Tag Archives: Obedience

Preaching Is…

Posted on by under G. Campbell Morgan, Wilbur M. Smith

Preaching is the declaration of the grace of God to human need on the authority of the throne of God, and demanding, on the part of those who hear, but they show obedience to the thing declared.

G. Campbell Morgan in Wilbur M. Smith, Peloubet’s Select Notes on the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching: 1958 (Boston: W. A. Wilde Co., 1957), 377-78.

The Law-Driven Sermon

Posted on by under Paul Tripp

When I hear an essentially law-driven sermon, asking the law to do what only the grace of Jesus Christ can accomplish, I am immediately concerned about the preacher. I wonder about his view of himself, because if you have any self-consciousness about your own weakness and sin, you find little hope and comfort for yourself and your hearers in that kind of sermon.

Paul David Tripp (1950 –   )

HT: Reformed Quotes

Learning to Obey God One Choice at a Time

Posted on by under Jerry Bridges

I readily admit it is difficult to believe God is in control when we are in the midst of anxiety, heartache, or grief. I have struggled with this many times myself. Because of my schedule, most of my writing is done on an intermittent basis, a “few hours here and a few hours there.” Because of that, this particular chapter was written and rewritten over a period of six weeks or more. During that time I had to work through God’s sovereignty on two occasions myself. In each instance I realized I knew the truth regarding God’s sovereignty. What I had to do was to decide if I would trust Him, even when my heart ached.

I realized anew that, just as we must learn to obey God one choice at a time, we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will. I never feel like trusting God when adversity strikes, but I can choose to do so even when I don’t feel like it. That act of the will, though, must be based on belief, and belief must be based on truth.

Jerry Bridges, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

HT: Reformed Quotes

Grace Makes True Obedience Possible

Posted on by under Bryan Chapell

The motivations that spring from full apprehension of God’s grace do not change the rules but do change the reasons for our obedience.  Grace encourages and enables us to serve God out of love for Him and desire for His glory.  Grace makes true obedience possible because a thankful response to unearned merit is motivated more by love for God than by love for self.

Brian Chapell, Christ-centered Preaching, p. 220

The Secret of Christian Joy

Posted on by under Warren Wiersbe

The secret of Christian joy is to believe what God says in His Word and act upon it.  Faith that isn’t based on the Word is not faith at all; it is presumption or superstition.  Joy that isn’t the result of faith is not joy at all; it is only a ‘good feeling’ that will soon disappear.  Faith based on the Word will produce joy that will weather the storms of life.

Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Determined (Colorado Springs, CO: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1992), 101.

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.