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

by J.C. Ryle

multitudes went with him, and he turned and said unto them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:25-27). I must plainly say that I cannot reconcile this passage with the lives of many modern Christian pastors and teachers. Yet to my mind, this doctrine is as clear as the sun at noonday. It shows us that we should not hurry people into professing discipleship without warning them plainly to count the cost.