The quotations in this selection come from Christian writers and speakers throughout the centuries, some famous, some unknown. In addition, there are a few quotations from non-Christians. The criterion for the selection of these quotes is that they have something significant to say to Christians in our age. The compiler does not necessarily agree with every sentiment expressed, but has found all of them thought provoking. As far as is known the original source of the quotation has been given, though in some cases this may not be so.
The Sections are:
The Bible
The Christian Life
Evangelism and Conversion
God
The Heavenly Realms and the End Times
Prayer and Worship
Miscellaneous
THE BIBLE
“We frequently misunderstand what the Bible says, because we misunderstand what the Bible is”, David Malcolm Bennett.
"The Bible is the Word of God in the words and thought forms of humanity", David Malcolm Bennett.
"In His book, rightly interpreted, there is no contradiction whatsoever. The whole truth: the convicting truth as well as the healing truth; the sword as well as the balm; the running in of the Divine knife as well as the pouring in of the Divine oil", Catherine Booth.
“In obscure matters [do not] speak or think, or even long to know, more than the Word of God has delivered”, John Calvin.
"The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer", Edmund P. Clowney.
“Ignorance of God’s Word is the cause of all error”, Thomas Cranmer.
"We need the book of the Scriptures to read the book of the Universe", Denis Edwards.
“All parts [of the Bible] were inspired, but we did find some parts more inspiring”, Joel Edwards.
God’s Law is “that grand expression and emanation of the holiness of God’s nature”, Jonathan Edwards,
"Biblical law ... is true only because it is God who speaks it. It draws its truth from God",Jacques Ellul.
“It may be a confession of piety to say: ‘I take the Bible literally’; ‘I take it just the way it is written!’ – but such affirmations do not guarantee a perfect understanding of the Bible”, D. Ewart.
"We who take Scripture seriously as Word of God must stop our pick and choose approach to obedience, or at least articulate reasons for it", Gordon Fee.
It is “absurd to suppose that in the penning of the Scriptures, [the writers] viewed themselves as machines; or that they wrote without any feelings or perception, what we read with so great a degree of both”, August Franke.
“Revelation is the act of communicating divine knowledge by the Spirit to the mind. Inspiration is the act of the same Spirit, controlling those who make the truth known to others”, C. Hodge.
“To a godly man the Law is not a law but a guide on the way”, Balthasar Hubmaier.
“I was by now too experienced in literary criticism to regard the Gospels as myths”, C.S. Lewis.
“The Psalms must be read as poems … Otherwise we shall miss what is in them and think we see what is not”, C.S. Lewis.
“The Law of God is perfect, and we are to keep it. We are not ‘under it’, there is no condemnation; it is not the way of salvation; but that does not mean that we have no interest in it”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The Law is not merely a collection of rules and regulations; it is not a mere matter of the letter; it is the spirit that counts primarily”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There is only one great covenant of grace. The Old Testament saints were saved in exactly the same way as we are”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“In the economy of God, love is law and law is love”, Campbell Morgan.
“If private ‘revelations’ agree with the Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false”, John Owen.
“Roman Catholics … are accustomed to argue that the authority of the post-apostolic church … must be prior and superior to that of the New Testament, inasmuch as it was the post-apostolic church that established the New Testament as a ‘canon’… The church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity”, J. I. Packer.
“The inspiring process, which brought each writer’s thoughts into such exact coincidence with those of God, necessarily involved a unique oversight and control of those who were its subjects”, J.I. Packer.
“Context is king in interpretation”, R. Shirock.
“You cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible you like and which you don’t like. The Bible is not a divine smorgasbord”, Peter Wagner.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
“Though Christians are not kept from altogether falling, yet they are kept from falling altogether”, Anon.
“To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection; but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection, and even actual sin”, Thomas Aquinas.
“Christians can overcome all things, but a decree of God”, William Arthur.
“Every lesser good has an essential element of sin”, St. Augustine of Hippo.
“If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you only have to look at those to whom He gives it”, Maurice Baring.
“A good habit often overcomes a weak will”, Peter Barson.
“In essentials unity; in non-essentials freedom; in all things love”, Richard Baxter.
"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die", Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"Although Peter cannot achieve his own conversion, he can leave his nets", Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes", Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“I am a vile, unfaithful sinner, but Jesus died, and I believe in the efficacy of his precious blood to cleanse even me”, Catherine Booth.
"Faith is not logic, but logic may help faith", Catherine Booth
“When His will is painful I will expect grace to meet and strength to endure the stroke with patience and resignation, even according to His gracious promise”, Catherine Booth.
“We lose today in making resolutions for tomorrow, and when tomorrow comes we forget them and make some more for the next day”, Catherine Booth.
“We shall never do anything by talking about it in the future tense. If we will work, we must do it now … Now is all I have”, Catherine Booth.
“If I see a thing to be right and wise, I never hesitate but proceed at once, and I seldom repent”, Catherine Booth.
“Keep the foot of faith on [Satan’s] neck”, Catherine Booth.
"Labour to improve your mind as much as possible, because it is the vehicle through which the truth flows out to others", Catherine Booth.
“The fact of ill success affects not your motives... Christ measures not our consecration and love to Him by what we really do, but by what we are willing and try to do”, Catherine Booth.
“Success is the law of all that rightly labour – that is if that effort is inspired by God and in accordance with the Word of God it must and will succeed. True there are exceptions to this … But as a rule [they] will succeed”, William Booth.
“I am not ashamed of my Master, of the Gospel of Christ, of the cross of Calvary”, William Booth.
“There are ‘think-so’ Christians, ‘hope-so’ Christians, and there are ‘know-so’ Christians; thank God … we know we are saved”, William Booth.
“Oh, I want more religion, love to God and love to man”, William Booth.
“Perfectionism is not a teaching of the New Testament, but neither is the easy going compromise of accepting the ways of this imperfect world”, Timothy Bradshaw.
“Let the eye and heart, first, most and last, be fixed upon Christ, then will assurance bed and board with thee”, Thomas Brooks.
Prophecy is “to show forth the mind of God”, Josephine Butler.
“It is always perilous to equate the supernatural with the divine”, D.A. Carson.
“Conscience is God’s deputy”, D. Clarkson.
“Two dangers threaten the survival of Christendom. The one is mediocrity; the other is success”, Anthony Compolo.
“To work miracles maketh not a man one whit more holy”, Thomas Cranmer.
“Salvation may be personal, but it is never private. We have been saved to serve”, Roy Edgeman.
“The Scriptures do represent true religion as being summarily comprehended in love, the chief of the affections, and fountain of all other affections”, Jonathan Edwards.
“There are false affections and there are true. A man’s having much affection, don’t prove that he has any true religion; but if he has no affection it proves that he has no true religion”, Jonathan Edwards.
“’Tis no evidence that religious affections are of spiritual and gracious nature, because they are great”, Jonathan Edwards.
“’Tis difficult to conceal great affections, but yet gracious affections are of a much more silent and secret nature, than those that are counterfeit”, Jonathan Edwards.
“’Tis not God’s design that men should obtain assurance in any other way, than by mortifying corruption, and increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively exercises of it”, Jonathan Edwards.
“Christian humility [leads one] to think his attainments in religion to be comparatively mean and to esteem himself low among the saints”, Jonathan Edwards.
“The humble Christian is more apt to find fault with his own pride than with other men’s”, Jonathan Edwards.
“All true spiritual knowledge is of that nature, that the more a person has of it, the more he is sensible of his own ignorance”, Jonathan Edwards.
“He who sees the beauty of holiness, must necessarily see the hatefulness of sin”, Jonathan Edwards.
“Christians are Christlike; none deserve the name of Christian that are not so”, Jonathan Edwards.
“Christian practice is the best sign or manifestation of the true godliness of a professing Christian, to the eye of his neighbours”, Jonathan Edwards.
It is “absurd … for any to pretend that they have a good heart while they live a wicked life”, Jonathan Edwards.
“In Scripture … a ‘righteous man’ and a ‘merciful man’ are synonymous expressions”, Jonathan Edwards.
“The trial of a good soldier is not in his chimney corner, but in the field of battle”, Jonathan Edwards.
"Oh how good it is, to work for God in the daytime, and at night to lie down under his smiles?" Sarah Edwards.
"What is not acceptable to God is that we should decide on our own what is good and what is evil. Biblically, the good is in fact the will of God", Jacques Ellul.
"Freedom is hard to live with. It is terrible. It is a venture. It devours and demands. It is a constant battle, for around us there are always traps to rob us of it.... Freedom can never exert power", Jacques Ellul.
"For [the Apostle] Paul 'spiritual' is nothing more nor less than life in the Spirit", Gordon Fee.
"Spiritual... means to be a Spirit person, one whose whole life is full of, and lived out by, the power of the Spirit", Gordon Fee.
“We show by St. James’s works that we have St. Paul’s faith”, John Fletcher.
A “‘lack of peace’ is normal when one faces a major new step in life”, Garry Friesen.
“In non-moral decisions the goal of the believer is to make wise decisions on the basis of spiritual expediency”, Garry Friesen
“Christians … ought to be competent to make wise decisions”, Garry Friesen.
“Part of God’s design for the church is that it should successfully manifest unity in diversity … not uniformity of opinion, but unity of relationship”, Garry Friesen.
"There are ... a countless number of beasts within you ... Rage is a small beast, yet when it growls in the heart is any dog more savage?" Gregory of Nyssa.
“Our problem is not that Christians are not where they should be, but that they are not what they should be right where they are”, Os Guiness and John Seel.
“Contemporary evangelicals are no longer people of truth. Only rarely are they serious about theology”, Os Guiness and John Seel.
No postmodernist would “want to fly in an airplane designed by a committee picked for its multicultural diversity”, P.E. Johnson.
“It has now become eminently clear that we cannot serve God and untethered technology”, D. Gareth Jones.
“Love in a Scriptural sense is not a soft, sentimental emotion. It is a deliberate act of my will. It means that I am willing to lay down my life, lay myself out, put myself out on behalf of another”, Phillip Keller.
"There is no such thing as a half-hearted Christian", attrib. Mary Worrall Kellogg.
“The quality of modern mercy becomes exceeding strained”, G. Studdert Kennedy (“Woodbine Willie”).
The Psychologist: “He takes the saints to pieces And labels all their parts, He tabulates the secrets Of loyal, loving hearts. His reasoning is perfect, His proofs are plain as paint. He has but one small weakness, He cannot make a saint”, G. Studdert Kennedy.
"Short cuts to holiness have a way of turning out to have been a wrong turning", John Kent.
“We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offences but for one offence”, C.S. Lewis.
“Love is not just a sentiment … Love is a great controlling passion and it always expresses itself in terms of obedience”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“I either submit [myself] to the authority of the Scriptures or else I am in a morass where there is no standing”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“We should not interpret Scripture in the light of our experiences, but we should examine our experiences in the light of the teaching of Scripture”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Experience which is not based solidly upon truth and doctrine is dangerous”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“People seem to think that the masses are outside the Christian church because our evangelistic methods are not what they ought to be. That is not the answer. People are outside the church because looking at us they say, ‘What is the point of being Christians? – look at them!” They are judging Christ by you and me. And you cannot stop them and you cannot blame them”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“As I understand the meaning of the word ‘faith’, it means that I am content not to understand certain things in this life”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There are some people who think that because they are assailed by doubts they have no faith. That is a complete fallacy … There is a sense in which we can define faith as that which enables a man to overcome his doubts and answer them”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“A man who objects to the demands of the Sermon on the Mount is not a Christian. The Christian feels that that sermon is exactly what he would expect from God, that that is how man should live”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The only reason for being holy is this, that it is only as we are holy that we can glorify God. ‘Be ye holy”. Why? Because you will have a nice comfortable feeling? Because you will no longer be defeated? Not at all! ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy’”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Holiness is not a feeling, holiness is not an experience; holiness is to be devoted to God, to be at His service”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Christians, the highway to comfort is to mind comfort less and duty more”, Martyn Lloyd Jones.
A person “cannot be a slave to grace and yet live in sin; it is utterly impossible”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“You do not cease to be a Christian when you sin … you remain in Christ… You may and you should feel ashamed, but you should not feel condemnation”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The backslider, however grievously he may be sinning, is still a child of God … the backslider always returns”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“God has sent His only Son to die for us and our sins, and if He did so when we were enemies, then it is quite certain that He will never allow us to fall”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“We were never meant to be content with a little” of God, Martyn Lloyd Jones.
“You cannot be a Christian without having received the Holy Spirit … it is impossible, it is inconceivable. That means the Holy Spirit dwells within every Christian”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
However, “If your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not include this idea of the Holy Spirit falling upon people, it is seriously, grievously defective”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“In every single instance of the baptism with the Spirit it is something that happens to us, which we do not control. You can pray for the baptism … but that does not guarantee that it happens”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“In the second chapter of Acts … the Apostles who were already believers, already regenerate, and on whom the Lord had already breathed the Spirit, were setting out upon their work and ministry. And as happened to our Lord Himself at His baptism at the beginning of His ministry, so it happened to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost that the Spirit came upon them in this way”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“If what you have ‘received’ makes you think of the experience only, of what you felt and sensed, and it has no reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, then there is every reason to fear that it has been a spurious experience”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There is nothing … so wrong and so dangerous as to try to induce or produce in ourselves the gifts of the Spirit”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“As many factors can cause disease, so many factors can produce cures”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“We must have a critical attitude towards the dogmatisms of science, as well as to the often exaggerated claims of certain religious groups”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“What we all need is not a doctor, but a sergeant major”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The life of sanctification is not an experience to be received, [it] must be the outworking of the teaching”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Christianity is concerned as much with the heart as with the head”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The greatest fight of every Christian, every born again person, is this fight against sin as it ever threatens to take over”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The body is a living sacrifice. You go on presenting it day by day, hour by hour and you never stop”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Worldliness is in the first place a matter of thinking, a matter of the mind”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Never be aggressive in any sense”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Christians are men and women of moderation”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Jesus demanded not a reformation of behaviour, but a transformation of character, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“What is the object of salvation? Is it merely to deliver me from hell? No, it is to make me conform to the will of God”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“If Christ justifies you, He will sanctify you! He will not save you and leave you in your sins”, R.M. McCheyne.
“For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ”, R.M. McCheyne.
“Lying is a sin in large letters, and lying by leaders is unforgivable”, Karl Menninger.
“What was the secret of [Daniel’s] success? He knew his God”, D.L. Moody.
“The word of God is given to man not that he may have a correct theory, but that he may have the truth”, Campbell Morgan.
“The open door does not necessarily mean the easy pathway”, Campbell Morgan.
“God not only orders our steps, He orders our stops”, George Muller.
“Let more than the domestic mill Be turned by feeling’s river; Let charity ‘begin at home’, But not stay there forever”, Mrs. Osgood.
“Slaves find freedom when released from their duties; children find freedom in doing their duty”, John Owen.
“Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you”, John Owen.
“We are to order our lives by the light of His Law, not by our guesses about His plan”, J.I. Packer.
“Law without love is Pharisaism; love without Law is Antinomianism”, J.I. Packer.
“A spiritual gift is an ability, divinely bestowed and sustained, to grasp and express the realities of the spiritual world and the knowledge of God in Christ, for the edifying both of others and of oneself”, J.I. Packer.
"According to Paul, Satan is powerless to bring about the moral downfall of Christians if they take appropriate preventive measures", Sydney H.T. Page.
"Evil is usually more dangerous when it is cloaked in what appears to be goodness than when it takes baser expressions", Sydney H.T. Page.
"Natural abilities are as truly gifts from God as those termed by men gracious abilities", Phoebe Palmer.
“It is arguable that theophany is the goal of theology”, Stuart Piggin.
The way Christians “think about Christian living is often absorbed more from the cultural air we breathe, rather than learned from categories of Scripture”, John Piper.
“O, get holy”, is an anagram of “theology”, Adrian Plass.
“God requires the duty. If its performance brings no return, that is God’s affair not yours. The soldier who has obeyed every order comes back from defeat, as from victory, with honour”, George Scott Railton.
“More people die of worry than of work”, S.C. Rees.
“No one can serve God acceptably who does not expect it to cost, and cost, and cost”, John Rice.
“If I had my choice in selecting teachers for any activity of a local church, I would not first seek those who have the greatest academic credentials… I would seek a person who is open and responsive, who loves Jesus Christ, and who is growing”, Larry Richards.
“We are selling more [Christian] books, more Bibles, more tapes and CDs than ever before, and all the while … America becomes more secularized and Christians themselves grow biblically illiterate”, Kim Riddlebarger.
“There is no holiness without warfare”, J.C. Ryle.
“If we cannot remove the hedges that separate us, let us keep them as low as we can and shake hands over them”, J.C. Ryle.
“Obedience to God’s Word is the watershed. And the failure of the evangelical world to take … a biblical stand on the crucial issues of the day can only be seen as a failure to live life under the full authority of God’s Word”, Francis Schaeffer.
"The great and final Garden of Paradise is only to be approached through the Garden of Gethsemane", Lord Shaftesbury.
"Why are we weak? Not because we are not busy, but because we are not holy", R.H.B. Shapland.
“After all fillings, be ever empty, hungry and feeling need, and praying for more”, Thomas Shepard.
"Men and women who mind their own business often succeed because they have but few competitors","Gipsy" Smith.
“There is no language in the world so eloquent as a holy life. Men may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do”, C.H. Spurgeon.
“Let trials bless”, C.H. Spurgeon.
"We may sleep, but Satan does not", C.H. Spurgeon.
"He that cannot bear examination will have to bear condemnation", C.H. Spurgeon.
"If you put anything in the centre of your (belief) system except Christ, you will be sure to be in a 1000 muddles, and never will be able to understand the things of the Kingdom", C.H. Spurgeon.
“Among the privileges of friendship is the right of being told our faults by our friend”, James Stalker.
“The day of rest is not rightly spent unless it is a delight to man as well as holiness to the Lord”, James Stalker.
“If you trust yourself to walk in the light of your own conscience, uninstructed or little instructed by the Word of God, you will end up doing things that you are deeply and sincerely convinced are right. But they may be terribly hurtful and destructive within the Church”, R.C. Steadman
“God never gives a faith of assurance, before he gives a faith of dependence”, Solomon Stoddard.
The best teachers are “those who remain students all their lives”, John Stott.
"Private opinion creates public opinion... That is why private opinion, and private behaviour, and private conversation are so terrifyingly important", Jan Struther (also known as J. Anstruther).
“The use of means ought not to lessen our faith in God; and our faith in God ought not to hinder our using whatever means He has given us for the accomplishment of His own purposes”, Hudson Taylor.
We “cannot comfortably serve both God and the world. To trim between [them] is the sure way to be disappointed in both”, John Wesley.
“Whether they finally be lost or saved, you are expressly commanded to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. If you can, and do not, whatever becomes of them, you shall go away into everlasting fire”, John Wesley.
“We cannot study to ruin our neighbour’s trade in order to advance our own”, John Wesley.
“If I had 12 men who loved God with all their hearts and hated sin with all their hearts I will conquer the world”, John Wesley.
“Oh, that I might dispute with no man! But if I must dispute let it be with men of sense”, John Wesley.
A Christian “may fall foully, but not fall finally”, George Whitefield.
“We cannot know God adequately unless we know him in the context of … the community of His people”, David Wong.
EVANGELISM AND CONVERSION
“What you win them with, you win them to”, Win Arn.
“The faith that liberates is itself a gift”, St. Augustine of Hippo.
"God rarely gives the gift of evangelism and the ability to count to the same person", David Malcolm Bennett.
"All conversions are gradual, but some are less gradual than others. Some much less!" David Malcolm Bennett.
“If the gospel were less mysterious, it would lack one of the characters of the Divine signature. If it were less simple & comprehensible, it would be lack adaptation to its great object”, Catherine Booth.
"The great want in this day is truth that cuts", Catherine Booth.
"Don't ever tell anybody he is saved. I never do. I leave that for the Holy Ghost to do", Catherine Booth.
"Men cannot be turned from Satan to God by gentle phrases and lavender water. To save men is a desperate, agonising, wounding business", William Booth.
"There are different views on the subject of preparation for the [pulpit]. Some think that no preparation is needed... That is not my view and it has never been my practice. If you are on such good terms with the Blessed Spirit that He will fill your pitcher with the living water without any trouble to yourself, very good. I have always had to draw mine out of the well, and very deep I have often found that well to be; and very hard pumping it has usually been to get out what I have wanted", William Booth
“If the good news of God’s grace is to be truly heard, the bad news concerning man’s sin must be preached. If the ‘Yes’ of God’s grace is to be truly heard, God’s ‘No’ to sin must be proclaimed”, Charles Cameron.
“The Scripture representations of conversion do strongly imply & signify a change of nature”, Jonathan Edwards.
“A false conversion puts an end to convictions of conscience; and so either takes away, or much diminishes that conscientiousness, which was manifested under a work of law”, Jonathan Edwards.
"There is an endless variety in the particular manner and circumstances in which persons are wrought upon ... God is further from confining himself to certain steps, and a particular method,in his work on souls, than it may be some do imagine", Jonathan Edwards.
“Good works are a good sign of faith but a rotten basis for faith”, William Fenner.
“Many modern methods of evangelism lead either to an inadequate perception of the gospel (seen less clearly it can be rejected more easily) or to an inadequate preparation for Christian discipleship (a gospel that is all invitation and no demand, all choice and no chosenness, is no basis for costly obedience)”, Os Guiness.
“Faith is an assent to truth upon the exhibition of evidence”, Charles Hodge.
“True repentance springs from right views of God”, Charles Hodge.
“We should preach the Gospel in a way suitable to the enquirer … Is it really becoming to urge people who know nothing about the being of God … to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” W. Kuhrt.
“If the preaching of the Gospel does not “annoy the natural man … there is something wrong with it”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“If our people cannot explain the way of salvation to unconverted men, we are deplorably bad preachers”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“You are either a Christian or you are not a Christian; you cannot be partly a Christian. You are either ‘dead’ or ‘alive’; you are either ‘born’ or ‘not born’”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The greatest mind in the world cannot understand [the gospel], but it can save a little child”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Christianity does not primarily address itself, in the first instance, either to the heart, the emotions or to the will, but to the mind”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“It matters not how many ‘decisions’ a man has taken, if there is no change in his life he is just not a Christian”, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“People are often given the impression that because they ‘came forward’ in a meeting they are therefore regenerate and are Christians. No one is in a position to say so”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“An evangelism that does not start by a call to repentance and conviction of sin is unscriptural”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The Holy Spirit never browbeats us. He always persuades”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“A man is never saved against his will … What the Spirit does is to enlighten and persuade so that we desire the things of God. He puts a new principle … into us, and then we desire those things”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
When Martyn Lloyd-Jones was asked, “When did you last have a campaign at Westminster Chapel?” he replied, “I have one every Sunday”.
“The best witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ … have always been men who had full assurance”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“What gives us conviction of sin is not the number of sins we have committed; it is the sight of the holiness of God”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“We are not interested in sentiment, we are interested in true emotion, in the heart being moved”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The appeal of the gospel is never only to the intellect, it always includes the emotions – the heart”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“True evangelism always … has a reference to God”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“It is very wrong for the church to allow her thinking about theology, evangelism and ethics to be governed by the mind and outlook of the world”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“I have followed the rule not to minister comfort to any person except to those who have become contrite and are sorrowing because of their sin”, Martin Luther.
"If I seek [Christ] I have not far to go. For it is not the sheep that finds the shepherd. The shepherd finds the sheep. His journey is begun before mine", W. Russell Maltby.
“My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness”, R.M. McCheyne.
"Believers are justified by faith, and judged by its fruit", Alister McGrath.
"You can't save more people by lowering the standards of the Gospel", Patrick McIntyre.
“No sinner ever turned his heart to God if the heart of God were not first set on the sinner”, John Owen.
“Faith is not a meritorious work, but the stretching out of an empty hand to lay hold of a Saviour, and with Him a salvation”, J.I. Packer.
“Gladness and gravity should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burdens of the saints”, John Piper.
“Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not make ourselves born again by deciding to believe”. John Piper.
“Good preaching is ‘saturated with Scripture’ and not based upon Scripture”, John Piper.
"The world cannot be moved by a busy Church, but only by a holy Church", R.H.B. Shapland.
"If you saw the devil (in a vision) that would not send you to hell, and if you saw Christ it would not send you to heaven", C.H. Spurgeon.
“If a man is going to sleep in my congregation, don’t wake him up; wake me up”, C.H. Spurgeon.
“We shall never have great preachers till we have great divines”, C.H. Spurgeon.
“Those of us who are endowed with the dangerous gift of humour have need, sometimes, to stop and take the word out of our mouth and look at it, and see whether it is quite to edification”, C.H. Spurgeon.
“No one will have power with men who has not power with God for men”, James Stalker.
“Evangelism is not a technique. It is the Lord of the Church who reserves to Himself His sovereign right to add to His Church”, John Stott.
“We become His witnesses by what we are rather than by what we do”, Don Streten.
“Faith is the hand of the soul, and it is with it we must touch God”, Billy Sunday.
“By nature we are averse to the things of God. We are born unbelievers, and have no faith till we are born again”, Charles Wesley.
“If … fear of the wrath of God is abiding on thee, [and you] desire to escape from [God’s] indignation, to cease from evil and learn to do well… ‘Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God’”, John Wesley.
“It is … absurd to offer Christ to them whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken”, John Wesley.
“Much contemporary evangelism appears to depend more on human persuasiveness than on divine power”, John White.
“If you have never felt the weight of original sin, do not call yourselves Christian”, George Whitefield.
“True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His Law, and in His people”, George Whitefield.
“You are to feel that you are a lost sinner, not that you are an elect sinner”, Octavius Winslow.
"There is but one way in which to flee from God, and that is to flee unto him", Edward J. Young.
GOD
God “is not a servant to be manipulated by those who appeal to Him on the basis of His divine attributes”, T.D. Alexander.
“It is a distinguishing mark of error that whatever anyone finds personally displeasing he imagines is displeasing to God as well,” Augustine.
"Jesus is no draughtsman of political blueprints, he is the one who vanquished evil through suffering", Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Bible "tells not of man's seeking a lost God, but of God seeking lost men... The God who calls before we answer, and answers before we call" Edmund P. Clowney.
“Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. God’s sovereignty has ever appeared to me a great part of his glory. It has often been my delight to approach God and adore him as a sovereign God”, Jonathan Edwards.
"God Himself being eternal and therefore young", Jacques Ellul.
God “is our heavenly Father, not our heavenly Grandfather”, M.J. Erickson.
“If [Christ] were ‘the lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev 13:8), he must have been a Prophet before Moses, a Priest before Aaron, and a King before David”, A.A. Hodge.
“God is in the atom just as really and effectually as in the planet”, A.A. Hodge.
“God is without beginning or succession or end”, A.A. Hodge.
“The Holy Ghost is everywhere present, and He works directly alike in the ways we distinguish as natural and supernatural – alike through appointed instruments and agencies, and immediately by his direct personal power”, A.A. Hodge.
“Christ did not die that God might love us, but He died because God loved us”, C. Hodge.
“The three blessed Persons in the Holy Trinity are concerned about us and our salvation. The Father planned it all; the Son came to execute it; and the Spirit applies it”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“In the same great and eternal God there is a hatred of sin and at the same time this everlasting love to the sinner. There is no conflict, there is no incompatibility; the two things are there”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“God is far more to his people than One who commands. But He is not less”, J. Piper.
God is the almighty, not the all-matey, T. Sargent.
“Both must appear together: the holiness of God and the love of God, exhibited simultaneously by the grace of God”, Francis Schaeffer.
“The Jesus of the New Testament is not fundamentally man, however divinely gifted; He is God tabernacling for a while among men, with heaven lying about Him, not merely in His infancy, but throughout the days of His flesh”, B.B. Warfield.
THE HEAVENLY REALM AND THE END TIMES
"Heaven is the only place where there can be a crowd without a crush", William Booth.
“Those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to write end-times books”, Steve Dennie.
“God doesn’t read prophecy books”, Steve Dennie.
“Death is not anything but Satan’s lie upon eternal life”, G.A. Studdert Kennedy.
The resurrection body: “I argue that there is on the one hand a sameness and continuity, while on the other hand there is a difference in the actual constitution. The same body, but then glorified. ‘It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body’”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The devil is under the rule of God”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The devil is God’s devil”, Martin Luther.
“There is no one goes to church so regularly as Satan”, D.L. Moody.
In heaven we will have “Unclouded Vision … Perfect Correspondence with our Master … Full Knowledge [and] Unceasing Service”, G. Campbell Morgan.
"God judges according to their deeds those whom he saves by his grace", E.P. Sanders.
“We … are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly, gentleman’s discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ”, Francis Schaeffer
“We have in the Christian West … a ‘rapture syndrome.’ We wait for Jesus to return and make everything right. But we are to be laboring in the fields at the moment of His return”, Cal Thomas.
PRAYER AND WORSHIP
“Worship and lordship belong integrally together. Worship is a community’s recognition of its lord”, R.J. Bauckham
Writing about the Lord’s Supper, John Calvin is supposed to have said, “I rather experience it than understand it”.
“Gracious affections don’t tend to make men bold, forward, noisy and boisterous [before God]; but rather to speak trembling (Hos. 13:1)”, Jonathan Edwards.
Yet “there is doubtless [holy boldness in prayer]; and it is to be chiefly found in eminent saints, persons of great degrees of faith and love”, Jonathan Edwards.
"The proper aim of all true theology is doxology", Gordon Fee.
“When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is to set them to prayer”, Matthew Henry
“To attempt to worship a God without a name is to attempt the impossible”, G. Studdert Kennedy (“Woodbine Willie”).
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because that praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment”, C.S. Lewis.
“We do not pray truly if we are doubtful and uncertain. We should go into His presence as a child goes to his father. We do it with reverence and godly fear, of course… but we should go with a childlike confidence and simplicity”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Do not claim, you make your requests known”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“The Lord’s supper is not for people who are good enough; it is for people who are not ‘under the law’ but ‘under grace’; it is for people who are married to Christ”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There is no transmissible grace in a sacrament”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Genuine worship is a response to divine truth. It is passionate because it arises out of love for God. But to be true worship it must also arise out of a correct understanding of His law, His righteousness, His mercy and His being”, J.F. MacArthur.
“True worship is more a matter of substance than of form”, J.F. MacArthur.
“Although worship may be contemporary and remain authentic, it cannot be ‘seeker-oriented’ and remain true to the biblical concept of genuine worship”, R.A. Mohler.
D.L. Moody was once asked, “Did you hear Spurgeon preach?” He answered, “Yes, but better still I heard him pray”.
“We desperately need a return to true worship and effective preaching. When God answers our prayers for that the Christian church will again become a power in the land”, Iain Murray.
“One of the purposes of worship is to give people vision, perspective and power to go back into the dirty stuff of the world and relate to it in Christ’s name”, John Newport.
“To the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing”, J.I. Packer.
In worship “Make sure you hear God speak and do not sing too much”, Stuart Piggin.
“The revived Christian is not content with worship that is need-centred, man-centred or results-centred”, Stuart Piggin.
“Amen means ‘Yes, Lord, you can do it’. It means, “Yes, Lord, you are powerful”, John Piper.
“Anyone who prays for revival should wait on God and continue in prayer and pleading”, John Rice.
“Anything we have a right to pray about, we have a right to keep on praying about until we either learn that the prayer is against the will of God, or until we receive our request”, John Rice.
“The one great essential of prayer in God’s sight is sincerity”, John Rice.
“In America worship begins every Sunday at one o’clock in the stadium of one’s choice”, R.C. Sproul.
If Jesus needed to pray “being what He was, how must we need it, being what we are”, James Stalker.
Luther prayed “with so much reverence, as if he were speaking to God, yet with so much confidence, as if he were speaking to his friend”, Theodorus.
“Whosoever … imagines there is any intrinsic power in any means whatsoever, does greatly err… there is no inherent power in … the bread and wine” in the Lord’s Supper, John Wesley.
MISCELLANEOUS
“God made man “a little lower than the angels’; sin has made you little better than the devils”, Joseph Alleine.
“God made theology necessary; the devil made it controversial”, Anon.
“When I gave in to lust a habit was born, and when I did not resist the habit it became a necessity” St. Augustine of Hippo.
"Christ did not come to civilize the world, but to save it and bring it back to God", Catherine Booth.
"When the church and the world can jog along comfortably together, you may be sure there is something wrong", Catherine Booth.
"Some of my best men are women", William Booth.
“The duty of a theologian … is not to tickle the ear, but confirm the conscience by teaching what is true, certain and useful”, John Calvin.
“When people cease to believe in something, they do not believe in nothing; they believe in anything”, G.K. Chesterton.
“The decisive battle of our time is not being fought in the realm of missiles but in the realm of mission”, Murray Dickson.
“Self-love is a principle entirely natural, and as much in the heart of devils as angels”, Jonathan Edwards.
“Sins of omission are as much breaches of God’s commands, as sins of commission”, Jonathan Edwards.
“A work of God without stumbling-blocks is never to be expected”, Jonathan Edwards.
"A great deal of the machinery of modern life is merely a sanction for un-Christian aims", T.S. Eliot.
“The much vaunted ‘Electric Church’ [has a] tendency to produce clientele instead of congregations [and] may cause untold damage to the worship, fellowship and discipleship of the Body of Christ”, Os Guiness
“The charge of sin, heresy, worldliness and idolatry has lost plausibility for many American evangelicals. They act as if loss of self-esteem outweighs sin and being un-American were far more serious than being heretical”, Os Guiness and John Seel.
“One event is never in any degree more providential than any other event”, A.A. Hodge.
“There is but one church and that church is visible or invisible just according to the eye that is looking”, A.A. Hodge.
“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken”, Samuel Johnson.
“Human being possess an abundance of God-like attributes, have the capacity of relating intimately with God, and also have responsibilities. To be made in the image of God is to be made like God. It would be foolish to take this statement too far and conclude that we actually are gods”, D. Gareth Jones.
“Sin and disease are evil, definite evil, not imperfect good; they do not call for improvement, they call for destruction”, G. Studdert Kennedy.
“When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by, They never hurt a hair of him, they simply let Him die; For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain, They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain”, G. Studdert Kennedy.
“Idols are not just on pagan altars, but in well-educated human hearts and minds”, Richard Keys.
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid" Soren Kierkegaard.
“Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst”, C.S. Lewis.
“People today have a rooted dislike of law and of sanctions and of punishment. We have almost reached the state in which they do not believe in punishing anyone; a murderer almost becomes a hero who engages public sympathy. The prisoner gets more sympathy than the victim”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“It has been my lot to be able to study a large number of wealthy men at close quarters. The conclusion at which I have arrived concerning them has been that they are intensely miserable people, their misery being exceeded only by those who worship wealth and have it not”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“Sin is the greatest power next to God Himself. It is so powerful that even God’s holy law cannot deliver us”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There is no such thing as a ‘Christian nation’”, Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
“There are remarkable and disturbing parallels, between the distorted idea of priesthood in the medieval church and the notion of ministry found within modern power evangelicalism. Both are intensely authoritarian”, Alister McGrath.
“A theology which touches the mind, leaving the heart unaffected, is no true Christian theology”, Alister McGrath.
“If you perceive your deepest need to be self-esteem, it is more likely that you will hear what you are looking for from Carl Rogers rather than from Jesus Christ”, Don Matzat.
“What is important is not always fully provable; what is fully provable is by no means always important”, R.B. Moberly.
“The church is not a voluntary organization created by man, but a fellowship initiated and given by God”, Robert Mounce.
“Pelagianism is the natural heresy of zealous Christians who are not interested in theology”, J.I. Packer.
“Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product”, J.I. Packer.
“Revival in Jonathan Edwards’ understanding happens when God gets hold of the heart. Revivalism is when the preacher gets hold of the heart”, Stuart Piggin.
“It horribly skews the meaning of the cross when contemporary prophets of self-esteem say that the cross is a witness to my infinite worth… The biblical perspective is that the cross in a witness to the infinite worth of God’s glory, and a witness to the immensity of the sin of my pride”, John Piper.
“We go to church to come out again”, George Scott Railton.
“Under the influence of the new doctrine of equality, crime has steadily been equalized with good, and even given an edge”, R.J. Rushdoony.
There “is no other means whereby nations can be reformed than by that which alone individuals can be regenerated”, Robert Southey.
“I met only one perfect man – and he was a perfect nuisance”, C.H. Spurgeon.
"Every man has a creed whether he likes to think so or not", C.H. Spurgeon.
“Missionary candidates need: a life yielded to God and controlled by His Spirit; a restful trust in God for the supply of all needs; a sympathetic spirit and a willingness to take a lowly place; tact in dealing with men, and adaptability toward circumstances; zeal in service and steadfastness in discouragement; love for communion with God and for the study of His Word; some experience and blessing in the Lord’s work at home; a healthy body, and a vigorous mind”, Hudson Taylor.
“In a world of consumers sacrifice is not a popular theme”, Stephen H. Travis.
“Let us confess, we have never yet seen a Christian country upon earth”, John Wesley.
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