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

by J.C. Ryle

Who can tell the wages that Christ will pay to all His faithful people? Who can estimate the good things that our divine Captain has laid up for those who confess Him before men? A grateful country can give medals to her successful warriors. It can give Medals of Honor, Victoria Crosses, pensions, and other honors and titles, but it can give nothing that will last and endure forever, nothing that can be carried beyond the grave. Palaces like Blenheim and Stratfield Saye can only be enjoyed for a few years. The bravest generals and soldiers must kneel one day before the King of Terrors. Better, far better, is the position of him who fights under Christ’s banner against sin, the world, and the devil. He may not receive much praise of man while he lives, and he may go down to the grave without much honor, but he will have that which is far better, for it is far more enduring. He will have the incorruptible crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). Surely this is good!