Holiness [I]

select quotes from J.C. Ryle's

Holiness:

it's nature, hindrances, difficulties and roots

~ Chapter One: Sin ~

“[If] men really mean to tell us that here in this world a believer can attain to entire freedom from sin, live for years in unbroken and uninterrupted communion with God, and feel for the months together not so much as one evil thought, I must honestly say that such an opinion appears to me very unscriptural. I go even further. I say that the opinion is very dangerous to him who holds it, and very likely to depress, discourage, and keep back inquirers after salvation. I cannot find the slightest warrant in God’s Word for expecting such perfection as this while we are in the body. I believe the words of our Fifteenth Article are strictly true—that ‘Christ alone is without sin; and that all we, the rest, though baptized and born again in Christ, offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ To use the language of our first homily: ‘There be imperfections in our best works: we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our hearts, mind, and power; we do not fear God so much as we ought to do; we do not pray to God but with many and great imperfections. We give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly; we speak, think, and do imperfectly; we fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore, not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfection.’”

“It has long been my sorrowful conviction that the standard of daily life among professing Christians [has] been gradually falling. I am afraid that Christlike love, kindness, good-temper, unselfishness, meekness, gentleness, goodnature, self-denial, zeal to do good, and separation from the world are far less appreciated than they ought to be, and than they used to be in the days of our fathers. Into the causes of this state of things, I cannot pretend to enter fully, and can only suggest conjectures for consideration. It may be that a certain profession of religion has become so fashionable and comparatively easy in the present age, that the streams that were once narrow and deep have become wide and shallow, and what we have gained in outward show we have lost in quality. It may be that the vast increase of wealth in the last twenty-five years has insensibly introduced a plague of worldliness, and self-indulgence, and love of ease into social life. What were once called luxuries are now comforts and necessaries, and self-denial and ‘enduring hardness’ are consequently little known. It may be that the enormous amount of controversy that marks this age has insensibly dried up our spiritual life. We have too often been content with zeal for orthodoxy, and have neglected the sober realities of daily practical godliness.”

“We must simply repent and do our first works. We must return to first principles. We must go back to ‘the old paths.’ We must sit humbly in the presence of God, look the whole subject [of holiness] in the face, examine clearly what the Lord Jesus calls sin, and what the Lord Jesus calls ‘doing His will.’ We must then try to realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless, easy-going, half-worldly life, and yet at the same time to maintain evangelical principles and call ourselves evangelical people! Once let us see that sin is far viler, and far nearer to us, and sticks more closely to us than we supposed, and we shall be led, I trust and believe, to get nearer to Christ. Once drawn nearer to Christ, we shall drink more deeply out of His fullness, and learn more thoroughly to ‘live the life of faith’ in Him, as St. Paul did. Once taught to live the life of faith in Jesus, and abiding in Him, we shall bear more fruit, shall find ourselves more strong for duty, more patient in trial, more watchful over our poor weak hearts, and more like our Master in all our little daily ways. Just in proportion as we realize how much Christ has done for us, shall we labor to do much for Christ. Much forgiven, we shall love much. In short, as the apostle says, ‘with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor. 3:1    8).”

~ Chapter Two: Sanctification ~

“Sanctification is that inward spiritual work that the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to be a true believer. He not only washes him from his sins in His own blood, but He also separates him from his natural love of sin and the world, puts a new principle in his heart, and makes him practically godly in life. The instrument by which the Spirit effects this work is generally the Word of God, though he sometimes uses afflictions and providential visitations ‘without the word’ (1 Pet. 3:1).”

“The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people’s souls require; not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death, but from the dominion of their sins, by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them, but also to sanctify them. He is, thus, not only their ‘righteousness,’ but their ‘sanctification’ (1 Cor. 1:30). Let us hear what the Bible says: ‘For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.’ ‘Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it.’ “Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ ‘Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.’ ‘Christ hath reconciled [you] in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight’ (John 17:19; Eph. 5:25-26; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:24; Col. 1:21-22). Let the meaning of these five texts be carefully considered. If words mean anything, they teach us that Christ undertakes the sanctification, no less than the justification, of His believing people. Both are alike provided for in that ‘everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure,’ of which the Mediator is Christ. In fact, Christ in one place is called ‘he that sanctifieth,’ and His people, ‘they who are sanctified’ (Heb. 2:11).”

“Sanctification [is] the invariable result of that vital union with Christ that true faith gives to a Christian. ‘He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit’ (John 15:5). The branch that bears no fruit is no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ that produces no effect on heart and life is a mere formal union, which is worthless before God. The faith that has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It is a ‘dead faith, because it is alone.’”

“Sanctification, again, is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He who is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle, and always lives a new life. A regeneration that a man can have, and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians, but never mentioned in Scripture. On the contrary, St. John expressly says that ‘he that is born of God doth not commit sin—doeth righteousness—loveth the brethren—keepth himself—and overcometh the world’ (1 John 2:29; 3:9-14; 5:4-18). In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth.”

“Sanctification [is] a thing that does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer (Gal. 5:17). A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay, rather, I believe they are healthy symptoms of our condition, and prove that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace… The heart of the best Christian, even at his best, is a field occupied by two rival camps, and the ‘company of two armies’ (Song of Sol. 6:14). Let the words of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Articles be well considered by all churchmen: ‘The infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated.’ ‘Although baptized and born again in Christ, we offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’”

“True sanctification does not consist in talk about religion. This is a point that ought never to be forgotten. The vast increase of education and preaching in these latter days makes it absolutely necessary to raise a warning voice. People hear so much talk of gospel truth that they contract an unholy familiarity with its words and phrases, and sometimes talk so fluently about its doctrines that you might think them true Christians. In fact it is sickening and disgusting to hear the cool and flippant language that many pour out about ‘conversion—the Savior—the gospel—finding peace—free grace,’ and the like, while they are notoriously serving sin or living for the world. Can we doubt that such talk is abominable in God’s sight, and is little better than cursing, swearing, and taking God’s name in vain? The tongue is not the only member that Christ bids us give to His service. God does not want His people to be mere empty tubs, sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals. We must be sanctified, not only ‘in word and in tongue, but in deed and truth’ (1 John 3:18).”

“Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place of life, and the renunciation of our social duties. In every age it has been a snare with many to take up this line in the pursuit of holiness. Hundreds of hermits have buried themselves in some wilderness, and thousands of men and women have shut themselves up within the walls of monasteries and convents, under the vain idea that by so doing they would escape sin and become eminently holy. They have forgotten that no bolts and bars can keep out the devil, and that, wherever we go, we carry that root of all evil, our own hearts. To become a monk, or a nun, or to join a House of Mercy, is not the high road to sanctification. True holiness does not make a Christian evade difficulties, but face and overcome them. Christ would have His people show that His grace is not a mere hothouse plant, which can only thrive under shelter, but a strong, hardy thing, which can flourish in every relation of life. It is doing our duty in that state to which God has called us—like salt in the midst of corruption, and light in the midst of darkness—which is a primary element in sanctification. It is not the man who hides himself in a cave, but the man who glorifies God as master or servant, parent or child, in the family and in the street, in business and in trade, who is the scriptural type of a sanctified man. Our Master Himself said in His last prayer, ‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that though sholdest keep them from the evil’ (John 17:15).”

“Of one thing I feel very sure—it is nonsense to pretend to sanctification unless we follow after the meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, and forgiveness of which the Bible makes so much. People who are habitually giving way to peevish and cross tempers in daily life, and are constantly sharp with their tongues, and disagreeable to all around them—spiteful people, vindictive people, revengeful people, malicious people—of whom, alas, the world is only too full!—all such know little, as they should know, about sanctification.”

On the Differences Between Justification and Sanctification. “Justification is the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the actual making a man inwardly righteous, though it may be in a very feeble degree. The righteousness we have by our justification is not our own, but the everlasting righteousness of our great Mediator Christ, imputed to us, and made our own by faith. The righteousness we have by sanctification is our own righteousness, imparted, inherent, and wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, but mingled with much infirmity and imperfection. In justification our own works have no place at all, and simple faith in Christ is the one thing needful. In sanctification our own works are of vast importance and God bids us fight, and watch, and pray, and strive, and take pains, and labor. Justification is a finished and complete work, and a man is perfectly justified the moment he believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work, comparatively, and will never be perfected until we reach heaven. Justification admits of no growth or increase: a man is as much justified the hour he first comes to Christ by faith as he will be to all eternity. Sanctification is eminently a progressive work, and admits of continual growth and enlargement so long as a man lives. Justification has special reference to our persons, our standing in God’s sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has special reference to our natures, and the moral renewal of our hearts. Justification gives us our title to heaven, and boldness to enter in. Sanctification gives us our meetness for heaven, and prepares us to enjoy it when we dwell there. Justification is the act of God about us, and is not easily discerned by others. Sanctification is the work of God within us, and cannot be hid in its outward manifestation from the eyes of men.”

“[Let] us never be ashamed of making much of sanctification, and contending for a high standard of holiness. While some are satisfied with a miserably low degree of attainment, and others are not ashamed to live on without any holiness at all—content with a mere round of churchgoing and chapel-going, but never getting on, like a horse in a mill—let us stand fast in the old paths, follow after eminent holiness ourselves, and recommend it boldly to others. This is the only way to be really happy. Let us feel convinced, whatever others may say, that holiness is happiness, and that the man who gets through life most comfortably is the sanctified man. No doubt there are some true Christians who from ill-health, or family trials, or other secret causes, enjoy little sensible comfort, and go mourning all their days on the way to heaven. But these are exceptional cases. As a general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found that ‘sanctified’ people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid comforts that the world can neither give nor take away. ‘The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness.’ ‘Great peace have they that love thy law.’ It was said by One who cannot lie, ‘My joke is easy, and my burden is light.’ But it is also written, ‘There is no peace unto the wicked’ (Prov. 3:17; Ps. 119:165; Matt. 11:30; Isa. 48:22).”