Knots Untied - Ryle - XVI - Chapter 16

Required reading
Knots Untied by JC Ryle (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 16 (Divers and strange doctrines).

My summary
Now Ryle cautions us against false doctrine.

Firstly, we see the Bible broad warning: "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines."

Secondly, we see the Bible's valuable prescription: "It is good that the heart be established with grace, not with meats."  Ryle shows us how Paul places opposite to one another "meats" and "grace" - ceremonialism and the gospel - ritualism and the free love of God in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, we see the Bible's instructive fact: Meats "have not profited them which have been occupied therein."

What grabbed me
Ryle gave us a good warning about the constant use of false doctrine by Satan: 'That old enemy of mankind, the devil, has no more subtle device for ruining souls than that of spreading false doctrine. "A murderer and a liar from the beginning," he never ceases going to and fro in the earth, "seeking whom he may devour." Outside the Church he is ever persuading men to maintain barbarous customs and destructive superstitions. Human sacrifice to idols, gross, revolting, cruel, disgusting worship of abominable false deities, persecution, slavery, cannibalism, child-murder, devastating religious wars, all these are a part of Satan s handiwork, and the fruit of his suggestions. Like a pirate, his object is to "sink, burn, and destroy." Inside the Church he is ever labouring to sow heresies, to propagate errors, to foster departures from the faith. If he cannot prevent the waters flowing from the Fountain of Life, he tries hard to poison them. If he cannot destroy the medicine of the Gospel, he strives to adulterate and corrupt it. No wonder that he is called "Apollyon, the destroyer."'

Satan is active outside and inside the church, so arm yourself with the Scriptures wherever you go.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 17 (Fallibility of ministers).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.