“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.