John Owen (33)
Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers Chapter 2
Without absolutes revealed from God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas.
It is better that our affections exceed our light from the defect of our understandings, than that our light exceed our affections from the corruption of our wills.Works, Vol 1. 401
A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.
It is not the distance of the earth from the sun, nor the sun's withdrawing itself, that makes a dark and gloomy day; but the interposition of clouds and vaporous exhalations. Neither is thy soul beyond the reach of the promise, nor does God withdraw Himself; but the vapours of thy carnal, unbelieving heart do cloud thee.
We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God's tasks. This is the law of grace.
He that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God.
Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing and living out the gospel in our souls
no man preacheth that sermon well that doth not first preach it to his own heart-If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us
We are prone to think that we are very willing to have forgiveness, but that God is unwilling to bestow it… but indeed things are quite otherwise.
There is no need of traditions, no need of miracles, no need of the authority of any churches, to convince a rational creature that the works of God are his, and his only; and that he is eternal and infinite in power that made them. They carry about with them their own authority. By being what they are, they declare whose they are.Of the Divine Original
Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.
There is no way of deliverance from the state and condition of being in the flesh, but by the Spirit of Christ.
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience
The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.
He can make the dry parched ground of my soul to become a pool and my thirsty barren heart as springs of water. Yes he can make this habitation of dragons this heart which is so full of abominable lusts and fiery temptations to be a place of bounty and fruitfulness unto Himself
On Christ's glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience
On Christ's glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.
He returns to his vomit who the second time introduces and recalls the scholastic theology of the academics, mingling the bread which proceeds from the mouth of God alone with the leaven of the ancient philosophers.
sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the conduct of the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven but whom he sanctifies on the earth.
In your thoughts of Christ, be very careful that they are conceived and directed according to the rule of the word, lest you deceive your own souls, and give up the conduct of your affections unto vain imaginations... [But] we are not to forego our duty [to contemplate Christ] because other men have been mistaken in theirs, nor part with practical, fundamental principles of religion because they have been abused by superstition... Yet I must say that I had rather be among them who, in the actings of their love and affection unto Christ, do fall into some irregularities and excesses int eh manner of expressing it... than among those who, professing themselves to be Christians, do almost disavow their having any thoughts of or affection unto the person of Christ.Works Vol 7, 345-46
Where light leaves the affections behind, it ends in formality and or atheism; where affections outrun light they sink into the bog of superstition, doting on images and picture or the like.Works, Vol 1. 401
The spiritual intense fixation of the mind, by contemplation on God in Christ, until the soul be as it were swallowed up in admiration and delight, and being brought unto an utter loss, through the infiniteness of those excellencies which it doth admire and adore... are things to be aimed at in prayer, and which, through the riches of divine condescension, are frequently enjoyed.Works, Vol 4. 329-30
The darkness of sin clouds man's view of the nature of the gospel and the necessity of faith... [it] produces a real aversion to God, filling it with enmity against him and with desires that are antagonistic to him, as well as with prejudice against spiritual realities.Owen, Vol 2, pp 257ff
If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: 'God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.' When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.
Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious. This greatly comforts and refreshes me.
a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lies at the bottom of all true spiritual mortificationMortification of sin in believers (Chap 8, 87)
Those who are Christ's, and are acted in their obedience upon gospel principles, have the death of Christ, the love of God, the detestable nature of sin, the preciousness of communion with God, a deep-grounded abhorrency of sin as sin, to oppose to any seduction of sin, to all the workings, strivings, rightings of lust in their hearts.Mortification of sin in believers (Chap 9, 93)
A new sin may be permitted, as well as a new affliction sent, to bring an old sin to remembrance.Mortification of sin in believers (Chap 9)
And this is the first thing that the Spirit does in order to the mortification of any lust whatsoever-it convinces the soul of all the evil of it, cuts off all its pleas, discovers all its deceits, stops all its evasions, answers its pretenses, makes the soul own its abomination and lie down under the sense of it. Unless this be done all that follows is in vain. Of the Mortification of sin in believers (138)
How shall he, then, mortify sin that has not the Spirit? A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit. Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Chap 7, 80)
Top Authors
1. Charles Spurgeon (107)
2. J.C. Ryle (103)
3. Thomas Watson (87)
4. John Piper (80)
5. John Calvin (76)
6. J.I. Packer (72)
7. Louis Berkhof (62)
8. C.S. Lewis (49)
9. George Swinnock (49)
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11. Francis Schaeffer (47)
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14. Tim Keller (42)
15. Abraham Kuyper (40)
16. B.B. Warfield (37)
17. Thomas Brooks (36)
18. John Flavel (36)
19. Martin Luther (33)
20. John Owen (33)
2. J.C. Ryle (103)
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4. John Piper (80)
5. John Calvin (76)
6. J.I. Packer (72)
7. Louis Berkhof (62)
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9. George Swinnock (49)
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11. Francis Schaeffer (47)
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14. Tim Keller (42)
15. Abraham Kuyper (40)
16. B.B. Warfield (37)
17. Thomas Brooks (36)
18. John Flavel (36)
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20. John Owen (33)
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1. Sin (138)2. Prayer (106)
3. Preaching (99)
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7. Suffering (55)
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