Quotes from Dead Guys

(most of them dead anyway)

“When I first took upon me the defense of the Gospel, I remember a worthy man saying to me, ‘I like it, this doctrine you preach, because it gives glory and everything else to God alone, and nothing to man, for we cannot attribute too much glory, goodness, mercy, and so on to God.’ This greatly comforted and confirmed me. And it is true that the doctrine of the Gospel removes from mankind all glory, wisdom, righteousness, and so on and gives it solely to the Creator, who made everything out of nothing” (Heb 11:3).
-from Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians 1:11-12.

“Satan will come on with new temptations when old ones are too weak. In a calm prepare for a storm.”  -Thomas Brooks

“If you do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin will slay you.”        -Charles Spurgeon

“The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest…God’s glory is the all-defining, absolutely original standard of greatness and beauty.”   -John Piper

“No verse of Scripture yields its meaning to lazy people.”  -A.W. Pink

“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It’s better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. There is only one Gospel and Paul said, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed’.” -Adrian Rogers, 1996

“Because an eternal, unchangeable sentence of condemnation has passed upon sin – for God cannot and will not regard sin with favor, but His wrath abides upon it eternally and irrevocably – redemption was not possible without a ransom of such precious worth as to atone for sin, to assume the guilt, pay the price of wrath and thus abolish sin. This no creature was able to do. There was no remedy except for God’s only Son to step into our distress and himself become man, to take upon Himself the load of awful and eternal wrath and make His own body and blood a sacrifice for sin. And so He did, out of the immeasurably great mercy and love towards us, giving Himself up and bearing the sentence of unending wrath and death.”  -Martin Luther

“For how can the thought of God penetrate your mind without instantly giving rise to the thought, that since you are His workmanship, you are bound, by the very law of creation, to submit to His authority? – that you owe your life to him? That whatever you do ought to have reference to Him?” -John Calvin

“The chief dangers to Christianity do not come from the anti-Christian systems. Mohammedanism has never made inroads upon Christendom save by the sword. Nobody fears that Christianity will be swallowed up by Buddhism. It is corrupt forms of Christianity itself which menace from time to time the life of Christianity. Why make much of minor points of difference among those who serve the one Christ? Because a pure gospel is worth preserving; and is not only worth preserving, but is logically (and logic will always work itself ultimately out into history) the only saving gospel. Those who overlay the gospel with man-made additions, no less than those who subtract from it God-given elements, are not preaching “the gospel” in another form, but are offering a different kind of gospel, which is essentially no gospel at all. They are troublers of Israel, who are perverting the gospel of Christ.

Then, we may learn this lesson: that it is not a matter of small importance for the servant of Christ to begin to seek to please men in the gospel which he offers them. Doing so, he ceases to be Christ’s servant, performing his will; and becomes the slave of men, veering hither and thither according to their beck and call. So doing, he is no longer the teacher of the truth to men, but the learner of falsehood from men. It doubtless seemed to the Judaizers very proper to adapt the mode in which they presented Christ to man, to the views of the community on which they had to depend for their first hearing in every fresh city. Paul says that in so doing they won not the blessing of God but his curse. After all, what is required of stewards is that they be found faithful.

And then we may learn this supreme lesson above all: that it is of the very gravest importance to keep clearly before our and others’ minds and hearts the great fact that in Christ alone is there salvation.”
-B. B. Warfield, The Dogmatic Spirit

“When you are tempted to complain and resist the difficulties of your circumstances, and the limitations of your place in life–remember that Jesus, even with all His divine life and all His great powers, for thirty years found room in a humble peasant home, for worthy living and for service not unfitting to His true exalted character. If you can do nothing but live a true Christian life which is patient, gentle, kind, pure–in your home, in society, at your daily occupation–you will perform a service of great value, and leave many blessings in the world. This kind of life is a little gospel–displaying the wonderful story of the cross of Christ, in sermons without words!” (1 Cor. 7:20, Phil 4:12 ).
-J.R. Miller

“Here is a word for Christians. Knowing your strength lies wholly in God and not in yourself, remain humble- even when God is blessing and using you most. Remember, when you have your best suit on, who made it and paid for it! God’s favor is neither the work of your own hands nor the price of your own worth. How can you boast of what you did not buy?…Walk humbly, therefore, before God and manage well the strength you have, remembering that it is borrowed strength.”
-William Gurnall,  The Christian in Complete Armour

 

“If we are willing to let God choose for us, and accept what He gives–we shall never fail to receive the best. Perhaps not what the world would call the best–but alwaysGod’s best. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, and we had better leave it to God.  We should be content to leave the guidance and choices of our lives in His hands. Think how wise He is–knowing all things, knowing how to choose the best for us. Who does not know that this is better, safer, wiser than if we were to choose the way for ourselves?  The truest prayer is ofttimes that in which we creep into the bosom of God and rest there in silence. We do not know what to ask, and we dare not say even a word, lest it might be the wrong word, hence we simply wait before God in quietness and confidence. We know that what is best–our Father will do, and we trust Him to do what He will.  We are sure that God could relieve us of the things which are so hard for us to bear–could, if He desired to. This is God’s world, and nothing can get out of His hands. All we have to do is to lay our need before the throne of mercy, and to let God answer us as He will.”        
-J.R. Miller,  The Glory of the Commonplace