Are you struggling? Great!

Are struggling in your Christian walk? Do you battle daily with internal doubts and desires? According to J. C. Ryle, that is a good thing. Huh? That's right. The author of the Christian classic on sanctification, called Holiness, suggest that our internal struggles are a sure reason for hope in that they indicate we are in a battle and not mired in apathy and deadness. Consider the words from Holiness and let your struggles be a cause for hope and faith in your life:

We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness. It is not everything, I am well aware, but it is something.  

Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? 

Do we feel anything of the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things we would? (Gal. v. 17.) 

Are we conscious of two principles within us, contending for the mastery? 

Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? 

Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. 

It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers. Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness, and indifference. We are in a better state than many. The most part of so-called Christians have no feeling at all. We are evidently no friends of Satan. Like the kings of this world, he wars not against his own subjects. The very fact that he assaults us should fill our minds with hope.  

I say again, let us take comfort. The child of God has two great marks about him, and of these two we have one. HE MAY BE KNOWN BY HIS INWARD WARFARE, AS WELL AS BY HIS INWARD PEACE. (55, line breaks mine)

The good fight

Holiness by Bishop J. C. Ryle is a tried and true Christian classic. It is a masterful work on the topic of sanctification. One of the aspects of the book that I appreciate and that resonates with me is the author's perspective of fighting or battling for holiness in our Christian walk. The third chapter of Holiness is titled The Fight. And it is my favourite chapter in the book. For Bishop Ryle, Christianity is a fight:

True Christianity! Let us mind that word “true.” There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine Christianity. It passes muster; it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is not good money. It is not the real thing which was called Christianity eighteen hundred years ago. There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday, and call themselves Christians. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any “fight” about their religion! Of spiritual strife, and exertion, and conflict, and self-denial, and watching, and warring, they know literally nothing at all. Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable; but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. It is not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded, and His Apostles preached. It is not the religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is “a fight.” 

The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence, and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one travelling in an easy carriage. If he takes his standard of Christianity from the children of this world, he may be content with such notions; but he will find no countenance for them in the Word of God. If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must “fight.”

The Importance of Practical Holiness

In his classic Christian work on sanctification titled Holiness, J. C. Ryle contemplates the importance of holiness. He begins this discussion with an important clarification:

Can holiness save us? Can holiness put away sin - cover iniquities - make satisfaction for transgressions - pay our debt to God? No: not a whit. God forbid that I should ever say so. Holiness can do none of these things. The brightest saints are all “unprofitable servants.” Our purest works are no better than filthy rags, when tried by the light of God’s holy law. The white robe which Jesus offers, and faith puts on, must be our only righteousness - the name of Christ our only confidence - the Lamb’s book of life our only title to heaven. With all our holiness we are no better than sinners. Our best things are stained and tainted with imperfection. (39)

Clearly, personal holiness is not a salvific issue. But, is is important. We can recognize the inability of holiness to save a person, but does that necessarily mean it is not significant? Of course, Ryle insists that holiness is important and gives the reader a list of reasons why:
For one thing, we must be holy, because the voice of God in Scripture plainly commands it.

1. We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world.
2. We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we have a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. We must be holy, because this is the only proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
4. We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we are true children of God.
5. We must be holy, because this is the most likely way to do good to others.
6. We must be holy, because our present comfort depends much upon it.
7. Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. (39-42)

The reasons Ryle presents are permeated with Scripture references and his own commentary; they make for worthwhile reading and contemplation. Ryle then returns to the point we started out with securing his approach with a reminder to the importance of holiness in the context of the Christian faith as a whole:

I have no desire to make an idol of holiness. I do not wish to dethrone Christ, and put holiness in His place. But I must candidly say, I wish sanctification was more thought of in this day than it seems to be, and I therefore take occasion to press the subject on all believers into whose hands these pages may fall. I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things, beyond question, but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified are justified. What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ’s work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit’s work in you. Think not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided. I doubt not that many believers know these things, but I think it good for us to be put in remembrance of them. Let us prove that we know them by our lives. Let us try to keep in view this text more continually: “Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (46)

Loose grip and purposeful valuing

This is solid instruction by J. C Ryle that we can use to admonish ourselves with as well as gauge our spiritual temperature with. I think that this insight is particularly applicable to us North American consumerist Christians. In Holiness, we found written:

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavour to set his affections entirely on things above, and to hold things on earth with a very loose hand. He will not neglect the business of the life that now is; but the first place in his mind and thoughts will be given to the life to come. He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven, and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim travelling to his home. To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of His people - these things will be the holy man’s chiefest enjoyments. He will value every thing and place and company, just in proportion as it draws him nearer to God.

Two things from this quote I find particularly helpful are the concepts represented by the image of holding things with a loose hand and the idea of valuing things in proportion to their drawing-near-to-God power.

A holy man is not a monk or an ascetic who has cloistered himself or herself in a monastery and given up all earthly goods. A holy person is not a hermit who has forsaken society. A holy person has not dropped all the good gifts of God that are profuse in our culture. Rather, they hold them loosely, neither tossing them aside nor tightening their grips on them.

Furthermore, the value one should put on earthy goods and things of this world is proportionate to their ability to help you draw near to God or hinder your pursuit of communion. For me, that means I should put less value on entertainment than I do; TV does not affect me positively when it comes to my affections for God. Conversations with godly friends should increase in value in my estimation because these discussions result in raised affections for Christ.

What are you holding on to a little too tightly? What do value a little too highly?

Gospeltygoop

Is there too much gospel-talk these days? too much cross-talk? I have seen and read some discussion about current Christianity's use, or perhaps overuse, of terms that involve gospel and cross and the like.

My first thought when I read these articles, blog posts, and various other forms of communication is: what is the alternative? Should we not be talking about the cross and the gospel? Should these things not be the focus of our conversations and communications? Unlikely.

What I think concerned Christians are getting at is the idea that it seems easy these days to talk about the gospel, to fit gospel into a catchy title for a conference, or liberally season our writing with related phrases and vocabulary. And when it is easy and hip and cool to speak/write/think a certain way, it can often be done so in a less than genuine way.

And I think the more important issue in this case is the integrity with which we use the words as opposed to the frequency with which we use them.

J. C Ryle wrote on this many years ago in his classic book on sanctification called simply Holiness:

True sanctification then does not consist in talk about religion. This is a point which 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 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 which many pour out about “conversion - the Saviour - 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 iii. 18.)

As is evident, Ryle played hardball. But again, he is not condemning the accurate and honest use of the words. What he contends against is the "cool and flippant" employing of phraseology that sounds Christian when there is a lack of Christian sanctification evidenced in the life.

So, I say keep using the words. Let our speech be seasoned with talk of the cross and let our writing be permeated with gospel this and gospel that. But let our words, whether in our mouths or on our screens, be spoken with authenticity.

Splendid Sins

As I blog through J. C. Ryle's book Holiness I am re-astounded at the quality of his writing; every page seems full of valuable content. Choosing quotes and excerpts to blog feels like choosing Wayne Gretzky's best goals. How does one decide? Nevertheless, we'll carry on. This passage jumped out at me because of the reference to 'splendid sins'. It seems an adequate phrase to describe the best works of humanity. It reminded me John Piper spoke of sinning in the very act of repenting of sin. This might lead some to see futility in the Christian walk. However, do not lose sight of another phrase in this excerpt that reminds us that sinful though our action may be, 'yet it pleases God.' Consider,

Sanctification, again, is a thing which cannot justify a man, and yet it pleases God. This may seem wonderful, and yet it is true. The holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance, and in themselves are nothing better than “splendid sins,” deserving God’s wrath and condemnation. To suppose that such actions can stand the severity of God’s judgment, atone for sin, and merit heaven, is simply absurd. ... The only righteousness in which we can appear before God is the righteousness of another - even the perfect righteousness of our Substitute and Representative, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Sanctification always follows regeneration

In his book Holiness, J. C. Ryle makes it clear that sanctification, or growth in holiness, is not an option for the Christian. Ryle argues that without sanctification evidencing the Christian life, there is no reason to conclude that regeneration ever took place. Consider:

Sanctification, again, is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle, and always lives a new life. A regeneration which 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 - keepeth himself - and overcometh the world.” (1 John ii. 29; iii. 9-14; v. 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. This is, no doubt, a hard saying to many minds; but, hard or not, it is simple Bible truth. It is written plainly, that he who is born of God is one whose “seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John iii. 9.)

The necessity of sanctification

If the Bible be true, it is certain that unless we are “sanctified,” we shall not be saved. There are three things which, according to the Bible, are absolutely necessary to the salvation of every man and woman in Christendom. These three are, justification, regeneration, and sanctification. All three meet in every child of God: he is both born again, and justified, and sanctified. He that lacks any one of these three things is not a true Christian in the sight of God, and dying in that condition will not be found in heaven and glorified in the last day. J. C. Ryle

A prophetic commentary on the West

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 which 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. Be the causes what they may, I must declare my own belief that the result remains. There has been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than there used to be in the days of our fathers. The whole result is that the spirit is grieved! and the matter calls for much humiliation and searching of heart.

For a book that was published  well over 100 years ago, the concerns raised by J. C. Ryle in this excerpt from Holiness are incredibly relevant and shockingly similar to what one might say about today's Christian experience.

True Christianity is a fight!

My favourite quote from the movie Braveheart:

Stephen: Fine speech. Now what do we do?
Wallace: Just be yourselves.
Hamish: Where are you going?
Wallace: I'm going to pick a fight.
Hamish: Well, we didn't get dressed up for nothing.



Now that we have our minds on fighting:

But what do we do when we don't feel joyful? Do we resign ourselves to disobedience? Should we abandon following Jesus? Not at all! We fight the good fight of faith. It is good to fight for belief in the Gospel. We fight for faith to believe that obedience to Jesus is better than disobedience. Religious affection is an expression of faith in the Gospel, but it does not constitute the whole of faith. Faith also includes trusting God when we don't desire him. It is this faith that fights to follow Jesus, even when we don't feel like it. We were recreated in Christ not to run emotional power but spiritual power-the filling of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit comes to life when we trust in his Word. (Dodson, Jonathan K. Gospel-centered Discipleship. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012. Print.80)

I love this quote by Dodson. I love his reaction to trials and difficulties and joy being robbed: fight the fight of faith. Following hard after Christ  is not going to be easy. But we need to resist cynicism and pessimism and be willing to put some effort into our walk with God. Consider this excerpt by Dodson in light of another excerpt from J. C. Ryle's classic on sanctification called Holiness:

The first thing I have to say is this: True Christianity is a fight. True Christianity! Let us mind that word “true.” There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine Christianity. It passes muster; it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is not good money. It is not the real thing which was called Christianity eighteen hundred years ago. There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday, and call themselves Christians. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any “fight” about their religion! Of spiritual strife, and exertion, and conflict, and self-denial, and watching, and warring, they know literally nothing at all. Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable; but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. It is not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded, and His Apostles preached. It is not the religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is “a fight.”

Twenty-two Tweets on Sin from HOLINESS by J. C. Ryle

Here are 22 tweets (140 characters or less) from the chapter on sin in J. C. Ryle's classic work on sanctification, Holiness:

1. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption
2. The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity.
3. Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies, and false doctrines of the present day.
4. Sin…is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank, and class, and name, and nation, and people, and tongue…
5. … “a sin,”…consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining, anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.
6. The slightest outward or inward departure from absolute mathematical parallelism with God’s revealed will and character constitutes a sin…
7. …when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground.
8. …the sinfulness of man does not begin from without, but from within.
9. The fairest babe … is not, as its mother perhaps fondly calls it, a little “angel,” or a little “innocent,” but a little “sinner.”
10. Sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our moral constitution and every faculty of our minds.
11. Mighty indeed must that foe be who even when crucified is still alive!
12. I do not think…that mortal man can at all realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the sight of that holy and perfect One.
13. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction.
14. I fear we do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our soul’s disease.
15. Oh, no! sin comes to us, like Judas, with a kiss; and like Joab, with an outstretched hand and flattering words.
16. Sin rarely seems sin at first beginnings.
17. What a mass of infirmity and imperfection cleaves to the very best of us at our very best!
18. There is a remedy revealed for man’s need, as wide and broad and deep as man’s disease.
19. …in all this, I say, there is a full, perfect, and complete medicine for the hideous disease of sin.
20. Awful and tremendous as the right view of sin undoubtedly is, no one need faint and despair if he will take a right view of Jesus Christ…
21. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin.
22. …a Scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the extravagantly broad and liberal theology…

What It's All About

This is the prime way of honouring God. We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services of Him, as when we aspire to a conversing with Him with unstained spirits, and live to Him in living like Him.

AW Pink

Lessons in Holiness

Holiness consists not in a mere forbearance of a sensual life, but principally in living unto God. The principle or heart of holiness is within, and consists in the love of God, his Word, his ways, his servants, his honour, and his interest in the world. It consists in the soul's delight in God, and the ways of God. It is inclined towards him, and seeks after him to please him. It hates to offend him. The expression of it in our lives consists in a constant, diligent exercise of the internal life, according to the directions of the Word of God.

Do you think that God will have servants, and have nothing for them to do? Will one of you commend or reward your servant for doing nothing, and take it at the year's end for a satisfactory answer or account, if he might say; 'I have done no harm?' God calls you not only to do no harm, but to love and serve him with all your heart, and soul, and might.

If you are true believers, you have no laid up your hope in heaven; seek it, as worldlings set themselves to seek the world.

Richard Baxter

A Christian Directory

Something scary

In his book The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul discusses the scriptural account provided in Mark 4 of Jesus and the disciples being caught in a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee:

What is significant about this scriptural story is that the disciples' fear increased after the threat of the storm was removed. The storm had made them afraid. Jesus' actions to still the tempest had made them more afraid. In the power of Christ they met something more frightening then they had ever met in nature. They were in the presence of the holy...Why would the disciples invent a god in the first place? We can understand if people invented an unholy god, a god who brought only comfort. But why a god more scary than the earthquake, flood, or disease? It is one thing to fall victim to the flood or to fall prey to cancer; it is another thing to fall into the hands of the living God.(53)

R. C. Sproul on God's holiness

I have started to read a classic work on the holiness of God by R. C. Sproul. It is the first book that I have read by this highly esteemed author. I hope to share some more excerpts in the near future.

In Otto's study of the human experience of the holy, he discovered that the clearest sensation that human beings have when they experience the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness. That is, when we are aware of the presence of God we become most aware of ourselves as creatures. When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite. When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal...When we encounter Him, the totality of our creatureliness breaks upon us and shatters the myth that we are demigods, junior-grade deities who will try to live forever. (Sproul, R. C. The Holiness of God. Illinois: Tyndale, 1998. 44-45)

A holy love has a holy object

From Edwards' A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections:

A holy love has a holy object. The holiness of love consists especially in this, that it is the love of that which is holy, as holy, or for its holiness; so that it is the holiness of the object, which is the quality whereon it fixes and terminates. A holy nature must needs love that in holy things chiefly, which is most agreeable to itself; but surely that in divine things, which above all others is agreeable to a holy nature, is holiness, because holiness must be above all other things agreeable to holiness; for nothing can be more agreeable to any nature than itself; holy nature must be above all things agreeable to holy nature: and so the holy nature of God and Christ, and the word of God, and other divine things, must be above all other things agreeable to the holy nature that is in the saints. (3.iii)

Holiness in man, holiness in God

From A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards:

Holiness in man is but the image of God's holiness; there are not more virtues belonging to the image than are in the original: derived holiness has not more in it than is in that underived holiness which is its fountain: there is no more than grace for grace, or grace in the image, answerable to grace in the original.

As there are two kinds of attributes in God, according to our way of conceiving of him, his moral attributes, which are summed up in his holiness, and his natural attributes of strength, knowledge, that constitute the greatness of God; so there is a twofold image of God in man, his moral or spiritual image, which is his holiness, that is the image of God's moral excellency (which image was lost by the fall), and God's natural image, consisting in man's reason and understanding, his natural ability, and dominion over the creatures, which is the image of God's natural attribute. (From Part 3.iii)