It more pleaseth the saints that they enjoy God, than that they enjoy salvation. False and carnal spirits will express a great deal of desire after salvation, for they like salvation, heaven, and glory well; but they never express any longing desire after God and Jesus Christ. They love salvation, but they care not for a Saviour. Now that which faith pitcheth most upon is God Himself; He shall be my salvation, let me have Him, and that is salvation enough.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 253.
There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from.
Pause, then, and contemplate. The eternal Son of God, Creator of the universe, worshiped and adored by angels and archangels, has offered Himself in your place. He has offered Himself freely, willingly, and gladly, to endure the judgment that your sin deserves, and to endure it in a holy way – saying the perfect “yea and Amen!” to the holiness of the judgment, which your corrupt heart could never have said. As far as atoning for your sins is concerned, the only thing you owe God is endless gratitude (Nick Needham).
Obedience Unto Death, Tabletalk, April 2004, p. 14, Used by Permission.
I must feel the truth that once I was as close to hell as I am to the chair I am sitting on – even closer. Its darkness, like vapor, had entered my soul and was luring me down. Its views were my views. I was a son of hell (Matt. 23:15), a child of the Devil (John 8:44) and of wrath (Eph. 2:3). I belonged to the viper’s brood (Matt. 3:7), without hope and without God (Eph. 2:12). I must believe that just as a rock climber, having slipped, hangs over the deadly cliff by his fingertips, so I once hung over hell and was a heartbeat away from eternal torment. I say it slowly, eternal torment!
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2002. p. 114.
The Bible clearly reminds us that left to ourselves, we would be lost forever. The only reason we can seek Christ in our sinfulness is because Christ has sought us as our Savior. The glory of the gospel is that the God of the universe reaches beyond the hardness of our hearts, overcoming our selfish resistance and sinful rebellion, and He saves us from ourselves. Such mercy magnifies God’s pursuit of us and crucifies our pride before Him.
Taken from Follow Me by David Platt. Copyright © 2013 by David Platt. Used by permission. Website: Radical.net. Page 47.
Until you see the cross as that which is done by you, you will never appreciate that it is done for you.
Secret Church 2009.
The doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ is a glorious doctrine; it is the marrow and quintessence of the gospel, in which all a Christian’s comfort lies. Great was the work of creation, but greater the work of redemption; it cost more to redeem us than to make us; in the one there was but the speaking of a word, in the other the shedding of blood. The creation was but the work of God’s fingers (Psalm 8:3). Redemption is the work of His arm (Luke 1:51).
Body of Divinity, Baker, 1979, p. 146.
