Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots

by J.C. Ryle

Happy is that believer who understands it, and while he rejoices in Christ Jesus has no confidence in the flesh; and while he says, "Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory," never for...

But let us nevertheless settle it firmly in our minds that sin is "the abominable thing that God hateth"--that God "is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon that which is evil"--that the least transgression of God's law

makes us "guilty of all"--that "the soul that sinneth shall die"--that "the wages of sin is death"--that God shall "judge the secrets of men"--that there is a worm that never dies, and a fire that is not quenched--that "the wicked shall be turned into hell"--and "shall go away into everlasting punishment"--and that "nothing that defiles shall in any wise enter heaven." (Jer. xliv. 4; Hab. i. 13; James ii. 10; Ezek. xviii. 4; Rom. vi. 23; Rom. ii. 16; Mark ix. 44; Ps. ix. 17; Matt. xxv. 46; Rev. xxi. 27.)

Never till the hour when Christ comes the second time shall we fully realize the "sinfulness of sin."

fear we do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our soul's disease.

We may give wickedness smooth names, but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God.

Are we not as unwilling many times to begin, and as glad to make an end, as if in saying, Call upon Me,' He had set us a very burdensome task?

the more light we have, the more we see our own sinfulness:

the nearer we get to heaven, the more we are clothed with humility.

People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell. Let us all try to revive the old teaching about sin,

men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.

Very well said!

a Scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the extravagantly broad and liberal theology which is so much in vogue at the present time.

heterogeneous

Diverse in character or content

forsooth

archaic, humorous, surprising

Atonement and Substitution of Christ, the personality of the devil, the miraculous element in Scripture, the reality and eternity of future punishment, all these mighty foundation-stones are coolly tossed overboard, like lumber, in order to lighten the ship of Christianity, and enable it to keep pace with modern

science.--Stand up for these great verities, and you are called narrow, illiberal, old-fashioned, and a theological fossil!

I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as constant clear statements about the nature, reality, vileness, power, and guilt of sin.

we must tell them that this gnawing "something" is the sense of sin, guilt, and corruption, which they are leaving out in their calculations.

We give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly; we speak, think, and do imperfectly; we fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore, not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfections."--Once

the standard of daily life among professing Christians in this country

has been gradually falling.

It may be that a certain profession of religion has become so fashionable and comparatively easy in the present age, that the streams which were once narrow and deep have become wide and shallow, and what we have

gained in outward show we have lost in quality.

What were once called luxuries are now comforts and necessaries, and self-denial and "enduring hardness" are consequently little known.

There has been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than there used to be in the days of our fathers.

We must then try to realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless, easy-going, half-worldly life, and yet at the same time to maintain Evangelical principles and call ourselves Evangelical people!

I am convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin.