“Paul’s current eye of faith does not stare mysteriously into the cosmos, but backward to the revealed historical person of the Son of God. In his role as ‘Son of God’ and ‘Christ,’ Jesus fulfills the messianic and representative service predicted of the suffering servant (Isaiah 53). In Jesus’s death, Paul does not see a stoic philosophical transaction, but love! ‘He loved me,’ Paul cries! ‘He loved me, and gave himself for me!’ Indeed, unless a person looks back to…
God’s Regular Method of Guidance
“All the biblical narratives of God’s direct communications with men are on the face of it exceptional, and the biblical model of personal guidance is quite different… God’s regular method of guidance is a combination of providence and instruction. What more he may do in a particular case cannot be anticipated in advance. But wisdom will always be given if we are humble and docile enough to receive it… The inward experience of being divinely guided is not ordinarily one…
“There Will Always Be An Answer”
“If you ask, ‘Why is this or that happening?’ no light may come, for ‘the secret things belong to the Lord our God’ (Deut 29:29); but if you ask, ‘How am I to serve and glorify God here and now, where I am?’ there will always be an answer.” J.I. Packer, Praying the Lord’s Prayer, 14–15.
The Enormity of Our Offense Against God
“Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offense against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offense of others, it proves that we have minimized our own.” John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 149–150.
Our God Works By Means
“The ‘means of grace’ are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshipping God in Church, wherein one hears the Word taught and participates in the Lord’s Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification. I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them. They are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys…