2022s
“Jesus is the gardener Adam failed to be. (Genesis 2:15; John 20:15)”
—Sinclair Ferguson, Lessons from the Upper Room: The Heart of the Savior (Sanford, FL: @Ligonier Ministries, 2021), 190.
“To attend a marriage feast, and cleanse the temple from profanation were among the first acts of our Lord’s ministry at His first coming. To purify the whole visible Church, and hold a marriage supper, will be amongst His first acts, when He comes again.”
—J.C. Ryle, on John 2
“The Christian who withdraws entirely from the society of his fellow-men, and walks the earth with a face as melancholy as if he was always attending a funeral, does injury to the cause of the Gospel.”
—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John (@BannerofTruth), 1:64.
“One single soul saved, shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the world.”
—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1869/2012), 1: 169.
“The Word of God is a spring of living water, a deep mine of costly treasure, a table furnished with all sorts of food.
The Scriptures are the light by which thou walkest, and the tools with which thou workest.”
—George Swinnock, Works (Carlisle: @BannerofTruth, 1992), 1: 141.
“Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within.
The world and the devil combined cannot do us so much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray (Prov. 28:26).”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (@BannerofTruth), 144.
“Let all Christians remember that our best things are yet to come.
We are yet at school. But there is an eternal holiday yet to begin.
For this let us wait quietly. It will make amends for all. (2 Cor. 4:17)”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (@BannerofTruth), 130.
“The first duty of every practitioner of science, and particularly of any theologian, is to be humble and modest.”
—Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 2: 239.
“The God who is Father, Son, and Spirit has reached out through the Son and by the Spirit to embrace us as sons and daughters to the end that we may call God our Father in the Spirit of the Son.”
—@scottrswain, The Trinity (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 26.
“Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles— martyrs, Fathers, Reformers, Puritans — all, all are sinners, who need a Saviour— holy, useful, honorable in their place— but sinners after all.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1856/2012), 168.
“There is an inexhaustible fullness in Scripture.
The more we read it, the richer we shall find it.”
—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1856/2012), 133-134.
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“An hour’s enjoyment of the light of Christ’s countenance is worth more than the wealth of the Indies and the power of Kings.”
—John Newton, The Christian Correspondent (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 174.
This is from a letter written from Olney on April 1, 1769.
“The heart of the matter is this:
preach one Christ,
by Christ,
to the praise of Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria.”
—William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1996), 79.
“He who has been with us thus far, will be with us to the end.
He knows how to manifest Himself even here, to give more than He takes away, and to cause our consolations to exceed our greatest afflictions.
Jesus is able to keep us from falling.”
—John Newton
“Be this my school, by frequent prayer and constant meditation on the Word of God, to wait upon the visits of the great Teacher! Then I shall be wise unto salvation myself, and fitted, if the Lord please, to assist as an instrument in the edification of others.”
—John Newton
“My heart is like a country but half subdued, where all things are in an unsettled state, and mutinies and insurrections are daily happening.”
—John Newton, The Christian Correspondent (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 78.
O Lord,
make Your Word a swift Word,
passing from the ear to the heart,
from the heart to the lip and conversation;
that, as the rain returns not empty,
so neither may Your Word,
but accomplish that for which it is given.
Amen.
—George Herbert
“Busyness kills more Christians than bullets.”
—Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 30.
“It is impossible to praise God without also uttering the praises of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit.”
-John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989), 1: 205. Calvin is commenting on Isaiah 6:3.
“A doctrine of the church is only as good as the doctrine of God which underlies it.”
–John Webster, Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II, The Cornerstones Series (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 156.
“The heart of Jesus Christ, now He is in heaven, is as graciously inclined to sinners as ever it was on earth.”
—Thomas Goodwin, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2021), 4: 113.
“The second person of the Trinity is the Son, eternally begotten of the Father; the Word, eternally uttered by the Father; the image, perfectly representing the Father; the radiance, eternally shining forth from the Father.”
-@scottrswain, The Trinity (@Crossway, 2020), 78.
“I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield, yet to suffer if frail life might continue so long even till the moss shall grow on mine eyebrows, rather than thus to violate my faith and principles.”
-John Bunyan, (Works, 2: 594)
(11/30/1628 - 8/31/1688)
“In the creature’s knowing, esteeming, loving, rejoicing in, and praising God, the glory of God is both exhibited and acknowledged; His fullness is received and returned.”
—Jonathan Edwards, “Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” (WJE, 8: 531).
“Christian theology speaks about mercy by speaking about Jesus Christ.”
—John Webster, God without Measure: Working Papers in Christian Theology: Virtue and Intellect, vol. 2 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 2: 49.
“I am going to the three Persons with whom I have had communion: they have taken me; I did not take them. I shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; all my lusts and corruptions I shall be rid of; those croaking toads will fall off in a moment.”
—Thomas Goodwin, (2: lxxiv)
Whate’er my God ordains is right:
here shall my stand be taken;
though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
yet am I not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
and so to Him I leave it all.
-Samuel Rodigast (1675)
A word in season:
“It is also recorded that, in familiar discourse with Thomas Goodwin, Sibbes said,
‘Young man, if you ever would do good, you must preach the gospel, and the free grace of God in Christ Jesus.’”
—Richard Sibbes, Works (@BannerofTruth), 1: xxxviii.
“They know nothing of the life and power of the gospel,
nothing of the reality of the grace of God,
nor do they believe aright one article of the Christian faith,
whose hearts are not sensible of the love of Christ.”
—John Owen, Works (@BannerofTruth), 1: 166-167.
“The Spirit follows us to the sacrament, and in that glass shows us Christ’s face smiling on us, and through His face His heart.
And thus helping of us to a sight of Christ, we go away rejoicing that we saw our Saviour that day.”
—Thomas Goodwin, (Works, 4: 108)
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
— Psalm 81:10
“We possess the whole Christ, but eternity is needed to disclose all the unsearchable riches of our inheritance in Him.”
—Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ephesians, Volume 14 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984), 14: 17.
“There is not the meanest, the weakest, the poorest believer on the earth, but Christ prizeth him more than all the world besides.
Were our hearts filled much with thoughts hereof, it would tend much to our consolation.”
—John Owen, Works (@BannerofTruth, 2: 136)
“To give a poor sinful soul an overflowing sense that God in Jesus Christ loves him, delights in him, is well-pleased with him, and has thoughts of tenderness and kindness towards him, is an inexpressible mercy.
This is the Spirit’s work.”
—John Owen (@BannerofTruth, 2: 240)
Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;*
For His grace and pow’r are such,
None can ever ask too much.
—John Newton, (@BannerofTruth, 3: 341)
“Certainly Christ had a dear esteem for sinners, that, rather than they should perish,— that they should not be His, and be made partakers of His glory,— He would part with all He had for their sakes (Eph. 5:25-26).”
—John Owen, Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1997), 2:136.
“He that is the sanctuary of His people in all calamities is more present with them to support them, than their adversaries can be present with them, to afflict them: ‘A present help in the time of trouble,’ (Ps. 46:2).”
—Stephen Charnock, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 1: 452)
“The Church has no beauty but what the Bridegroom gives her; He does not find, but makes her, lovely.”
—C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1960/1988), 105.
“The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it.”
—Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 31: Career of the Reformer I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 31 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 41.
My song is love unknown,
my Savior’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I,
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?
—Samuel Crossman (1664)
“The four Gospels are a narrative of the heart of Christ.
Do not take up your time so much with studying your own heart as with studying Christ’s heart.
For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!”
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Memoir and Remains (@BannerofTruth), 279.
“Learn much of the Lord Jesus.
For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.
He is altogether lovely.
Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief!”
–Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Memoir and Remains (@BannerofTruth), 293
“One Almighty is more than many mighties.”
—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1662/2002), 1: 35.
“The Christian’s armour will rust, except it be furbished and scoured with the oil of prayer.”
—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1662/1964), 2: 289.
“The time is short, eternity at the door.
The Lord Himself is waiting to be gracious to you, waiting with promises and pardons in His hands.”
—John Newton, Letters of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1869/2007), 148.
“The gospel points out with the finger what the law foreshadowed under types.”
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 2.9.3., 426.
“Solomon got more hurt by his wealth, than he got good by his wisdom.
Under all his royal robes, he had but a thread-bare soul.”
—Thomas Brooks, “Heaven on Earth,” The Works of Thomas Brooks (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1666/2001), 2: 390.
“It is the mercy of God that we are not in hell.
And when we are in heaven, it is mercy that hath brought us there.
And it is mercy and grace that continues us there forever.”
—Thomas Goodwin, (Works, 2: 303–304)
“All the kindness that God shows you to eternity is in Christ Jesus.”
—Thomas Goodwin, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 1861/2021), 2: 294. Commenting on Ephesians 2:7.
“The honours, splendour, and all the glory of this world, are but sweet poisons, that will much endanger us, if they do not eternally destroy us.”
—Thomas Brooks, “Precious Remedies,” in The Works of Thomas Brooks (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1666/2001), 1: 63.
“The assured soul knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins and sorrows, of all afflictions and temptations, of all desertions and oppositions.”
—Thomas Brooks, “Heaven on Earth,” in The Works of Thomas Brooks (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1666/2001), 2: 410.
“Where one thousand are destroyed by the world’s frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world’s smiles.
The world, siren-like, it sings us and sinks us; it kisses us, and betrays us, like Judas.”
—Thomas Brooks, “Precious Remedies,” Works (@BannerofTruth), 1: 63.
“He guides, protects, feeds, heals, and restores, and He will be our guide and our God even until death.
Then He will meet us, receive us, and present us unto Himself, and we shall be near Him, and like Him, and with Him forever.”
—John Newton, (@BannerofTruth, 1: 495)
“Like sheep, we are weak, destitute, defenseless, prone to wander, unable to return, and always surrounded with wolves.
But all is made up in the fullness, ability, wisdom, compassion, care, and faithfulness of our great Shepherd.”
—John Newton, (@BannerofTruth, 1: 495)
“Let us love and sing and wonder,
let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame:
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.”
—John Newton (1774)
“Pride is so base a disease that God had rather see His dearest children to be buffeted by Satan than that in pride they should be like Satan (2 Cor. 12:7).”
—Thomas Brooks, “The Unsearchable Riches of Christ,” Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1866/2001), 3: 45.
“An experimental knowledge of Jesus, as the deliverer from sin and wrath, and the author of eternal life and salvation to all who are enabled to believe, is a sufficient ground for union of heart.”
–John Newton, Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 2: 210.
“In heaven we shall neither be Dissenters, Moravians, nor Methodists; neither Calvinists nor Arminians; but followers of the Lamb, and children of the kingdom.
There we shall hear the voice of war no more.”
—John Newton, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 2: 211)
“He loves me best who loves me in his prayers.”
—J.C. Ryle, Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1878/2013), 87.
“May He give us an eager appetite, a hunger and thirst that will not be put off with anything short of the bread of life.
And then we may confidently open our mouths wide, for He has promised to fill them.”
–John Newton, Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 2: 195.
“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.”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 2: 194-195.
“The Lord can easily give more than ever He will take away.
A time of weeping must come, but the morning of joy will make amends for all.
Who can expound the meaning of that one expression, ‘An exceeding, and eternal weight of glory?’”
—John Newton, (@BannerofTruth, 2: 189)
A Funeral Benediction
“Now may the God of peace,
Grant you perfect peace,
And living hope,
And glorious grace,
And steadfast love with faith
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away.
Amen.”
“In creation, God gave us ourselves; but in redemption, God gave us Himself.”
—Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1692/1970), 96.
“It is an infinite magnifying of the Lord Jesus, that He alone, being in heaven, is able and worthy enough to take into His possession all the glory and all the grace that ever God means to bestow upon His children.
He hath done it, my brethren.”
—Thomas Goodwin, (Works, 2:293)
“In the new and reconciled humanity which Christ is creating love is the pre-eminent virtue.”
—John R. W. Stott, God’s New Society: The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 136.
“Dwell upon the freeness of His love, the greatness of His love, the fulness of His love, the unchangeableness of His love, the everlastingness of His love, and the activity of His love. If this does not humble thee, nothing on earth will do it.”
—Thomas Brooks, (1:37)
“The love of Christ is held out to us as the subject which ought to occupy our daily and nightly meditations, and that which we ought to be wholly immersed in.
He who holds to this alone has enough.”
—John Calvin, commenting on Ephesians 3:18-19.
“Believers have never advanced so far as not to need farther growth.
The highest perfection of the godly in this life is an earnest desire to make progress.”
—John Calvin, commenting on Ephesians 3:16
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you.”
—Jeremiah 31:3
“The best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began.”
—Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation (P&R, 2001), 298.
“Ultimately, Scripture is a single book, written by one divine author, concerning one central subject matter (Christ and covenant), and with one ultimate aim (the love of God and neighbor).”
—@scottrswain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading (London: T&T Clark, 2011), 129.
“Prayer is for the helpless. My helpless friend, your helplessness is the most powerful plea which rises up to the tender heart of God. Prayer consists in telling God day by day in what ways we feel that we are helpless.”
—O. Hallesby, Prayer (London: InterVarsity, 1948), 15-16.
“Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what He says.”
—@scottrswain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2011), 128.
“I believe I must go out of the world with the same language upon my lips which I used when I first ventured to a throne of grace—
‘Have mercy upon me, O Lord, a poor worthless sinner.’”
—John Newton, Works of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 286.
“My experience is made up of enigmas, but the sum and solution of all is that I am a vile creature, but I have a good Lord.
He has chosen me; and I, through His rich grace, have chosen Him.”
—John Newton, Works of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 275.
“If there is to be any possibility of success in reading Holy Scripture, the Spirit of truth and light must shine upon us: opening our eyes, renewing our wills, and awakening us to action. The good news is that God has promised to bless our reading (2 Tim. 2:7).”
—@scottrswain
“Soteriology participates in the double theme of all Christian theology: God and all things in God. The matter of the Christian gospel is the eternal God who has life in Himself, and then temporal creatures who have life in Him.”
—John Webster, God without Measure (1: 143)
“It is impossible to separate the historical Jesus and the apostolic Christ; they are one and the same person.”
-Herman Bavinck, What is Christianity? (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2022), 19.
“A sure promise, a complete atonement, a perfect righteousness, an Almighty Savior, who is able to save to the uttermost, and has said, ‘I will in no wise cast out.’
These are the weapons with which I oppose the discouragements which arise from self and unbelief.”
—John Newton
“Gifts are useful, but they are mere tinsel compared with the solid gold of grace.
An eminency in gifts is glittering, but unless grace is proportionable, very ensnaring likewise.”
—John Newton, Works of John Newton, Vol. 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 127.
“But, the old weather-beaten Christian, who has learnt by sorrowful experience how weak he is in himself, and what powerful subtle enemies he has to grapple with, acquires a tenderness in dealing with bruises and broken bones.”
—John Newton, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 6: 130)
“Surely much of that hasty and censorious spirit, too often observable in young converts, arises from their having, as yet, a very imperfect acquaintance with the deceitfulness of their own hearts.”
—John Newton, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 6: 130)
“There is but a veil of flesh and blood between you and that unseen world where Jesus reigns in all His glory.”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Vol. 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 113.
“If we meet with opposition, it has hurt its thousands.
If we are exposed to caresses and popularity, they have slain their ten thousands.
Jesus alone is able to preserve us.”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Vol. 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 128.
“The promise, ‘I will be their God, and they shall be My people,’ contains more than it has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive.”
—Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son, 1891), 171.
“Your perfection is God’s design, for He has chosen you to be conformed to the image of His Son. Surely the image of His Son is perfection. There were no faults in Jesus. We are to be made like Him. This is the work and design of grace.”
—Charles Spurgeon, (MTPS, 57: 177).
“The best argument to bring sinners to believe in Jesus is Jesus.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Heart of Jesus,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 19 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1873), 19: 193.
“Regeneration enables the act of reading as covenant friendship.”
—@scottrswain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2011), 97.
“I can do nothing, yet I can do all things.
I live by miracle.
I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd.
I am a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn.”
—John Newton, Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 105.
RUTHERFORD: “The great Master Gardener, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with His own hand, planted me here, where by His grace in this part of His vineyard, I grow. Here I will abide till the great Master of the Vineyard sees fit to transplant me.”
“Oh, that by the eye of faith we might obtain such a sight of the glory, beauty, and love of King Jesus, as might unite our scattered thoughts, and attract all our powers and affections to Himself.”
—John Newton, Works of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 74.
“A godly pastor is a pastor who is like God, who has a heart of free grace running after sinners.”
-Sinclair Ferguson
“Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: Harper, 1949/2001), 49.
“My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.”
—Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2008), 9.
“Grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus.
To know Him is the shortest description of true grace.
To know Him better is the surest mark of growth in grace.
To know Him perfectly is eternal life.”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Vol. 6 (@BannerofTruth), 6: 73–74.
“More deeply affecting words than these, perhaps, were never written. They show us in great broad letters the infinite love of the Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (@BannerofTruth), 2: 138. Ryle is commenting on Luke 15:11-24.
“If we take comfort in our own love to Christ, we are building on a sandy foundation.
But if we lean on Christ’s love to us, we are on a rock.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1858/2012), 2: 130.
“Jesus did ‘do and teach,’ (Acts 1:1).
If a man teach uprightly and walk crookedly, more will fall down in the night of his life than he built in the day of his doctrine.”
—John Owen, The Works of John Owen, Vol. 13 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1850-53/1997), 13: 57.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
—John 12:24-25
“Everything is finished; there is nothing left for us to do. We may rest with all our soul and for all of time in the perfect work of redemption that Christ has accomplished.”
—Herman Bavinck, Guidebook for Instruction in the Christian Religion (Hendrickson, 2022), 123.
“The soul is united to what it loves by love, yet it is faith that brings Jesus Christ into the heart, and reveals Him to the soul in all His excellencies and His glory.”
–Thomas Goodwin, “The Object and Acts of Justifying Faith,” (Works, 8: 472).
“When we exhort you to believe,
what do we exhort you to?
To set up Jesus Christ in your hearts,
to set Him up a throne there,
to ascribe all to Him,
and to go out to Him for all.”
–Thomas Goodwin, “The Object and Acts of Justifying Faith,” (Works, 8: 470).
“Faith is of all graces the meanest and the lowest, a poorer and a more beggarly grace than to love by far: for in loving God, we return something to Him, love for His love, we give as well as we take; but in believing we receive all from God.”
–Thomas Goodwin, (Works, 8: 459)
“Faith doth all by going to Christ.”
–Thomas Goodwin, “The Object and Acts of Justifying Faith,” The Works of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 1862/2021), 8: 460.
“Scripture causes us to become aware of God where we would otherwise not see Him; through its light, we behold God’s attributes, spread out in all of the works of His hands.”
—Herman Bavinck, Guidebook for Instruction in the Christian Religion (Hendrickson, 2022), 22.
“All the works of God in nature and grace, in creation and re-creation, and in the world and history enable us to know something of the incomprehensible and lovely nature of God.”
—Herman Bavinck, Guidebook for Instruction in the Christian Religion (Hendrickson, 2022), 20.
“As soon as we acknowledge God to be the supreme Architect, who has erected the beauteous fabric of the universe, our minds must necessarily be ravished with wonder at His infinite goodness, wisdom, and power.”
—John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, (1: 309).
“The world was made partly that there might be prayer.
But let’s have finished with ‘partly’.
The great work of art was made for the sake of all it does and is, down to the curve of every wave and the flight of every insect.”
—C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, p. 75.
“As clear a voice as the creation has, apart from the Torah it will fall on deaf ears.”
—@DrJimHamilton, Psalms, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 1: 257. Commenting on Psalm 19.
“Everything God has made and everything God has spoken may teach us some valuable lesson. His works declare, preach, show, publish His existence all the time and in every place.”
—William Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1867/2016), 262.
“Secret sin is a stepping-stone to presumptuous sin.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 1: 275.
“The Bible should be our Mentor, our Monitor, our Memento Mori, our Remembrancer, and the Keeper of our Conscience.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 1: 274.
“Free grace brings heart-joy.
There is no cordial of comfort like that which is poured from the bottle of Scripture.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 1: 273.
“The gospel is perfect in all its parts, and perfect as a whole: it is a crime to add to it, treason to alter it, and felony to take from it.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London: New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 272.
“He who is harsh to the unfortunate,
and cruel to the needy,
who never forgives the wayward,
nor seeks to recover the prodigal,
is not like God.”
—William Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1867/2016), 986.
“A continual contemplation of the glory of Christ, in His person, office, and grace will carry us cheerfully, comfortably, and victoriously through life and death, and all that we have to conflict withal in either of them.”
—John Owen, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 1: 277)
“And because the soul thus apprehending Christ reclines upon Him and rests upon and cleaves to Him, faith is also sometimes described as an act of ‘reclining’ (Ps. 71:5; Isa. 10:20; 48:2; 50:10; Mic. 3:11).”
—Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, (2: 563)
“Though our path should lie through the fire or through the water, we may trust His power and love to bring us safely through, and at last to fix us in a place where our warfare and tears shall cease forever.”
-John Newton, Works (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 65.
“The day is coming when all the Lord’s people who are scattered abroad, who praise him in different ages and different languages, shall be collected together, and stand with one heart and voice before the throne. Oh, the glorious assembly!”
–John Newton, (Works, 6: 63)
“In what place cannot Jesus triumph?
Go forth, ye heralds of the cross, and preach the gospel everywhere beneath the arch of heaven.”
-Charles Spurgeon, “A Cheering Incident at Bethabara,” (MTPS, 32: 558)
“One draught of the river of pleasure at God’s right hand will make us forget our sorrows forever.
Or the remembrance, if any, will only serve to heighten our joys.”
-John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 60.
“Is this not our time of trial, and are we not traveling towards a land of light?”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 60.
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
-1 Timothy 1:5
“If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons, it would be a righteous judgment upon them; but they would soon cry out with Cain, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear.’”
–Charles Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1900/1960), 32.
“His name is precious.
His love is wonderful.
His compassions are boundless.
I long for more grace to love Him better!”
—John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1988), 6: 58.
“I have good reason to commend Him to others as a faithful Shepherd, an infallible Physician, an unchangeable Friend. Had He not been with me, and were He not mighty to forgive and deliver, I had long ago been trodden down like mire in the streets.”
—John Newton, (Works, 6: 55)
“He is with me and is pleased to keep up in my heart a sense of the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, my own weakness, and His glorious all-sufficiency. His I am, and Him I desire to serve. I am a poor servant, but He is a gracious Master.”
—John Newton, (Works, 6: 52-53)
“He restores us when wandering.
He revives us when fainting;.
He heals us when wounded.
And He will be our Guard and Guide even unto death.
He has delivered.
He does deliver.
And in Him we trust that He will yet deliver us.”
—John Newton, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 6: 52)
“We have a watchful Shepherd, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. His eyes are always upon His people. His arm is underneath them. This is the reason that our enemies cannot prevail against us.”
-John Newton, The Works of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 6: 52.
“The Sundays of man’s life
Threaded together on time’s string
Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternal glorious King.”
-George Herbert, “Sunday”
“My memory is nearly gone;
but I remember two things:
that I am a great sinner,
and that Christ is a great Saviour.”
—John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 2009), 401.
“Christ is the Mirror of beauty,
He is the Map of perfection,
He is the Paradise of delight,
He is the Crown of the gospel,
He is the Pearl hidden in the field,
He is the Glory of heaven.”
—Thomas Watson, “Christ’s Loveliness,” (Works, 1: 312).
“Jesus loves to rescue sinners.
He comes to us full of tenderness,
with tears in His eyes,
with mercy in His hands,
and with love in His heart.
Believe Him to be a great Saviour of great sinners.”
—Charles Spurgeon, Majesty In Misery (@BannerofTruth, 2005), 3: 263.
“Preach the gospel, which is the best news that ears ever heard, or tongues were employed to utter, which took up God’s thoughts from eternity, it being the greatest affair that was ever transacted in heaven or earth, or ever will be.”
-Thomas Goodwin, (Works, 5: 482)
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“Let us rise from our beds every morning with a deep conviction that we are debtors, and that every day we have more mercies than we deserve.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 1 (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1879), 36-37.
“Never could it be possible for any man to estimate what he owes to a godly mother.”
–Charles Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography: Volume 1, The Early Years (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1898/1962), 1: 44.
“The sin of a creature could never be so filthy as the blood of the Son of God was holy.”
–Stephen Charnock, “A Discourse on the Acceptableness of Christ’s Death,“ The Works of Stephen Charnock, Volume 4 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1865/2010), 4: 558.
“Beloved in our dearest Lord, Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched.”
-Thomas Brooks, “Precious Remedies,” Works of Thomas Brooks (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1666/2001), 1: 3.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name.
-Psalm 119:132
“All our truth is but a small spark of that ocean of truth in Him.”
–Richard Sibbes, “The Matchless Mercy,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 7 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 7: 164.
“Our liberty comes from His service and slavery, our life from His death, our adoption and sonship and all comes from His abasement.”
–Richard Sibbes, “A Description of Christ,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 7.
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“Oh, what should water my heart, and make it melt in obedience to my God, but the assurance and knowledge of the virtue of this most precious blood of my Redeemer, applied to my sick soul, in the full and free remission of all my sins?”
—Richard Sibbes, (Works, 7: 495)
“Circumstances and creatures may change, but the Lord will be an unchangeable friend.
The way is rough, but He trod it before us and is now with us in every step we take.
And every step brings us nearer to our heavenly home.”
-John Newton, Works (@BannerofTruth, 1988), 2:183.
“No church has the freedom to tamper with, tweak, add to, or subtract from the good news of Jesus Christ— we are just to herald it.”
—Dustin Benge, The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 124.
RYLE: “The Holy Spirit is beyond doubt the greatest gift which God can bestow upon man. Having this gift we have God the Father’s boundless love, God the Son’s atoning blood, and full communion with all three Persons of the blessed Trinity.”
-Expository Thoughts on Luke (2: 9)
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
The lame will walk in Gloryland, The blind up there will see. The deaf in Gloryland will hear, The mute will talk to me.
“Christ is the greatest good, the choicest good, the chiefest good, the most suitable good, the most necessary good.
He is a pure good, a real good, a total good, an eternal good, and a soul-satisfying good.”
-Thomas Brooks, (“Precious Remedies,” in Works, 1: 143)
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“Christ’s heart, Christ’s arms, are wide open to embrace the returning prodigal.”
-Thomas Brooks, “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices,“ The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1666/2001), 1: 140.
“When one rules justly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
he dawns on them
like the morning light,
like the sun
shining forth
on a cloudless morning,
like rain
that makes grass to sprout
from the earth.”
-2 Samuel 23:3-4
“When one rules justly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
he dawns on them
like the morning light,
like the sun
shining forth
on a cloudless morning,
like rain
that makes grass to sprout
from the earth.”
-2 Samuel 23:3-4
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“We are raised in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, to be like Christ.”
–Sinclair Ferguson, The Holy Spirit: Contours of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 251.
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (New York: Houghton, 1954), 1028.
“Arise, arise;
And with His burial-linen dry thine eyes:
Christ left His grave-clothes, that we might, when grief
Draws tears, or blood, not want an handkerchief.”
–George Herbert, from ‘The Dawning” in Herbert: Poems (Everyman Library) (New York: Knopf, 2004), 131.
‘Mors post crucem minor est.’
‘After the cross, death is less.’
–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2019), 1: 493, fn. #168.
“The resurrection of Christ is a fountain of good for His church and for the whole world.
It is the ‘Amen’ of the Father upon the ‘Finished’ of the Son.”
–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (Glenside, PA: @wtspress, 1909/2019), 351.
O God, Creator of heaven and earth:
Grant that,
as the crucified body of Your dear Son
was laid in the tomb
and rested on this holy Sabbath,
so we may await with Him
the coming of the third day,
and rise with Him to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“In Christ, justice and mercy embrace, suffering is the road to glory, the cross points to a crown, and the timber of the cross becomes the tree of life.”
–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 2: 618.
“We do not understand the substitutionary suffering of Christ because we cannot come anywhere near calculating what love enables one to do, and what eternal, infinite, Divine love can achieve.”
-Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (Glenside, PA: @wtspress, 2019), 337.
“The LORD is my portion;
I promise to keep Your words.”
—Psalm 119:57
—
“One thing is necessary.
Mary has chosen the good portion,
which will not be taken away from her.”
—Luke 10:42
“When we are subject to God, in whom there is ‘no variation or shadow due to change’ (James 1:17), we are happy.”
—Christopher R. J. Holmes, A Theology of the Christian Life: Imitating and Participating in God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2021), 93.
“It cannot be too strongly emphasized that everyone is a legalist at heart.
Indeed, if anything, that is the more evident in antinomians.”
-Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Whole Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 86.
“No one in this fallen world, a world which we find more and more barren every year we live,— no one ever need be friendless while the Lord Jesus Christ lives to intercede at the right hand of God.”
–J.C. Ryle, Old Paths (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2013), 414-415.
“When we see salvation whole— its every single part
is found in Christ,
we must beware lest we derive the smallest drop
from somewhere else.”
–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (2.16.19).
“Christ, the incarnate Word, is the central fact of the entire history of the world.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, vol. 3, Ed. John Bolt, and Trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 3: 235.
“The world would be a happier world if there was more practical Christianity.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 289. Ryle is commenting on Luke 10:29-37.
“The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.”
-C.S. Lewis, “On the Reading of Old Books,” God in the Dock, Ed. Walter Hooper (New York: Harper, 1970), 202.
“I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstair indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books.”
-C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (NYC: Harvest, 1955), 10.
“The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing— to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from.”
-C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (New York: Harcourt, 1956). 75.
“In times of loneliness, it is something even to have a dog with you, to lick your hand, and show you such kindness as is possible from him.”
-Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Weakened Christ Strengthened,” (MTPS, 48: 115).
“The gospel influences virtually all our relationships and responsibilities in life and ministry.”
-Sam Storms, A Dozen Things God Did with Your Sin (And Three Things He’ll Never Do) (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 184.
“Passages like this should teach us our need of Christ’s blood and righteousness.
To Him we must go, if we would ever stand with boldness at the bar of God.
From Him we must seek grace.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 2012), 1: 284.
Most loving Father,
Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties,
and grant that no clouds of this mortal life
may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal,
and which you have manifested unto us in Your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“It takes more than a simple affirmation of divine love for sinners to awaken us to the sheer magnitude of what God has done for us.
It takes asking me to conceive of the inconceivable distance between east and west to open my eyes to this truth. (Psalm 103:10-12).”
-Sam Storms
“Having a full Gospel, let us beware that we do not neglect it.
It is a weighty saying, ‘To whomsoever much is given, of them will much be required.’ (Luke 12:48)”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 280.
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
-Luke 10:23-24
“Technology is in its proper place when it helps us bond with the real people we have been given to love.”
-Andy Crouch, The Tech-Wise Family (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2017), 20.
“In relationship to sin and to God, the determining factor of my existence is no longer my past.
It is Christ’s past.”
–Sinclair Ferguson, “Christian Spirituality: The Reformed View of Sanctification,” in Some Pastors and Teachers (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2017), 533.
“Christ is a Son; the Spirit tells us we are sons. Christ is an heir; the Spirit tells us we are heirs with Christ. Christ is the king of heaven and earth; the Spirit tells us that we are kings, that His riches are ours.”
-Richard Sibbes, (Works, 1:19)
“God knows we have nothing of ourselves, therefore in the covenant of grace He requires no more than He gives, but gives what He requires, and accepts what He gives.”
-Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” Works, Vol. 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 58.
“If Christ were not God, there would be no Christianity.”
-Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2: Man and Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 2: 777.
“It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.”
-Mary Oliver, “Invitation,” Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (New York: Penguin Press, 2017), 107.
“Christ must be ‘preached.’ (1 Timothy 3:16)
Preaching is the chariot that carries Christ up and down the world.
It is a gift of all gifts, the ordinance of preaching.
God esteems it so, Christ esteems it so, and so should we esteem it.”
–Richard Sibbes, Works (5: 508-509)
“Many and weighty as our sins are, Christ can bear them all.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 279. Ryle is commenting on Luke 10:21-24.
“Our help is laid on One that is mighty. (Psalm 89:19) Christ over all, God blessed forever, will not fail any one that trusts in Him.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 280. Ryle is commenting on Luke 10:21-24.
“Most of Christ’s laborers probably have as much success as their souls can bear.”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 273. Ryle is commenting on Luke 10:17.
“Few men are like Samson, and can kill a lion without telling others of it. (Judges 14:6)”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 273. Ryle is commenting on Luke 10:17.
“The One to whom the Scriptures point, whose coming we await, is the true and better Adam, bridegroom and beloved.
His praise will know no end.”
-James M. Hamilton, Jr., Typology: Understanding the Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2022), 360.
“May we die daily.
May we live forever.
Amen.”
-John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 243.
“There is no school like the school of the cross.”
-John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 243.
“What’s past is prologue.”
-William Shakespeare, “The Tempest,” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (London: Oxford University Press, 1914), 11. (1.2.261)
“Settle it in your heart, my friend, that the Lord does all things well, all for the best. Believe it now and in due time you shall plainly see it and praise Him equally for giving and taking away.”
-John Newton, Wise Counsel (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 192.
“I am a singular and striking proof that the atoning blood of Jesus can cleanse from the most enormous sins, that His grace can soften the hardest heart, subdue the most obstinate habits of evil, and that He is indeed able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).”
-John Newton
“The Lamb once upon the cross is now the Lamb upon the throne. (Rev. 5:6)
With infinite wisdom, love, and power on our side we may rejoice.
The sea is rough and stormy, but the pilot is infallible.”
–John Newton, Wise Counsel (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 386.
“Grace has long and strong arms.”
-John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 364.
“When it is impracticable to do all that we wish, we must be content to do what we can (Mark 14:8), and wait till the Lord by His providence clears the way for doing more.”
-John Newton, Wise Counsel: Letters to John Ryland Jr. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 328.
“Lord God,
of might inconceivable,
of glory incomprehensible,
of mercy immeasurable,
of goodness ineffable;
O Master, look down upon us
in Your tender love,
and show forth towards us
Your rich mercies and compassions.
Amen.”
-John Chrysostom
“Salvation flows from its deep source in the triune God, who is the fountain of salvation.”
–Fred Sanders, Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2021), 14.
“God hath laid up all grace and comfort in Christ for us, and planted a wonderful sweetness of pity and love in His heart towards us.”
-Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 38.
“In all storms there is sea room enough in the infinite goodness of God for faith to be carried with full sail.”
-Richard Sibbes, “The Soul’s Conflict,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 126.
“There are some promises that the Lord hath helped me to lay hold of Jesus Christ through and by that I would not have out of the Bible for as much gold and silver as can lie between York and London piled up to the stars.”
-John Bunyan, (Works, @BannerofTruth, 3: 721)
“We must seek to have knowledge as well as zeal.
Zeal without knowledge is an army without a general, and a ship without a rudder.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1858/2012), 1: 255.
“Do not read the Bible to find texts for sermons, read it because it is the food that God has provided for your soul, because it is the Word of God.”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 184.
“We are weak, but we are His.”
-Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1639/2001), 1: 71.
“A preacher has to be like a squirrel and has to learn how to collect and store matter for the future days of winter.”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 185.
“I abominate ‘devotional’ commentaries.
I do not want other people to do my devotions for me.”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 186.
“To preach is to woo.”
-Richard Sibbes, The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 5 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1639/2001), 5: 505.
“Forever let us bless God that we have such a ready and willing Saviour.
Forever let us remember that as He was ready to suffer, so He is always ready to save.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1858/2012), 1: 253.
“Wherever there is a church anywhere in the whole world, it has no other gospel and Scripture, baptism and communion, faith and Spirit, Christ and God, hope and eternal life than we have here in our church in Wittenberg.”
-Martin Luther, (Works, 41: 358)
“At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.”
-John Stott, “Pride, Humility, and God,” in Alive to God, ed. JI Packer (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1992), 119.
“Of all creatures none has so little right to be proud as man.
And of all men none ought to be so humble as a Christian.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 250. Ryle is commenting on Luke 9:46-50.
“If Jesus could endure so much weakness in His disciples, we may surely do likewise.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 247-248. Ryle is commenting on Luke 9:37-45.
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“With Your Word You pierced my heart, and I loved You.”
-Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 183. (10.6.8)
“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose and was now glad to reject! You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy.”
-Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (9.1.1.)
“God’s time of conversion may not be ours. He may keep us long waiting.
But so long as a child lives, and a parent prays, we have no right to despair about that child’s soul.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 246.
“In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet.
How great then must that mercy be that lodges in so gracious a heart?
We are weak, but we are His.”
-Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1630/2021), 69.
“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”
-Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1630/2021), 13.
“There is not the slightest proof that any Old Testament saint ever looked to any other satisfaction for sin but that which God promised to make by sending Messiah.”
-J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1858/2012), 1: 242.
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness
of this night,
and let Your servant
sleep in peace,
that at the dawn
of a new day
I may wake
with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“We can never know the enormity of our sin, neither is it necessary that we should.
What we can know is that ‘where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’ (Rom. 5:20)”
—A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961/1978), 149.
“Faith will make thee see love in the heart of Christ when with His mouth He giveth reproofs.
But unbelief will imagine wrath in His heart when with His mouth and Word He saith that He loves us.”
-John Bunyan, (Works, 1: 293)
“The duty, the privilege, the safety, the unspeakable happiness, of a believer, are all comprised in that one sentence: ‘LOOKING UNTO JESUS.’”
-John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 6: 4.
“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one— the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWTAPE”
-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillian, 1950), 65.
“Christ’s love is like Himself, boundless and bottomless.”
-George Swinnock, “The Pastor’s Farewell,” in The Works of George Swinnock, Vol. 4 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1992), 4: 99.
“Our great Shepherd guides, protects, feeds, heals, and restores, and will be our guide and our God even until death. Then He will meet us, receive us, and present us unto Himself, and we shall be near Him, and like Him, and with Him forever.”
-John Newton (Works, 1: 494)
“The Christian should be an inexhaustible source of forgiveness. After all, Christians need forgiveness themselves (Matt. 18:33).”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 439-440.
“Christian mourning is different from pagan mourning. No sorrowing without hope (1Thess. 4:13), no worldly sorrow (2Cor. 7:10). The Christians changed a funeral into a feast of celebration and triumph.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2021), 2: 433.
“All people are blood relatives (Acts 17:26).”
–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 2: The Duties of the Christian Life, Ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 424.
“All of us are murderers– it was our sins that caused Jesus’s death.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 2: The Duties of the Christian Life, Ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 454.
“Not paying attention is a great sin (2Chr. 33:10; Prov. 1:24; Zech. 7:11). In every field, attentiveness, both spiritual and natural, is so difficult. We must compel our senses to observe well and we must practice this.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics (Baker, 2021), 2: 406.
“God wants all of His gifts to be enjoyed with thankful hearts (1 Tim 4:4-5). Only through grateful enjoyment is creation’s goal fulfilled.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Vol. 2: The Duties of the Christian Life, Ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 343.
Father,
in Your mercy
dispel the darkness of this night,
and let Your servant sleep in peace,
that at the dawn of a new day
I may wake with joy in Your Name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
“In the Old Testament the pattern was first work, then rest- that is, the worship of God. Now we are first strengthened by the worship of God, and from there we undertake everything with vigor.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 273.
“Whoever sees Christ sees the Father. As Christ is, so is God. He is the perfect likeness, the adequate Image. Let us be satisfied with that. God may be venerated with no other image than the Son.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2021), 2: 175.
“All of Scripture is full of promises, stays and supports for our trust, to instill trust in us, for God knows how mistrusting we are.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 2: The Duties of the Christian Life, Ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 148.
“An idol is whatever leads us away from the living God.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 2: The Duties of the Christian Life, Ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 128.
“‘I am the LORD your God’ serves as a heading above all the commandments. And for this reason, for this reason alone, we are not only to love Him but also for His sake to love our neighbor.”
-Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2021), 2: 101-102.