M'cheyne Quotes

What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more.

If nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, Lord, send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumbers. It must always be best to be alive to Thee, whatever be the quickening instrument.

Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.

If it be good to come under the love of God once, surely it is good to keep ourselves there. And yet how reluctant we are!

The redeemed, through all eternity, will never taste one of the pleasures of sin; yet their happiness is complete. It would be my greatest happiness to be from this moment entirely like them.

Awake, my soul! Why should I give hours and days any longer to the vain world, when there is such a world of misery at my very door? Lord, put thine own strength in me; confirm every good resolution; forgive my past long life of uselessness and folly.

Once when the great slaver turned abolitionist John Newton was praised for what he had achieved, he responded quickly: “Sir, the devil already told me that.” In a similar situation, when the eminent Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne was congratulated by a parishioner for his saintliness, he replied sharply, “Madame, if you could see in my heart, you would spit in my face.” In each case, they refused to let others think that they were what they weren’t. They resisted hypocrisy by exposing the gap that was its essence—the gap between the inner and the outer, appearance and reality.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;         the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;     2 it shall blossom abundantly         and rejoice with joy and singing.     The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,         the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.     They shall see the glory of the LORD,         the majesty of our God.

If he should set his heart to it         and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,     15 all flesh would perish together,         and man would return to dust.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,         but the LORD weighs the heart.

They exchanged the glory of God [2]         for the image of an ox that eats grass.

The living, the living, he thanks you,         as I do this day;     the father makes known to the children         your faithfulness.

Who considers the power of your anger,         and your wrath according to the fear of you?

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,         and I will glorify your name forever.

Behold, you are nothing,         and your work is less than nothing;         an abomination is he who chooses you.

The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,         and his kingdom rules over all.

the people whom I formed for myself     that they might declare my praise.

Will you not revive us again,         that your people may rejoice in you?

to declare that the LORD is upright;         he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that

Teach me your way, O LORD,         that I may walk in your truth;         unite my heart to fear your name.

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;         and those who hate him shall flee before him!

My lips will shout for joy,         when I sing praises to you;         my soul also, which you have redeemed.

and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, [1]         and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;         with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

And I will make him the firstborn,         the highest of the kings of the earth.

Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;         I will not lie to David.

Better is open rebuke         than hidden love.

what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You keep him in perfect peace         whose mind is stayed on you,         because he trusts in you.

For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;         the LORD is our king; he will save us.

When he killed them, they sought him;         they repented and sought God earnestly.

Your way, O God, is holy.         What god is great like our God?

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,         of your deeds of salvation all the day,         for their number is past my knowledge.

I must never think a sin too small to need immediate application to the blood of Christ.

6“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,         on those who hope in his steadfast love,     19 that he may deliver their soul from death         and keep them alive in famine.

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;         he is to be feared above all gods.     5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,         but the LORD made the heavens.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,         who alone does wondrous things.     19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;         may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

I ought to study Christ as an Intercessor...If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference, He is praying for me.

It has always been my aim, and it is my prayer, to have no plans with regard to myself, well assured as I am, that the place where the Saviour sees meet to place me must ever be the best place for me.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,         but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.     11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,         and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return         and come to Zion with singing;     everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;         they shall obtain gladness and joy,         and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,         that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.     15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,         and for as many years as we have seen evil.

8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,     “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,         who was and is and is to come!

therefore thus says the Lord GOD,     “Behold, I am the one who has laid [3] as a foundation in Zion,         a stone, a tested stone,     a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:         ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.

7It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers,

The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;         he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,     6 and he will be the stability of your times,         abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;         the fear of the LORD is Zion's [1] treasure.

Gladden the soul of your servant,         for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.     5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,         abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.     6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;         listen to my plea for grace.

You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,         “and my servant whom I have chosen,     that you may know and believe me         and understand that I am he.     Before me no god was formed,         nor shall there be any after me.     11 I, I am the LORD,         and besides me there is no savior.

But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43So there was a division among the people over him. 44Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

In the path of your judgments,         O LORD, we wait for you;     your name and remembrance         are the desire of our soul.     9 My soul yearns for you in the night;         my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.     For when your judgments are in the earth,         the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,         so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;     12 as far as the east is from the west,         so far does he remove our transgressions from us.     13 As a father shows compassion to his children,         so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

while popularity is a snare that few are not caught by, a more subtle and dangerous snare is to be famed for holiness. The fame of being a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of being learned or eloquent. It is possible to attend with scrupulous anxiety even to secret habits of devotion, in order to get a name for holiness.

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers [1] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

The earth lies defiled         under its inhabitants;     for they have transgressed the laws,         violated the statutes,         broken the everlasting covenant.     6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,         and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;     therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,         and few men are left.

Let there be no mistake in your mind as to the special character of the man who has come to Christ, and is a true Christian. He is not an angel, he is not a half-angelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity - he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ. What was the glorious company of the apostles and prophets? What was the noble army of martyrs? What were Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, James, John, Paul, Polycarp, Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Ridley, Latimer, Bunyan, Baxter, Whitefield, Venn, Chalmers, Bickersteth, M’Cheyne? What were they all, but sinners who knew and felt their sins, and trusted only in Christ? What were they, but men who accepted the invitation I bring you this day, and came to Christ by faith? By this faith they lived; in this faith they died. In themselves and their doings they saw nothing worth mentioning; but in Christ they saw all that their souls required. The invitation of Christ is now before you. If you never listened to it before, listen to it today. Broad, full, free, wide, simple, tender, kind, that invitation will leave you without excuse if you refuse to accept it. There are some invitations, perhaps, which it is wiser and better to decline. There is one which ought always to be accepted: that one is before you today. Jesus Christ is saying, “Come! Come unto Me.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,         for the world and its fullness are mine.     13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls         or drink the blood of goats?     14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, [2]         and perform your vows to the Most High,     15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;         I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Language like this, no doubt, seems foolishness and affectation to the world; but the well-instructed Bible reader will see in it the heartfelt experience of all the brightest saints. It is the language of men like Baxter, and Brainerd, and M’Cheyne. It is the same mind that was in the inspired Apostle Paul. Those that have most light and grace are always the humblest men.

the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;         evil may not dwell with you.     5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;         you hate all evildoers.     6 You destroy those who speak lies;         the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.     7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,         will enter your house.     I will bow down toward your holy temple         in the fear of you.

Sing to the LORD a new song,         his praise from the end of the earth,     you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,         the coastlands and their inhabitants.     11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,         the villages that Kedar inhabits;     let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,         let them shout from the top of the mountains.     12 Let them give glory to the LORD,         and declare his praise in the coastlands.

9And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,     11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,         to receive glory and honor and power,     for you created all things,         and by your will they existed and were created.

What good will it do you in hell, that you knew all the sciences in the world, all the events of history, and all the busy politics of your little day ? Do you not know that your very knowledge will be turned into an instrument of torture in hell ? Oh, how will you wish in that day that you had read your newspaper less and your Bible more ; that with all your getting you had got understanding; that with all your knowledge you had known the Saviour, whom to know is life everlasting.

8Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,         my chosen, in whom my soul delights;     I have put my Spirit upon him;         he will bring forth justice to the nations.     2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,         or make it heard in the street;     3 a bruised reed he will not break,         and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;         he will faithfully bring forth justice.     4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged [1]         till he has established justice in the earth;         and the coastlands wait for his law.

They remembered that God was their rock,         the Most High God their redeemer.     36 But they flattered him with their mouths;         they lied to him with their tongues.     37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him;         they were not faithful to his covenant.     38 Yet he, being compassionate,         atoned for their iniquity         and did not destroy them;     he restrained his anger often         and did not stir up all his wrath.     39 He remembered that they were but flesh,         a wind that passes and comes not again.

For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?         Who among the heavenly beings [2] is like the LORD,     7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,         and awesome above all who are around him?     8 O LORD God of hosts,         who is mighty as you are, O LORD,         with your faithfulness all around you?     9 You rule the raging of the sea;         when its waves rise, you still them.     10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass;         you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.     11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;         the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.     12 The north and the south, you have created them;         Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.     13

let there be no mistake in your mind as to the special character of the man who has come to Christ, and is a true Christian. He is not an angel, he is not a half-angelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity - he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ. What was the glorious company of the apostles and prophets? What was the noble army of martyrs? What were Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, James, John, Paul, Polycarp, Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Ridley, Latimer, Bunyan, Baxter, Whitefield, Venn, Chalmers, Bickersteth, M’Cheyne? What were they all, but sinners who knew and felt their sins, and trusted only in Christ? What were they, but men who accepted the invitation I bring you this day, and came to Christ by faith? By this faith they lived; in this faith they died. In themselves and their doings they saw nothing worth mentioning; but in Christ they saw all that their souls required. The invitation of Christ is now before you. If you never listened to it before, listen to it today.Broad, full, free, wide, simple, tender, kind, that invitation will leave you without excuse if you refuse to accept it. There are some invitations, perhaps, which it is wiser and better to decline. There is one which ought always to be accepted: that one is before you today. Jesus Christ is saying, “Come! Come unto Me”.

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;         they flow between the hills;     11 they give drink to every beast of the field;         the wild donkeys quench their thirst.     12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;         they sing among the branches.     13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;         the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.     14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock         and plants for man to cultivate,     that he may bring forth food from the earth         15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,     oil to make his face shine         and bread to strengthen man's heart.     16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,         the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.     17 In them the birds build their nests;         the stork has her home in the fir trees.     18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;         the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.     19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; [1]         the sun knows its time for setting.     20 You make darkness, and it is night,         when all the beasts of the forest creep about.     21 The young lions roar for their prey,         seeking their food from God.     22 When the sun rises, they steal away         and lie down in their dens.     23 Man goes out to his work         and to his labor until the evening.     24 O LORD, how manifold are your works!         In wisdom have you made them all;         the earth is full of your creatures.     25 Here is the sea, great and wide,         which teems with creatures innumerable,         living things both small and great.     26 There go the ships,         and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. [2]     27 These all look to you,         to give them their food in due season.     28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;         when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.     29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;         when you take away their breath, they die         and return to their dust.     30 When you send forth your Spirit, [3] they are created,         and you renew the face of the ground.     31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

December 15 2 Chronicles 17 1Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel. 2He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured. 3The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, 4but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. 5Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. 6His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 7In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; 8and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. 10And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat. 11Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabians also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats. 12And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities, 13and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14This was the muster of them by fathers' houses: Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, with 300,000 mighty men of valor; 15and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with 280,000; 16and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the LORD, with 200,000 mighty men of valor. 17Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, with 200,000 men armed with bow and shield; 18and next to him Jehozabad with 180,000 armed for war. 19These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne: what a congregation needs most is their minister’s holiness.

Those who pay regard to vain idols         forsake their hope of steadfast love.     9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving         will sacrifice to you;     what I have vowed I will pay.         Salvation belongs to the LORD!

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; he is praying for me.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Are we never afraid that the cries of souls whom we have betrayed to perdition through our want of personal holiness, and our defective preaching of Christ crucified, may ring in our ears forever?

Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Scottish pastor and writer from the mid-1800s, said, “The greatest need of my congregation is my own personal holiness.”1

If nothing of spiritual significance is happening in your church, your Bible study, your small group, or your family, it may be because nothing spiritually significant is happening in your life. I love the line from Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” I’ve given that advice to others dozens of times, and I’ve repeated it to myself a hundred times. Almost my whole philosophy of ministry is summed up in M’Cheyne’s words. My congregation needs me to be humble before they need me to be smart. They need me to be honest more than they need me to be a dynamic leader. They need me to be teachable more than they need me to teach at conferences. If your walk matches your talk, if your faith costs you something, if being a Christian is more than a cultural garb, they will listen to you.

I delight in M'Cheyne's remark, "It is not so much great talents that God blesses, as great likeness to Christ.

I delight in M’Cheyne’s remark, “It is not so much great talents that God blesses, as great likeness to Christ.

Every sin is something away from my greatest enjoyment ... The devil strives night and day to make me forget this or disbelieve it. He says, Why should you not enjoy this pleasure as much as Solomon or David? You may go to heaven also.

The interest that this proposed journey excited in Scotland was very great. Nor was it merely the somewhat romantic interest attached to the land where the Lord had done most of His mighty works; there were also in it the deeper feelings of a Scriptural persuasion that Israel was still 'beloved for the fathers' sake.' For some time previous, Jerusalem had come into mind and many godly pastors were standing as watchmen over its ruined walls (Isaiah 62:6), stirring up the Lord's remembrancers. Mr. M'Cheyne had been one of these. His view of the importance of the Jews in the eye of God, and, therefore, of their importance as a sphere of missionary labour, were very clear and decided. ...In his preaching he not infrequently said on this subject, 'We should be like God in His peculiar affections; and the whole Bible shows that God has ever had, and still has, a peculiar love to the Jews.

5Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: [2] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming. [3] 7In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self [4] with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

If, however, there be some whose prejudice is from the root of envy, let such hear the remonstrance of Richard Baxter to the jealous ministers of his day. "What! malign Christ in gifts for which He should have the glory, and all because they seem to hinder our glory! Does not every man owe thanks to God for his brethren's gifts, not only as having himself part in them, as the foot has the benefit of the guidance of the eye, but also because his own ends may be attained by his brethren's gifts as well as by his own?... A fearful thing that any man, that hath the least of the fear of God, should so envy at God's gifts, that he would rather his carnal hearers were unconverted, and the drowsy not awakened, than that it should be done by another who may be preferred before them." [17

5May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He himself regarded these as days of ungodliness—days wherein he cherished a pure morality, but lived in heart a Pharisee.