“Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Atheists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.” – Glen Scrivener

“You will hear people say, ‘The early Christians believed that Christ was the son of a virgin, but we know that this is a scientific impossibility’. Such people seem to have an idea that belief in miracles arose at a period when men were so ignorant of the course of nature that they did not perceive a miracle to be contrary to it. A moment’s thought shows this to be nonsense: and the story of the Virgin Birth is a particularly striking example.

When Joseph discovered that his fiancée was going to have a baby, he not unnaturally decided to repudiate her. Why? Because he knew just as well as any modern gynecologist that in the ordinary course of nature women do not have babies unless they have lain with men. No doubt the modern gynecologist knows several things about birth and begetting which St Joseph did not know. But those things do not concern the main point–that a virgin birth is contrary to the course of nature. Joseph obviously knew that. In any sense in which it is true to say now, ‘The thing is scientifically impossible’, he would have said the same: the thing always was, and was always known to be, impossible unless the regular processes of nature were, in this particular case, being over-ruled or supplemented by something from beyond nature.

When Joseph finally accepted the view that his fiancée’s pregnancy was due not to unchastity but to a miracle, he accepted the miracle as something contrary to the known order of nature. All records of miracles teach the same thing.” – C. S. Lewis

“The Christ who was born into the world must be born in your heart. Religious sentiment…without the living Christ is a yellow brick road to darkness.” – Kent Hughes

“Remember Jesus for us is all our righteousness before a holy God, and Jesus in us is all our strength in an ungodly world.” – McCheyne

“First, by the obedience of the life of Christ you see what is intended,—his willing submission unto, and perfect, complete fulfilling of, every law of God, that any of the saints of God were obliged unto. It is true, every act almost of Christ’s obedience, from the blood of his circumcision to the blood of his cross, was attended with suffering,—so that his whole life might, in that regard, be called a death; but yet, looking upon his willingness and obedience in it, it is distinguished from his sufferings peculiarly so called, and termed his active righteousness. This is, then, I say, as was showed, that complete, absolutely perfect accomplishment of the whole law of God by Christ, our mediator; whereby he not only “did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth,” but also most perfectly fulfilled all righteousness, as he affirmed it became him to do. Secondly, That this obedience was performed by Christ not for himself, but for us, and in our stead.” – John Owen, Of Communion with God, in the Works of John Owen (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, repr. 2009), 2:161–162.

“Hence, it is also manifest that if any good quality or work of ours were made the condition of our justification or title to eternal life, this would turn the covenant of grace exhibited in the gospel into a covenant of works. The covenant of grace revealed and offered to sinners in the gospel is the only covenant according to which a sinner can be justified and entitled to life eternal. It is absolutely impossible that he can be justified according to the broken covenant of works. But were any graces, acts, or works of his the proper conditions of his justification, the covenant of grace would be as much a covenant of works as ever the covenant made with Adam was. The condition of Adam’s covenant was perfect obedience, and according to this imaginary law of easier terms, the conditions of the covenant of grace are sincere faith and sincere obedience.” – John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and Gospel (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books), 102.

“Therefore, we explain justification simply as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.” – John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.12.

“In group Bible studies generally, participants are led to look directly for personal devotional applications without first contemplating the writers’ points about the greatness, goals, methods, and mystery of God. In putting together Christian books and magazines for popular reading and in composing, preaching, hearing, and thinking about sermons, the story is the same: it is assumed that our reaction to realities is more significant than any of the realities to which we react. Thus we learn to cultivate a mode of piety that rests upon a smudgy, deficient, and sometimes misleading conception of who and what the God we serve really is. Brought up on this, we now reflect the subjectivist turn of the Western thought-world of more than a century ago: personal guesses and fantasies about God replace the church’s dogma as our authority, a hermeneutic of habitual distrust and suspicion of dogma establishes itself, and dogma becomes a dirty word, loaded with overtones of obscurantism, tunnel vision, unreality, superstition, and mental enslavement.” – J.I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett | Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old Fashioned Way, 11.

“Suppose some persons laugh. You weep on the other hand for their transgression! Many also once laughed at Noah while he was preparing the ark; but when the flood came, he laughed at them; or rather, the righteous man never laughed at them at all, but wept and bewailed! When therefore you see persons laughing, reflect that those teeth, that grin now, will one day have to sustain that most dreadful wailing and gnashing, and that they will remember this same laugh on That Day while they are grinding and gnashing! Then you too shall remember this laugh! How did the rich man laugh at Lazarus! But afterwards, when he beheld him in Abraham’s bosom, he had nothing left to do but to bewail himself!” – John Chrysostom | The Homilies on the Statues, in Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statues, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. W. R. W. Stephens, vol. 9, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889), 481.

“I’m not afraid of failure; I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.” – William Carey

“Don’t vote for the lesser of two evils. Vote for the one who will lessen evil.”

“The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community, the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.” – Bruce Waltke

“Pain that brings you closer to God will always be better than comfort that keeps you away from Him” – J. C. Ryle

“We have plenty of troubles and trials, and if we like to fret over them, we can always do that; but, then, we have far more joys than troubles, so our songs should exceed our sighs.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“Christian, if you want to be in God’s will, you will do all you can to be physically present and involved as a member of a faithful local church.” – Dan Phillips

An Arminian gospel might suffice, if men were just IN darkness. Problem is, they LOVE darkness (Jn. 3:19). Only sovereign grace will save. – Dan Phillips

“Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to keep the faults of his friends.” – Henry Ward Beecher

Discernment isn’t a gift. It’s a requirement. To be undiscerning is a sin! – – Phillip May

Romans 1:30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 *undiscerning*, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. – Phillip May

“I rest solely in His righteousness and in His atonement because I know there is nothing I can do to make up for my iniquity.” – R C Sproul

“A lot of people think that Christianity is you doing all the righteous things you hate and avoiding all the wicked things you love in order to go to heaven. No, that’s a lost man with religion. A Christian is a person whose heart has been changed; he has new affections.” – Paul Washer

“Dear fellow, you must not look at yourself, how worthy or unworthy you are, but at your need—your need of the grace of Christ. If you see and feel your need, you are worthy and sufficiently prepared, for he has not instituted the sacrament to act as a poison and to harm us, but to grant comfort and salvation.”

Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 38: Word and Sacrament IV, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 38 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 132.

“Election based on foreseen faith implies we are ordained to eternal life because we believe. Yet Scripture declares the reverse: “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” (Acts 13:48) not “as many as believed were ordained to eternal life.” – Isaac AbroseTop of Form

“O, what a benefit is this to a poor sinner, that owes to God infinitely more than he is ever able to pay, by doing or suffering; to have such a rich treasure of merit as lies in the obedience of Christ, to discharge, in one entire payment, all his debts to the last farthing?” – John Flavel

“…And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men;” – Clement of Rome, 96 AD

“The doctrine of the Covenant lies at the root of all true theology.  It has been said that he who well understands the distinction between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace is a master of divinity.  I am persuaded that most of the mistakes which men make concerning the doctrines of Scriptures are based upon fundamental errors with regard to the covenants of law and the covenants of grace.  May God grant us now the power to instruct and you the grace to receive instruction on this vital subject.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“Luther said, ‘Whoa, you mean the righteousness by which I will be saved is not mine?’ It’s what he called a ‘justitia alienum’—an alien righteousness, a righteousness that belongs properly to somebody else. It’s a righteousness that is ‘extra nos’, outside of us—namely, the righteousness of Christ. And Luther said, ‘When I discovered that, I was born again of the Holy Ghost, and the doors of Paradise swung open, and I walked through.'” – R.C. Sproul

“I understand that what God really uses to really work in me and to really change me are not the times of sunshine and rainbows but it’s the times of dark clouds and storms and pain and suffering and affliction. Those are the things that God is so sovereign that He takes those things – the very things that we shrink from and He says, “I will take those and I will sanctify them to you and use them for your good.” ~Brian Borgman

“Christ is the one eternal High Priest; therefore, those who vaunt themselves as high priests oppose the honor and power of Christ.” – Ulrich Zwingli, Swiss Reformer

“Bring them to church. Saturate their lives with the Word of God. Even if they lay on the floor. Even if they need 437 goldfish and a sucker to be quiet. Even if you stand in the back swaying back and forth holding them. Even when it’s hard. Even when your row looks like a small hurricane just came through. Bring them to church. Let them see you worship. Let them see you pray. Let them see you running toward the Savior … because if they don’t see and learn these things from you, who are they going to learn them from? The world will teach them it’s not a priority. The world will teach them it’s okay to lay out, not to pick up their Bibles. The world will direct them so far off course, confuse them, and misinform them that just being ‘good’ is enough. The world won’t teach them about Jesus. That’s our job.” – Tom Manuel

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” – John Wesley

“Whenever the Lord shuts his sacred mouth, [the Christian] also desists from inquiry. The best rule of sobriety is, not only in learning to follow wherever God leads, but also when he makes an end of teaching, to cease also from wishing to be wise.” – John Calvin, Institutes, Book 4. Ch 21. Sec 3

“To me, Calvinism means the placing of the eternal God at the head of all things. I look at everything through its relation to God’s glory. I see God first, and man far down in the list . . . Brethren, if we live in sympathy with God, we delight to hear Him say, ‘I am God, and there is none else.’” – Charles Spurgeon from “An All Round Ministry,” 337

“You may spoil the gospel by disproportion. You have only to attach an exaggerated importance to the secondary things of Christianity, and a diminished importance to the first things and the mischief is done. Once alter the proportion of the parts of truth, truth soon becomes downright error! Do this, either directly, or indirectly, and your religion ceases to be Evangelical.” – J. C. Ryle

“If Christ did so buy them, and lay out the price of His precious blood for them, and then at last deny that He ever knew them, might they not well reply, ‘Ah, Lord! was not Your soul heavy unto death for our sakes? Did You not for us undergo that wrath that made You sweat drops of blood? Did You not bathe Yourself in Your own blood, that our blood might be spared? Did You not sanctify Yourself to be an offering for us as [much] as for any of Your apostles? Was not Your precious blood—by stripes, by sweat, by nails, by thorns, by spear—poured out for us? Did You not remember us when You hung upon the cross? And now do You say, You never knew us? Good Lord, though we be unworthy sinners, yet Your own blood does not deserved to be despised. Why is it that none can lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? Is it not because You die for them [Romans 8]? And did You not do the same for us [according to a universal atonement]? Why, then, are we thus charged, thus rejected? Could not Your blood satisfy Your Father, but we ourselves must be punished? Could not justice content itself with that sacrifice…?’” (291) John Owen – The Death of Death in the Death of Christ

“I preach the doctrines of grace because I believe them to be true; because I see them in the Scriptures; because my experience endears them to me; and because I see the holy result of them in the lives of believers. I confess they are none the less dear to me because the advanced school despises them: their censures are to me a commendation. I confess also that I should never think the better of a doctrine because it was said to be ‘new.; Those truths which have enlightened so many ages appear to me to be ordained to remain throughout eternity. The doctrine which I preach is that of the Puritans: it is the doctrine of Calvin, the doctrine of Augustine, the doctrine of Paul, the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. The Author and Finisher of our faith Himself taught most blessed truth which well agreed with Paul’s declaration, ‘By grace are ye saved.’ The doctrine of grace is the substance of the testimony of Jesus.”

[C. H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Compiled from His Diary, Letters, and Records, by His Wife and His Private Secretary, 1854–1860, vol. 2 (Chicago; New York; Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1899), 87.]

“An over-popular definition of holiness is ‘set apart.’ Ask a group of Christians to define holiness, and many will say just those two words: ‘set apart.’ A better and more full-orbed Biblical definition is, ‘Set apart to the ownership and service of God.'” – Dan Phillips

A good reminder on justification from Obadiah Sedgwick:

Believers have immunity or freedom from being justified by the Law, from all legal judgments for life. Although you are not free from the Law as a guide for life, you are free from the Law as a Covenant of life. While you are not free from the Law as it reflects the good and holy will of God, you are free from the Law as a means of salvation and justification because you are under the Covenant of grace. The Covenant of grace removes you from the court and bar that pronounces life based on your own good deeds and death based on your own evil deeds; Romans 3:28, “We conclude that a person is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.” Galatians 3:11, “No one is justified by the Law in the sight of God, for the just shall live by faith.”

As the Law demands perfect and personal righteousness of our own, it won’t justify or give life to you unless it finds that righteousness within you; you don’t live if you aren’t perfectly righteous; absolution is pronounced upon your own perfect innocence, and condemnation is pronounced upon any defect or breach. Truly, in this regard, no living person can or will be justified; therefore, there is comfort in knowing that, being in Christ and in this Covenant of grace, you are justified from all things from which you couldn’t be justified by the Law of Moses; see the Apostle in Acts 13:39. Your life doesn’t depend on your own righteousness now, but on the righteousness of Christ; nor does it rely on your own deeds, but on Christ’s obedience. Luther’s expression is excellent: “Though my works have been very good, it is not those but Christ who justifies me; and though my works have been very bad, the righteousness of Christ can and will justify me; my evil deeds will not condemn me, and my good deeds cannot acquit me; it is Christ, it is Christ, and not the Law that justifies me.”

• Obadiah Sedgwick, The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant (London: Printed by Edward Mottershed, for Adoniram Byfield, 1661), 81.

“Much of the evangelical preaching with which I am familiar inspires neither a terror of God’s righteousness nor praise for the depths of God’s grace in His gift of righteousness.” – Dr. Michael Horton

“You must not judge your life by your past messes but by Christ’s present graces.” – Dr. Sam Waldron

“To love the doctrines of grace is to love God as He has revealed Himself in His Word.” – Richard Phillips

“We shall all do well to remember the charge: ‘Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.’ (Heb. 10:25). Never to be absent from God’s house on Sundays, without good reason – never to miss the Lord’s Supper when administered in our own congregation – never to let our place be empty when means of grace are going on, this is one way to be a growing and prosperous Christian. The very sermon that we needlessly miss, may contain a precious word in season for our souls. The very assembly for prayer and praise from which we stay away, may be the very gathering that would have cheered, established, and revived our hearts. We know very little how dependent our spiritual health is on little, regular, habitual helps, and how much we suffer if we miss our medicine.” – J. C. Ryle

“Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules: The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God’s approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another’s sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.” – J. C. Ryle

“The trouble with all false evangelism is that it does not start with doctrine, it does not start by realising man’s condition… If you and I realised that every man who is yet a sinner is absolutely dominated by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, if we only understood that he is really a child of wrath and dead in trespasses and sins, we would realise that only one power can deal with such an individual, and that is the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we would put our confidence, not in man-made organisations, but in the power of God, in the prayer that holds on to God and asks for revival and a descent of the Spirit. We would realise that nothing else can do it. We can change men superficially, we can win men to our side and to our party, we can persuade them to join a church, but we can never raise the spiritually dead; God alone can do that.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Faith is nothing but the instrument of our salvation. Nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified because of our faith; nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified on account of our faith. The Scripture says that we are justified by faith or through faith. Faith is nothing but the instrument or the channel by which this righteousness of God in Christ becomes ours. It is not faith that saves us. What saves us is the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work. It is the death of Christ upon Calvary’s Cross that saves us. It is His perfect life that saves us. It is His appealing on our behalf in the presence of God that saves us. It is God putting Christ’s righteousness to our account that saves us. That is the righteousness that saves; faith is but the channel and the instrument by which His righteousness becomes mine. The righteousness is entirely Christ’s. My faith is not my righteousness and I must never think of faith as righteousness. Faith is nothing but that which links us to the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“An ambassador is not a man who voices his own thoughts or his own opinions or views, or his own desires. The very essence of the position of the ambassador is that he is a man who has been sent to speak for somebody else. He is the speaker for his Government or his President or his King or Emperor, or whatever form of government his country may have. He is not a man who speculates and gives his own views and ideas. He is the bearer of a message, he is commissioned to do this, he is sent to do this; and that is what he must do. In other words, the content of the sermon is what is called in the New Testament ‘The Word’. ‘Preach the word’, or ‘preach the Gospel’, or ‘the whole counsel of God.’ That being interpreted means the message of the Bible, the message of the Scriptures.” – MLJ, pg 61, ‘Preaching and Preachers’

“My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn! I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed to you by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” – George Matheson // “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9).

“When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ‘No,’ says the devil, ‘you will be damned.’ And I reply, ‘No, for I fly to Christ, who gave himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. . . . As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.’” – Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 1:4, “. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.”

“Life, death, hell and world’s unknown may hang on the preaching and hearing of a sermon.” – C. H. Spurgeon (So please pray for your pastor)

“When you get to heaven, you will not complain of the way by which the Lord brought you.” – John Newton

“One of the most counter-cultural things you can do is become an engaged member of a faithful local church.” – David Mathis

“Hell is eternity in the presence of God. Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a Mediator.” – Roderick A. Finlayson

“We persevere because we are preserved by our High Priest’s intercession.” – R.C. Sproul

“The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.” – Jerry Bridges

“God is the owner; we are stewards. We need to adopt a steward’s mentality toward the assets He has entrusted – not given – to us. Stewards manage assets for the owner’s benefit. Stewards carry no sense of entitlement to the assets they manage. It’s the steward’s job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will.” – Randy Alcorn

“From every little village in England—it does not matter where it is—there is sure to be a road to London. Though there may not be a road to certain other places, there is certain to be a road to London. Now, from every text in the Bible there is a road to Jesus Christ…” – C. H. Spurgeon

“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” – Matthew Henry

“Historic confessions and creeds protect the Church from foolish ‘cereal aisle’ autonomy. The Spirit who authored Scripture has through the years drawn the Church to understand it, and the great Church confessions greatly aid us in employing faithful hermeneutics. We are not advocating a paper pope, but a biblically grounded confidence in the historic analogy of faith. God is able to reveal clearly in his Word precisely what he wishes – not only to this generation, but consistently over the entire life of the Church.” – David B. Garner

“Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture.” – Martin Luther

“My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn! I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed to you by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” – George Matheson // “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9).

“The Word of God can take care of itself, and will do so if we preach it, and cease defending it. See you that lion. They have caged him for his preservation; shut him up behind iron bars to secure him from his foes! See how a band of armed men have gathered together to protect the lion. What a clatter they make with their swords and spears! These mighty men are intent upon defending a lion. O fools, and slow of heart! Open that door! Let the lord of the forest come forth free. Who will dare to encounter him? What does he want with your guardian care? Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“A company of mean-spirited, wicked men, who are no bigger than bees, mentally or spiritually, can get together, and sting a good man in a thousand places, till he is well-nigh maddened by their scorn, their ridicule, their slander, and their misrepresentation. Their very littleness gives them the power to wound with impunity. Such has been the experience of some of us, especially in days now happily past. For one, I can say, I grew inured to falsehood and spite. The stings at last caused me no more pain than if I had been made of iron, but at first they were galling enough. Do not be surprised, dear friends, if you have the same experience, and if it comes, count it no strange thing, for in this way the saints have been treated in all time. Thank God, the wounds are not fatal, nor of long continuance! Time brings ease, and use creates hardihood. No real harm has come to any of us who have run the gauntlet of abuse; not even a bruise remains.” – C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, Vol 1, pp. 304-05

“That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything.” – R.C. Sproul

“We find Christ in all the Scriptures. In the Old Testament He is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the epistles He is explained, and in Revelation He is expected.” – Alistair Begg

“Before Calvary, Christ was represented by way of a blood-shedding ritual on an altar; after Calvary, he is represented by a blood-less feast at a table.” – Derek Thomas