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

by J.C. Ryle

The people I speak of are not thoughtless about Christianity; they think much about it. They are not ignorant of Christianity; they know the basic beliefs pretty well. Their great defect, though, is that they are not rooted and grounded in their faith. They have too often picked up their knowledge secondhand – from being in religious families or from being trained in religious ways – but they have never worked it out by their own inward experience. Too often they have quickly taken up a profession of Christianity under the pressure of circumstances – from emotional feelings, from physical excitement, or from a general desire to do like others around them – but without any solid work of grace in their hearts. People like this are in a place of great danger. They are precisely those, according to Bible examples, who need to be exhorted to count the cost. Due to neglecting to count the cost, large numbers of the children of Israel perished miserably in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. They left Egypt full of zeal and fervor, as if nothing could stop them, but when they found dangers and difficulties in the way, their courage soon cooled down. They had never imagined that there would be trouble. They had thought they would be safely in the promised land in a few days. So when enemies, difficulties, hunger, and thirst began to make their presence known, the Israelites murmured against Moses and God, and would gladly have gone back to Egypt. They had not counted the cost...