Tag Archives: Sanctification

Do You Know Christ, or Do You Just Know a Lot about Him?

Posted on by under J. C. Ryle

It is well to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself. It is well to be familiar with faith, and grace, and justification, and sanctification. They are all matters pertaining to the King. But it is far better to be familiar with Jesus Himself, to see the King’s own face, and to behold His beauty.

J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)

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

This Do in Remembrance of Me

Posted on by under Alexander Maclaren

Remember that Christ’s commandment not to be conformed to the world is the consequence of his commandment to be conformed to himself.  ‘Thus did I not’ comes second; ‘this one thing I do’ comes first.  You will misunderstand the whole genius of the gospel if you suppose that, as a law of life, it is perpetually pulling men short up, and saying: don’t, don’t, don’t!  There is a Christianity of that sort which is mainly prohibition and restriction, but it is not Christ’s Christianity.  He begins by enjoining: ‘This do in remembrance of me,’ and the man that has accepted that commandment must necessarily say, as he looks out on the world, and its practices: ‘So did I not because of the fear of God.’

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977), 369.