The minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a faithful nor a charitable man.
J. C. RyleRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True faith requires a deep understanding of one's own shortcomings.
This quote by J. C. Ryle emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own sinful nature as a crucial step in genuinely following Jesus. Without acknowledging and feeling conviction for one's sins, any apparent commitment to faith may be superficial and temporary, leading ultimately to a return to worldly ways when challenges arise.
Themes
FaithConvictionSinSpiritualityCommitment
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the importance of understanding our faults, this quote could be used to inspire deep self-reflection.
More from J. C. Ryle
All quotes βGood hymns are an immense blessing to the Church. They train people for heaven, where praise is one of the principal occupations.
J. C. RyleRead
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.
J. C. RyleRead
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
J. C. RyleRead
Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity!
J. C. RyleRead
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.
J. C. RyleRead
Similar quotes
Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist β someone who made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.
Peter SengeRead
The idea that public safety, the safety of the innocent, is an absolute which trumps every other consideration, is tacitly abandoned in the way we live.
Tom StoppardRead
Ever since then I have known that if all the values in this world are more or less questionable, the most important thing in life is kindness.
Yevgeny YevtushenkoRead
It is thus that the few rare lucid well-disposed people who have had to struggle on the earth find themselves at certain hours of the day or night in the depth of certain authentic and waking nightmare states, surrounded by the formidable suction, the formidable oppression of a kind of civic magic which will soon be seen appearing openly in social behavior.
Antonin ArtaudRead
The trick. . .is to find the balance between the bright colors of humor and the serious issues of identity, self-loathing, and the possibility for intimacy and love when it seems no longer possible or, sadder yet, no longer necessary.
Wendy WassersteinRead
Can you look forward to the future of our country and imagine any state of things in which, with slavery still existing, we should be assured of permanent peace? I cannot.
Robert Dale OwenRead