J.C. Ryle on Christ and Creation

"Christ is all" (Col. 3:11).

"There came a time when this earth was created in its present order.  Sun, moon and stars, sea, land, and all their inhabitants were called into being, and made out of chaos and confusion.  And, last of all, man was formed out of the dust of the ground.

"And where was Christ then?

"Hear what the Scripture says: 'All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made' (John 1:3).  'By Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in the earth' (Col. 1:16).  'And You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands' (Heb. 1:10).  'When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of he depth; when He established the clouds above; when He strengthened the foundations of the deep; when He gave the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment; when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him' (Prov. 8:27-30).  Can we wonder that the Lord Jesus, in His preaching, should continually draw lessons from the book of nature?  When He spoke of the sheep, the fish, the ravens, the corn, the lilies, the fig tree, the vine, He spoke of things which He Himself had made" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle)

J.C. Ryle on Christ Before Creation

"Christ is all" (Col. 3:11)

"There was a time when this earth had no being.  Solid as the mountains look, boundless as the sea appears, high as the stars in heaven look, they once did not exist.  And man, with all the high thoughts he now has of himself, was a creature unknown.

"And where was Christ then?

"Even then Christ was 'with God' and 'was God' and was 'equal with God' (John 1:1; Phil. 2:6).  Even then He was the beloved Son of the Father.  'You loved me,' He says, 'before the foundation of the world.'  'I had glory with You before the world began.'  'I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was' (John 17:5, 24; Prov. 8:23).  Even then He was the Savior if 'foreordained before the foundation of the world' (1 Pet. 1:20), and believers were 'chosen in Him' (Eph. 1:4)" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle).

Christ the High Priest and Savior

Every week the Church of God gathers to worship our Creator, our Friend and Master, our High Priest and Savior.  And each week it is important for the Church to be reminded of the unspeakable gift the Father has given his people through his Son, Jesus Christ.  J.C. Ryle, a pastor in England in the late 1800s spoke of this great gift in this way:

“Who can estimate the value of God's gift, when He gave to the world His only begotten Son! It is something unspeakable and incomprehensible. It passes man's understanding. Two things there are which man has no arithmetic to reckon, and no line to measure. One of these things is the extent of that man's loss who loses his own soul. The other is the extent of God's gift when he gave Christ to sinners...Sin must indeed be exceeding sinful, when the Father must give His only Son to be the sinner's Friend!” (J.C. Ryle, Foundations of Faith)

Join us this week as we look into Hebrews 2:10-18 and what it means that Christ is our High Priest and Savior.  Why do we need a High Priest?  How did Christ fulfill his role as High Priest?  What does it mean that Christ is our Savior?  How great is our sin that God himself must be sacrificed to pay the price?

Be prayerfully prepared to meet God as we study his Word and Truth this Sunday morning.  And be prepared for the Holy Spirit to move in us through the Truth of his Son, our High Priest and Savior.

J.C. Ryle on the Christian's View of Christ

"I am afraid that many who profess Christ in our day have lost sight of our Lord's person.  They talk more about salvation than about their only Savior, and more about redemption than the one true Redeemer, and more about Christ's work than Christ Himself.  This is a great fault, one that accounts for the dry and shriveled spirit that infuses the religious lives of many who profess faith.

"As ever you would grow in grace, and have joy and peace in believing, beware of falling into this error.  Cease to regard the Gospel as a mere collection of dry doctrines.  Look at it rather as the revelation of a mighty living Being in whose sight you are daily to live.  Cease to regard it as a mere set of abstract propositions and [hard to understand] principles and rules.  Look at it as the introduction to a glorious personal Friend.  This is the kind of Gospel that the apostles preached.  They did not go about the world telling men of love and mercy and pardon in the abstract.  The leading subject of all their sermons was the loving heart of an actual living Christ.  This is the kind of Gospel which is most calculated to promote sanctification and fitness for glory.  Nothing, surely, is so likely to prepare us for that heaven where Christ's personal presence will be all, and that glory where we shall meet Christ face to face, as to realize communion with Christ, as an actual living Person here on earth.  There is all the difference in the world between and idea and a person."

(Holiness, Ryle, J.C., p. 183)

Christ as Judge

A family member of mine once had to go before a judge to challenge a ticket they received for overdriving the conditions of the road.  They had been in an accident in their car, nothing too serious, due to the black ice that had formed on the road.  As they approached the judge it was clear that they would not be able to handle themselves in a calm matter as they began to sob uncontrollably.  They were too intimidated by the judge to defend themselves and so in the end had to pay the fine anyway.

The first and only time I have had to stand before a judge was for jury selection.  And even that situation was nerve-racking.  Especially when I was singled out and asked questions directly.  Standing before a judge can be very intimidating and when we realize that we all will have to stand before the Judge, Jesus Christ, Creator-God of all things, the intimidation factor can rise to extremes. 

Two weeks ago Andrew spoke about how Jesus Christ humbled Himself, coming down from His throne in Heaven to be born in a simple stable to a poor family.  What an amazing, loving thing to do for us, the created.  Last week we studied how Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be the only truly, wholly, Righteous One who is perfect in every way.  His shed blood upon the cross was the only sacrifice worthy to turn away God’s wrath toward us for our sin.  This week will explore how Christ is Judge of the living and dead.  What will that judgment look like?  What will we be judged for?  How is Christ worth of being Judge?  Should we be worried as we stand before Him as our Judge?

Prayerfully prepare yourself for encountering this amazing characteristic of our Savior.  May God speak to us, teach us, and mold us as we dig into His Word with an open and teachable heart.