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A sheep may fall into a ditch, but it is the swine that wallows in it.
He who is his own teacher, is sure to have a fool for his master!
The Christian must always be at war. If he has peace with sin, he is at war with God.
If you allow your love of creature comforts — or even your pleasure in family and loved ones — to outrun your love for the Lord, you cannot be a victorious soldier for Christ.The Christian in Complete Armour, 1:72
The layman has a large field in which he may minister to his fellow man, even if he is not called to full time ministry.Christian in Complete Armour 1:300
The testimony of the church is highly to be reverenced because to it are these oracles of God delivered to be kept as a sacred deposit; yea, it is called "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15) and the candlestick (Rev. 1:12) from whence the light of the Scriptures shines forth into the world. But who will say that the proclamation of a prince hath its authenticity from the pillar it hangs on in the market cross or that the candle hath its light from the candlestick! The office of the church is ministerial, to publish and make known the word of God; but not magisterial and absolute to make it Scripture or unmake it, as she is pleased to allow or deny.
The haft of Satan's hatchet with which he lies chopping at the root of the Christian's comfort is commonly made of the Christian's wood.
As Satan slanders Christ to us, so he slanders us to ourselves. If thou be not so much as smoking flax, then why dost thou not renounce thy interest in Christ and disclaim the covenant of grace? This thou darest not do. Why dost thou not give up thyself wholly to other enjoyments? This thy spirit will not suffer thee.
The Christian wrestles not with his naked corruptions, but with Satan in them. Were there no devil, yet we should have our hands full in resisting the corruptions of our own hearts, but the access of this enemy makes the battle more terrible because he heads them, who is a captain so skillful and experienced. Our sin is the engine, Satan is the engineer; lust the bait, Satan the angler. When a soul is enticed by his own lusts, he is said to be tempted (James 1:14) because both Satan and our own lusts concur to the completing the sin.
Many have yielded to go a mile with Satan that never intended to go two, but when once on the way have been allured further and further, till at last they know not how to leave his company.
In handling this point of Satan's subtlety, we shall consider him in his two main designs and therein show you his wiles and policies. His first main design is to draw into sin. The second is to accuse, vex, and trouble the saint for sin.
Watchful and suspicious ought we to be in spiritual concernments. We should study and be acquainted with Satan's wiles and policy. The apostle takes it for granted that Christians are not ignorant of his devices (2 Cor. 2:11). "The serpent's eye," as one saith, "would do well in the dove's head." The devil is a cunning pirate; he puts out false colors and ordinarily comes up to the Christian in the disguise of a friend.
God had but one Son without corruption, but He had none without temptation (Heb. 2:17–18). Pirates make the fiercest assaults upon those vessels that are most richly laden; so doth Satan upon those souls that are most richly laden with treasures of grace, with the riches of glory. Pirates let empty vessels pass and repass without assaulting them; so doth Satan let souls that are empty of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of grace pass and repass without tempting or assaulting of them.
Satan's masterpiece is first to work Christians to blot and blur their evidences for glory by committing this or that heinous sin, and then his next work is to rob them of their evidences for glory that so, though at the long run they may get safe to heaven, that yet Jacob-like they may go halting and mourning to their graves. Satan knows that whilst a Christian's evidences are bright and shining, a Christian is temptation proof. Satan may tempt him, but he cannot conquer him; he may assault him, but he cannot vanquish him.
He bears you the greatest malice who are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. He has found, by experience, that to "smite the shepherd" is the most effectual means to "scatter the flock." You therefore shall have his most subtle insinuations, incessant solicitations, and violent assaults. Reformed Pastor
There are none so knowing that God cannot blind; none so blind and ignorant whose eyes His Spirit cannot open.
Pride makes a man incapable of receiving counsel. Nebuchadnezzar's mind is said to be "hardened in pride" (Dan. 5:20). There is no reasoning with a proud man; he castles himself in his own opinion of himself and there stands upon his defense against all arguments that are brought.
Be humble when thou art most holy. Which way soever pride works (as thou shalt find it like the wind, sometimes at one door and sometimes at another), resist it. Nothing more baneful to thy holiness. It turns righteousness into hemlock, holiness into sin. Never art thou less holy than when puffed up with the conceit of it.
A man may be so very zealous in prayer and painstaking in preaching, and all the while pride is the master whom he serves, though in God's livery. It can take sanctuary in the holiest actions and hide itself under the skirt of virtue itself. Thus, while a man is exercising his charity, pride may be the idol in secret for which he lavished out his gold so freely. It is hard starving this sin; there is nothing almost but it can live on.
A proud heart and a lofty mountain are never fruitful.
Unholiness in the preacher's life either will stop his mouth from reproving or the people's ears from receiving. Oh, how harsh a sound does such a cracked bell make in the ears of his auditors!
A minister without this boldness is like a smooth file, a knife without an edge, or a sentinel who is afraid to let off his gun when he should alarm the city upon a danger approaching. There is nothing more unworthy than to see a people bold to sin and the minister afraid to reprove them.
A worthy doctor's advice to ministers, as to their preaching, is applicable to Christians as to their praying. He bade them study for their sermons as if they expected no divine assistance in the pulpit, and when they came into the pulpit to cast themselves upon divine assistance as if they had not studied.
To preach truths and notions above the hearers' capacity is like a nurse that should go to feed a child with a spoon too big to go into its mouth.
It is uncharitableness not to pray for others and pride not to expect a benefit from the prayers of others.
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1. Thomas Watson (190)
2. Charles Spurgeon (135)
3. J.C. Ryle (117)
4. John Calvin (107)
5. Thomas Brooks (106)
6. J.I. Packer (93)
7. John Flavel (93)
8. William Gurnall (90)
9. George Swinnock (88)
10. John Piper (87)
11. John Owen (74)
12. A.W. Pink (68)
13. Thomas Manton (67)
14. Louis Berkhof (63)
15. C.S. Lewis (59)
16. B.B. Warfield (59)
17. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (58)
18. R.C. Sproul (55)
19. Matthew Henry (54)
20. Samuel Rutherford (53)
2. Charles Spurgeon (135)
3. J.C. Ryle (117)
4. John Calvin (107)
5. Thomas Brooks (106)
6. J.I. Packer (93)
7. John Flavel (93)
8. William Gurnall (90)
9. George Swinnock (88)
10. John Piper (87)
11. John Owen (74)
12. A.W. Pink (68)
13. Thomas Manton (67)
14. Louis Berkhof (63)
15. C.S. Lewis (59)
16. B.B. Warfield (59)
17. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (58)
18. R.C. Sproul (55)
19. Matthew Henry (54)
20. Samuel Rutherford (53)
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1. Sin (230)2. Prayer (186)
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