Thursday, June 30, 2016

The World’s Opposition To Christ’s Work

Let all who are attacked by the world for trying to do good, take comfort in the thought that they are only drinking of the cup which Christ drank.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Ignorance of the Bible Leads to Error

Let us read our Bibles in private more, and with more pains and diligence. Ignorance of Scripture is the root of all error, and makes a person helpless in the hand of the devil.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

The Beautiful Variety of Christ’s Children

We must never forget that there are varieties in character, and that the grace of God does not cast all believers into one and the same mold.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Persevere in Love

We are not to suppose that Christian love can exist independently of faith. Paul did not intend to set up one grace in rivalry to the other.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

The Sinfulness of Sin

“No proof of the fullness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable as the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’

Saturday, June 25, 2016

The Small First Steps Towards Conversion

The first beginnings of the work of grace in a sinner are generally exceedingly small. It is like the mixture of leaven with a lump of dough:
A single sentence of a sermon…
A single verse of Holy Scripture…

Friday, June 24, 2016

5 Principles for Christian Growth

The words of James must never be forgotten: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). This is no doubt as true of growth in grace, as it is of everything else. It is the “gift of God.” But still it must always be kept in mind that God is pleased to work by means. God has ordained means as well as ends. He that would grow in grace must use the means of growth.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Results of a Cross-less Church

Whenever a Church keeps back Christ crucified, or puts anything whatsoever in that foremost place which Christ crucified should always have, from that moment a Church ceases to be useful. Without Christ crucified in her pulpits, a Church is little better than a dead carcass, a well without water, a barren fig-tree, a sleeping watchman, a silent trumpet, a dumb witness, an ambassador without terms of peace, a messenger without tidings, a lighthouse without fire, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to unbelievers, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to God.
~ J.C. Ryle

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

All Believers Are Not Alike

We must not expect all believers in Christ to be exactly like one another. We must not set down others as having no grace, because their experience does not entirely tally with our own. The sheep in the Lord’s flock have each their own peculiarities. The trees in the Lord’s garden are not all precisely alike. All true servants of God agree in the principal things of religion. All are led by one Spirit. All feel their sins, and all trust in Christ. All repent, all believe, and all are holy. But in minor matters they often differ widely. Let not one despise another on this account. There will be Martha’s and there will be Mary’s in the Church until the Lord comes again.
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 384,385. {Luke 10:38-42}

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Gratitude For the Cross

Let us turn from the story of the crucifixion, every time we read it, with hearts full of praise. Let us praise God for the confidence it gives us, as to the ground of our hope of pardon. Our sins may be many and great, but the payment made by our Great Substitute far outweighs them all. Let us praise God for the view it given us of the love of our Father in heaven. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will surely with Him give us all things. Not least, let us praise God for the view it gives us of the sympathy of Jesus with all His believing people. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows what suffering is. Jesus is just the Savior that an infirm body, with a weak heart, in an evil world, requires.
~ J.C. Ryle

Monday, June 20, 2016

This is Meant to Make Me Grow

“Sicknesses and losses and crosses and anxieties and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful and spiritual–minded. They are as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner’s furnace to the gold.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Watch Over Your Heart

“Is your heart right? Then be humble and watchful. You are not yet in heaven, but in the world. You are in the body. The devil is near you, and never sleeps. Oh, keep your heart with all diligence! Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. Ask Christ Himself to keep your heart for you. Ask Him to dwell in it, and reign in it, and garrison it, and to put down every enemy under His feet.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Old Paths, “The Heart”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 356.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Are You Fit To Enjoy Heaven?

You and I, it may be said, know little about heaven. Our notions of heaven may be very dim and unclear. But at all events, I suppose we are agreed in thinking that heaven is a very holy place—that God is there—and Christ is there—and saints and angels are there—that sin is not there in any shape—and that nothing is said, thought, or done, which God does not like. Only let this be granted, and then I think there can be no doubt the great majority of professing Christians are as little fit for heaven as a bird for swimming beneath the sea, or a fish for living upon dry land. And what is it they need in order to make them fit to enjoy heaven? They need to be regenerated or born again.
~ J.C. Ryle

Thursday, June 16, 2016

The Best Friend in the World

“Do we want an unfailing friend? Such a friend is the Lord Jesus Christ. The saddest part of all the good things of earth is their instability. Riches make themselves wings and flee away; youth and beauty are but for a few years; strength of body soon decays; mind and intellect are soon exhausted. All is perishing. All is fading. All is passing away. But there is one splendid exception to this general rule, and that is the friendship of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

True Repentance Produces a Deep Hatred of Sin

True repentance shows itself by producing in the heart a settled habit of deep hatred of all sin. The mind of a repentant person becomes a mind habitually holy. They abhor that which is evil, and cleaves to that which is good.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Be Zealous Regarding Good Works

When I look around, I see many things missing among us, which Jesus loves.
I miss the meekness and gentleness of our Master—many of us are harsh, rough-tempered, and overly critical of others, and we flatter ourselves that we are faithful.

Monday, June 13, 2016

If We Love a Person

If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name, or his appearance, or his character, or his opinions, or his tastes, or his position, or his occupation. He comes up before our mind’s eye many a time in the day.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Saturday, June 11, 2016

The Mysterious Work of Conversion

The workings of grace in the heart are utterly mysterious and unsearchable. We cannot explain why the word produces effects on one person in a congregation, and not upon another.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Poor Wandering Sheep…Faithfully Following Christ

O that Christians, the very best of them, were not so slack in following! Some stop to trifle with the perishable things of earth.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Clinging to the Resurrection

There is a resurrection after death. Let this never be forgotten. The life that we live here in the flesh is not all.

Our Season of Probation

Let us count it no strange thing, if we have sufferings in this present time. It is a season of probation; we are yet at school.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The Friend of Sinners

“We should notice how tenderly Christ speaks of the death of believers. He announces the fact of Lazarus being dead in language of singular beauty and gentleness: ‘Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.’ Every true Christian has a Friend in heaven, of almighty power and boundless love.

Monday, June 6, 2016

The Gospel Has Not Lost its Power

“Weak, and feeble, and foolish as it may seem to man, the simple story of the Cross is enough for all the children of Adam in every part of the globe. The tidings of Christ’s death for sinners, and the atonement made by that death, is able to meet the hearts and satisfy the consciences of all nations, and peoples, and kindreds, and tongues.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Let Us Pray For Our Children

“Let us see, furthermore, in this mighty miracle, a lively emblem of Christ’s power to quicken the dead in sins. In Him is life. He quickeneth whom He will. (John 5:21.)

The Model of Sanctification: Jesus Christ

The Lord God has mercifully provided His people with everything necessary to their sanctification. He has given those who follow after holiness the clearest of precepts, the best of motives, and the most encouraging of promises.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Be Careful in the Peaceful Times

“Let us pray much for humility, and especially for humility in our days of peace and success.

Friday, June 3, 2016

What Side Will You Be On?

“There will only be two parties of mankind at the last great day: those who are on the right hand of Christ, and those who are on the left;

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Sow Righteousness in Your Youth!

Go and ask believers now, and I think many will tell you: “Oh that I could live my young days over again!” He will most likely say, “Oh that I had spent the beginning of my life in a better way! Oh that I had not laid the foundation of evil habits so strongly in the springtime of my journey!”

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Possessing a Zeal For Christ

We all know that exercise is good for the health, and that regular employment of our muscles and limbs promotes our bodily comfort, and increases our bodily vigor.

Ref Tagger