HeadTheology

From The Prologue

“Then Jesus tells it to us straight up.  He comes to rip and tear families apart because He is bringing not peace but a sword, not unity but division (Matthew 10:35;  Luke 12:49,52).  He was not on vacation in Palestine but on a mission of violence that would end violently.” (13)

From Chapter 1: “King of Fools”

“The big question that looms in my mind is this: If it’s God’s love that wins, then what kind of love wins?” (27)

“There is an inherent, settled antipathy between God’s Kingdom and the kingdom of the world.” (29)

“What we need to make clear with our bumper stickers and culture-current writings is that the move that wins is a holy love.  The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness” (30)

“Our accomdation to our culture’s insistence on a half-truth puts us in danger of declawing and domesticating the mighty King, whose presence made deamons scream and death flee in shame.” (31)

“His coming was not to be marked by peace and tranquility – He came to impose a test of absolute allegiance.  He forced people into a divisive crisis of choice (Matthew 10:34-39).” (31)

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“A godly man bears God’s name and image; godliness is Godlikeness.  It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble him.” -32

“God’s power makes him mighty; his mercy makes him lovely; but his holiness makes him glorious.  The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his nature and his abhorrence of sin.  A godly man bears some kind of analogy with God in this.” -32

“The godly set themselves against evil, both in purpose and in practice.  They are fearful of that which looks like sin.” -33

“Many pretend to love Christ as a Saviour but hate him as he is the Holy One.” -34

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“As faith enlivens, so love sweetens every duty.” -30

“A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him.” -30

“Let us test our godliness by this touch-stone: Do we love God?  Is he our treasure and centre?  Can we, with David, call God our ‘joy’, yes, our ‘exceeding joy’?  Do we delight in drawing near to him, and ‘come before his presence with singing’?  Do we love him for his beauty more than his jewels?  Do we love him when he seems not to love us?” -31

“Many court him, but few love him.  People are for the most part eaten up with self-love; they love their ease, their worldly profit, their lusts, but they do not have a drop of love to God.” -31

These are quotes from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“Faith enlivens the grace; not a grace stirs up till faith sets it working.” -28

“When I believe God’s love to me, this makes me weep that I should sin against so good a God.” -28

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“True knowledge brings a man out of love with himself.  The more he knows, the more he blushes at his own ignorance.” -23

“Though God requires knowledge of God more than burnt offerings, (Hos. 6:6), yet it is a knowledge accompanied by obedience.  True knowledge not only improves a Christian’s sight, but improves his pace.” -24

“Knowledge which is not applied will only light a man to hell.  It would be better to live a savage than to die an infidel under the gospel.” -26

“Saving knowledge is not by speculation, but by inspiration.” -27

I hope within the next couple of weeks to post my favorite quotes from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture by each characteristic of a Godly man.  I am about half way through the book now and highly recommend it.

I continue to be encouraged and humbled by the words of Thomas Watson.  I have read his The Doctrine of Repentance and The Great Gain of Godliness and have always finished a page written by Thomas Watson desiring more of God and the holiness without which I will not see the Lord.

Check the book out at Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore.  (Cheaper than Amazon.com)

Ch. 15 – The Righteous And The Wicked Discerned
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“Christ said of his suffering on the cross, ‘It is finished’; but sinners shall never say of their sufferings in hell, they are finished.” -p.153

“Oh, that the eyes of sinners may be speedily opened, that they may in time see the difference of things, the beauty that is in holiness, and the astonishing madness that is sin.” -p.153

Ch. 16 – A Consolation In Affliction

“God’s people often fail to respond to his love; but though they deal badly with God, God deals well with them.” -p.155

“David does not say, ‘It is good for me that I have been in prosperity’, but ‘that I have been afflicted’.” -p.157

“When prosperity makes grace rust, God scours us with affliction.” -p.157

“Either he will make our yoke lighter, or our faith stronger.” -p.158

“Prosperity, like opium, is ready to make men fall asleep in sin.  God awakens them by the voice of the rod, and so prevents a spiritual lethargy.” -p.158

“The godly have Christ to pray for them, in their afflictions; but the impenitent when in torment, are shut out of Christ’s prayer, ‘I pray not for the world’ (John 17:9).” -p.162

“But this is our sin, we grieve more for one loss than we are for a hundred mercies.” -p.162

“God never promised us a charter of exemption from trouble, but he has promised to be with us in trouble.” -p.163

“When saints taste most of the wrath of men, they shall feel most of the love of God.” -p.164

“God will love forever, but not afflict forever; he will before long give his people a writ of ease.  A sinner’s best, and a saint’s worst, are but short.” -p.164

“Oh, let us take heed of having harsh thoughts of God.  The patient has no cause to think badly of the physician when he prescribes him a bitter potion, seeing it is in order to a cure.  God’s afflictive providences are the strokes of a father, not the wounds of an enemy.  Out of the bitterest drug God distills his glory, and our happiness.” -p.165

Some may think this is horrendous but I have taken the liberty to start to rewrite the Valley of Vision prayer which I read in the Community Group which I lead just to get rid of the ‘thees’ and ‘thou’ and make it a little more hearable and understandable. If you haven’t read of any of these prayers they are a treasure to read and be encouraged by. Check out the book here.

Crucifixion and Resurrection – p172

O, Lord

I marvel that you should become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried.

The grave calls my adoring wonder,

For it is empty and you are risen;

The four gospels attest it,

The living witnesses prove it,

My heart’s experience knows it.

Give me to die with you that I may rise to new life,

For I wish to be dead and buried to sin, to selfishness, to the world;

That I might not hear the voice of the charmer, and might be delivered from his lusts.

O Lord, there is much evil within me – crucify it,

Much flesh within me – mortify it.

Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approval,

The shame of being thought old-fashioned, the desire to be cultivated or modern.

Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion, and never feed it as a living thing

Grant me to stand with my dying Savior, to be content to be rejected,

to be willing to take up unpopular truths, and to hold fast despised teachings until death.

Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.

Never let me wander from the path of obedience to your will.

Strengthen me for the battles ahead.

Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.

Help me to be a holy, happy person,

Free from every wrong desire,

From everything contrary to your mind.

Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:

May it rule me,

May I walk in its power,

And be strengthened through its influence.

Ch. 13 – God Rewards His People By Honouring Them
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“A sinner is the most contemptible thing in nature; there is no worth in him while he lives and no loss of him when he dies.” -p.129

“The saints are precious, for they are God’s lesser heaven.” -p.130

“The wicked think the godly are not worthy to live in the world and God thinks the work is not worthy of them.” -p.132

“God’s people should be known by the sparkling of their graces.  Shall there be no difference on behaviour between the wicked and the godly, between a clod of earth and a diamond?” -p.133

“Discord among Christians brings a reproach upon religion, advances Satan’s kingdom, and hinders the growth of grace.” -p.136

“Sin so mixes with and dwells within a Christian that he cannot write a copy of holiness with blotting it.  Grace, though it abates, yet it does not abolish corruption.” -p.137

Ch. 13 – God Rewards His People By Sparing Them

“All God’s children resemble him, though some are more like him than others.” -p.141

“The compassions of a parent are steel and marble compared with God’s, ‘the tender mercy of our God’.” -p.142

“God’s eye upon the wicked is an eye of revenge, but his eye upon his children is an eye of benediction.” -p.144

“No prince goes so well guarded as God’s child, for he has a guard of angels about him.” -p.144

“Three things may cause boldness in prayer; the saints have a Father to pray to, the Spirit to help them to pray, and Jesus Christ as their Advocate to present their prayers.” -p.145

“a son cannot enjoy the inheritance till his father is dead; but every adopted child of God may at once enjoy both the inheritance and the father, because God is both father and inheritance.” -p.145

“The best obedience is what is voluntary, as that is the best honey which drops from the comb.  God sometimes accepts of willingness without the work, but never of the work without the willingness.” -p.147

“As the needle points the way that the magnet draws, so a gracious heart inclines to those things which the word suggests.” -p.147

“It is the note of a hypocrite to be discriminating in obedience; some sin he will indulge, some duty he will dispense with; his obedience is lame on one foot.” -p.147

“It is natural for children to imitate their parents; what the father does, the child is apt to learn the same.” -p.148

“He spares us, and shall not we be sparing to others.” -p.148

“I know not a greater rock of support for a fainting Christian than this; God will abate the severity of the law; though we come short in our duty, he will not fail of his mercy, but will spare us as a father spares his son.” -p.149

Ch. 9 – God Regards The Piety Of His People
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“though God is sometimes silent, he is not deaf.” -95 & 96

“though a sinner may give God many a sweet, elegant expression in prayer, yet, having the plague in his heart, God will not receive any offering from him.” -98

“It would be counted a great happiness to have the king’s ear; but what is it to have God’s ear.” -98

“God does not bestow his favours according to our desert, but according to his promise.” -98

“A lifeless God is good enough for lifeless worship.” -99

“God has no need of our services; he is infinitely blessed in reflecting upon the splendor of his own infinite being; we cannot add least cubit to his essential glory.” -99& 100

“If God’s Word does not prevail with us, our prayers will not prevail with him.” -100