George Whitefield’s description of the kind of men that are needed

“Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”

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… there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us …

Richard Sibbes warns that for some Christians, due perhaps to disposition and a deep sense of sin, they can become overly depressed and weighed down by their sinfulness. He says that the remedy for this is to remember that “there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us“.

source: Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), The Bruised Reed

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A friend of publicans and sinners.

Charles Spurgeon wrote the following in a sermon on this text.

Many a true word is spoken in jest and many a tribute to virtue has been unwittingly paid by the sinister lips of malice. The enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ thought to brand Him with infamy, hold Him up to derision, and hand His name down to everlasting scorn as “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Short-sighted mortals! Their scandal published is reputation. To this day the Savior is adored by the title which was minted as a slur. It was designed to be a stigma hat every good man would shudder at and shrink from. It has proved to be a fascination which wins the heart and enchants the soul of all the godly.

Amen.

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