Posts
"He is Risen" (Luke 24) 1. His risen body is necessary 2. His risen body is our hope of reconciliation 3. His risen body is eternal life 4. His risen body proves His Deity 1. His Risen Body was Necessary (1Cor 15:16-22) For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile (vain, empty, worthless); you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep (death in Christ, Old Testament saints, prophets, believers before the cross, and after) in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (miserable). But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits (the beginning of sacrifice) of those who have fallen asleep (those who died) . For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die (physical death), even so in Christ all shall be made alive (born again believers who put their faith in Him alone)....
"Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may refrain from wonted ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial degree, with less difficulty; but it is heart-rending work, finally to part with all sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce, utterly to send them away. But this we must do, if we would follow those that are truly turning to God: yea, we must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world, Luke xiv.33 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.'" Jonathan Edwards
Grace
We tend to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get him or her to pray a prayer to receive Christ. Then we immediately put the gospel on the shelf, so to speak, and go on to the duties of discipleship. The grace that brought salvation to you is the same grace that teaches or disciplines you. But you must respond on the basis of grace, not law. Jerry Bridges