Spiritual Giants Quotes

Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican form of government, and all the blessings that flow from them, must fall with them. [Jedidiah Morse, 1761-1826]

"We should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshipping Him." [A.W. Tozer]

"Can we possibly imagine Jesus loving himself in any way at all? The portrait that comes to life for us in the Gospels is of one who is completely and compassionately concerned for all the various kinds of people he meets on the road of life, so that, quite literally, he has no time left to ‘love himself.’ The very idea is, in fact, preposterous. Christ did the opposite--he ‘emptied himself.’" [George A.F. Knight]

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." [Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

In Christianity, religion is grace; ethics is gratitude.

Christianity takes for granted the absence of any self-help and offers a power which is nothing less than the power of God. [A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)]

The servant of God has a good master. [Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)]

Peter Marshall in his characteristically trenchant manner describes 20th century Christians in these words: "They are like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs out of bathtubs."

"Take heed of drowsiness in hearing; drowsiness shows much irreverence. How lively are many when they are about the world, but in the worship of God how drowsy. . . . In the preaching of the Word, is not the bread of life broken to you; and will a man fall asleep at his food? Which is worse, to stay from a sermon, or sleep at a sermon?" [Thomas Watson, cited in The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations, 315]

"Free will has carried many souls to hell but never a soul to heaven." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"The word ‘salvation’ is for us a worn coin; for Paul and his readers, fresh from their Old Testament, it still had a sharp image and a clear superscription. It meant radical deliverance out of a desperate situation. What Israel experienced at the Red Sea, when all help was cut off before and behind and only a vertical miracle from on high could save, that was salvation." [Martin H. Franzmann, Concordia Commentary: Romans, 33]

Lust is the craving for salt by a man who is dying of thirst.

"It is a remarkable fact that, while those who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit and who are actually overcoming their sins see more and more of the evil of their hearts and lives, those who are the slaves of sin see less and less of the evil, and often deny that they are sinners at all." [19th c. theologian, Augustus H. Strong, Systematic Theology, 576]

"A Man's free will cannot cure him even of the tooth ache, or a sore finger; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure his soul. . . . The greatest judgement which God Himself can, in the present life, inflict upon a man is, to leave him in the hand of his own boasted free will. . . . Look where you will, and you will generally find that free-willers are very free livers. . . . According to Arminianism, grace has the name, but free-will has the game." [Augustus Toplady]

"Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility...Real humiliation is what all the most glorious hypocrites, who make the most splendid show of mortification to the world, and high religious affection, grossly fail in...Pure Christian humility disposes a person to take notice of every thing that is good in others, and to make the best of it, and to diminish their failings..." [Jonathan Edwards]

The Gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.

"We can love him because he loved us. It produces gratitude, delight, zeal, filial reverence, obedience. It elevates the soul above the creature. It purifies all the affections. This is its legitimate effect. Where God is understood, and where his love is really enjoyed, these effects follow." [19th c. American theologian, Charles Hodge]

"Nothing binds me to my Lord like a strong belief in his changeless love." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"I do not think we should use television as the measure of all attention spans. I have heard people of all ages listen for hours as a speaker or two gives them stories, harangues, and marching orders for their various causes. And they would listen for every word. Could it be that the attention span problem for sermons is that the setting is too much like a television-viewing setting that calls for passivity? If the church became a movement again, and if we felt a life-and-death urgency about getting the message out and getting it right, we would probably not be discussing how long we should go on." [Martin E. Marty in Context (Sept. 15,1992). Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 3.]

"Men will never believe with a saving and real faith, unless God inclines the heart; and they will believe as soon as He inclines it." [Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662]

"The Gospel has lost none of its ancient power. It is, as much today as when it was first preached, 'the power of God unto salvation.' It needs no pity, no help, and no handmaid. It can overcome all obstacles, and break down all barriers. No human device need be tried to prepare the sinner to receive it, for if God has sent it no power can hinder it; and if He has not sent it, no power can make it effectual." -- (Dr. Bullinger)

"What is our strength! What is our wisdom! How ready are we to go astray! How easily are we drawn aside into innumerable snares, while in the mean time we are bold and confident, and doubt not but we are right and safe! We are foolish sheep in the midst of subtle serpents and cruel wolves, and do not know it. Oh, how unfit are we to be left to ourselves! And how much do we stand in need of the wisdom, the power, the condescension, patience, forgiveness, and gentleness of our good Shepherd!" [Jonathan Edwards]

"I must take care above all that I cultivate communion with Christ, for though that can never be the basis of my peace--mark that--yet it will be the channel of it." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee." [Augustine]

"Father, please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there." [A.W. Tozer]

"As followers of Christ, we must remember always to build our defense of the Christian faith on the sure foundation of the Bible. If we do so, there will be no weight too great to be supported; no wind too strong to be resisted." [Richard Pratt, Jr. Every Thought Captive, 4]

"How vast a memory has love!" [Alexander Pope]

"You don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol." [D.L. Moody]

There is an ancient story about a wiseman of ancient Greece by the name of Bios who was sent an animal to sacrifice. He was instructed to sacrifice the animal and return to the donor the best and worst parts of the animal. He sent back the tongue. The tongue is indeed the best and worst part of man.

"God chooses what we go through. We choose how we go through it."

"We have sinned, fearfully sinned, and that we may be delivered from it and its consequences, two things are needed--two and not one. The two things are repentance and faith." [John Dickie]

"There is no other way of salvation for the best sinner than God has provided for the worst sinner." [Gardiner Spring]

"When you see that men have been wounded by the law, then it is time to pour in the gospel oil. It is the sharp needle of the law that makes way for the scarlet thread of the gospel" [Samuel Bolton, cited in Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic, 43]

"No one has ever accused an Arminian of out-preaching a Calvinist on the doctrine of grace!" [Michael Horton in Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation, 33]

"We may easily be too big for God to use, but never too small." [D.L. Moody]

According to C.S. Lewis, there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "Thy will be done."

"Salvation is generated by God in an order that puts our holiness as a consequence and not a cause. Thus, merit is forever disowned." [C.H. Spurgeon, Grace, Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1996, 46]

"Pride is a vice that ill suits those that would lead others in a humble way to heaven. Let us take heed, lest when we have brought others so far, the gates should prove too narrow for ourselves. For God, who thrust out a proud angel, will not tolerate a proud preacher, either. For it is pride that is at the root of all other sins: envy, contention, discontent, and all hindrances that would prevent renewal. Where there is pride, all want to lead and none want to follow or to agree." [Puritan Richard Baxter in The Reformed Pastor]

"All originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching." [Charles Spurgeon]

"O Lord, how many read the Word, and yet from vice are not deterred?" [Anonymous]

"To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity." [Donald A. Adams]

"Churching the unchurched is an absolute fallacy--it is like purposing to let the tares in. It is absolutely bizarre to want to make unsaved people feel comfortable in a church. The church is not a building--the church is a group of worshiping, redeemed, and sanctified people among whom an unbeliever should feel either miserable, convicted and drawn to Christ, or else alienated and isolated. Only if the church hides its message and ceases to be what God designed the church to be, can it make an unbeliever comfortable." [John MacArthur, Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry, 373]

"`I can forgive, but I cannot forget,' is only another way of saying `I cannot forgive.'" [Henry Ward Beecher]

"We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end." [A.W. Tozer]

"He became what we are that He might make us what He is." [Saint Athanasius, 295-373]

"Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon. This is plain, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul describes grace as the enabling power of his work: By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored harder than all of them, yet not 1, but the grace of God which is with me." Grace is not simply the pardon of Paul's sins, it is the power to press on in obedience. Therefore the effort we make to obey God is not an effort done in our own strength, but "in the strength which God supplies, that in everything God may get the glory." (1 Peter 4:11)." [John Piper, cited in Quotation Past and Current Newsletter, #7, December, 1998]

"I can offer no worship wholly pleasing to God if I know that I am harboring elements in my life that are displeasing to Him. I cannot truly and joyfully worship God on Sunday and not worship Him on Monday." [A.W. Tozer]

"Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle; he that obeys God trusts God; and he that trusts God obeys God. He that is without faith is without works, and he that is without works is without faith." [Charles Spurgeon]

"Be not dismayed at the troubles of the earth. Tremble not at the convulsions of empires. Only, fear God; only believe in his promises; only love and serve him; and all things shall work together for thy good, as they assuredly will for his glory." [Taken from Spiritual Exercises of the Heart, published in 1837 by an unknown author]

"What a remarkable picture to behold all the enemies of Christ totally disarmed. Satan has nothing left now with which he may attack us. He may attempt to injure us, but wound us he never can, for his sword and spear are utterly taken away." [C.H. Spurgeon, Spiritual Warfare in a Believer's Life]

American Senator and astronaut, John Glenn, said in a recent USA Today article, "Looking at the earth from this vantage point, looking at this kind of creation and to not believe in God, to me, is impossible...to see (earth) laid out like that only strengthens my beliefs." [November, 1998]

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God
and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."
[Psalm 19:1]

During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the China Inland Mission was suffering great losses, and every telegram brought more tragic news of Christians being killed, property being confiscated, and workers scattered. The mission's founder, J. Hudson Taylor, was in Switzerland and under orders to rest because of ill health. His heart ached for his coworkers in China. When things were at their worst, he said, "I cannot read; I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust." [cited in Prokope, newsletter of Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, Baker Book House, Vol. 2, No. 3]

"My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." [John Newton at age 82]

"Many build churches nowadays; their walls and pillars of glowing marble, their ceilings glittering with gold, their altars studded with jewels. Yet to the choice of Christ's ministers no heed is paid." [Jerome, in a letter dated 394 AD, cited in Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership, 67]

"Satan looks back and sees the believer's sin. God looks back and sees the Cross."

"[Martin] Luther believed strongly that the Evil One always attacked the church from without by persecution and from within by false teachers. Of the false teachers' use of the Bible, he wrote, `Others tear it to pieces, scourge and crucify it, and subject it to all manner of torture until they stretch it sufficiently to apply to their heresy, meaning, and whim.'" [cited in The Coming Evangelical Crisis, John Armstrong, Ed., p. 54]

"Our knowledge of God must lead to a more intimate relationship with Him or we run the risk of becoming Pharisees." [Douglas Rumford]

"Some say pray and pray and don't lean on the unspiritual human work of study. Others say, study and study because God is not going to tell you the meaning of a word in prayer. But the Bible will not have anything to do with this dichotomy. We must study and accurately handle the Word of God, and we must pray or we will not see in the Word the one thing needful, the glory of God in the face of Christ." [John Piper, sermon at Bethlehem Baptist Church, (BGC), January 11, 1998]

"Can anything, then, unforeseen, strike across His purposes, or derange His plans? Can any man who is crushed before the moth, the creature of a day, turn aside the grand machine of providence, whose constant wheels revolve their everlasting round? Ah! no. As every thing respecting the eternal purposes of Jehovah springs from His own will, so every thing shall terminate in His own glory. Higher and farther than this, we cannot go. `He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; the first and the last.'" [Taken from Spiritual Exercises of the Heart, published in 1837 by an unknown author]

"Man is born with his back toward God. When he truly repents, he turns right around and faces God. Repentance is a change of mind. Repentance is the tear in the eye of faith." [D.L. Moody]

John Welsh, the son-in-law of John Knox often left his bed in the middle of the night, wrapped himself in a warm plaid, and interceded for the people of his parish. When his wife would beg him to go back to bed to sleep, he would say, "I have the souls of three thousand to answer for and I know not how it is with many of them." It is interesting that Welsh was exiled because of his preaching. However, when he was on his deathbed, Welsh received word that the king had lifted the ban; so he arose, went to the church and preached a sermon, returned to his bed, and died two hours later!" [cited in Warren Wiersbe, Walking with the Giants, 18]

"God is trying to call us back to that for which He created us--to worship and to enjoy Him forever! It is then, out of our deep worship, that we do His work." [A.W. Tozer]

"As we advance through the centuries, light and life begin to decrease in the church. Why? Because the torch of the Scripture begins to grow dim and because the deceitful light of human authorities begins to replace it." [Noted Reformation historian, Merle d'Aubigne (1794-1872)]

"Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success." [Benard Edinger]

"The man who is truly forgiven and knows it, is a man who forgives." [D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones]

"Suppose, brethren, a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for her? . . . certainly, let her love his gift: but, if she should say, `the ring is enough, I do not want to see his f ace again' what would we say of her? . . . The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he himself may be loved. God, then, has given you all these things. Love Him who made them." [Aurelius Augustine, cited in Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 326]

"Tell me what the world is saying today, and I'll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years." [the late Francis Shaeffer]

"If God sends us on stony paths, He will provide us with strong shoes." [Alexander Maclaren, cited in Prokope, newsletter by Warren Wiersbe/Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, Oct.-Dec., 1997]

"You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. . . You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and yet serene. Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same. . . You welcome those who come to you, though you never lost them. You are never in need yet are glad to gain, never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts. . . You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby. You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, but is this enough to say of you? Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!" [Aurelius Augustine, Confessions, I, 4]

The tongue weighs practically nothing, But so few people can hold it!

"Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our `accepting' and `willing' are reactions rather than actions." [A.W. Tozer]

"If the things of the world delight you, praise God for them but turn your love away from them and give it to their Maker, so that in the things that please you may not displease Him." [Aurelius Augustine, Confessions, IV, 12]

March 1, 1981, Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones died. He had pastored Westminster Chapel in London from 1939 to 1968. "Do not pray for healing," he wrote on a scrap of paper a few days before his death. (He'd lost the power of speech.) "Do not hold me back from the glory." [cited in Prokope, newsletter by Warren Wiersbe/Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, Oct.-Dec., 1997]

"He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake." [Aurelius Augustine]

"One church growth marketer claims that the difference between `growth' and `evangelism' and `marketing' is only semantics. He is absolutely wrong. As historian David Potter pointed out in his penetrating analysis of advertising: `Once marketing becomes dominant, the concern is not with finding an audience to hear their message, but rather with finding a message to hold their audience.'" [Os Guinnes, Dining With The Devil]

"Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with that hath the possession of Him to all eternity! [John Bunyan, cited in Quotations Past and Current Newsletter, March/April, 1998]

"Certain earnest preachers are incessantly exciting the people but seldom, if ever, instructing them. They carry much fire and very little light. . . . A feather floats on the wind, but it has no inherent power to move. Consequently, when the gale is over, it falls to the ground. Such is the religion of excitement. In contrast the eagle has life within itself, and its wings bear it aloft and onward whether the breeze favors it or not. Such is religion when sustained by a conviction of the truth." [C.H. Spurgeon, Grace, Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1996, 32-33]

"This emphasis on the priority of worship has particular importance for us who are called `evangelical' people. For whenever we fail to take public worship seriously, we are less than the fully biblical Christians we claim to be. We go to church for the preaching, some of us say, not for the praise. Evangelisim is our speciality, not worship. In consequence either our worship services are slovenly, perfunctory, mechanical and dull or, in an attempt to remedy this, we go to the opposite extreme and become repetitive, unreflective and even flippant." [John Stott, Guarding the Truth, 59]

"As an aside, no music is more sweet to a gospel preacher than the rustle of Bible pages in the congregation. Many times when I have been in the pulpit and I have read a passage of Scripture, nobody has followed me to see if I was quoting correctly. I strongly urge you to take your Bibles with you when you go to church. What is the best way of hearing the Word? Is it not to search and see whether what the preacher says is really according to the Word of God? Thus, I entreat you to search the Scriptures to see if what is being taught to you is true." [C.H. Spurgeon, Grace, Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1996, 151]

"As surely as the sons of Levi were in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him (see Hebrews 7:1,5), so were all believers in the loins of Christ when He died upon the cross." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"During all those years [of rebellion], where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke . . . ? How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose . . . ! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation." [Aurelius Augustine, Confessions, IX, 1]

"The cross is indeed a symbol of charity--stunning, shattering charity. It is also clearly a symbol of spiritual warfare. It is shaped like a sword held at the hilt by the hand of Heaven and struck into the earth, not to draw blood by to give it." [Anonymous]

"All of my life I have been learning to live in Christ; now I am learning how to die in Christ." [Dr. Wesley Olsen in his resignation to Western Seminary at the latter stages of his terminal illness]

As a Calvinist once quipped, "Sometimes we don't present the gospel clearly enough for the non-elect to reject it!"

". . . the key to Christian living is a thirst and hunger for God. And one of the main reasons people do not understand or experience the sovereignty of grace and the way it words through the awakening of sovereign joy is that their hunger and thirst for God is so small." [John Piper, The Swan is not Silent: Sovereign Joy in the Life and Thought of St. Augustine, 13]

"Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them." [Aurelius Augustine, Confessions, X, 31]

Following a visit by evangelist Billy Graham some years ago, the Melbourne Australia Daily News printed a letter in which the writer stated: "If in order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy which I recently heard preached, I prefer to remain forever damned."

"It is indeed true that the refutation of heretics gives greater prominence to the tenets of Your Church and the principles of sound doctrine. . . so that those who are true metal may be distinguished from the rest." [Aurelius Augustine, Confessions, VII, 19]

"I hate my eyes. I feel as though I could pluck them from their sockets because they will not weep as I desire over poor souls which are perishing." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"We need to rethink our reformed soteriology so that every limb and every branch in the tree is coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight. We need to make plain that total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to beauty and deadness to joy; and unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed; and that. . . irresistible grace is the commitment and power of God's love to make sure we don't hold on to suicidal pleasures, but will set us free from by the sovereign power of superior delights; and that the perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of pleasures at God's right hand forever." [John Piper, The Swan is not Silent: Sovereign Joy in the Life and Thought of St. Augustine, 13]

"I would argue that the reason so many unbelievers can sit comfortably in our churches and even call themselves born-again Christians is that we give them very little to deny. The offensive message of the cross has been replaced with `God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.,' with the cross tucked somewhere underneath it." [Michael Horton in Christ The Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation, 54-55.]

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great 20th c. preacher of England, wrote that teaching the Word is such an awesome task that a godly man "shrinks from it. Nothing but the overwhelming sense of being called, and of compulsion, should ever lead anyone to preach." [Preachers and Preaching, 107]

"Within the last quarter of a century we have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practices of the evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout; and all this behind the cloak of fervant orthodoxy. With Bibles under their arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to carry on `services' so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter." [A.W. Tozer - written in 1960]

"Thank God for that `fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness' with which Christ covers our wounded nakedness. It becomes ours, though no thread of it was wrought in our looms." [Alexander MacLaren]

"We pursue God because and only because He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit." [A.W. Tozer]

"He who sups with the devil had better have a long spoon. The devilry of modernity has its own magic: The [believer] who sups with it will find his spoon getting shorter and shorter--until that last supper in which he is left alone at the table, with no spoon at all and with an empty plate. The devil, one may guess, will by then have gone away to more interesting company." [Peter L. Berger, A Rumor of Angels]

It was said of C.H. Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of 19th century England, that he often fell asleep at night talking about Christ and even speaking of Him in while he slept. It is also said that he once preached a sermon in his sleep. His wife overheard it, wrote down the main points, and gave the outline to him in the morning. Afterward, he went to the church and preached it!

"Instead of complaining that God has hidden Himself, you could render thanks to Him that He has revealed so much of Himself." [Blaise Pascal]

"When a person, yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship. [A.W. Tozer]

"There are many ways to learn, and I do a little of each one. But what helps me learn principles and how to explain them to someone else is that I always learn from others. You never get too smart or too knowledgable to learn from others. Lots of times people think they're getting answers from me, but I'm picking their brains at the same time." [the late Dr. Walter Martin, in Witch Hunt, 228-29]

"When we speak of knowing God, it must be understood with reference to man's limited powers of comprehension. God, as He really is, is far beyond man's imaginations, let alone his understanding. God has revealed only so much of Himself as our minds can conceive and the weakness of our nature can bear." [John Milton, 1608-1674]

"A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well . . . I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God." [A.W. Tozer]

"To call a man evangelical who is not evangelistic is an utter contradiction." [G. Campbell Morgan]

"Plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest refreshed and invigorated. I know of nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead." [C.H. Spurgeon, January 7, 1855]

"Jesus the very thought of Thee with sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see and in Thy presence rest." [Bernard of Clairvaux]

"I have always been a grumbler. I am designed for the part--sagging face, weighty underlip, rumbling, resonant voice. Money couldn't buy a better grumbling outfit." [British novelist, J.B. Priestly]

"I resolve to endeavor to my utmost to act and think as if I had already seen the happiness of heaven and the torments of hell." [Jonathan Edwards]

"The safest road to hell is a gradual one. This safe road has a gentle slope, without turns, without milestones, without signposts, without warnings." [C.S. Lewis]

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." [missionary martyr, Jim Elliot]

"The source and foundation of goodness and nobility of character is faith in Jesus the Lord." [Alexander Maclaren]

"Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes fact to face to God." [D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2:45]

An English merchant, traveling in Scotland in the 17th century, made this entry in his journal: "In St. Andrews I heard a tall, stately man preach, and he showed me the majesty of God. I afterwards heard a little fair man preach, and he showed me the lovliness of Christ. I then went to Irvine, where I heard a well-favoured proper old man with a long beard, and that man showed me all my heart."

How should we live our lives as Christians? Jonathan Edwards succinctly stated: "Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die."

"Progress in the Christian life is exactly equal to the growing knowledge we gain of the Triune God in personal experience. . . . God can be known satisfactorily only as we devote time to Him." [A.W. Tozer]

"Some 200 years ago, at the Church of Saint Edmund in London, Pastor Ignatius repeated the final lines of a hymn that the congregation had just finished preaching: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. Then he added: "Well, I am surprised to hear you sing that. Do you know that altogether you put ony 15 shillings in the collection bag this morning?"

"It is absolutely essential that a church perceive itself as an institution established for the glory of God. I fear that the church in America has descended from that lofty purpose and focused instead on humanity. Today the church seems to think it's goal is to help people feel better about themselves. It offers people nothing more than spiritual placebos. It focuses on psychology, self- esteem, entertainment, and a myriad of other diversions to try to meet felt needs. [John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Master's Plan for the Church]

"One of the most exciting things which I have experienced in my life in Christ is to discover my children as fellow disciples. When a child becomes a friend in Christ, it is an inexpressible joy. To be able to share my hopes and hurts with my children, and pray with them, is a wonderful satisfaction. They often have insight and incisive understanding beyond my own. I have found that my receptivity to them, and to Christ through them, has provided an ambience in which I can share my hopes and dreams for them--more than parental advice--the shared vision of fellow adventurers!" [Lloyd John Ogilvie, Colossians: Loved and Forgiven, 136]

"It is difficult to see how Christianity can have any positive effect on society if it cannot transform its own homes." [John MacArthur, Colossians, 166]

"If a truly innocent person has to bear the burden of an unhappy marriage, there is hope for him even in his sufferings; and even these are, for a man surrendered to God, the most wholesome school of purification, and of discipline in virtue: the years lost for earthly happiness become gained for eternity." [Larry Christenson, The Christian Family, 26]

"The church is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." [Alexander MacLaren]

"Think of all the squabbles Adam and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, `You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, `You gave it to me!'" [Martin Luther]

"Christians by definition must have an entirely different view of everything from those who are not Christians: a new vision of themselves, a different view of God and of how God is to be approached, a different view of life. Now I think this is very important at this present time. Because we are governed by new principles, we should be viewing events in a different way--our whole attitude towards everything is essentially different from the non-Christian attitude. Our view of death should be different, and our view of all other people should be different as well." [D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Philippians, 2:51]

"That man should not separate what God has joined is a truth about more than marriage. God has joined the three offices of prophet (teacher), priest, and king in the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ, and directs us in the Bible to relate positively to them all. God has joined faith and repentance as the two facts of response to the Savior and made it clear that turning to Christ means turning from sin and letting ungodliness go. Biblical teaching on faith joins credence, commitment, and communion; it exhibits Christian believing as not only knowing facts about Christ , but also coming to him in personal trust to worship, love, and serve him. If we fail to keep together these things that God has joined together, our Christianity will be distorted." [J.I. Packer, from the Foreward to The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur]

"A Christian is not one who simply buys `fire insurance,' who signs up just to avoid an unpleasant afterlife. A Christian, as we have seen repeatedly, is one whose faith expresses itself in submission and obedience. A Christian is one who follows Christ, one who is committed unquestionably to Christ as Lord and Savior, one who desires to please God. His basic aim is to be in every way a disciple of Jesus Christ. When he fails, he seeks forgiveness and wants to move forward. This is his spirit and his direction." [John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 197]

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." [Ephesians 6:1-4, NASB]

"Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." [Hebrews 13:17, NASB]

"The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of the Fall and to bring us back again into right and eternal relationship with Himself." [A.W. Tozer]

"Surely we only have to be realistic and honest with ourselves to know how regularly we need to turn to the Bible. How often do we face problems, temptation and pressure? Every day! Then how often do we need instruction, guidance and greater encouragement? Every day! To catch all these felt-needs up into an even greater issue, how often do we need to see God's face, hear His voice, feel His touch, know His power? The answer to all these questions is the same: Every day!" [English Preacher John Blanchard]

"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
[Hymn by William Cowper]

"Take the best-natured man in the world, plant him in the best soil, in the best ground, in church ground; plant him in the house of God, and there let him be watered by the rain of holy doctrine, and let him be dressed and cultivated every day, yet he will bring forth nothing but crabs, nothing but unsavory fruit, till he himself is changed. . . . It is only by our implantation into Jesus Christ that we become fit to do good, so as to be acceptable unto God. It is this that makes the change." [Puritan Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673]

"Why should we love our enemies? Partly because there is more reasons to love them than to hate them, because there are some relics of God's image in them. And God has forgiven us greater wrongs . . . (Ephesians 4:32) . . . We daily trespass against God more than they can trespass against us. God forgives talents; we cannot forgive pence. God forgives a hundred thousand; we cannot forgive a hundred (Matthew 18). We look that God should forgive us, and we will not forgive others." [Puritan Thomas Manton, 1620-1677]

"Christians, I wish I were able to express myself with more affection in beseeching you to love one another. I beseech you, yes, with beseechings. I beseech you to love one another. Could I but paint out before you the paintings of my heart, and set sights before your sight, and draw a draft of the groans which these considerations draw from my heart . . . but all I will or can say is `love, love, love.' The love of God and the God of love constrain you to love one another that it my at last be said of Christians as it was at first, `Behold how they love one another.'" [Puritan Ralph Venning, 1621-1674]

"I am convinced from Scripture that God is absolutely sovereign in the salvation of sinners. Salvation `does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy' (Rom. 9:16). We are redeemed not because of anything good in us, but because God chose us unto salvation. He chose certain individuals and passed over others, and He made that choice in eternity past, before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Moreover, He chose without regard to anything He foresaw in the elect; simply `according to the good pleasure of His will [and] to the praise of the glory of His grace' (vv. 5-6). Election arises from the love of God. Those whom He chose, He `loved . . . with an everlasting love [and drew them to Himself] with lovingkindness" (Jer. 31:3). [John MacArthur, The Love of God, 12]

"I am encouraged by the doctrine of divine election because I know `all that the Father gives Me will come to Me' (John 6:37). Even though people coming to Christ are entering into and believing the miraculous (virgin birth, substitutionary death/atonement, resurrection, second coming - just to name a few!), I know that when a person is drawn by the Holy Spirit, he or she will come. It is a happy privilege of being part of this by our life and witness." [Bob Ricker, Baptist General Conference President]

"When we speak of knowing God, it must be understood with reference to man's limited powers of comprehension. God, as He really is, is far beyond man's imaginations, let alone his understanding. God has revealed only so much of Himself as our minds can conceive and the weakness of our nature can bear." [John Milton, 1608-1674]

"The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal . . . how can you hope to find inward peace?" [A.W. Tozer]

"The `layman' need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry." [A.W. Tozer]

"O Thou, to whose all-searching sight the darkness shineth as the light, search, prove my heart; it pants for Thee; O burst these bonds, and set it free!" [Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf]

"The cross is proof of both the immense love of God and the profound wickedness of sin. Do you want to see God's love at its pinnacle and sin's vileness at its nadir? Look at the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. See Him hanging on the cross--the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God, bearing the sin of the world. Hear Him cry in agony...`My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Realize that nothing short of the shed-blood of the eternal beloved Son of God Himself could have atoned for sin. The weight of our guilt must have been infinitely heavy and the heinousness of our sin indescribably black to require such a sacrifice! And God's love must have been inexpressibly rich to allow it!" [John MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience, 115]

"Blessed are those who have nothing to say and cannot be persuaded to say it."

"When one comes to God once-for-all, the Father will unveil His glory before His servant's eyes, and He will place all His treasures at the disposal of such a one..." [A.W. Tozer]

"Modern evangelism blindly continues to assume that men have a native ability to repent and believe. `With men it is impossible.' `Who then can be saved?' is still a pertinent question. And Jesus gives a clear, positive response, `With God all things are possible' (Mark 10:27). Though no man can find in himself the necessary resolve and ability to repent and believe, God can so change a sinner's heart that he will sell all and follow Christ." [Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic, 83]

"Some object that such a view [of God's sovereignty in salvation] will stifle evangelism. It did not stifle our Lord. But why preach to the dead? When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, and cried, `Lazarus, come forth' (John 11:43), you might have made a similar complaint. Why speak to the dead? How could the lifeless corpse obey the command? Would you invent the doctrine that all of Lazarus had died but his will? . . . How absurd to suggest that the free will of Lazarus decided to obey Christ, and that was how the dead man was revived! When he walked out of the tomb in grave clothes, Lazarus had indeed exercised his will in obeying Jesus' voice. But that could be done only as God quickened the whole man to life (ears to hear, mind to understand, will to obey the call). God have him a new life! His response to Jesus was the result and evidence of God's sovereign act of resurrection." [Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic, 86-87]

"When you fail do not let Satan tempt you to discouragement, but come and cast yourself on Christ. Faith and repentance are not one-time acts; you must live your life believing and repenting." [Puritan Richard Sibbes, from his sermon, An Appeal for a Good Conscience.]

"Today we are told that witnessing is to begin with, `God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.' Love is set before sinners as the foremost characteristic of God. But Jesus did not begin that way. And the Bible as a whole speaks more of God's holiness than of His love. This is probably because men readily remember all the attributes that might favor themselves and totally forget those which threaten or alarm them. . . . To say to a rebel, `God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life' is terribly misinforming. The truth is that God is holy. Thus, He is angry with the sinner at this moment. His sword of wrath already hangs over the head of the guilty and will forever torment him unless he repents and trusts Christ. This plan is not so wonderful." [Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic, 28-29]

"We are willing to serve God when we love His Son: There may be obstacles, but no unwillingness. We would be holy even as God is holy, and perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven, is perfect." [C.H. Spurgeon]

"There's a major construction project going on through time as Jesus Christ builds His family. It's called the ekklesia, the `church,' those who are called out from the mass of humanity to become a special part of God's forever family. And you, as a Christian--a follower of Christ--have been picked, chosen, and called to be one of them. He has quarried you from the pit of your sin. And now He is chiseling away, shaping you and ultimately sliding you into place. You are a part of His building project." [Chuck Swindoll, Hope Again, 68]

"Before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man." [A.W. Tozer]

John Newton once wrote, "I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not even what I hope to be. But by the cross of Christ, I am not what I was."

"There are crowns worn by living monarchs . . . Christ's crown outweighs them all. He was crowned at His coronation by the hands of death. . . . Others cease to be kings when they die. By dying He became a King. He laid His head in the dust that He might become `Head over all.' He entered His kingdom through the gates of the grave, and ascended the universe by the steps of a cross." [Guthrie]

"Contemporary Christians have been conditioned never to question anyone's salvation. If a person declares he has trusted Christ as Savior, no one challenges his testimony, regardless of how inconsistent his lifestyle may be with God's Word." [John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 59]

"There will be little else we shall want of heaven besides Jesus Christ. He will be our bread, our food, our beauty, and our glorious dress. The atmosphere of heaven will be Christ; everything in heaven will be Christ-like: yes, Christ is the heaven of His people." [C.H. Spurgeon]

Dr. V. Raymond Edman, the late president of Wheaten College, used to remind his students: "It is always too soon to quit."

Fred Mitchell, a leader in world missions, used to keep a motto on his desk that read: "Beware of the barrenness of a busy life."

"All of my life I have been learning to live in Christ. Now I am learning how to die in Christ." [Excerpt from the resignation letter of Dr. Wesley Olsen, former President of Southwestern Bible College, just prior to his death]

It was said that one of the godly Puritans sat down to his meal one day and found that he only had a little bread and some water. To that he exclaimed, "What? All this and Jesus Christ, too!"

"God is not silent . . . it is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called `The Word.' The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind." [A.W. Tozer]

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever." [Thomas Jefferson]

"Rousing appeals to the affections are excellent, but if they are not backed up by instruction they are a mere flash in the pan, powder consumed and no shot sent home. Rest assured that the most fervid revivalism will wear itself out in mere smoke, if it be not maintained by the fuel of teaching." [C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students, 73]

"I would sooner pluck one single brand from the burning than explain all mysteries. To win a soul from going down into the pit is a more glorious achievement than to be crowned in the arena of theological controversy as `Doctor Sufficientissumus.'" [C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students, 83]

"It is not true that some doctrines are only for the initiated; there is nothing in the Bible which is ashamed of the light. The sublimest views of divine sovereignty have a practical bearing, and are not, as some might think, mere metaphysical subtleties. The distinctive utterances of Calvinism have their bearing on everyday life and ordinary experience." [C.H. Spurgeon]

George Whitefield once noted, "We are all born Arminians."
C.H. Spurgeon quipped, "It is grace that turns us into Calvinists."

"O, for a sight, a blissful sight of our Almighty Father's throne! There sits the Savior, crowned with light, clothed in a body like our own. Adoring saints around Him stand, and thrones and powers before Him fall. The God shines gracious through the Man, and sheds sweet glories on them all." [Isaac Watts]

"You will never be able to keep up with the Jones' because by the time you catch up with them, they've refinanced! The lesson: Be a good steward and live within your means" (Luke 16:1-13; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Philippians 4:19).

"Religion says, `Be good, conform yourself.' Epicureanism says, `Be sensuous, satisfy yourself.' Education says, `Be resourceful, expand yourself.' Psychology says, `Be confident, assert yourself.' Materialism says, Be possessive, please yourself.' Asceticism says, `Be lowly, suppress yourself.' Humanism says, `Be capable, believe in yourself.' Pride says, `Be superior, promote yourself.' CHRIST SAYS, `BE UNSELFISH, HUMBLE YOURSELF.'

"Worship services in many churches today are like a merry-go-round. You drop a token in the collection box; it's good for a ride. There's music and lots of motion up and down. The ride is carefully timed and seldom varies in length. Lots of good feelings are generated, and it is the one ride you can be sure will never be the least bit threatening or challenging. But though you spend the whole time feeling as if you're moving forward, you get off exactly where you got on." [John MacArthur, Our Sufficiency in Christ, 150-151]

It was told of the great Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, that the members of his congregation, in response to his often confrontive preaching, would say, "We take all things well from one (Baxter) who always and wholly loves us."

"Jesus Christ is enough for all our needs. He is our great High Priest and Intercessor in heaven. He is the worthy Lamb of God. By His blood He has consecrated forever the way into God's presence. Let us thankfully hide in Him and be safe!" [A.W. Tozer]

"A widespread lack of confidence in Christ's sufficiency is threatening the contemporary church. Too many Christians have tacitly acquiesced to the notion that our lives in Christ, including Scripture, prayer, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and all the other spiritual resources we find in Christ simply are not adequate to meet people's real needs. Entire churches are committed to programs built on the presupposition that the apostle's teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42) aren't a full enough agenda for the church as it prepares to enter the complex and sophisticated world of the twenty-first century." [John MacArthur, Our Sufficiency in Christ]

"[Unfortunately] power has become a familiar word in Christian circles. Unlike the small church down the street we used to go to, the new megachurch in a neighboring town has powerful programs, and its buildings often compete with corporate office buildings for the impressive architecture of power." [Michael Horton, Power Religion: The Selling Out of the Evangelical Church]

"A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to others the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colors, while he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies! He is a mole professing to educate eaglets; a limpet elected to preside over angels." [C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students, 4]

"In our dark day, God has given us Jesus as the Light of the world. There is no other. God has headed up all of our help and forgiveness and blessing in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son." [A.W. Tozer]