the Gospel as much as it is the sovereign clinging of the Gospel to us. I will persevere not because of me, but because of Him, not because I am a faithful bride, but because He is a faithful Husband." —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "High Fidelity" in the December 04 issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"The whole goal of our salvation is to bring us to a place where we worship God and we honour Him as God. The great danger is that we make ourselves the centre of concern, and we steal the glory of God." —R.C. Sproul from "For the Glory of God" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"Today, an estimated two hundred million Christians worldwide face harsh persecution each year in dozens of countries on nearly every continent. What should our response be? Always, our response should be informed prayer; and whenever possible, we should promote and participate in gospel-centered action." —George Robinson from "Martyrdom Today" in this month's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: As we will see in due time, the counting or imputation we enjoy in justification is not merely a negative imputation but also a positive one. Dr. Sproul writes, “The only righteousness we possess is the righteousness of Christ, and we possess it by transfer, by reckoning, by imputation.” We stand before God in Christ; though He knows we have sinned, He does not regard us as unrighteous but as righteous. He gives us eternal life according to Christ’s righteousness, not our own.
"Grand national reformations and great sweeping revivals are astonishing gifts from our heavenly Father. But the Son told us the kingdom is like unto a mustard seed. He told us that if we would be first, we must needs be last. Are we not susceptible to the temptation to miss on the little things while pursuing the big?" —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "Dream a Little Dream" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Martin Luther comments: “Righteousness is given through imputation without works, and this takes place through the non-imputation of unrighteousness. It is the same thing, whether we say, ‘to whom God imputes righteousness,’ or, ‘to whom the Lord does not impute sin,’ that is, unrighteousness.” Justification frees us from the burden of our guilt. If we are in Christ, we never have to fear that God will hold our sin against us because it has been removed from our account.
Coram Deo: Under the new covenant, baptism signifies and seals our separation from the world unto the Lord (Col. 2:8–15). Like circumcision, baptism is not faith or justification, but it points beyond itself to justification for those who believe. Moreover, like circumcision, the value of baptism is not tied to the moment it is administered. The most important thing about baptism is that we possess the reality it signifies, not whether we receive it before or after coming to saving faith.
"What must you do to be saved? In terms of the basis of your being saved, you must cease from trusting in all your doings, and recognize that if you are ever to be saved, that salvation will be found based only upon the doing and dying of another, even the Lord Jesus Christ." —Albert Martin from his weekend devotional "Jesus Our Representative" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Dr. R.C. Sproul has often noted that it is not enough merely to believe in God. We must also believe God, which means that we believe not only that He exists and can do what He says but that He will do what He says. This is the kind of faith that pleases God. Justifying faith believes that God will do what He says and declare us righteous in Christ. It thus carries with it a degree of assurance that His promises are true and reliable.
"I want to do great things for the kingdom. Those great things, however, are loving, training, and teaching the greatest things in the kingdom—His children whom He has put under my care." —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "Dream a Little Dream" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: When God considers the evidence upon which He justifies us, the evidence He considers is what Christ has done, not what we have done. This is our only hope, because if our lives are the standard, we could never be righteous in His sight. Past, present, and future sin would always stand in the way. The Lord transforms us, but He does not transform us in order to justify us. He transforms us because He has justified us in Christ.
"God’s people must learn to trust God, to walk with him through times of uncertainty, even as the flesh proves weak and 'things of this world grow strangely dim.' They must learn to die to themselves and walk by faith instead of by sight." —Eric Watkins from "Walk Before Me and Be Blameless" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: As God, Jesus always enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit, but as a man the Spirit came upon Him at a particular point to empower Him for ministry. As Dr. R.C. Sproul notes, “it’s the human Jesus who is anointed by the Holy Ghost to fulfil this mission of the Messiah.” Jesus lived for our salvation as much as he died for it.
Coram Deo: In his commentary on Romans, Dr. R.C. Sproul writes, “If God were to give us what we earn, what we deserve, we would perish from His wrath, but thanks be to God that He gives to us what was earned by His Son. Jesus got what He did not deserve; we got what He did deserve—the righteousness that is by faith.” Christ’s supreme act of obedience in bearing God’s wrath gives us the greatest blessing, namely, eternal blessedness. Let us praise and thank Him this day.
"When someone begins a statement with 'I think God is like…,' I immediately know that this person doesn’t have a clue as to what God is like." —Kim Riddlebarger from "Source of True Teaching" in the August 2009 issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"'What are you seeking?' These are the first words that Jesus utters in the gospel of John (1:38). ... John doesn’t answer Jesus’ question in the narrative. Instead, he and his companion, Andrew, avoid the question. ... Jesus asks you, the reader of John’s gospel, the same question. 'What are you seeking?'" —Thomas Brewer from his article "What Are You Seeking?" from this month's Tabletalk Magazine
When talking to unbelievers, we can point out that Christianity alone believes in God’s justice and holy hatred of sin. As long as the adherents of other faiths maintain that our good works can make up for sin and that God does not absolutely punish the sins of His followers, their deities have no true detestation for wickedness. On the other hand, we believe in a God who shows mercy to His people but also renders infinite justice on their transgressions in Christ.
Coram Deo: We must never downplay the glory and importance of our Lord’s resurrection. Not only does it provide for His vindication, but it is also the foundation for our own resurrection and victory over death. We do look forward to being in the presence of God at our deaths, but our final hope is the resurrection in which our spirits will be reunited with perfected bodies and when we will forever experience the glorified state that the Lord intended for us from the very beginning.
"Every day in America, we hear one of the great pernicious lies about God, namely, that we all worship the same god. We are told that whatever we call him or it—Allah or Yahweh or Tao or Buddha—we all worship the same thing. To that I reply, 'No, we don’t.'" —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: In his commentary on Romans, Douglas J. Moo writes, “God’s wrath is the inevitable and necessary reaction of absolute holiness to sin.” The Lord must judge sinners, and we cannot endure this judgment, but Christ bears it in our place if we trust in Him alone. There is no room in any of this for our good works to secure our place in heaven, and we must be clear on this. Sinners can only be justified on the principle of faith, and we cannot boast in anything we have done.
Coram Deo: John Calvin writes that after justification “there is sanctification, by which our hearts are prepared to keep the law; it is indeed imperfectly done, but there is an aiming at the work.” Sanctification follows justification, so justification upholds the law also in that once we are justified and receive the Holy Spirit, only then can we begin to do what the law requires. The justified do what God commands, albeit not perfectly and never in a way that merits righteousness before the Lord.
"The perseverance of the saints isn’t ultimately about our tenacious clinging to the Gospel as much as it is the sovereign clinging of the Gospel to us. I will persevere not because of me, but because of Him, not because I am a faithful bride, but because He is a faithful Husband." —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "High Fidelity" in the December 04 issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"The whole goal of our salvation is to bring us to a place where we worship God and we honour Him as God. The great danger is that we make ourselves the centre of concern, and we steal the glory of God." —R.C. Sproul from "For the Glory of God" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"Today, an estimated two hundred million Christians worldwide face harsh persecution each year in dozens of countries on nearly every continent. What should our response be? Always, our response should be informed prayer; and whenever possible, we should promote and participate in gospel-centered action." —George Robinson from "Martyrdom Today" in this month's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: As we will see in due time, the counting or imputation we enjoy in justification is not merely a negative imputation but also a positive one. Dr. Sproul writes, “The only righteousness we possess is the righteousness of Christ, and we possess it by transfer, by reckoning, by imputation.” We stand before God in Christ; though He knows we have sinned, He does not regard us as unrighteous but as righteous. He gives us eternal life according to Christ’s righteousness, not our own.
"Grand national reformations and great sweeping revivals are astonishing gifts from our heavenly Father. But the Son told us the kingdom is like unto a mustard seed. He told us that if we would be first, we must needs be last. Are we not susceptible to the temptation to miss on the little things while pursuing the big?" —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "Dream a Little Dream" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Martin Luther comments: “Righteousness is given through imputation without works, and this takes place through the non-imputation of unrighteousness. It is the same thing, whether we say, ‘to whom God imputes righteousness,’ or, ‘to whom the Lord does not impute sin,’ that is, unrighteousness.” Justification frees us from the burden of our guilt. If we are in Christ, we never have to fear that God will hold our sin against us because it has been removed from our account.
Coram Deo: Under the new covenant, baptism signifies and seals our separation from the world unto the Lord (Col. 2:8–15). Like circumcision, baptism is not faith or justification, but it points beyond itself to justification for those who believe. Moreover, like circumcision, the value of baptism is not tied to the moment it is administered. The most important thing about baptism is that we possess the reality it signifies, not whether we receive it before or after coming to saving faith.
"What must you do to be saved? In terms of the basis of your being saved, you must cease from trusting in all your doings, and recognize that if you are ever to be saved, that salvation will be found based only upon the doing and dying of another, even the Lord Jesus Christ." —Albert Martin from his weekend devotional "Jesus Our Representative" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Dr. R.C. Sproul has often noted that it is not enough merely to believe in God. We must also believe God, which means that we believe not only that He exists and can do what He says but that He will do what He says. This is the kind of faith that pleases God. Justifying faith believes that God will do what He says and declare us righteous in Christ. It thus carries with it a degree of assurance that His promises are true and reliable.
"I want to do great things for the kingdom. Those great things, however, are loving, training, and teaching the greatest things in the kingdom—His children whom He has put under my care." —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "Dream a Little Dream" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: When God considers the evidence upon which He justifies us, the evidence He considers is what Christ has done, not what we have done. This is our only hope, because if our lives are the standard, we could never be righteous in His sight. Past, present, and future sin would always stand in the way. The Lord transforms us, but He does not transform us in order to justify us. He transforms us because He has justified us in Christ.
"God’s people must learn to trust God, to walk with him through times of uncertainty, even as the flesh proves weak and 'things of this world grow strangely dim.' They must learn to die to themselves and walk by faith instead of by sight." —Eric Watkins from "Walk Before Me and Be Blameless" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: As God, Jesus always enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit, but as a man the Spirit came upon Him at a particular point to empower Him for ministry. As Dr. R.C. Sproul notes, “it’s the human Jesus who is anointed by the Holy Ghost to fulfil this mission of the Messiah.” Jesus lived for our salvation as much as he died for it.
Coram Deo: In his commentary on Romans, Dr. R.C. Sproul writes, “If God were to give us what we earn, what we deserve, we would perish from His wrath, but thanks be to God that He gives to us what was earned by His Son. Jesus got what He did not deserve; we got what He did deserve—the righteousness that is by faith.” Christ’s supreme act of obedience in bearing God’s wrath gives us the greatest blessing, namely, eternal blessedness. Let us praise and thank Him this day.
"When someone begins a statement with 'I think God is like…,' I immediately know that this person doesn’t have a clue as to what God is like." —Kim Riddlebarger from "Source of True Teaching" in the August 2009 issue of Tabletalk Magazine
"'What are you seeking?' These are the first words that Jesus utters in the gospel of John (1:38). ... John doesn’t answer Jesus’ question in the narrative. Instead, he and his companion, Andrew, avoid the question. ... Jesus asks you, the reader of John’s gospel, the same question. 'What are you seeking?'" —Thomas Brewer from his article "What Are You Seeking?" from this month's Tabletalk Magazine
When talking to unbelievers, we can point out that Christianity alone believes in God’s justice and holy hatred of sin. As long as the adherents of other faiths maintain that our good works can make up for sin and that God does not absolutely punish the sins of His followers, their deities have no true detestation for wickedness. On the other hand, we believe in a God who shows mercy to His people but also renders infinite justice on their transgressions in Christ.
Coram Deo: We must never downplay the glory and importance of our Lord’s resurrection. Not only does it provide for His vindication, but it is also the foundation for our own resurrection and victory over death. We do look forward to being in the presence of God at our deaths, but our final hope is the resurrection in which our spirits will be reunited with perfected bodies and when we will forever experience the glorified state that the Lord intended for us from the very beginning.
"Every day in America, we hear one of the great pernicious lies about God, namely, that we all worship the same god. We are told that whatever we call him or it—Allah or Yahweh or Tao or Buddha—we all worship the same thing. To that I reply, 'No, we don’t.'" —R.C. Sproul
Sunday 6 April 2014
Saturday 5 April 2014
Friday 4 April 2014
Thursday 3 April 2014
Tuesday 1 April 2014
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