Author Archives: Matt Jury

Knowledge of God Teaches Us To Pray

Posted on by under D. A. Carson

The more we reflect on the kind of God who is there, the kind of God who has disclosed himself in Scripture and supremely in Jesus Christ, the kind of God who has revealed his plans and purposes for his own “household,” the kind of God who hears and answers prayer — the more we shall be encouraged to pray. Prayerlessness is often an index to our ignorance of God. Real and vital knowledge of God not only teaches us what to pray, but gives us powerful incentive to pray.

D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992), 201.

God’s Over-arching Purpose for All Believers

Posted on by under Jerry Bridges

God has an over-arching purpose for all believers: to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:29). He also has a specific purpose for each of us that is His unique, tailor-made plan for our individual life (see Ephesians 2:10). And God will fulfill that purpose. As Psalm 138:8 says, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.” Because we know God is directing our lives to an ultimate end and because we know He is sovereignly able to orchestrate the events of our lives toward that end, we can trust Him. We can commit to Him not only the ultimate outcome of our lives, but also all the intermediate events and circumstances that will bring us to that outcome.

Jerry Bridges, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

HT: Reformed Quotes

Shall I Live in That for Which Christ Died?

Posted on by under F. B. Meyer

Shall I be a friend to that which was [Christ’s] deadly enemy?  Shall sin be sweet to me, which was so bitter to Him; and that for my sake?  Shall I ever lend it a good look, or entertain a favourable thought of that which shed my Lord’s blood?  Shall I live in that for which He died, and died to kill me?

F. B. Meyer, Tried by Fire: Expositions of the First Epistle of Peter, p. 151.

What Is Repentance?

Posted on by under John Piper

Though it be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight.  Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder…. how much soever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.

Jonathan Edwards in John Piper, God Is the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005), 104.