Samuel Rutherford on God's Ploughing of Our Souls

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Monday, March 31, 2014 at 6:15 AM

"Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul?  I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop.  0, that this white, withered lay ground were made fertile to bear a crop for Him, by whom it is so painfully dressed, and that this fallow ground were broken up?"

Samuel Rutherford


John Flavel on the Worth of the Soul to Christ

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Friday, March 28, 2014 at 6:19 AM

"Souls are very dear; he that paid for them found them so;  Yet how cheaply do Sinners sell their Souls, as if they were but low-prized Commodities!  But you that sell your Souls cheap, will buy Repentance dear."

John Flavel


Jonathan Edwards on the Ultimate End of God'e Work

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 6:18 AM

"For it appears, that all that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as a ultimate end of God's works, is included in that one phrase, the glory of God; which is the name by which the ultimate end of God's works is most commonly called in Scripture; and seems most aptly to signify the thing."

Jonathan Edwards


Henry Law on Man's Natural Inclinations Towards God

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 6:17 AM

"1) Let diverse instances show its conduct towards GOD. Its feelings may be thus classed.

Alienation. Whatever departs from God's rule departs from Himself. Contrariety to His law separates from His mind. Disinclination to His will moves altogether in an adverse course. It flees His face--it establishes an opposing interest. Far as the east is from the west, so far it is estranged from all that is divine. Sin is such alienation. They who are its slaves need to be forgiven, before they can see God's face and live.

Hatred. "The carnal mind,"--and every mind is such in which the Spirit dwells not--"is enmity against God--for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Rom. 8:7.) By nature's instinct the secret chambers of imagination swarm with thoughts tainted with dislike of God, His name, His nature, His perfections, His cause, His people, His Word, His scepter, His kingdom, His Christ. Sin has strong inclinations, and they all are arrayed against His righteous ways. It has ungodly bias towards the abominable things which God hates. Surely the victims of this passion need to be forgiven, before they can be one with God.

Contempt. With haughty look it sneers at sacred precepts. It scorns them as weak precision. It spurns the restrictions of godly walk as derogatory to man's liberty. In the swellings of pride it tramples on the barriers which heaven has erected. Except forgiveness comes, the consequence is appalling woe.

Defiance. It raises an insulting head. It braves God's displeasure. It ridicules all penal consequences. It mocks at the thunder-bolts of threatened wrath. It regards the right hand of the Lord as impotent to strike. It boldly asks, "Who is the Lord that I should serve Him?" Unless forgiveness intervenes what will be the doom!

Rebellion. It shatters the yoke. It breaks restraining bands. It ignores submission. It boasts, "We will not have this man to reign over us." If power were equal to the will, it would invade the heaven of heavens, and hurl God from His throne. If forgiveness lingers, how terrible must be the end!

Treason. It enters into conspiracy with all heaven's foes. It joins hands with every adversary. It combines with all dark plots. It betrays the citadel of God's government. It opens the portals to admit all traitors. Without forgiveness, vengeance will be sure and just.

Robbery. God, as Sovereign, has a right to exact obedience. Sin defrauds Him of this due. It refuses payment of just demands. It withholds the allegiance of rightful service. It wantonly misuses every talent entrusted to its care. If not forgiven, how can it escape!


Such, and many more, are the developments of sin in reference to God. Thus the position is established, that vast is the need of vast forgiveness. How enchanting, now, is the sweetness of the words, "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him!""
Henry Law


Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Salvation

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

"Why is it that the Christian Church appears as she does at the present time?  What is the matter, what is the real explanation?  I suggest that it is partly and chiefly because our fundamental concept of salvation is wrong.  We do not think of it in terms of truth.   Too often we think in terms of feelings, or experience only."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones


A.W. Tozer on Worship

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

"We are saved to worship God.  All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end."

A.W. Tozer


Brother Lawrence on Approaching God

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, March 21, 2014 at 6:23 AM

"That there needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only. "

Brother Lawrence


Bernard of Clairvaux on Loving God

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

"You want me to tell you why God is to be loved and how much.  I answer, the reason for loving God is God Himself:  and the measure of love due Him is immeasurable love."

Bernard of Clairvaux


G. Campbell Morgan on Praising God

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

"Our first business is that of praising Him, praising Him with lip and with life, in the actual songs we sing, in the hallelujahs we lift; praising Him by all the habits of our life, by the perpetual testimony of our ways as they announce the fact of His being, the fact of His love."

G. Campbell Morgan


Charles Spurgeon on Thinking about God

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

"Let your mind rove upon the great doctrines of the Godhead; consider the existence of God from before the foundations of the world; behold Him who is, and was, and is to come, the Almighty; let your soul comprehend as much as it can of the Infinite, and grasp as much as possible of the Eternal, and I am sure if you have minds at all, they will shrink with awe."

Charles Spurgeon


A.W. Tozer on Worship

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, March 17, 2014 at 6:28 AM

"In the majority of our meetings there is scarcely a trace of reverent thought, no recognition of the unity of the body, little sense of divine Presence, no moment of stillness, no solemnity, no wonder, no holy fear."
A.W. Tozer


Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Christ

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

"Put at the centre the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory.  Who so loved you that He went to the cross and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you."
Martyn Lloyd-Jones


Thomas Watson on True Love for God

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

"We must love God more for what He is, than for what He bestows.  True love is not mercenary."
Thomas Watson


A.W. Tozer on Worship

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


"Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God."
A.W. Tozer


Edward Payson on Our Purpose

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

"We were created and redeemed for the sole purpose of praising and glorifying our Creator."
Edward Payson


J.C. Ryle on Holiness

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

"For another thing, if we would grow in holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began,, and be ever making fresh applications to Christ."

J.C. Ryle



Walter Marshall on Life From Christ

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

"He clearly showeth, that those who seek any saving enjoyments in such a way, do walk according to their old natural state; and that the true manner of living by faith in Christ is, to walk as those that have all fulness and perfection of spiritual blessings in Christ by faith, and need not seek for them any other way to procure them for themselves.   In this sense it is a true saying,  That believers should not act for life, but from life. They must act as those that are not procuring life by their works, but as those who have already received and derived life from Christ, and act from the power and virtue received from Him."
Walter Marshall

(1628-1680)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Holiness

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

"Holiness is characteristic of every Christian. If we are not holy, our profession of Christ is valueless."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones




Thomas Jones on Faith and Holiness

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

"Faith cannot be separated from holiness, nor holiness from faith; and, should the separation be attempted, neither holiness nor faith can be attained."
Thomas Jones
(1754-1837)

Thomas Goodwin on Finding Our Satisfaction in Christ

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

"Oh,let him be to each of us our beloved! If he be God's beloved, he may as well be thine. Is he able to satisfy God's vast thoughts;  and is he not able to satisfy thee, poor creature? God Himself is  satisfied and at rest in him: "I was daily his delight," says Christ, Prov. viii.; and wouldst thou be happier than God is?  Is he God's beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased; and wilt thou be pleases in anything else save Christ?"

Thomas Goodwin


A.W. Tozer on Obedience and Faith

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

"The man that believes will obey; failure to obey is convincing proof that there is not true faith present. To attempt the impossible God must give faith or there will be none, and He gives faith to the obedient heart only. Where real repentance is, there is obedience; for repentance is not only sorrow for past failures and sins, it is a determination to begin now to do the will of God as He reveals it to us."

A.W. Tozer