Forty Days of Mourning: “I cried through putting her ring on, even as I cry in taking mine off.” – R. C. Sproul, Jr

“What does it cost to be a Christian? I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday, and to be tolerably moral during the week, and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go in religion. All this is cheap and easy work – it entails no self-denial or self-sacrifice. If this is saving Christianity and will take us to Heaven when we die–we must alter the description of the way of life, and write, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to Heaven!” But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in a soft armchair, and taking him pleasantly to Heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hence arises the unspeakable importance of “counting the cost.” True Christianity will cost a man his self-righteousness, his sins, his love of ease, and the favor of the world. A religion which costs nothing –is worth nothing! A cheap, easy Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown!” – J. C. Ryle

“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display one’s talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.” – Leonard Ravenhill

“I bless the Lord that all our troubles come through Christ’s fingers, and that He casteth sugar among them: and casteth in some ounce weights of heaven and of the spirit of glory in our cup.” – Samuel Rutherford

“So great is the depravity of unregenerate man that, although there is nothing that he needs more than the gospel, there is nothing that he desires less.” – R. B. Kuiper

“If Christ died for many whose salvation He didn’t secure, that doesn’t give me assurance.” – Dr. Sinclair Ferguson

“If He’s not saving you, then He’s not your Savior.” – Dr. Sinclair Ferguson

“To test the genuineness of a diamond, jewelers often place it in clear water, which causes a real diamond to sparkle with special brilliance. An imitation stone, on the other hand, will have almost no sparkle at all. When the two are placed side by side, even an untrained eye can easily tell the difference. In a similar way, even the world can often notice the marked differences between genuine Christians and those who merely profess faith in Christ. As with jewels, there is a noticeable difference in radiance, especially when people are undergoing difficult times. Many people have great confidence in their faith until it is severely tested by hardships and disappointments. How a person handles trouble will reveal whether his faith is living or dead, genuine or imitation, saving or non-saving.” – Dr. John Macarthur

“If you are superficial about sin, then you will also be superficial about salvation.” – Dr. John MacArthur

“The sum of their [Arminians] endeavor is, to prove that the will of man is so absolutely free, independent, and uncontrollable, that God doth not, nay, with all his power cannot, determine it certainly and infallibly to the performance of this or that particular action, thereby to accomplish his own purposes, to attain his own ends. Truly, it seems to me the most unfortunate attempt that ever Christians lighted on; which, if it should get success answerable to the greatness of the undertaking, the providence of God, in men’s esteem, would be almost thrust quite out of the world. The new goddess contingency could not be erected until the God of heaven was utterly despoiled of his dominion over the sons of men, and in the room thereof a home-bred idol of self-sufficiency set up, and the world persuaded to worship it. But that the building climb no higher, let all men observe how the word of God overthrows this Babylonian tower.” – John Owen

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” – Martin Luther

“Sin would have few takers if its consequences occurred immediately.” – T.W. Purkiser

“Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of time, but our safety is a matter of eternity.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“No person ever said, at the end of their days, ‘I have read my Bible too much, I have thought of God too much, I have prayed too much, I have been too careful with my soul.'” – J. C. Ryle

More than the Five Points: “If you actually believe that God’s glory and the demonstration of the full spectrum of the glorious attributes of God is the first and foremost principle to be observed and sought in all of life, that has to impact everything else, including your worship, your church order, your preaching… everything, then you are Reformed.” – Dr. James White

“It was I who kept you from sinning against me.” Genesis 20:6. He can stop all acts of sin. And what he permits is wise. – John Piper

“Burning hearts are not nourished by empty heads.” – R. C. Sproul
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“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” – Winston Churchill

“Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now.” – Anonymous

“It ought to be the primary goal of every Christian to put aside confidence in works and grow stronger in the belief that we are saved by faith alone. Through this faith the Christian should increase in knowledge not of works but of Christ Jesus and the benefits of his death and resurrection.” – Martin Luther, The Freedom of the Christian (Minneapolis, 2008), page 55.

“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.” – D.A. Carson

“If we felt at liberty to leave out something, we should naturally omit that which is offensive, and away would go the tooth and edge of the gospel. That which is offensive in the gospel is just that which is effective. What men oppose is what God uses.” C. H. Spurgeon

“In the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is contained the whole salvation of men.” – Herman Bavinck, The Divine Trinity

“If Christ’s death fully paid the penalty for everyone’s sins – irrespective of faith or unbelief – it is impossible that these sins could be punished again in the court of a just God. That the Bible so clearly promises God’s vengeful judgment on the sins of unbelievers proves that Christ did not die for their sins.” – Richard D. Phillips

“Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ’s sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith, not to provide entertainment for unbelievers—in other words, to feed the sheep rather than amuse the goats” – J.I. Packer

“We believe in the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic; but we do not regard these five points as being barbed shafts which we are to thrust between the ribs of our fellow Christians. We look upon them as being five great lamps which help to irradiate the cross; or, rather, five bright emanatations springing from the glorious covenant of our Triune God.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“Divisions and separations are most objectionable in religion. They weaken the cause of true Christianity…But before we blame people for them, we must be careful that we lay the blame where it is deserved. False doctrine and heresy are even worse than schism. If people separate themselves from teaching that is positively false and unscriptural, they ought to be praised rather than reproved. In such cases separation is a virtue and not a sin.” – JC Ryle, Warnings To The Churches

“Bad theology will eventually hurt people and dishonor God in proportion to its badness.” – John Piper (A Godward Life Volume Two, pg. 377)

“Compare Scripture with Scripture. False doctrines, like false witnesses, agree not among themselves.” -William Gurnall

“Christianity is no more a bondage to men than wings are to birds.” – O. Palmer Robertson

“Walker Percy, the novelist, has described humanity as ‘waiting for news.’ Christianity says that the news has come. It brings to the human situation the news that what we most need has been supplied: perfect atonement for guilt. It declares that what we know to be true about ourselves has been responded to decisively and eternally from outside ourselves. This confidence that there is good news for humanity in the place of our solitude is summed up in the words ‘Christ died for our sins.’” – Paul F. M. Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us? (Eugene, 2008), pages 37-38.

“It is not hard to deceive ministers, relatives, and friends. But it is impossible to deceive Christ.” – J.C. Ryle

“In the name of God, brethren, labor to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember they must be awakened or damned, and . . . a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. Though you give the holy things of God the highest praise in words, yet, if you do it coldly, you will seem by your manner to unsay what you said in the matter… Speak to your people as to men that must be awakened, either here or in hell. Look around upon them with the eye of faith, and with compassion, and think in what a state of joy or torment they must all be for ever; and then, methinks, it will make you earnest, and melt your heart to a sense of their condition.” – Richard Baxter, quoted in J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, 1990), 279.

“God warned Lot’s wife of the impending disaster. He tried to rescue her from His judgment. He even set her on the way to salvation, shepherding her to safety. But the bent of her heart was even more powerful than the grasp of the angels leading her by the hand. She gave proof that she had never taken God seriously when she would not sever her heart-ties with Sodom. She came as close to deliverance without receiving it as was possible. Looking to the past she destroyed her future. Having received the grace of God in vain, she passed the point of no return. Not even the fire and brimstone falling around her could heal her divided heart… We might feel inclined to ask why Lot’s wife paid such a price for her error. Oh, but she sinned grievously against the Lord. Not only did she lack the pioneering pilgrim spirit required of those who leave their former lives for a better city, but she was in love with the sinful world… What she left behind and still held in her heart obviously was very dear to her, dearer than the treasures of God.” – Cheryl Ford, Treasures from the Heart

“Every time you hear the Word of God preached, you come away from that exposure to his truth either a little closer to God or a little further way from God, either more softened toward God or more hardened toward God. But you are never just the same. And if you think you can hold… the gospel at arm’s length in critical detachment, that very posture reveals that you are already deadened. The same truth enlivening someone else is hardening you. And don’t tell yourself that if only God would perform a miracle in your life, you would believe and open up. Jesus performed miracles, and the people who saw them only became further hardened (John 12:37–41). And if God’s Word isn’t saving you, what will? “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).” – Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr and R. Kent Hughes, Isaiah : God Saves Sinners, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2005). 81.

“The work of redemption which the gospel makes known, above all things, affords motives to love. For that work was the most glorious and wonderful exhibition of love that ever was seen or heard of. Love is the principal thing that the gospel dwells on when speaking of God and of Christ. It brings to light the love eternally existing between the Father and the Son, and declares how that same love has been manifested in many things. The gospel manifests how Christ is God’s well-beloved Son, in whom He is ever well pleased and how He so loved Him, that He has raised Him to the throne of the mediatorial kingdom, and appointed Him to be the judge of the world, and ordained that all mankind should stand before Him in judgment. In the gospel, too, is revealed the love that Christ has to the Father, and the wonderful fruits of that love, particularly in His doing such great things, and suffering such great things in obedience to the Father’s will, and for the honour of His justice, and law, and authority, as the great moral governor. In the gospel there is revealed how the Father and Son are one in love, that we might be induced, in the like spirit, to be one with them, and with one another, agreeably to Christ’s prayer (John 17:21-23). The gospel also declares to us that the love of God was from everlasting, and reminds us that He loved those that are redeemed by Christ, before the foundation of the world and that He gave them to the Son and that the Son loved them as His own. The gospel reveals, too, the wonderful love of both the Father and the Son to the saints now in glory– that Christ not only loved them while in the world, but that He loved them to the end. And all this love is spoken of as bestowed on us while we were wanderers, outcasts, worthless, guilty, and even enemies. This is love, such as was never elsewhere known or conceived.” – Jonathan Edwards

“Predestination should be taught… Because Christ and the Apostles frequently taught it… Nor otherwise do Peter, James and John express themselves, who speak repeatedly of this mystery whenever occasion offered. Now if it was proper for them to teach, why is it not for us to learn? Why should God teach what would have been better to be unspoken? Why did he wish to proclaim those things which it would be better not to know? Do we wish to be more prudent than God, or to prescribe rules to Him?” – Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology

“Christ declares that the doctrine of the Gospel, though it is preached to all without exception, cannot be embraced by all, but that a new understanding and a new perception are requisite; and, therefore, that faith does not depend on the will of men, but that it is God who gives it.” – John Calvin, Commentary on John

“…faith is not bare or cold knowledge, since no man can believe who has not been renewed by the Spirit of God…faith itself is a work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in none but the children of God. So then, in various respects, faith is a part of our regeneration, and an entrance into the kingdom of God, that he may reckon us among his children. The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source; but since it is by the same faith that we receive Christ, who sanctifies us by his Spirit, on that account it is said to be the beginning of our adoption.” – John Calvin, Commentary on John

“The first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The Christians who are most focused on their own spirituality may give the impression of being the most spiritual but from the New Testament’s point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so e…xclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality, that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about us and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety be nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Sinclair Ferguson

“Election can only be known by its fruits. The Elect of God can only be discerned from those who are not Elect by their faith and life. We cannot climb up into the secret of God’s eternal counsels. We cannot read the book of life. The fruits of the Spirit, seen and manifested in a man’s conversation, are the only grounds on which we can ascertain that he is one of God’s Elect. Where the marks of God’s Elect can be seen, there, and there only, have we any warrant for saying “this is one of the Elect.” How do I know that yon distant ship on the horizon of the sea has any pilot or steersman on board? I cannot with the best telescope discern anything but her masts and sails. Yet I see her steadily moving in one direction. That is enough for me.” – J.C. Ryle
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