Quotes from Sinclair B. Ferguson

This same distortion appears when the gospel is preached to the natural man. Boston was all too familiar with the instinct of the awakened individual to say, "I will now try much harder, and I will do better." It seems logical: I realize I have failed. I must reverse this failure by doing better. But it is serpentine logic, for it simply compounds the old legal spirit.

Our faith and works are merely reflections of the salvation we have received, not a contributing factor to it.

If I insist on knowing exactly what God is doing and what He plans to do with my future, if I demand to understand His ways with me in the past, I can never be content until I am equal with God.

Whatever form, however, Antinomianism may assume, it springs from legalism. None rush into the one extreme but those who have been in the other.

Notice what this means. Gospel assurance is not withheld from God's children even when they have not shown themselves to be strong. What

bears repeating: in Eve's case antinomianism (her opposition to and rejection of God's law) was itself an expression of her legalism!

And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son. Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity.

God's covenant is his sovereign, freely bestowed, unconditional promise: "I will be your God," which carries with it a multidimensional implication: therefore "you will be my people."36 By contrast, a contract would be in the form: "I will be your God if you will live as becomes my people.

These considerations give us some clues as to why legalism and antinomianism are, in fact, nonidentical twins that emerge from the same womb. Eve's rejection of God's law (antinomianism) was in fact the fruit of her distorted view of God (legalism).

The message of the incarnate Christ is glorious indeed, but it must never be severed from the message of the indwelling Christ. He who came for us as a baby now dwells in us as the Lord of glory through His Spirit. That is His gift to us. The indwelling Christ seeks one gift from you in return. You.

Jesus did not come to add to our comforts. He did not come to help those who were already helping themselves or to fill life with more pleasant experiences. He came on a deliverance mission, to save sinners, and to do so He had to destroy the works of the Devil (Matt. 1:21; 1 John 3:8b).

there are no new heresies, it seems, only old ones masquerading as new.

An inability to encourage someone else is usually rooted in an absorption with self that is blind to the needs or gifts of others, or a pride that cannot bring itself to praise God's grace in them.

Am I, perhaps, the kind of Christian who is quick to be caught up in a controversy (which may indeed have its place) while ignoring the call to world evangelism? Then let me remember Boniface, the Sigan-Fu Stone, and most of all, let me remember Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead that He might be my Lord.

Thus, for example, fruitful Christian service will encourage assurance; we recognize the work of the Spirit creating new desires and dispositions. We

So we are Ephesians 2:15–16 Christians: the ceremonial law is fulfilled. We are Colossians 2:14–17 Christians: the civil law distinguishing Jew and Gentile is fulfilled. And we are Romans 8:3–4 Christians: the moral law has also been fulfilled in Christ. But rather than being abrogated, that fulfillment is now repeated in us as we live in the power of the Spirit.40

And, with a disregard for other things, he cherished and experienced That blessed communion with God about which he wrote.

Inconsistent Christian living leads to lack of assurance. At least, it leads to a lack of true assurance (although, alas, not necessarily to a lack of self-assurance). Where there is no actual obedience to Christ, there will be no evidence of present love for him as Savior. Where

Such experiences can make us bewail how the Western world gives itself over annually to its Claus-mass or commerce-mass. We celebrate a reworked pagan Saturnalia of epic proportions, one in which the only connection with the incarnation is semantic. Santa is worshiped, not the Savior; pilgrims go to the stores with credit cards, not to the manger with gifts. It is the feast of indulgence, not of the incarnation.

Christianity in China from 150 years prior to the time of its inscription, circa 780.

The real test that I believe that God is love is that tragedies don't separate me from the conviction that God is love.

Our first priority in ministry must be love. Love for His Word, love for His people, and love for His appearing.

The Father did not require the death of Christ to persuade Him to love us. Christ died because the Father loves us.

The foundation of our love for the Lord lies in the recognition of His holiness, our sinfulness, and His grace.