Charles Hodge

The sin of Adam did not make the condemnation of all men merely possible; it was the ground of their actual condemnation. So the righteousness of Christ did not make the salvation of men merely possible, it secured the actual salvation of those for whom He wrought.

Herman Bavinck qutoes

If God were to wait until we—by our faith, our virtues, and good works of congruity or condignity—had made ourselves worthy, in part or in whole, to receive his favor, the restoration of communion between him and ourselves would never happen, and salvation would forever be out of reach for us.

John Stott quotes

Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, “I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.” Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is here, at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size.

Richard Baxter quotes

O sirs, how plainly, how closely, how earnestly, should we deliver a message of such moment as ours. . . .

In the name of God, brethren, labour to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember they must be awakened or damned, and . . . a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. Though you give the holy things of God the highest praise in words, yet, if you do it coldly, you will seem by your manner to unsay what you said in the matter. . . .

Oh, speak not one cold or careless word about so great a business as heaven or hell.

Richard Niebuhr quotes

Too often we want a God without wrath who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross

Bryan Chapell quotes

A sermon remains expository and Christ-centered not because it leapfrogs to Golgotha but because it locates the intent of a passage within the scope of God’s redemptive work” (Christ-Centered Preaching, 2nd ed., p. 304). Chapell puts it another way: “Preachers should not pretend that every text specifically mentions Jesus if one has the right decoder ring. Rather, they should demonstrate how every text reflects aspects or needs of his grace that are made plain in the fullness of time” (Christ-Centered Preaching, 2nd ed., p. 284).

J. I. Packer

[T]he work of salvation is one in which all three act together, the Father purposing redemption, the Son securing it, and the Spirit applying it.

It's difficult to talk about hell, because it is more awful than we have words for.

Abraham Kuyper

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Soverjavascript:void(0)eign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’

Prayer III

The way we pray tells us what we genuinely believe. Our prayer life is a more accurate picture of what we genuinely believe about God than our doctrinal statement. The way we come to Him in prayer tells us what we really think He is like. So Jesus is not so much concerned with the mechanics of prayer as He is with what is going on in our hearts as we pray. - James A. Johnston

J. Gresham Machen Quotes

The very center and core of the whole Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God—the grace of God which depends not one whit upon anything that is in man, but is absolutely undeserved, resistless and sovereign. The theologians of the Church can be placed in an ascending scale according as they have grasped with less or greater clearness that one great central doctrine, that doctrine that gives consistency to all the rest; and Christian experience also depends for its depth and for its power upon the way in which that blessed doctrine is cherished in the depths of the heart. The centre of the Bible, and the centre of Christianity, is found in the grace of God; and the necessary corollary of the grace of God is salvation through faith alone.
--What is Faith?, pp. 173-74