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I finally finished The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall. It is a book that was recommended by my friend, Russell, in Texas. We had a great gospel conversation outside of Starbucks this summer while I was on sabbatical.  Here are some quotes from the final chapters: assurance is very important for you to have if you want to grow in your faith and grow in holiness. Jesus tells you first about the work of believing.  Faith is the work of works, because all other good works proceed from faith. Many other people ruin their souls because they seek to have their sins forgiven through faith in Christ, but then they try to produce holiness in their lives by their own efforts. This is the truth of the gospel: no matter how sordid your life has been, no matter how many your sins have been, they are small compared to the grace of Christ. Don't "just do it." Instead, continually go to Christ first, by faith. Then, you will receive a gospel motivation ...

I am slowly reading through The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall. It is slow because it is so deep theologically.  Here are some quotes to ponder regarding your sanctification for today: the word of God and the gospel never require you to change your heart from sin to holiness before you are allowed to receive Christ and his salvation by faith. Jesus loved you in your most disgusting, sinful corruption, and he died for you. When you have faith, you renounce all dependence upon anything you can do to gain Christ or to make yourself acceptable to him. You cannot love God before you understand his love for you. You must perceive his love if you are going to love him. Your soul must come to take pleasure in God and Christ by faith, or else it will just go after fleshly and worldly pleasures. The more you strive against your lusts without faith, the more your lusts will be stirred up--even though you might be able to work hard enough to restrain yourse...

I am continuing to read The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall. It is a slow read.  Here are selected quotes from Chapters 4 and 5. "faith is not simply a matter of avoiding punishment, where do not have any desire to love and enjoy Christ. Rather, true saving faith means that you come to a deep, heartfelt conviction of how precious Christ is..." "They know people cannot totally keep Christ's laws, so they say that as long as you resolve to keep Christ's law, that is good enough to save you." "In order to live a life of holiness, you need God's almighty power." "The flesh is the nature of man as it is corrupted by the fall of Adam." "Sanctification is far more than "turning over a new leaf" in the way you live. Sanctification is living out of your new nature in Christ." "Can you possibly imagine that anyone can prevail against sin if he sees that God is against him, and that he i...

I am continuing to read Walter Marshall's The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification . There are so many good quotes, but I will try and share only a handful today. The key to living a holy life is union with Christ. Now, we have to acknowledge that union with Christ is a great mystery. In order to keep the law of God, your soul must be empowered out of the fullness of Christ. The power to live a holy life is something that is produced in you by Christ, and treasured up for you in him. Union with Christ is not a privilege you earn by your sincere obedience, or by your own attempts at holiness. Your union with Christ is not a reward of your own good works. Rather, union with Christ is a privilege that God gives to every Christian when they first become a Christian! The Holy Spirit brings about your sanctification. Contrary to popular belief, this marvelous assurance of forgiveness and everlasting life will not motivate you to ungodly living. Any holy attitude you have, or any...

I am continuing to read The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall. It was recommended to me by my friend, Russell from Dallas.  It is heavy book, but it has a lot of gospel gold in it.  Here are quotes from Chapter 2: If you want to keep God's law, he must equip you to do it. Sheer willpower is neither holy nor unholy in and of itself. You can use your willpower to serve either God or Satan. You cannot truly live a holy life unless you are totally assured of your justification and reconciliation with God, totally apart from the works of the law. You will not be able to do any good works that please God unless God, in his great love and mercy, does them through you. You cannot love God if you are under the continual secret suspicion that he is really your enemy! You cannot love God if you secretly think he condemns and hates you. Forgiveness is the horse that pulls the cart of good works. Therefore, God wants you to know that you h...

This book was recommended to me by Russell.  We met while I was on sabbatical and had a great conversation about discipleship, gospel, law, grace, parenting and more.  We covered a lot of ground in our 3 hour conversation outside Starbuck's in Dallas. Russell said he has read this book several times.  Based on what I have read so far, I think I might refer back and read it often too. Here are some quotes from the first chapter: Real obedience does not only consist of external good works and acts of love...True holiness is a matter of the heart...true holiness is not simply a matter of refraining from acting out your sinful lusts...True holiness means that you delight in doing God's will; you long to do it more than you long to do anything else! True holiness means that you cheerfully obey God. My whole book is about the means by which you can become holy, but many people will see this part as irrelevant and useless. Why? Because they only want to know what they have...

I am reading four books right now.  Here are my favorite quotes from my recent reading at the Perk: The great theme of Walter Marshall's book is that Christians grow in obedience by the power of the gospel, not by their own strength. Christians are in union with Christ, and their Christian growth flows from this union, not from their own efforts. The gospel is essential for growth in holiness. Only the gospel can empower obedience. That is why every generation of the church must discover afresh the sufficiency of the gospel of grace, and the power of the cross of Jesus Christ both to save and to sanctify. the key error of the Christian life is that people think that even though they have been justified by a righteousness produced totally by Christ, they must be sanctified by a holiness produced totally by themselves. The Old Adam lives in the world of control, of constant self-measurement and self-reliance. The Law, on most every occasion, draw...

Today's New Book Friday was recommended by my friend Russell. We were Facebook friends and then met in Dallas while I was on sabbatical. We talked for three hours outside of Starbucks until after midnight. Thanks for the recommendation, Russell!