If you are a Christian who is fighting sin, trying to learn self-denial…as part of fighting the ‘good fight,’ then you will see that the following text lays out the underlying reasons for the problem stated above.
These words have been copied and pasted from a chapter of J C Ryle’s book, Holiness, the chapter, The Cost.
The following words come from the midst of the chapter, I am going to do another post on this chapter that uses text from the initial part, as many Christians could likely benefit from hearing the ideas that established the basis for today’s post, although these seem to stand alone.
When I heard these words, I thought them to be the best explanation I have heard regarding why so many college students, raised in Christian homes, fall away during their college years; and some, after high school….
Ryle wrote this text in the 1870s, since that time, Christianity has suffered many more assaults by those who would make merchandise out of the gospel.
Begin Ryle’s text [bracketed statements and emboldening are mine]:
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. They had never been taught to count the cost. These are serious and painful truths, but they are truths. They all help to show the immense importance of the subject I am now considering, and they help us realize the absolute necessity of pressing this subject on all who profess a desire for holiness. They urge us to cry aloud in all the churches: “Count the cost.”
I will boldly say that it would be good if the duty of counting the cost were more frequently taught than it is. Impatient hurry is the order of the day with many professing Christians. Instantaneous conversions and immediate peace are the only results they seem to care for from the gospel. Compared with these, all other things are tossed aside. To produce them is the main goal and purpose, apparently, of all their labors. I say without hesitation that such a weak, one-sided mode of teaching Christianity is troublesome in the extreme.
Let no one mistake my meaning. I thoroughly approve of offering a full, free, present, immediate salvation in Christ Jesus. I thoroughly approve of urging the possibility and the duty of immediate instantaneous conversion. In these matters I give place to no one, but I do say that these truths should not be set before people thoughtlessly or without explanation. They ought to be told honestly what it is they are taking up if they profess a desire to come out from the world and serve Christ. They should not be moved into the ranks of Christ’s army without being told what the warfare entails. They should be told honestly to count the cost.
Does anyone ask what our Lord Jesus Christ’s practice was in this matter? Let him read what Luke records. He tells us that on a certain occasion that great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said unto them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:25-27). I must plainly say that I cannot reconcile this passage with the lives of many modern Christian pastors and teachers. Yet to my mind, this doctrine is as clear as the sun at noonday. It shows us that we should not hurry people into professing discipleship without warning them plainly to count the cost.
Does anyone ask what the practice of the eminent and best preachers of the gospel has been in days gone by? I am confident to say that they have all borne testimony to the wisdom of our Lord’s dealing with the multitudes to which I have just referred. Luther, Latimer, Baxter, Wesley, Whitefield, Berridge, and Rowland Hill were all extremely aware of the deceitfulness of man’s heart. They knew very well that all is not gold that glitters, that conviction is not conversion, that feeling is not faith, that sentiment is not grace, and that all blossoms do not come to fruit. “Do not be deceived,” was their constant cry. “Consider well what you do. Do not run before you are called. Count the cost.”
If we desire to do good, let us never be ashamed of walking in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Work hard if you will, and if you have the opportunity, for the souls of others. Urge them to consider their ways. Compel them with holy intensity to come in, to lay down their arms, and to yield themselves to God. Offer them salvation – ready, free, full, immediate salvation. Urge Christ and all His benefits on their acceptance. In all your work, though, tell the truth, and tell the whole truth. Be ashamed to use the common art of a recruiting sergeant. Do not speak only of the uniform, the pay, and the glory, but also speak of the enemies, the battle, the armor, the vigilance, the marching, and the drills. Do not present only one side of Christianity. When you speak of the cross on which Christ died for our redemption, do not keep back the cross of self-denial that must be carried. Explain fully what Christianity Christianity involves. Exhort people to repent and come to Christ, but urge them at the same time to count the cost.
I will now give some suggestions that will help people to properly count the cost.
I would be negligent indeed if I did not say something on this branch of my subject. I have no desire to discourage anyone or to keep any one back from Christ’s service. It is my heart’s desire to encourage everyone to go forward and take up the cross. Let us count the cost by all means, and count it carefully. But let us remember that if we consider it properly and look at it from all sides, there is nothing that should make us afraid.
Let us mention some things that should always enter into our calculations in counting the cost of true Christianity. Set down honestly and fairly what you will have to give up and go through if you become Christ’s disciple. Leave nothing out. Put it all down. Then write down side by side the following points that I am going to give you. Do this fairly and honestly, and I will not be afraid of the result.
Count up and compare the profit and the loss if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. You may possibly lose something in this world, but you will gain the salvation of your immortal soul. It is written, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).
[A John Piper sermon on this topic is linked below.]
Count up and compare the praise and the blame if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. You may possibly be blamed by others, but you will have the praise of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Your blame will come from the lips of a few erring, blind, fallible men and women. Your praise will come from the King of Kings and Judge of all the earth. Only those whom He blesses are really blessed. It is written, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in the heavens (Matthew 5:11-12). [Some points were cut to keep post an acceptable length.]
Count up and compare the life that now is and the life that is to come if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. The present time, no doubt, is not a time of ease. It is a time of watching and praying, fighting and struggling, believing and working – but it is only for a few years. The future time is the season of rest and refreshing. Sin will be cast out. Satan will be bound. Best of all, it will be a rest forever. It is written, For our tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepares an exceeding and eternal weight of glory unto us; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
Count up and compare the pleasures of sin and the happiness of God’s service if you are a true-hearted and holy Christian. The pleasures that the worldly man gets by his ways are hollow, unreal, and unsatisfying. They are like the fire of thorns, flashing and crackling for a few minutes and then quenched forever. The happiness that Christ gives to His people is something solid, lasting, and substantial. It does not depend upon health or circumstances. It never leaves anyone, even in death. It ends in an incorruptible crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). It is written, The joy of the hypocrite [is] but for a moment (Job 20:5), and The laughter of the fool is as the crackling of thorns under a pot (Ecclesiastes 7:6). However, it is also written, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).
Count up and compare the trouble that true Christianity involves and the troubles that are in store for the wicked beyond the grave. Admit for a moment that Bible reading, praying, repenting, believing, and holy living require effort and self-denial. It is all nothing compared to that wrath to come that is stored up for the impenitent and unbelieving (1 Thessalonians 1:10). A single day in hell will be worse than a whole life spent carrying the cross. Where their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched are things that we cannot fully conceive or describe (Mark 9:48). It is written, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted here, and thou art tormented (Luke 16:25)….
Ryle, J. C.. Holiness [Annotated, Updated]: For the Will of God Is Your Sanctification – Hebrews 6:1 . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
***The following post is on the SINNERS PRAYER WITH THE 30 MIN. VIDEO; this post explains many of the perversions of the gospel message that have occurred during the past 200 years, up to the ‘signing a card’ to become born again heresy.
***The following 5 stage process was developed by Jonathan Edwards as he examined true and counterfeit conversions after the Great Awakening of the 1740s. A great preacher of the 20th century, Martin Lloyd-Jones believed Edwards to be the man most like the apostle Paul since the beginning of the church. That is, Edwards discovery is significant and should be studied and used to assess your own conversion and that of your children’s.
Edwards established a 5 stage process which he termed, the struggle of faith: 1) horror of being eternally lost; 2), the sinner’s attempt to stop sinning via his will power [it cannot be done independently of God’s Spirit]; 3), realization that only God can save him from sin; 4), conviction, the sinner beginning to see that God’s judgment is just; 5), awakening to God with genuine religious affections.
The following prominent Christians spent many years between stages 1 and 5 of Edwards standard of assessment for genuine conversion:
John Calvin, 12 years; Wesley, 23 years; Whitefield, 10 years; Fox, 12 years; Edwards, 5 years; Brainerd, 9 years; Newton, 6 years; Spurgeon, 4 years….
I am left thinking, “Where am I on this scale?” The criteria of stages 2, and 3 are very familiar to me; 4 is becoming meaningful; not so with 5.
I have written a lot of posts in this blog about sin because until a person begins to see that he is stuck in sin and helpless without the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has not begun the Christian race. And since preachers who teach their sheep about their poverty of spirit are few and far between, fighting against sin is seemingly a foreign topic to many Christians.
***Lastly, a sermon by John Piper about God’s sovereignty and about counting the cost based on the following text; that post contains a 12 minute excerpt of the sermon an in its full length:
Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
https://sheeplywolves.com/what-christ-calls-his-followers-to-do-john-piper/