Yet another reason why some people in evangelical churches remain unsaved is the way in which the Gospel is presented. Many dedicated Christians present the Gospel in such a way that unsaved, unprepared people do not understand that they deserve only God’s judgment, that salvation is completely God’s work, and that sinners are unable to contribute anything towards their own salvation.
– Trevor Mcllwain
Nothing so cleverly evidences the condition of the human heart, nor so solemnly demonstrates its corruption, as its attitude toward Christ.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
Most Christians in our culture live like everyone else. There is little distinction between our lives and the lives of the pagans down the street. We wear the same clothes, watch the same movies, read the same books, send our children to the same schools, and sign the same divorce decrees as everyone else. Furthermore, there ought to be a sign posted in every Christian bookstore that reads, “The views expressed in these books do not necessarily express the views of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I’m not saying, don’t read Christian books. I’m just saying, read them with discernment.
– Voddie Baucham
At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. The more light we have, the more we shall see our own imperfection. Sinners we were when we began, sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on; renewed, pardoned, justified—yet sinners to the very last.
– J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Evangelism was the one biblically mandated function in which believers engaged outside of the assembled church. They did not invite friends to the church gatherings to win them to Christ. The church services were not geared for the unbelievers but for the saints.
– Gary Gilley
Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.
– C.H. Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, and so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection.
– G.S. Bishop
It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our closets; we are required to honor God in our families as well. At least twice each day, in the morning and in the evening the whole household should be gathered together to bow before the Lord parents and children, master and servant to confess their sins, to give thanks for God’s mercies, to seek His help and blessing. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this duty: all other domestic arrangements are to bend to it. The head of the house is the one to lead the devotions . . . . Under no circumstances should family worship be omitted. If we would enjoy the blessing of God upon our family, then let its members gather together daily for praise and prayer.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
There are many passages that teach the need to shepherd, to train, to instruct, and to discipline your children. None of these passages has getting a child to pray the “sinner’s prayer” as its focus.
– Tedd Tripp
The devil baits his hook with religion.
– Thomas Watson
1620 – 1686
One day you visit a church, your teen goes off to the youth service, your little one goes off to children’s church, the baby goes to the nursery, and you and your spouse get a great seat in a plush auditorium with first-class music, professional drama, a relevant, encouraging, application-oriented, non-threatening talk, and you get it all in just under an hour. Moreover, you look at the brochures, and it’s right there in black and white: “Our youth ministry exists to do the job that you’ve neglected all these years.” What a deal! We don’t have to keep the little one quiet, we get our needs met, and to top it off, the youth guy is going to disciple my teenager (whom I don’t even like right now). Who cares if the youth guy has only been married a few months and has never even attempted to discipline a child of his own. “Count me in!” I realize that this is an exaggeration, but the fact is, it wouldn’t matter if the youth pastor were a forty-year-old Ph.D. with five children of his own whom he had raised successfully. That still would not justify the abdication of parental responsibility.
– Voddie Baucham
Alas, what condemning words are the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Sermon on the Mount, when laid alongside the conduct of many professing Christians!
– J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’ “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.
Ezekiel 33:1-9
I do not understand how a man can be a true believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow, and trouble.
– John Owen
1616 – 1683
After many years of listening to non-sequential, topical, doctrinal sermons, most of which are based on isolated texts, many church members still do not know the Bible as one book. Often repeated verses and some doctrines may be known; but the Scriptures, according to their divinely-given historical structure, are seldom understood. This is equally true in most Sunday schools. Children are usually taught stories from the Bible out of chronological order, and large portions of God’s Word are never taught to them at all. Even a faithful Sunday school pupil is unlikely to graduate with an overall knowledge of the Bible.
– Trevor Mcllwain
Repentance is taking sides with God against ourselves. It is the unsparing judgment of ourselves because of our high-handed rebellion. It is a ceasing to love and tolerate sin, and to excuse ourselves for committing it. It is a mourning before God because of our transgressions of His holy Law. Therefore, Christ taught, “Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), for He would not condone evil. He came to save His people from their sins, and not in them.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
During the year 2009, the eyes of the world will turn to remember the anniversaries of the birth of the two most influential men of the last one thousand years—the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. No two men of the millennium have done more to shape the thoughts of mankind or to affect the political and social destiny of nations than Calvin and Darwin—the former for the glory of God, and the latter for unimaginable evil. . . . Where Calvin taught the inadequacies of the fallen mind of man, the supremacy of the law of God, and the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, Darwin’s Theory led to the supremacy of man’s reason, the rejection of Scripture, and to widespread distrust in the Bible as an accurate record of Earth history. The children of Calvin and the Reformers gave us the rise of nation states that embraced Republican representative government. The children of Darwin gave us Marxism and totalitarianism. Calvin’s legacy included respect for life, a defense of the biblical family, and the rule of law under God. Darwin’s philosophical progeny introduced the world to the horrors of eugenics and legalized widespread abortion on demand.
– Doug Phillips
Many Christians believe the best thing they can do for their family is provide them with more stuff. So we continue to accumulate as though accumulation is the answer. All the while our children are screaming at us from beneath the piles of untouched toys and unworn clothes begging for a few minutes of our time. Time we simply don’t have because we are too busy trying to find that one thing we can add to the pile that will make the screaming stop.
– Voddie Baucham
If [the local church was] to draw the masses, like the televangelist did, it apparently could best be done by wrapping the faith in the package of entertainment—for the people, having now been trained to be consumers, have also been taught that the ultimate sin is to be bored. Hence the birth of the market-driven church that caters to the insatiable appetite for amusement in society in general.
– Gary Gilley
The doctrine of justification itself, as preached by an Arminian, is nothing but the doctrine of salvation by works.
– C.H. Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Christ Alone Wyoming 