Wednesday, April 26, 2023

No Holy Spirit = No Christ = No Heaven by J.C. Ryle

Let it be distinctly understood that the person who does not have the Spirit, does not have Christ. They who do not have Christ have no pardon of their sins—no peace with God—no title to heaven—no well-grounded hope of being saved.

Their religion is like the house built on the sand. It may look well in fine weather. It may satisfy them in the time of health and prosperity. But when the flood rises, and the wind blows—when sickness and trouble come up against them, it will fall and bury them under its ruins. They live without a good hope, and without a good hope they die. They will rise again only to be miserable. They will stand in the judgment only to be condemned; they will see saints and angels looking on, and remember they might have been among them—but too late; they will see lost myriads around them, and find they cannot comfort them—but too late. This will be the end of the person who thinks that they can reach heaven without the Spirit.
~ J.C. Ryle



Sunday, April 23, 2023

Getting Beyond A Hearer of Truth by J.C. Ryle

The man who hears Christian teaching, and never gets beyond hearing, is like “a foolish man who built his house on the sand” [Matt. 7:26]. He satisfies himself with listening and approving, but he goes no further.

He flatters himself, perhaps, that all is right with his soul, because he has feelings, convictions, and desires, of a spiritual kind. In these he rests. He never really breaks off from sin, and casts aside the spirit of the world. He never really lays hold of Christ. He never really takes up the cross. He is a hearer of truth, but nothing more.
~ J.C. Ryle


Saturday, April 22, 2023

Are You a Noble-Minded Berean? By J.C. Ryle

The state of mind we should always desire to possess is that of the noble-minded Bereans.

When they first heard the Apostle Paul preach, they listened with attention. They received the Word “with all readiness of mind.” They “searched the Scriptures,” and compared what they heard with God’s Word. “And therefore,” we are told, “many of them believed.” Happy are those who go and do likewise! (Acts 17:1112.)
~ J.C. Ryle


Friday, April 21, 2023

The Finished Work of Christ by J.C. Ryle

We rest our souls on a ‘finished work,’ if we rest them on the work of Jesus Christ the Lord.

We need not fear that either sin, or Satan, or law shall condemn us at the last day. We may lean back on the thought, that we have a Savior who has done all, paid all, accomplished all, performed all that is necessary for our salvation.”
~ J.C. Ryle


Thursday, April 20, 2023

It Is Well With My Soul by J.C. Ryle

A saved soul has many sorrows. He has a body like other men – weak and frail. He has a heart like other men – and often a more sensitive one too.

He has trials and losses to bear like others – and often more. He has his share of bereavements, deaths, disappointments, crosses. He has the world to oppose, a place in life to fill blamelessly, unconverted relatives to bear with patiently, persecutions to endure and a death to die.  And who is sufficient for these things? What shall enable a believer to bear all this? Nothing but “the consolation there is in Christ.” (Phil. 2:1)
~ J.C. Ryle
The Christian Race & Other Sermons, “Christ is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2002], 380.


Wednesday, April 19, 2023

You HAVE a Bible But Do You READ It? By J.C. Ryle

There is more Bible buying, Bible selling, Bible printing and Bible distributing than ever before in our nation.

We see Bibles in every bookstore; Bibles of every size, price and style. There are Bibles in almost every house in the land. But all this time I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Bible Reading”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 98.


Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Influenced By the Holy Spirit by J.C. Ryle

Be filled with the Spirit. Seek to be more and more under His blessed influence. Strive to have every thought, word, action, and habit brought under the obedience to the leading of the Holy Ghost.

Grieve Him not by inconsistencies and conformity to the world. Quench Him not by trifling with little infirmities and small besetting sins. Seek rather to have Him ruling and reigning more completely over you every week that you live.
~ J.C. Ryle
Old Paths, “The Holy Ghost”, 289.


Monday, April 17, 2023

Having Perspective in Light of Eternity by J.C. Ryle

O Christian, what is our light affliction when compared to eternity? Shame on us if we murmur and complain and turn back – with heaven before our eyes!

What can this vain and passing world give us better than this? This is the city of our God Himself, when He will dwell among us Himself. The glory of God shall enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light there. Truly we may say, as Mephibosheth did to David“Let the world take all, since our Lord will come in peace.” Such is the Bible heaven, there is none other; these sayings are faithful and true, not any of them shall fail. Surely, it is worth a little pain, a little laboring, a little toil, if only we may have the lowest place in the kingdom of God.
~ J.C. Ryle
Tract: Heaven


Saturday, April 15, 2023

The Habit of Private Prayer by J.C. Ryle

What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others?

I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much.”
~ J.C. Ryle
A Call to Prayer, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2002], 15.


Friday, April 14, 2023

No More Sorrow In Heaven by J.C. Ryle

Blessed be God! There shall be no sorrow in heaven. There shall not be one single tear shed within the courts above. There shall be no more disease and weakness and decay.

The coffin, and the funeral, and the grave shall be things unknown. Our faces shall no more be pale and sad. No more shall we go out from the company of those we love and be parted asunder–that word, ‘farewell’, shall never be heard again. There shall be no anxious thought about tomorrow to mar and spoil our enjoyment. There shall be no sharp and cutting words to wound our souls. Our needs will have come to a perpetual end, and all around us shall be harmony and love.
~ J.C. Ryle
Heading for Heaven [Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1987], 119, 120.


Thursday, April 13, 2023

Anchored In Christ’s Hands by J.C. Ryle

I want you to know the length and breadth of your portion in Christ. I want you to understand the full amount of the treasure to which faith in Jesus entitles you. You have found out that you are a great sinner.

Thank God for that. You have fled to Christ for pardon and peace with God. Thank God for that. You have committed yourself to Jesus for time and eternity – you have no hope but in Christ’s blood, Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s mediation, Christ’s daily all-persevering intercession. Thank God for that. Your heart’s desire and prayer is to be holy in all manner of conversation. Thank God for that. But oh, lay hold upon the glorious truth – that believing on Jesus you shall never perish, you shall never be cast away, you shall never fall away! It is written for you as well as for the apostles, “My sheep shall never perish.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Perseverance”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 516.


Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Courage to Confess Christ by J.C. Ryle

Let us all pray daily for faith and courage to confess Christ before all men. Of sin, or worldliness, or unbelief, we may well be ashamed.

We ought never to be ashamed of Him who died for us on the cross. In spite of laughter, mockery, and hard words, let us boldly avow that we serve Christ. Better a thousand times confess Christ now, and be despised by man, than be disowned by Christ before His Father in the day of judgment.
~ J.C. Ryle


Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The Main Cause of Backsliding by J.C. Ryle

 What is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer.

You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world.
~ J.C. Ryle
A Call to Prayer, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2002], 16.


Sunday, April 9, 2023

The Correlation of Happiness and Holiness by J.C. Ryle

How is it, people often ask, that so many professing believers have so little happiness in their religion? How is it that so many know little of joy and peace in believing, and go mourning and heavy-hearted towards heaven?

The answer to these questions is a sorrowful one, but it must be given. Few believers attend as strictly as they should to Christ’s practical sayings and words. There is far too much loose and careless obedience to Christ’s commandments. There is far too much forgetfulness, that while good works cannot justify us, they are not to be despised. Let these things sink down into our hearts. If we want to be eminently happy, we must strive to be eminently holy.
~ J.C. Ryle


Saturday, April 8, 2023

The Mindset of a Pilgrim by J.C. Ryle

A holy man will follow after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavor to set his affections entirely on the things above, and to hold things on earth with a very loose hand.

He will not neglect the business of this life now; but the first place in his mind and thoughts will be given to the life to come. He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven, and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim traveling to his home.
“To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of His people – these things will be the holy man’s chiefest enjoyments. He will value every thing and place and company, just in proportion as it draws him nearer to God.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle, “Holiness”, [Wheaton: Crossway, 2002], 143.


Thursday, April 6, 2023

The Dreadful Truth of Coming Judgment By J.C. Ryle

There is a judgment coming! People have their reckoning days, and God will at last have His. The trumpet shall sound. The dead shall be raised incorruptible.

The living shall be changed. All, of every name, nation, people and tongue, shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The books shall be opened, and the evidence brought forth. Our true character will come out before the world. There will be no concealment, no evasion, no false coloring. Every one shall give account of themselves to God, and all shall be judged according to their works. The wicked shall go away into everlasting fire, and the righteous into life eternal. These are dreadful truths! But they are truths, and ought to be told.
~ J.C. Ryle


Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Ministers: Preach the Gospel! BY J.C. Ryle

I am satisfied that the happiest minister is the man who most diligently discharges the office committed to him.

None, I am sure, is so miserable as the minister, who, from laziness, or any other motive, lives below his light, and neglects his work. After all, no work is so satisfactory, and so lasting—as the work of a faithful preacher of the Gospel. None have so good a Master. None will receive such wages. A missionary who had labored for the Wesleyan Society, and died at the age of 95, heard his friends round his death-bed saying one to another, “What would our old friend do, if he had to live his life over again?” He rose on his pillow, and said, “The very best thing that a man can do, is to preach the Gospel!”
~ J.C. Ryle


Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Act Like a Soldier of Christ by J.C. Ryle

Every professing Christian is the soldier of Christ. He is bound by his baptism to fight Christ’s battle against sin, the world and the devil.

The man that does not do this breaks his vow. He is a spiritual defaulter. He does not fulfill the engagements made for him. The man that does not do this is practically renouncing his Christianity. The very fact that he belongs to a church, attends a Christian place of worship, and calls himself a Christian, is a public declaration that he desires to be reckoned a soldier of Jesus Christ.
~ J.C. Ryle
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Visible Churches Warned”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 281.


Monday, April 3, 2023

The Highest Degree of Knowledge by J.C. Ryle

 Heart-knowledge, we must always remember, is the one thing needful. It is something which schools and universities cannot confer. It is the gift of God.

To find out the plague of our own hearts and hate sin–to become familiar with the throne of grace and the fountain of Christ’s blood–to sit daily at the feet of Jesus, and humbly learn of Him–this is the highest degree of knowledge to which mortal man can attain. Let any one thank God who knows anything of these things. One may be ignorant of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and mathematics, but they shall be saved.
~ J.C. Ryle


Sunday, April 2, 2023

There Is Not Enough Private Prayer! BY J.C. RYLE

There are few professing Christians, it may be feared, who strive to imitate Christ in the matter of private devotion. There is abundance of hearing, reading, talking, professing, visiting, contributing to the poor, subscribing to societies and teaching at schools.

But is there, together with all this, a due proportion of private prayer? Are believing men and women sufficiently careful to be frequently alone with God? These are humbling and heart-searching questions. But we shall find it useful to give them an answer.
Why is it that there is so much apparent religious working, and yet so little result in positive conversions to God – so many sermons, and so few souls saved – so much machinery, and so little effect produced – so much running here and there, and yet so few brought to Christ? Why is all this? The reply is short and simple. There is not enough private prayer.The cause of Christ does not need less working, but it does need among the workers more praying. Let us each examine ourselves, and amend our ways. The most successful workmen in the Lord’s vineyard, are those who are like their Master, often and much upon their knees.
~ J.C. Ryle


Saturday, April 1, 2023

The Practical Side of Holiness by J.C. Ryle

Scriptural holiness will make a man do his duty at home and by the fireside, and adorn his doctrine in the little trials of daily life.

It will exhibit itself in passive graces as well as in active. It will make a man humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go out of the world, and shut himself up in a cave, like a hermit. But it will make him do his duty in that state to which God has called him, on Christian principles, and after the pattern of Christ.
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Self-Inquiry”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 12, 13.


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