J. C. Ryle - God Quotes

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Those who confine God's love exclusively to the elect appear to me to take a narrow and contracted view of God's character and attributes....I have long come to the conclusion that men may be
more systematic in their statements than the Bible, and may be led into grave error by idolatrous veneration of a system

J. C. Ryle
The work of the preacher resembles that of the sower. Like the sower, the preacher must sow good seed, the Word of God.

J. C. Ryle
Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.

J. C. Ryle
We must cast away everything which hinders us upon our road towards heaven – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life; the love of riches, pleasures and honors, the spirit of lukewarmness and carelessness and indifference about the things of God – all must be rooted out and forsaken if we are anxious for the prize. We must mortify the deeds of the body, we must crucify our affections for this world.

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

J. C. Ryle
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.

J. C. Ryle
I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things, beyond question, but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified people are justified.... Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.

J. C. Ryle
The rulers of the earth plan, and scheme, and make laws, and change laws, and war, and pull down one, and raise up another. But they little think that they rule only by the will of Jesus, and that nothing happens without the permission of the Lamb of God.

J. C. Ryle
Make it a part of every day's business to read and meditate on some portion of God's Word. Private means of grace are just as needful every day for our souls as food and clothing are for our bodies.

J. C. Ryle
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.

J. C. Ryle
A sin...consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God

J. C. Ryle
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.

J. C. Ryle
What you think now about the cross of Christ, I cannot tell; but I can wish you nothing better than this - that you may be able to say with the apostle Paul, before you die or meet the Lord, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

J. C. Ryle
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.

J. C. Ryle
Parents, do you wish to see your children happy? Take care, then, that you train them to obey when they are spoken to, -to do as they are bid.... Teach them to obey while young, or else they will be fretting against God all their lives long, and wear themselves out with the vain idea of being independent of His control.

J. C. Ryle
Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached...let us not rush into God's presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.

J. C. Ryle