Sermon Quotes | "He Saved Us"

“The passage speaks of God’s actions, not the believers…people are the recipients.” Bill Mounce

“While humanity languished in depravity, God took the initiative in salvation…The thought here is that of a sovereign Lord who makes an act of unprompted and undeserved favor to his subjects and does so in a personal appearance.” Andreas Kostenberger

“Justification means that God declares us righteous through the sin-bearing death of his Son; regeneration means that he makes us righteous through the indwelling power of his Spirit. So we must never confuse justification and regeneration, our new status and our new birth. For God always does both together. He never justifies people without at the same time regenerating them, and he never regenerates them without justifying them. The work of Christ in justification and the work of the Spirit in regeneration are simultaneous.” John Stott

“That justification-by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance of the future-is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us before it offer us anything else.” J.I. Packer

“Justification is an act. It’s not a work, or a series of acts. It’s not progressive. The weakest believer and the strongest saint are alike equally justified. Justification admits no degrees. A man is either wholly justified or wholly condemned in the sight of God.” William Plummer

“It is not enough to affirm that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (2:11); we must be able to say that he saved us (3:5), even he saved me.” John Stott