“Sin is what makes the things we know we ought to do so difficult and lifeless.”

“We are distracted by our self-focus. All our boasting and pompous self-talk would be so utterly vain if we were to see Christ fully with our eyes of faith. Newton is perplexed at how often we find the time and the interest to talk so much about our puny greatness. The Christian life is a call to self-emptying. To one woman who struggled with doubts of her assurance and seemed to be overly focused on herself, Newton wrote, “let me endeavor to lead you out of yourself: let me invite you to look unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:1–2).67 To his daughter he wrote, “This is God’s way: you are not called to buy, but to beg; not to be strong in yourself, but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . . Be humble, watchful, and diligent in the means, and endeavor to look through all, and fix your eye upon Jesus, and all shall be well.”68 And he testified of himself: I am nothing. He is all. This is foolishness to the world; but faith sees a glory in it. This way is best for our safety, and most for his honor. And the more simply we can reduce all our efforts to this one point, “Looking unto Jesus,” the more peace, fervor, and liveliness we shall find in our hearts, and the more success we shall feel in striving against sin in all its branches.”

“We know we want to read the Bible, or at least we know we ought to desire to read it. We know we want to pray, or at least we know we ought to desire to pray. And yet we don’t. Even with our Bibles open and our hands folded, there is no guarantee we are doing what we want to or ought to be doing. The spiritual disciplines are rather simple, yet we find them dreadfully hard because of this enigma. Our knowledge of what is right and our good intentions cannot overcome our sinful desires opposed to the Spirit.”

“The self-boasting life is a direct contradiction to the Christ-boasting life. Pride sucks away our spiritual joy and vitality and clouds over Christ. “O to live in and by and to and for and with Jesus by faith, this is life indeed. How different from that dry contentious self-applauding spirit, which makes so much noise and does so little good.”70 We are prone to exchange the glory of Christ for the lentil stew of self-consumed pride. We”

“Indeed, Newton confessed, “an evil heart of unbelief fills my sky with many clouds.”73 This lack of trust in God “is the primary cause of all our inquietude.”74 Newton prayed hard against the unbelief in his heart: “For this I sigh and long, and cry to the Lord to rend the veil of unbelief, scatter the clouds of ignorance, and break down the walls which sin is daily building up to hide him from my eyes.”75 Yet in our pride we hold tightly to our cares and open ourselves to spiritual attack (1 Pet. 5:6–8). We pull anxiety close like a blanket, so close that we cover our faces and cloud our souls from the victory and sovereign reign of Christ in the heavens. Even worse, unbelief makes us despondent. By faith we see our sin more clearly, and we see the sufficiency of Christ, which brings daily opportunities for joy in Christ. In turn, joy in Christ brings spiritual fortitude. “The joy of the Lord is the strength of his people: whereas unbelief makes our hands hang down, and our knees feeble, dispirits ourselves, and discourages others; and though it steals upon us under a semblance of humility, it is indeed the very essence of pride.”76 Pride exchanges joy in Christ for a cloud of spiritual despondency. Unbelief also brings insecurity about our salvation, and insecurity in Christ carries compounded anxieties and doubts to snuff out joy in Christ.”

“Our owning of personal weakness is one of the results of the active presence of grace. And our weakness is how we broadcast the grace of God to others.”

“Desirable and precious as sanctification is, it is not, I trust it will never be, the ground of my hope. Nor, were I as sinless as an angel in glory, could I have a better ground of hope than I have at present. For acceptance, I rely simply, wholly, and solely, upon the obedience unto death of my surety. Jesus is my righteousness, my life, and my salvation.”

“To behold his glory is to be made holy, and to be made holy is to be made perfectly happy (John 17:24).”

“In one letter early in his pastorate he wrote, “Though our sins have been deep-dyed, like scarlet and crimson, enormous as mountains, and countless as the sands, the sum total is, but, Sin has abounded; but where sin hath abounded, grace has much more abounded.”4”

“Christ is our Good Shepherd. He died to protect our souls (John 10:1–18).24 We follow his all-sufficient voice until we arrive at his all-sufficient face.”

“Christ is the all-sufficient Husband who willingly weds himself to us. On the one hand, he has taken full responsibility for all our debts, and on the other hand, his honor and riches and the inestimable value of his eternal estate are now all ours—“our debts are paid, our settlements secured, and our names changed.”25 He now deals with us with great affection, as is proper toward his bride, and we are given his “great love, tenderness, and sympathy.” In the coming wedding of the church to Christ we are brought face-to-face with the divine affections. “The gospel is not designed to make us stoics: it allows full room for those social feelings which are so necessary and beneficial in our present state,” writes Newton, and the affections and beauty and mutual love in the greatest marriage on earth are but an echo of the beauty in the gospel.”

“Apart from this ultimate hope, the created world would be a dungeon of despair for God’s children. But faith animates our lives with an eschatological anticipation of the presence and glory of Christ. We will not find our full and permanent happiness here. Nor will we find Christian joy automatically, like a daily newspaper at the door. God intends for us to find joy kinetically, in action, as we work out our faith with fear and trembling, as we fight the good fight of faith, as we worship, fellowship, and engage in all the various dynamics of the Christian life together.62 But even in this, our hope of eternal joy sobers our expectations for the joy we can expect to experience in this life.”

“Jesus is always near, about our path by day, and our bed by night; nearer than the light by which we see, or the air we breathe; nearer than we are to ourselves; so that not a thought, a sigh, or a tear, escaped his notice.”

“To not feel the sting of sin is a form of sickness, a deadness, a leprosy of the soul.54 But to feel the sting of sin is a mark of health, a sign of life, and a necessary experience if we are to appreciate the sin-conquering work of Christ.”

“The job of the sin-sick Christian is to repent and turn from sin and press into Christ for continued healing.”

“So from the context of 1 Thessalonians 5 I say that the key to “rejoice always” is to “pray without ceasing.” Lean on God all the time for the miracle of joy in your life. Never give up looking to him for help. Come to him repeatedly during the day and often. Make your default mental state a Godward longing for all that you need, especially for spiritual desires.”

“Doing right for right's sake is atheistic.Christians should do what God says is right because in doing it we enjoy more of God.”

“Worship is nothing less than obedience to the command of God: "Delight yourself in the Lord"!”

“God’s purpose in permitting your sin was to give his people the pleasure of seeing and savoring the glory of his grace in the inexpressible suffering and triumphs of his Son.”

“My experience is that the absence of firm prior resolve results in regular rationalization.”