Jesus said, “If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (Jn. 15:10-11). In this statement Jesus links obedience and joy in a cause and effect manner; that is, joy results from obedience. Only those who are obedient – who are pursuing holiness as a way of life – will know the joy that comes from God.
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 154. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
God intends the Christian life to be a life of joy – not drudgery. The idea that holiness is associated with a dour disposition is a caricature of the worst sort. In fact, just the opposite is true. Only those who walk in holiness experience true joy.
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 154. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
We must have conviction that it is God’s will that we seek holiness – regardless of how arduous and painful the seeking may be. And we must be confident that the pursuit of holiness results in God’s approval and blessing, even when circumstances make it appear otherwise.
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 142. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved.
Why do we make holiness out to be some austere obligation or burden to be borne, when the fact is that to be holy is to be clean, to be free from the weight and the burden of sin? Why would we cling to our sin any more than a leper would refuse to part with his oozing sores, given the opportunity to be cleansed of his leprosy?
Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, Moody Publishers, p. 42. Get this book!
Holiness is the only path to happiness.
Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, Moody Publishers, p. 10.
Holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature; which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to the soul. In other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers.
Happy is that man, that can be acquitted by himself in private, by others in public, and by God in both.
Without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The Lord of heaven is a holy Being. The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven …How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy?
There is a close connection between sin and sorrow, holiness and happiness, sanctification and consolation.
Taken from Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Moody Publishers, copyright 2010, p. 95.
Those that look to be happy must first look to be holy.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 158.
