GOD SAYS "I LOVE YOU"

"For Christ’s love compels us" (2 Cor. 5:14). To be compelled is to be highly motivated. That is, we are to be motivated by Christ’s love for us. And where do we learn of His love? Where do we hear Him say, "I love you"? It is in the gospel. The gospel, received in our hearts at salvation, guarantees definitive sanctification. And the gospel believed every day is the only enduring motivation to pursue progressive sanctification. That is why we need to "preach the gospel to ourselves every day." It is in the gospel that we find those unsearchable riches of Christ that produce not only justification, but also sanctification."

Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, P. 183