The Filthy Rags of Self-Righteousness

Posted on by under Paul Tripp

In the face of his glory I am left naked with no glory whatsoever to hold before myself or anyone else. As long as I am comparing myself to others, I can always find someone whose existence seems to be an argument for how righteous I am. But if I compare the filthy rags of my righteousness to the pure and forever unstained linen of God’s righteousness, I want to run and hide in heartbreaking shame.

Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 121.

Our Will vs. God’s Will

Posted on by under Alexander Maclaren

He who does not intend to obey does not wish to know the law.  If we have no longing to know what the will of the Lord is, we may be very sure that we prefer our own to His.  If we desire to know it, we shall desire to understand the book which contains so much of it.  Any true religion in the heart will make us eager to perceive, and willing to be guided by the will of God, revealed mainly in the Scripture, in the person, works, and words of Jesus, and also in waiting hearts by the Spirit, and in those things which the world calls ‘circumstances’ and faith names ‘providences’.

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), 374.

Repentance Is…

Posted on by under J. I. Packer

Repentance is a change of mind issuing in a change of life. Since practical atheism, which disregards God, is natural to fallen human beings, godliness has to be founded on repentance from the start. Repentance means a right-face turn and a quick-march in the direction opposite to that in which we were going before. The original direction was the path of self-service, in the sense of treating yourself as God, the supreme value, and gratifying yourself accordingly. The new direction is a matter of saying good-bye to all that and embracing the service of God instead.

J. I. Packer, A Passion for Faithfulness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1995), 58.