Every time the gospel has been proclaimed boldly and accurately in church history, there has been persecution. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Dr. R.C. Sproul writes, “Worrying about [whether one has committed the unforgivable sin] is one of the clearest evidences that [the troubled person has] not committed this sin, for those who commit it are so hardened in their hearts that they do not care that they commit it.” Blasphemers of the Holy Spirit are so hardened against God that they do not care about sin, so if we are repentant, we can be sure we have not blasphemed the Spirit.
I don’t want my testimony to be some book I wrote. I don’t even want my testimony to be how good a wife or mother I am, or how I overcame a particular adversity in my life. I want my testimony to be, “She made it to the new heavens and the new earth, and she helped encourage and equip people along the way.” —Aimee Byrd in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Understanding that God must give people hearts to believe releases us from many burdens. All we have to do is preach the gospel faithfully; we do not have to reinvent the wheel and come up with new techniques to get people to respond. We do not have to be clever or come up with ways to artificially increase church attendance. We just preach the gospel accurately and trust God to fulfill His purposes with it.
God is never obligated to be merciful to a rebellious creature. He doesn't owe us mercy. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Many believers have questions about the demonic such as “Can a Christian be demon-possessed?” The fact that Satan is not equal in power to God helps us understand that though the devil is mighty, He is still subject to the Lord’s sovereign control. God’s omnipotent care for His children means that believers cannot be possessed by demons and that no scheme of the evil one will result in his ultimate victory over God’s people. Safe in the hands of Jesus, we need not fear anything Satan can throw at us.
Coram Deo: God blesses us with the light of the revelation of His kingdom not so that we can be indifferent to it but so that we will respond to it in faith. However, He will not offer the kingdom to us forever. If we do not trust and follow Him today, we may not get the chance to do so tomorrow. Our goal should be immediate trust and obedience, but as only God can grant that, so let us pray for His Spirit to give us that gift.
The Christian life is a road trip, a journey of the most exhilarating kind. It has a starting point and a terminus. It is a metaphor of movement. Christians do not stay in one place too long, for they are set for another location. —Derek Thomas in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: In various ways, the church is tempted to bring about the growth of the kingdom of God. Many will try to make the gospel less offensive or will try to use methods of growing the kingdom other than the ordinary means the Lord has given us. When we do this, however, any growth we see is almost certainly going to be superficial. Thus, we must preach the gospel faithfully and trust God for the harvest. Only then will lasting fruit result.
Coram Deo: Since the time of Christ’s ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension, the kingdom of God has been steadily growing. His church is found around the globe, and it grows even in the most hostile lands. There is no other explanation for the growth of Christ’s kingdom other than that it is the work of God. The continued existence and growth of Christ’s church is a powerful confirmation of His gospel.
Though the world looks for contentment in all the wrong places, Christians can cope with financial suffering in a manner that demonstrates their utter dependence on Jesus Christ. While the world may commend the strength of your faith during financial hardships, you can declare the strength that Christ provides by faith in the gospel. —David Briones in March's Tabletalk Magazine
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “I pray, but I don’t feel like my prayers get beyond the ceiling.” Most of us have felt this way at one time or another. We may know the biblical truth that God listens from heaven, but we aren’t sure that our prayers actually reach Him. When we lack this confidence, Scripture offers a solution. If we want to know that our prayers go beyond the ceiling, we need to set our hearts on the things above and become captivated by the glorious, heavenly throne room of God. —Richard Pratt Jr. in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Scripture does not condemn wealth, which can be a great tool for the kingdom of God. Instead, it condemns those who serve their wealth, men and women who make it their god and do not thank the Lord for their possessions. Our Creator calls us to be thankful and generous people. If we are not, we are likely giving in to covetousness, and we must repent and seek to serve God with our riches.
If you take away the cross as an atoning act, you take away Christianity. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: In our fallen condition, we are tempted to believe that God somehow owes us something other than justice. However, if the Lord were to pour out His justice on us, we could not stand. But He shows grace to His people, saving them from their sin when He owes them no such salvation. Grace, by definition, is not owed, so we have no right to complain when it is shown to others as much as it is shown to us.
In our flesh, we have the propensity of befriending only those in whom we think we see virtues that we believe are in ourselves or that we wish were true about ourselves. —Nick Batzig in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Turning to God’s mercy alone does not mean turning to some vague idea of a forgiving deity. Instead, we must rest in Christ alone for our salvation, trusting that He paid the penalty for our sins and was raised for our justification. As long as we think we must add our works to this, we have missed the gospel. Christ and Christ alone can justify us.
To read the Bible with any seriousness and sober discernment is to see that the shedding of blood or the implications of it is on practically every page. If the history of redemption is a story told in pictures, the blood of Christ is the paint with which that story is told. —Anthony Carter in Tabletalk Magazine
The doctrine of God leads to devotion to God. Theology is meant to be experienced, not just affirmed. It is given to us to fill hearts with love for the God who has created us and redeemed us. Do not allow yourself to keep theology and Christian living on separate shelves. They amount to one continuous book that feeds our faith. —Joe Thorn in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: If we are not careful, we may adopt a holier-than-thou attitude just like the one that the Prodigal Son’s brother possessed. We dare not close the doors of our churches to the most notorious sinners. If they have repented and turned to Christ, we must likewise embrace them. If we do not, then we likely have not understood our own unworthiness and the lavish gift of grace God has given to us.
The gospel is only good news when we understand the bad news. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Part of the good news of the gospel is that it is not the strength of our faith that saves us but rather the Object of our faith. Our trust is often weak, and we sometimes fail to believe that God cares for us, just as the disciples doubted Christ’s care for them. Our salvation is not based on the power of our faith but on the power of our omnipotent Savior. Let us remember that precious truth even as we endeavor to grow in our trust in the Lord.
When we serve one another, we dramatically embody what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. We participate in Christ’s display of His love toward His church. —Eric Watkins in March's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: In the presence of God, sinners tremble with anxious fear. The only way for us to stand in His presence unafraid is to have our sin covered. Ultimately, that is why Jesus came and why His holiness and divine nature were revealed. Seeing Him as He is—the holy God—drives us to our knees in fear as we confess our sin and our worthiness of hell. But by faith, we escape that terror and, because our sins are covered, enter the filial, loving fear of Him that brings us peace.
Every child in the womb is God's handiwork and part of God's plan. —Randy Alcorn
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