Steven J. Lawson Quotes & Sayings

Predestination ... and salvation are clean taken out of our hands, and put in the hands of God only ... for we are so weak and so uncertain, that if it stood in us, there would of a truth be no man saved; the devil, no doubt, would deceive us.23 — Steven J. Lawson

If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. If we want conversions, we must put more of God's Word into our sermons.8 His gospel preaching was grounded — Steven J. Lawson

As local priests came to dine at the Walsh manor, Tyndale witnessed firsthand the appalling biblical ignorance of the Roman church. During one meal, he found himself in a heated debate with a Catholic clergyman. The priest asserted, "We had better be without God's law than the pope's."15 Tyndale boldly responded, "I defy the pope and all his laws." He then added that "if God spared him life, ere many years he would cause a boy that drives the plough to know more of the Scripture than he does."16 — Steven J. Lawson

The essence of Christianity is centered upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The sum and substance of being a Christian is trusting Christ with the entirety of one's being. The height of the Christian life is adoring Christ, the depth of it loving Him, the breadth of it obeying Him, and the length of it following Him. Everything in the Christian life revolves around Jesus Christ. Simply put, Christianity is Christ. — Steven J. Lawson

J. C. Ryle writes, "The day of judgment will reveal strange things. The hopes of many who were thought great Christians while they lived will be utterly confounded. The rottenness of their religion will be exposed and put to shame before the whole world. It will then be proved that to be saved means something more than 'making a profession.'"9 — Steven J. Lawson

Humility begins with seeing who God is, seeing yourself compared to God, and then seeing yourself as God sees you. — Steven J. Lawson

Lloyd-Jones believed the man who is called to preach comes under a sobering humility. He believed that this person is overwhelmed with a deep sense of his own personal unworthiness for such a high and holy task and is often hesitant to move forward to preach for fear of his own inadequacies. — Steven J. Lawson

Expository preaching consists in the explanation and application of a passage of Scripture. Without explanation it is not expository; without application it is not preaching.32 — Steven J. Lawson

If your repentance has not changed your life, you need to repent of your repentance. — Steven J. Lawson

For unbelievers, at the final judgment, there will not be one drop of mercy, only perfect justice-so much sin, so much wrath. — Steven J. Lawson

Whatever your Bible translation is, it stands on the shoulders of one man - William Tyndale. — Steven J. Lawson

Preaching with his whole heart, Whitefield was fully engaged in all that he said. That is why on one occasion he told his listeners, "I shall return home with a heavy heart, unless some of you will arise and come to my Jesus; I desire to preach Him and not myself; rest not in hearing and following me."54 With that, he begged and pleaded with his listeners to believe upon Christ and be saved. It is this kind of passionate preaching that we need again in this present hour. We could certainly do with fewer stale, exegetical lectures in the pulpit. Save these for the classroom. We could do with fewer frivolous, lighthearted personalities in the pulpit. Instead, what is desperately needed in this day are more intensely urgent pleas and pressing appeals as exemplified by this gifted evangelist, George Whitefield. — Steven J. Lawson

The lamp of divine, written revelation reveals the will of God for the believer. Whether it is expressed by biblical command or precept, by scriptural example or principle, the Word illumines the path every believer must take. This divine light in Scripture is not a mere option, but an absolute necessity for every follower of Christ. — Steven J. Lawson

God will honor the preaching that honors Christ, but abandon the pulpit that abandons Him. — Steven J. Lawson

These truth-seeking students gathered at a local pub on the campus of King's College, called the White Horse Inn, to debate the ideas of Luther. — Steven J. Lawson

We owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God because it has proceeded from Him alone, and has nothing of man mixed with it.14 This was the unshakable foundation of Calvin's preaching-the authority of divinely inspired Scripture. He firmly believed that when the Bible speaks, God speaks. — Steven J. Lawson

At the cross, the worst about us-our sins-was laid upon Christ, and the best about Him-His righteousness-was laid upon us. — Steven J. Lawson

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty. — Steven J. Lawson

There shall be in the church a fleshly seed of Abraham and a spiritual; a Cain and an Abel; an Ishmael and an Isaac; an Esau and a Jacob; as I have said, a worker and a believer; a great multitude of them that be called, and a small flock of them that be elect and chosen.31 — Steven J. Lawson

The pursuit of holiness is always on the path of obedience to the Word, never apart from it. — Steven J. Lawson

O step into the pulpit is to enter onto holy ground. To stand behind an open Bible demands no trifling with sacred things. To be a spokesman for God requires utmost concern and care in handling and proclaiming the Word. Rightly does Scripture warn, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (James 3:1). — Steven J. Lawson

Unless the Holy Ghost blesses the Word, we who preach the gospel are of all men most miserable, for we have attempted a task that is impossible. We have entered on a sphere where nothing but the supernatural will ever avail. If the Holy Spirit does not renew the hearts of our hearers, we cannot do it. If the Holy Ghost does not regenerate them, we cannot. If He does not send the truth home into their souls, we might as well speak into the ear of a corpse. — Steven J. Lawson

Miracles of grace must be the seals of our ministry; who can bestow them but the Spirit of God? Convert a soul without the Spirit of God! Why, you cannot even make a fly, much less create a new heart and a right spirit."48 — Steven J. Lawson

There is a vast difference between merely knowing about Christ and actually knowing Him-the difference between heaven and hell. — Steven J. Lawson

The law and will of the devil is written as well in our hearts as in our members, and we run headlong after the devil with full zeal, and the whole swing of all the power we have; as a stone cast up into the air comes down naturally of his own self, with all the violence and swing of his own weight.15 — Steven J. Lawson

No one goes to heaven by parroting a prayer, being baptized, or joining a church, but by believing in Jesus Christ with humble submission. — Steven J. Lawson

This famine in pulpits across the nation reveals a loss of confidence in God's Word to perform its sacred work. While evangelicals affirm the inerrancy of Scripture, many have apparently abandoned their belief in its sufficiency to save and to sanctify. Rather than expounding the Word with growing vigor, many are turning to lesser strategies in an effort to resurrect dead ministries. But with each newly added novelty, the straightforward expounding of the Bible is being relegated to a secondary role, further starving the church. Doing God's work God's way requires an unwavering commitment to feeding people God's Word through relentless biblical preaching and teaching. — Steven J. Lawson

All pulpits must passionately declare Christ to be the eternal Son of the living God, the only Savior of sinners. All preaching must boldly announce Him as the reigning Lord of heaven and earth. He must be fearlessly announced as the One before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. All preaching must assert that this Jesus is the final Judge of every human life. To fulfill this sacred duty, every preacher must proclaim the full counsel of God. Every doctrine in Scripture must be delivered. Every truth must be taught. Every sin must be exposed. Every warning must be issued. And every promise must be offered. If God is to bless our preaching, the supreme majesty of Jesus Christ Himself must be expounded in our sermons. All the lines of our preaching must intersect at this highest pinnacle - Jesus Christ and Him crucified. — Steven J. Lawson

New truth is old heresy. — Steven J. Lawson

In the school of discipleship, suffering for Christ is never an elective course, but a required core class. — Steven J. Lawson

Church hoppers are like wandering dogs. If they are not regularly patted on the head, they will go elsewhere until they are. — Steven J. Lawson

It would be easier to grow oak trees by planting marbles than for someone to be saved without the seed of the word. — Steven J. Lawson

The Bible is shallow enough for a new believer to wade in, but deep enough for a theologian to drown in. — Steven J. Lawson

If there is no fruit in sanctification, there is no root in regeneration. — Steven J. Lawson

The blessing of heaven will not accompany the preaching that is done in a worldly manner. — Steven J. Lawson

God is the decider and the determiner of every man's destiny, the controller of every detail in every individual's life, which is another way of saying, "He is God."1 - John MacArthur — Steven J. Lawson

God has loved us in spite of us. — Steven J. Lawson

It matters to God what is preached. And it matters to Him how it is preached. No man is free to preach whatever and however he so chooses. — Steven J. Lawson

It will cost you to follow Christ, but it costs even more not to follow Him. — Steven J. Lawson

Suffering is not an elective; it is a core course in the University of Life. — Steven J. Lawson

We do not merely add Jesus Christ to our lives and continue in the same direction. Following Christ means we stop, turn around, and pursue Him. — Steven J. Lawson

All men of God must take forth the banner of truth, and once more valiantly proclaim the magnificent sovereignty of God in man's regeneration. May such preaching ring from pulpits today. — Steven J. Lawson

Where God has put a period, the devil puts a question mark, casting doubt. — Steven J. Lawson

The spiritual life of any congregation and its growth in grace will never exceed the high-water mark set by its pulpit. — Steven J. Lawson

If Christ is not everything, He is nothing. He who has Christ has everything. — Steven J. Lawson

If you do not receive Christ as the Lamb who saves and delivers, you will face Him as the Lion who stalks and devours. — Steven J. Lawson

What is clear is that a spiritually dead sinner contributes nothing - except his sin - to His salvation, not even his faith. — Steven J. Lawson

By grace (that is to say, by favor) we are plucked out of Adam, the ground of all evil, and grafted in Christ, the root of all goodness.28 You are chosen for Christ's sake to the inheritance of eternal life.29 — Steven J. Lawson

The Word of God judges the thoughts. The word "judge" means to critique, to be or act as a critic. This is to say that Scripture is able to accurately audit a person's life and size it up for what it is. The Word of God is able to examine the unseen attitudes and motivations, expose the secret ambitions and desires, and then render the divine verdict. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart. This sharp, two-edged sword is able to penetrate into the hidden crevices of the heart and judge what only God can see. The Word makes known what we alone know about ourselves - and often what we do not yet know of ourselves. Scripture plunges deep into the unseen places of the human spirit and judges the private matters of the heart. Only the razor-sharp Word of God can do this. — Steven J. Lawson

If the Bible is what it claims to be, how can we allow it to remain on a bookshelf? — Steven J. Lawson

In the race of faith, stay focused upon Christ, not the other runners, nor the spectators. — Steven J. Lawson

There are many roads that lead to hell, but only one way to go to heaven. — Steven J. Lawson

Faith only glances at problems, but gazes upon Jesus. — Steven J. Lawson

For many years I thought I was a Christian when in fact I was not. It was only later that I came to see that I had never been a Christian and became one. ... What I needed was preaching that would convict me of sin. ... But I never heard this. The preaching we had was always based on the assumption that we were all Christians. — Steven J. Lawson

If you're saved and you're breathing, you need to know who William Tyndale is. — Steven J. Lawson

When God calls, it has the intensity of a shout and the authority of a summons. When He calls, He secures His own desired results. — Steven J. Lawson

No preacher, regardless of where he serves, is free to reinvent preaching. — Steven J. Lawson

The more we grow to know God, the more we realize how little we know of Him. — Steven J. Lawson

Romans gave Luther his theology, but it was the Psalms that gave him his thunder. — Steven J. Lawson

Every decision and direction must come under this overarching goal of bringing glory to God. — Steven J. Lawson

He who has ceased to learn has ceased to teach. He who no longer sows in the study will no more reap in the pulpit. — Steven J. Lawson

If you miss Christ you miss everything, and if you have Christ you have everything. — Steven J. Lawson

The doctrines known as Calvinism are not something that emerged late in church history, but rather are that which takes its origins in the teachings of Jesus.1 - James Montgomery Boice — Steven J. Lawson

Some Christians live in such fear, they act as if they believe in the sovereignty of Satan rather than the sovereignty of God. — Steven J. Lawson

You cannot have Christ for your Savior unless you also have Him as your Lord. — Steven J. Lawson

Your faith depends on the strength of its object ... a puny god just won't do. — Steven J. Lawson

Hell is a real place, more real than the city in which you live, much hotter and more populated. — Steven J. Lawson

The pastor who cares about the spiritual growth of his people must make God and His Word the centerpiece of his ministry. — Steven J. Lawson

It is desperately essential in this hour that preachers recover a soaring vision of the supremacy of God. Life-changing, history-altering preaching will come only when pastors reclaim a high view of God's blazing holiness and are overshadowed by His absolute sovereignty. Towering thoughts of God's transcendent glory must captivate preachers' souls. — Steven J. Lawson

We will never know how great God's love is until we first see how great our sin is. — Steven J. Lawson

To preach the gospel is to proclaim with trumpet tongue and flaming zeal the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus, so that men may hear, and understanding, may turn to God with full purpose of heart.30 — Steven J. Lawson

The greatest work God ever performs was not the creation of the universe out of nothing, but is the new creation of saints out of sinners. — Steven J. Lawson

Better to have small faith in a great God than to have great faith in a small god. — Steven J. Lawson

Souls must be converted here, and if there be not many born to Christ, may the Lord grant to me that I may sleep in the tomb and be heard of no more. Better indeed for us to die than to live, if souls be not saved. — Steven J. Lawson

The high ground of Christ & Him crucified must be claimed in our preaching. Any other footing is a slippery slope that inevitably descends downward into vain rhetoric and mere words. To the contrary, every pulpit must present a towering vision of the unique person and saving work of Jesus Christ. All preaching must point to His sin-bearing, substitutionary death for sinners. All exposition must lift up this Sacrificial Lamb who became a sin-bearing Substitute for all who believe. Every message must exalt this Christ, who was raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and entrusted with all authority in heaven and earth. — Steven J. Lawson

A high view of God leads to high worship and holy living, but a low of God leads to trivial worship and low living. — Steven J. Lawson

Until we have the right knowledge of God, the knowledge of self and our need for grace remains distorted. — Steven J. Lawson

If you are only born once, you will die twice. But if you are born twice, you will only die once. — Steven J. Lawson

In Christ God loved us, His elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of His holy gospel.30 — Steven J. Lawson

The heart of the new birth is the new birth of the heart. — Steven J. Lawson

There is a kind of preaching that God blesses, specifically the proclamation that exalts the crucified Christ by the power of the Spirit. Conversely, there is a kind of preaching that God does not bless, a mere echoing of man's empty wisdom that is devoid of Christ. — Steven J. Lawson

For Edwards, George Claghorn writes, the "Resolutions" were "neither pious hopes, romantic dreams, nor legalistic rules."4 Instead, they were intensely positive and practical, comprising "instructions for life, maxims to be followed in all respects."5 The "Resolutions" reveal Edwards' "strong sense of duty and discipline, in private and public matters, in intellect and spirituality."6 Collectively, they form an emphatic statement, Stephen Nichols notes, of how he sought to "chart out his life - his relationships, his conversations, his desires, his activities."7 — Steven J. Lawson

Grace has uprooted us from a barren wilderness of sin and transplanted us by streams of living water. — Steven J. Lawson

The voice of Christ is so powerful that it awakens the spiritually dead in the grave of sin to hear it and live. — Steven J. Lawson

With arms outstretched on the cross. Jesus took holy God in one hand and sinful man with the other and brought the two together. — Steven J. Lawson

Jesus is not a good way to heaven, nor even the best way. He is the only way to heaven. — Steven J. Lawson

A cross without offense in the world is a cross without power in the world. — Steven J. Lawson

If you please God, it does not matter whom you displease. And if you displease Him, it does not matter whom you please. — Steven J. Lawson

May I beg you carefully to judge every preacher, not by his gifts, not by his elocutionary powers, not by his status in society, not by the respectability of his congregation, not by the prettiness of his church, but by this - does he preach the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation?43 — Steven J. Lawson

As you preach, stay in the text, give honor to Christ and He will use you — Steven J. Lawson

We become like what we focus upon. Fix your eyes upon Christ and be conformed into His image. — Steven J. Lawson

We do not sit in authority over the Scripture, the Scripture sits in authority over us. — Steven J. Lawson