Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 6:46-49 “Let us mark, in these verses, what an old and common sin is profession without practice. It is written that our Lord said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” The Son of God Himself had many followers, who pretended to honor Him by calling Him Lord, but yielded no obedience to His commandments. The evil which our Lord exposes here, has always existed in the Church of God. It was found six hundred years before our Lord’s time, in the…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship November 5, 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 6:20-26 “Who then, are the people to whom our Lord says, ‘Woe unto you?’ They are the men who refuse to seek treasure in heaven, because they love the good things of this world better, and will not give up their money, if need requires, for Christ’s sake. They are the men who prefer the joys and so-called happiness of this world, to joy and peace in believing, and will not risk the loss of the one in order to gain the other. They are those who love the praise…
Call to Worship October 29, 2017
“At first I clearly saw that the free grace of God is absolutely necessary to attain to light and eternal life; and I anxiously and busily worked to understand the word of Paul in Rom. 1:17: The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel. I questioned this passage for a long time and labored over it, for the expression ‘righteousness of God’ barred my way. This phrase was customarily explained to mean that the righteousness of God is a virtue by which He is Himself righteous and condemns sinners. In this way all the teachers of the church except…
Call To Worship October 22 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 6:12-19 “Let us observe, firstly, in these verses, that when our Lord ordained His first ministers, He did it after much prayer. We read that He ‘went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples, and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles.’ We need not doubt that there is a deep significance in this special mention of our Lord’s praying upon this occasion. It was intended to be a…
Call To Worship October 15 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 6:1-11 “We should weigh carefully the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching about the observance of the Sabbath, both here and in other places. We must not allow ourselves to be carried away by the common notion that the Sabbath is a mere Jewish ordinance, and that it was abolished and done away by Christ. There is not a single passage of the Gospels which proves this. In every case where we find our Lord speaking upon it, He speaks against the false views of it, which were taught…
Call To Worship, October 8, 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 5:27-32 “This is that great lesson of the Gospel which, in one form or another, we find continually taught in the New Testament. It is one which we can never have too strongly impressed upon our minds. Such is our natural ignorance and self-righteousness in religion, that we are constantly losing sight of it. We need to be frequently reminded, that Jesus did not come merely as a teacher, but as the Savior of that which was utterly lost, and that those only can receive benefit from Him who will…
Call to Worship October 1 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 5:1-26 “In measuring these words of Peter, we must of course remember the time at which they were spoken. He was, at best, but a babe in grace, weak in faith, weak in experience, and weak in knowledge. At a later period in his life he would, doubtless, have said, ‘Abide with me,’ and not, ‘depart.’ But still, after every deduction of this kind, the words of Peter exactly express the first feelings of man when he is brought into anything like close contact with God. The sight of divine…
Call To Worship September 17 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 3:1-6 We must carefully bear in mind that no repentance can make atonement for sin. The blood of Christ, and nothing else, can wash away sin from man’s soul. No quantity of repentance can ever justify us in the sight of God. “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings.” It is of the utmost importance to understand this clearly. The trouble that men bring upon their souls, by misunderstanding this subject, is…
Call To Worship September 10 2017
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke J.C. Ryle Luke 2:41-52 JESUS AND HIS PARENTS AT THE PASSOVER These verses should always be deeply interesting to a reader of the Bible. They record the only facts which we know about our Lord Jesus Christ during the first thirty years of His life on earth, after His infancy. How many things a Christian would like to know about the events of those thirty years, and the daily history of the house at Nazareth! But we need not doubt that there is wisdom in the silence of Scripture on the subject. If…
Call To Worship August 2017
We worship our God who created the soul of man, therefore he knows souls perfectly. No matter the depth of despair, God alone ultimately sustains and keeps the souls of every person according to His will. Trusting His will means even during the depths of despondency. Do we really trust that the one who created us and sent His Son to die for us can care for us as well? Will we trust the Son who died for us to tell us how to live our lives? He trusted the Father in the greatest of all times of despair. He…