J.C. Ryle on Sanctification and Reconciliation with God

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , , | Posted On Friday, February 28, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"For another thing, if we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain - we must begin with Christ.  We must go to him as sinners with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on him by faith for peace and reconciliation with God."

J.C. Ryle


Charles Simeon on God's Love

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"There is nothing under heaven that can constrain a pious soul like a sense of redeeming love."

Charles Simeon


John Owen on Fellowship With God

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 6:30 AM

 "And truly, for sinners to have fellowship with God, the infinitely holy God, is an astonishing dispensation."

John Owen


Augustus Toplady on Mercy

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 at 6:30 AM

A Debtor to Mercy Alone

A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on, my person and off’ring to bring.
The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen, and never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo, or sever my soul from His love.

My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

Augustus Toplady


A.W. Pink on God's Holiness

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, February 24, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity."

A.W. Pink


William Mason on Christ and Us

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, February 21, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"Happy souls, who put on Christ
By pure and living faith,
Finding him their King and Priest,
Their God, and guide to death.

God's own foe may plague his sons:
Sin may distress—but can't subdue.
Christ who conquered for us once,
Will in us conquer too."


William Mason
(1719 – 1791)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on The Holy Spirit

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, February 20, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"The Holy Spirit, and His operation upon us, are absolutely essential before we can receive the truth or begin to understand it."
Martyn Lloyd-Jones


Thomas Wilcox on The Gospel

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, February 19, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"When Satan charges sin upon the conscience, then for the soul to charge it upon Christ, that is gospel-like; that is to make Him Christ. He serves for that use, to accept Christ’s righteousness alone, His blood alone for salvation, that is the sum of the gospel. When the soul, in all duties and distress, can say, “Nothing but Christ, Christ alone, for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption” (I Cor 1:30); not my humblings, not my duties, not my graces; then that soul has got above the reach of the billows."

Thomas Wilcox


James Hervey on Justification

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"We are. I grant it, justified by works.  But whose;  the works of Christ, not our own."
James Hervey


Isaac Ambrose on Holiness and Christ

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Monday, February 17, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"We must be holy as Christ is holy, yet still we must look at the holiness of Christ, as the sun, and root, and fountain; and that our holiness is but as a beam of that sun,  but as a branch of that root, but as a stream of that fountain."

Isaac Ambrose


Pasquier Quesnel on God's Power

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Friday, February 14, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"It is peculiar to God alone, that he need only will what he intends to perform. His power is his will; it is because he wills it, that thereby he effects all, both in nature and in grace."

Pasquier Quesnel


Thomas Blacklock on God's Omnipotence and Wisdom

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Thursday, February 13, 2014 at 6:30 AM

COME, O my soul, in sacred lays, 
Attempt thy great Creator's praise: 
But O what tongue can speak his fame? 
What mortal verse can reach the theme!

Enthroned amid the radiant spheres, 
He glory like a garment wears;
To form a robe of light divine,
Ten thousand suns around him shine.

In all our Maker's grand designs, 
Omnipotence, with wisdom, shines;
His works, through all this wondrous frame,
Declare the glory of his name. 

Raised on devotion's lofty wing,
Do thou, my soul, his glories sing;
And let his praise employ thy tongue,
Till listening worlds shall join the song. 

Thomas Blacklock

Isaac Watts Hymn: Nature With Open Volume Stands

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , , , | Posted On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 6:30 AM

Nature With Open Volume Stands

Nature with open volume stands,
To spread her Maker's praise abroad,
And ev'ry labor of His hands
Shows something worthy of our God.

But in the grace that rescued man
His brightest form of glory shines;
Here on the cross 'tis fairest drawn,
In precious blood and crimson lines.

Here his whole name appears complete
Nor wit can guess, nor reason prove
Which of the letters is best writ,
The Pow'r, the Wisdom, or the Love.

Here I behold His inmost heart
Where grace and vengeance strangely join,
Here on the Cross 'tis fairest drawn
In precious blood and crimson lines.

O the sweet wonders of that Cross
Where God the Savior loved and died!
Her noblest life my spirit draws
From His dear wounds and bleeding side.

I would for ever speak His name,
In sounds to mortal ears unknown,
With angels join to praise the Lamb,
And worship at His Father's throne.

Isaac Watts


Thomas Wilcox on Christ Alone for Salvation

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"When the soul, in all duties and distress, can say, “Nothing but Christ, Christ alone, for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption” (I Cor 1:30); not my humblings, not my duties, not my graces; then that soul has got above the reach of the billows."

Thomas Wilcox


Martyn Lloyd-Jones on The Cross

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, February 10, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"There is no end to this glorious message of the cross, for there is always something new and fresh and entrancing and moving and uplifting that one has never seen before."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones




Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Salvation and God's Glory

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Friday, February 7, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"Salvation is not ultimately for our sakes; but for the glory of God. God in salvation is vindicating Himself, and manifesting Himself to the whole universe. He is displaying His everlasting and eternal glory. Hence His purpose cannot and will not fail."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones


Edward Payson on God's Glory Being Displayed in Salvation

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , , | Posted On Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"They rejoice when sinners repent, because God is glorified and hie perfections are displayed in giving them repentance and remission of sins. The perfections of God are to be seen only in his works. His moral perfections are to be seen only, or at least principally, in his works of grace. There is more of God, more of his essential glory displayed in bringing one sinner to repentance, and forgiving his sins for the sake of Christ, than in all the wonders of creation."  

Edward Payson 


James Smith on Caring for the Souls of Our Children

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"We may plead guiltless as to the blood of the body, but there is the blood of souls. How many of us have sacrificed our children to the idols of the present Canaan, fashion, custom, dress, dancing, and worldly conformity in general. Look at the education given. Look at the company chosen. Look at the practices indulged in. Can it be said, that we realize the value of the soul, and seek first and principally the salvation of our children and friends, with the glory of God?  O how many of our children have been sacrificed to form, fashion, and the various idols of the world!"

James Smith


A.W. Tozer on God's Glory

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"Only engrossment with God can maintain perpetual spiritual enthusiasm because only God can supply everlasting novelty.  In God every moment is new and nothing ever gets old.  Of things religious we may become tired; even prayer may weary us; but God never.  He can show a new aspect of His glory to us each day for all the days of eternity and still we shall have but begun to explore the depths of the riches of His infinite being."
A.W. Tozer


A.W. Pink on The Household and Glorifying God

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Monday, February 3, 2014 at 6:30 AM

"Home! How much that one word used to convey! It is still one of the most precious in the English language unto some of us. Much more so when to all its natural attractions are added the hallowed associations which gather around a Christian home. Is not our favourite concept of heaven embodied in that blessed expression, "My Father's House"? Because the Christian is not his own, but bought with a price, he is to aim at glorifying God in every relation of life. No matter what station he occupies, or wherever he be, he is to serve as a witness for Christ. Next to the church, of God, his own home should be the sphere of his most manifest devotedness unto Him. All its arrangements should bear the stamp of his heavenly calling. All its affairs should be so ordered that everyone entering it should feel "God is here!" The supreme aim of family life should be household piety, everything else being subordinated thereto."

A.W. Pink