Holiness: For the Will of God Is Your Sanctification – 1 Thessalonians 4:3 [Annotated, Updated]

by J.C. Ryle

Let us never curtail the freeness of the glorious gospel or diminish its magnitude. Let us never make the gate more confined and the way narrower than pride and the love of sin have made it already. The Lord Jesus is very compassionate and of tender mercy. He does not regard the quantity of faith, but the quality. He does not measure its degree, but its truth. He will not break any bruised reed nor quench any smoking flax (Isaiah 42:3). He will never let it be said that anyone perished at the foot of the cross. He that comes to me, He says, I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Yes! Though one’s faith is no bigger than a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 17:20), if it only brings him to Christ and enables him to touch the hem of His garment (Matthew 9:21; 14:35-36), he will be saved. He will be saved as certainly as the oldest saint in paradise. He will be saved as completely and eternally as Peter, John, or Paul. There are degrees in our sanctification, but there are none in our justification. What is written, is written, and it will never fail: Whosoever believes on him – not whosoever has a strong and mighty faith, but Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed (Romans 10:11).