Gospel Gleanings

In an interview following his retirement, John Piper pointed out that the Bible does not necessarily mean there will not be any type of tear in heaven.  Rather, the Scriptures testify that God will wipe away every tear there.  Piper mused that every remembrance of sin and pain in heaven that brings a tear will be met with the immediate comfort of our ever-present Savior and lead us into a fuller experience of the joy of our salvation.

  
_<em>On addressing the question of which comes first, faith or repentance, Sinclair Ferguson reminds us of John Murray's answer.  He said that this is "an unnecessary question and the insistence that one is prior to the other is futile. There is no priority.  The faith that is unto salvation is a penitent faith and the repentance that is unto life is a believing repentance...saving faith is permeated with repentance and repentance is permeated with saving faith." <em>("Faith and Repentance," Tabletalk, June 2013  
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_The heart of your problem is the problem of your heart._  
  

“We must guard against depriving believers of anything disclosed about predestination in Scripture, lest we seem either wickedly to defraud them of the blessing of their God or to accuse and scoff at the Holy Spirit for having published what it is in any way profitable to suppress… (to suppress this doctrine is) to accuse God indirectly of stupid thoughtlessness as if He had not foreseen the peril…(and to) openly reproach God.” -John Calvin, Institutes, III, xxi.3.4

  
_One problem with justification by works is that it just does not work._  
  

“We are to preach the Gospel, not to preach about the Gospel….There are men who think they are preaching the Gospel when actually in fact they are simply saying things about the Gospel…We are not to simply say things about it, we are actually to convey it.  We are the channels through which this Word is to pass to the people.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching

  
_"Do not rest in the knowledge of a few doctrines in the letter of truth.  Do not take up with a few passing thoughts and feelings; do not be satisfied with a few fleeting convictions or a few transient desires.  Press on to know the blessed mysteries of the gospel as the food of your soul...Press onward to know the power of the precious gospel you profess, to enjoy it more in your soul, and to manifest its reality more in your conduct, your conversation, and your life." -J.C. Philpot, Through Baca's Vale, May 6_