Showing results by author "J.C. Ryle" in All Categories

Clear, concise, and penetrating, Practical Religion contains a series of writings about the daily duties, dangers, experiences, and privileges of all who profess and call themselves true Christians. Ryle explains that a "practical religion" is not a religion of works, but rather one in which those who are saved can put their faith into practice.

Wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation is contained in this audiobook. Not because of the author's brilliance, but because of the words of truth contained in the gospel of Mark. And just as the apostle Mark didn't draw any attention to himself, so also J. C. Ryle clearly and wonderfully directs his words and our thoughts toward the inspired words of scripture. If we truly love God, we will love his word; and the more we study his word, the more we will love God.

He who wants a correct understanding of holiness must first begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very deep if he wants to build high. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption. Practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not given adequate attention by modern Christians. The unsaved sometimes rightly complain that Christians are not as kind and unselfish and good-natured as those who make no profession of faith.

John Charles Ryle’s best known works have been reissued and widely read over many years. The fine qualities of his writings have ensured that his books are still popular and useful. This volume has become a classic work and is known and loved by many throughout the world. In days when evangelical preachers are accused of being either superficial or dull, we have here a great example of one who was neither of these things. As Bishop Ryle applies his texts, the listener will find his soul examined.

Wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation is contained in this audio. Not because of the author's brilliance, but because of the words of truth contained in the gospel of Matthew. And just as the apostle Matthew didn't draw any attention to himself, so also J. C. Ryle clearly and wonderfully directs his words and our thoughts towards the inspired words of scripture. If we truly love God, we will love his word; and the more study his word, the more we will love God.

Wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation is contained here. Not because of the author's brilliance, but because of the words of truth contained in the gospel of John. And just as the Apostle John didn't draw any attention to himself, so also J. C. Ryle clearly and wonderfully directs his words and our thoughts toward the inspired words of scripture. If we truly love God, we will love his word; and the more we study his word, the more we will love God.

Old Paths is a collection of 19 of J. C. Ryle's most effective tracts on the leading truths of Christianity, which are, as he says, "necessary to salvation." In including in such a series Inspiration, Election, and Perseverance, he allows that good Christians have disagreed and will still disagree about them, but he inserts them nevertheless on account of the immense importance of the first and the extraordinary neglect into which the last two have fallen. Ryle's racy style, plainspokenness, and good taste are sure to secure your affection and hold your attention.

This "upper room," we should remember, was the forerunner of every church and cathedral which has been reared in Christendom within the last 18 centuries. St. Paul's, and York, and Lincoln, and all the stately ministers of our own land; St. Sophia at Constantinople, St. Isaac at St. Petersburg, St. Stephen's at Vienna, Notre Dame at Paris, St. Peter's at Rome, all are descendants from this "upper room." Not one can trace its pedigree beyond that little chamber. Here it was that professing Christians, when left alone by their master, first began to pray together, to worship.

The 19th century was an age that witnessed great progress in many areas of exploration and learning. However, according to J. C. Ryle, it was an age of great ignorance too. What particularly distressed Ryle was the scant knowledge of the English Reformation evident amongst his contemporaries. In this lay a grave danger: one of the reasons so many congregations drift from their evangelical foundations is their sheer ignorance of Christian history, and their lack of understanding of the major doctrinal controversies and why they matter.

It is indifference that leaves people alone and allows them to go their own way. It is love, tender love, that warns them and raises the cry of alarm. The cry of “Fire! Fire!” at midnight might sometimes rudely, harshly, and unpleasantly startle a person out of his sleep, but who would complain if that cry was the means of saving his life? The words except you repent, you will all likewise perish might at first seem stern and severe, but they are words of love, and they could be the means of delivering precious souls from hell.

How much religion among many members of churches consists of nothing but church rituals! They belong to their church. They are baptized, married, buried in at the church, and preached to on Sundays by her ministers, but the great doctrines of truth have no place in their hearts and only a little influence on their lives. Is the religion of these people real Christianity? No, it is Churchianity – and nothing more!

I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which people may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A person must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day - all hinges on the answer to this question: What do you think about the cross of Christ?

There are some men in the pages of history, whose greatness no person of common sense thinks of disputing. They tower above the herd of mankind, like the Pyramids, the Parthenon, and the Colosseum, among buildings. Such men were Luther and Augustine, Gustavus Adolphus and George Washington, Columbus and Sir Isaac Newton. He who questions greatness must be content to be thought very ignorant, very prejudiced, or very eccentric. Public opinion has come to a conclusion about them - they were great men.

Although arguably one of the simplest aspects of Christianity, prayer is also perhaps the most neglected, overlooked, and malnourished part of the average Christian’s day and life. While praying quickly before food and with a congregation on Sunday and for an ailing relative may be common enough, J. C. Ryle truly, and with palpable heartfelt and genuine care, pushes those of faith to see their lack of serious prayer for the spiritual health crisis that it is.

Speaker and writer J. C. Ryle once said, "The man who hears the word of God and does it is the true Christian. He hears the call of God to repent and be converted, and he obeys it. He ceases to do evil and learns to do well. He puts off the old man and puts on the new. He hears the call of God to believe in Jesus Christ for justification, and he obeys it." In The True Christian, Ryle details many more ways in which Christians can be uncompromising in their biblical principles.

Striving for holiness should be a goal for all followers of Christ, yet it is often viewed as too overwhelming of an undertaking or as simply not as important as the more immediate demands of daily life.

The reader will soon discover that I am an enthusiastic admirer of the men whose lives and ministries I have narrated in this volume. I confess it honestly. I am a thorough admirer of them. I firmly believe that, with the exceptions of Martin Luther and his contemporaries and our own martyred reformers, the world has not seen any such men since the days of the apostles. I now send forth this volume with an earnest prayer that God will pardon all its imperfections, use it for His own glory, and raise up in His church today men like those who are here described.

Join J.C. Ryle as he explains the benefits of reading (and rereading) the Bible, and find inspiration for your daily devotions in this classic work.

It has been a long time since there have been as many ideas and events in our world causing fear and anxiety as there are today. But one thing, in any event, is clear, and that is the duty of Christians to search more diligently than ever the prophetic Scriptures. Let us compare prophecies fulfilled with prophecies unfulfilled and attempt to make the one illustrate the other. Let us strive, above all, to obtain clear views of the things we should be expecting, both in the church and the world, before the end comes and time will be no more.

This is a primer on raising children and the duties all Christian parents have toward those whom God has entrusted to them.