“There is not any thing more offensive to the proud heart of man, than to be told that God has dealt with him in a way of sovereign grace and love. Men will not hear of God’s sovereignty: and though they claim a right to dispose of their own things according to their own will, they deny that right to God.”

Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible [Zondervan], X:573.

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry 'Mine.'"

Abraham Kuyper, cited by Joel Beeke, Living for God's Glory [Reformation Trust], p. 303.

“If men were as lavish of their money as they are of their time, if it were as common a thing for them to throw away their money, as it is for them to throw away their time, we should think them beside themselves, and not in the possession of their right minds.”

Jonathan Edwards, “The Preciousness of Time,” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:234).

"A 'saint' in whom nothing can be seen but worldliness or sin is a kind of monster not recognized in the Bible!"

J. C. Ryle, Holiness [James Clarke], p. 19.

“He whose life differs not from that of unbelievers, has learned nothing of Christ; for the knowledge of Christ cannot be separated from the mortification of the flesh.”

John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Eph. 4:20 , p. 294.

"May our life be such that it cannot be understood apart from Jesus: take him away, and our whole character would become an inexplicable mystery."

Charles Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 33:565].

"A day will come when those who are not born again will wish that they had never been born at all."

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], 3:123, on John 3:8

"We can never have too high thoughts about Christ, can never love Him too much, trust Him too implicity, lay too much weight upon Him, and speak too highly in His praise."

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], 3:172, on John 3:31-35

"The saddest moment in the life of an atheist is when he realizes he has something for which to be thankful, but no one to thank."

G. K. Chesterton, source unknown.

"Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise."
THOMAS WATSON (source unknown)

"Sin is worse than suffering; but people will do everything they can to avoid suffering, but almost nothing to avoid sin."

Don Kistler, in "Why Read the Puritans Today?" referring to Jeremiah Burroughs' thesis in The Evil of Evils.

“Great ‘I’ must fall before the great Savior will be seen. When a man becomes nothing in his own estimation, then Jesus Christ becomes everything to him; but not till then.”

Charles Spurgeon, “Scales Taken from the Eyes,” on Acts 9:18 , Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 56:326.

"God is the only desirable good, nothing without him is worthy of our hearts." John Bunyan, "Christ: A Complete Savior," The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:218.

“The Lord pours most into those who are most empty of self.”

Charles Spurgeon, An All Round Ministry [Banner of Truth], p. 329.

"If our common life is not a common course of humility, self denial, renunciation of the world, poverty of spirit, and heavenly affection, we do not live the lives of Christians."

William Law

"The old nature so remains in us, that, if we were to be deserted by God, we should even yet become such as the ungodly are. Need I quote to you the speech of John Bradford, one of the godliest of men? When he saw a wretch taken out to be hanged, the tears were in his eyes, and when they asked him why, he said, 'There goes John Bradford, but for the grace of God.'"

Charles Spurgeon, "Moab Is My Washpot," (Psalm 60:8 ).

“He who does not believe that God will punish sin, will not believe that God will pardon it through the atoning blood. He who does not believe that God will cast unbelievers into hell, will not be sure that he will take believers into heaven.”

C. H. Spurgeon, “Noah’s Faith, Fear, Obedience, and Salvation,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, [Logos Software], p. 382.

“If ever you are made pure you must be brought to see that you are filthy; you must see the plague and pollution of your own heart.”

Jonathan Edwards, Sermon IX (Matt. 5:8 ), The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:913.

... sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving; and Jesus Christ has come not to advise, or urge, or woo, or help him to save himself, but to save him; to save him through the prevalent working on him of the Holy Spirit."

B. B. Warfield, Calvin and Augustine [Presbyterian and Reformed], p.494.

“It will profit us nothing at the last day that Jesus was a Shepherd, if during our lifetime, we never heard His voice and followed Him.”

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], on John 10:10-18 , p. 190.

"I implore you never to believe any teaching that seems to make God's anger less terrible than you thought it to be. It is not possible to exaggerate here; the power of God's anger is immeasurable, and that is why the power of Christ's atonement is infinite."

Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Psalm 90:11 , Spurgeon's Expository Encyclopedia [Baker], 11:434).

"The worst of all afflictions is a wasted affliction, and they are all wasted unless they teach us more of the reality and the blessedness of the love of Jesus Christ."

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture [Baker], on Romans 8:37 , p. 207.

“Read the Bible with reverence. Think in every line you read that God is speaking to you.”

Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity [Banner of Truth], p. 35.

“Dear brothers and sisters, be sure that you do not lose your joy. Do not be satisfied to be a miserable believer. Depend upon it, greater importance attaches to holy happiness than most people think. As you are happy in the Lord you will be able to praise his name. Rejoice in the Lord, that you may praise him.”

Charles Spurgeon, “A Life-long Occupation,” on Hebrews 13:15 , Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Ages Software], p. 733.

"If I were to die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance; and if I die out of the pulpit, I would desire to die practicing repentance."

Philip Henry, in Matthew Henry, The Life of Rev. Philip Henry [Banner of Truth], p. 141.

“If revival in this land depended on your prayers, your faith, your obedience, would we ever experience revival?”

Del Fehsenfeld Jr., founder of Life Action Ministries, (Spirit of Revival [Feb., 1999], p. 11)

“Jesus Christ is not only a Savior of few, but He offers Himself to all. As often as the gospel is preached to us, we ought to consider that God calls us to Him; and if we attend to this call, it shall not be in vain, neither shall it be lost labor. But can we come to Him without any assistance, except what we derive from our own nature? Alas, we cannot!”

John Calvin, The Mystery of Godliness and Other Sermons [Soli Deo Gloria], p. 109 (on 1 Tim. 2:3-5 ).

"The reason why we worship God in a slight way is because we do not see God in His glory."

Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Worship.

“It is not in the power of all the men on earth to make one man come to God by Christ, because it is not in their power to make men see their state by nature.”

John Bunyan, “Christ: A Complete Savior,” The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:218.

“They shall see their pardon when they have truly seen their sin…. No man ever knows the preciousness of the God-given remedy till he has felt the force of the terrible disease.”

C. H. Spurgeon, commenting on Zechariah 13:1 , (Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia [Baker], 7:104).

“The root of all rejection of Christ is the desire of self-will to reign supreme.”

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture [Baker], on Luke 20:9-19 , p. 194.

“The whole plan of God’s dealings with man is to humble that pride, the root of which is selfishness, and the fruit of which is every form of sin.”

Thomas Moore, Zechariah [Banner of Truth], p. 196, on Zechariah 12:7 .

"There is nothing which is so sinful and which so denies the gospel as to make a separation between salvation and a life of holiness."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Darkness and Light [Baker], p. 110.

"Therefore, when he says, shall come to me, he means, they shall have a discovery of the glory of the grace that is in him; and the beauty and glory of that is of such virtue, that it constrains, and forces, with a blessed violency, the hearts of those that are given to him."

John Bunyan, on John 6:37 , The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:261.

"The sin of sins is the failure to recognize Jesus for what He is."

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture [Baker], commenting on Mark 14:55-65 , p. 218.

“The bank of heaven is a sure bank. I have drawn thousands of bills upon it, and never had one sent back protested.”

George Whitefield.

"True spiritual life is to apprehend, in some measure, the value, the glory, and the preciousness of the Lord Jesus."

from The Precious Things of God, by Octavius Winslow

"It is people who have the deepest understanding of sin and what it means who have the greatest understanding and appreciation of the love and the grace and the mercy and the kindness of God. A superficial view of sin leads to a superficial view of salvation, and to a superficial view of everything else."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Darkness and Light [Baker], p. 52.

"God's method of supplying our need is to give us fresh knowledge of Himself, for every need can be met by seeing Him."

Donald Barnhouse, Genesis [Zondervan], 1:105.

“But in the service of God the chief thing is this — that men deny themselves and give themselves up to be ruled by God, and never raise a clamor when he humbles them.”

John Calvin, Calvin's Commentaries [Baker],15:595-596, on Malachi 3:13

"God has condescended to become an author, and yet people will not read his writings. There are very few that ever gave this Book of God, the grand charter of salvation, one fair reading through."

George Whitefield.

“The more holy any being is, the more sweet and delightful will it be to him to behold the glory and beauty of the Supreme Being.”

Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:147.

"The brightest saint is the man who has the most heart-searching sense of his own sinfulness, and the liveliest sense of his own complete acceptance in Christ."

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], Luke 11-24 , p. 519.

“Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.”

John Flavel

"An inadequate understanding of our sinfulness is probably the greatest single cause of our failure to rejoice in the Lord always, and to realize that [the gospel] is the greatest good news that the world has ever received."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Gospel of God [Zondervan], p. 58.

“The reason why you see . . .no real mortification or self denial, no eminent charity, no profound humility, no heavenly affection, no true contempt of the world, no Christian meekness, no sincere zeal, no eminent piety in the common lives of Christians, is this, because they do not so much as intend to be exact and exemplary in these virtues.”

William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

"It will be better at the last day never to have been born, than to have had Christ 'standing among us' and not to have known Him."

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], 3:46, commenting on John 1:26 , "among you stands One whom you do not know."

[Those who look on Christ through His Word by the help of His Holy Spirit] “see glory in his person, glory in his undertakings, glory in the merit of his blood, and glory in the perfection of his righteousness; yes, heart-affecting, heart-sweetening, and heart-changing glory!”

John Bunyan, “Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ,” The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:260.

“For holiness can never be an inherent and personal attribute; it must always be ours in proportion as we are God-possessed and God-filled. They are holiest who have most of God.”

F. B. Meyer, The Prophet of Hope [Christian Literature Crusade], p. 149.

“As Christ is the object at which faith aims, so he is the stone at which all heretics stumble.”

John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on 1 John 2:2 , p. 232.

"To prosper in sin is the greatest tragedy that can befall a man this side of hell. Envy not such a one his pomp any more than you would a corpse his flowers."

Seventeenth century English poet, John Trapp (source unknown).

"The more we know of God, the more we loathe ourselves and repent." F. B. Meyer, The Prophet of Hope [Christian Literature Crusade], p. 44.

“All God’s attributes teach admiring thoughts of God, and low thoughts of ourselves.”

Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God [Baker], 1:475.

"Open sin kills its thousands of souls. Self-righteousness kills its tens of thousands."

J. C. Ryle, A New Birth [Old Paths Gospel Press], "The Cross," p. 13.

“There never was a Christian man that was too happy in God.”

Charles Spurgeon, “First King of Righteousness, and After That King of Peace,” on Hebrews 7:2 [Ages Software].

“Let your daily history be a traveling to Jesus empty, and a coming from Jesus filled.”

from Octavius Winslow’s, “The Glory of the Redeemer in His People”

“In every view of salvation the place given in it to the glory of God provides the ultimate test. The proof that it is truly scriptural is that it gives all the glory to God.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose (Eph. 1 ) [Baker], p. 225.

“We have no authority to trust in God for anything which he has not promised: and we are bound to trust in him for everything that he has promised.”

Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible [Zondervan], 6:270.

"Since God is truth, a contempt for truth is equally a contempt for God."

Gordon Clark, A Christian Philosophy of Education, p, 158

“The want [lack] of sharply cut, well-defined doctrine in sermons is one of the worst and most dangerous symptoms of the present day.”

J. C. Ryle, Home Truths [Triangle Press], 1:102.

“Do not be afraid of feeling which is the child of faith. Be very much more afraid of a religion that leaves your heart beating just exactly at the same rate that it did before you took the truth into it.”

Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture [Baker], on Hebrews 11:7 , p. 117.