20 More Great Quotes from Maturity: Growing Up and Going On in the Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson
We recently looked at Sinclair Ferguson’s excellent new book Maturity; Growing Up and Going on the Christian Life. (Click to read the review). Here are 20 more excellent quotes from the book:
- If you become a Christian, you must both expect and be prepared for opposition.
- Growth in grace and the conquest of sin come only when we allow ourselves to be exposed before God, hide nothing from him, confess our wanderings, are ashamed of our own failure, and long for a clean heart and a new spirit (Psa. 51:10).
- We cannot embrace the cross, or, more accurately, embrace the Christ who died on it and now lives forever, without renouncing sin.
- Tests, trials, and temptations abound in the Christian life. If we are to grow to maturity, we must learn how to handle them.
- In temptation we seem to be offered a more abundant life but wrapped within its folds lies death.
- God works in our lives through temptation. So, for us times of temptation can be means, not of destruction, but of sanctification.
- In God’s purposes, when we are tempted, we discover the truth about ourselves; we learn to think less of ourselves and more of our Savior.
- The Lord has promised to hear us; he will not turn a deaf ear to our cries for help. The dependence that is thus produced in our hearts, as we later discover, is simply one further way in which he brings us through temptations to maturity. After all, he makes everything work together for our good.
- How easily our witness is marred and nullified because we fail to be the son or daughter, parent, husband, wife, colleague or boss that God has called us to be!
- What the gospel provides for us then is the armor which Christ himself wore in his battles with the enemy. When engaged in conflict with Satan those who are in Christ wear his armor.
- Wearing the breastplate of righteousness means knowing this: I can never be more justified than I was the first moment I trusted Christ. And I can never be any less justified than Jesus. Nor can I be one whit less justified than the greatest believer who has ever lived.
- The New Testament teaches us that suffering is part and parcel of the Christian life.
- God uses tribulations to separate the spiritual chaff in our lives from the spiritual wheat.
- The believer does not interpret events in his life by the wisdom of men but by the word and wisdom of God.
- Afflictions focus our attention on the things that really matter, and thus restore us to single-mindedness and recalibrate our love for Christ.
- How slow we are to learn that God is willing to go to any lengths to transform us. No matter what it costs he has set his heart on us. The cross proves his determination. He means to make us like his Son, Jesus Christ. For this is the goal of our maturity.
- When we go through seasons of suffering, we should not forget that we are living our Christian life on the battlefield on which Satan is at war with the kingdom of God.
- True service is always marked by a recognition that we live for and serve others, not ourselves.
- Clearly perseverance is a basic feature of Christian living. Persevering is as important as initiation; continuing is as important as beginning.
- All sin, every sin, sin in any shape or form must be put off.
Over the years, many of the authors I enjoy have written books about Christmas. Here are four recent books about Christmas that I would recommend to you.
Dr. Ferguson writes that this book sets out to explore the question of the real meaning of Christmas. He tells us that when we find the answer, we realize that it isn’t only for the Christmas season. He states that at the center of history stands the person of Jesus Christ. He does so because he is at the center of God’s story. Christ who is the creator of all things has entered his own creation in order to become our Savior. That is what gives Christmas meaning. It is what gives history and our lives meaning too.
Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional by Paul Tripp
The Mighty Weakness of John Knox by Douglas Bond. Reformation Trust. 138 pages. 2011 
There are a number of new and upcoming books that I’m excited about. I call it my ‘on deck circle’. Here are 13 of them:
The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits by Albert Mohler
My wife Tammy and I recently attended the 32nd annual Ligonier National Conference in Orlando. We’ve been attending the conference on a regular basis since 1997, leaving the winter of the Midwest for sunny Florida, and it’s one of my highlights each year. The conference, which is described as a “family reunion” (because you often run into some of the same friends each year) was held at the impressive facilities at the First Baptist Church Orlando, the annual host of the conference. This was the second National conference held since the death of Ligonier founder R.C. Sproul 16 months ago. It was also the third consecutive conference that sold out.
James Brown, Director of Worship and Music Ministries at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, returned after several years, to lead the 5,000 attendees in singing, always a highlight for Tammy. In addition to the Ligonier Teaching Fellows (Sinclair Ferguson, Albert Mohler, Steven Lawson, Robert Godfrey, Stephen Nichols, Derek Thomas and Burk Parsons), other main session speakers included Michael Reeves and Ligon Duncan. There were a number of optional sessions during meal breaks and recordings of the radio program Renewing Your Mind. 
There are two excellent resources that have recently been released that I want to recommend for your use this Advent season. They are Sinclair Ferguson’s new book Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent and Matt Maher’s new album The Advent of Christmas. Below are my reviews of each.
The book, which covers many of the themes and tasks of Christian ministry, is broken into five major sections, which include 39 chapters. The major sections are:
Podcasts
Blogs 
The Lord’s Prayer by Albert Mohler. In this twelve-part series, Dr. Albert Mohler shows that the pattern of prayer Jesus provides is few in words, yet massive in meaning. His prayer reflects true theology and proper doxology – a perfect guide in our lives. I listened to this series as our book club at work was reading and discussing Tim Keller’s book Prayer.
Conference 
Almost every year since 1997, my wife Tammy and I have left the cold of the Illinois winter to head down to the sun and warmth of Central Florida to attend the annual Ligonier Ministries National Conference. 
This year’s conference, held March 9-11, was their 30th National Conference. It had a theme of “The Next 500 Years” and was being held on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, many of the speakers referred to Martin Luther and his influence in their addresses. The conference was held in the wonderful facilities of the First Baptist Church in Orlando where it has been held most years, sold out months in advance, and featured an excellent lineup of speakers, including John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Albert Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, R.C. Sproul, Michael Horton and more.