“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.