Top 381 Quotes & Sayings by J. C. Ryle - Page 2

Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory.

In Christ alone God’s rich provision of salvation for sinners is treasured up: by Christ alone God’s abundant mercies come down from heaven to earth. Christ’s blood alone can cleanse us; Christ’s righteousness alone can cleanse us; Christ’s merit alone can give us a title to heaven. Jews and Gentiles, learned and unlearned, kings and poor men--all alike must either be saved by the Lord Jesus, or lost forever.

Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct.

I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees.

The Gospel which we possess was not given to us only to be admired, talked of, and professed - but to be practiced.

We know but little of true Christianity, if we don't feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people.

Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect, so does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order, and design in all the events of our daily life. There is no such thing as 'chance', 'luck', or 'accident' in the Christian journey through this world.

Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules. The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God’s approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another’s sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.

It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear.

It must not content us to take our bodies to church if we leave our hearts at home.

Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be obtained by diligent, regular, daily, attentive reading.

Sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.

Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled hearts.

Prayer is the very life-breath of true Christianity.

We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life.

Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.

True repentance begins with KNOWLEDGE of sin. It goes on to work SORROW for sin. It leads to CONFESSION of sin before God. It shows itself before a person by a thorough BREAKING OFF from sin. It results in producing a DEEP HATRED for all sin.

Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity!

We have no reason to be discouraged and cast down if the religion we profess is not popular and few agree with us. We must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: ‘The gate is narrow’. Repentance, and faith in Christ, and holiness of life, have never been fashionable. The true flock of Christ has always been small. It must not move us to find that we are reckoned singular, and peculiar, and bigoted, and narrow minded. This is the ‘narrow way’. Surely it is better to enter into eternal life with a few, than to go to ‘destruction’ with a great company

Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell.

The true Christian delights to read the Scriptures, because they tell him about his beloved Savior.

There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts, words and actions, of which we take far too little account.

Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will.

Happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.

If you do not love Christ, let me tell you plainly what is the reason. You have no sense of debt to him.

God is far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved.

We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.

The love of Christ towards His people is a deep well which has no bottom.

There will be no universal peace until the Prince of Peace appears.

And I believe it to be a signal evidence of the Spirit's presence when the Word is really precious to a man 's soul.

?"A humble and prayerful person will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud student will utterly fail to discern." ~ J.C. Ryle

It is not hard to deceive ministers, relatives and friends. But it is impossible to deceive Christ.

Whatever you read, read the Bible first. Beware of bad books: there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read.

Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within. The world and the devil combined, cannot do us as much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray.

To say that we are sorry for our sins is mere hypocrisy, unless we show that we are really sorry for them, by giving them up. Doing is the very life of repentance.

The heart of a man can never be satisfied with the things of this world. It is always empty, and hungry, and thirsty, and dissatisfied, till it comes to Christ. It is only they who hear Christ's voice, and follow Him, and feed on Him by faith, who are 'filled.'.

Backsliding, generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.

God does not look at riches, titles, education, or beauty. There is only one thing that God does look at, and that is the soul.

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time.

A trial is an instrument by which our Father in heaven makes Christians more holy.

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just. Such a God is an idol of your own.

Let us strive, every year we live, to become more deeply acquainted with Scripture.

It costs something to be a true Christian. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousn ess, our ease and our worldliness.

Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

The nearer we live to God while we live, the more ready we will be to dwell forever in His presence when we die.

Are you tempted? Look unto Jesus. Are you afflicted? Look unto Jesus. Do all speak evil of you? Look unto Jesus. Do you feel cold, dull, and backsliding? Look unto Jesus.

Wherever we may be, or whatever our circumstances, the Lord Jesus sees them. We are never beyond the reach of His care.

Let us beware of repentance without evidence.

Let us watch against pride in every shape - pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride of our own goodness. Nothing is so likely to keep a person out of heaven, and prevent them from seeing Christ, as pride. So long as we think we are something we shall never be saved. Let us pray for and cultivate humility; let us seek to know ourselves correctly, and to find out our place in the sight of a holy God.

What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.

Make it a part of every day's business to read and meditate on some portion of God's Word. Private means of grace are just as needful every day for our souls as food and clothing are for our bodies.

Without a thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.

O Christian, look up and take comfort. Jesus has prepared a place for you, and those who follow Him shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of His hands.

No one ever reached heaven without repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

The standard of the world, and the standard of the Lord Jesus, are indeed widely different. They are more than different. They are flatly contradictory one to the other.

True Christian is not an angel; he is not a halfangelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity: he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ.

Since Satan can't destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction or substitution.

Let us read our Bibles reverently and diligently, with an honest determination to believe and practice all we find in them.

Fathers and mothers, do not forget that children learn more by the eye than they do by the ear... Imitation is a far stronger principle with children than memory. What they see has a much stronger effect on their minds than what they are told.