Tag Archives: Christ

Communion with Christ

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Communion with Christ is fueled by humility.  Communion with Christ is fueled by sadness and celebration.  Communion with Christ is propelled by an accurate sense of who you are and what you need, and a celebration of the One who gives it.  Awareness of sin and the promise of salvation are what daily drive you to Christ, not to rush through a passage in His Word and say a quick prayer but to sit at His feet and grieve your sin and give praise for the grace that meets you in it.

Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 161.

God Did This Because We Were Hateful Rebels

Posted on by under Jonathan Edwards

It was come to this: either we must die eternally, or the Son of God must spill his blood; either we, or God’s own Son must suffer God’s wrath, one of the two; either miserable worms of the dust that had deserved it, or the glorious, amiable, beautiful, and innocent Son of God.

The fall of man brought it to this; it must be determined one way or t’other and it was determined, by the strangely free and boundless grace of God, that this his own Son should die that the offending worms might be freed, and set at liberty from their punishment, and that justice might make them happy. Here is grace indeed; well may we shout, “Grace, grace!” at this.

And beside, God did not do this for friends, but for enemies and haters of him. He did not do it for loyal subjects, but for rebels; he did not do it for those that were his children, but for the children of the devil; he did not do it for those that were excellent, but for those that were more hateful than toads or vipers; he did not do it for those that could be any way profitable or advantageous to him, but for those that were so weak, that instead of profiting God, they were not able in the least to help themselves.

God has given even fallen man such a gift, that He has left nothing for man to do that he may be happy, but only to receive what is given him. Though he has sinned, yet God requires no amends to be made by him; He requires of him no restoration; if they will receive His Son of Him, He requires neither money nor price; he is to do no penance in order to be forgiven. God offers to save him for nothing, only if he will receive salvation as it is offered; that is, freely through Christ, by faith in Him.

Jonathan Edwards, Works of Jonathan Edwards

HT: Reformed Quotes

The Cost of Forgiveness

Posted on by under Timothy Keller

The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.

Tim Keller, The Reason for God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2007), 193.

HT: Of First Importance

Jesus Christ Bore the Sins of the World

Posted on by under Alexander Maclaren

When Christ went to the Cross there was in His heart, in His purposes, in His desires, a separate place for every soul of man whom He embraced, not with the dim vision of some philanthropist, who looks upon the masses of unborn generations as possibly beneficially affected by some of his far reaching plans, but with the individualising and separating knowledge of a divine eye, and the love of a divine heart. Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world because He bore in His sympathies and His purposes the sins of each single soul. Yours and mine and all our fellows’ were there.

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD — Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Corinthians, Galatians and Philippians Chapters 1 to End, Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy (New York: George H. Doran Co.). from comments on 1 Thessalonians 5.10.

Christ Really Is a Crutch for the Weak

Posted on by under Andrew Murray

Abiding in Christ is just meant for the weak, and so beautifully suited to their feebleness. It is not the doing of some great thing and does not demand that we first lead a holy and devoted life. No, it is simply weakness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept—the unfaithful one casting self on One who is altogether trustworthy and true. Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us. It is a work He does for us: the fruit and the power of His redeeming love. Our part is simply to yield, to trust, and to wait for what He has engaged to perform.

Andrew Murray, Andrew Murray on Prayer

HT: Reformed Quotes