Weekly Roundup: 2019.03.04
J.C. Ryle on the cost of true religion, Tim Challies on grumbling and gossip, R. C. Sproul on the problem of forgiveness, and John MacArthur on honoring God in the pulpit.
Quote
J.C. Ryle, in his masterpiece Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots [Amazon affiliate link], addresses the cost of being a Christian. At the end, he challenges his readers to think seriously about their Christianity.
In conclusion, let every reader of this paper think seriously whether his religion costs him anything at present. Very likely it costs you nothing. Very probably it neither cost you trouble, nor time, nor thought, nor care, nor pains, nor reading, nor praying, nor self-denial, nor conflict, nor working, nor labor of any kind. Now mark what I say. Such a religion as this will never save your soul. It will never give you peace while you live, nor hope in the hour of death. A religion which costs nothing is worth nothing. Awake before it is too late. Awake and repent. Awake and be converted. Awake and believe. Awake and pray. Rest not till you can give a satisfactory answer to my question, “What does it cost [to be a Christian]?”
Articles
When Grumbling Meets Gossip | Tim Challies
As long as sin remains in us, conflict will remain in the church. Though it is unfortunate, it is also inevitable. There will be times when we disagree with others. There will be times when we need to confront other people for their sinful actions or attitudes or to dispute with others to contend for the truth and guard the gospel. But both must be handled with love and grace. Both must be seen as opportunities to further unity rather than further disrupt it. Both must be seen as threats to our calling to shine as lights in this dark and needy world.
The Problem of Forgiveness | R. C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries
Once a man came to talk to me about feeling greatly distressed because of his guilt. He said that he had committed a particular sin and had prayed and prayed about it but hadn’t received any relief. He wanted to know what he had to do to experience God’s forgiveness. But since he had confessed his sin and begged God to forgive him, I told him that he needed to ask God to forgive him for a different sin—the sin of arrogance. God says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we don’t believe that God has in fact forgiven us when we have confessed our sin, we are calling into question His faithfulness. We are saying that God’s promise cannot be trusted. That is supreme arrogance, so we need to ask God’s forgiveness for our refusing to believe His promise.
Honoring God in the Pulpit | John MacArthur | TableTalk Magazine
In other words, Paul preached Christ. He was about to expound the gospel more fully to these Athenian intellectuals, but as soon as he mentioned the resurrection, the response was so much mockery, controversy, and crosstalk that the meeting broke up.
Surely, such a response—by then a predictable pattern in Paul’s ministry—required a revamping of the whole strategy. Right?
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