Quotes from Joel Beeke

Spiritual adoption is the excellency and apex of God's salvation.

God's Word, when rightly expounded, is medicinal for a whole host of spiritual diseases.

The New England divine Cotton Mather puts it this way: "Exhibit as much as you can of a glorious Christ. Yea, let the motto upon your whole ministry be: Christ is all. Let others develop the pulpit fads that come and go. Let us specialize in preaching our Lord Jesus Christ.

An important mark of saving faith, then, is that a convert not only wants to be delivered from the corruption of sin, but that he also hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness.

The regenerate man loves God, loves holiness, loves the Bible, loves the godly, and loves the thought of going to heaven to commune with God and to leave sin behind forever.

When we are saved by grace, we do not leave behind the commandments of God. On the contrary, we find the power to keep them in love.

The discrepancies between Puritan and modern evangelism should prompt us to revert back to the older message where the whole of Scripture is addressed to the whole man.

A true friend is one with whom you can be playful and serious at the same time. The Bible teaches that God has appointed "a time to weep, and a time to laugh.

Long and personal familiarity with the application of Scripture was a key element in the Puritan ministerial makeup," Sinclair Ferguson writes. "They pondered the riches of revealed truth the way a gemologist patiently examines the many faces of a diamond." They used Scripture wisely, bringing cited texts to bear on the doctrine or case of conscience at hand, all based on sound hermeneutical principles.

What happens too often when we criticize someone is that we accompany it with strong, negative feelings. We criticize without ever mentioning how many other things we appreciate about our spouse.

First, the Puritans showed a profound dependence upon the Holy Spirit in everything they said and did. They felt keenly their inability to bring anyone to Christ as well as the magnitude of conversion.

Suspicion kills friendship.