Pithy gems from Ryle. It costs something to be a true Christian. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease, and our worldliness. According to the men of the world, few are going to hell. According to the Bible, few are going to heaven.

By affliction, Christ shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, and makes us long for heaven

Nothing is so offensive to Christ as lukewarmness in religion. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. Revelation chapter 3 verse 16.

Pride is the oldest and most common of sins. Humility is the rarest and most beautiful of graces. Look to the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go and set your affections on the world if you can. A crucified Savior will never be content to have a self-pleasing, self-indulging, worldly-minded people.

The gospel was not meant merely to reside in our intellect, memories, and tongues, but to be seen in our lives. Happiness and contentment do not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart. Health is a good thing, but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.

The beginning of the way to heaven is to feel that we are on the way to hell. There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have and think they have enough. But a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, is worth nothing.

Christian, your trials, crosses, and conflicts are all temporary. I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains. There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction. Christ is never fully valued until sin is clearly seen. We must know the depth and malignity of our disease in order to appreciate the great physician.

Our Lord has many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school, many raw soldiers in His army, many lame sheep in His flock. Yet He bears with them all and casts none away. Blessed is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.

A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheaped Christianity without a cross will prove in the end to be a useless Christianity without a crown. That preaching is sadly defective, which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of heaven, yet never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of hell.

Singe Forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven. To be a Christian, it will cost a man his sins. There is no such thing as chance, luck, or accident in the Christian journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God, who works all things together for the believer's eternal good.

The standard of the world and the standard of the Lord Jesus are indeed widely different. They are more than different, they are flatly contradictory one to the other. Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity. Hell is truth known too late. That Bible is read best, which is practiced most.

God's eternal election is the first link in that chain of a sinner's salvation, of which heavenly glory is the end. A tree may always be known by its fruit. Just so, a true Christian may always be discovered by their habits, tastes, and affections. To be a Christian, it will cost a man his love of ease.