Heaven Is Populated Entirely By Forgiven Sinners

A Lost Sheep Is, For All Practical Purposes A Dead Sheep. It Is The Admission That We Are Dead In Our Sins---that We Have No Power Of Ourselves Either To Save Ourselves Or To Convince Anyone Else That We Are Worth Saving. It Is The Recognition That Our Whole Life Is Out Of Our Hands And That If We Ever Live Again, Our Life Will Be Entirely The Gift Of Some Gracious Shepherd. God Finds Us The Desert Of Death (not In The Garden Of Improvement) And In The Power Of Jesus' Resurrection, He Puts Us On His Shoulders Rejoicing And Brings Us Home.

The World Exists, Not For What It Means But For What It Is. The Purpose Of Mushrooms Is To Be Mushrooms, Wine Is In Order To Be Wine: Things Are Precious Before They Are Contributory. It Is A False Piety That Walks Through Creation Looking Only For Lessons Which Can Be Applied Somewhere Else. To Be Sure, God Remains The Greatest Good; But, For All That, The World Is Still Good In Itself. Indeed, Since He Does Not Need It, Its Whole Reason For Being Must Lie In Its Own Natural Goodness; He Has No Use For It, Only Delight.

The World Is By No Means Averse To Religion. In Fact, It Is Devoted To It With A Passion. It Will Buy Any Recipe For Salvation As Long As That Formula Leaves The Responsibility For Cooking Up Salvation Firmly In Human Hands. The World Is Drowning In Religion. But It Is Scared Out Of Its Wits By Any Mention Of The Grace That Takes The World Home Gratis.

Lord, Please Restore To Us The Comfort Of Merit And Demerit. Show Us That There Is At Least Something We Can Do. Tell Us That At The End Of The Day There Will At Least Be One Redeeming Card Of Our Very Own. Lord, If It Is Not Too Much To Ask, Send Us To Bed With A Few Shreds Of Self-respect Upon Which We Can Congratulate Ourselves. But Whatever You Do, Do Not Preach Grace. Give Us Something To Do, Anything; But Spare Us The Indignity Of This Indiscriminate Acceptance.

The Truth That Makes Us Free Is Always Ticking Away Like A Time-bomb In The Basement Of Everybody's Church.