Status Updates From Addictions: A Banquet in th...

“This awareness (we love our sin) is especially important when someone is caught in his addiction. These men and women swear that they will never do it again, and they sincerely believe they won’t… But such feelings should never be misinterpreted to mean that desires have died. They have more in common with people who feel bloated after the Thanksgiving meal…” pg. 205

“If we easily confess to God something that shames us to confess to a friend, we are thinking too highly of the opinions of people and not highly enough about the holiness of God.” Pg. 198

“If there were no disapproval of our behavior, there would have been no cross… God’s love has an immense condition. It is bought at an astoundingly great price. The condition for His love was His own death and resurrection…. It is one thing to know that someone smiles on us; it is another to know that behind that smile was the greatest sacrifice that could possibly have been offered.” Pg. 145-6

“Are you willing to take Jesus Christ as He is offered in the Gospel… to be your only Savior and Lord… to give you pardon by His blood shed and to sanctify you.. to govern you by His laws? … To be willing to be ruled by His laws in general and utterly unwilling when it comes to particulars is no true willingness or subjection… His laws reach both to heart and outward actions.” Richard Baxter, pg. 133

“…. The conditions of our surrender cost us nothing. We don’t have to pay for the damage we have done against God… All we must do is trust that, whatever the cost, the true God has already paid it. The result is that we are not only forgiven, but our God accepts us as family members rather than slaves. He says that we belong to Him and no other.” Pg. 131

“The problem is not so much that our independent path is no longer working for us, so we need help. The problem is that we are rebels who must lay down our arms, beg forgiveness from the One on whom we declared war, and accept His conditions of surrender.” pg. 131