Category Archives: Banner of Truth

April 25, 2022 · 4:00 pm

“Pure good” by Thomas Brooks

“Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is, wisely to consider, That as there is nothing in Christ to discourage the greatest sinners from believing in Him, so there is everything in Christ that may encourage the greatest sinners to believe on Him, to rest and lean upon Him for all happiness and blessedness, (Cant. 1:3).

If you look upon His nature, His disposition, His names, His titles, His offices as king, priest, and prophet, you will find nothing to discourage the greatest sinners from believing in Him, but many things to encourage the greatest sinners to receive Him, to believe on Him.

Christ is the greatest good, the choicest good, the chiefest good, the most suitable good, the most necessary good. He is a pure good, a real good, a total good, an eternal good, and a soul-satisfying good, (Rev. 3:17-18).

Sinners, are you poor? Christ hath gold to enrich you.

Are you naked? Christ hath royal robes, He hath white raiment to clothe you.

Are you blind? Christ hath eye-salve to enlighten you.

Are you hungry? Christ will be manna to feed you.

Are you thirsty? He will be a well of living water to refresh you.

Are you wounded? He hath a balm under His wings to heal you.

Are you sick? He is a physician to cure you.

Are you prisoners? He hath laid down a ransom for you.

Ah, sinners! Tell me, tell me, is there anything in Christ to keep you off from believing? No.

Is there not everything in Christ that may encourage you to believe in Him? Yes.

Oh, then, believe in Him, and then, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,’ (Isa. 1:18).

Nay, then, your iniquities shall be forgotten as well as forgiven, they shall be remembered no more. God will cast them behind His back, He will throw them into the bottom of the sea, (Isa. 43:25, 38:17, Micah 7:19).”

–Thomas Brooks, “Precious Remedies,” in The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, Ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1666/2001), 1: 143-144.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Christian Theology, Glory of Christ, God's Excellencies, God's Goodness, Jesus Christ, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, salvation, The Gospel, Thomas Brooks

Tagged as Banner of Truth, Forgiveness, God's Goodness, Hallelujah what a Savior!, Jesus Christ, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, Pure Good, salvation, Sin, Thomas Brooks

February 23, 2022 · 12:00 pm

“In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet” by Richard Sibbes

“If the sweetness of all flowers were in one, how sweet must that flower be?

In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet.

How great then must that mercy be that lodges in so gracious a heart?

Whatever tenderness is scattered in husband, father, brother, head, all is but a beam from Him, it is in Him in the most eminent manner.

We are weak, but we are His.”

–Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1630/2021), 69.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, Glory of Christ, Jesus Christ, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Richard Sibbes, salvation, Sanctification, Suffering, The Gospel

Tagged as Banner of Truth, Glory of Christ, grace, Jesus Christ, Love, Mercy, Perfections, Richard Sibbes, Sin, Suffering, The Bruised Reed

February 22, 2022 · 12:00 pm

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us” by Richard Sibbes

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

–Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1630/2021), 13.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, Glory of Christ, Jesus Christ, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Richard Sibbes, salvation, Sanctification, Suffering, The Gospel

Tagged as Banner of Truth, Glory of Christ, grace, Jesus Christ, Love, Mercy, Richard Sibbes, Sin, Suffering, The Bruised Reed

October 21, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“Our curse, our righteousness, and our blessedness” by Thomas Brooks

“The first Adam, falling away from God by his first transgression, plunged himself into all unrighteousness, and so in wrapped himself in the curse (James 1:24).

Now Christ the second Adam, that He may restore the lost man into an estate of blessedness, He becomes that for them which the law is unto them, namely, a curse.

Beginning where the law ends, and so going backward to satisfy the demands of the law to the uttermost, He becomes first a curse for them and then their righteousness, and so their blessedness.”

–Thomas Brooks, “The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures,” The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 5, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1866/2001), 5: 147.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, grace, Imputation, Jesus Christ, Justification, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Sanctification, The Gospel, Thomas Brooks

Tagged as Active righteousness, Biblical Theology, imputation of Christ's righteousness, Jesus Christ, Justification, Thomas Brooks

July 30, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“The LORD is our righteousness” by Thomas Brooks

“‘The LORD our righteousness.’ (Jer. 23:6)

A soul truly sensible of his own unrighteousness would not have this sentence, ‘The LORD our righteousness,’ blotted out of the Bible for ten thousand thousand worlds.”

–Thomas Brooks, “A Cabinet of Jewels,” The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1866/2001), 3: 485.

1 Comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, grace, Imputation, Jesus Christ, Justification, Preaching, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Sanctification, The Gospel, Thomas Brooks

Tagged as A Body of Divinity, Application, Head, Heart, Holiness, Theology, Thomas Brooks

July 24, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“There is more glory given unto God by coming unto Christ in believing than in keeping the whole law” by John Owen

“Every poor soul that comes by faith unto Christ, gives unto God all that glory which it is His design to manifest and be exalted in;– and what can we do more?

There is more glory given unto God by coming unto Christ in believing than in keeping the whole law; inasmuch as He hath more eminently manifested the holy properties of His nature in the way of salvation by Christ, than in giving of the law.”

–John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 1: The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 1: 424–425.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, Christology, Doxology, Faith, Glorification, Glory of Christ, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, John Owen, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Sanctification, The Gospel

Tagged as Banner of Truth, Communion with God, Glorification, Glory, Glory of Christ, Heaven, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, John Owen, Look for the glory and grace of Jesus, Love of Christ, Mercy, Works of John Owen

July 23, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“Growth in grace” by John Owen

“Growth in grace, holiness, and obedience, is a growing like unto Christ; and nothing else is so.”

–John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 1: The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 1: 392.

Leave a comment

July 19, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“A continual desire” by John Owen

“Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood wherein the eternal blessedness of them that believe in Him doth consist.

And this is the sum of what He prays for with respect unto that end,– namely, that we may be where He is, to behold His glory. (John 17:24)

And is it not our duty to live in a continual desire of that which He prayed so earnestly that we might attain?”

–John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 1: The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 1: 388-389.

Leave a comment

Filed under Banner of Truth, Bible, Christian Theology, Christology, Doctrine of God, Doctrine of Man, Doxology, Faith, Glorification, Glory of Christ, God's Excellencies, Heaven, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, John Owen, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, The Gospel

July 17, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“This is heaven, this is blessedness, this is eternal rest” by John Owen

“Alas! We cannot here think of Christ, but we are quickly ashamed of, and troubled at, our own thoughts; so confused are they, so unsteady, so imperfect.

Commonly they issue in a groan or a sigh: Oh! when shall we come unto Him? When shall we be ever with Him? When shall we see Him as He is?

And if at any time He begins to give more than ordinary evidences and intimations of His glory and love unto our souls, we are not able to bear them, so as to give them any abiding residence in our minds.

But ordinarily this trouble and groaning is amongst our best attainments in this world,– a trouble which, I pray God, I may never be delivered from, until deliverance do come at once from this state of mortality; yea, the good Lord increase this trouble more and more in all that believe.

The heart of a believer affected with the glory of Christ, is like the needle touched with the loadstone.

It can no longer be quiet, no longer be satisfied in a distance from him. It is put into a continual motion towards him.

This motion, indeed, is weak and tremulous. Pantings, breathings, sighings, groanings in prayer, in meditations, in the secret recesses of our minds, are the life of it.

However, it is continually pressing towards Him. But it obtains not its point, it comes not to its centre and rest, in this world.

But now above, all things are clear and serene,– all plain and evident in our beholding the glory of Christ.

We shall be ever with Him, and see Him as He is. This is heaven, this is blessedness, this is eternal rest.

The person of Christ in all His glory shall be continually before us; and the eyes of our understandings shall be so gloriously illuminated, as that we shall be able steadily to behold and comprehend that glory.

But, alas! Here at present our minds recoil, our meditations fail, our hearts are overcome, our thoughts confused, and our eyes turn aside from the lustre of this glory.

Nor can we abide in the contemplation of it.

But there, an immediate, constant view of it, will bring in everlasting refreshment and joy unto our whole souls.”

–John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 1: The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 1: 385.

Leave a comment

July 16, 2021 · 12:00 pm

“Because Christ is there” by John Owen

“Here our souls are burdened with innumerable infirmities, and our faith is clogged in its operations by ignorance and darkness.

This makes our best estate and highest attainments to be accompanied with groans for deliverance: “We which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” (Rom. 8:23).

Yea, whilst we are in this tabernacle, we groan earnestly, as being burdened, because we are not “absent from the body, and present with the Lord,” (2 Cor. 5:2, 4, 8).

The more we grow in faith and spiritual light, the more sensible are we of our present burdens, and the more vehemently do we groan for deliverance into the perfect liberty of the sons of God.

This is the posture of their minds who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit in the most eminent degree.

The nearer anyone is to heaven, the more earnestly he desires to be there, because Christ is there.”

–John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 1: The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 1: 384.