“Tremendous words written in the book of a most merciful God!”

The nature of our fallen nature is that it will be less clear to ourselves than to anyone else. J.C. Ryle puts it into perspective here… ‘Concerning the guilt, vileness and offensiveness of sin in the sight of God, my words will be few. I say “few” advisedly. I do not think, in the nature [...]

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‘In short, it is a dangerous delusion!’

‘In face of such facts as these I must protest against the language used in many quarters, in these last days, about perfection. I must think that those who use it either know very little of the nature of sin, or the attributes of God, or of their own hearts, or of the Bible, or [...]

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What is Really Important?

As I hear people debate how to move the church forward, whether in light of our current Episcopal controversies, or just simply debating how to structure our church for tomorrow, it worries me to hear what the primary concerns can be for most people.  In the opening chapters of John’s Revelation, Jesus speaks to the visible [...]

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Suffer the Little Children

J.C. Ryle comments on infant baptism and the spiritual state of children, and, I think, gives some sage advice on how to tend to our children’s souls. Let us observe, for one thing, in this passage, how ignorantly people are apt to treat children, in the matter of their souls. We read that there were [...]

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Christ Heals All

Following on Sunday’s sermon.  Here’s a quote from J.C. Ryle, stating what the running thread is through all of Jesus’ miracles.  If we don’t have health in Jesus Christ, we can’t have health at all.  We cannot fail to observe many similar cases in the four Gospels. They occur so frequently that we are apt [...]

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No Magicians in the Church

Unfortunately, one of the recent developments in our church (and by recent I mean over the past 150 years) has been the real sense that what we do in church is magical.  We have become so concerned with holy water, blessings, consecration, and ontological changes that we have neglected what God truly requires: repentance and faith.  NO [...]

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On the Old Testament

Often times contemporary Christians have a view of the Old Testament which is not found in either Christian Tradition or the Scriptures.  Paul says that all Scripture is theopneustos, literally, God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).  We would do well to head this warning from bishop J.C. Ryle and remember that the Old Testament is every bit [...]

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The Free Gift of the Holy Spirit

We must always remember that the blessing of the Gospel is God Himself.  He is the free gift given to us.  The danger is to focus on the many blessings that come from His hands instead of Him.  In this exposition of Luke Chapter 3, J.C. Ryle shows what a precious promise it is that [...]

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THINK!!!

Jesus says that the first commandment is to love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, and mind.  That is to say, the Gospel is so glorious, that every aspect of our beings is to strain to love Him.  The problem with many evangelicals today is that they have forgotten what their minds are [...]

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