What They Said

“I want you to belong to the one true Church: to the Church outside of which there is no salvation. I do not ask where you go on a Sunday; I only ask, “Do you belong to the one true Church?””

J.C. Ryle

“The tragic thing is that instead of the average young Christian studying diligently God’s Word so as to discover all the details of the divine will for him, he does almost anything and everything else. Many a one engages in “personal work” or some form of Christian “service” while his own life remains full of things displeasing to God! The presence of those displeasing things in his life hinders God’s blessings upon his soul, body, and temporal affairs; and to him it has to be said: “Your sins have withholden good things from you” (Jer 5:25). God’s Word to His people is: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). But O how little of this “fear and trembling” is to be found anywhere today! Instead, there is self-esteem, self-confidence, boasting and carnal security.”

A.W. Pink

“Christ is a King, Priest, Prophet, and all as Mediator. Without any one of those offices, the work of salvation could not have been completed. As Priest He redeems us, as Prophet He instructs us, as King He sanctifies and saves us. Therefore the apostle says He is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Righteousness and redemption flow from Him as Priest, wisdom as a Prophet, sanctification as a King. Now many embrace Christ as a Priest, but yet they own Him not as a King and Prophet. They like to share in His righteousness, but not to partake of His holiness. They would be redeemed by Him, but they would not submit to Him. They would be saved by His blood, but not submit to His power. Many love the privileges of the gospel, but not the duties of the gospel. Now these are but almost Christians, notwithstanding their close with Christ; for it is upon their own terms, but not upon God’s. The offices of Christ may be distinguished, but they can never be divided.”

Matthew Mead

“The promise of God is, that His saints shall be as the stones of a crown: yea, shall shine in the Royal diadem! The Lord vouchsafes to call them His jewels!

"What a price has been paid for the saints! The Son of God purchased them with His own blood! Are they not valuable in His sight? How precious are they whom Jehovah calls His jewels! Bought with what a price!

But the saints are likened unto jewels also because our souls need cleansing. A diamond seems a mere pebble before the jeweler's hands give shape and smoothness: skill and patient toil so transform it, that every one takes pleasure it its beauty and brightness. Likewise is it with our souls. Divine grace removes defects, and beautifies: the sharp edge of pain, directed by the hand of Infinite Love, makes perfect. No longer rough and unsightly, but beautiful and glorious, the precious workmanship of God becomes His delight; it is made fit for the Royal diadem, in which it will shine throughout eternity,—reflecting all-gloriously the majesty of the King of Kings.”

Walter Purton

“In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!”

A.W. Tozer

“Reader, shall I tell you the clearest proof that man is a fallen and corrupt creature? It is not open vice or unblushing profligacy. It is not the crowded public house, or the murderer's cell in a jail. It is not avowed infidelity, or gross and foul idolatry. All these are proofs, and convincing proofs indeed, that man is fallen; —but there is to my mind a stronger proof still. That proof is the wide-spread spirit of slumber in which the most of men lie chained and bound about their souls. When I see that multitudes of sensible men, and intelligent men, and decent-living men, can travel quietly towards the grave, and feel no concern about their sins, I want no more convincing evidence that man is "born in sin," and that his heart is alienated from God.—There is no avoiding the conclusion. Man is naturally asleep, and must be awakened. He is blind, and must be made to see. He is dead,and must be made alive. If this was not the case, there would be no need for our pressing the duty of confession. Scripture commands it. Reason assents to it. Conscience, in its best moments, approves of it. And yet, notwithstanding this, the vast majority of men have no practical acquaintance with confession of sin !—No disease of body is so desperate as mortification. No heart is in so bad a state as the heart that does not feel sin.”

J.C. Ryle

“It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God’s professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games and refreshments.”

A.W. Tozer

“It is a Church of which all the members have the same marks. They are all born again of the Spirit; they all possess “repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” and holiness of life and conversation. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ. They worship differently, and after various fashions; some worship with a form of prayer, and some with none; some worship kneeling, and some standing; but they all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit; they all build upon one foundation; they all draw their religion from one single book-that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great center-that is Jesus Christ. They all even now can say with one heart, “Hallelujah”; and they can all respond with one heart and voice, “Amen and Amen.” “

J.C. Ryle

“If you have been genuinely converted, then your first concern must be to form all the details of your life-in the home, in the church, in the world-so as to please God. And in the actual bringing of this to pass, the order will be “cease to do evil; learn to do well” (Isaiah 1:16-17); “Depart from evil, and do good” (Psalm 34:14 and cf. 37:27). There has to be a breaking down before there can be a building up (Eccl 3:3). There has to be an emptying of self before there is the filling of the Spirit. There has to be an unlearning before there is a true learning. And there has to be a hating of “evil” before there is a loving of the “good” (Amos 5:15 and cf. Rom. 12:9).”

A.W. Pink

“But the true Christian owns Christ in all His offices. He does not only close with Him as Jesus, but as Lord Jesus. He says with Thomas: “My Lord, and my God.” He does not only believe in the merit of His death, but also conforms to the manner of His life. As he believes in Him, so he lives in Him.”

Matthew Mead

“Let temporal things serve thy use, but the eternal be the object of thy desire.”

Thomas A' Kempis

“His best blessings are not diminished by being shared among many.  The greatest earthly monarch would soon be poor if he was to give a little (though but a little) to all his subjects; but Jesus has unsearchable, inexhaustible riches of grace to bestow. The innumerable assembly before the throne have been all supplied from his fulness, and yet there is enough and to spare for us also, and for all that shall come after us.”

John Newton

“Will not love to Christ be the best love thou canst attain unto? As he is the best object of love, so love going out to Christ is the best acting of love; and pity it is, that any other object should go away with thy prevailing love.”

Thomas Doolittle

“It is not one of the least benefits of severe affliction, that it shatters our confidence in every other stay, and breaks up our hopes from every other quarter, and leads us, in simplicity, to search the word of GOD for comfort.”

James Buchanan

“A sinner may be brought to Christ by the simple earnestness of a peasant or an artisan, without calling in the aid of a professor's learning or a preacher's eloquence. God can bless you far above what you think to be your capacity, for it is not a question of your ability but of his aid.”

Charles Spurgeon

“We must be extremely careful that the Christ we profess to follow is indeed the very Christ of God. There is always the danger that we may be following a Christ who is not the true Christ but one conjured up by our imagination and made in our own image. ”

A.W. Tozer

“We are to love those who do not care in the least for us. We are to love those who do not walk with us on the road to Heaven, and whom we have never seen or heard of; that is the will of our heavenly Father regarding us.”

George Muller

“Is not Christ the most necessary good? Dost thou need food so much when thou art hungry, or liberty so much when thou art in prison, or salve when thou art wounded, as Christ when thou hast sinned? Without other things thou mayest be happy, pardoned, reconciled, and for ever saved; but can any of these be thine without Christ? Christ is needful, while thou livest, for if thou art in health, without him thy soul is sick. If thou shouldst be sick, he will give the choicest and the richest cordial; when thou diest, he will secure thy departing soul; and after death, he will be thy Friend; when all shall leave thee at thy grave, he will be thine for ever.”

Thomas Doolittle

“Mark what I say: a faithful man is a fruitful man; faith enableth a man to be doing.”

Thomas Hooker