Thoughts From John Owen

Dear Friends,

Today I wanted to offer you some wise and insightful 'thoughts' from my favorite theologian - John Owen.

His words speak for themselves and testify to his immense understanding of the gospel, theology, sin, and human nature. One cannot help but benefit from his keen insights. Therefore, I offer them to you for your spiritual assistance and enrichment. Ponder them long and hard and you will surely see the truth of each one. Enjoy.

“The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father; the greatest unkindness you can do to Him, is not to believe that He loves you.”

"The duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God's tasks. This is the law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment."

"By some men's too much understanding, others are brought to understand nothing at all."

"We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own."

"We are never nearer to Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love."

"Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect, and unable to abide in God's presence. Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears even the iniquity of their holy things. He adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties, and makes them acceptable to God.”

"Take heart embattled saint! If you are fighting sin, you are alive. It is when sin holds sway unopposed that you are dead..."

"A man may easier see without eyes, or speak without a tongue, than truly mortify even one sin without the Spirit."

"Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin."

"Every time we say we believe in the Holy Spirit, we mean we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it."

"A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before Almighty God, that he is and nothing more."

"The minister that is more frequent in his pulpit to his people, than he is in his closet for his people, is but a sorry watchman."

"Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and living out the gospel in our souls."

"Grace may be enthroned in the mind, but if sin controls the affections, it has seized a fort from which it will continually assault the soul."

"Unless men see a beauty and delight in the worship of God, they will not do it willingly."

"We must ever be killing sin, or sin will be killing us."


With continued prayers for your spiritual edification, Pastor Jeff