Quoting J.C. Ryle #2

Well, I'm ready to share more quotes from J.C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Matthew. (My first post covered Matthew 1-10) You can read this book for yourself online.

The beginning of the way to heaven, is to feel that we are in the way to hell, and to be willing to be taught of the Spirit. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

May we never be satisfied until we know and feel that we have come to Christ by faith for rest, and do still come to Him for fresh supplies of grace every day! ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

The world hated Christ, and the world will hate Christians. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

There are only two parties in religious matters. There are only two camps. There are only two sides. Are we with Christ, and working in His cause? If not, we are against Him. Are we doing good in the world? If not, we are doing harm. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Let us learn, in the first place, from this parable, that the work of the preacher resembles that of the sower. Like the sower, the preacher must SOW GOOD SEED, if he wants to see fruit. He must sow the pure word of God, and not the traditions of the church, or the doctrines of men. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Those who care not what happens to the wheat, provided they can root up the tares, show little of the mind of Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

And after all there is deep truth in the charitable saying of Augustine, "Those who are weeds today, may be wheat tomorrow." ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We shall never find a perfect Church. We may spend our lives in migrating from communion to communion, and pass our days in perpetual disappointment. Go where we will, and worship where we may we shall always find weeds. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

He is what he is, and does what he does in his religion, because he is thoroughly persuaded that it is worth while. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

A sermon without application is like a letter posted without an address. It may be well written, rightly dated, and duly signed. But it is useless, because it never reaches its destination. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

To create is the peculiar prerogative of God. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

He would have us know that doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Whenever a man takes upon him to make additions to the Scriptures, he is likely to end with valuing his own additions above Scripture itself. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

The heart must be the principal point to which we attend in all the relations between God and our souls. What is the first thing we need, in order to be Christians? A new heart. What is the sacrifice God asks us to bring to him? A broken and a contrite heart. What is the true circumcision? The circumcision of the heart. What is genuine obedience? To obey from the heart. What is saving faith? To believe with the heart. Where ought Christ to dwell? To dwell in our hearts by faith. What is the chief request that Wisdom makes to everyone? "My son, give me your heart." ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

His disciples must therefore understand that it was right to resist all teaching that was unscriptural, and to "let alone," and forsake all instructors who persisted in it. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

If we are true followers of our Lord, we ought to be outspoken, unflinching witnesses against error. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

No false delicacy, no mock humility should make us shrink from leaving the ministrations of any minister who contradicts God's word. It is at our peril if we submit to unscriptural teaching. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

It is grace, not place, which makes people believers. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Christ's people are often less gracious and compassionate than Christ himself. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

The time of miracles is not yet past. Every conversion is a miracle. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Let us remember, that we live in a world where Pharisaism and Sadduceeism are continually striving for mastery in the Church of Christ. Some want to ADD to the Gospel, and some want to TAKE AWAY from it. Some would bury it, and some would pare it down to nothing. Some would stifle it by heaping on additions, and some would bleed it to death by subtraction from its truths. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Men forget that it is a widely different thing to believe in Christ's divine mission, when we dwell in the midst of professing Christians, and to believe in it when we dwell in the midst of hardened and unbelieving Jews. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Error about Christ's death is a disease at the heart. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

There is nothing on earth, or under the earth, that can make amends to us for the loss of our souls. There is nothing that money can buy, or man can give, to be named in comparison with our souls. The world, and all that it contains is temporal. It is all fading, perishing, and passing away. The soul is eternal. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We often lose much by not tracing the connection between chapter and chapter in the word of God. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

There is something unspeakably solemn in the thought that the Lord Jesus knows all things. There is an eye that sees all our daily conduct. There is an ear that hears all our daily words. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do. Concealment is impossible. Hypocrisy is useless. We may deceive ministers. We may fool our family and neighbors. But the Lord sees us through and through. We cannot deceive Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Let it be our daily aim to say nothing we would not like Christ to hear, and to do nothing we would not like Christ to see. Let us measure every difficult question as to right and wrong by one simple test, "How would I behave, if Jesus was standing by my side?" Such a standard is not extravagant and absurd. It is a standard that interferes with no duty or relation of life. It interferes with nothing but sin. Happy is he that tries to realize his Lord's presence, and to do all and say all unto Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Without conversion there is no salvation. We all need an entire change of nature. Of ourselves we have neither faith, nor fear, nor love towards  God. "We must be born again." Of ourselves we are utterly unfit for dwelling in God's presence. Heaven would be no heaven to us if we were not converted. It is true of all ranks, classes, and orders of mankind. All are born in sin and children of wrath, and all, without exception, need to be born again and made new creatures. A new heart must be given to us, and a new spirit put within us. Old things must pass away, and all things must become new. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

What we all want is a conversion from pride to humility--from high thoughts of ourselves to lowly thoughts of ourselves--from self-conceit to self-abasement--from the mind of the Pharisee to the mind of the Tax-collector. A conversion of this kind we must experience, if we hope to be saved. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

No lips have ever spoken so clearly about hell as those of Christ Himself. Hardened sinners will find out, to their cost, that there is such a thing as the "wrath of the Lamb." (Rev. 6:17) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Nothing does so much harm to the cause of religion as the quarrels of Christians. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

It is a melancholy fact that there are few Christian duties so little practiced as that of forgiveness. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

True faith in Christ, though it be but a day old, justifies a man before God as completely as the faith of him who has followed Christ for fifty years. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Christ died as a sacrifice for man's sin. He died to make reconciliation for man's iniquity. He died to purge our sins by the offering of Himself. He died to redeem us from the curse which we all deserved, and to make satisfaction to the justice of God, which must otherwise have condemned us. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We have the Bible, and liberty for everyone to read it. We have the Gospel, and permission to every one to hear it. We have spiritual mercies in abundance, of which five hundred millions of our fellow men know nothing at all. How thankful we ought to be! ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

There is in the Gospel a complete provision for all the needs of man's soul. There is a supply of everything that can be required to relieve spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Open sin may kill its thousands, but indifference and neglect of the Gospel kill their tens of thousands. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Multitudes will find themselves in hell, not so much because they openly broke the ten commandments, as because they made light of the gospel. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

The world is never so dangerous to the Christian as when it smiles. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Love is the grand secret of true obedience to God. When we feel towards Him as children feel towards a dear father, we shall delight to do His will. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We are born in sin, and, as sinners, are afraid of God. How then can we love Him? We can never really love Him until we are at peace with Him through Christ. When we feel our sins forgiven, and ourselves reconciled to our holy Maker, then, and not until then, we shall love Him and have the spirit of adoption. Faith in Christ is the true spring of love to God. They love most who feel most forgiven. "We love him because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Human nature would always rather lean on a visible minister, than an invisible Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Well says Olshausen, "What does not man see, or fail to see, when it serves to establish his own favorite opinions?" ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

There is a judgment before us all. Words have no meaning in the Bible, if there is none. It is mere trifling with Scripture to deny it. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

The state of things after the judgment is changeless and without end. The misery of the lost, and the blessedness of the saved are both alike forever. Let no man deceive us on this point. It is clearly revealed in Scripture. The eternity of God, and heaven, and hell, all stand on the same foundation. As surely as God is eternal, so surely is heaven an endless day without night, and hell an endless night without day. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

If it really was true that all would sooner or later reach heaven, and hell sooner or later would be emptied of its inhabitants, it never could be said that it would have been "good for a man not to have been born." Hell itself would lose its terrors, if it had an end. Hell itself would be endurable, if after millions of ages there was a HOPE of freedom and of heaven. But universal salvation will find no foot-hold in Scripture. The teaching of the word of God is plain and express on the subject. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Let us not be ashamed to walk in the old paths, and to believe that there is an eternal God, an eternal heaven, and an eternal hell. Once depart from this belief, and we admit the thin edge of the wedge of skepticism, and may at last deny any doctrine of the Gospel. We may rest assured that there is no firm standing ground between a belief in the eternity of hell, and downright infidelity. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

It is the mark of faith to keep nothing back from our best Friend. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

A will unsanctified and uncontrolled, is one great cause of unhappiness in life. It may be seen in little infants. It is born with us. We all like our own way. We wish and want many things, and forget that we are entirely ignorant what is for our good, and unfit to choose for ourselves. Happy is he who has learned to have no wishes, and in every state to be content. It is a lesson which we are slow to learn, and like Paul, we must learn it not in the school of mortal man, but of Christ. (Phil. 4:11) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

If the Gospel had been a mere invention of man, we would never have been told that one of its principal preachers was once so weak and erring, as to deny his Master. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

They hated Him, because He told them the truth. They hated Him, because He testified of their works that they were evil. They hated the light, because it made their own darkness visible. In a word, they hated Christ, because He was righteous and they were wicked, because He was holy and they were unholy--because He testified against sin, and they were determined to keep their sins and not let them go.
Let us observe this. There are few things so little believed and realized as the corruption of human nature. Men imagine that if they saw a perfect person, they would love and admire him. They flatter themselves that it is the inconsistency of professing Christians which they dislike, and not their religion. They forget that when a really perfect man was on earth, in the person of the Son of God, He was hated and put to death. That single fact goes far to prove the truth of Edwards' remark--"unconverted men would kill God, if they could get at Him."
Let us never be surprised at the wickedness there is in the world. Let us mourn over it, and labor to make it less, but let us never be surprised at its extent. There is nothing which the heart of man is not capable of conceiving, or the hand of man of doing. As long as we live, let us mistrust our own hearts. Even when renewed by the Spirit, they are still "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." (Jer. 17:9.) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Was He scourged? It was that "through His stripes we might be healed." Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty. Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory. Was He stripped of His clothing? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed. Was He reckoned a malefactor, and numbered among transgressors? It was that we might be reckoned innocent, and justified from all sin. Was he declared unable to save Himself? It was that He might be able to save others to the uttermost. Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was that we might live for evermore, and be exalted to the highest glory. Let us ponder these things well. They are worth remembering. The very key to peace is a right apprehension of the vicarious sufferings of Christ.
Let us leave the story of our Lord's passion with feelings of deep thankfulness. Our sins are many and great. But a great atonement has been made for them. There was an infinite merit in all Christ's sufferings. They were the sufferings of One who was God as well as man. Surely it is fit, right, and our bounden duty, to praise God daily because Christ has died.
Last, but not least, let us ever learn from the story of the passion, to hate sin with a great hatred. Sin was the cause of all our Savior's suffering. Our sins platted the crown of thorns. Our sins drove the nails into His hands and feet. On account of our sins His blood was shed. Surely the thought of Christ crucified should make us loathe all sin. Well says the Homily of the Passion, "Let this image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts. Let it stir us up to the hatred of sin, and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God." ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

We can have no stronger proof of the sinfulness of sin, or of the vicarious nature of Christ's sufferings, than His cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" It is a cry that should stir us up to hate sin, and encourage us to trust in Christ.  ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

Our sins may be many and great, but the payment made by our Great Substitute far outweighs them all.  ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

He says to His disciples "I am with you always even to the end of the world." It is impossible to conceive words more comforting, strengthening, cheering, and sanctifying than these. Though left alone, like orphan children in a cold, unkind world, the disciples were not to think they were deserted. Their Master would be ever "with them." Though commissioned to do a work as hard as that of Moses when sent to Pharaoh, they were not to be discouraged. Their Master would certainly be "with them." No words could be more suited to the position of those to whom they were first spoken. No words could be imagined more consolatory to believers in every age of the world. Let all true Christians lay hold on these words and keep them in mind. Christ is "with us" always. Christ is "with us," wherever we go. He came to be "Emmanuel, God with us," when He first came into the world. He declares that He is ever Emmanuel, "with us," when He comes to the end of His earthly ministry and is about to leave the world. He is with us daily to pardon and forgive--with us daily to sanctify and strengthen--with us daily to defend and keep--with us daily to lead and to guide--with us in sorrow, and with us in joy--with us in sickness, and with us in health--with us in life, and with us in death--with us in time, and with us in eternity. ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Matthew

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible