Remember that you are not saved by increased levels of holiness, however desirable it is that you should reach them. ...It is Christ who saves us-through faith. Your faith is a poor and crumbling thing, as is your spiritual service. Jesus Christ alone is qualified and able to save you because of what He has done.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Categorized in : Jesus Spiritual Crumbling

How do we bring glory to God? The Bible’s short answer is: by growing more and more like Jesus Christ.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

christian god bible

My security as a Christian does not reside in the strength of my faith but in the indestructibili ty of my Savior.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

religious christian faith

When I know that Christ is the one real sacrifice for my sins, that His work on my behalf has been accepted by God, that He is my heavenly Intercessor - then His blood is the antidote to the poison in the voices that echo in my conscience, condemning me for my many failures. Indeed, Christ's shed blood chokes them into silence!

Sinclair B. Ferguson

sacrifice real blood

It is only when we want to take our lives out of the Father’s hands and have them under our own control that we find ourselves gripped with anxiety. The secret of freedom from anxiety is freedom from ourselves and abandonment of our own plans. But that spirit emerges in our lives only when our minds are filled with the knowledge that our Father can be trusted implicitly to supply everything we need.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

anxiety father hands

God is God; you are but one of His creatures. Your only joy is to be found in obeying Him, your true fulfillment is to be found in worshiping Him, your only wisdom is to be found in trusting and knowing Him.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

knowing worship joy

Love is not maximum emotion. Love is maximum commitment.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

inspiring inspirational love

Appearances can be deceptive. The fact that we cannot see what God is doing does not mean that He is doing nothing. The Lord has His own timetable. It is we who must learn to adjust to it, not vice versa. When God's time comes nothing will stand in His way. We can therefore wait for Him with this happy confidence: "As for God, His way is perfect" (2 Samuel 22:31).

Sinclair B. Ferguson

waiting perfect mean

Thinking that I deserve heaven is a sure sign I have no understanding of the gospel.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

understanding heaven thinking

Worship is not something we "work up," it is something that "comes down" to us, from the character of God.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

character-of-god worship character

Humility is not simply feeling small and useless - like an inferiority complex. It is sensing how great and glorious God is, and seeing myself in that light.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

light humility feelings

The holiness of God teaches us that there is only one way to deal with sin- radically, seriously, painfully, constantly. If you do not so live, you do not live in the presence of the Holy One of Israel.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

holiness israel way

Spiritual growth depends on two things: first a willingness to live according to the Word of God; second, a willingness to take whatever consequences emerge as a result.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

growth spiritual two

We best defend the Lord's glory by speaking first TO Him about unbelieving men rather than speaking first ABOUT Him to unbelieving men.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

glory men firsts

True discernment means not only distinguishing the right from the wrong; it means distinguishing the primary from the secondary, the essential from the indifferent, and the permanent from the transient. And, yes, it means distinguishing between the good and the better, and even between the better and the best.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

indifferent essentials mean

There is nothing more important to learn about Christian growth than this: Growing in grace means becoming like Christ.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

grace christian mean

Christian contentment, therefore, is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provision He is pleased to make.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

contentment ambition christian

Be obedient even when you do not know where obedience may lead you

Sinclair B. Ferguson

obedience knows may

This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted, not in humanity and their achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what God has done in Christ, and for us in union with him. Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God's activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables the individual Christian to grow in true holiness.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

achievement christian views

The foundation of worship in the heart is not emotional ("I feel full of worship" or "The atmosphere is so worshipful"). Actually, it is theological. Worship is not something we "work up," it is something that "comes down" to us, from the character of God.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

emotional heart character

Jesus Christ is able to set us free because He has dealt with the sin that enslaves us.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

able sin jesus