The minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a faithful nor a charitable man.
J. C. RyleRead
If you and sin are friends, you and God are not yet reconciled.
Interpretation
A close relationship with sin prevents a true relationship with God.
This quote emphasizes the importance of spiritual integrity, suggesting that if an individual maintains a friendship with sin, they cannot genuinely be at peace or in fellowship with God. It speaks to the conflict between moral choices and spiritual connections, indicating that true reconciliation with God requires a distancing from sinful behaviors and attitudes.
In practice
During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to discuss the importance of repentance.
The minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a faithful nor a charitable man.
Good hymns are an immense blessing to the Church. They train people for heaven, where praise is one of the principal occupations.
When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.
Those who confine God's love exclusively to the elect appear to me to take a narrow and contracted view of God's character and attributes....I have long come to the conclusion that men may be _x000D_ more systematic in their statements than the Bible, and may be led into grave error by idolatrous veneration of a system
Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity!
Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached...let us not rush into Godβs presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.
As soon as you try to eliminate a thought or emotion, you make it stronger.
It is the function of perfection to make one know one's imperfection.
The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but actually itβs the most natural way to approach any situation. When you hold some part of yourself in reserve you deny it exposure to life; you repress its energy and keep it form understanding what it needs to know.
You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into.
Increasingly, people seem to misinterpret complexity as sophistication, which is baffling -- the incomprehensible should cause suspicion rather than admiration.
When workmen strive to do better than well, they do confound their skill in covetousness.
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