February 17, 2008

J. C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels; with a Quote from His Exposition of John

Matthew

Mark

Luke: Volume 1, Volume 2

John: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3
I will give place to no one in maintaining that Jesus loves all mankind, came into the world for all, died for all, provided redemption sufficient for all, calls on all, invites all, commands all to repent and believe; and ought to be offered to all—freely, fully, unreservedly, directly, unconditionally—without money and without price. If I did not hold this, I dare not get into a pulpit, and I should not understand how to preach the Gospel.

But while I hold all this, I maintain firmly that Jesus does special work for those who believe, which He does not do for others. He quickens them by His Spirit, calls them by His grace, washes them in His blood—justifies them, sanctifies them, keeps them, leads them, and continually intercedes for them—that they may not fall. If I did not believe all this, I should be a very miserable, unhappy Christian.
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John: Volume 3 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1880), 186.

6 comments:

Jerry M said...

"If I did not hold this, I dare not get into pulpit, and I should not understand how to preach the gospel."

Strong words - but I think he is on the mark.

Reminds me of a Luther quote: 'It is a patent fact that thou too art a part of the whole world: so that thine heart cannot deceive itself and think, "The Lord died for Peter and for Paul but not for me." Therefore let everyone who has sinned be summoned here, for He was made the expiation for the sins of the whole world and bore the sins of the whole world.'

Tony Byrne said...

Thanks for the excellent Luther quote, Jerry. It's one for the files :-)

Tony Byrne said...

David found the Luther quote and posted all of it here:

http://www.theologyonline.org/blog/?p=515

Nobodyreal said...

Tony, I'm getting this tatood on me. This is an amazing quote. Without the free offer, evangelism becomes perfunctory and without the assurance that the Holy Spirit will sovereignly regenerate, evangelism becomes disheartening.

The more I read Ryle, the more I esteem his writings. Thanks Tony for this great quote. :)

Anonymous said...

I just (providentially) stumbled across this, I know I owe you a phone call, but it's interesting that I posted on J.C. Ryle in a recent post and didn't know your blog had this info on him!

I might have to stop blogging, and just sit read this plethora of information.

I did find the Davenant resource online, through your blog posts. God bless you. You are doing a great work, so don't stop!

Josh said...

Ryle has a knack for communicating lofty matters at a very approachable level. I love this whole series and quotes like this one are found throughout.

Expository Thoughts Complete Ebook Set