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

by J.C. Ryle

I desire to offer a few suggestions on this point, with all humility. I know that many at whose feet I would gladly sit both in earth and heaven have never attained assurance. Perhaps the Lord sees something in the natural disposition of some of His children that makes assurance not good for them. Maybe in order to be kept in spiritual health they need to be kept very low. God only knows. Still, after every allowance, I am afraid that there are many believers without an assured hope, whose case may too often be explained by causes such as those listed below.