Category: Holiness

Besetting Sins – A Necessary Perspective For The Fight

The following comments are from The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary, Psalm 18: 23. It is being posted because in his comments about besetting sins, he says some things that I believe to be of great benefit to anyone struggling with their sins, seeking to be obedient. …In the subduing of our besetting sin lies the great struggle of life. Our love to God, our allegiance to Him, is tested, not by ten commandments, but rather by one or two of them. The question of our moral character is fought out on some one question. …We must estimate our character according to our relation to the besetting sin. We sometimes flatteringly estimate our character by reckoning up the sins to which we have no inclination. This is a fatal miscalculation. Is it not a maxim in mechanics, that a thing is no stronger than its weakest part? This is as true in morals as in mechanics.

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Holiness Code For Today, Leviticus 18, Dr. James White

The following post is on Leviticus 18, by Dr. James White. It is being posted inform Christians about what God expects from those in covenant with Him. Also, for those who engage with people who argue that God’s laws against homosexuality are passe,’ Dr. White provides foundational understanding that will enable you to explain to them, per scripture, that they are mistaken.

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Death is Gain, Philippians 1:21-23, by Dr. Patrick Ramsey

Death is gain for the believer because it frees him from his warfare with the world, the flesh and the devil; all suffering and sin are extinguished. While explaining how the believer gains by dying, Pastor Ramsey also discusses other aspects of death – suffering, pain, dread, fear…but the believer may have real hope in the promises of the Bible, because of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. [26 minute mp3 sermon preceded by sermon points]

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The Pilgrim’s Progress By John Bunyan

This post contains a portion of the audiobook of The Pilgrim’s Progress. If you have never read it, then you will be amazed at how well Bunyan identified the threats that a Christian experiences on his pilgrimage through this earthly wilderness. If you have read through the Bible and are engaged in fighting against your sin, then you should get a lot from this audiobook; if you don’t read your Bible, and have no idea of the fight against sin that the apostle Paul often described (see Ephesians 6 for one example), then you might benefit by discovering that something is wrong with your profession. By the end of this excerpt, you should better understand the dangers that Christian’s experience on their journey of faith

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Holiness, By J C Ryle, The Cost, Part 6 Of 6

According to the standard of the Bible, it does cost something to be a real Christian. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, and a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict in which it costs much to win the victory. Therefore arises the unspeakable importance of counting the cost…. It will cost him his self-righteousness. He must cast away all pride and prideful thoughts and any conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner saved only by free grace, owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. He must really feel the words of the prayer book that he has “erred and gone astray like a lost sheep,” that he has “left undone the things he ought to have done, and done the things he ought not to have done, and that there is no health in him.” He must be willing to give up all trust in his own morality, respectability, praying, Bible reading, church-going, and sacraments, and he must trust in nothing but Jesus Christ.

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This Is Why Many Raised In Christian Homes Later Turn From Christ

For failure to count the cost, the children of religious parents often do not turn out well, and they bring disgrace on Christianity. Familiar from their earliest years with the form and theory of the gospel, taught even from infancy to repeat the most common Bible verses, being used to being instructed in the gospel every week, or even to instruct others in Sunday school, they often grow up professing Christianity without knowing why or without ever having thought seriously about it. Then when the realities of grown-up life begin to press upon them, they often astound everyone by dropping all their Christian ways and plunging right into the world. Why? Because they had never thoroughly understood the sacrifices that Christianity involves….

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Holiness by J C Ryle, Practical Holiness and Indwelling Sin, Part 4B

I do not say for a moment that holiness shuts out the presence of indwelling sin. No – far from it. It is the greatest misery of a holy man that he carries about with him a body of death (Romans 7:24); that often when he wants to do good, evil is present with him (Romans 7:21); that the old nature is blocking all his movements and, as it were, trying to prevent every step he takes. It is the excellence of a holy man, though, 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. The work of sanctification within him is like the wall of Jerusalem – the building goes forward even in troublous times (Daniel 9:25).

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Holiness by J C Ryle, Practical Holiness, Part 4A

…I will try, by God’s help, to examine what true holiness is and the reason why it is so needful. Then I will try to point out the only way in which holiness can be attained. I have already approached this subject from a doctrinal side. Let me now try to present it in a more plain and practical point of view. …What, then, is true practical holiness?  …Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing with God’s judgment – hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word. He who most entirely agrees with God is the one who is the most holy.

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