The only safe evidence that we are in Christ is a holy life. John said everyone who has within him the hope of eternal life purifies himself just as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3). Paul said, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves that we are Christians but we do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 38. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
It may be you have been more earnest and vehement for assurance, and the effects of it, viz., joy, comfort, and peace, than you have been for grace and holiness, for communion with God, and conformity to God. It may be your requests for assurance have been full of life and spirits, when your requests for grace and holiness, for communion with God, and conformity to God, have been lifeless and spiritless. If so, no wonder that assurance is denied you. Assurance makes most for your comfort, but holiness makes most for God’s honour. Man’s holiness is now his greatest happiness, and in heaven man’s greatest happiness will be his perfect holiness.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 25.
God decreed from eternity past that you would be like Christ (Rom. 8:29-30); He put His Holy Spirit in you to make sure that it would happen (Phil. 2:12-13); Christ prayed for you to be sanctified, and His prayers are always answered (Jn. 17:17); He even promises you that He will lovingly discipline you in order to return you to holiness whenever you stray (Heb. 12:5-10). How could we ever doubt that God means what He says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14)?
The Guarantee of Holiness, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Say not that thou hast royal blood in thy veins and art born of God, unless thou canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy.
Say not that you have royal blood in thy veins, and are born of God, except you can prove your pedigree by daring to be holy.
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 93.
If you do not desire to be holy I do not see that you have any right to think that you are a Christian.
A person who is not being purified from sin has no claim on being saved from it.
Titus, Moody, 1996, p. 108.
There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish, none so pernicious, as this – that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy in their life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them. Holiness indeed is perfected in heaven: but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 141.
One of the surest tests to apply to the professed conversion is the heart’s attitude towards sin. Where the principle of holiness has been planted, there will necessarily be a loathing of all that is unholy. If our hatred of evil be genuine, we are thankful when the Word reproves even the evil which we suspected not.
I doubt, indeed, whether we have any warrant for saying that a man can possibly be converted without being consecrated to God. More consecrated he doubtless can be, and will be as his grace increases; but if he was not consecrated to God in the very day that he was converted and born again, I do not know what conversion means.
If you dislike a holy God now, why would you want to be with Him forever? If worship does not capture your attention at present, what makes you think it will thrill you in some heavenly future? If ungodliness is your delight here on earth, what will please you in heaven, where all is clean and pure? You would not be happy there if you are not holy here.
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, Charles Nolan, 2011, p. 53.
Where there is no sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ. True faith works by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much for Him that died for him. Being much forgiven, he loves much. He whom the blood cleanses, walks in the light. He who has real lively hope in Christ, purifies himself even as He is pure… The faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils.
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 49.
A regeneration which a man can have, and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians, but never mentioned in Scripture… In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth.
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 49-50.
A holy man will…endeavor to set his affections entirely on things above, and to hold things on earth with a very loose hand. He will not neglect the business of the life that now is; but the first place in his mind and thoughts will be given to the life to come. He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven, and to pass through this world like a stranger and pilgrim traveling to his home.
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 86.
Why is holiness important? 1. The voice of God in Scripture plainly commands it. 2. This is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world. 3. This is the only sound evidence that we have a saving faith in our Lord. 4. This is the only proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. 5. This is the only sound evidence that we are true children of God. 6. This is the most likely way to do good to others. 7. Our present comfort depends much upon it. 8. Without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy.
Adapted from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 90-96.
Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes not your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy, if you had not been holy on earth?
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 96.
So if we are already declared perfectly holy in God’s eyes and our future is a place of perfect holiness and God’s goal for us is increasing holiness, it’s safe that the clearest sign that we are really saved will be the desire and ability to be more holy.
Sermon, Letting God be God, Ephesians 1:3-6, September 11, 2016.
Christ will be master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. If your life is unholy, then your heart is unchanged, and you are an unsaved person.The Savior will sanctify His people, renew them, give them a hatred of sin, and a love of holiness. The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not IN their sins, but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.
A faith which works not for purification will work for putrefaction. Unless our faith makes us pine after holiness, it is no better than the faith of devils, and perhaps it is not even so good as that. A holy man is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit.
If your religion does not make you holy, it will damn you. It is simply painted pageantry to go to hell in.
