The law demands what it cannot give; grace gives all it demands." - Blaise Pascal
The following resources were selected from among the most interesting and helpful of last week's new materials available on Monergism.com. May the Lord use them to richly bless and edify you and use them as you go out an minister to others.
Book or Sermon Excerpts
The Resurrection - God's Declaration - Acts 5:29-32 by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones
Exposition of 1 Corinthians (MP3 Series) by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones -
Includes some outstanding sermons on the resurrection
Humility by Wilhelmus à Brakel
Jonathan Edwards: We Are Inclined to Sin by R. C. Sproul
Athens Revisited An Exegetical Study of Acts 17 by D.A. Carson
On evangelizing in a postmodern world
The Books Opened, the Sentence Pronounced and Executed by Jonathan Edwards
The Girl Nobody Wanted - Genesis 29:15-35 by Dr. Timothy Keller
An Unpalatable, Unflatering, Pride-Striping Doctrine by A. W. Pink
Where is Your Faith? by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Person of the Holy Spirit by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The Christian’s Happiness - Romans 8:28-30 by Dr. Timothy Keller
The Gospel is Not Everything by Dr. Timothy Keller
Objection:: The Bible is Full of Myths and Contradictions. It’s just a Fairy Tale by R. C. Sproul
Objection: "All Religions Are Good. It Doesn’t Matter What You Believe" by R. C. Sproul
“Hath God Said?”: Is The Bible Trustworthy For All of Life? by R. C. Sproul
Why Sola Scriptura is Crucial to Evangelicalism by R. C. Sproul
The Humble and the Proud by Thomas Boston
The Seventh Day by James Montgomery Boice
What is an Evangelical? by Martyn Lloyd Jones
God Does Not Take Pleasure in the Death of the One Who Dies John Calvin
What Happens To The Person Who Never Heard of Jesus? by Dr. R. C. Sproul
What Is the Gospel Message? by J. I. Packer
Concluding Remarks to the book "Predestination" by Gordon Clark
Losing Salvation or Never Saved? by J.C. Ryle
Growing in Grace by A. W. Pink
Introduction to Calvin's Commentary on Romans by John Owen
Monergism Quotes - 4-15-2014
No one is righteous ... no one seeks God (Rom 3:11). All people without exception know God (Rom 1:21) but suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). There is no hope for any person on earth, save in the mercy of Jesus Christ alone. No one deserves it, least of all me. If you believe that is true about yourself, thank the Lord, He has saved you (1 John 5:13). if you don't believe it or think you are a good person deserving to be rewarded with God's favor in the end, you are lost indeed.
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Christian, rejoice in the thought that though in yourself you are sinful, yet in God's eyes you are counted righteous. The Spirit has joined you to be a member of His Beloved Son. The Father sees no spot in you and for His Son's sake is "well pleased." (Eph 1:6)
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If there is no objective morality, then how can relativists so often declare other people's views to be immoral or wrong? If some belief or practice is wrong for everyone you have just denied your moral relativism and embraced moral absolutes. If you think I am, in any way, morally obligated to embrace your view, and offended when I don't, then why do you continue to pretend you are a relativist?
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When you speak of the real dangers of hell to people in this age it is always good to remember to include yourself as one who deserves the same, save for the mercy of Christ alone. No need to get in the way of the gospel by giving the false impression we are better than others, or deserve any different - Because we aren't and we don't.
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Skeptic: What about a Jew, a good Jew, if he followed the precepts of his religion and was a good person, would he go to heaven?
Answer: Yes He would, and He did! and He is now sitting at God's right hand. As for the rest, there is no person who fits that description, Jew or otherwise. But the One who now sits at God's right hand has opened the way through the great divide and offers access to all who put their trust in Him.
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A faith which is not God-wrought but self-produced will certainly not withstand the flaming arrows of the evil one. The shield of faith is the armor of God, not a defensive tool of man's own making (Eph 6:16)
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The gospel call indeed includes a call to repentance (Acts 17:30). Repentance means that you must change your mind about God, your own righteousness and your sin against God & others. This being the the case, is the call to repentance really a back-door to works-salvation? No ... No more than the call to faith is works salvation ... because we affirm that both repentance and faith are difficult, no IMPOSSIBLE (Luke 18:27) apart from the redemptive work of Jesus Christ applied by His Spirit and by whom we cry "ABBA, Father" (Rom 8:15) It is the circumcision of heart which enables us to believe, love God and hate sin (Deut 30:6) Grace ... the grace of Jesus Christ is our whole salvation and is what causes all of our subsequent acts - the fruit of our salvation.
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"Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus." - C. H. Spurgeon
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Predestination destroys legalism. If the whole of salvation, in all its parts, is understood to be by Christ alone, it leaves no room for boasting or trusting in ourselves, even partly. It strips us bare and forces us to abandon all hope in self-effort or rules to attain a right standing before God ... It shatters our self-complacency and causes us to renounce our self-righteousness. It makes us cover our lips and utter God is God and I am not (Rom 9:15, 16). That is why the Scripture declares: "It is because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:30-31)
This is not to say that predestinarians cannot be legalistic. Human beings always find any way, Reformed people included. It means to say, rather, that if UNDERSTOOD CORRECTLY the doctrine of salvation by Grace ALONE in Christ ALONE will have the real effect of stripping us of legalism etc. Again only God's grace can do so. The true effect of biblical predestination will have on someone who beholds the majesty of God and is struck down by the fact that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy is to say, I have no hope in myself, and justly deserve God's wrath save for the mercy of Christ alone who gives me everything I need for salvation, including a new heart to believe (Deut 29:4, 30:6; John 6:63).
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Free eBooks
Basics of the Reformed Faith by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger. If you did not get an opportunity to download this free resource a couple of weeks ago, don't miss out. This is a great resource for to give to your friends to briefly explain what you believe and why.
On the Lord's Prayer (ePub, .pdf, Mobi) by Cyprian
The Silver Thread: Augustine vs. Pelagius in Church History by St. Augustine, Joihn Calvin (Amazing resource)
Grace and Free Will (Updated Edition) by St. Augustine
Christ's Famous Titles by William Dyer
The Ruler of the Waves by J. C. Ryle
Practical Relgion by J. C. Ryle