Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Surely, that God might show the incomprehensible riches of His grace He did not want humanity to remain bound by the chains of eternal destruction with which the first humans willingly entangled themselves and their descendants.  Therefore He sent His Son, the Redeemer, to the world and offers His benefits to humans through the preaching of the Gospel, through which He calls them into the kingdom of grace and the fellowship of the church.  If any yield to this holy call by the power of the Holy Spirit, He transfers them into the kingdom of grace, that in it they may rightly know Him, serve Him in holiness and righteousness, and show Him due obedience.  After this life, if they persevere in true faith and worship, He transfers them into the kingdom of glory, that in it they may be joined with the assembly of angels and sing eternal praises to Him. -- Blessed Johann Gerhard, On the Church, p. 710.