Notes

1.  J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 77.

2.  Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965), 242.

3.  It is noteworthy that when the apostle John saw a vision of God seated on His throne, he also heard angelic creatures crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty” (see Revelation 4:1-8). Some eight hundred years separated the visions of Isaiah and John. It is reasonable to assume that when God created angels in the depths of eternity and reaching forward to an eternal duration, there has always been and will always be heavenly creatures constantly calling out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord.”

4.  William Plumer, Psalms (1867; repr., Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 557.

5.  George Smeaton, Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement (1870; repr., Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1991), 21.

6.  I am indebted to my friend Bill Vogler for the idea of this illustration.

1.  J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 78, 430.

2.  F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990), 336.

3.  James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification (1867; repr., Edinburg, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1961), 236–237.

1.  Philip E. Hughes, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), 211.

2.  Charles Hodge, Second Epistle to the Corinthians (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1959), 150.

1.  Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1979), 101.

2.  Lovelace, 101.

3.  “Miserable Sinner Christianity,” Works of B. B. Warfield, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 113ff.

4.  Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874; repr., Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1958), 132.

5.  Taken from John Owen, Communion with the Triune God, edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, ©2007, 316–319. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.

1.  On the basis of John’s words in John 12:37-41, some Bible scholars believe that the Lord sitting on the throne of Isaiah 6:1 was actually the preincarnate Son of God. They believe this because of the way John linked the quotation from Isaiah 6:9-10 with his statement that “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41).

2.  Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: 1977), 234.

3.  J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, n.d.), 88.

4.  Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament: An Expanded Translation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1961), 424.

5.  John Newton, “Hymn 3,” Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org/ccel/newton/olneyhymns.h3_3.html. (This quote was first brought to my attention by Timothy Keller in The Prodigal God [New York: Dutton, 2008], 88–89).

6.  William Cowper, “Love Constrained to Obedience,” Poets’ Corner, http://theothers.org/poems/olney03.html. (This quote was first brought to my attention by Timothy Keller in The Prodigal God, 88–89).

1.  Archibald Alexander, Thoughts On Religious Experience (Edinburg, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), 165.

2.  C. FitzSimons Allison, The Rise of Moralism (Vancouver, Canada: Regent College Press, 2003).

3.  Alexander, 165.

4.  This quote is from memory from an article written some years ago, but when I read it, it “burned” in my soul, and I’ve never forgotten it.

5.  Charles Spurgeon, quoted in Iain Murray, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1995), 20.

6.  John Owen, Communion with God, ed. R. J. K. Law (Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1991), 117.

7.  Lefèvre d’Étaples, quoted in Philip Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977), 461.

8.  Martin Bucer, quoted in Hughes, 461.

1.  John Owen, The Holy Spirit (Evansville, IN: Sovereign Grace Publisher, 1960), 228.

2.  Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth Trust, 1979).

3.  Edwards.

4.  Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), 101.

1.  Philip E. Hughes, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), 117–118.

2.  John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 566.

3.  James Fraser, A Treatise on Sanctification (Audubon, NJ: Old Paths Publications, 1992), 463.

4.  James Buchanan, The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1966), 245.

1.  For a more thorough treatment of this subject, see my book Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts (NavPress).

1.  For an extensive discussion of spiritual gifts and particularly how to discern one’s gifts, see my book True Community (NavPress, 2012), chapter 7, “Spiritual Gifts Within the Community.”

2.  George Smeaton, The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1958), 228.