Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the second chapter of John Owen's Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you'd like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together.

For a couple of years I met every Friday morning with a group of friends and we would read books together. We read some great books like Os Guinness’ The Call and Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy. These were enjoyable and beneficial times. One thing we often found frustrating, though, was that books are really not meant to be read at the pace of one chapter per week with long periods of analysis after each chapter. This may be particularly true of a book like Overcoming Sin and Temptation where the chapter divisions are seemingly less logical than in many other books. All this to say that I found this week’s chapter was short and really did not have quite as much gold to mine as in the previous ones (and, I’m sure, as in the ones to come). It was necessary, no doubt, but seems like a short pause before digging into the real treasure that is to follow.

Summary

The chapter outline goes something like this. Following on the chapter’s main point that the life, vigor, and comfort of our spiritual life depend much on our mortification of sin, we have these divisions:

1. Life, vigor, and comfort are not necessarily connected to mortification
2. Adoption and justification, not mortification, are the immediate causes of life, vigor,and comfort
3. However, in the ordinary relationship with God, the vigor and comfort of ourspiritual lives depend much on our mortification of sin
   1. Mortification alone keeps sin from depriving us of vigor and comfort
      1. Every unmortified sin will weaken the soul and deprive it of its vigor
         1. It untunes and unframes the heart itself, by entangling its affections
         2. It fills the thoughts with contrivances about it
         3. It breaks out and actually hinders duty

      2. Every unmortified sin will darken the soul and deprive it of its comfort andpeace
   2. Mortification prunes all the graces of God and makes room for them in our heartsto grow
   3. As to our peace; as there is nothing that has any evidence of sincerity without it,so I know nothing that has such an evidence of sincerity in it

Discussion

As you already know, I found less to chew on in this chapter than in the ones that preceded it. But this is certainly not to say that it was an unprofitable read. Owen’s warning was well taken—that a refusal to mortify sin will and must have to consequences: it will weaken the soul, depriving it of its vigor and it will darken the soul, depriving it of its comfort and peace. I also found this worth pondering: “[Sin] is a cloud, a thick cloud, that spreads itself over the face of the soul, and intercepts all the beams of God’s love and favor. It takes away all sense of the privilege of our adoption; and if the soul begins to gather up thoughts of consolation, sin quickly scatters them.”

And, of course, the chapter’s closing words were pure gold. “Mortification is the soul’s vigorous opposition to itself.” We are too often prone to believe that sin is extrinsic and is caused by forces outside of ourselves. “The Devil made me do it!” we say. But sin comes from within. Sure, we need to oppose the devil. But even more so, we need to oppose our own sinful flesh.

Maybe I am just a restless person, but I flipped ahead one page to take a peek at chapter five. Already I like what it promises. “These things being premised, I come to my principal [concern] of handling some questions or practical cases that present themselves in this business of mortification of sin in believers.” I’m ready!

Next Time

Next Thursday we will continue with the fifth chapter of the book (which will mark the beginning of the book’s second part). We have only just begun so there is still plenty of time for you to get the book and to read along.

Your Turn

I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause or what confused you. Let's make sure we're reading this book together. The comments on previous chapters have been great and have aided my enjoyment of the chapter. I trust this week will prove the same.

Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the second chapter of John Owen's Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you'd like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. The opening portion of the book, which we will complete next week, is based upon an exposition of Romans 8:13: "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Owen came to three conclusions: The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin; The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that is may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers; The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh. Last week was encouragement on the necessity of putting sin to death. This week we move to this portion of the exposition: “The Holy Spirit is the great sovereign cause of the mortification of indwelling sin.”

Summary

The Holy Spirit is the great sovereign cause of the mortification of indwelling sin

1. Other remedies are sought in vain
2. Why mortification is the work of the Spirit
1. The Spirit is promised of God to be given unto us to do this work
2. All mortification is from the gift of Christ, and all the gifts of Christ are communicated to us and given us by the Spirit of Christ
3. How the Spirit mortifies sin
1. By causing our hearts to abound in grace and the fruits that are contrary to the flesh
2. By a real physical efficiency on the root and habit of sin
3. By bringing the cross of Christ into the heart of a sinner by faith
4. If the Spirit alone mortifies sin, why are we are exhorted to it?
   1. All graces and good works which are in us are his
   2. It is still an act of our obedience

Discussion

First, and by way of observation, I’d say that this chapter, though significantly shorter, was considerably more difficult than the previous one. It seemed that there were more difficult words and tough phrases than last week. Just when I was starting to get cocky and thinking that Owen wasn’t so difficult after all!

I carried one main thought out of this chapter. Much of this portion concerned “papists”—hardly a term in common use these days. This may serve to antiquate the chapter a little bit, but I think there is still much to learn from it. After all, I think Roman Catholicism is a perversion of true Christian theology and a system that so carefully incorporates man into God’s work. Owen would agree. While I may not be Roman Catholic, I still feel the temptation to allow my man-centered desires to interfere with God’s gracious work. Maybe this is what Owen means when he writes of “the natural popery in man.” I may not wear rough garments or take vows and orders as an attempt to mortify sin, but I may still look to myself and my remedies rather than to God and His remedies. Just as Catholicism has invented ways of mortifying sin, I may also invent ways and means and find them just as powerless to bring about true and lasting change.

I may use and insist upon means that were never appointed by God for this purpose; I may ignore the means that God has, in His grace and wisdom, appointed for this purpose; and, like Luther, I may always mortify, but never come to any sound mortification. “They have sundry means to mortify the natural man, as to the natural life here we lead; none to mortify lust or corruption.” This is the mistake of men ignorant of the gospel, and too often it is the mistake I make. As Owen says, “Duties are excellent food for an unhealthy soul; they are no [remedy] for a sick soul. He that turns his meat into his medicine must expect no great operation.” There is a lot to think about in those words. Do I turn meat into medicine; food into a cure? Do I misuse the wonderful means of grace God has given, thinking that they can mortify my sin when really they are meant to feed me, but not to cure me? Am I trying to “sweat out a distemper with working?”

I am looking forward to continuing with the book next week, but even more so, am looking forward to moving on to the second part where, I suspect, the rubber really begins to meet the road.

Next Time

Next Thursday we will continue with the fourth chapter of the book (which will mark the end of the book’s first part). We have only just begun so there is still plenty of time for you to get the book and to read along.

Your Turn

I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause or what confused you. Let's make sure we're reading this book together. The comments on previous chapters have been great and have aided my enjoyment of the chapter. I trust this week will prove the same.

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you…”

This week we continue reading the classics together by turning to the second chapter of John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you'd like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together. Last week we read the first chapter which was an exposition of Romans 8:13: "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Owen came to three conclusions: The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin; The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that is may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers; The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.

Summary

The thesis of the second chapter is this: “Believers ought to make the mortification of indwelling sin their daily work.” The question we must ask ourselves and the exhortation of the author is this:

Do you mortify;do you make it your daily work;be always at it while you live;cease not a day from this work;be killing sin or it will be killing you.

The rest of the chapter is given or to reasons that we must be at the business of killing sin. It follows this outline:

1. Indwelling sin always abides; therefore it must always be mortified
2. Indwelling sin not only abides, but is still acting
3. Indwelling sin is not only active, but will produce soul-destroying sins if not mortified
4. Indwelling sin is to be opposed by the Spirit and the new nature
5. The results of neglecting the mortification of indwelling sin
6. It is our duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God and grow in grace every day

Discussion

This week I focused in on individual phrases rather than the chapter as a whole. Owen is an eminently quotable author who can distill a chapter or a section to a sentence or to a phrase. The most notable example must be this: “be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Who, having read that phrase, will ever forget it? The challenge is laid down in just those nine words. We are at war and there is going to be a victor. Will it be us or will it be sin? Owen says also, “When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone.” As much as I hate sin and long to be free from it, I know that I will be in constant conflict with it until the day I die. It is then, and only then, that sin will leave me alone. It is then, and only then, that I may leave it alone.

Here are a few of the other phrases that I highlighted not just to mark them, but so I could return to them and ponder them.

“He that is appointed to kill an enemy, if he leave striking before the other ceases living, does but half his work.”

“Sin does not only still abide in us, but is still acting, still laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion.”

“Who can say that he had ever anything to do with God or for God, that indwelling sin had not a hand in the corrupting of what he did?”

“There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on.”

“Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head.”

“[Sin] has no bounds but utter relinquishment of God and opposition to him.”

“It is our participation of the divine nature that gives us an escape from the pollutions that are in the world through lust.”

“Not to be daily mortifying sin is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who has furnished us with a principle of doing it.”

“By the omission of this duty grace withers, lust flourishes, and the frame of the heart grows worse and worse.”

“Sin does so remain, so act and work in the best of believers, while they live in this world, that the constant daily mortification of it is all their days incumbent on them.”

I think the one that will stay with me the longest and that will continue to reverberate in my mind (and I hope this is especially true when I am lured and enticed by sin) is this: “Sin aims always at the utmost.” Though sin may compel me to do something that seems small and nearly harmless, sin’s ultimate aim is always greater. Its aim is always more dangerous. Sin aims at the greatest fulfillment of any sin and aims even further to cause me to utterly relinquish God and to be in opposition to Him. What seems small and harmless is really just the first rocks shifting in what aims to become a terrific landslide.

Next Time

Next Thursday we will continue with the third chapter of the book. We have only just begun so there is still plenty of time for you to get the book and to read along.

Your Turn

I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause or what confused you. Let's make sure we're reading this book together. Last week’s comments were great and really aided my enjoyment of the chapter. I trust this week will prove the same.

“Put to death the deeds of the body…”

Today is the first day of the second round of Reading the Classics Together. Having enjoyed J.C. Ryle’s Holiness over a period of eight weeks, we are ready to move on to the next book. Between comments, email, and face-to-face interaction, I think I can safely say that at least several hundred people have indicated an interest in joining in this effort as we read John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together.

Reading John Owen is no simple task. He is difficult to read, in the first place, because of stylistic issues. Though the book has stood up well over the 350 years since its publication, it does feel foreign and antiquated in many regards. There is work to be done to make the transition between the old English and the new. Owen is difficult to read in the second place because of the density of his material. His writing is not short on length or on breadth. More than any other author I’ve read, Owen requires careful, slow reading. I read even just this short chapter three times before I really felt that I understood it. Having said all of that, I did not find reading this text onerous. I wanted to read the text carefully and to ensure that I understood Owen. And I wanted to do this because of the long line of godly men and women who have said that this book has challenged them like no other. If it has meant so much to so many of my heroes, I am going to put my hand to the plow and ensure that I learn from it too.

I am going to offer a short summary of the chapter and a couple of brief reflections. At that point I’ll ask that you feel free to post your own questions, comments or reflections.

Summary

The first chapter is an exposition of Romans 8:13 (which I’ll provide in the ESV): “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Owen structures the exposition around five points:

1. A duty prescribed: "Mortify the deeds of the body." He shows that “the body” refers to the corruption and depravity of our natures; he shows that the deeds that must be mortified are primarily the inward causes, the “roots” of sin; and he shows that to mortify is to kill something—to have its power, life, vigor and strength to produce its effects taken away.
2. The persons denoted to whom it is prescribed: "You"--"if you mortify." He proves here that “you” refers only to believers—to those in whom the Spirit dwells.
3. A promise annexed to that duty: "You shall live." Owen shows that this does not refer to justification, the life that believers have already been given, but to the joy, comfort and vigor of the Christian life.
4. The cause or means of the performance of this duty--the Spirit: "If you through the Spirit." In this section Owen shows that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that Christians can truly mortify sin.5.The conditionality of the whole proposition, wherein duty, means, and promise are contained: "If you," etc. All that has been listed in the previous points is dependent on that little word “if.” Life is given only where a choice is made to mortify the deeds of the body.

Three times Owen comes to a conclusion (or thesis or proposition):

1. The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.
2. The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that is may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.
3. The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.

Discussion

There were two things that stood out to me in this chapter (or at least that stood out above the rest). The first was this statement: “Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.” We are able, of our own power, to put aside certain sins or to appear that we have escaped from them. But this must not be the same as truly mortifying them. If we are to mortify our sins through the Holy Spirit, sins that we attempt to deal with on our own must not be truly mortified. We may escape them for a time or make ourselves believe that we have left them behind. But if they are not truly mortified, they must still exist within, perhaps just waiting for opportunity to spring back. Assuming that Owen is correct, mortification from a self-strength is extremely dangerous and, as he says, the soul and substance of all of the world’s false religion. This shows how important it is to deal with sin properly and biblically.

The second point that stood out was the final sentence in the chapter. “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.” I couldn’t help but remark in the margin of my book how much this is at-odds with so much of what we see in the Christian world today. Very rarely will you find a Christian bestseller that hints at the idea that putting away our sin through the power of the Spirit is the key to vigor, power and comfort in our faith. At those times that I feel my faith is weak and at the times that I feel lifeless and powerless, perhaps the first place I should look, then, is to my own heart to see if there is sin there that I’ve refused to deal with—sin that I’ve refused to ask the Spirit to destroy. Mortification, it seems, is a choice. I need to make the choice to deal with my sin and need to make the choice to do so through the power of the Spirit.

Next Time

Next Thursday we will continue with the second chapter of the book. We have only just begun so there is still plenty of time for you to get the book and to read along.

Your Turn

I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause or what confused you. Let’s make sure we’re reading this book together.

A couple of months ago some of the readers of this site began to read some Christian classics together. We spent eight weeks reading through J.C. Ryle’s Holiness, covering one chapter per week and posting some thoughts about the book on Thursday mornings. I’m not quite sure how many people took the opportunity to read along with us, but believe it was in excess of one hundred. Holiness was a worthwhile read and we learned that it has rightly earned its position as a Christian classic. Feedback from readers assured me that this was a project we should continue as it benefited all who chose to participate.

It is time to think about our next effort. Having asked many of you what you’d be interested in reading next, I think there will be a good bit of interest in reading some John Owen. Owen is known as being one of the greatest theologians in the history of the church and certainly one who offered penetrating analysis of the human condition. His works are known as being difficult to read, but always worth the effort. C.J. Mahaney says, “No writer has taught me more about the dynamics of the heart and the deceitfulness of sin than John Owen.” Jerry Bridges writes, “To read Owen is to mine spiritual gold.” Mark Dever says, “Sin is tenacious, but by God’s grace we can hate it and hunt it. John Owen provides the mater guide for the sin-hunter.” And Phillip Ryken insists that, “John Owen is a spiritual surgeon with the rare skill to cut away the cancer of sin and bring gospel healing to the sinner’s soul. Apart from the Bible, I have found his writings to be the best books ever written to help me stop sinning the same old sins.” It’s hard to argue with all of those men!

So for the next classic we read together, I propose John Owen’s Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. You will find this as portion of Overcoming Sin and Temptation, edited by Justin Taylor and Kelly Kapic. This edition maintains the unabridged text, but provides useful introductions and editorial assistance. For example, the editors footnote difficult or obscure words, update archaic language (i.e. they change “thee” to “you”), transliterate words that Owen provided in the original biblical languages, and so on. They maintain the full impact of Owen’s words while removing some of the hindrances experienced by the modern reader. It is this edition that I will be reading and I’d encourage you to do the same. If you order it from Westminster Books, the book should ship to you immediately and be in your hands in just a few days. It is also available at Amazon and just about anywhere else.

Those who do not wish to purchase the book, can find it at CCEL though not in the edited version.

The book is divided into three parts and fourteen chapters. The chapters are mostly quite short, though as the editors point out, the divisions are somewhat less than ideal as Owen did not use chapter divisions in the way we might today. Still, they provide useful breaks in the text and we’ll stick with them. We’ll read one chapter per week and meet right here at this site to discuss things on Thursdays.

I think we can begin with the first chapter on November 15. So if you’d like to read along with us and begin to tackle some John Owen, get a copy of the book and check in here on the fifteenth to begin some discussion. You do not need to write any discussion of your own—just check in to see what others are saying.

Please let me know if you’re interested in participating by posting a comment below.

“We know that we are of God.” (1 John 5:19)

Today we come to the final chapter of the first classic we’re reading together. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Even if you have not participated in this effort, please keep reading. I'm sure there will be something here to benefit you. At the very least read the end to see how you can join in our next effort.

The book’s previous chapters have covered Sin, Sanctification, Holiness, The Fight, The Cost and Growth. The final chapter concerns itself with Assurance—the believer’s privilege of being assured that he is a Christian. This is a doctrine that today, like in Ryle’s day, was too often neglected or, if not that, was the cause of much dispute. It is a doctrine, he is convinced, that has much to do with holiness. He approaches the subject cautiously and humbly, acknowledging that “the road between truth and error is here especially a narrow pass.”

He defines assurance in this way: “A true Christian, a converted man, may reach such a comfortable degree of faith in Christ, that in general he shall feel entirely confident as to the pardon and safety of his soul, shall seldom be troubled with doubts, seldom be distracted with fears, seldom be distressed by anxious questionings and, in short, though vexed by many an inward conflict with sin, shall look forward to death without trembling, and to judgment without dismay. This, I say, is the doctrine of the Bible.”

Ryle follows this outline:

Summary

1. An assured hope is a scriptural thing
2. A believer may never arrive at this assured hope, and yet be saved
3. Reasons why an assured hope is exceedingly to be desired
   1. It provides present comfort
   2. It tends to make a Christian an active working Christian
   3. It tends to make a decided Christian
   4. It tends to make the holiest Christians
4. Probable causes why an assured hope is never attained
   1. A defective view of the doctrine of Justification
   2. Slothfulness about growth in grace
   3. An inconsistent walk in life
5. Application
   1. If you are not a Christian, learn from the privileges and comforts of a Christian and come to Christ
   2. If you are a Christian and do not have an assured hope, then resolve today to seek it.

Discussion

As with one or two of the other chapters in the book, this one was perhaps a bit unexpected. I would not have thought a chapter on assurance would merit a place in such a book. But because Ryle does a superb job of showing the close connection between assurance and holiness and because he proves the importance of this doctrine, I can understand why it was good and necessary to include it.

Ryle is, in his own right, a master of illustration and analogy. Yet at one point he turns to another author to suggest why some true Christians never receive assurance of pardon. “‘A letter,’ says an old writer, ‘may be written, which is not sealed; so grace may be written in the heart, yet the Spirit may not set the seal of assurance to it.’” He goes on to speak of a child who is the heir of a great fortune, yet is never made aware of the riches and wealth that are rightfully his. In this way a Christian may never come to know that assurance is his birthright and that he may have full confidence in the validity of his salvation.

But the illustration that most gripped my soul as I read this chapter had to do with the importance of the doctrine of assurance. This is a doctrine that few people regard as having any great importance, but listen to what Ryle says.

Take, for an illustration of this, two English emigrants, and suppose them set down side by side in New Zealand or Australia. Give each of them a piece of land to clear and cultivate. Let the portions allotted to them be the same, both in quantity and quality. Secure that land to them by every needful legal instrument; let it be conveyed as freehold to them and theirs forever; let the conveyance be publicly registered and the property made sure to them by every deed and security that man's ingenuity can devise.

Suppose then that one of them shall set to work to clear his land and bring it into cultivation and labor at it day after day without intermission or cessation.

Suppose in the meanwhile that the other shall be continually leaving his work and going repeatedly to the public registry to ask whether the land really is his own, whether there is not some mistake, whether after all there is not some flaw in the legal instruments which conveyed it to him.

The one shall never doubt his title but just work diligently on. The other shall hardly ever feel sure of his title and spend half his time in going to Sydney or Melbourne or Auckland with needless inquiries about it.

Which now of these two men will have made most progress in a year's time? Who will have done the most for his land, got the greatest breadth of soil under tillage, have the best crops to show, be altogether the most prosperous?

Anyone of common sense can answer that question. I need not supply an answer. There can be only one reply. Undivided attention will always attain the greatest success.

Those who dwell secure in their relationship with the Lord, taking confidence not in their own rightness but in the grip of the One who holds them—these people are free to focus on the things that need to be done. Rather than spending much of their time in deep concern that they may not be saved; rather than continually studying the Scripture to discern whether or not God has done His work in their lives, these people are free from the tyranny of uncertainty and are thus free to be active, working Christians. But for reading this chapter, I would not have considered the practical importance and the practical ramifications of getting this doctrine right and having it applied to my soul. That is my “take home” application this week.

Holiness has been a joy to read and has given me much to think about. It is a book I know that I will return to often. I’m grateful that it is more than a classic I can cross of my list—it is a book that is as relevant and as important today as the day Ryle penned it. And it spoke to me as it has spoken to generations of believers before. Thank you for reading it with me!

Next Time

Now that we’ve finished this book, I guess it’s time to choose another. I think we’ll begin the next reading project in a few weeks and, in all likelihood, will read some John Owen. Stay tuned for more information in the next couple of weeks.

Your Turn

I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don't feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you. I’d also be glad to hear your comments about the book as a whole.

“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

Today those of us who are engaged in this project to read some great Christian classics together are going to be looking at the sixth chapter of J.C. Ryle's Holiness. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Even if you are not participating, please keep reading. I'm sure there will be something here to benefit you.

As we draw near to the end of this book we remember that Ryle has covered Sin, Sanctification, Holiness, The Fight and The Cost. This week he progresses to “Growth.” He begins with these simple questions: “Do we grow in grace? Do we get on in our religion? Do we make progress?” He says, “To a mere formal Christian I cannot expect the inquiry to seem worth attention. … But to every one who is downright earnest about his soul, and hungers and thirsts after spiritual life, the question ought to come home with searching power. Do we make progress in our religion? Do we grow?” Believing that spiritual growth is absolutely fundamental to the pursuit of holiness, Ryle leads the reader through the reality of religious growth, the marks of religious growth, and the means of religious growth.

Summary

1. The Reality of Religious Growth
   1. Growth in grace is the evidence of spiritual health
   2. Growth in grace is the only way to be happy in religion
   3. Growth in grace is the only way to be useful to others
   4. Growth in grace pleases God
   5. We are accountable before God to grow in grace
2. The Marks of Growing in Grace
   1. Increased Humility
   2. Increased Faith and Love
   3. Increased Holiness of Life and Conversation
   4. Increased Spiritual Taste and Thoughts
   5. Increased Charity
   6. Increased Zeal and Diligence
3. The Means of Growing in Grace
   1. The Private Means of Grace
   2. The Public Means of Grace
   3. Watchfulness
   4. Caution of Company kept
   5. Regular Communion with the Lord

Discussion

I found this chapter both an encouragement and a challenge. It was encouraging because when I examine my life I can find evidences of the Spirit’s work within me—I see evidence of growth. I suppose one could say it smacks of arrogance to say so, but I think any Christian, or any true Christian, should be able to see the same. And this should be a cause to rejoice in the Lord. But, of course, any Christian will also see just how much room for growth remains. And this is the challenge—to take comfort in the evidence that the Spirit is at work and to allow this to help assure us that He will continue to do His sanctifying work within.

I appreciated Ryle’s description of his term “growing in grace.”

When I speak of growth in grace, I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigor and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer's heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage and the like may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual-mindedness more marked. He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from grace to grace. I leave it to others to describe such a man's condition by any words they please. For myself I think the truest and best account of him is this—he is growing in grace.

He goes on to further define this term as the chapter progresses and he moves through the various marks and means of growth. What strikes me as I read about the means that are to be used by those who wish to grow in grace is how exceedingly simple they are. Christianity is a faith that does not call for us to do extraordinary things in order to progress in our faith or to mark or progress in faith. Rather, we do the extraordinary ordinary—we use the private and public means of grace, we keep watch over the little things, guard our hearts from unwise influences and commune daily with Jesus Christ. And through these things—not great pilgrimages or great acts of public self-sacrifice—we grow in our knowledge of the Lord, our love of Him, and our obedience to Him. The sheer simplicity of Christianity is, I think, one of the evidences of its truth, for we need only do things that come naturally to those who have been renewed by the Spirit.

What a blessing it is to know that the Spirit does His work in us as we do these small, obvious, day-to-day tasks. He works in us through these ordinary means, even when they seem just so very ordinary…

Next Time

We'll finish up this book next Thursday (October 18) with the sixth and final chapter (“Assurance”). If you've committed to join in this reading project, please keep reading and be prepared to discuss it!

Your Turn

I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don't feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you.

“Which of you, intended to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost?”

Today (a day late, for which I apologize) those of us who are engaged in this project to read some great Christian classics together are going to be looking at the fourth chapter of J.C. Ryle's Holiness. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Even if you are not participating, please keep reading. I'm sure there will be something here to benefit you.

To this point Ryle has covered Sin, Sanctification, Holiness and The Fight. This week he progresses to “The Cost.” In this chapter he examines the cost that will come with the fight for personal holiness. “What does it cost to be a true Christian? What does it cost to be a really holy man? This, after all, is the grand question. For want of thought about this, thousands, after seeming to begin well, turn away from the road to heaven, and are lost for ever in hell.”

Summary

The chapter follows this outline:

1. The Cost of being a Christian
   1. Self-Righteousness
   2. Sins
   3. Love of ease
   4. Favor of the World
2. The Importance of Counting the Cost - The example of those who did not
   1. The first generation of Israelites in the wilderness
   2. Some of the hearers of Jesus
   3. King Herod
   4. Demas
   5. Hearers of famous evangelical preachers
   6. Some under the influence of evangelical revivals
   7. Some children of religious parents
3. Some Hints - Count and Compare
   1. Profit and Loss
   2. Praise and Blame
   3. Friends and Enemies
   4. Life now and Life to come
   5. The pleasure of sin and the happiness in God’s service
   6. The trouble of true Christianity and the trouble of the grave
   7. The number that turn to Christ and the number that turn away from Christ
4. Application
   1. Does your religion cost you anything?
   2. Consider the cost God paid to save your soul.
   3. If you have counted the cost then persevere to the end.

Discussion

This chapter is, in my estimation, the most unexpected of the lot. This is not to say that it is out-of-place, but more that if I had seven things to say about holiness, I’m not sure that I would have thought that “the cost” merited consideration. However, having read it, I definitely agree that it is worth considering and has a place in the book.

The point that particularly caught my attention was the simple fact that personal holiness will cost a man his sins. This is obvious, to be sure, but still profound. We might think that, as Christians, it would be easy to rid ourselves of our sin. But this is too often not the case. “Our sins are often as dear to use as our children: we love them, hug them, cleave to them, and delight in them. To part with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye. But it must be done.” It is amazing how tightly we cling to our sins and how much we treasure them. I think of Gollum of Lord of the Rings fame, cooing to and cuddling his precious ring, desiring that ring more than anything. And yet that ring was destroying him from the inside out. That ring eventually led to his death. And our sin can be just like this—almost a precious possession that we love like life itself. But as we pursue holiness we will need to rid ourselves of even our most treasured sins.

I suspect that, for many men, these are sins of lust. Many men harbor lust in their lives, considering it a harmless distraction, whether it involves pornography or even just stolen glances at attractive women. I will leave it to women to consider the favored sins that they are most commonly attracted to. As you think about this (whether you are a man or a woman), you may wish to consider reading Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins as it deals with a very similar topic.

So here, in an unexpected chapter, I found something to meditate upon and something to apply to my life. And best of all, it was something that collided perfectly with what I was reading by an author who wrote over a century later. I love it when that happens!

Next Time

We'll continue the book next Thursday (October 11) with the fifth chapter (“Growth”). If you've committed to join in this reading project, please keep reading and be prepared to discuss it!

Your Turn

I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don't feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you.

“Fight the good fight of faith.”

Today those of us who are engaged in this project to read some great Christian classics together are going to be looking at the fourth chapter of J.C. Ryle's Holiness. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Even if you are not participating, please keep reading. I'm sure there will be something here to benefit you. We are at the half-way point of this study. If you’d like to participate, please do. Otherwise you may wish to wait until we have completed this study and begin our next one (did someone say, “John Owen?”).

To this point Ryle has covered Sin, Sanctification and Holiness. This week he progresses to “The Fight.” In this chapter he examines the biblical metaphor of the Christian life being a faith of faith. “There is [a] warfare of far greater importance than any way that was ever waged by man. It is a warfare which concerns not two or three nations only, but every Christian man and woman born into the world. The warfare I speak of is the spiritual warfare. It is the fight which everyone who would be saved must fight about his soul.”

Summary

The chapter follows this general outline:

1. True Christianity is a fight
   1. It is a fight against
      1. The Flesh
      2. The World
      3. The Devil
   2. It is a necessary fight
      1. A fight of absolute necessity
      2. A fight of universal necessity
      3. A fight of perpetual necessity
2. True Christianity is the fight of faith
3. True Christianity is a good fight
   1. It has the best of generals
   2. It has the best of helps
   3. It has the best of promises
   4. It has the best of issues and results
   5. It does good to the soul
   6. It does good to the world
   7. It ends in a glorious reward
4. Application
   1. To those who struggle for the fight of the word: Join Christ’s army
   2. To those who are tried soldiers of Christ, remember:
      1. to put on the whole armor of God
      2. to keep from civilian affairs
      3. to beware of insincere soldiers
      4. Balaam, Judas, Demas, and Lot’s wife
      5. the eye of Christ is upon us
      6. the countless soldiers who have fought before us
      7. time is short

Discussion

“The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indolence, and security.” How true these words are! And how they clash with the prevailing opinion of our day. We are accustomed to hearing preachers speak of the abundant life and the life of constant blessing and ease. We are accustomed to thinking that ease is the right of the Christian while difficulty is the result of a dead faith. But Ryle, looking to the Bible, tells us otherwise. The Christian life is a battle, from beginning to end, from conversion to consummation.

Many teachers today tell us that Christians must abandon the warfare imagery common in days past. If Jesus were to give us His Word today, they say, He would not use this imagery. It is contextual and a product of a violent Roman society. But I disagree. What better image is there of the Christian life than the constant battle against the flesh, the world and the devil. We cannot dialog and cannot rely on peacekeepers or negotiators. Rather, we must fight. We must battle continually as we seek to live in a way that is consistent with our position as children of God.

This is more than imagery. The fight is a principle, a worldview, a way of understanding life. If we do not understand that life is a battle, we will easily be lulled into complacency. “He who would understand the nature of true holiness must know that the Christian is ‘a man of war.’ If we would be holy we must fight.”

So this is the main point I take away from this week’s chapter. The battle is raging whether I choose to acknowledge it or not. If I see life in this way—in the way the Bible describes—I will be equipped to properly understand the difficulties that attend day-to-day life as a Christian. I will know that my flesh, the world and the devil are fighting against me and I will know that through the power of the Holy Spirit I can and must fight back.

Next Time

We'll continue the book next Thursday (October 4) with the fifth chapter (“The Cost”). If you’ve committed to join in this reading project, please keep reading and be prepared to discuss it!

Your Turn

I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don't feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you.

As you know, I am, along with a group of readers, attempting to work my way through some great Christian classics. Today we have arrived at the third chapter of J.C. Ryle's Holiness. You can read more about this effort here: Reading the Classics Together. Even if you are not participating, please keep reading. I'm sure there will be something here to benefit you. Four weeks ago we began our eight-week study of this book by looking at the Introduction to the book, and then progressed to the first chapter which dealt with Sin and then the second chapter that dealt with Sanctification. This week we move on to the third chapter, the subject of which is Holiness.

Summary

The chapter begins with a simple but profound question. In previous chapters we’ve learned about sin and sanctification and on that basis and reflecting on Hebrews 12:14 (“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”) Ryle now asks, “Are we holy? Shall we see the Lord?” He begins to move holiness from the realm of theology to the realm of personal application. “In this hurrying, bustling world, let us stand still for a few minutes and consider the matter of holiness.”

As with all of these chapters, Ryle follows a clear outline. There are three sections: The Nature of True Holiness, The Importance of Practical Holiness and Application.

1. The Nature of True Practical Holiness
   1. Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God
   2. Holiness endeavors to shun every known sin and to keep every known commandment
   3. Holiness strives to follow the example of Christ
   4. Holiness cultivates the passive graces of meekness, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, kindness, and self-control
   5. Holiness pursues temperance and self-denial
   6. Holiness practices love and brotherly kindness
   7. Holiness practices mercy and benevolence towards others
   8. Holiness is exemplified in purity of heart
   9. Holiness follows after the fear of God
   10. Holiness follows after humility
   11. Holiness follows after faithfulness in the duties of life
   12. Holiness follows after spiritual mindedness
2. Importance of Practical Holiness
   1. God commands it in Scripture
   2. Holiness is the purpose for which Christ came into the world
   3. Holiness is the only sound evidence of saving faith
   4. Holiness is the only evidence of love for Christ
   5. Holiness is the only sound evidence of being sons of God
   6. Holiness is most likely way to contribute to the good of others
   7. Holiness produces present comfort
   8. Holiness prepares us for heaven
   9. Application
3. A Word of Advice - If you want to be holy…
   1. Begin with Christ
   2. Go to Christ
   3. Abide in Christ

Discussion

This chapter offered a lot of content and gave me a lot to think about. I find the chapters in this book are just long enough that I can begin to have trouble adequately digesting them. If they were much longer I think I’d have to break them into chunks that are more easily digestible. The combination of the density and the length can make for tough going!

After discussing the nature of practical holiness, Ryle, always the pastor, pauses to ensure the reader knows that holiness does not shut out the presence on indwelling sin. Holiness is our goal and our motivation, but it is a goal we can never fully attain in this life. I was encouraged to read “some men’s graces are in the blade, some in the ear, and some are like full corn in the ear.” It is good to see all holiness in a continuum where the most godly men are on the same inclined plane as even the newest Christian—they are just further along the slope. Ryle provided this metaphor in the introduction and I’m glad that he paused here to ensure the reader does not become overly discouraged by his lack of holiness. While I appreciated that encouragement, I also appreciated the challenge that “it is the excellence of a holy man that he is not at peace with indwelling sin, as others are. He hates it, mourns over it, and longs to be free from its company.” A mark of holiness is the desire to attain more holiness and to put sin to death. Though we know that we will never be entirely free from sin in this life, at the same time we strive towards that impossible goal, seeking to join with the Spirit in destroying sin’s power over us. Encouragement and challenge side-by-side are a powerful force for change. I need to remember this.

Shortly after this, Ryle says that holiness is the only sound evidence that we are children of God. I think every parent has moments of shock or incredulity as we see our children begin to mimic our words, our habits, our priorities. The other day my son was talking on the phone while pacing in circles around the house. As he spoke to his grandmother he walked from the kitchen, through the dining room and living room, up the hall and back into the kitchen in endless circles. Aileen laughed, knowing that he has somehow inherited this habit from me. His habit is evidence that he is a member of this family—that he is my son. As Ryle says, “children in this world world are generally like their parents.” The degree may vary from person-to-person, but it is rare that there is no kind of family likeness. This is as true of the family of God. If God is our Father, we must begin to imitate Him and to resemble Him. “We must show by our lives the family we belong to.”

A third thing that stood out to me was a simple one and one I should have thought of long ago, I think. Ryle asks, “Do you think you feel the importance of holiness as much as you should?” He then says “how apt we are to overlook the doctrine of growth in grace, and that we do not sufficiently consider how very far a person may go in a profession of religion, and yet have no grace, and be dead in God’s sight after all.” He mentions Judas and says, “When the Lord warned them that one would betray Him, no one said, ‘Is it Judas?’” And that is exactly the case, isn’t it? Not one of the disciples stood up and said, “It’s going to be Judas! I haven’t seen the evidence of holiness in his life! It must be him!” No, Judas seemed to fit in quite well even though he was never saved. While it may be that he did a very good job of playing the part, it seems more likely that the disciples simply were not thinking in these categories and were not looking for evidence of holiness in their own lives or in the loves of each other.

So this walk I’m putting the book down knowing that without holiness I cannot see the Lord and am seeking to be deliberate about evidences of holiness in my life. I need to pause often to ask, “Am I holy?” And at the same time I need to seek evidence of holiness in the lives of other Christians, encouraging them were I see this, and perhaps lovingly exhorting them where I do not.

Next Time

We'll continue the book next Thursday (September 27) with the fourth chapter (“The Fight”). If you are interested in joining in, please do. There is still time to purchase the book or to read it online. See this discussion (Read the Classics Together - Holiness) for information.

Your Turn

And now it’s your turn. I am interested in hearing what you took away from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Don't feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or gave you pause or confused you.

A friend sent along some study questions he once prepared while leading some men in his church through this book and this question stood out to me. It’s worth thinking about and perhaps someone would like to take a stab at an answer: “If holiness is so great, not equal in every man, and, to some degree, contingent on our own works, why then does it produce such a deep humility rather than encourage pride?”