Of First Importance

“No short-cut that tries to bypass the patient unfolding of the true character of God, and our relationship to him as his children, can ever succeed in providing long-term spiritual therapy.

But the knowledge that the Father has bestowed his love on us, so that we are called children of God - and in fact are his children (1 John 3:1-2), will, over time, prove to be the solvent in which our fears, mistrust, and suspicion of God - as well as our sense of distance from him - will eventually dissolve.”

- Sinclair Ferguson, Children of the Living God (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 14.

“So it was necessary, since God had purposed to save his church, to transfer the punishment from them who deserved it but could not bear it, to one who had not deserved it but could bear it.

This transfer of punishment by divine dispensation is the foundation of the Christian faith, indeed of all the supernatural revelation contained in Scripture.”

- John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 74.

“Our entire confidence in our acceptance before God is based solely upon the fact that Jesus was our legal representative in His sinless life and obedient death.”

- Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, Co: NavPress, 1994), 68.

“God cannot look where there is sin with any pleasure, and though as far as Jesus is personally concerned, he is the Father’s beloved Son in whom he is well pleased; yet when he saw sin laid upon his Son, he made that Son cry, ‘My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?’

It was not possible that Jesus should enjoy the light of his Father’s presence while he was made sin for us; consequently he went through a horror of great darkness, the root and source of which was the withdrawing of the conscious enjoyment of the Father’s presence. More than that, not only was light withdrawn, but positive sorrow was inflicted. God must punish sin, and though sin was not Christ’s by his actually doing it, yet it was laid upon him, and therefore he was made a curse for us . . . God only knows the griefs to which the Son of God was put when the Lord made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all. To crown all there was death itself.”

- Charles Spurgeon, quoted by Steve Jeffery, et al. in Pierced for Our Transgressions (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2007), 194.

“To worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away (Hebrews 8:13). Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centered worship; it is cross-focused worship.”

- D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2002), 37.

“None so tender-hearted and sympathising with sick souls as Jesus Christ; he is one that can have compassion, because he has had experience.

If I must come unto the surgeon’s hands with broken bones, give me one whose own bones have been broken, who has felt the anguish in himself.

Christ knows what it is by experience, having felt the anguish of inward troubles, the weight of God’s wrath, and the terrors of a forsaking God, more than any or all the sons of men: this makes him tender over distressed souls.”

- John Flavel, The Method of Grace

“You might think that you are unworthy to have such a great gift as union with Christ. Remember, however, Christ shed his precious blood to redeem you. That precious blood will enable you to miraculously advance in holiness through your union with Christ.

Union with Christ is not a privilege you earn by your sincere obedience, or by your own attempts at holiness. Your union with Christ is not a reward of your own good works. Rather, union with Christ is a privilege that God gives to every Christian when they first become a Christian! Right when you enter into the Kingdom of God, you also enter into union with Christ!”

- Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

(HT: Gospel Driven Blog)