Sermon Quotes: "A Stunning Contrast"
“This is a psalm of powerful contrasts, a glimpse of human wickedness at its most malevolent, and divine goodness in its many-sided fullness. Meanwhile the singer is menaced by the one and assured of victory by other. Few psalms cover so great a range in so short a space.” Derek Kidner
"He that wishes to attain right views about Christian holiness must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very low if he would build high. A mistake here is most mischievous. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption…The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are ‘words and names’ which convey no meaning to the mind.’” Holiness by J.C. Ryle
“real” you. It is the essential core of who you are. Though we put a tremendous amount of emphasis on the outer person, we all recognize that the true person is the person within.” Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, pg. 59
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.” Luke 6.43-45
“True fear of God almost defies definition, because it is really a synonym for the heartfelt worship of God for who and what He is. It is at one and the same time (1) a consciousness of being in the presence of True Greatness and Majesty; (2) a thrilling sense of privilege; (3) an overflow of respect and admiration; and perhaps supremely, (4) a sense that His opinion about my life is the only thing that matters. To someone who fears God, His fatherly approval means everything, and the loss of it is the greatest of all griefs. To fear God is to have a heart that is sensitive to both His God-ness and His graciousness.” Sinclair Ferguson
“The wicked cover over what they do in their thinking, because if they did not do so they would see what they really are and hate it…He justifies himself in all things to soothe his conscience, so that he will not see what an unpleasant character he is.” Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, 785-6
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18
“Here is a whole world to explore, a ‘broad place’ to be brought into: unsearchable (heavens, clouds), impregnable (mountains), inexhaustible (the great deep); yet for all that, welcoming and hospitable…" Derek Kidner
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18
“This blessing has in mind the spiritual benefits of receiving God’s grace and being at peace with him, but also the ways those benefits affect their daily life. In the presence of God they are satisfied physically and spiritually.” Allen Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, pg 792
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him…" John 1.9-10
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19
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