The Thoughts of Ryan-C

QOTD: They Killed the Lord of Life

// November 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Books, D.A. Carson, Jesus Stuff, Life, Quote of the Day, grace, reformed, sin, theology

The authorities who crucified Jesus were in fact, quite unwittingly, carrying out God’s purposes. As the praying Christians put it in Acts 4, “indeed Herod and Pontious Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and ill had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:27-28). They thought they were so wise, so politically astute; in fat, by their folly they brought to pass, in God’s perfect providence, his own wise plan–the very plan that they dismissed as foolishness. Amazing Grace: in God’s wise purposes, they killed the Lord of life.

-D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry

QOTD: God’s Wrath

// November 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Jesus Stuff, Quote of the Day, Yelling, sin, theology

God’s wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer of sin which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.

-Becky Pippert (via @mikeyporfiris)

Faith: Our Justification

// November 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // Calvin, Faith, Jesus Stuff, Life, Quote of the Day, calvinism, reformed, sin, theology

For we are said to be justified by faith, not because we receive within ourselves any righteousness whatever, but because the righteousness of Christ is credited to us, as if it were really ours; while our own wickedness is not imputed to us. The outcome is that it is possible, in a word, to truly call this righteousness the remission of sins. This is what the apostle co clearly declares in often comparing the righteousness of works to that of faith, and in declaring that the one is destroyed by the other (Romans 10:3-8; Philippians 3:9).

-John Calvin, Truth For All Time

Faith: A Gift From God

// November 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // Calvin, Faith, Jesus Stuff, Life, Quote of the Day, calvinism, grace, theology

If we honestly consider within ourselves how very blind our thought is when faced with the heavenly secrets of God, and how very unfaithful our heart is in everything, we shall not doubt that faith is infinitely beyond all the power of our nature and that it is an extraordinary and precious gift of God. For as St. Paul says, “Nobody knows the things of man, except for the spirit of man which is in him; and nobody knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” …The Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit the God is our father and that we are his children.

-John Calvin, Truth For All Time

Faith: True Faith

// November 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Books, Calvin, Faith, Jesus Stuff, Life, Quote of the Day, grace, reformed

Christian faith is, rather, a firm and solid assurance of the heart, by which we cling securely to the mercy of God which is promised to us though the gospel.

-John Calvin, Truth For All Time

Faith: A Short Series

// November 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Books, Calvin, Faith, Jesus Stuff, Life, Quote of the Day, grace, theology

I was lucky enough to get a hold on Calvin’s Truth For All Time, thanks to my buddy Jimmy and I realized that it had some great stuff in it on Faith.. thus I figured I could do a quick QOTD series on faith from this book.

Up first, is today’s quote on how we lay hold of Christ by faith.

It is true that the Word of the gospel calls all men to participate in Christ, but many, blinded and hardened by unbelief, spurn such extraordinary grace. Only believers, then, enjoy Christ; only they receive him as sent to them. He is given to them, and they do not reject him. They are called by him, and they follow him.