Sunday, July 20, 2014

For The Lord's Day



God Substituting Himself for Man
"The concept of substitution may be said to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices Himself for man and puts Himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone." ~  John Stott in The Cross of Christ

Sunday, July 13, 2014

For The Lord's Day



"When a person sees the excellence of the gospel, he senses the beauty and loveliness of the divine scheme of salvation. His mind is convinced that it is of God, and he believes it with all his heart...The light of the gospel is the glory of Christ, his holiness and beauty...Clearly, it is this divine light, shining into our hearts, that enables us to see the beauty of the gospel and have a saving belief in Christ. This supernatural light shows us the superlative beauty and loveliness of Jesus, and convinces us of his sufficiency as our Savior. Only such a glorious, majestic Savior can be our Mediator, standing between guilty, hell-deserving sinners such as ourselves, and an infinitely holy God. This supernatural light gives us a sense of Christ that convinces us in a way nothing else ever could."  – Jonathan Edwards in "True Grace Distinguished from the Experience of the Devils"