To make no decision is always to make a decision against God — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"There are only two ultimate possibilities in life. We are, all of us, either for God or else we are against Him, and nothing else matters. The color of your skin does not matter at all; you may be very clever, you may be very learned, or you may be ignorant and illiterate—it does not matter. The one question is: Are you one of God’s people, or are you one of the people who are against Him?

There is no other possibility. There is no such thing as neutrality in the realm of the spirit.

To make no decision is always to make a decision against God, for we are all by nature against Him.

“The carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). We are all born God-haters; we are all against God. Some people, I know, say, “I’ve always believed in God.” But that means that they have never believed in Him. What they have believed in is some figment of their own imagination. If you confront such people with the God of the Bible, they will soon begin to show their hatred of Him. They have a God whom they can manipulate and handle, a God made after their own image and likeness, and they hate the living God who is revealed in the Bible.

So there is no such thing as neutrality. I repeat that we are either for God or we are against Him. There is no no-man’s-land in this matter. We all of us are inevitably in one of two camps. Our Lord Himself said it: “He that is not with me is against me” (Matt. 12:30)."

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2004). Vol. 4: Glorious Christianity (1st U.S. ed.). Studies in the Book of Acts (252–253). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

don’t fight your sins in your own power — C. H. Spurgeon

"But we must take our sins to God too. Possibly this is a more difficult point. The sinner thinks that he must fight this battle for himself, wrestle with his own evil temper himself, and he himself must enter into conflict with his lusts and his besetting sins; but when he comes into the fight, he soon meets with a defeat, and then he is ready to give it all up. Take your sins to God, my brethren. Take them to the cross that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to take away their power. Your sins must all be slain. There is only one place where they can be slaughtered—the altar where your Saviour died. If you would flog your sins, flog them with the whip that tore your Saviour’s shoulder. If you would nail your sins fast, drive the same nails through them which fastened your Lord to the cross; I mean, let your faith in the great Surety, and your love to him who suffered so much for you, be the power with which you do conflict with evil. It is said of the saints in heaven, “They overcame through the blood of the Lamb.” That is how you must overcome. Go to Jesus with your sins; no one else can help you; you are powerless without him."

C. H. Spurgeon (1867). The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XIII (164–165). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

God is no philosophic concept — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"My dear friends, God is no philosophic concept! God is a person and, as a person, God is, and God loves, and the essence of the life of the blessed Trinity is the love of the Father to the Son and the Spirit, and the love of the Son to the Father and the Spirit, and the love of the Spirit to the Father and the Son. We cannot conceive of that perfect unity, that perfect bliss, that absolute love, and yet it is all found in salvation. ‘God so loved the world that he gave …’ (John 3:16)—yes, and I put it negatively, too, as Paul puts it in writing to the Romans: ‘He that spared not his own Son’ (Romans 8:32). It is there, you see, the love of God, in that he sent the Son of his love, the only begotten Son, into this cruel, sinful world; allowed him to live life in that way as a man, and allowed him to suffer ‘such contradiction of sinners against himself’ (Hebrews 12:3). And he placed your sins and mine upon him on the cross in such a way that at that moment Father and Son were separated, and the Son cried out, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46) When I believe that that is possible within the Father-heart of God, then I cannot believe the doctrine of the impassivity of God. I say that God in his love suffered in his Son, and it is there I see the marvellous love of God displayed. And this great gospel manifests, too, the glory of God in revealing his character in this way."

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2000). The assurance of our salvation: Exploring the depth of Jesus' prayer for His own: Studies in John 17 (51). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

love your enemies — St. Augustine

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” — Matthew 6:12

“…You have enemies. For who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves, love them. In no way can your enemy so hurt you by his violence, as you hurt yourself if you love him not. For he may injure your estate, or flocks, or house, or your man-servant, or your maid-servant, or your son, or your wife; or at most, if such power be given him, your body. But can he injure your soul, as you can yourself? Reach forward, dearly beloved, I beseech you, to this perfection. But have I given you this power? He only has given it to whom you say, “Your will be done as in heaven so in earth” (Matthew 6:10). Yet let it not seem impossible to you. I know, I have known by experience, that there are Christian men who do love their enemies. If it seem to you impossible, you will not do it. Believe then first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can your neighbor’s ill do you? If he had no ill, he would not even be your enemy. Wish him well then, that he may end his ill, and he will be your enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with you, but his sin. Is he therefore your enemy, because he has a soul and body? In this he is as you are: you have a soul, and so has he: you have a body, and so has he. He is of the same substance as you are; you were made both out of the same earth, and quickened by the same Lord…” — St. Augustine

God who hides himself — Charles H. Spurgeon

"In the person of Jesus we see the glory of God in the veiling of his splendour. The Lord is not eager to display himself: “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself" (Isaiah 45:15), said the prophet of old. The world seems to be created rather to hide God than to manifest him: at least, it is certain that even in the grandest displays of his power we may say with Habakkuk, “There was the hiding of his power” (Habakkuk 3:4). Though his light is brightness itself, yet it is only the robe which conceals him. “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:2). If thus God’s glory is seen in the field of creation as a light veiled and shaded to suit the human eye, we certainly see the like in the face of Jesus Christ where everything is mild and gentle—full of grace as well as truth. How softly breaks the divine glory through the human life of Jesus: a babe in grace may gaze upon this brightness without fear. When Moses’ face shone the people could not look thereon; but when Jesus came from his transfiguration the people ran to him and saluted him. Everything is attractive in God in Christ Jesus. In him we see God to the full, but the Deity so mildly beams through the medium of human flesh that mortal man may draw near, and look, and live. This glory in the face of Jesus Christ is assuredly the glory of God, even though veiled; for thus in every other instance doth God in measure shine forth. In providence and in nature such a thing as an unveiled God is not to be seen, and the revelation of God in Christ is after the same divine manner."

— Charles H. Spurgeon (1879). The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXV (510). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

It is a most delightful felicitating knowledge, to know that Christ is in you — Richard Baxter

"It is a most delightful felicitating knowledge, to know that Christ is in you. If it be delightful to the rich to see their wealth, their houses, and lands, and goods, and money: and if it be delightful to the honourable to see their attendance, and hear their own commendations and applause; how delightful must it be to a true believer to find Christ within him, and to know his title to eternal life? If the knowledge of “full barns,” and “much goods laid up for many years,” can make a sensual worldling say, “Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink and be merry,” (Luke 12:19, 20,) methinks the knowledge of our interest in Christ and heaven, should make us say, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased,” (that is, more than corn and wine could put into theirs.) (Psal. 4:7.) “Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” (Psal. 116:7.)" 

— Richard Baxter