The Pursuit of Holiness, includes Study Guide

by Jerry Bridges

“How can anyone who is having the struggles you are having be a Christian?”

Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee; O Lamb of God, I come.

You, too, if you diligently pursue holiness, must often flee to the Rock of your salvation. You flee there, not to be saved again, but to confirm in your heart that you are saved through His righteousness alone.

“I always do what pleases Him.” Do we dare take that as our personal goal in life? Are we truly willing to scrutinize all our activities, all our goals and plans, and all of our impulsive actions in the light of this statement: “I am doing this to please God”?

bit. We know we do some things, good things in themselves, to gain admiration for ourselves rather than glory for God. We do other things strictly for our own pleasure, without any regard for the glory of God.

recall an unpleasant business encounter once with a person who later became a Christian through another’s witness. When I learned of this, I was deeply chagrined to reflect on the fact that I had never once thought of him as a person for whom Christ died, but only as someone with whom I had an unpleasant experience. We need to learn to follow the example of Christ, who was moved with compassion for sinners and who could pray for them even as they nailed Him to the cross on Calvary.

While not living in gross sin, they have more or less given up ever attaining a life of holiness and have settled down to a life of moral mediocrity with which neither they nor God are pleased.

Having experienced failure and frustration with our sin problem, we are delighted to be told that God has already done it all and that we only need to rest in Christ’s finished work. After struggling with our sins to the point of despair, this new idea is like a life preserver to a drowning man, almost like hearing the gospel for the first time.

We are further told that if we are not experiencing victory over our besetting sins, it is because we are not reckoning on the fact that we died to sin.

“We were born sinners, but it took practice to develop our particular styles of sinning. The old life was disciplined [trained] toward

ungodliness.”[3]

In a similar manner, Christians tend to sin out of habit. It is our habit to look out for ourselves instead of others, to retaliate when injured in some way, and to indulge the appetites of our bodies.

Not only have we been slaves to sin, but we still live in a world populated by slaves of sin. The conventional values around us reflect this slavery, and the world tries to conform us to its own sinful mold.

As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says in his exposition of Romans 6, though sin cannot reign in us, that is, in our essential personality, it can, if left unchecked, reign in our mortal bodies.[4] It will turn the natural instincts of our bodies into lust. It will turn our natural appetites into indulgence, our need for clothing and shelter into materialism, and our normal sexual interest into immorality.

or will not see. This was David’s prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”

The deceitfulness of Satan and of our own hearts will lead us to focus on secondary issues.

the truth is, our evil desires are constantly searching out temptations to satisfy their insatiable lusts.

Consider the particular temptations to which you are especially vulnerable, and note how often you find yourself searching out occasions to satisfy those evil desires.

When this happens our evil desires are ready and prompt to receive and embrace them.

bodies.[3] The third thing we must understand about indwelling sin is that it tends to deceive our understanding or reasoning. Our reason, enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, stands in the way of sin gaining mastery over us through our desires. Therefore Satan’s great strategy is to deceive our minds.

Deceit of the mind is carried on by degrees, little by little. We are first drawn away from watchfulness, then from obedience.

9). We are drawn away from watchfulness by overconfidence. We come to believe we are beyond a particular temptation. We look at someone else’s fall and say, “I would never do that.” But Paul warned us, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall”

12). Even when helping a fallen brother, we are to watch ourselves lest we also be tempted

We abuse grace when we think we can sin and then receive forgiveness by claiming 1 John 1:9. We abuse grace when, after sinning, we dwell on the compassion and mercy of God to the exclusion of His holiness and hatred of sin.

We are drawn away from obedience when we begin to question what God says in His Word. This was Satan’s first tactic with Eve (Genesis 3:1-5). Just as he said to Eve, “You surely shall not die!” so he says to us, “It is just a little thing!” or “God will not judge that sin.” So we see that though

“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong”

What is the significance of being alive unto God? How does it help us in our pursuit of holiness? For one thing, it means we are united with Christ in all His power. It is certainly true we cannot live a holy life in our own strength. Christianity is not a do-it-yourself thing.

Holiness is not a series of do’s and don’ts, but conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God. Accepting with contentment whatever circumstances God allows for me is very much a part of a holy walk.

I lose my sense of hopelessness because I can say to myself that not only am I no longer under the dominion of sin, but I am under the dominion of another power that nothing can frustrate. However weak I may be, it is the power of God that is working in me.”[1]

We count on the fact that we are alive to God when by faith we look to Christ for the power we need to do the resisting.

Faith, however, must always be based on fact, and Romans 6:11 is a fact for us.

It is the Spirit of God who works in us that we may decide and act according to God’s good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

Here Paul connects the giving of the Holy Spirit with our living a holy life. He is called the Holy Spirit, and He is sent primarily to make us holy—to conform us to the character of God.

Why do we have the Holy Spirit living within us to strengthen us toward holiness? It is because we are alive to God. We are now living under the reign of God, who unites us to Christ and gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell within

Holy Spirit strengthens us to holiness first by enabling us to see our need of holiness. He enlightens our understanding so that we begin to see God’s standard of holiness. Then he causes us to become aware of our specific areas of sin. One of Satan’s most powerful weapons is making us spiritually blind—unable to see our sinful character.

Even Christians taking in the teaching of the Bible can be deceived about their own sins. We somehow feel that consent to the teaching of Scripture is equivalent to obedience. We may hear a point of application in a sermon or perhaps discover it in our own personal Bible reading or study. We say, “Yes that is true; that is something I need to act on.” But we let it drop at that point. James says when we do that, we deceive ourselves (James 1:22).

As we grow in the Christian life we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. We know the correct doctrines, the right methods and the proper do’s and don’ts. But we may not see the poverty of our own spiritual character. We may not see our critical and unforgiving spirit, our habit of backbiting, or our tendency to judge others. We may become like the Laodiceans of whom our Lord said, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

The Holy Spirit opens the inner recesses of our hearts and enables us to see the moral cesspools hidden there.

Paul said, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Before we can act we must will. To will means to desire and resolve. When the Holy Spirit shows us our sinfulness, He does not do this to lead us to despair but to lead us to holiness. He does this by creating within us a hatred of our sins and a desire for holiness. Only one who

The habits of our old nature and the attacks of Satan are too strong for us to persevere unless the Holy Spirit is at work in us to create a desire for holiness.

them taught, we are captivated by the moral beauty of God’s standard of holiness. Even though His standard may seem far beyond us, we recognize and respond to that which is “holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). Even though we fail so often, in our inner being we “delight in God’s law” (Romans 7:22).

If the Holy Spirit uses Scripture to show us our need and to stimulate a desire for holiness, then doesn’t it follow that we must be in God’s Word on a consistent basis?

Should we not go to the Word, whether to hear it preached or to do our own study, with the prayer that the Holy Spirit would search our hearts for any sin in us? (Psalm 139:23-24).

We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit for a holy life in two ways. The first is through a humble and consistent intake

of the Scripture.

truth. It is hypocritical to pray for victory over our sins yet be careless in our intake of the Word of God.

dependence on the Holy Spirit. God says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). We are to come to the Word in a spirit of humility and contrition because we recognize that we are sinful, that we are often blind to our sinfulness, and that we need the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. ROMANS 8:13

“Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3:14). The clause make every effort addresses itself to our wills. It is something we must decide to do.

Spirit who “differentiates Christianity from morality, from ‘legalism’ and false Puritanism.”[2] But our reliance on the Spirit is not intended to foster an attitude of “I can’t do it,” but one of “I can do it through Him who strengthens me.”