by J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900)
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? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes are not
your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly be
happy, if you had not been holy on earth?
Now
perhaps you love the company of the
light and careless, the worldly-minded and the covetous, the reveler and the
pleasure-seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There will be none such in heaven.
Now
perhaps you think the saints of God
too strict and particular and serious. You rather avoid them. You have no
delight in their society. There will be no other company in heaven.
Now
perhaps you think praying and
Scripture reading, and hymn singing, dull and melancholy and stupid work, a
thing to be tolerated now and then, but not enjoyed. You reckon the Sabbath a
burden and a weariness; you could not possibly spend more than a small part of
it in worshipping God. But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The
inhabitants thereof rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty," and singing the praise of the Lamb. How could an unholy man find
pleasure in occupation such as this?
Think you that such an one would delight to
meet David and Paul and John, after a life spent in doing the very things they
spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel with them and find that he and they
had much in common? Think you, above all, that he would rejoice to meet Jesus,
the crucified One, face to face, after cleaving to the sins for which He died,
after loving His enemies and despising His friends? Would he stand before Him
with confidence and join in the cry, "This is our God... we have waited for Him,
we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah 25:9)? Think you
not rather that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave to the roof of his
mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be cast out? He would feel a
stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amid Christ's holy flock. The
voice of cherubim and seraphim, the song of angels and archangels, and all the
company of heaven, would be a language he could not understand. The very air
would seem an air he could not breathe.
I know not what others may think, but to me it
does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It
cannot be otherwise. People may say, in a vague way, they "hope to go to
heaven", but they do not consider what they say... We must be heavenly-minded,
and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we shall never find
ourselves in heaven, in the life to come.
And now, before I go any further, let me say a
few words, by way of application. For one thing, let me ask everyone who may
read these pages, are you holy? Listen, I pray you, to the question I put to you
this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have been speaking?
I do not ask whether you attend your church
regularly, whether you have been baptized, and received the Lord's Supper,
whether you have the name of Christian. I ask something more than all this: are
you holy, or are you not?
I do not ask whether you approve of holiness in
others, whether you like to read the lives of holy people and to talk of holy
things, and to have on your table holy books, whether you mean to be holy, and
hope you will be holy some day. I ask something further: are you yourself holy
this very day, or are you not?
And why do I ask so straightly, and press the
question so strongly? I do it because the Scripture says, "Without holiness no
man shall see the Lord." It is written, it is not my fancy; it is the Bible, not
my private opinion; it is the word of God, not of man: "Without holiness no man
shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
Alas, what searching, sifting words are these!
What thoughts come across my mind, as I write them down! I look at the world and
see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians
and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn to
the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, "Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord."
Surely it is a text that ought to make us
consider our ways and search our heart. Surely it should raise within us solemn
thoughts and send us to prayer. You may try to put me off by saying you feel
much, and think much about these things, far more than many suppose: I answer,
"This is not the point. The poor lost souls in hell do as much as this. The
great question is not what you think, and what you feel, but what
you do."
You may say, it was never meant that all
Christians should be holy and that holiness, such as I have described, is only
for great saints, and people of uncommon gifts. I answer, "I cannot see that in
Scripture. I read that every man who hath this hope in Christ purifies
himself' (I John 3:3). "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
You may say, it is impossible to be so holy and
to do our duty in this life at the same time: the thing cannot be done. I
answer, "You are mistaken." It can be done. With Christ on your side nothing is
impossible. It has been done by many. David and Obadiah and Daniel and the
servants of Nero's household are all examples that go to prove it.
You may say, if you were so holy you would be
unlike other people. I answer, "I know it well. It is just what you ought to be.
Christ's true servants were always unlike the world around them-a separate
nation, a peculiar people, and you must be so too, if you would be saved!"
You may say, at this rate very few will be
saved. I answer, "I know it. It is precisely what we are told in the sermon on
the mount." The Lord Jesus said so eighteen hundred years ago. "Strait is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find
it" (Matt. 7:14). Few will be saved because few will take the trouble to seek
salvation. Men will not deny themselves the pleasures of sin and their own way
for a little season...
You may say, these are hard sayings; the way is
very narrow. I answer, "I know it. So says the sermon on the mount." The Lord
Jesus said so eighteen hundred years ago. He always said that men must take up
the cross daily, and that they must be ready to cut off hand or foot, if they
would be His disciples. It is in religion as it is in other things, there are no
gains without pains. That which costs nothing is worth nothing.
True Gospel Vs
False Gospel ArticlesAn
Unholy Man