John Calvin’s last will and testimony

I give thanks to God that, taking compassion on me whom he had created and placed in this world, he delivered me by his power out of the deep darkness of idolatry, into which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of his gospel, and make me a partaker of the […]

Repentance and the grace of God

If we understand that no man will ever genuinely repent without the grace of God changing his heart, then we will not feel that we have to dilute the demands of the gospel. We will put our confidence in God. We will remember that, if God is displeased with us, He will not bless us. […]

Real spiritual growth is downward

“Humility is the product of ongoing repentance as one decides against, turns from, and by watching and praying seeks to steer clear of pride in all its forms. And as the battle against pride in the heart is lifelong, so humility should become an ever more deeply seated attitude of living at the disposal of […]

Have you seen your sin?

Anybody who lives beneath the Cross and who has discerned in the Cross of Jesus the utter wickedness of all men and of his own heart will find there is no sin that can ever be alien to him. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus […]

The holy ointment of the Holy Comforter

Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ’s name and grace. He takes not of his own things, […]

Why pray?

Bruce Ware, “Prayer and the Sovereignty of God,” in For the Fame of God’s Name: Clearly, God does not need us to bring our concerns to him in order for him to know what we need or to know how best to act. He is God! He knows perfectly our backgrounds, our families, our friends, […]

Holiness is…

J. I. Packer, Keep In Step with the Spirit: Holiness…is the fruit of the Spirit, displayed as the Christian walks by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 22, 25). Holiness is consecrated closeness to God. Holiness is in essence obeying God, living to God and for God, imitating God, keeping his law, taking his side against sin, […]

God and man: sovereignty and responsibility

Charles Spurgeon, “Three Arrows, or Six?” in Intended for Good: It is a very difficult task to show the meeting-place of the purpose of God and the free agency of man. One thing is quite clear, we ought not to deny either of them, for they are both facts. It is a fact that God […]

God is working today

Melvin Tinker, Intended for Good: …it is in and through the ordinary day-to-day things of life and the most unassuming of people that God is mightily at work, moving secretly and silently to bring about his great plan of salvation for the world.…We are not to make the mistake of thinking that God is only […]

The profitability of prayer

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: Words fail to explain how necessary prayer is, and in how many ways the exercise of prayer is profitable. Surely with good reason the Heavenly Father affirms that the only stronghold of safety is in calling upon his name (Joel 2:32). By so doing we invoke the presence […]

Heaven is better

Jonathan Edwards, in “The Christian Pilgrim” (Works, vol. 2): God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.—To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, […]

The difference between Christians and non-Christians

Mark Dever, at the 2009 Desiring God Pastor’s Conference: The difference between a Christian and non-Christian: When a non-Christian is convicted of sin, he sides with his sin. When a Christian is convicted of sin, he sides with God, against himself.

Believing in Jesus means…

John Piper, “Preaching as Worship:” Believing in Jesus means coming to Him for the quenching of our souls’ thirst. Faith in Jesus is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. When we experience that, we magnify the preciousness and worth of God, because God is most glorified in us when we […]

The magnificent mandate

Dan DeWitt, in A Guide to Evangelism: Many Christians, according to Russell D. Moore, think about evangelism like they think about flossing. They know they should do it more often – and they even feel guilty when they’re reminded of it – but they think of it as an optional discipline. Such a laissez-faire approach […]

Are we not sinners?

John Newton: Are we not sinners? Were we not rebels and enemies before we knew the gospel? And have we not been unfaithful, backsliding, and unprofitable ever since? Are we not redeemed by the blood of Jesus? And can we stand a single moment except he upholds us? Have we anything that we have not […]