Tag: Selected Quotes

“Sermons are not sacraments, but I think it is fair to say that they are sacramentals. A sermon is not a lecture, or a talk. It is not a chat about the things of God. It is a declaration. But unless Christ picks it up and uses it for His intended purposes, a sermon makes the hollowest sound any mortal has ever heard. Christ speaks with authority, and not as the scribes (Matt. 7:29). But He has so much authority that he can even pick up a scribe and do wonderful things through him. Every mortal preacher is in this position, and needs to keep it in mind at all times. Remember how Paul once cried out in a holy despair: ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ (2 Cor. 2:6). The best preacher in the world is nothing more than a fifteen-dollar yard sale violin. But when Christ picks that thing up, He still astonishes the world with the music He can make.”

Mines of Difficulty, pp. 24-25

“The ministry is not to be used as a means of impressing the girls.”

Mines of Difficulty, p. 18

“When ministries go astray, it is very common for the problem to be located in one of three areas: glory, gold, and girls. And because sins are like grapes—they come in bunches—it is not unusual to find some ministries that shipwreck because of all three.”

Mines of Difficulty, p. 17

“Given how the Almighty is going to judge us at the last day, we need to come to grips with the fact that we all know more than we think we do.”

Mines of Difficulty, p. 13

“The first stair step of knowing anything rightly is to know God rightly, and to fear Him. To hate knowledge is the same thing as not choosing the fear of the Lord. And knowledge of the holy is the foundation of all understanding.”

Mines of Difficulty, p. 12

“This tells us that the fundamental law/gospel divide is not to found in the text of Scripture. It is found in the difference between regenerate and unregenerate man. For the regenerate, everything from God is sweeter than the honeycomb. All of it is grace. For the unregenerate, the whole thing is the stench of death, including the good news of Christ on the cross. All of it is law and condemnation.”

Mere Christendom, pp. 255-256

“The world’s approach to sex is demented, but it is a demented caricature of certain creational realities. Men and women are convex and concave in their desires. Men want to possess and women want to be possessed. Men want to want and women want to be wanted. We reject the world’s approach to sex by embracing God’s approach.”

Mines of Difficulty, p. 5

“In other words, while there is real legalism out there, we want to make sure that we don’t define a legalist as someone who loves Jesus more than we do.”

Mere Christendom, p. 254

“The law of God is like math. It doesn’t care about anybody’s hurt feelings. It is straight, and hard, and cold, and altogether righteous. But at the same time, when this cold, very cold law is resurrected in the body of Christ back from the darkness of the tomb, it comes to us as burning love. And this is why the message must be cold law and hot gospel.”

Mere Christendom, p. 252

“We must believe in His sacrificial death, and accept our justification in His resurrection, and then acknowledge that He, and He alone, is Lord. This means that every black tribe is ruled by a man who is not black, and every white tribe is ruled by a Jew. It is time for everybody to deal with it.”

Mere Christendom, p. 251