The only one who can produce genuine repentance in your soul is God. —R.C. Sproul
"Why isn’t niceness a fruit of the Spirit? Because niceness is a hollow trait that a human can generate even without the inner working of the Holy Spirit. Niceness may require some force of will in the face of disagreement or controversy. It may require restraint, but it does not require an inward transformation." —Tim Challies from the weekend devotional "Be Careful of Nice People" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: God’s gracious promise to David reminds us that God’s mercy does not come at the expense of His justice. The Lord pledged to discipline David’s line, which ultimately alludes to the justice that the Messiah would receive on behalf of His people. When God forgives us, it is because Christ has satisfied the Lord’s just demands in our place. His grace to us is that we do not experience His wrath, and thus we can see His mercy in its glory.
Arrogant worship is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. —R.C. Sproul
To put it as simply as I can, if you are not spiritually reborn, you are not a Christian. —R.C. Sproul
In justification we become righteous in the sight of God by means of the cloak of Christ’s righteousness. —R.C. Sproul
The Bible’s truth does not depend in any way on whether a person believes the truth. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: As fallen human beings, we are constantly tempted to believe that the reason we are Christians is that we are somehow better than others. Even within the church, we are tempted to believe that we have a monopoly on God’s grace and that others who are not part of our denomination are second-class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. This is a tremendous error, and one against which we should be vigilant at all times. If we find it in ourselves, let us repent.
When we pray, we must remember who we are and whom we are addressing. —R.C. Sproul
"We do not need special skills or special opportunities to do extraordinary things for the kingdom. We need only to serve our extraordinary Lord in ordinary ways. And He will and does bless that service. We don’t need another hero. We change the world one diaper at a time. For of such is the kingdom of God." —R.C. Sproul Jr. from "An Ordinary Christian Son" in this month's Tabletalk Magazine http://bit.ly/1lfCGvN
Coram Deo: The Lord shows mercy to all kinds of people, so we must never think that someone is beyond the reach of God’s grace. John Calvin comments that “there is no reason why they who have a hope of salvation should despair of others; for whatever [Christians] may now be, they have been like all the rest. If [believers] have emerged from unbelief through God’s mercy alone, they ought to leave place for it as to others also.” Let us not be surprised when He saves sinners.
God is never obligated to be merciful to a rebellious creature. He doesn't owe us mercy. —R.C. Sproul
"We connect with sinners in the same way Christians always have: by telling an awfully freakish-sounding story about a man who was dead, and isn’t anymore, but whom we’ll all meet face-to-face in judgment. For real." —Russell Moore
Coram Deo: Douglas J. Moo writes in his commentary on Romans: “What should be our response to our contemplation of God’s supremacy in all the universe? Like Paul’s, doxology." Worship is the only appropriate response to the revelation of God’s deepest truths. We are finite creatures who will never understand the Lord exhaustively, even as we learn more and more about Him throughout eternity. We will never cease to be in awe of Him. Instead, our awe must and will grow. Let us worship our Lord.
Over the centuries, painters have portrayed the scene of Christ on the cross. The colors chosen from the pallet are dark. The shame and agony are everywhere apparent. Christ’s brutal execution, performed by the hands of pagan idol-worshipers, should be depicted in that way. It was a time of true and real suffering." —Rick Gamble from "The Great Exchange" in the July 2009 issue of Tabletalk Magazine http://bit.ly/1tTd74h
"Our doctrine of Trinity, drawn from centuries of reflection on Scripture, tells us that God is one in essence and three in person. Because there is only one divine essence, each person of the Trinity shares in all that God is. There is one omnipotence that belongs fully to each divine person. There is one omniscience that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit possess. And there is one glory." —Robert Rothwell from the weekend devotional "Cosmic Child Abuse?" in this month's issue of Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: We gain a helpful perspective on prayer by remembering that God’s relation to time is different than our own. It can be easy to grow impatient when God takes years to answer prayer. If we are not careful, we can even get frustrated that God seems to move so slowly. However, knowing that God relates to time differently than we do helps us remember that He always acts at the proper time. Pray knowing that God is not slow but always acts at just the right moment.
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