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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 devil is a great student in divinity and makes no other use of his Scripture knowledge than may serve his turn by sophistry to do the Christian a mischief, either by drawing him into sin or into despair for sinning, like some wrangling barrister who gets what skill he can in the law merely to make him the more able to put honest men to trouble by his vexatious suit.
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.
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.
Pray often rather than very long. It is difficult to remain long in prayer and not slacken in our affections. Those watches which are made to go longer than ordinary at one winding do commonly lose time toward the end.. He who in a long journey lights often to let his beast take breath will get to his journey's end sooner than he that puts him beyond his strength.
Ordinary prayer is the saint's food; he can as little miss the constant returns of it as his usual meals. But extraordinary prayer is his physic to clear and discharge the soul of those distempers which it contracts and cannot conquer by the use of ordinary means, as also to advance and heighten the Christian graces unto a farther degree of strength and activity.
Positively, to pray in faith is to ask of God, in the name of Christ, what He hath promised, relying on His power and truth for performance without binding Him up to time, manner, or means.
Our prayer may be hindered two ways: by lying in any sin we commit against God or in wrath, by not forgiving our brother's sin committed against us. Those two in our Lord's prayer cannot be divorced: "Forgive us as we forgive."
The greatness of thy request cannot hinder thy success. They are most welcome that ask most. Who are the persons frowned on at the throne of grace but those who lay out the strength of their desires and bestow their greatest importunity for mercies of least worth!
Special OfferTop Authors
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)
Top Topics
1. Sin (230)2. Prayer (186)
3. Scripture (158)
4. Faith (134)
5. Preaching (129)
6. Gospel (112)
7. The Law (111)
8. Suffering (99)
9. Salvation (94)
10. Sabbath (91)
11. Church (85)
12. Christ (82)
13. Grace (74)
14. Justification (63)
15. Law (61)
16. Truth (53)
17. Death (52)
18. Love (51)
19. Holiness (48)
20. Sanctification (48)
21. Children (46)
22. Pride (46)
23. Heaven (45)
24. Obedience (45)
25. Creation (43)
26. Theology (43)