You have chosen the roughest road, but it leads straight to the hilltops.
- John Bunyan
"Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die." — Jonathan Edwards
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
As waters are purest, when they are in motion--so saints are generally holiest, when in affliction. Some Christians resemble those doltish children, who will learn their lessons--no longer than while the rod is on their backs! In the greatest affliction--the Lord has sealed the sweetest instruction, "It was good for me to be afflicted--so that I could learn Your statutes!" Psalm 119:71
--William Secker
There is a difference between a truce and peace. A truce is when people put down their guns and don't shoot for awhile. True peace is when conflict is resolved and the parties to it become friends. Some think peace happens the instant the war stops. But that doesn't resolve the conflict unless the underlying issues are dealt with. Otherwise cessation of open hostility only brings about a cold war, which is still a war. That may result in a state worse than if the fighting had continued. A conflict driven underground can smolder and slowly destroy both sides. Two people who are at war with each other shouldn't be separated so they can't see each other. Rather, the cause of their conflict needs to be resolved so that they can come together in love. Biblical peace never evades issues--it isn't peace at any price. The peace of the Bible conquers the problem and builds bridges between people. That may involve struggle, pain, and anguish, but real peace is the result.
-John MacArthur
There is no death of sin without the death of Christ. -John Owen
To forsake Christ for the world, is to leave a treasure for a trifle...eternity for a moment, reality for a shadow. -William Jenkyn
But I perceive God will have us to be deprived of whatsoever we idolize, that He may have His own room. -Samuel Rutherford
The truth is too important to kill it in the streets for the sake of peace. --RC Sproul
Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride. -Richard Sibbes
Some of His children must go into the furnace to testify that the Son of God is there with them.
--Elizabeth Prentiss
In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.
- Richard Baxter
Grant, O Lord my God that I might never fall away in sucess or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity. Let me rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what separates us. May I strive to please no one or fear to displease anyone except Yourself. May I seek always the things that are eternal and never those that are only temporal. May I shun any joy that is without you and never seek any that is beside you. O Lord, may I delight in any work I do in you and tire from any rest that is apart from you. My God, Let me direct my heart toward you, and in my failings, always repent with a purpose of ammendment.
--St. Thomas Aquinas
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
--Proverbs 17:28
Should such a one as you faint in the day of adversity? Call to mind the days of old. The Lord liveth. Trust in Him, although He should slay you. -Samuel Rutherford
It is not my ability but my response to God's ability that counts.
--Corrie Ten Boom
An afflicted life looks very like the way that leads to the kingdom. -Samuel Rutherford
"You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness." -C.S. Lewis
"The minister must speak from the heart or he cannot speak to the heart."--Anthony Burgess in Section IV: The nature of sanctifying grace (regeneration) with the counterfeit thereof
His cry not forward, but Follow. -William Guthrie
Thou art beaten that thou mayest be better. -John Bunyan
Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.
-John Bunyan
Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. -Jonathan Edwards
"Whenever you find a man who says he doesn't believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later." -C.S. Lewis
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