Grace Alone

"When the Reformers spoke about "grace alone" they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God, none at all; that God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins; and, if he saves them in spite of their sins, which he does in the case of those who are being saved, it is because it pleases him to do it and for no other reason.

Today, large number of evangelicals undermine and effectively destroy this doctrine by supposing that human beings are basically good … if we are saved, in the final analysis it is because of our good decision to receive the Jesus who is offered to us."

       -  James Montgomery Boice

As a side note, I attended Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia when I was living there, around 1989 and heard Dr. Boice preach many times. I was always glad for that time in my life when I was able to learn what I could from his teaching.

The Thief on the Cross

"The thief on the cross had to be the luckiest man alive. He was nothing more than a low-life criminal, a loser. He had committed a crime. He was convicted for it, and he was crucified for it. So he had no future; he was going nowhere; or worse, he was going to hell. Yet of all the criminals, on all the crosses, on all the hills in the Roman Empire, he was crucified next to Jesus Christ."

-  James Montgomery Boice

Natural Man

It is really a myth that man in his natural state is genuinely seeking God. Men may seek a god, but they do not seek the true God for who He is, as revealed in the Scripture. Apart from the new birth, no one comes into the light of the true God but suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
The Bible, therefore, teaches beyond any doubt that we act or choose according to our greatest desire which is based on our natures. Jesus (as noted in Luke 6, Matt. 7 and John 3) teaches that it is impossible to do otherwise. Furthermore, as a consequence of physical death in Adam and his descendants (Gen 2:17) there are several other problems with man's nature in his unregenerate state including his inability to understand God (Psalm 50:21; Job 11:7-8; Rom 3:11); to see spiritual things (John 3:3); to know his own heart (Jer 17:9); to direct his own steps in the path of life (Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 14:12); to free himself from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:10); to receive the Holy Spirit (John 14:17); to hear, understand or receive the words of God (John 8:47; 1 Corinthians 2:14); to give himself birth into God's family (John 1:13, Romans 9:15-16); to produce repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 6:64, 65; 2 Thessalonians 3:2; Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 2:25); to come to Christ (John 10:26; John 6:44); and to please God (Romans 8:5, 8, 9).
These consequences of Adam's disobedience on his descendants are what theologians often refer to as the 'total depravity' of man. Without a change of disposition, the love of God and His law is not the natural man's deepest animating motive and principle."
~ John Hendryx

Total Depravity

As John MacArthur explains, the term total depravity:

"Does not mean that unbelieving sinners are always as bad as they could be (cf. Luke 6:33; Romans 2:14). It does not mean that the expression of sinful human nature is always lived out to the fullest. It does not mean that unbelievers are incapable of acts of kindness, benevolence, goodwill, or human altruism. It certainly does not mean that non‑Christians cannot appreciate goodness, beauty, honesty, decency, or excellence. It does mean that none of this has any merit with God. . . .

Total depravity means sinners have no ability to do spiritual good or work for their own salvation from sin. They are so completely disinclined to love righteousness, so thoroughly dead in sin, that they are not able to save themselves or even to fit themselves for God's salvation. Unbelieving humanity has no capacity to desire, understand, believe, or apply spiritual truth: "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Corinthians 2:14)."
                       -  John MacArthur

Total Depravity

Here's how John MacArthur responded to the notion of innate human goodness:

False belief systems always seem to downplay human depravity. Some even deny it altogether, insisting that people are fundamentally good. This is a tendency of nearly all quasi-Christian heresies, humanistic philosophies, and secular worldviews. Apostles of those religions and philosophies seem to think describing human nature in upbeat and optimistic terms somehow makes their viewpoint nobler. That fact alone perfectly epitomizes the blind illogic that goes hand in hand with unbelief and false religion. After all, humanity's moral dilemma should be patently obvious to anyone who seriously considers the problem of evil. As G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, original sin is the one point of Christian theology that easily can be proved empirically.

The fallenness of the human race is a profound, destructive, and universal predicament—inexplicable by any merely naturalistic rationale, but undeniably obvious. Wherever you find humanity, you see ample evidence that the entire race is held captive under sin's corrupting influence.

Total Depravity

https://www.gty.org/Blog/B150605

Radical Feminists Agenda

"Gloria Steinem, editor of Ms. Magazine, quote: "By the year 2000 we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God." Satan's ideologies can't ever just stop with social issues, they always go to theological ones. It can't just stop on the social level, it's got to assault God because unless God is dethroned and the God of Christianity is eliminated from their thinking, they're going to have to deal with the Bible and that's a problem. So we get rid of God and everything supposedly attributed to Him. The Bible is out of the picture.
Radical feminist leader Sheila Cronin(?), and you've heard the name. I've heard it so many times. She says this, "Since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the Women's Movement must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage."
As far back as 1971 there was produced by these feminists a document called "The Declaration of Feminism." It says this, "The end of the institution of marriage is necessary condition for the liberation of women. Therefore it is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not live individually with men. All of history must be rewritten in terms of oppression of women. We must go back to ancient female religions like witchcraft."
                 -  John MacArthur

http://www.dancogan.com/my-journey-away-from-contemporary-worship-music

Are We All Sinners?

"Most people—including many believers—bristle at the notion that they are "sinners." They'd prefer to assign that term to only the most vile and corrupt offenders, and in the process soften their own spiritual diagnosis. But despite this postmodern age's soft view of biblical authority and truth, we don't get to decide who is a sinner, or which sins "count." Believers must conform to the testimony and standard of God's Word."
                     -  John Macarthur

Inadequacy of Our Works - Filthy Rags

"When I face the reality of the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor, then I recognize that I must depend on his goodness and not on mine. At times this dependence is scary because it lifts control from me, but there is no other choice when I recognize the true character of my good works. According to Scripture even my best works are only "filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). There is too much of human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have them obligate God to do as I wish."

~ Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace

Repentence

"There are ministers who never speak of repentance or self-denial. Naturally they are popular, but they are false prophets." -  JI Packer

Prosperity Gospel

"Someone needs to say this plainly: The faith healers and health-and-wealth preachers who dominate religious television are shameless frauds. Their message is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing spiritual or miraculous about their on-stage chicanery. It is all a devious ruse designed to take advantage of desperate people. They are not godly ministers but greedy impostors who corrupt the Word of God for money's sake. They are not real pastors who shepherd the flock of God but hirelings whose only design is to fleece the sheep. Their love of money is glaringly obvious in what they say as well as how they live. They claim to possess great spiritual power, but in reality they are rank materialists and enemies of everything holy." - John MacArthur

Arminians vs. Calvinists

"All the disputes between us and the Arminians can be reduced to these two questions: 1. Is God dependent on man, or is man dependent on God? 2. Is man a debtor to God, or God a debtor to man?"
~ Augustus Toplady (1740-1778)

http://theweek.com/articles/555603/who-killed-contemporary-christian-music-industry

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-our-career-plans-arent-panning-out

Repentance is. . .

"Repentance is a change of mind: one that goes much deeper and includes far more than a mere change of opinion or creed. It is a changed mind, a new perception, an altogether different outlook on things as they previously appeared. It is the necessary effect of a new heart. Repentance consists of a radical change of mind about God, about sin, about self, about the world."
~ A. W. Pink