“None ought to be so holy as the disciples of a crucified Lord” by J.C. Ryle

“Would I find strong reasons for being a holy man?

Whither shall I turn for them?

Shall I listen to the Ten Commandments merely?

Shall I study the examples given me in the Bible of what grace can do?

Shall I meditate on the rewards of heaven, and the punishments of hell?

Is there no stronger motive still?

Yes: I will look at the cross of Christ!

There I see the love of Christ constraining me to “live not unto myself, but unto Him.”

There I see that I am not my own now: I am “bought with a price.” (2 Cor. 5:15; 1 Cor. 6:20)

I am bound by the most solemn obligations to glorify Jesus with body and spirit, which are His.

There I see that Jesus gave Himself for me, not only to redeem me from all iniquity, but also to purify me, and to make me one of a “peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:14)

He bore my sins in His own body on the tree, “that I being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness.” (1 Pet. 2:24)

There is nothing so sanctifying as a clear view of the cross of Christ!

It crucifies the world unto us, and us unto the world.

How can we love sin when we remember that because of our sins Jesus died?

Surely none ought to be so holy as the disciples of a crucified Lord.”

–J.C. Ryle, Old Paths: Being Plain Statements of Some of the Weightier Matters of Christianity (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1898/1999), 238-239.