Last night we met Alistair Begg, speaking at the main Bible readings and and all the way from Ohio, USA. We found out about his love of Manchester United (he hates Chelsea) and a secret passion for the TV drama Foyles War. This morning he began the first of 3 Bible Readings, looking today at ‘The Wisdom of the Cross’.
Alistair took us to 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, reminding us first and foremost that the gospel is not the ABC, but the A-Z of the Christian Life. Here are some thoughts and quotes that Alistair brought to us…
“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God.We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.” - B.B. Warfield
The message of the cross has two big effects:
- Those who are perishing… think it’s foolish
- Those who are being saved… think it’s wise
“To convert one sinner from his way is an event of greater importance than the deliverance of an entire kingdom from temporal evil.” – Doctrine of the Atonement by Smeaton
“…only a person can substitute for a person; only a consenting will can substitute for a rebellious will.” – Alec Motyer
The Gospel is not something we do, it’s something Christ has done! If we exhort, without the gospel then we become legalistic! The Gospel is Historical, it’s rational, and it’s experiential… we couldn’t create it or think it up by our own wisdom… but, v.24 God Calls!
Lady Macbeth, with stained hands… “canst thou not minister to a mind diseas’d?”… Jesus can!
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
“Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calvary’s mountain.”
No other story, no other Saviour – Jesus the only one qualified!
You’ll be able to get DVDs, CDs and MP3 downloads of this talk after the event in the online shop
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