"We are apt to think that what we have done is very bad, but that we ourselves are not so bad. God is taking pains to show us that we are ourselves are wrong, fundamentally wrong." 

"A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself." 

"It does not say He will give you what you want. It does say He will give you the want. Delight in Christ brings desire for Christ. He gives the heart its desires - that is, He works in us the willing (Phil 2:13). This is why He can say in John 15:7, 'Ye shall ask what ye will... if ye abide.' The branch takes its sap from the vine, the same surges the vine feels then become the surges of the branch. My will becomes His, and I can ask what I will, if I delight myself in Him. Only then can my desire be attained, when it is His desire." 

There is much talk today about having "great faith." But faith by itself is useless. It doesn't matter how much faith you have if it is not placed in an object that is faithful, or worthy of your faith. So the real issue isn't how much faith a person has, but rather the object of that faith. 

Someone could say, "Swallowing makes you live," and that sounds about right. Swallowing food does enable me to live. However, I could swallow poison and die. So it isn't the swallowing itself that nourishes me. It is what I am swallowing that gives strength to my body. 

Faith is like swallowing. It is not my faith, but the object of my faith that saves. 

"In an attempt to explain the biblical doctrine of sin, we've let something else creep in. You'll hear it come up almost automatically whenever Christians talk about themselves: 'I'm just a sinner, saved by grace.' 'I'm just clothes for God to put on.' 'There sure isn't any good thing in me.' It's so common this mind-set, this idea that we are no-good wretches, ready to sin at a moment's notice, incapable of goodness, and certainly far from glory. It's also unbiblical." 

"To use things to our own ends is always a sign of false religion. How easy it is to take something like fasting and try to use it to get God to do what we want." 

"Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. It can only serve when there is a 'feeling' to serve... True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need." 

"They are teachers who point to their teaching or show some particular way. In all of these, there emerges an instruction, a way of living. It is not Zoroaster to whom you turn. It is Zoroaster to whom you listen... By contrast, Jesus did not only teach or expound His message. He was identical with His message. He said, "I am the truth." 

"Teaching at best beckons us to morality, but it is not in itself efficacious. Teaching is like a mirror. It can show you if your face is dirty, but the mirror will not wash your face."