J C Ryle

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The Lord’s Garden

Lords Garden

by J. C. Ryle

“A garden enclosed is My sister, My spouse.” Song of Solomon 4:12

The Lord Jesus Christ has a garden. It is the company of all who are true believers in Him. They are His garden.

Viewed in one light, believers are Jesus Christ’s SPOUSE. They are all joined to Him by an everlasting covenant that cannot be broken; wedded to Him by the marriage of faith—taken by Him to be His forever, with all their debts and liabilities, with all their faults and imperfections. Their old name is gone—they have no name but that of their Bridegroom. God the Father regards them as one with His dear Son. Satan can lay no charge against them. They are the Lamb’s wife—”My Beloved is mine, and I am His” (Song. 2:16).

Viewed in another light, believers are Christ’s SISTER. They are like Him in many things. They have His Spirit—they love what He loves, and hate what He hates—they count all His members brethren—through Him they have the spirit of adoption, and can say of God, “He is my Father.” Faint indeed is their resemblance to their elder Brother! And still they are like.

Viewed in a third light, believers are Christ’s GARDEN. Let us see how and in what way. Continue reading →

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False Doctrine Is Worse Than Division

J.C. Ryle  ~

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  Before certain men  came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.  But when  they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself  from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their   hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I  said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.  How is it, then,  that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners” know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus  that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.  Galatians 2:11-16

The second is,  “That to keep the truth of Christ in His Church is even more important than to keep peace.”  Continue reading →

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“Jesus Will Never Cast Away His Believing People” — J.C. Ryle

 

Let all the world know that the Lord Jesus will not cast away His believing people because of shortcomings and infirmities. The husband does not put way his wife because he finds failings in her. The mother does not forsake her infant because it is weak, feeble, and ignorant. And the Lord Christ does not cast off poor sinners who have committed their souls into His hands because He sees in them blemishes and imperfections. Oh, no! it is His glory to pass over the faults of His people, and heal their backslidings,—to make much of their weak graces, and to pardon their many faults. Verily, the 11th of Hebrews is a wonderful chapter. It is marvelous to observe how the Holy Ghost speaks of the worthies whose names are recorded in that chapter. The faith of the Lord’s people is there brought forward, and had in remembrance. But the faults of many a one, which might easily have been brought up also, are left alone, and not mentioned at all. Continue reading →

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The True Pattern of Love

~ J.C. Ryle

The love of the Bible will show itself in the general spirit and demeanor of a believer. It will make them kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate of others. It will make them gentle, friendly, and courteous in all the daily relations of private life, thoughtful for others comfort, tender for others feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive. True love never envies others when they prosper, nor rejoices in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. At all times it will believe, hope, and try to put to good use the actions of others. And even at the worst, it will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion. Would we like to know where the true pattern of love like this can be found? We have only to look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as described in the Gospels, and we will see it perfectly exemplified.


Practical Religion, “Charity”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 171, 172.

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Being Ready For Christ’s Return

Revelation 1:7

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

J.C. Ryle

Are you ready for the second coming of Christ? He will come again to this world one day. As surely as He came the first time, so surely will He come the second time. He will come to reward all His saints who have believed in Him and confessed Him on earth. He will come; to judge all His enemies, the careless, the ungodly, the impenitent, and the unbelieving.

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Be On Guard Against False Doctrine

J.C. Ryle

Let us be on our guard against false doctrine. Unsound faith will never be the mother of really sound practice, and in these latter days, departures from the faith abound. See then that your loins be girded about with truth, and be very jealous of receiving anything which cannot be proved by the Bible. Do not think for a moment that false doctrine will meet you face to face, saying, “I am false doctrine, and I want to come into your heart.” Satan does not go to work in that way. He dresses up false doctrine like Jezebel — he paints her face and attires her hair, and tries to make her like truth. Do not think that those who preach error will never preach anything that is true. Error would do little harm if that was the case. No! Error will come before you mingled with much that is sound and scriptural.

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Let us not only think of ourselves

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1,

[Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 257. {Luke 8:16-21}

Let us not only think of ourselves. Let us also think of others. There are millions in the world who have no spiritual light at all. They are without God, without Christ, and without hope. (Eph. 2:12) Can we do nothing for them? There are thousands around us who are unconverted and dead in sins, seeing nothing and knowing nothing right. Can we do nothing for them?

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How Trials Separate the True and False

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986, 196, 197. Luke 6:46-49

A person’s religion may look well for a season. An ignorant eye may detect no difference between the possessor of such a religion, and a true Christian. Both may worship in the same Church. Both may use the same ordinances. Both may profess the same faith. The

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Having the Head Affect the Heart

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 2, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987], 182. {John 9:26-41}

When knowledge only sticks in a man’s head, and has no influence over his heart and life, it becomes a most perilous possession. And when, in addition to this, its possessor is self-conceited and self-satisfied, and imagines he knows everything, the result is one of the worst states of soul into which man can fall. There is far more hope about him who says, “I am a poor blind sinner and want God to teach me,” than about him who is ever saying, “I know it, I know it, I am not ignorant,” and yet cleaves to his sins. The sin of that man “remains.”

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 9 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 2

Those of you who have been with us know we are tackling some of the more challenging and profound and difficult doctrines in the Scripture. And I trust we’re having a wonderful time digging deeply into God’s precious truth.

Last Sunday night we began to look at the subject, “For whom did Christ die?” Or, “The Nature of the Atonement.” Or as I chose to call it, “The Doctrine of Actual Atonement.” And I want to go back to that. If you weren’t here last week, it really would be helpful for you to get the tape or the CD, whatever is best for you, and to listen to what I said and pair it up with what we’re going to say tonight because you’re going to get just a very abbreviated review of that important foundation.

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 3 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Perseverance of the Saints, Part 3

1 Peter 1:6-9

We are continuing a study for these few weeks on the subject of the perseverance of the saints. That is a, I think, a good biblical title to describe a doctrine that is often called the doctrine of eternal security, or the security of the believer. The bottom line in this doctrine is that when the Lord saves someone, that salvation is forever, never to be reversed. The Bible is clear on that basic truth and the basic truth is that salvation by its very nature is irrevocable.

In spite of the clarity of Scripture, however, on this, there are those who have fallen under the influence of teaching that denies it. There are many in the Christian church who are living in some kind of fear with the possibility that they could lose their salvation. They are warned that they can by sin or failure to believe forfeit that salvation which God has given to them. That is to say a believer can become again an unbeliever, a new creation in Christ can become again the old. Those who are now the children of God can become again the children of the devil. Those who are citizens of heaven can become occupants of hell. In fact, all that is given to us in Christ can be lost and forfeit. And inevitably those who teach that doctrine endeavor to support it in Scripture. And they bring up a list of doctrinal passages to be used as a support for the idea that you can lose your salvation. I’ve dealt with this through the years many, many times and many fronts and not the least of which is trying to help the Russians, the Russian believers understand this doctrine because for so many years they have been taught that it is possible to forfeit your salvation.

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Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?


By C H SPURGEON

An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its imprudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a more clever thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

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Jesus and Judas

John MacArthur – Grace to You

John 13:18-30

Turn to John 18, starting in verse 13. Jesus, speaking to His disciples, says,”‘I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with Me has lifteth up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he who receiveth whomever I send, receiveth Me. And He that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me. When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me.’ Then the disciples looked

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When the waves are ready to swallow you

 

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled “Faith’s Dawn and its Clouds,” delivered January 28, 1872.

Happy is that man who can not only believe when the waves softly ripple to the music of peace, but continues to trust in Him who is almighty to save when the hurricane is let loose in its fury, and the Atlantic breakers follow each other, eager to swallow up the barque of the mariner. Surely Christ Jesus is fit to be believed at all times, for, like the pole star, he abides in his faithfulness, let storms rage as they may. He is always divine, always omnipotent to succor, always overflowing with lovingkindness, ready and willing to receive sinners, even the very chief of them. Sorrowful one, do not add to thy sorrows by unbelief, that is a bitterness which it is superfluous to mingle with thy cup. Better far is it to say, “Though he slay me yet will I trust in him.”

Source : http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com

 

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The Bible

D.L. Moody :

People say this Bible was good enough for ancient days, but we have men of culture, of science, of literature now, and its value has decreased to the people of our day. Now, give me a better book, and I will throw it away. Has the world ever offered us a better book? These men want us to give up the Bible. What are you going to give us in its place? O, how cruel infidelity is to tell us to give up all the hope we have, to throw away the only book which tells the story of the resurrection. They try to tell us that it is all a fiction, so that

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