You Cannot Reach Paradise Without a Cross

All the children of God have a cross to carry. They have trials, troubles, and afflictions to go through for the Gospel’s sake. They have trials from the world, trials from the flesh, and trials from the devil. They have trials of feeling from relations and friends – hard words, hard conduct, and hard judgment. They have trials in the matter of character – slander, misrepresentation, mockery, suggestion of false motives – all these often rain thick upon them. They have trials in the matter of worldly interest. They often have to choose whether they will please people, and lose glory; or gain glory and offend people. They have trials from their own hearts. They have each generally their own thorn in the flesh, which is their worst foe. This is the experience of the children of God. Some of them suffer more, and some less. Some of them suffer in one way, and some in another. God measures out their portions like a wise physician, and cannot err. But never, I believe, was there one child of God who reached paradise without a cross. ~J.C. Ryle,Tract: Are You an Heir?

People never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don’t like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. ~J.C. Ryle, 1816 - 1900

“Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It may be a little one, but it is not the less dangerous for all that. A small leak will sink a great ship, and a small spark will kindle a great fire, and a little allowed sin in like manner will ruin an immortal soul. Take my advice, and never spare a little sin.” ~J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men

The loss of the soul is the heaviest loss that can befall a man. The worst and most painful of diseases – the most distressing bankruptcy of fortune – the most disastrous shipwrecks – are a mere scratch of a pin compared to the loss of a soul. All other losses are bearable, or but for a short time, but the loss of the soul is for evermore. It is to lose God, and Christ, and heaven, and glory, and happiness, to all eternity. It is to be cast away forever, helpless and hopeless in hell! ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke, Vol 1

There is a school of theology rising up in this day, which appears to me most eminently calculated to promote unfaithfulness, to help the devil, and to ruin souls. It comes to us like Joab to Amasa, with the highest professions of kindness, generosity, and love. According to this theology, God is all mercy and love—His holiness and justice are completely ignored! Hell is never spoken of in this theology—it speaks only of heaven! Damnation is never mentioned—it is treated as an impossible thing—they say that all men and women will saved! Faith, and the work of the Spirit, are refined away into nothing at all! “Everyone who believes anything has faith! Everyone who thinks anything has the Spirit! Everyone is right! No one is wrong! No one is to blame for any action they may commit! It is the result of his position in life. It is because of his circumstances! He is not accountable for his opinions, any more than for the color of his skin! He must be what he is! The Bible is a imperfect book! It is old-fashioned! It is obsolete! We may believe just as much of it as we please, and no more!” I solemnly warn men to beware of all this kind of theology. In spite of all the fashionable words used, such as, “generosity,” and “kindness,” and “openness,” and “freedom from bigotry,” and so forth, I do believe it is a theology that leads people directly into hell. ~J.C. Ryle “Practical Religion”

Think, you who take comfort in some fancied ideas of your own goodness – think, you who wrap up yourselves in the notion, “all must be right, if I keep to my Church,” – think for a moment what a sandy foundation you are building upon! Think how miserably defective your hopes and pleas will look in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment! Whatever people may say of their own goodness while they are strong and healthy, they will find but little to say of it when they are sick and dying. Whatever merit they may see in their own works here in this world, they will discover none in them when they stand before the tribunal of Christ. The light of that great day of judgment will make a wonderful difference in the appearance of all their doings. It will strip off the tinsel, shrivel up the complexion, expose the rottenness of many a deed that is now called good. Their wheat will prove nothing but chaff, their gold will be found nothing but dross. Millions of so-called ‘good works’ will turn out to have been utterly defective and graceless. They passed current here in this world, and were valued among people, but they will prove light and worthless in the balance of God. They will be found to have been like the whitened sepulchers of old – fair and beautiful on the outside – but full of corruption on the inside. Alas, for the person who can look forward to the day of judgment, and lean their soul in the smallest degree on anything of their own now! ~ J.C. Ryle Tract: The Cross of Christ

Living for Jesus

“Men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without a thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.” ~ J.C. Ryle

The Cost of Following Christ

"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." ~ J.C. Ryle

Keep a Jealous Watch Over Your Repentance

‎"Keep a jealous watch over your repentance. Keep it up—keep it up, and let not the fire burn low. Whenever you find a slackness coming over your soul—whenever you feel slow, dull, heavy, cold, and careless about little sins—look to your own heart then, and take heed lest you fall. Say to your soul, “Oh, my soul, what are you doing? Have you forgotten David’s fall? Have you forgotten Peter’s backsliding? Have you forgotten David’s subsequent misery? Have you forgotten Peter’s tears? Awake, O my soul, awake once more. Heap on fuel, make the fire burn bright. Return again to your God, let your repentance once more be lively. Let your repentance be repented over again.” Alas, how few are the hours in a Christian’s best days when he does not make work for repentance!" ~ J.C. Ryle

J. C. Ryle

Are we ourselves people of God? Have we been born again? Have we the MARKS which always accompany the new birth–sense of sin, faith in Jesus, love of others, righteous living, separation from the world? Let us never be content until we can give a satisfactory answer to these questions. ~J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 1

J. C. Ryle

We ask that God would make us holy. It is a good request indeed. But are we prepared to be sanctified by any process that God in His wisdom may call on us to pass through? Are we ready to be purified by affliction, weaned from the world by bereavements, drawn nearer to God by losses, sicknesses and sorrow? Alas! these are hard questions. But if we are not, our Lord might well say to us, “You don’t know what you are asking.” ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew

Prayer is the key

Bibles read without prayer; sermons heard without prayer; marriages contracted without prayer; journeys undertaken without prayer; residences chosen without prayer; friendships formed without prayer; the daily act of prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart:  these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows them to have a tremendous fall.  ~J. C. Ryle

Missing the Cross

I declare I know no greater proof of a person’s depravity than the fact that thousands of so-called Christians see nothing lovely in the cross. Well may our hearts be called stony, well may the eyes of our mind be called blind, well may our whole nature be called diseased, well may we all be called dead, when the cross of Christ is heard of, and yet neglected. Christ was crucified for sinners, and yet many Christians live as if He was never crucified at all!

~ J.C. Ryle

Tract: Calvary

Sanctification in Trials

How would the great work of sanctification go on in a person if they had no trial? Trouble is often the only fire which will burn away the dross that clings to our hearts. Trouble is the pruning–knife which Christ employs in order to make us fruitful in good works. The harvest of the Lord’s field is seldom ripened by sunshine only. It must go through its days of wind and rain and storm.

~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “The Ruler of the Waves”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 237.

Love Christ!

If you love Christ, never be ashamed to let others see it and know it. Speak for Him. Witness for Him. Live for Him. Work for Him. If He has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood, you never need shrink from letting others know that you feel it, and love Him in return.

~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Do You Love Me?”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 300, 301.

Study Christ!

Would you have more faith? Then seek to become more acquainted with Jesus Christ. Study your blessed Savior more and more, and strive to know more of the length and breadth and height of His love. Study Him in all His offices—as the Priest, the Physician, the Redeemer, the Advocate, the Friend, the Teacher, the Shepherd of His believing people. Study Him as one who not only died for you—but is also living for you at the right hand of God—as one who not only shed His blood for you—but daily intercedes for you at the right hand of God—as one who is soon coming again for you, and will stand once more on this earth.

The miner who is fully persuaded that the rope which draws him up from the pit will not break, is drawn up without anxiety and alarm. The believer who is thoroughly acquainted with the fullness of Jesus Christ—is the believer who travels from grace to glory with the greatest comfort and peace. Then let your daily prayers always contain these words, “Lord, increase my faith.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Old Paths, “Faith”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 402.

Men and women who hear the Gospel regularly, I often fear much for you. I fear lest you become so familiar with the sounds of its doctrines, that you gradually become dead to its power. I fear lest your religion should sink down into a little vague talk about your own weakness and corruption, and a few sentimental expressions about Christ, while real practical fighting on Christ’s side is altogether neglected. Oh, beware of this state of mind! “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” No victory—no crown! Fight and overcome!

~ J.C. Ryle, tract: The Great Battle

Doers, not just hearers only

Men and women who hear the Gospel regularly, I often fear much for you. I fear lest you become so familiar with the sounds of its doctrines, that you gradually become dead to its power. I fear lest your religion should sink down into a little vague talk about your own weakness and corruption, and a few sentimental expressions about Christ, while real practical fighting on Christ’s side is altogether neglected. Oh, beware of this state of mind! “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” No victory—no crown! Fight and overcome!

~ J.C. Ryle, tract: The Great Battle