Top 79 John R.W. Stott Quotes
#1. Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbor.
John R.W. Stott
#2. Jesus evidently thought that human beings still retained a residue of their former glory.
John R.W. Stott
#3. And self-sacrifice is what the Bible means by 'love.' While sin is possessive, love is expansive. Sin's characteristic is the desire to get; love's characteristic is the desire to give.
John R.W. Stott
#4. We state and commend the faith only in so far as we go out and put ourselves inside the doubts of the doubters, the questions of the questioners and the loneliness of those who have lost their way.
John R.W. Stott
#5. The radical biblical perspective is to see death not as the termination of life but as the gateway to life.
John R.W. Stott
#6. The forgiveness of God is a gift to be received, not a reward to be merited.
John R.W. Stott
#7. Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.
John R.W. Stott
#8. There is evidence for the deity of Jesus
good, strong,
historical , cumulative evidence; evidence to which an honest
person can subscribe without committing intellectual suicide.
John R.W. Stott
#9. A guilty conscience is a great blessing, but only if it drives us to come home.
John R.W. Stott
#11. For if there is 'false guilt' (feeling bad about evil we have not done), there is also 'false innocence' (feeling good about the evil we have done). If false contrition is unhealthy (an ungrounded weeping over guilt), so is false assurance (an ungrounded rejoicing over forgiveness).
John R.W. Stott
#12. There is no value in the reading of Scripture for its own sake, but only if it effectively introduces us to Jesus Christ.
John R.W. Stott
#13. Self-forgetfulness is unattainable as a goal, except as the byproduct of preoccupation with Another's presence, and with his message, his power, and his glory.
John R.W. Stott
#14. But when the teaching of the Bible is plain, then continuing to maintain an open mind is a sign not of maturity, but of immaturity.
John R.W. Stott
#15. Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and chequered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture.
John R.W. Stott
#16. For whenever we turn away from Christ, we 'are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace' (Heb. 6:6).
John R.W. Stott
#17. If you Christians lived like Jesus Christ, India would be at your feet tomorrow.
John R.W. Stott
#18. P. T. Forsyth's book Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind. These are its opening words: 'It is, perhaps, an overbold beginning, but I will venture to say that with its preaching Christianity stands or falls.
John R.W. Stott
#19. What God said to Abraham was not 'Obey this law and I will bless you', but 'I will bless you; believe my promise'.
John R.W. Stott
#20. Our responsibility before God is an inalienable aspect of our human dignity. Its final expression will be on the day of judgment. Nobody will be sentenced without trial.
John R.W. Stott
#21. We have rejected the position of dependence which our createdness inevitably involves, and made a bid for independence. Worse still, we have dared to proclaim our self-dependence, our autonomy, which is to claim the position occupied by God alone.
John R.W. Stott
#22. Self-denial is not denying to ourselves luxuries such as chocolates, cakes, cigarettes and cocktails (although it might include this); it is actually denying or disowning ourselves, renouncing our supposed right to go our own way.
John R.W. Stott
#23. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him.
John R.W. Stott
#24. Jesus Christ, we believe, is the fulfilment of every truly human aspiration. To find him is to find ourselves.
John R.W. Stott
#25. You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.' This situation is tragic beyond words. We are missing the destiny for which God made us.
John R.W. Stott
#26. The overriding reason why we should take other people's cultures seriously is because God has taken ours seriously.
John R.W. Stott
#27. We need to emphasize that what the Spirit speaks he speaks through what has already been spoken, and that what the Spirit does he does through what has already been done.
John R.W. Stott
#28. 110. When I enter the pulpit with the Bible in my hands and in my heart, my blood begins to flow and my eyes to sparkle for the sheer glory of having God's Word to expound.
John R.W. Stott
#29. [E]very heresy is due to an overemphasis upon some truth, without allowing other truths to qualify and balance it.
John R.W. Stott
#30. We must trust in him as our Saviour and submit to him as our Lord; and then go on to take our place as loyal members of the church and responsible citizens in the community.
John R.W. Stott
#31. The power to save lies in the one who is gazed upon, not the one who does the looking.
John R.W. Stott
#32. To be disrespectful of tradition and of historical theology is to be disrespectful of the Holy Spirit who has been actively enlightening the church in every century.
John R.W. Stott
#33. Envy! Envy is the reverse side of a coin called vanity. Nobody is ever envious of others who is not first proud of himself.
John R.W. Stott
#34. The salvation for which the Bible instructs us is available "through faith in Christ Jesus." Therefore, since Scripture concerns salvation and salvation is through Christ, Scripture is full of Christ.
John R.W. Stott
#35. The gospel is not good advice to men, but good news about Christ; not an invitation to us to do anything, but a declaration of what God has done; not a demand, but an offer.
John R.W. Stott
#36. For the discipleship principle is clear: the poorer our vision of Christ, the poorer our discipleship will be, whereas the richer our vision of Christ, the richer our discipleship will be.
John R.W. Stott
#37. His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us with no other choice.
John R.W. Stott
#38. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?
John R.W. Stott
#39. We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.
John R.W. Stott
#40. Salvation is far more than merely the forgiveness of sins. It includes the whole sweep of God's purpose to redeem and restore humankind, and indeed all creation. What we claim for the Bible is that it unfolds God's total plan.
John R.W. Stott
#41. In fundamentals, faith is primary, and we may not appeal to love as an excuse to deny essential faith. In nonfundamentals, however, love is primary, and we may not appeal to zeal for the faith as an excuse for failures in love.
John R.W. Stott
#42. Human beings are comfortable with what is outward, visible, material and superficial. What matters to God is a deep, inward, secret work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
John R.W. Stott
#43. The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.
John R.W. Stott
#44. What dominated his mind was not the living but the giving of his life.
John R.W. Stott
#45. The point is that we can never take God by surprise. We can never anticipate him. He always makes the first move. He is always there 'in the beginning'.
John R.W. Stott
#46. Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.
John R.W. Stott
#47. Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk which strains our self-control, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to the flesh.
John R.W. Stott
#48. Christianity is a religion of salvation, and the fact is that there is nothing in any of the non-Christian religions to compare with this message of a God who loved, and came after, and died for, a world of lost sinners.
John R.W. Stott
#49. Christianity is not just about what we believe; it's also about how we behave.
John R.W. Stott
#50. The spirit of our age is hostile toward people who state their opinions clearly and hold them strongly.
John R.W. Stott
#51. The very first step to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is the humble admission that we need him. Nothing keeps us out of the kingdom of God more surely than our pride and self-sufficiency.
John R.W. Stott
#52. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.
John R.W. Stott
#53. Why is it that some Christians cross land and sea, continents and cultures, as missionaries? What on earth impels them? It is not in order to commend a civilization, an institution or an ideology, but rather a person, Jesus Christ, whom they believe to be unique.
John R.W. Stott
#54. Anti-intellectualism and fullness of the Holy Spirit are mutually incompatible. Wherever the Holy Spirit has given His freedom, truth is bound to matter.
John R.W. Stott
#55. We may believe in the deity and the salvation of Christ, and acknowledge ourselves to be sinners in need of his salvation; but this does not make us Christians. We have to make a personal response to Jesus Chris, committing ourselves unreservedly to him as our Savior and Lord.
John R.W. Stott
#56. Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection.
John R.W. Stott
#57. We may succeed in preserving a modicum of rectitude in the performance of our public duty, but behind this facade lurk violent and sinful emotions, which are always threatening to erupt.
John R.W. Stott
#58. Thirdly, Christ's salvation must be a free gift. He 'purchased' it for us at the high price of his own life-blood. So what is there left for us to pay? Nothing! Since he claimed that all was now 'finished', there is nothing for us to contribute.
John R.W. Stott
#59. We are not, therefore, to regard the cross as defeat and the resurrection as victory. Rather, the cross was the victory won, and the resurrection the victory endorsed, proclaimed and demonstrated.
John R.W. Stott
#60. The Bible isn't about people trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us.
John R.W. Stott
#61. Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth grows hard if it is not softened by love.
John R.W. Stott
#62. God hides himself from intellectual dilettantes, but reveals himself in Christ to those who humbly seek him.
John R.W. Stott
#63. we are to 'hunger and thirst for righteousness'. For what is the use of confessing and lamenting our sin, of acknowledging the truth about ourselves to both God and men, if we leave it there? Confession of sin must lead to hunger for righteousness.
John R.W. Stott
#64. Nothing is more important for mature Christian discipleship than a fresh, clear, true vision of the authentic Jesus.
John R.W. Stott
#65. The Old Testament is the Gospel in the bud, the New Testament is the Gospel in full flower. The Old Testament is the Gospel in the blade; the New Testament is the Gospel in full ear.
John R.W. Stott
#67. The noun eleos (mercy) ... always deals with what we see of pain, misery and distress, these results of sin; and charis (grace) always deals with the sin and guilt itself. The one extends relief, the other pardon; the one cures, heals, helps, the other cleanses and reinstates.
John R.W. Stott
#69. God. Our highest destiny is to know God, to be in personal relationship with him. Our chief claim to nobility as human beings is that we were made in the image of God and are therefore capable of knowing him.
John R.W. Stott
#70. Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; - but the Father, for love!'181
John R.W. Stott
#71. At the cross in holy love God through Christ paid the full penalty of our disobedience himself.
John R.W. Stott
#72. As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both, "I did it, my sins sent him there," and "He did it, his love took him there.
John R.W. Stott
#73. Life is a pilgrimage of learning, a voyage of discovery, in which our mistaken views are corrected, our distorted notions adjusted, our shallow opinions deepened and some of our vast ignorances diminished.
John R.W. Stott
#74. Every time we allow our mind to harbour a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy, or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh.
John R.W. Stott
#75. To love the glory of God more than our own glory is also to seek approval from God rather than other people.
John R.W. Stott
#76. Every Christian should be both conservative and radical; conservative in preserving the faith and radical in applying it.
John R.W. Stott
#77. So Jesus confronts us with himself, sets before us a radical choice between obedience and disobedience, and calls us to an unconditional commitment of mind, will and life to his teaching.
John R.W. Stott
#78. We cannot receive the mercy and forgiveness of God unless we repent, and we cannot claim to have repented of our sins if we are unmerciful towards the sins of others
John R.W. Stott
#79. A marriage that isn't built around the Cross will be devoid of grace, mercy, and humility that come when both husband and wife recognize their need for a savior.
John R.W. Stott
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