Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Training Your Child To Know The Bible

“You cannot make your children love the Bible, I admit. No one but the Holy Spirit can give us a heart to delight in the Word. But you can make sure that your children are acquainted with the Bible; and remember that they can never become acquainted with that blessed book too soon, or too well.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Admitting Your Belief in God’s Election

Once admit that we are all naturally dead in trespasses and sins, and have no power to turn to God—once admit that all spiritual life in the heart of man must begin with God—once admit that He who created the world by saying,

Monday, February 26, 2018

The Two Essentials at Conversion

“It ought always to be remembered that there are two distinct things which the Lord Jesus Christ does for every sinner whom He undertakes to save.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Humbling Approaching the Lord’s Supper

“Right reception of the Lord’s Supper has a ‘humbling’ effect on the soul. The sight of the bread and wine as emblems of Christ’s body and blood, reminds us how sinful sin must be, if nothing less than the death of God’s own Son could make satisfaction for it, or redeem us from its guilt. Never should we be so ‘clothed with humility,’ as when we receive the Lord’s Supper.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Going to the Table”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 152.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Four Marks of Fruit-Bearing Christianity

The Christianity which I call fruit-bearing, that which shows its Divine origin by its blessed effects on mankind – the Christianity which you may safely defy unbelievers to explain away – that Christianity is a very different thing. Let me show you some of its leading marks and features.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

This Present Danger: Worldliness

The three great spiritual enemies of man are the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is hard to say which does most harm to the soul. The last day alone will settle that point. But I venture boldly to say, that at no former period has “the world” been so dangerous, and so successful in injuring Christ’s Church, as it is just now.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Becoming Familiar With Repentance

“He that desires to be a true Christian must be experimentally acquainted with repentance and remission of sins. These are the principle things in saving religion. To belong to a pure church, and to hear the gospel, and receive the sacraments are the great privileges: but are we converted? Are we justified? If not, we are dead before God.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Practice Your Bible Reading

“It is poor work to read the Bible from mere curiosity, and for speculative purposes, in order to fill your head and store your mind with opinions, while you do not allow the book to influence your heart and life. That Bible is read best which is practiced most.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Bible Reading”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 132.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

One Option: Overcome!

To be at peace with the world, the flesh, and the devil, is to be at enmity with God, and in the broad way that leads to destruction. We have no choice or option. The promises to the Seven Churches in Revelation are only “to him that overcomes.” We must fight or be lost. We must conquer or die eternally. We must put on the whole armor of God. “He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one” (Eph. 6:11Luke 22:36).
~ J.C. Ryle
The Upper Room, “Victory”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1970], 144, 145.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Zealous Man Burns for One Thing

“Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature,—which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted,—but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called ‘zealous’ men.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

The Personal Bible Reading of J.C. Ryle

“Before his conversion Ryle hardly ever opened his Bible, but after he became a Christian he formed the habit of daily Bible study, which continued without a break for more than a half a century. He rose early each morning so that he could study the Word without interruption. Words and verses of special significance to him were carefully underlined in his large black-bound Bible.

Monday, February 12, 2018

Grace is the Main Thing

“Let the religion which we aim to possess be a religion in which grace is the main thing. Let it not content us to be able to speak eloquently, or preach powerfully, or reason ably, or argue cleverly, or profess loudly, or talk fluently.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Head Knowledge Christianity

“Let us beware of an unsanctified knowledge of Christianity. It is a dangerous possession, but a fearfully common one in these latter days. We may know the Bible intellectually, and have no doubt about the truth of its contents.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

The Great Shepherd Will Guide You

Let us remember this as we look forward to the days yet to come: We know not what our days may be – bright or dark, many or few – but we know that we are in the hands of Him who does all things well.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Calculate Your Profession of Christ

“Profession [in the early church] was a very serious matter, and entailed very serious consequences. It often brought on a man persecution, loss of property, imprisonment, and even death. The consequence was that few persons ever made a Christian profession in the early Church unless they were thoroughly in earnest, truly converted, and really believers.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The Converting Power of the Holy Spirit

I have learned by mournful experience that the last thing a man finds out and understands, is his own state in the sight of God. Well says the Holy Spirit, that we are all by nature “blind,” and “deaf,” and “dumb,” and “asleep,” and “beside ourselves,” and “dead!”

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Book Review: The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon His Earliest Outlines and Sermons Between 1851 and 1854 Volume 2

J.C. Ryle on Charles Spurgeon

"I am not a bit ashamed to say that I often read the sermons of Mr. Spurgeon. Now when you read Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, note how clearly and perspicuously he divides a sermon, and fills each division with beautiful and simple ideas. How easily you grasp his meaning! How thoroughly he brings before you certain great truths, that hang to you like hooks of steel, and which, once planted in your memory, you never forget!" -J.C. Ryle, 
Simplicity in Preaching

Persecutors: Ready to Reckon with Christ?

Let those who persecute God’s people in the present day take heed what they are doing. Let them know that all who injure, or ridicule, or mock, or slander others on account of their religion, commit a great sin.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Be Thoroughly Aquainted With Your Bible

Let us learn the high authority of the Bible, and the immense value of a knowledge of its contents. Let us read it, search into it, pray over it, diligently, perseveringly, unweariedly. Let us strive to be so thoroughly acquainted with its pages, that its text may abide in our memories, and stand ready at our right hand in the day of need.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Keeping Ministers In Their Place

No higher honor can be imagined than that of being Christ’s ambassadors, and proclaiming in Christ’s name the forgiveness of sins to a lost world. But let us ever beware of investing the ministerial office with one jot more of power and authority than Christ conferred upon it.

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