Pg 168: Nebuchadnezzar, one of the greatest biblical personifications of pride, self-righteousness, cruelty, and blasphemy, was also one of God’s greatest servants. Even more, he miraculously became one of God’s most effective prophets.
Pg 77: Likewise, and it is worth repeating, the bulk of Jesus’s preaching condemns the self-righteous (and praises the repentant). The question is this: Are souls able to become repentant and contrite after physical death? Indeed, consider the reverse—can a soul continue to be self-righteous when standing before God?
Pg 60: Here lies the essence of the gospel. God has no plans to save the self-righteous. Worth repeating, God has no plans to save the self-righteous. His only plan, unchanged from eternity, is to save the repentant. No one in the kingdom will be self-righteous.
Pg 32: “You must be born-again.” (John 3:7) Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born-again,” with no mention of being Spirit-filled. Being born is creation, which is God’s exclusive realm. Only God creates life. No one in history was born-again until the apostolic episode of Pentecost (Acts 2). That is a profound point, almost worth re-peating. No descendant of Adam had ever been born-again. That was God’s plan. That was His strategic thinking. God knew that concealing the gospel was still necessary. Mankind was not yet ready for its revealing. God in His wisdom and loving-kindness was still keeping the gospel a mystery.
Pg 113: We will become His creation fulfilled. Almost worth repeating, right? Wow! We have a taste of it now but then, face to face, our creation will be complete; full of His Spirit, repentant (not an act, but the character quality as opposed to self-righteousness), and sin will be dead, gone, never to return. Our relationship to Christ will be just like His to the Father. As the Father is in Him, He will be in us. His plan will be justified. We will be justified being there, being totally righteous, full of Himself. We will deserve to be there at that point, because of what we will become. We will belong there. Our existence will be justified. It will be worth it, both to God and certainly to us.