Christian Quotes

If a minister has light without heat, and entertains his hearers with learned discourses, without a savour of the power of godliness, or any appearance of fervency of spirit, and zeal for God and the good of souls, he may gratify itching ears, and fill the heads of his people with empty notions; but it will not be very likely to reach their souls. And if, on the other hand, he be driven on with a fierce and intemperate zeal, and vehement heat, without light, he will be likely to kindle the like unhallowed flame in his people, and to fire their corrupt passions and affections; but will make them never the better, nor lead them a step towards heaven, but drive them apace the other way. –Jonathan Edwards, Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival in the Great Awakening

All sin comes from not putting supreme value on the glory of God–this is the very essence of sin…. We have exchanged and dishonored His glory again and again. We have trusted ourselves. We have taken credit for His gifts. We have turned away from the path of His commandments because we thought we knew better. In all this we have held the glory of the Lord in contempt. The exceeding evil of sin is not the harm it does to us or to others (though that is great!). The wickedness of sin is owing to the implicit disdain for God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and even had her husband killed, what did God say to him through the prophet Nathan? He did not remind the king that marriage is inviolable or that human life is sacred. He said, “You have despised me” (2 Samuel 12:10). –John Piper, Desiring God

Do you know what it is to live purposefully? Is there an urgent sense of mission or some compelling thrust within you which makes life add up to the sheer adventure that God always intended life to be?

Or are you simply engaged in the struggle for existence and survival? Worse still, have you been caught up into the rat race of competetive existence? Haunted by the fear of being overtaken by others at the next bend in the road? Breathlessly trying to keep up with events that travel faster than your capacity to cope with them?

If so, there is good news awaiting you, good news about a treasury of purpose and truth and wisdom to be found in the person of Christ, for living purposefully means trading our poverty for Christ’s wealth…our weakness for Christ’s strength. We exchange the bankruptcy of the fallen Adam for all the fullness of the Life of Christ, and we discover the sheer adventure of allowing Jesus Christ to be God in our own experience, for God He is! –Major W. Ian Thomas in The Indwelling Life of Christ

1 John 2:15* Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16* For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17* And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

INTRODUCTION—WHAT IS “THE WORLD”?
What does the Bible mean when it uses the term, “world”?
For example, when John the apostle says in the passage we just read, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…” what does he mean?
Or in 5:4, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” What does He mean?
Or what does Jesus mean in John 15:19 when he says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Or what does Paul mean in Romans 12:2 when he says, “Be not conformed to this world”?

Let me give you a definition of the world as the Bible, and particularly the NT, views it:

The world is an organized, harmonious system of rebellion against God, with Satan at its head.

Why did I use the words organized and harmonious?