A most soul-ruining sin!
Read More“I hate pride and arrogance!” Proverbs 8:13
It is a dreadful fact, whether we like to allow it or not–that PRIDE is one of the common sins which beset human nature. We are all born Pharisees. We all naturally think far better of ourselves than we ought. We all naturally imagine that we deserve something better than we have.
Pride is an old sin. It began in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve thought they had not got everything that their merits deserved.
Pride is a subtle sin. It rules and reigns in many a heart without being detected, and can even wear the garb of humility.
Pride is a most soul-ruining sin. It prevents repentance, keeps men back from Christ, checks brotherly love, and nips spiritual desires in the bud.
Let us watch against pride, and be on our guard.
Of all garments, none is so graceful, none wears so well, and none is so rare–as true humility. “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud–but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5
Thanks Grace Gems! (J. C. Ryle)
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you“ John 15:7
To abide in Christ, means to keep up a habit of constant close communion with Him–to be always . . .
leaning on Him,
resting on Him,
pouring out our hearts to Him, and
using Him as our Fountain of life and strength–as our chief Companion and best Friend!To have Christ’s words abiding in us, is to keep His sayings and precepts continually before our memories and minds, and to make them the guide of our actions and the rule of our daily conduct and behavior.
Thanks Grace Gems! (J. C. Ryle)
Read MoreThe Power of Christ Towards His People
Read MoreIt is a blessed and comfortable thought, that all this almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ is engaged on behalf of His believing people. He has undertaken to save every one of them to the uttermost, and He is “mighty to save.” The trials of His people are often many and great. The devil never ceases to make war against them. The rulers of this world frequently persecute them. The very heads of the Church, who ought to be tender shepherds, are often bitterly opposed to the truth as it is in Jesus. Yet, notwithstanding all this, Christ’s people shall never be entirely forsaken. Though severely harassed, they shall not be destroyed. Though cast down, they shall not be cast away. At the darkest time let true Christians rest in the thought, that greater is He who is for them than all those who are against them.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA:Banner of Truth, 1986], 264. {Luke 8:22-25}
Looking Ahead To Christ’s Return
A true Christian has a good hope when he looks ahead: the worldly man has none. A true Christian sees light in the distance: the worldly man sees nothing but darkness. And what is the hope of a true Christian? It is just this, – that Jesus Christ is coming again, coming without sin, – coming with all His people, – coming to wipe away every tear, – coming to raise His sleeping saints from the grave, – coming to gather together all His family, that they may be for ever with Him. Why is a believer patient? Because he looks for the coming of the Lord. He can bear hard things without murmuring. He knows the time is short. He waits quietly for the King.
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Christ is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 382.
Read MoreDeliver Us From Pantheism
I feel it a duty to bear my solemn testimony against the spirit of the day we live in, to warn men against its infection. It is not Atheism I fear so much, in the present times, as Pantheism. It is not the system which says nothing is true, so much as the system which says everything is true. It is not the system which says there is no Savior, so much as the system which says there are many saviors, and many ways to peace! It is the system which is so liberal, that it dares not say anything is false. It is the system which is so charitable, that it will allow everything to be true. It is the system which seems ready to honor others as well as our Lord Jesus Christ, to class them all together, and to think well of all.
It is the system which is so careful about the feelings of others, that we are never to say they are wrong. It is the system which is so liberal that it calls a man a bigot, if he dares to say, “I know my views are right.” This is the system, this is the tone of feeling which I fear in this day, and this is the system which I desire emphatically to testify against and denounce. From the liberality which says everybody is right, from the charity which forbids us to say anybody is wrong, from the peace which is bought at the expense of truth – may the good Lord deliver us!
Knots Untied, “Only One Way of Salvation” [Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., 1977], 30, 31.
Read MoreChrist Alone is Sufficient
There are multitudes of baptized men and women who profess to honour Christ, but in reality do Him great dishonour. They give Christ a certain place in their system of religion, but not the place which God intended Him to fill. Christ alone is not “all in all” to their souls. No! It is either Christ and the Church, or Christ and the sacraments, or Christ and His ordained ministers, or Christ and their own repentance, or Christ and their own goodness, or Christ and their own prayers, or Christ and their own sincerity and charity, on which they practically rest their souls.
If any reader of this paper is a Christian of this kind, I warn him also plainly, that his religion is an offence to God. You are changing God’s plan of salvation into a plan of your own devising. You are in effect deposing Christ from His throne, by giving the glory due to Him to another.
~ J.C. Ryle
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Christ Is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 386.
via J.C. Ryle Quotes
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