“We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works. To the age-old question, ‘What shall I do to be saved?’ the confessional answer is shocking: ‘Nothing! Just be still; shut up and listen for once in your life to what God the Almighty, Creator and Redeemer, is saying to His world and to you in the death and resurrection of His Son! Listen and believe!’” – Gerhard O. Forde, Justification by Faith (Philadelphia, 1983), page 22.
“Give the Bible the honor due to it every day you live. Whatever you read, read that first.” – J.C. Ryle
“The only freedom that man ever has is when he becomes a slave to Jesus Christ.” – R. C. Sproul
“He ‘was’ before His own flesh; He created His own mother. He chose her in whom He should be conceived, He created her of whom He should be created. Why marvellest thou? It is God of whom I am speaking to thee: ‘the Word was God.'” – Augustine
“The supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us… lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man – that the second person of the Godhead became the ‘second man’ (1 Cor. 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human.
Here are two mysteries for the price of one - the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. It is here, the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. ’The Word was made flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets.” – J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, 1973), pages 45-46.
“Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when I first received those truths in my own soul – when they were, as John Bunyan says, burned into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man – that I had made progress in Scriptural Knowledge , through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God.” – Charles Hadden Spurgeon
“A Saviour not quite God is a bridge broken at the farther end, Bishop Handley Moule once wrote; while a Saviour – and an Exemplar – not quite man is a bridge broken at the nearer end, as F. F. Bruce has remarked. How Jesus could be both truly man and truly God is the mystery of the Incarnation; but nothing and no one else would suffice.” – Norman Anderson, The Mystery of the Incarnation (Downers Grove, 1978), page 154. Italics original.
“The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men.” – John Owen
“Anyone who takes his faith seriously and speaks in behalf of Christ and His kingdom will be accused of fanaticism at some point.” – R. C. Sproul
“Christ died for the man who believes in him, so that it would be injustice on the part of God to punish that man, for how shall he punish twice for the same offense?” – C. H. Spurgeon
“What are the ‘doctrines of grace’ and why do they matter? Such is like asking, “What does the Bible teach about the very heart of the gospel, and does it matter one way or the other?” The doctrines of grace are the biblical teachings that define the goal and means of God’s perfect work of redemption. They tell us that God is the one who saves, for His own glory, and freely. And they tell us that He does so only through Christ, only on the basis of His grace, only with the perfection that marks everything the Father, Son, and Spirit do. The doctrines of grace separate the Christian faith from the works-based religions of men. They direct us away from ourselves and solely to God’s grace and mercy. They destroy pride, instill humility, and exalt God. And that’s why so many invest so much time in the vain attempt to undermine their truth.” – James White
“There may be Arminians here, but there will not be Arminians there; they may here say, “It is of the will of the flesh,” but in heaven they shall not think so. Here they may ascribe some little to the creature; but there they shall cast their crowns at the Redeemer’s feet, and acknowledge that he did it all. Here they may sometimes look a little at themselves, and boast somewhat of their own strength; but there, “Not unto us, not unto us,” shall be sung with deeper sincerity and with more profound emphasis than they have ever sung it here below. In heaven, when grace shall have done its work, this truth shall stand out in blazing letters of gold, “Salvation is of the Lord.”” – C. H. Spurgeon, Salvation is of the Lord
“It is most misleading to call this soteriology ‘Calvinism’ at all, for it is not a peculiarity of John Calvin and the divines of Dort, but a part of the revealed truth of God and the catholic (universal) Christian faith. ‘Calvinism’ is one of the ‘odious names’ by which down the centuries prejudice has been raised against it. But the thing itself is just the biblical gospel.” – J. I. Packer
“Modern historians who have declared this to be the post-Christian era in which God is dead and the church is His mausoleum have been premature in their obituaries. The church is not dead because it cannot die. Individual parishes may disappear, and whole denominations may become apostate, but the invisible church is impregnable and will always have some visible manifestation on earth.” – R. C. Sproul
“The person who sees nothing much in the second coming of Christ and the public gathering of Christ’s people — nothing happy, nothing joyful, nothing pleasant, nothing desirable — such a person may well doubt whether they themselves are a true Christian and has got any grace at all!” – J.C. Ryle
“It is not the distance of the earth from the sun, nor the sun’s withdrawing itself, that makes a dark and gloomy day; but the interposition of clouds and vaporous exhalations. Neither is thy soul beyond the reach of the promise, nor does God withdraw Himself; but the vapours of thy carnal, unbelieving heart do cloud thee.” – John Owen
“God hath in Himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you.” – Thomas Brooks
“We are to believe and follow Christ in all things, including His words about Scripture. And this means that Scripture is to be for us what it was to Him: the unique, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, and not merely a human testimony to Christ, however carefully guided and preserved by God. If the Bible is less than this to us, we are not fully Christ’s disciples.” – James Montgomery Boice
“The call of God does what the call of man cannot. It raises the dead.” – John Piper
“Christianity is a faith that is based upon and rooted in miracles. Take away miracles, and you take away Christianity.” – R. C. Sproul
“What a man is on his knees before God, that he is — and nothing more.” – Robert Murray M’Cheyne
“God does not want to remove your memories; he wants to redeem them. He wants to transform them into something good, something that will make you more like Jesus. Do you see the hope this offers Christians? Your bad memories of your past …sins – even the worst ones – can be opportunities for life-changing growth. You do not need to avoid, run from, cover over, or get rid of your past. You can reinterpret it God’s way. God’s goal is neither memory erasure nor memory denial, but memory redemption.” – Robert D. Jones
“At the Fall, man lost none of the faculties with which the Creator had originally endowed him, but he lost the power to use his faculties Godwards. All desire Godwards, all love for his Maker, and real knowledge of Him, was lost. Sin possessed him: sin as a principle of evil, as a power of operation, as a defiling influence, took complete charge of his spirit and soul and body, so that he became the “servant” or slave “of sin” (John 8:34). As such, man is no more capable of producing that which is good, spiritual, and acceptable to God, than frost can burn or fire freeze: “they that are in the flesh (remain in their natural and fallen condition) cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). They have no power to do so, for all their faculties, every part of their being, is completely under the dominion of sin. So completely is fallen man beneath the power of sin and spiritual death, that the things of the Spirit of God are “foolishness” unto him, “neither can he know them” (1 Cor. 2:14). – A.W. Pink, The Nature of Regeneration
“As a result of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty. One day we will be saved from sin’s presence. In the meantime we are being saved from sin’s power.” – Alistair Begg
“It is forgiveness that sets a man working for God. He does not work in order to be forgiven, but because he has been forgiven, and the consciousness of his sin being pardoned makes him long more for its entire removal than ever he did before.” – Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness
“Therefore, let us observe how God hears our prayers, that so, we may be suitably thankful. This will strengthen our faith in evil times when we can thus plead with God. Hear, Lord! Heretofore I came before thee, though weakly, yet with a broken heart, and thou didst hear me then. Thou art still a God hearing prayer, therefore, Lord, look upon my estate now and help me. Seeing, then, God hears our prayers, let us think of this glorious privilege, that we have liberty to go to the throne of grace in all our wants. The whole world is not worth this one privilege.” – Richard Sibbes, Josiah’s Reformation, Banner of Truth Trust, pgs. 125-126.
“It cannot be too often, or too loudly, or too solemnly repeated, that the Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion—one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume.” – Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873), a Scottish preacher, in chapter 1 of Early Piety
“If the gospel were more faithfully preached, there would be fewer people professing to believe it.” – A. W. Pink
“The heart of sanctification is the life which feeds on justification.” – G. C. Berkouwer
“Anyone who believes that one can lose salvation deny the gospel because this idea makes the Person and work of Christ alone, insufficient to save. As such, they must somehow try to maintain their own just standing before God.” – John Hendryx
“God, in mercy, will never allow children of His to be comfortable in sin.” – Will Metzger
“Jesus died for names, not “whosoever.” – Steve Lawson
“The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man is that somehow he can make himself good enough to deserve to live forever with an all-holy God.” – Martin Luther
“The one thing needed above all else is the accompanying power of the Spirit… It is the power from on high. It is the preacher gliding on eagles wings, soaring high, swooping lie, carrying and being carried along by a dynamic other than his own. His consciousness of what is happening us not obliterated. He is not in a trance. He is being worked on but is aware that he is still working. He is being spoken through but knows he is still speaking.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sacred Anointing, pg 28-29
“When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also. ” – Martin Luther
“The whole of our ministry must be carried on in tender love to our people. We must let them see that nothing pleaseth us but what profiteth them; and that what doest them good doth us good; and that nothing troubleth us more than their hurt. We must feel toward our people, as a father toward his children: yea, the tenderest love of a mother must not surpass ours. We must travail in birth, till Christ be formed in them. They should see that we care for no outward thing, neither wealth, nor liberty, nor honour, nor life, in comparison of their salvation; but could even be content, with Moses, to have our names blotted out of the book of life, i.e. to be removed from the number of the living: rather than they should not be found in the Lamb’s book of life. Thus should we, as John saith, be ready to ‘lay down our lives for the brethren,’ and, with Paul, not count our lives dear to us, so we may but ‘finish our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus.’ When the people see that you unfeignedly love them, they will hear any thing and bear any thing from you…” – Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (repr; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1997), 117-118
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'” Galatians 3:13… “To the Jews, this was absolute blasphemy: a cursed Messiah on a cursed cross. No wonder the cross was such a stumbling block to them! To put it in the most shocking and yet perhaps the most accurate way, the apostolic message was about a God-damned Messiah.” – Philip Graham Ryken, Galatians (Phillipsburg, 2005), page 115.
Truth sounds like hate for those that hate the truth.
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” – Martin Luther
“The sinner, apart from grace, is unable to be willing and unwilling to be able.” – W.E. Best
“The point that has stuck with me over the years was this – suffering isn’t something that happens, nor it is just something God permits. It is instead a vocation, a calling. God does not merely say, “I’m going to make you go through this.” Instead He says, “It is My desire for you that you should go through this. Follow Me.” – R C Sproul, Jr
“There will be no new God, nor a new devil, and we shall never have a new Savior, nor a new atonement: Why should we then be either attracted or alarmed by the error and nonsense which everywhere plead for a hearing because they are new? What is their newness to us; we are not children, nor frequenters of playhouses? Truly, to such a new toy or a new play has immense attractions; but men care less about the age of a thing than about its intrinsic value. To suppose that theology can be new is to imagine that the Lord himself is of yesterday. A doctrine which is said to have lately become true must of necessity be a lie. Falsehood has no beard, but truth is hoary with an age immeasurable. The old gospel is the only gospel. Pity is our only feeling towards those young preachers who cry, “See my new theology,” in just the same spirit as little Mary says, “See my pretty new frock.”” – C. H. Spurgeon
“While the popular adage declares that ‘the devil is in the details,’ it is more accurate to avow that God is in the details. The doctrine of providence declares that God’s providential rule extends to all things great and small, from the huge to the minute, the infinite to the infinitesimal.” – R. C. Sproul
“There is as much providence in the creeping of an aphis upon a rose leaf as in the marching of an army to ravage a continent.” – C. H. Spurgeon
“You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences: Salvation is all of the grace of God. Damnation is all of the will of man.” C. H. Spurgeon
“Commitment is that turning point in your life when you seize the moment and convert it into an opportunity to alter your destiny.” – Denis Waitley
“If you do not listen to theology, that will not mean you have no ideas about God, rather it will mean you have a lot of wrong ones.” – C.S. Lewis
“It is a terrible and detestable blindness and a demonic presumption when a person has the audacity, as all work-righteous and hypocrites do, to attempt atonement for sin through works and tries in this way to earn the grace of God. It is wretched arrogance. . . . This is like a poor beggar–lice-ridden, syphilitic, leprous, filthy, stinking, and crawling with maggots and worms over his whole body, but nonetheless proud and arrogant–who vauntingly says: ‘Just look at me, a handsome fellow!’… Therefore we have no right to indulge in much bragging and boasting when we step before God. Even if we were members of the highest aristocracy on earth and were prone to take pride in this, before God we would still be nothing but bags of worms or bags of manure, infested with lice, maggots, stinking and foul… The healing alternative: But if we do want to boast, then let us boast that we receive from the fullness of Christ, that we are enlightened by Him, attain forgiveness of sin, and become children of God through Him. . . . This fountain is inexhaustible; it is full of grace and truth before God; it never fails no matter how much we draw from it. Even if we all dip from it without stopping, it cannot be emptied, but it remains a perennial fount of all grace and truth, an unfathomable well, an eternal fountain. The more we drink from it, the more it gives.” – Luther’s Works, 22:132-34
“If we understand the providence of God and love the God of providence, we are able to worship Him with the sacrifice of praise He inherently deserves when things occur that bring pain, sorrow, and affliction into our lives. This understanding of providence is vital to all who would worship God. It is a worship of faith that is rooted in trust.” – R. C. Sproul