J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone

 

J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone, by Iain H. Murray. Published 2016, by The Banner of Truth Trust. 273 pages. ISBN 978-1-84871-679-7

Below are some selected quotations from the book.

Chapter 8: Stradbroke: Twenty Fruitful Years

The great aim of all he wrote was to lead readers to respond to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘This is the end for which I desire to write and preach; and it is of little use or value to write and preach for anything else.' 
(p.124)

(Quoted from Ryle’s Principles for Churchmen: A Manual of Positive Statements on Doubtful, or Disputed Points, 1884, p.149)

----------

Chapter 9: The Teacher

"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 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 is so scrupulous about the feelings of others that we are never to say they are wrong ...

Christianity and Liberalism

Christianity and Liberalism, by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).
First published 1923. New edition 2009 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 158 pages. ISBN 978-08028-6499-4

The following are selected quotes: 

Contents:

Foreword, by Carl R. Trueman. ix
Acknowledgments. xvi
Preface. xvii
I. Introduction 1
II. Doctrine 15
III. God and Man. 47
IV. The Bible. 59
V. Christ 69
VI. Salvation 99
VII. The Church. 133
Index of Names and Subjects. 153
Index of Scripture References. 158

Chapter I: Introduction:

The purpose of this book is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but merely to present the issue as sharply and clearly as possible, in order that the reader may be aided in deciding it for himself. (p. 1)

Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963).

A quote from Mere Christianity, Book II ("What Christians Believe"), Section 3 ("The Shocking Alternative "):

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Christ Died for the Ungodly

By Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)


“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

The divine testimony concerning man is that he is a sinner! God bears witness against him, not for him; and testifies that “there is none righteous, no, not one”; that there is “none that doeth good”; none “that understandeth”; none that even seeks after God, and, still more, none that loves Him (Psa 14:1-3; Rom 3:10-12). God speaks of man kindly but severely; as one yearning over a lost child, yet as one who will make no terms with sin, and will “by no means clear the guilty” (Exo 34:7).

He declares man to be a lost one, a stray one, a rebel, a “hater of God” (Rom 1:30); not a sinner occasionally, but a sinner always; not a sinner in part, with many good things about him, but wholly a sinner, with no compensating goodness; evil in heart as well as life; “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1); an evil doer, and therefore under condemnation; an enemy of God, and therefore under wrath; a breaker of the righteous Law, and therefore under “the curse of the law” (Gal 3:10). The sinner not merely brings forth sin, but he carries it about with him, as his second self; he is a body or mass of sin (Rom 6:6), a “body of death” (Rom 7:24), subject not to the Law of God, but to “the law of sin” (Rom 7:23).

The Christian Soldier

The Christian Soldier: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20, by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). First printing 1978; eighth printing 1989. ISBN 0801058015.

This 363-page book with twenty-five chapters was compiled from sermons preached by Dr. Lloyd-Jones on eleven verses: Ephesians 6:10-20. This book was a companion to The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13. The following quotes are a few excerpts from selected chapters.

Chapter 4: Morale

How did the saints overcome the devil 'by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony'? Doubtless it includes the thought that they spoke to the devil. They put into practice the exhortation, 'Resist the devil; and he will flee from you' How do you do so? 'You cannot touch me any longer. You used to be able to touch me, but you cannot now, the blood of Christ is upon me.' And the mention of the word 'the blood of Christ' always defeats the devil. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony.' They turned upon him and they said: 'You are a defeated foe and we belong to the One who defeated you; we are no longer afraid of you.' That is how it is done! "They overcame.' They did not just sit back and let Christ overcome them. That is not the teaching of the Scripture. You and I are enabled to do the overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. There is no 'let go and let God' here. You hold on and you fight. The astounding truth is that we are enabled to conquer the devil, to overcome him, to be more than conquerors over him. We are to resist him, and he will flee from us as long as we do so in this right way. (p.61)

The Christian Warfare

The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). First printing 1977; fifth printing 1984. ISBN: 9780801058004.

This 373-page book with twenty-six chapters was compiled from sermons preached by Dr. Lloyd-Jones on four verses: Ephesians 6:10-13. The following quotes are excerpts from selected chapters.

Chapter 1: Introduction

"A Christian's battle is not only with sin inside, but with the Devil and his forces outside. ...we must never forget the devil, we must never forget the 'principalities and powers'. I must never think that my whole problem is confined to that which is within me and in other people. Above and beyond that is this other mighty power arrayed against me, the mightiest of all powers apart from God Himself. Not to remember this basic fact is to court certain defeat and disaster. The great trouble with the world today, and with the Church unfortunately, is that they know so little about the devil and the 'principalities and powers'. Much teaching concerning holiness and sanctification never even mentions the devil and these powers at all. The problem is regarded solely as something confined to ourselves. Hence the total inadequacy of many proposed solutions." (p.19)

"The first thing we have to realize is that the Christian life is a warfare, that we are strangers in an alien land, that we are in the enemy's territory." (p.20)

The Gospel, What is it?

By James Haldane (1768-1851). Scottish former sea captain, later lay preacher and leader of independent congregations in Scotland.


THE GOSPEL is the good news of pardon to the guilty; and it enters into no calculations, in regard to the different degrees of guilt in those whom it addresses. It reveals an atonement sufficient for all; and every sinner of the human race is commanded to receive it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners. The Gospel does not teach us how to lay a foundation for ourselves, but informs us of the sure foundation which God has laid in Zion, upon which all are equally invited and commanded to build their hopes, without any apprehensions of being upbraided for their past conduct by their gracious Creator.

The Gospel is very generally misunderstood by those who profess to believe. They view it as a scheme for making up their deficiencies through the merits of Christ; but this is “another gospel.” The Gospel of Christ is addressed to those who are far from righteousness; who are poor and blind, and naked; who have no money to purchase salvation, no merit to recommend them to the favour of God. Christ came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If we are not sinners we have nothing to do with the Gospel; and if we are sinners, let us not reject the counsel of God against ourselves, by vainly supposing that anything about us gives us a peculiar claim to his favour, or by imagining that our sins are too great to be forgiven. The righteousness of God is altogether irrespective of our obedience. The thief upon the cross was saved by faith in Jesus, and none shall enter heaven in any other way.

Real Faith

George Mueller (1805-1898) 
Founder of the Orphanages at Bristol, England 

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”  (Hebrews 11:1) 

FIRST: WHAT IS FAITH? In the simplest manner in which I am able to express it, I answer: Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His Word is true, and that God will act according to what He has said in His Word. This assurance, this reliance on God's Word, this confidence is FAITH. 

NO IMPRESSIONS ARE TO BE TAKEN IN CONNECTION WITH FAITH. Impressions have neither one thing nor the other to do with faith. Faith has to do with the Word of God. It is not impressions, strong or weak, which will make any difference. We have to do with the written Word and not ourselves or our impressions.

Almost a Christian

From a treatise by Matthew Mead (1629-1699). Mead preached a series of sermons at London, England, in 1661, which were later published as a book under the title "The Almost Christian Discovered, or The False Professor Tried and Cast." This is an excerpt published as a tract by Chapel Library, Pensacola, FL:

THERE ARE TWO QUESTIONS of very great importance which we should every one of us put to ourselves:

“What am I?” and “Where am I?” Am I a child of God or not? Am I sincere in religion, or am I only a hypocrite under a profession? Am I yet in a natural state, or in a state of grace? Am I yet in the old root, in old Adam, or am I in the Root, Christ Jesus? Am I in the covenant of works that ministers only wrath and death, or am I in the covenant of grace that ministers life and peace? I press this upon you that are professors, because many rest in a notion of godliness and an outward show of religion, and yet remain in their natural condition. Many are hearers of the Word and not doers of it, and so deceive their own souls (James 1:22). He that slights the ordinances cannot be a true Christian, but yet it is possible a man may own them and yet be no true Christian.

A Pastor's Sketches

A Pastor's Sketches: Conversations with Anxious Souls Concerning the Way of Salvation, Volumes I and II, by Ichabod Spencer (1798-1854). Volume I originally published in 1850, Volume II in 1853. Republished 2013 by Solid Ground Christian Books and Granted Ministries Press. ISBN 978-1-59925-332-9.  603 pages.

The following excerpts are from Volume II, Chapter 18, "The Whistling Thinker," pp. 158, 159, 161. They describe a conversation between Ichabod Spencer (the author) as a young pastor, speaking with a then widely-known New England pastor in his 70's, who had been a pastor for forty years. The conversation took place in the first half of the 1800's:

“Now, my son, never get into a strait-jacket. You will find it pinch. It will make your bones ache. Many a minister becomes more familiar with his theological system than he is with his Bible; and not only so, but his system stands first, and when he gets hold of a text, he interprets it to square with his system, instead of paring and whitling off his system to make it agree with the text; and among his pastoral duties, he sticks to his Calvinism more than he sticks to Christ; and he would pray his system, too, if the Holy Spirit didn’t make his prayers for him. And in this way he systems his Bible into a corner, and his own soul into a nutshell. Never do that, in the pulpit or among the people. 'Preach the word’—the word, my son—THE WORD!

"Are you a Calvinist?” said he, gently, after speaking in a voice of thunder.

How Men Come to Christ

By Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)


“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44)

How then does the Father draw men? Arminian preachers generally say that God draws men by the preaching of the gospel. Very true; the preaching of the gospel is the instrument of drawing men, but there must be something more than this. Let me ask to whom did Christ address these words? Why, to the people of Capernaum, where He had often preached, where He had uttered mournfully and plaintively the woes of the law and the invitations of the gospel. In that city He had done many mighty works and worked many miracles. In fact, such teaching and such miraculous attestation had He given them, that He declared that Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, if they had been blessed with such privileges.

All Comers to Christ Welcomed

By Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

A sermon preached in 1889 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England


"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)

CHRIST will not die in vain. His Father gave him a certain number to be the reward of his soul travail, and he will have every one of them, as he said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." Almighty grace shall sweetly constrain them all to come. My father gave me recently some letters which I wrote to him when I began to preach. They are almost boyish epistles; but, in reading through them again, I noticed in one of them this expression, "How I long to see thousands of men saved; but my great comfort is that some will be saved, must be saved, shall be saved, for it is written, `All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.'"

Useless Kinds of Religion

By J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)

There are two ways by which a man may lose his own soul. What are they?

1. He may lose his soul by living and dying without any religion at all. He may live and die like a beast, prayerless, godless, graceless, faithless. This is a sure way to hell. Mind that you do not walk in it.

2. He may lose his soul by taking up some kind of religion. He may live and die contenting himself with a false Christianity and resting on a baseless hope. This is the commonest way to hell there is.

What do I mean by useless kinds of religion? I will tell you. The first thing I wish to say is this. A religion is entirely useless in which Jesus Christ is not the principal object and does not fill the principal place.

I Can't Let Go!

By Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

The vessel was pretty high out of the water, and there was no ladder, either of rope or iron, at his side for the poor lad to descend by, so as to reach the boat which lay below.

The lad looked over and saw his position. There was the boat, and here was the slowly sinking vessel. He heard shouts for him from below; he saw some five or six stout men waiting to catch him; but he could not make up his mind to quit his hold.

He saw the swell of the sea, as it heaved the boat up and down; he observed too, the distance between himself and his deliverers below; and his heart failed him. What if he should miss the boat, and drop into the sea, instead of the stretched-out arms beneath? He clung to the rope with all his might, and made as though he would go back into the vessel. But the shouts came up again, "Let go the rope!" He dared not go back, and he was afraid to let himself drop. So he clung to the rope as if it were his only safety. Again the shouts were heard, "Let go!" His answer was, "I can't let go."

Are You Born Again?

By J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)


Are you born again? This is one of life's most important questions. Jesus Christ said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

It is not enough to reply, "I belong to the church; I suppose I'm a Christian." Thousands of nominal Christians show none of the signs of being born again which the Scriptures have given us—many listed in the First Epistle of John.

First of all, John wrote: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (1 John 3:9). "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not" (1 John 5:18).

A person who has been born again, or regenerated, does not habitually commit sin. He no longer sins with his heart and will and whole inclination. There was probably a time when he did not think about whether his actions were sinful or not, and he did not always feel grieved after doing evil. There was no quarrel between him and sin; they were friends. But the true Christian hates sin, flees from it, fights against it, considers it his greatest plague, resents the burden of its presence, mourns when he falls under its influence, and longs to be completely delivered from it. Sin no longer pleases him, nor is it even a matter of indifference to him; it has become a horrible thing which he hates. However, he cannot eliminate its presence within him.