What They Said

“The Old Testament is the gospel in the bud; the New Testament is the gospel in full flower. The Old Testament is the gospel in the blade; the New Testament is the gospel in full ear. The Old Testament saints saw many things through a glass darkly, but they looked to the same Christ by faith and were led by the same Spirit as ourselves.”

J.C. Ryle

“God has given us His Word not only with the design of instructing us, but for the purpose of directing us: to make known what He requires us to do. The first thing we need is a clear and distinct knowledge of our duty; and the first thing God demands of us is a conscientious practice of it, corresponding to our knowledge.”

A.W. Pink

“The fact of our Lord’s resurrection rests on evidence that no infidel can ever explain away. It is confirmed by testimony of every kind, sort, and description. The plain, unvarnished story that the Gospel writers tell is one that cannot be overthrown. The more the account they give is examined, the more inexplicable will the event appear, unless we accept it as true. If we choose to deny the truth of their account, we may deny everything in the world. It is not so certain that Julius Caesar once lived, as it is that Christ rose again.”

J.C. Ryle

“But men want novelties. They cannot endure that the trumpet should give forth the same certain sound. They crave some fresh fantasia every day. “The gospel with variations” is the music for them. “Intellect is progressive,” they say. They must, therefore, march ahead of their forefathers.  Incarnate deity, a holy life, an atoning death, and a literal resurrection—having heard these things now for nearly nineteen centuries, they are just a little stale; and the cultivated mind hungers for a change from the old-fashioned manna.”

Charles Spurgeon

“The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God.”

J.C. Ryle

“Fostering pride is fatal to the cultivation of brotherly affection.  The majority, if not all, of the petty grievances among Christians are to be traced back to this evil root. “Love suffereth long,” but pride is terribly impatient. “Love envieth not,” but pride is intensely jealous. “Love seeketh not her own,” but pride ever desires gratification. “Love seeketh not her own,” but pride demands constant attention from others. “Love beareth all things,” but pride is resentful of the slightest injury. “Love endureth all things,” but pride is offended if a brother fails to greet him on the street. Pride must be mortified if brotherly love is to flourish.”

A.W. Pink

“Being a godly spouse is such a big challenge that you must prepare for it well beforehand. It is no wonder that so many marriages fail! Too often the husband does not know how to rule, the wife does not know how to obey. They are both ignorant, conceited, and miserable. Therefore, parents ought to teach their children about the duties of marriage. Otherwise families, which should be the nurseries of the church, prove to be hotbeds of disorder and immorality.”

Richard Steele

“The power of God is an everlasting power; time doth not weaken or diminish it, as it doth all creature-powers, “The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary,” (Isa 40:28). “The Lord’s hand is not shortened,” (Isa 59:1). He hath as much power now as ever he had, and can do for his people as much as ever he did; time will decay the power of the strongest creature, and make him faint and feeble; but the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not.”

John Flavel

“Whatever I hear my Father say in Scripture, wherever he speaks to me by the ministry, or by his Spirit, if he speaks it, there is not the slightest alloy of untruth about it. I may receive it just as it is.”

Charles Spurgeon

“If we take time to think quietly over the daily dealings of God with us, and lovingly watch for every little symptom of God’s presence in us and around us, we will soon be astonished at the degree we will discover of His presence, and at the perfection with which He weaves things together for our good. He never makes half a providence.”

G.D. Watson

“I do not hesitate, therefore, to say that the ultimate test of our profession of the Christian faith is, I believe, this whole question of our loving one another.  Indeed, I do not hesitate to aver that it is a more vital test than our orthodoxy.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Love is the foundation of all other duties toward her. Everything flows from this. Without love, every performance of duty toward her seems hard. Tenderness, honor, care, and kindness are merely the beams from the sun of love.”

Richard Steele

“The power of God is a supreme and sovereign power, from which all creature-power is derived, and by which it is over-ruled, restrained, and limited at his pleasure.”

John Flavel

“ALL God’s works praise him whether they be magnificent or minute, they all discover the wisdom, the power and the benevolence of their Creator. “All thy works praise thee, O God.” But there are some of his more majestic works which sing the song of praise louder than others. There are some of his doings, upon which there seems to be graven in larger letters than usual the name of God. Such are the lofty mountains, which worship God with uncovered heads both night and day, such are the rolling seas, too mighty to be managed by man, but held in check by God, and such, especially, are the thunders and the lightnings. The lightnings are the glances of the eyes of God, and the thunders are the utterings of his voice.”

Charles Spurgeon

“We see how perfectly God works in creation, and how nicely He dovetails part with part—wedding strength to beauty, mountain with valley, zones with climates, and products with seasons. He so beautifully fits the fin to the sea, the wing to the air, the eye to light, the ear to pulsations of the atmosphere, and each joint to its socket, that the whole creation becomes a glass transparency, revealing the matchless wisdom of God. It shows Omnipresence in every atom, and discloses the momentary operation of His infinite will in every successive instant through thousands of years, without a pause, without a blunder or a single trace of His forgetting anything, from the insect in a quivering leaf to the giant orbit of suns and stellar systems.”

G.D. Watson

“We must give ourselves up to Christ like a patient resigns himself to his physician, with these words, “I resign myself to your directions. If you know of any means to heal me, prescribe them; and whether they be bitter or sweet, I will take them. I will be obedient to you, if you are but able to help me and restore me to health.” Thus it is we must surrender ourselves to Christ, as the only Savior and Physician of our souls, that by His grace and the operations of His Spirit He may make entirely new and different people of us, and redeem us from sin and all our misery.”

Gerhard Tersteegen

“Forgiveness is through the man Christ Jesus, who is Son of God as well as Son of man! This is our message. Forgiveness through the one work of sin-bearing which He accomplished for sinners upon earth. Forgiveness to the worst and wickedest, to the farthest off from God whom this earth contains. Forgiveness of the largest, fullest, completest kind; without stint, or exception, or condition, or the possibility of revocation! Forgiveness free and undeserved,—free as the love of God, free as the gift of His beloved Son. Forgiveness ungrudged and unrestrained,—whole-hearted and joyful, as the forgiveness of the father falling on the neck of the prodigal! Forgiveness simply in believing; for, "by Him all that believe are justified from all things." ”

Horatius Bonar

“To the true believer, the Lord Jesus Christ is our life, our hope, and our peace. I say, for the scriptures say, He is All and in All. Listen! We see in His blood shed for us at Calvary’s cross a cleansing from every sin. We see in His imputed righteousness a justification before God that leaves us perfect in His sight. We see in His redemption a complete deliverance from sin, Satan, the world, and the very presence of sin, and that for ever. We see in His resurrection a conquering of death, hell, and the grave, and an entrance into heavenly glory for every blood-bought child of God”

L.R. Shelton, Jr.

“God, therefore, should be the most beloved object of our souls, and our hearts should rest in him alone, because he is the highest good. He is nothing else than mercy and goodness, love and kindness, clemency and patience, truth, comfort, peace, joy, life, and happiness. All this he has laid up in Jesus Christ. Whoever, therefore, has Christ, is thereby put into the possession of all these heavenly virtues. And whoever loves God, must also of necessity love God's truth and mercy, his goodness and kindness, and the whole train of divine virtues. ”

Johann Arndt

“The Word written is our pillar of fire to guide us. It shows us what rocks we are to avoid; it is the map by which we sail to the new Jerusalem.”

Thomas Watson

“There is but one work by which a man can be saved. That work is not shine, but the work of the Son of God. That work is finished,—neither to be taken from nor added to,—perfect through all ages,—and presented by Himself to you, that you may avail yourself of it and be saved.”

Horatius Bonar

“Dear friend, to know the Lord Jesus Christ is to love Him. To love Him is to follow Him and abide with Him forever in that living union of salvation. For you see, in salvation we are brought into that living, loving, and lasting union with Him and by faith know Him to be our head, our husband, our lover, and our friend. We find in Him a preciousness, for unto him who believes, He, Christ our Lord, is precious—precious in His life, precious in His death, precious in His resurrection, precious in His ascension into heaven, precious in His intercession within the veil as our interceding High Priest, and precious as we wait for our Lord from glory in His second coming.”

L.R. Shelton, Jr.