Coram Deo ~

Not long ago I read The Gospel According to Jesus: What is Authentic Faith? by John MacArthur. It’s one of the most important books I’ve read, and I highly recommend it to you. See my review of the book here.

In my review, I shared 20 of my favorite quotes from the book. Below, I’d like to share 30 more.

1. Salvation occurs when a heart is humbled by a sovereign God who reveals His truth. In desperation the soul turns from sin and embraces Christ.
2. Be on guard against conversions that are all smiles and cheers with no sense of repentance or humility. That is the mark of a superficial heart.
3. Christians are not supposed to live like unsaved people.
4. He never held forth the hope of salvation to anyone who refused to submit to His sovereign lordship.
5. To the unregenerate mind, the thought of yielding everything to Christ is odious. But a believing heart surrenders to the Master with great joy.
6. No one can rightfully lay claim to Him as Savior while refusing to own Him as Lord.
7. No one who comes to Christ is either preferred or slighted because of past experience. The same eternal life is offered to all.
8. Saving faith is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is.
9. Some people serve Christ their whole lives. Others squander their lives, then turn to the Lord on their deathbeds. Either way, eternal life is the same.
10. Repentance is not a one-time act. The repentance that takes place at conversion begins a progressive, lifelong process of confession.
11. If repentance is genuine, we can expect it to produce observable results. There must be a sincere change in one’s lifestyle.
12. No message that eliminates repentance can properly be called the gospel, for sinners cannot come to Jesus Christ apart from a radical change of heart, mind, and will.
13. God draws the sinner to Christ and gives the ability to believe. Without that divinely generated faith, one cannot understand and approach the Savior.
14. True faith is manifest only in obedience.
15. God graciously saved people by reckoning His righteousness to them because of their faith. No one has ever been saved through the merit system — salvation has been available only by grace through faith ever since our first parents fell.
16. Justification may be defined as an act of God whereby He imputes to a believing sinner the full and perfect righteousness of Christ, forgiving the sinner of all unrighteousness, declaring him or her perfectly righteous in God’s sight, thus delivering the believer from all condemnation.
17. Justification is an instantaneous change of one’s standing before God, not a gradual transformation that takes place within the one who is justified.
18. The cornerstone of justification is the reckoning of righteousness to the believer’s account. This is the truth that sets Christian doctrine apart from every form of false religion. We call it “imputed righteousness.” Apart from it, salvation is utterly impossible.
19. The salvation He promised brings not only justification, but also sanctification, union with Him, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and an eternity of blessing. It is not merely a one-time legal transaction.
20. What to do with Jesus Christ is a choice each person must make, but it is not just a momentary decision. It is a once-for-all verdict with ongoing implications and eternal consequences — the ultimate decision.
21. All this world’s religions are based on human achievement. Biblical Christianity alone recognizes divine accomplishment — the work of Christ on humankind’s behalf — as the sole basis of salvation.
22. The gate admits only one at a time, for salvation is intensely personal. It is not enough to be born in a Christian family or to ride the coattails of a believing spouse. Believing is an individual act.
23. The kingdom is not for people who want Jesus without any change in their lives. It is only for those who seek it with all their hearts.
24. Following Christ can cost your very life — it certainly costs your life in a spiritual sense. The fainthearted and compromisers need not apply.
25. Many who think they are saved but live unholy lives will be shocked to discover in the final judgment that heaven is not their destiny.
26. It has become quite popular to teach professing Christians that they can enjoy assurance of salvation no matter what their lives are like. That teaching is nothing but practical antinomianism. It encourages people living in hypocrisy, disobedience, and sin by offering them a false assurance. It discourages self-examination. And that clearly violates Scripture.
27. If your life does not reveal growth in grace and righteousness and holiness, you need to examine the reality of your faith — even if you believe you have done great things in the name of Christ.
28. The heart of real discipleship is a commitment to be like Jesus Christ. That means both acting as He did and being willing to accept the same treatment.
29. When confronted with a decision between serving self and serving the Lord, the true disciple is the one who chooses to serve the Lord, even at great personal expense.
30. When we come to Jesus for salvation, we come to the One who is Lord over all. Any message that omits this truth cannot be called the gospel. Any message that presents a savior who is less than Lord of all cannot claim to be the gospel according to Jesus.