T4G: Key Quotes (Part 2)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I cannot guarantee the precise accuracy of these quotes, so please confirm them with the audio files available here or treat them as paraphrases.

Mohler on religion and patriotism:

There is a patriotism that I find conflicting with the gospel. I think it goes back to the fact that evangelicals have felt so at home here. The fact that one would be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and not a faithful American is a real conflict with this thinking. We should be prepared to betray any earthly kingdom and any earthly king. A lot of our people are more concerned with being good Americans than faithful Christians. There is no ground for cultural optimism here, either going backward or forward.

Sproul on justification by faith:

We are not justified by the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Mental assent and a simple profession are not efficacious. It is the possession of faith, not the profession of faith, that transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Piper on preaching that is aware of the glory of God:

God did not ordain the crucifixion of Christ or create the lake of fire in order to minimize the significance of belittling His glory . . . God planned for his Son to be crucified and for hell to be terrible so that we would have the most seriousness witnesses of what is at stake when we preach.

Piper on preaching as a display of the glory of God:

Nothing affects preaching more deeply than to be struck almost speechless by the passion of God for the glory of God.

Piper on enjoying God:

You do not honor fully what you do not enjoy. God is not glorified fully only by being known.

Piper on dealing with the inevitable rejection of the gospel message:

There are people who are going to fail to see the truth of what you have to say. Are you going to let their failure affect your method?

Piper on expository exultation:

If it is the purpose of God to display His glory in the world, and if we display it because we have been changed by knowing and enjoying it, and if we have come to know and enjoy it by beholding it and if we behold it in the gospel and if the gospel is the word/proclamation, then the implication is that preaching is essential and proclaiming the glory of Christ in the gospel is our central job.

Piper on the state of contemporary evangelical churches:

There is a famine of seeing and savoring God’s glory. I don’t see a sense of the weight of glory [in the American evangelical churches]. There should be in the gathering for corporate worship, significant elements of the greatness, majesty, and glory of God. Instead, I see the weight of church growth methodology driving us exactly the opposite direction. It seems that laughter is the only way we have to get things rolling.

Piper on the contemporary rebirth of Reformation theology, particularly in younger generations:

If theology precedes doxology and ecclesiology, then we are in for some happy developments.

Mahaney on the necessity of faithfulness in life as well as in doctrine:

It is much easier to study doctrine than to study your heart . . . We have not truly learned until we have practiced.

Mahaney on the necessity of the community of believers to advancement in the Christian life:

We cannot effectively watch ourselves by ourselves.

MacArthur on the connection between Scripture and the body life of the church:

If you want to have a church that is really committed to love, that is going to be driven by a common affection for Scripture.

MacArthur on culture:

I don’t care about the culture. I just care about the Word of God . . . I don’t want to be a student of the culture. I want to be a student of the Word of God, which confronts the culture. Just be an expert on the Word of God, and you will always know what to say to the culture.

MacArthur on teaching your people to study the Word:

People learn how to study the Bible by listening to how you preach.

MacArthur on depth in teaching the Word:

Transcendent worship experience is directly related to the depth of divine truth. You have to go down if you’re going to lead your people up.

MacArthur on the worship experience:

People need more sound because they can’t invest their singing with theology. People are calling something worship that is really just emotion.

MacArthur on reforming a church:

I’m not one who feels promptings or messages from God. I did what I felt in my heart what I needed to do and the rest was subject to the providence of God. If I went to a church I would preach through John and seek to exalt Christ without trying to change anything about church order or doctrines of grace . . . We get so caught up trying to fix this life that we . . . forget about the reality of waiting for His Son.