Terry Virgo on Law and Sanctification/Justification

"All evangelicals know that they can never be justified by the law, but what they often fail to realise is that they cannot be sanctified by it either. The law ALWAYS condemns".

Terry Virgo - "The Spirit-Filled Church" - Monarch Books, Oxford (2011) - p59.

Ryan Rufus on Mortifying Sin

From the recent "Glory and Grace Conference" in the Philippines;

"To say that focusing on your past sin helps you to fight temptation is a lie from the pit of hell. What right to we have to focus on sin that God has declared He will not remember? Focusing on your past sin will simply cause an increase in the law in your life, and resulting in further sin and self-righteousness - guilt and pride".

Thomas Schriener on Christian's Good Works

"The emphasis on good works is seriously misunderstood if such works are conceived as the basis of justification. Believers are justified by grace alone but faith always produces good works and such good works are necessary for eternal life. They function as evidence that one has new life in Christ".

Thomas Schriener - "40 Questions on Christians and Biblical Law" - Kregel Books - 2010 - p146.

Joseph Prince on "Falling from Grace"

"The rejection of God's grace is to fall from grace back into works. Contrary to popular belief, falling from grace does not mean falling into sin. According to the Bible, falling from grace is to fall back into works and into the old covenant of law".

Joseph Prince - "Unmerited Favour" - Charisma House Publications Florida (2010) - (p223).

Ryan Rufus on God's Master Plan

"What is God’s grand master plan? To have a people clothed in His righteousness. His people – with revelation so that they can come before Him in perfect standing based on what He has done in His glory and His pleasure".

Ryan Rufus - "“God’s Eternal Grace Covenant” – City Church International, Hong Kong – Sunday 27th October 2008.

Terry Virgo on the True Glory of the Church

"Paul wrote to the Philippians, ‘My brothers, my beloved, my longed-for, my joy, my crown’ (Phil. 4:1). Will he ever stop? How many more words will tumble out to express his love and delight in the church that he has helped to bring to birth? How he expresses something of Christ’s heart to his beloved church.How far removed from the ‘hire ‘em’ and ‘fire ‘em’ atmosphere which sometimes prevails in the modern church".

Terry Virgo - "Firstline" - Newfrontiers Magazine - July-September 2009 issue.

Rob Rufus on the True Equality of Sin and Gospel

"When we are free from the law and the insanity of performance and trying to impress one another with ourselves and we find grace and the mercy and kindness and grace of God and the majesty of the gospel then it breaks down the dividing walls of prejudice and helps us see that the drunk in the street and the prostitute down the road is loved equally by God and we are as sinful as they are because there is only one standard and it is absolute perfection and anything below it is absolute imperfection. So who wants to be the best sinner?! Because the best sinner in hell is not a great rating to have. No one will get to heaven except by perfection".

Rob Rufus - "We Are God's Workmanship" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 24th May 2009.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Possible "Abuse" of Grace

"The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better way to test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will rebound all the more to the glory of grace".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans; An Exposition of Chapter 6; The New Man" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1972) - (p8).

Jerry Bridges on the "Danger" of License

"Paul realised that his unqualified presentation of the grace of God left him open to being misunderstood. Paul himself knew that his insistence on the pure grace of God without any admixture of commitment or discipline or obedience on our part could cause us to misunderstand him. He knew his readers could respond with this attitude; "Well if that's true, let's go out and sin all we want. The more we sin, the more we cause God's grace to abound".

This type of response is always a possibility. In fact if our concept of grace does not expose us to that possible misunderstanding then we do not throughly understand grace. I believe it is because we are afraid of this attitude that we often change the doctrine of grace into a doctrine of works".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p74).

Jerry Bridges on Praying Our Needs to God

"Think now of what you feel your greatest needs are, both spiritually and temporally. As you bring those needs to God in prayer, which would you rather present to Him as a consideration for meeting those needs; your spiritual disciplines, your obedience and your sacrifice imperfect as they are; or the infinite and perfect merit of Jesus? To ask the question is to answer it - is it not?".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p72).

Jerry Bridges on the Promises of God

"The Bible is full of God's promises to provide for us spiritually and materially, to never forsake us, to give us peace in times of difficult circumstances, to cause all circumstances to work together for our good and finally to bring us safely home to glory. Not one of those promises is dependent on our performance. They are all dependent on the grace of God given to us through Jesus Christ".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p71).

Jerry Bridges on the Operative Kingdom Principle

"In the Kingdom of heaven the operative principle is not merit but grace".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p62).

R C Sproul on Relying on God's Grace

"Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God's grace and God's grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people - for beggars. We don't want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there".

R C Sproul - "Suffering and Merit?" - Tabletalk Magazine - Volume 13 - No 1 - (February 1989) - Ligonier Ministries - Orlando, Florida - (p5).

Jerry Bridges on Experiencing God's Grace (or Not)

"Perhaps the larger reason why we do not experience more of God's grace is our misconception that, having been saved by grace, we must now at least to some degree, "pay our own way" and earn God's blessings in our daily lives ... In fact this misconception that we must pay our own way is more than a mistaken theological notion. It actually springs from the perverse disposition of our hearts - the disposition of pride".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p58).

John Piper on the "Debtors Ethic"

"The debtors ethic says; "Because you have done something good for me, I feel indebted to do something good for you" ... God meant gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another. He did not mean it to be an impulse to return favors. If gratitude is twisted into a sense of debt, it gives birth to the debtor’s ethic—and the effect is to nullify grace".

John Piper - "Future Grace" - Multnomah Publications, US - (p32).

David Wilkerson on "Cut Them Off"

"When Jesus says, “Pluck it out—cut it off,” he’s talking to Jewish listeners first about their confidence in their own good works. The hand, foot and eye all represent flesh—instruments of independence, by which man goes his own way, relying on self-will and human effort to rid himself of sinful bondages. Christ is saying to such a person, “Your eye is focused on the wrong thing. You’re looking at your own ability and power. Therefore, pluck out your eye. You have to rid your body, mind and heart of all such evil thinking. Renounce it, surgically remove it. Cut off all hope of offering to God anything of your own merit or goodness. Lust and offences must be cut off—but not by your hands. It is the work of the Spirit.

“Then simply run into my arms. Humble yourself like a child by embracing my victory on the cross. Commit to a life of total devotion and dependence on me. Because of my work at Calvary, you are no longer your own. I have bought you. My Spirit will fulfill my demand for holiness in you.”

David Wilkerson - "CUT THEM OFF" - David Wilkerson Today blog - Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Jerry Bridges on Salvation Grace and Living Grace

"My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we've performed well - whatever "well" is in our opinion - then we expect God to bless us. If we haven't done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace but we are living by the "sweat" of our own performance".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - NavPress (2008) - (pp 9-10).

Rob Rufus on the REAL Cross-Centred Life

"I've read the whole of Isaiah 53 many times but what is the obvious clear message of what happened on the Cross?

Simply this - that Jesus was crushed so that God would never crush you. Jesus was pierced so that God will never ever pierce you with sorrows or with sickness or with poverty. Jesus was punished so it is a guarantee that God will never ever punish you! Jesus was made a guilt offering by God so you will never feel guilty".

Rob Rufus - "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 1" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009.

Rob Rufus on Receiving New Covenant Promises

"If you have got a condition in your heart of the years of the traditions of men being taught to you that mix law and grace up and put you under condemnation and guilt - that make you think that God is angry with you and God's not very happy with you anymore because of your sin, then your heart has very limited capacity for the seeds of the promises of the New Covenant to germinate and give fruit to".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009.

John Piper on our One Hope

"There was only one hope for us - that the infinite wisdom of God might make a way for the love of God to satisfy the wrath of God so that I might become a son of God".

John Piper (foreword) - "Pierced for Our Transgressions - Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution" - IVP, Leicester (2007) - (p14).