I am convinced that many evangelicals are not truly and soundly converted. Among the evangelicals it is entirely possible to come into membership, to ooze in by osmosis, to leak through the cells of the church and never know what it means to be born of the Spirit and washed in the blood. A great deal that passes for the deeper life is nothing more or less than basic Christianity.
– AW Tozer –
When the root is bitterness, imagine what the fruit might be.
– Woodrow Kroll –
Because it has been so united with the devil it is vital for man to receive from God a change of mind before he can receive a new heart.
– Watchman Nee –
The recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation.
– Martin Luther –
After grief for sin there should be joy for forgiveness.
– AW Pink –
It was wonderful love that Christ should die for such as we are. What are we? Not only vanity, but enmity. When we were fighting, he was dying; when we had the weapons in our hands, then he had the spear in his side (Romans 5:8).
– Thomas Watson –
from The Lords Supper, 1665
True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His law, and in His people.
– George Whitefield –
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” As bread is the first need of the body, so forgiveness is for the soul. The provision for the one is as sure as for the other. We are children, but we are also sinners. We owe our right of access to the Father’s presence to the precious blood of Christ and the forgiveness it has won for us.
– Andrew Murray –
from Teach Me To Pray
Bring thy lust to the gospel, not for relief, but for further conviction of its guilt: look on him whom thou hast pierced, and be in bitterness. Say to thy soul, What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace, have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Ghost for his grace? Do I thus requite the Lord? Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, which the blesses Spirit hath chosen to dwell in? And can I keep myself out of the dust? What can I say to the dear Lord Jesus? How shall I hold up my head with any boldness before him? Do I account communion with him of so little value that for this vile lust’s sake I have scarce left him any room in my heart? How shall I escape, if I neglect so great salvation? In the mean time, what shall I say to the Lord? Love, mercy, grace, goodness, peace, joy, consolation; I have despised them all, and esteemed them as a thing of naught, that I might harbour a lust in my heart.
– John Owen –
from The Mortification of Sin