J. c. ryle quotes

Never does a person see any beauty in Christ as a Savior, until they discover that they are a lost and ruined sinner.

If men come among you who do NOT preach all the counsel of God, who do NOT preach of Christ, sin, holiness, of ruin, redemption, and regeneration, and do NOT preach of these things in a Scriptural way, you ought to cease to hear them.

Do you wish to grow in grace and be a holy Christian? Then never forget the value of prayer.

Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you.

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.

Except a man be born again, he will wish one day he had never been born at all.

Let us be real, honest, and sincere in our Christianity. We cannot deceive an all-seeing God.

Our prayers may be weak, stammering, and poor in our eyes. But if they come from a right heart, God understands them. Such prayers are His delight.

Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.

The world's idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving.

If God has given His Son to die for us, let us beware of doubting His kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life.

Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.

The love of Christ towards His people is a deep well which has no bottom.

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time.

The nearer we live to God while we live, the more ready we will be to dwell forever in His presence when we die.

We can never make too much of Christ. He is worthy of all the honor that we can give Him.

True Christian is not an angel; he is not a halfangelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity: he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ.

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just. Such a God is an idol of your own.

No salvation without regeneration - no spiritual life without a new birth - no heaven without a new heart.

Backsliding, generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.

True repentance begins with KNOWLEDGE of sin. It goes on to work SORROW for sin. It leads to CONFESSION of sin before God. It shows itself before a person by a thorough BREAKING OFF from sin. It results in producing a DEEP HATRED for all sin.

Since Satan can't destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction or substitution.

Prayer is the very life-breath of true Christianity.

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.

It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear.

Your trials, crosses, and conflicts are all temporary.

Obedience is the only reality. It is faith visible, faith acting, and faith manifest. It is the test of real discipleship among the Lord's people.

Let us watch against pride in every shape - pride of intellect, pride of wealth, pride of our own goodness. Nothing is so likely to keep a person out of heaven, and prevent them from seeing Christ, as pride. So long as we think we are something we shall never be saved. Let us pray for and cultivate humility; let us seek to know ourselves correctly, and to find out our place in the sight of a holy God.

According to the men of the world, few are going to hell; According to the Bible, few are going to heaven.

The temple in which the Lord Jesus delights most, is a broken and contrite heart, renewed by the Holy Spirit.

In Christ alone God’s rich provision of salvation for sinners is treasured up: by Christ alone God’s abundant mercies come down from heaven to earth. Christ’s blood alone can cleanse us; Christ’s righteousness alone can cleanse us; Christ’s merit alone can give us a title to heaven. Jews and Gentiles, learned and unlearned, kings and poor men--all alike must either be saved by the Lord Jesus, or lost forever.

True Christianity is not merely believing a certain set of dry abstract propositions: it is to live in daily personal communication with an actual living person - Jesus Christ.

Pride is the oldest and most common of sins. Humility is the rarest and most beautiful of graces.

The Gospel was not meant merely to reside in our intellect, memories, and tongues, but to be seen in our lives.

By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven.

God does not look at riches, titles, education, or beauty. There is only one thing that God does look at, and that is the soul.

We must read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure.

Laughter, ridicule, opposition, persecution, are often the only reward which Christ's followers get from the world.

We have no reason to be discouraged and cast down if the religion we profess is not popular and few agree with us. We must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: ‘The gate is narrow’. Repentance, and faith in Christ, and holiness of life, have never been fashionable. The true flock of Christ has always been small. It must not move us to find that we are reckoned singular, and peculiar, and bigoted, and narrow minded. This is the ‘narrow way’. Surely it is better to enter into eternal life with a few, than to go to ‘destruction’ with a great company

The heart of a man can never be satisfied with the things of this world. It is always empty, and hungry, and thirsty, and dissatisfied, till it comes to Christ. It is only they who hear Christ's voice, and follow Him, and feed on Him by faith, who are 'filled.'.

Let us seek friends that will stir up our prayers, our Bible reading, our use of time, and our salvation.

To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.

There is more Bible buying, Bible selling, Bible printing and Bible distributing than ever before in our nation. We see Bibles in every bookstore - Bibles of every size, price and style. There are Bibles in almost every house in the land. But all this time I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.

Let us daily strive to copy our Savior's humility.

Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will.

To be born again is, as it were, to enter upon a new existence, to have a new mind, a new heart, new views, new principles, new tastes, new affections, new likings, new dislikings, new fears, new joys, new sorrows, new love to things once hated, new hatred to things once loved, new thoughts of God, and ourselves, and the world, and the life to come, and salvation.

Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell.

Read the Bible daily. Make it part of your everyday business to read and meditate on some portion of God's Word. Gather your manna fresh every morning. Choose your own seasons and hours. Do not scramble over and hurry your reading. Give your Bible the best, and not the worst, part of your time. But whatever plan you pursue, let it be a rule of your life to visit the throne of grace and the Bible every day.

Whatever you read, read the Bible first. Beware of bad books: there are plenty in this day. Take heed what you read.

Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be obtained by diligent, regular, daily, attentive reading.

We know but little of true Christianity, if we don't feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people.

I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to HAVE the Bible is one thing, and to READ it quite another.

‎"A humble and prayerful person will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud student will utterly fail to discern." ~ J.C. Ryle

Nothing perhaps affects man's character more than the company he keeps

Let it never surprise true Christians if they are slandered and misrepresented in this world. They must not expect to fare better than their Lord.

Do not glory in your own faith, your own feelings, your own knowledge, or your own diligence. Glory in nothing but Christ.

It is not hard to deceive ministers, relatives and friends. But it is impossible to deceive Christ.

It costs something to be a true Christian. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousn ess, our ease and our worldliness.

God is far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved.

A trial is an instrument by which our Father in heaven makes Christians more holy.

We must give up the vain idea of trying to please everybody. That is impossible, and the attempt is a mere waste of time. We must be content to walk in Christ's steps, and let the world say what it likes.

Let us beware of repentance without evidence.

We never know who they are that God will draw, and have nothing to do with it. Our duty is to invite all, and leave it to God to choose the vessels of mercy.

Sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.

Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible-reading.

The Gospel which we possess was not given to us only to be admired, talked of, and professed - but to be practiced.

Walk more closely with God. Get nearer to Christ. Seek to exchange hope for assurance. Seek to feel the witness of the Spirit more closely and distinctly every year. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily threatens you. Press towards the mark more earnestly. Fight a better fight, and war a better warfare every year you live. Pray more. Read more. Subdue self more. Love the brethren more. Oh that you may endeavor to grow in grace every year, that the end of your Christian course may be better than the beginning!

God knew what we were before conversion - wicked, guilty, and defiled; yet He loved us. He knows what we will be after conversion - weak, erring, and frail; yet He loves us.

The Word of God is ROCK. All else is sand.

People fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered until it is down on the ground.

If you want to find out how much someone loves you, find out how much they pray for you.

Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me." Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, "What are you doing?

There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction.

If you do not love Christ, let me tell you plainly what is the reason. You have no sense of debt to him.

Let us cleave to Christ more closely, love Him more heartily, live to Him more thoroughly, copy Him more exactly, confess Him more boldly, and follow Him more fully.

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees.

Wealth is no mark of God’s favor. Poverty is no mark of God’s displeasure.

The key to understanding the Bible is Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow is the devil's day, but today is God's. Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how holy your resolutions, if only they are determined to be done tomorrow.

Let your Christianity be so unmistakable, your eye so single, your heart so whole, your walk so straightforward, that all who see you may have no doubt whose you are, and whom you serve.

There is only one door, one bridge, one ladder, between earth and heaven - the crucified Son of God.

Abide in Me says Jesus. Cling to Me. Stick fast to Me. Live the life of close and intimate communion with Me. Get nearer to Me. Roll every burden on Me. Cast your whole weight on Me. Never let go your hold on Me for a moment. Be, as it were, rooted and planted in Me. Do this and I will never fail you. I will ever abide in you.

Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity!

I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains.

The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God.

A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown.

If you love Christ, never be ashamed to let others see it and know it. Speak for Him. Witness for Him. Live for Him.

There is more to be learned at the foot of the Cross than anywhere else in the world.

Do we profess to love Christ? Then let us show it by our lives.

Wherever we may be, or whatever our circumstances, the Lord Jesus sees them. We are never beyond the reach of His care.

O Christian, look up and take comfort. Jesus has prepared a place for you, and those who follow Him shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of His hands.

It must not content us to take our bodies to church if we leave our hearts at home.

Whatever others around you think, don't you ever be ashamed of being a Christian.

Prayer is the mightiest weapon that God has placed in our hands.

Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect, so does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order, and design in all the events of our daily life. There is no such thing as 'chance', 'luck', or 'accident' in the Christian journey through this world.

A Christian is a walking sermon. They preach far more than a minister does, for they preach all week long.

Happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.

Trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.

It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, "Let us make man". It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, "Let us save man".

Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules. The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God’s approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another’s sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.

To say that we are sorry for our sins is mere hypocrisy, unless we show that we are really sorry for them, by giving them up. Doing is the very life of repentance.

No one ever reached heaven without repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pride comes from not knowing yourself and the world. The older you grow, and the more you see, the less reason you will find for being proud. Ignorance and inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once the pedestal is removed - pride will soon come down.

There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.

The blood of Christ can cleanse away all sin. But we must 'plead guilty' before God can declare us innocent.

Our Lord has many weak children in his family, many dull pupils in his school, many raw soldiers in his army, many lame sheep in his flock. Yet he bears with them all, and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.

Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.

Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct.

Until we give God our heart, we give Him nothing at all.

Nothing is so offensive to Christ as lukewarmness in religion.

Fathers and mothers, do not forget that children learn more by the eye than they do by the ear... Imitation is a far stronger principle with children than memory. What they see has a much stronger effect on their minds than what they are told.

Are you tempted? Look unto Jesus. Are you afflicted? Look unto Jesus. Do all speak evil of you? Look unto Jesus. Do you feel cold, dull, and backsliding? Look unto Jesus.

My chief desire in all my writings, is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of people; and to promote the increase of repentance, faith, and holiness upon earth.

It costs something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a person in an arm-chair and taking them easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory.

Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within. The world and the devil combined, cannot do us as much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray.

If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the endall this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions.

If the Bible is not the Word of God and inspired, the whole of Christendom for 1800 years has been under an immense delusion; half the human race has been cheated and deceived, and churches are monuments of folly. If the Bible is the Word of God and inspired, all who refuse to believe it are in fearful danger; they are living on the brink of eternal misery. No man, in his sober senses, can fail to see that the whole subject demands most serious attention.

The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content to go to heaven alone.

No one ever said at the end of his days; 'I have read my bible too much, I have thought of God too much, I have prayed too much, I have been too careful with my soul'

Faith in the Lord Jesus is the only sure medicine for troubled hearts.

Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or friend above the Word of God.

There will be no universal peace until the Prince of Peace appears.

However corrupt our hearts, and however wicked our past lives, there is hope for us in the Gospel.

The eye of God! Think of that. Everywhere, in every house, in every field, in every room, in every company, alone or in a crowd, the eye of God is always upon you.