Assurance

“If assurance is not of the essence of saving faith, and it can be lost because of sin, sensitive persons will inevitably scrape their consciences raw until they find clues and, as Calvin warned, there will be no satisfaction with evidences;……there will never be enough to secure the soul’s confidence.” -Michael Horton “

There is nothing then that can satisfy the conscience in respect of the guilt of sin, but the blood, and death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” -Thomas Goodwin

RECEIVE SOMETHING AGAIN AND AGAIN

Before it is called to do anything, the church is called to receive something-and not only once, but again and again: namely the announcement that even in its weakness, suffering, half-heartedness, and a legacy of faith stained by unfaithfulness, Christ is King. ~Michael Horton (The Gospel-Driven Life)

Where Arminians agree

Important to note: classic Arminianism and Calvinism actually agree that God choose not to save everyone.-Michael Horton

CHRIST ON EVERY PAGE

Once we truly grasp the message of the New Testament, it is impossible to read the Old Testament again without seeing Christ on every page, in every story, foreshadowed or anticipated in every event and narrative.

Michael Horton

OUR BEST CANNOT

[The bad news] is that the best efforts of the best Christians, on the best days, in the best frame of heart and mind, with the best motives fall short of that true righteousness and holiness that God requires. Our best efforts cannot satisfy God's justice.

- Michael Horton

HORTON QUOTE

The gospel transforms us in heart, mind, will, and actions precisely because it is not itself a message about our transformation. Nothing that I am or that I feel, choose, or do qualifies as Good News. On my best days, my experience of transformation is weak, but the gospel is an announcement of a certain state of affairs that exists because of something in God, not something in me; something that God has done, not something that I have done; the love in God’s heart which he has shown in his Son, not the love in my heart that I exhibit in my relationships. Precisely as the Good News of a completed, sufficient, and perfect work of God in Christ accomplished for me and outside of me in history, the gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation’ not only at the beginning but throughout the Christian life.

– Michael Horton from The Gospel-Driven Life

USED

God today is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped, and trusted.

---Michael Horton

via: iamfeeblesaint

TECHNIQUE

Today we know more about steps to God than about God Himself. We are more likely to hear a sermon next Sunday on getting closer to Christ than on Christ himself. Technique over truth, method over message – these are Pietist legacies, in spite of its positive contributions.

– Michael Horton