". . . the whole object of being a Christian is that you may know the love of Jesus Christ, his personal love to you; that he may tell you in unmistakable language that he loves you, that he has given himself for you, that he has loved you with 'an everlasting love.' He does this through the Holy Spirit; he 'seals' all his statements to you through the Spirit. . . . You believe it because it is in the Word; but there is more than that; he will tell you this directly as a great secret. The Spirit gives manifestations of the Son of God to his own, to his beloved, to those for whom he has gladly died and given himself." -M.Lloyd-Jones


Abba Father Dad

".... God does not shield us from the world the flesh and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperaments and psychology; but exposes us to all these things as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy ....to insure that we will hold him fast...."
J.I. Packer

Knowing God, J.I. Packer

Packer: "There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that God sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see and I am glad! and he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which in all conscience, is enough). There is also great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason he wants to be my Friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose..."

"....Being Known: What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it-the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eyes are off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment when his care falters..."


"If You Can Believe: continues Packer, This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort-the sort of comfort that energizes be it said, not enervates-in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me...."

He continues..."God spends so much of His time bringing home to us that we are deficient, both mentally and morally and dare not trust ourselves to find, or follow the right road. "

"The God who restores: One of the most startling things is that god uses our sins and mistakes to this end. He employs the educative discipline of failures and mistakes very frequently, it is striking to see how the Bible deals with Godly people making mistakes..." end of packer

Click pic of the Book in right panel to get it.>>>

Relentless Love

" It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are- not in spite of our sins and faults (that would not be total acceptance), but with them. Though God does not condone or sanction evil, He does not withhold His love because of evil in us." Brennan Manning, Abbas Child

"There is tremendous relief in knowing that Gods love to me is utterly realistic based on every point of prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me." J.I. Packer, Knowing God

The Gospel and the Dead Fish

Look at the fish is the injunction of,"Professor Agassiz a French zoologist and geologist who settled in the United States in the mid nineteenth century. He began a distinguished career as a professor at Harvard." Agassiz used the principal of observation over rote learning and just pure book knowledge. Ever since I read this article on Challies Dot Com a while back I have been taking more time to observe primarily of course with the things of the Lord and in particular the Gospel, but this principal could be applied to anything in this case, though, I would say, "look at the Gospel." If you had a few minutes you might find this to be a fascinating article read it here>>> The Incident of the Fish

Antinomianism

I was accused of antinomianism, after someone listen to Steve Browns , Free Means Free, and the Mahaney post, although I don't really go for these theological terms to much I wanted to say I am not antinomian although I lean strongly toward salvation through faith alone apart from works and not through the law I would take Romans 3:19-31 as my support in this view.

Antinomianism
From Theopedia

Antinomianism comes from the Greek meaning lawless. In Christian theology it is a pejorative term for the teaching that Christians are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality. Few, if any, would explicitly call themselves "antinomian," hence, it is usually a charge leveled by one group against an opposing group.
Antinomianism may be viewed as the polar opposite of legalism, the notion that obedience to a code of religious law is necessary for salvation. In this sense, both antinomianism and legalism are considered errant extremes.

Steve Brown Etc Dot Com

If you haven't experienced the ministry of Steve Brown, you're missing out, you can check him out HERE . Steve is an author of several books, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando Florida, a Calvinist and preacher of grace. He is one who understands the difficulties normal Christians face in their daily lives with all the guilt and neurosis that goes along with our modern evangelical experience. Check him out>> Free Means Free!

United With Christ

"The knowledge of our union with Christ provides us with great dignity. As I look at myself I see failure, sin, and sometimes shame and disgrace. But that is neither the ultimate or the whole truth about me as a christian. No! I am united with Christ, a joint heir of his riches, a child of God. Knowing this to be the real truth about me lends grace and power to my life."
Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life, If you want to expand this thought >>> download

The Power of Justification

" The importance of this cannot be exaggerated. The glory of the gospel is that God has declared Christians to be rightly related to him in spite of their sin. But our greatest temptation and mistake is to try and smuggle character into his work of grace. How easily we fall into this trap of assuming that we remain justified only so long as there are grounds in our character for that justification. But Paul's teaching is that nothing we ever do contributes to our justification.................

"...Justification is not subject to degrees. Gods work in us is. We differ in the extent to which we allow his Spirit to make us like Christ, it is possible therefore to be more or less Christ-like. But it is not possible to be more or less justified."

Sinclair Ferguson, The Christan Life

If you want to know what the Gospel is click >> What Is The Gospel

Recovering Your Good Heart

Steve Brown of SteveBrownetc.com & Key Life interviews Jim Robbins about his new book "Recovering Your Good Heart"

Read Article Here <<

"It is the gospel that continues to remind us that our day-to-day acceptance with the Father is not based on what we do for God but upon what Christ did for us." Jerry Bridges