Bad Language

By David Feddes

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone
guiltless who misuses his name. (Exodus 20:7)

It's one of the world's most serious problems, but a lot of people don't take it
seriously at all. It is absolutely deadly, and yet many think it's no big deal. The problem
I'm talking about is bad language, especially the misuse of God's name.
You might be thinking, "Come on! We've got AIDS and crime and homelessness
and drugs and child abuse and wars, and you're worried about some off-color words
here and there? If you want to talk about something important, fine. But cleaning up our
language? That's the least of our problems! They’re only words." Let me mention
another matter that seems pretty small compared to the really "big" problems: graffiti--
spray painting things on buildings or subways. If you had to identify the most serious
problem in our cities, graffiti wouldn't be at the top of the list. Gangs, drugs,
unemployment, teen pregnancy, gun control—these are the big problems. By
comparison, a little spray paint seems not to matter at all.
Except that it does matter. Sociologists and community leaders and law
enforcement officials are convinced of it. They find that areas which tolerate graffiti and
the defacing of property are areas where the general sense of pride in the community
goes down and the crime rate goes up. Cities have actually found that when they keep
the walls of a subway freshly painted and free of graffiti, the crime rate on the subway
goes down. Communities with run down buildings, trash on the streets, and graffiti on
the walls are communities that instill contempt for property and people and self. And
that sort of attitude gives rise to all sorts of other evils.
It would be silly to say that graffiti is the root of all evil and that getting rid of it
would solve everything. But graffiti reflects attitudes of contempt and despair which are
at the root of other evils, and it reinforces those attitudes.
Now, what does this have to do with misusing God's name? We're tempted to
say, "Oh, it's only words." But words aren't just sounds made by vibrations of our vocal
cords. Only words? There's a sense in which words are everything. Words are the way
we express our thoughts and attitudes. Words are the main way we relate to others.
When we choose our words carefully, it shows respect for self and for others. But when
we're careless about the words we use, it shows that we're careless about what kind of
people we are and how we relate to others.
Our use of language is especially significant in relation to God. A mouth that uses
the name of God lightly reveals a heart that takes God lightly. A mouth that speaks
God's name only with reverence, that speaks of holy things with great care and utmost
respect, expresses a heart that honors God. Who we are and what we think of God
comes through in how we speak.
Just as graffiti shows contempt not only for property but also for ourselves and
others, so misusing God's name shows not only contempt for words but contempt for
ourselves and for God. Just as graffiti is an outer symptom of an inner attitude that
causes all sorts of other problems, so misusing God's name is an outer symptom of an
inner attitude that lies at the root of nearly every problem in the world today.

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 When we don't take God seriously, can we take anybody or anything else
seriously? When God's name isn't sacred, what is sacred? When we don't care about
offending God, we aren't much concerned about the feelings of others. When we spray
graffiti on God's name and attack his honor, we add to a general atmosphere of
contempt for God that breeds every sort of ungodly and antisocial behavior imaginable.
If you think I'm exaggerating the significance of all this, your problem isn't with
me. It's with Jesus. He's the one who puts so much emphasis on words, not I. He's the
one who declares that what we say reveals who we are and where we stand with God.
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 12:34-37.
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out
of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good
things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things
out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give
account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be
condemned.
According to Jesus, words are the evidence of what's in the heart. Words are the
evidence that will acquit or condemn us. Words are evidence of salvation or damnation.
When God gave the Ten Commandments, he ordered, "You shall not misuse the
name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his
name" (Exodus 20:7). All sorts of problems come from carelessness with words and
contempt for God, but this is the problem: God himself is insulted, and he "will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
I've met people with terrible language, people who misuse God's name in almost
every other sentence. Sometimes, when they find out I'm not only a Christian but a
preacher, they are embarrassed and apologetic. They say, "Oh, I didn't realize. I'm sorry
if I've offended you." Well, offending me is the least of their problems. They should
worry less about what I might think, and more about what God thinks.
The Lord is holy, and his name is holy. And so we must always speak of him with
reverence, never with carelessness or contempt. God commands, "You shall not misuse
the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses
his name." To understand what God prohibits in this commandment, let's point out some
common misuses of God's name.

Misuses of God’s Name

The first, and perhaps the worst, is blasphemy. Blasphemy is deliberately
dragging the Lord's name through the mud, mocking and insulting and making fun of
God, speaking of him with hatred and contempt. Some people angrily attack the God
portrayed in the Bible, saying they can't believe in a God like that. Some foul-mouthed
authors portray Jesus as a contemptible fraud. Movies and comedians sometimes get
their laughs by poking fun of Bible stories of truths about the Lord. These are all
varieties of blasphemy, deliberate and direct attacks on the name and reputation and
honor of God.
Another way of misusing God's name is carelessness. Some people use God's
name as an exclamation, a way of spicing up their language. They say "O my God," not
as the beginning of a prayer but as a way of showing surprise. They say, "Good Lord,"

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not in praise of God's goodness but to express mild astonishment. They use the words
"God Almighty" and "Jesus Christ," not to invoke the Master of heaven and earth, but to
add some force and emotion to what they're saying. Some use the word "God" every
sentence or two for punctuation, almost like a spoken comma or period. This shows a
sorry lack of vocabulary and creativity, but it also shows a lack of respect for God. Using
God's name casually and carelessly is a violation of God's commandment.
Another violation is cursing. What is cursing? It's talking as though we had
control of God's wrath and punishments. If you speak of damnation or tell someone to
go to hell, you are calling down a curse that only God himself can carry out. Only God
can damn a person to the everlasting sorrow of hell. You have no business calling down
such an awful curse on anyone. But maybe you say, "It's only words. I don't mean
anything by it." You don't mean anything by it? You think you can speak of hell or
damning the way you might say "wow" or "shucks"? To speak these terrible curses, to
use words that are properly used only as solemn warnings of God's judgment, shows
that you don't take the Judge of the universe seriously. Cursing is a misuse of God's
name and a violation of God's commandment.
Still another way of misusing God's name is through euphemisms, using
expressions that aren't quite as jarring as the word that is really meant. You may be too
polite to "damn" something, so you "darn" it instead. You're squeamish about misusing
the name "Jesus," so you say "Gee" or "Jeez" instead. You don't want to say "God"
merely as an exclamation, so you say "golly" or "gosh" instead. But using euphemisms
can be just a more polite and "respectable" way of misusing God's.
You might be tempted to say, "Give me a break! Lighten up! It's not that serious,
is it? It's only words." My point exactly: only words. When you talk as if God and Jesus
are only words, you show that God and Jesus aren't a living, personal reality to you.
When you talk as though damn and hell are only words, you make light of the dreadful
judgment that awaits the enemies of God who will, in fact, be damned to hell.
Only words? "The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
Only words? "Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless
word they have spoken," says Jesus. "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by
your words you will be condemned." Misusing God's name isn't just a breakdown in
etiquette or a flaw in vocabulary. It is an insult to God. It is a symptom that we are out of
touch with who God really is in his holiness and majesty.
I'm sorry I've had to be so blunt and specific about all this. In describing the
misuses of God's name, I run the risk of misusing it myself. But I want you see clearly
the ways in which some common speech patterns, things to which you might not give a
second thought, are violations of God's commandment.

Religious Misuses of God’s Name

So far we've looked at some of the more irreligious ways that God's name is
misused, but, sad to say, it's also possible to misuse God's name in ways that seem
quite religious.
One example is invoking God's name to promote our own agenda. Certain kinds
of preachers and church people are fond of saying, "The Lord revealed this to me" or
"The Lord told me to do that." A while back, I saw a TV preacher saying, "The Lord
revealed to me that he will do great things if only 300 people watching this program will

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each call in and give $300 in the next hour." That may be a good gimmick to raise
$90,000 in less than an hour, but was it a direct revelation from the Lord? Saying "The
Lord told me such-and-such" is an effective way of manipulating others and claiming
divine authority for one's own ideas, but it's also a shameful misuse of God's name.
God's name can be misused even in the God-talk that we use in church. In
Ecclesiastes 5:1-3, the Bible says,
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen
rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know what they do
wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to
utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let
your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the
speech of a fool when there are many words.
Churchgoer, choose your words carefully. Make sure you listen to God before you start
talking about him. Don't say any prayers or sing any songs that you don't really mean.
When you start rattling off holy words out of thoughtless habit, you are misusing God's
name. When you spout long-winded, wordy prayers, you're not impressing God. You're
insulting him. Jesus says, "When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for
they think they will be heard because of their many words" (Matthew 6:7). When you
pray, tell God what is on your heart and then be quiet. The Lord would rather hear one
honest, heartfelt sentence than an hour of empty words.
Ecclesiastes 5 warns us to use God-talk sparingly and not to say anything we
don't mean. Then it goes on to warn us not to make any promises we can't keep.
When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no
pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow
and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest
... "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say
and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are
meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God (5:4-7).
God's name can be misused in the vows and oaths and promises we make in religious
ceremonies. When promises are made at baptism, God takes your promises seriously
even if you said them only so you could carry on a family custom. When marriage vows
are made in the presence of God, God takes you seriously. If you go back on those
promises, you not only betray your spouse, but you also abuse God's name. You may
want to say, "My vow was a mistake. And besides, it's only words." But let me say
again: Words are everything. Words are the stuff of which relationships are made.
When we break our word and dishonor God's name, we destroy our relationship to
others and to God. Every word is spoken in God's presence. So say what you mean,
and mean what you say.
Taking all of this a step further, there's a sense in which, if you're a Christian, you
really shouldn't need any special vows or oaths at all. If you bear the name Christian,
everything you say reflects on the name of Christ. Just make sure your words are true
and your promises are reliable, and you will do more to honor God's name than any
amount of swearing that you're telling the truth. As Jesus puts it, "Simply let your 'Yes'
be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one (Matthew
5:37). There's no use trying to prove your truthfulness by invoking God's name or

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swearing on a stack of Bibles or swearing by anything else. Just be truthful. It is
misusing God's name to swear by him in order to shore up your own lack of credibility.
We live in an age that has so little knowledge of the Ten Commandments, so
little regard for words, and so little respect for God, that we barely realize when we're
misusing God's name, let alone how serious it is. We need to feel once again the full
force of that mighty commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your
God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."

Calling on God’s Name

But God doesn't want us to stop there. He doesn't want us to be satisfied just
with cleaning up our language a bit. That's essential, of course. God wants us to avoid
blasphemy, careless talk, cursing, euphemisms, empty God-talk, babbling prayers,
thoughtless vows, and all the rest. But what God really wants is for us to become the
kind of people who use his name properly, who call on him for our salvation and praise
him joyfully.
However, this isn't something we can do simply by being told to do it. If we're
misusing God's name, it shows we've got a problem on the inside. Our words
correspond to what is in our hearts. As Jesus puts it, "out of the overflow of the heart the
mouth speaks." And of itself, God's commandment can't change what is in our hearts.
By condemning the misuse of God's name, the commandment points out the symptoms
very well, but it doesn't cure the deeper illness: a lack of respect for God and a bad
relationship to him. God's law can show us our problem, but it can't solve the problem or
change us on the inside.
Something has to happen in our heart. We need God to forgive us and transform
us through faith in Jesus Christ and by the inner working of his Holy Spirit. God's law
can point out our sin, but only Christ can take away our sin. The law can show us what's
wrong with our old heart, but only the Spirit can give us a new heart.
If you've been using bad language and you've begun to realize how wrong it is,
don't just make an effort to choose your words a little more carefully from now on. Seek
God's help to change the entire way you relate to him. Misusing the Lord's name leads
to damnation, but calling on his name in faith leads to salvation. Trust in your heart that
Jesus is alive and that he brings you new life. Call on him and ask him to forgive you
and make you a new person. Then openly declare him to be your Lord and Master. The
Bible says,
If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your
heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you
confess and are saved... the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all
who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved" (Romans 10:9-13).
The name of the Lord isn't just a matter of words. It is the name that saves us,
and it is the name that keeps us safe. The Bible says, "The name of the Lord is a strong
tower; the righteous run to it and are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). God revealed himself to
Israel as Yahweh (or "Jehovah"), the great I AM, the Lord who is present. He revealed
himself clearly and personally as Jesus, that wonderful name which means "Savior."
"There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"

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(Acts 4:12). God revealed the eternal mystery of his divine being and his love as Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. His people are baptized into that glorious triune name, and we
receive God's blessing and benediction in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
These ways of referring to God are not just words. They are revealed names of
the mighty and gracious Lord of the universe, the names by which his heart of love calls
out to our hearts, beckoning us into an intimate relationship with him and into all the
riches of his eternal life. So instead of misusing the name of the only one who can save
you, call upon his name in repentance and trust, and this great God will be your
salvation.
Then you will discover the real point and purpose of your existence: to glorify
God and enjoy him forever. As a Christian, seek your deepest joy in exalting God's
name. Let God's commandment spur you on to honor the name of the one who created
you and saved you. Pray "Hallowed by your name." Sing his praises. Tell others about
him. Do everything to the glory of God's name. Look forward eagerly to the day when
"at the name of Jesus every knee will bow" (Philippians 2:10).
In Psalm 34, the poet expresses his desire to exalt God's name, and he calls you
and me to join him. Let's close with these splendid words:
I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will
boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us
exalt his name together (Psalm 34:1-3).

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

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A Day for Delight
By David Feddes

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the
Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. (Exodus 20:9-10)

Have you ever wondered why a week is exactly seven days long? Why isn't it
shorter or longer? Why not a four-day week? Why not a twenty-day week? Why seven?
And given that we do have a seven-day week, why does that set the rhythm of work and
rest? Why have time away from work weekly, instead of only monthly or yearly or not at
all? These questions are answered in Genesis, as are so many other questions about
the origins of things. In Genesis, the Bible says that God spent six days creating the
universe and every kind of creature. Then Scripture says,
By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had
done (2:2-3).
The seven-day week goes all the way back to the first week of history, and the day of
rest is the Creator's own idea. What does it mean to say God rested? Did he take a
nap? No, God doesn't "slumber or sleep" (Psalm 121:4). He never needs a break to
regain his energy. God has infinite energy and power. "The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary" (Isaiah 40:28).
Whatever the Creator's reason for resting, it's not that he was exhausted and needed to
recover.
Also, God's rest did not mean God stopped doing anything at all and left the
world on its own. Without God upholding it each moment, the world would immediately
collapse. God never stops watching over his creatures and maintaining the world, but
God did rest "from all the work of creating." God’s creative work involved making brand
new kinds of things that never before existed. By the end of day six, God had completed
that creative work. The universe was richly furnished, fully functional. Creatures could
flourish and multiply within the order God had set up, without any new miracles. At that
point, while God kept sustaining all things, he rested from his work of creating.
Why did God do it this way? As Almighty God, he could have created everything
in six seconds, but he took six days. He could have finished creating without setting
aside a special day, but he rested on the seventh day, blessed it, and made it holy.
Why? God did this, not just for his own benefit, but for the benefit of people whom he
made in his image and wanted to pattern after himself. In the Ten Commandments, God
told the people of Israel to follow the pattern he himself had set:
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you
shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your
manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For
in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11).

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Attacking God's Day
Sad to say, many people attack God's day of blessing. This happens at two
levels: intellectual and practical. At an intellectual level, many reject the statement that
God created everything in six days because they think science has proven otherwise. At
a practical level, people do their own thing and don't set aside one day in seven for rest
and worship.
The intellectual attack assumes that people are smarter than God. Continually
changing theories are taken more seriously than the Bible. Some people think science
has proven beyond doubt that creatures gradually evolved over millions of years, so
they think the Bible is just plain wrong when it says God made the universe and all the
basic kinds of creatures in a period of six days. Others, who still believe in the Creator,
don't say flatly that the Bible is wrong; they just insist that the Bible can't really mean six
days when it says six days and that each creation "day" lasted millions or billions of
years.
Such thinking has various problems. One problem is assuming that the origin of
things can be explained by projecting current processes into the distant past. But God's
current patterns of sustaining and maintaining his world are very different from God's
creative activity in producing brand new kinds of things in the six days of creation. Also,
the curse of sin has changed the world from what it once was (not to mention the fact
that sin has also distorted our powers of observation and reasoning). So it’s wrong to
think that any supposedly scientific theory of origins in which fallible humans project the
present into the past is more accurate than God's infallible account of creation.
Another problem for those who deny creation in six days is that our workweek is
patterned on the Creator's workweek. If six days were actually billions of years, we'd
have to work for billions of years before it was time to rest. We'd never make it! So let's
just accept what God says in the Bible.
And let's not just accept what God says; let's act on it. Once we've dealt with the
intellectual, we also need to deal with the practical. The practical attack on God's day for
delight assumes that our time is our own, to use as we choose. Instead of a day set
apart for rest, renewal and fellowship with God, we cram the Lord's Day with shopping
and selling, factory work, office work, farm work, schoolwork, housework, and yard
work. If we do take a break from work, we may be so busy scurrying to ball games or
golf courses that we have no time for church, no time for worshiping God, no time for
prayer and Scripture, no time for fellowship with God's people. Nobody, not even God,
is going to tell us what to do with our time.
The Sabbath commandment is violated perhaps more than any of the Ten
Commandments. But if you violate God's day for delight, you violate yourself. You can't
reject God's pattern without offending God and damaging yourself. When you cram life
with your own pursuits 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you suffer, and your
relationship to God suffers. You work and worry, plan and perspire your way through
each day, without any special pause to rejoice in God and refresh your soul and body.
Life becomes a burden instead of a blessing.

Enjoying God's Day

Take at least one day in seven to relax and rejoice. If you don't have the time,
then make time. If you're too busy for God, you're too busy. Make time for delight. Make

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time for God. Don't do it because I say so. Do it because God says so. The seven-day
week, with one day set apart, is the Creator's own pattern, woven into the world's fabric
from the beginning. It's also in the Ten Commandments, literally written in stone by God
himself.
One reason God set aside this day of delight was to relish his creation. Even the
Creator himself didn't just work, work, work. During the six days of creation, says
Genesis, God paused and took stock repeatedly, and saw that his accomplishments
were good. That's a pattern for our work too: do it well, and enjoy a sense of
accomplishment as we do it. Work is good, but there comes a time to finish the week's
work and stop. The Bible says, "God had finished the work he had been doing; so on
the seventh day he rested from all his work." That's what our Creator did, and that's
what he tells us to do.
God made a vast variety of delightful things for his own enjoyment and for the
enjoyment of his people. Why should he work to create so many good things if nobody
ever takes the time to appreciate and enjoy them? And why should you work day in and
day out if you never relax and relish the fruit of your work? Enjoy God's good creation,
as the Creator himself did.
Another reason for weekly rest, in addition to enjoying creation, is to enjoy the
freedom of salvation. In Deuteronomy 5:15, after commanding the Israelites to observe
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy and resting, God said, "Remember that you were
slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm." The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for many years,
without a vacation or a day off. Then God rescued them and set them free from slavery.
But why rescue them if they were just going to go back to slaving away 24 hours a day,
seven days a week? Why rescue them at all if they were just going to be enslaved by
their own schedules rather than by the Egyptians? God wanted to make sure his people
took a day to enjoy their freedom and to remember who it was who had set them free.
God also wanted to make sure the Israelites didn't treat other people the way the
Egyptians had treated them. Part of God's purpose in the Sabbath command is "so that
your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do." God's day of delight is a great
equalizer. There's no difference between immigrants and native-born, no difference
between bosses and servants, nobody giving orders or following orders. There are only
people equally created in God's image, equally set free by God's salvation. Whatever
the differences in social status, God dissolved those differences for at least one day
each week and showed that those differences didn't count for anything with God. The
Sabbath command gave everyone equal opportunity to be renewed and refreshed by
the reality that God was Lord of all equally. If people really took this fact seriously on the
Sabbath, it would transform the way they treated each other on all the other days
(Isaiah 58).
In fact, even the animals were to share the Sabbath blessing. Though not equal
to humans, animals were still created by God and are meant to share in the benefits of
God's liberation and salvation of humanity. So God insisted that even beasts of labor
must have a day to rest and "be refreshed" (Exodus 23:12).
In short, God instituted a special day of blessing so that his people and all
creatures could regularly enjoy the fruits of his creation and the freedom of his salvation.

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Above all, he wanted them to enjoy him, to relish having him as their God and being set
apart as his very own.

Lord of the Sabbath

In order to fully enjoy the Lord's Day and honor God, it must be a day of
celebration and gladness. Beware of at least two joy-killers that can spoil the Lord's
Day.
One joy-killer is to be so wrapped up in daily activities that we see any pause as
a bothersome interruption. In the Bible book of Amos, God rebuked merchants who
could hardly wait for the Sabbath to be over so that they could get back to selling stuff
and making money. Such people saw the Sabbath as nothing more than a waste of time
that was hurting their profits. Their obsession with money not only gave them the wrong
attitude toward the Lord's Day, it also made them dishonest and willing to cheat their
customers (Amos 8:5).
Many merchants today have a similar attitude. In fact, they don’t just complain
about the Lord's Day; they ignore it entirely and go on with business as usual. Stores
are open seven days a week to boost profits. Factories operate around the clock and
don't stop even for one day per week. That way the factory will never be idle and will
generate as much money as possible. Why shut anything down on the Lord's Day so
that everyone can go to church if they wish when there's money to be made? Why
worship when there's always more work to be done? A billionaire businessman once
said religion is not an efficient use of time.
If you're a business owner or manager, and you're filled with the love of Christ
and the Spirit of Christ, you won't drive your employees ruthlessly. You won't demand
all their time and energy. Instead, you'll respect the days an employee needs for
worship, and you'll make room for an employee's personal and family life as well. Such
worship of efficiency is a joy-wrecker. You wreck other people’s joy, and you’re not
helping yourself either. Many people who drive themselves too hard without a day for
rest and worship end up stressed out, burned out, divorced, or even dead of a heart
attack. Seeing rest and worship as obstacles to business as usual—that’s a joy-
wrecker.
At the other extreme is another joy-wrecker. While some people ignore the Lord's
Day entirely, others fall into the opposite trap and take the Sabbath as an end in itself.
They make it into a legalistic pile of do's and don'ts, rather than a day of joy-filled
celebration. Throughout the Bible, a holy day was supposed to be a day of special joy
and feasting, a day of worship and thanks to God.
Maybe when you think of a holy day, you tend to picture it as a sad, somber,
solemn occasion where smiling is prohibited. But the Bible shows that a holy day is a
day to enjoy, a day to celebrate, a day to party. In Nehemiah 8, the Bible tells about a
memorable holy day. After decades of exile in a foreign land, God's people had returned
to their homeland. They had begun to rebuild their city and their spiritual lives. But they
still had a lingering sense of failure and guilt. One day they all came together for a
sacred assembly. As they listened to the reading and explanation of God's Law, all the
people started to weep. They realized how badly they had failed. But their leaders said,
"This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." Nehemiah said, "Go
and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing

4
prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your
strength." It was fitting for the people to be saddened by their sins and failures, but God
didn't want them to get stuck at that point. He wanted them to rejoice in his forgiveness
and in the new future he was opening up for them. When the people realized that, they
stopped crying and had a party instead. "Then all the people went away to eat and
drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now
understood the words that had been made known to them" (Nehemiah 8:9-12).
A holy day was supposed to be a day of special joy and feasting in worship and
gratitude to God. When Jesus came, he fulfilled the Sabbath and revealed the real spirit
of God's day of delight. Jesus came to save sinners and set off celebrations, not to pile
on regulations. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Jesus is the source of ultimate rest and refreshment,
of which the Sabbath was a sign. Jesus told some legalists, "The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark
2:27-28).
Since Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and fulfills the meaning of the Sabbath,
Christians are not required to observe all the Sabbath regulations that were directed to
Jewish people in Old Testament times. Christians with different understandings of the
Sabbath should not judge each other. The Bible says, “Therefore let no one pass
judgment on you … with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Colossians
2:16). “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all
days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

A New Day
After Jesus returned to heaven and his gospel spread, the Holy Spirit showed the
church that certain ceremonies and feast days no longer needed to be observed. These
things had been pointers and hints of God's eternal rest, but the full reality had come in
Christ. Some things in the Old Testament law became obsolete because Christ fulfilled
them. Still, the pattern of one special day in seven did not become obsolete. This
pattern is rooted in the world's first week, when God finished his creative work in six
days and rested the seventh. This pattern was fixed long before God gave Israel
specific ceremonies and regulations. What's more, this one-day-in-seven pattern is in
the Ten Commandments, which remain the defining statement of God's moral law.
Every other command among the Ten remains in effect and normative, so it would be
strange if this particular command no longer applied.
The command still applies, but the meaning has become richer since Jesus
came. In fact, the day has even been moved to a new day because of what Jesus has
done. The Old Testament Sabbath was on the seventh day of the week, in honor of
God's original creation and also to celebrate being saved from slavery. But with Jesus
came a greater salvation and a new creation, so there also came a new day of
celebration: the first day of the week instead of the last, Sunday instead of Saturday.
The ultimate salvation and new creation burst into life on a Sunday morning.
After dying on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, Jesus rose from the dead on
the first day of the week. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he showed himself to his
disciples and helped them to understand many things in a fresh way in the light of his
resurrection. The church came to see that the resurrection was a greater event than

5
even the original creation of the world, and that being rescued from sin and granted
eternal life was a greater salvation than when Israel was rescued from Egypt. Jesus'
victory over death made the first day of the week the ultimate day of delight. This was
confirmed by another huge event that also happened on the first day of the week.
Seven weeks after resurrection Sunday, the risen and reigning Christ poured out his
Holy Spirit with tremendous power on the church. That day, Pentecost, was also a
Sunday.
The change from Saturday to Sunday is evident at various points in the New
Testament part of the Bible. According to the apostle John, Jesus' disciples were
meeting together on the first day of the week already a week after the resurrection
(John 20:19,26). Later, as people in other nations learned about Jesus, they too
scheduled their worship gatherings for Sunday. Acts 20:7 says, "On the first day of the
week we came together to break bread." They worshiped and celebrated the Lord's
Supper that Sunday, and they also listened to God's Word together. Sunday was also
the day for God's people to give offerings. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, the Bible says, "On the
first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping
with his income." Even when circumstances or persecution prevented Christians from
worshiping with others, they still observed Sunday as the Lord's Day in personal
worship. Jesus' friend John was in exile on a prison island when he wrote in Revelation
1:10, "On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit."
The change to Sunday as the Lord’s Day is also evident in statements made by
Christian leaders in the century after the New Testament was written. For example,
Ignatius, one of the foremost Christian leaders in the second century, wrote, “Christians
have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but
living in observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by
Him and by His death.” Justin Martyr, another leader who lived in the second century,
describes the church’s worship “on the day called Sunday.”
The Holy Spirit guided the church to make Sunday its day of worship. In this way
the church honors the resurrected Christ as the source of salvation and as Lord of the
new creation, and it also distinguishes the new and better covenant in Christ from the
earlier covenant with Moses. Instead of calling it the Sabbath, God's new day of delight
is called "the Lord's Day," after the Lord Jesus.

Keep it Holy
Christians now worship on a new day because of Christ, but the one-in-seven
pattern is still embedded in the way we've been created, and remains in the Ten
Commandments. God set apart a day as holy, and he commands us to keep it holy.
God blessed this day in order to bless us. Each of us needs a day set aside to rest from
the hustle and bustle of the rest of the week, a day to rejoice and be refreshed and
renewed. We also need a day set aside so that God's people can get together on the
same schedule, worship him, hear his Word read and preached, pray and bring
offerings, and share in the Lord's Supper.
Now let's get personal. How are you spending your Sundays? Do you take time
to rest and enjoy God's goodness? Or do you think everything is going to fall apart if you
stop working for a moment? Are you the servant of a gracious God, or the slave of a
demanding schedule? Do you make space in your life to enjoy the fruit of creation and

6
the freedom of salvation? Do you celebrate God's goodness with other people in church
each week, and do you extend this into daily, personal prayer and Bible reading? Set
aside a full day each week to focus on God and rest in Christ, and the effects will spill
over into all your other days and enrich your relationship to the Lord.
Honoring Sunday is a mark of belonging to God. Resting on Sunday helps you to
rest in God every day. You depend on your Creator, not just your own efforts, to supply
your needs. You receive salvation through faith in Christ's perfect work and not through
your own works. Is that true of you? Have you found in Jesus your joy and peace, your
delight and security? He says, "Come to me and I will give you rest." How are you
responding to that loving invitation? Rest in Christ and let your faith be renewed and
refreshed in a special way each Sunday.

For further study:

J. Douma, The Ten Commandments p. 109-160 (P&R Publishing, 1996).

"The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards,
Volume 2, p. 93-103.

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

7
Sports Crazy
David Feddes

He was the fastest man in the world. He loved running. He had high hopes for an
Olympic gold medal. But then he learned something that made his heart sink: the
qualifying heats for the 100 were scheduled for Sunday. The 100 was his best event,
and he had been looking forward to the Olympics for a long time, but Eric Liddell would
not race on Sunday. He loved God and honored Sunday as a day of worship and rest.
His coaches and government pressured him to run and skip church just this once, but
Eric refused. He put God first. While the other sprinters competed in the heats for the
100, Eric spent the Lord’s Day in church.
Still, Eric did not go home from the Olympics empty-handed. He went home with
his integrity and his relationship to God. He also went home with a little something else:
a gold medal and a world record. Eric did not run in the 100—his best event and the one
for which he had trained—but he entered the 400 instead and ran it faster than any
human had ever run it before. That was in the Paris Olympics of 1924. Eric’s victory was
later the focus of the Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire.
After winning the gold, Eric Liddell trained for gospel ministry and went to China
as a missionary. The situation became very dangerous there in the 1940s, but Eric
would not leave. The man who had enough integrity to put God’s will ahead of sports
also had enough courage to put God’s will ahead of his own safety. Eric kept doing
God’s work among the Chinese. Eventually he ended up in a prison camp. He died
there of a brain tumor. He was only 43 years old.
Now here’s the story of another athlete who died of brain cancer at age 43.
Unlike Eric Liddell, this athlete had sports as his god. He would stop at nothing to win.
He played almost all of his games on Sunday in his position as a defensive end in the
National Football League. Lyle Alzado accomplished everything he dreamed of: he led
the lead in sacks, was named Defensive Player of the Year, and won the Super Bowl.
He couldn’t have done these things without playing on Sunday, and he couldn’t have
done them without using steroids. The steroids made him bigger, stronger, and more
aggressive on the field. The steroids were against the law, but sports mattered more
than the law. The steroids endangered his health, but sports mattered more than his
health. The steroids caused mood swings that ruined relationships, but sports mattered
more than relationships. Alzado’s second wife said that Lyle sometimes hit her in fits of
anger and was impossible to live with because of his changing moods. By the time he
reached his early forties, Lyle Alzado had been married four times. Then he got brain
cancer and died at 43, convinced that the steroids killed him.
Who had a better approach, Eric Liddell or Lyle Alzado? Who was wiser, the man
who put God first or the one who would stop at nothing to win? Which perspective is
more typical today?

Sports Worshipers
Some winning athletes might say that God helped them win, but how many
refuse to compete on Sunday out of reverence of God as Eric Liddell did? Many sport-
loving families claim to love God, but when there’s a clash between worship and sports,

1
which do they choose? When parents skip church so a ten-year-old won’t miss a
practice or game, they’re not raising a new Eric Liddell.
One Christian father says, “I told my boy’s coach he wouldn’t be playing on
Sundays, and he looked shocked. I said, ‘You act like nobody’s ever said that to you
before.’ And he said, ‘Honestly? They haven’t.’”
Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly says,
Sports has nearly swallowed Sunday whole. Every pro sport plays on Sunday.
The big day in pro golf and tennis is Sunday. College football started playing
bowl games on Sunday. [In college basketball] March madness, Ten NCAA
tournament games were played on Sunday. Now more and more youth sports
teams are playing on Sunday, when the fields are easier to get and parents are
available to drive.
The head of a youth soccer association says, “We don’t feel particularly good about it,
but with today’s busy schedules Sunday is the only time some of us have to do these
things. And if you’re going to travel two states away, it doesn’t make sense not to play
on Sunday, too.”
According to Rick Reilly, religious institutions may be as likely as anyone to cram
Sunday full of sports. Notre Dame’s softball teams play more games on Sunday than
any other day. In some areas, the YMCA (which, lest we forget, means Young Men’s
Christian Association) sponsors youth sports on Sunday.
Now, Rick Reilly loves sports. He makes his living writing about sports. He’s
been named Sportswriter of the Year eight times. He’s not a zealot for keeping Sunday
sacred. But even Rick Reilly says, “I just feel sorry for these kids who get nothing but
organized sports crammed down their gullets 24/7… Even God took a day off. Kids
might weep with joy to get a day off from sports. If they don’t spend it at church, maybe
they’ll spend it getting to know their siblings’ names again” (Sports Illustrated, April 26,
2004).
Many of us are sports worshipers. We don’t treat Sunday as sacred; we treat
sports as sacred. For example, earlier this year Major League Baseball officials
announced a plan to put ads for a movie on the bases of many stadiums. Fans gasped
in horror. What crass commercialism! This would violate the purity of the sport! The
outcry was so loud that baseball officials backtracked, and the bases remained white
and clean of any advertising. Amid the horror at making money from ads on bases, did
anyone object to pro players working for pay on God’s day? Did anyone object to selling
tickets and beer on God’s day? Did anyone protest against flocking to stadiums instead
of worshiping in church? Apparently bases are too holy for movie ads, but the Lord’s
Day isn’t too holy to cram with commercial sports. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so
sad.

Fun and Games

Let me be clear that I like sports. I’m not an anti-sports nerd. I’m six-foot-six and
have played a lot of basketball in my life. I like playing various games with my kids. I like
watching sports on TV now and then (when I have time). I enjoy fun and games as
much as anyone.
Sports can provide good, clean fun and other benefits as well. Kids are healthier
getting plenty of exercise than sitting around getting flabby. It's better to be in tiptop

2
shape than to be couch potatoes. They're better off spending their spare time playing
sports than spending it in front of a TV, filling their minds with mush. They're better off
playing games than hanging out on the street looking for trouble.
What's more, involvement in sports can help them develop self-discipline. They
learn how to manage time. They learn to train and strive and sacrifice to reach a goal.
One result is that even with less free time, kids involved in athletics often do better in
school than those who don't play any sport.
Sports involvement can also strengthen relationships. It can teach teamwork and
foster friendships with teammates. It can make kids and parents feel closer to each
other. The time they spend together just driving here and there may give them
opportunities to talk that they might not get otherwise. The shared experiences, the
shared joys of victory, and the shared disappointments of defeat can bond parents and
kids and make them feel closer. Kids relish their parents' attention, and parents love
seeing their children have fun and perform well.
Add these benefits together, and even the grumpiest critic has to admit that
involvement in sports can be good.

Dangerous Games
Still, we need to ask whether we've got too much of a good thing. One problem
occurs when pushy parents pressure kids to perform. Many kids, especially younger
ones, would rather just play and have fun than try to meet the adult expectations of
parents and coaches. Playing sports ought to be a relaxing diversion, but it can become
a stressful obsession. Some sports crazy parents are robbing kids of their childhood. It's
bad enough when parents howl at referees and umpires over a judgment call or heckle
a coach for not giving their kid enough playing time, but it's even worse when parents
scold kids for having a bad game or push them to practice harder and harder—as
though the future of the world depended on the outcome of a kids' game.
What happens when kids feel too much pressure in sports? Many quit playing
altogether. 73% quit their childhood sport by age 13, mostly because they're not having
fun. Meanwhile, many who keep playing end up absorbing the harsh, sports-is-
everything, win-at-any-cost mindset of parents and coaches. Even if they become great
at games, they may turn out to be rotten at relationships and lousy at life.
There’s also the problem of kids having unrealistic goals. Top athletes are so
hyped and glamorized in the media that many kids want to be like them. However, the
likelihood of a boy or girl eventually making the Olympic team or having a professional
sports career is much less than one in a thousand. Some kids neglect homework and
study to chase the dream of a sports career. When that doesn’t work out, they lack the
skill necessary to succeed at things that don’t involve sports.
Obsession with sports makes many turn to steroids. Kelli White was the world’s
fastest woman, winning the 100 and the 200 at the World Championships. But she
couldn’t run in the Olympics because she was a steroid user. Other top athletes have
also been banned. Still others are suspected of using illegal steroids without getting
caught. Many baseball stars are playing under a cloud of suspicion. And steroids are
not just a problem among pro athletes or Olympic competitors. Many youth are so eager
to make it to the top that they use steroids. They lie and cheat and endanger their
physical and emotional health just to improve their athletic performance. Underlying the

3
whole steroid scandal is an attitude of sports as god and a willingness to do anything
and sacrifice anything for that god.
But even if sports-crazy kids stay away from steroids, study hard, and grow up to
be successful, well adjusted, good natured adults, the biggest danger is still lurking: the
danger of missing what matters most in life. Let’s imagine a situation that seems ideal.
You’re good at a certain sport. Your parents are supportive but not pushy or
overbearing. You become so good at your sport that you receive a full athletic
scholarship to the university of your choice. You win championship trophies in high
school and university. You go on to win Olympic gold. You star as a pro, make millions
of dollars, and win many championships. And through it all, you manage to be a decent,
likeable person. Does that sound perfect? Well, even if all this went right, something
would be horribly wrong if sports crowded God out of your life.
Sports involvement may be most dangerous not when it's bad but when it's
good—good enough to crowd out what's best. The most common danger in sports isn't
the emotional damage of pressuring kids too hard or the steroids and other
performance-enhancing drugs or the corrupt players and dirty agents who care only
about money or the gambling scandals where athletes are bribed to change the
outcome of games. These things have been covered in the media, and they're bad, but
the most widespread problem with sports is that a sport can seem so exciting, so
wholesome, so fun, so satisfying, so glorious that it becomes the center of your life and
matters more to you than God himself.
Sports can ruin a relationship with God just as surely as crime or booze or
pornography or some other vice. Something good can make you godless just as surely
as something bad. Some parents are so busy racing from game to game with their kids,
even on Sundays that they don't worship God in church. More and more teams
schedule practices and games on Sunday, and they even schedule them during the
worship hour. Even families that might otherwise attend church may rearrange their
Sundays to fit the sports schedule. Games matter more than God. Sports is supreme;
church is optional. And this doesn't just affect Sundays. Throughout the week, more
families are spending all their spare time on sports. They seldom share a meal together
as a family, and they never have time for family prayer and Bible reading.
The deadliest part is that it all seems so healthy and normal. Even as I talk about
these things, you might be thinking, "What's wrong with this guy? Why is he so worried
about sports?" Questioning sports is a bit like questioning motherhood or apple pie.
What's wrong with playing a few games? If kids are into drugs and gangs, there's a
problem. But if kids are into sports instead of drugs, if they wear a sharp-looking team
uniform instead of dressing as a gang member, how could anyone object?

Sports and Satan

Strange as it may sound, sports can destroy you. Anytime you put something
other than God at the center of your life, you are playing with fire. If sports is what
matters most to you, you're falling for Satan's scheme. You're in danger of leaving God
behind forever and finding yourself in hell.
You see, Satan has just one main goal for you: to lead you further and further
from God. If Satan can do that through making you a drunkard or a vicious criminal, he's
happy to do so. But Satan is just as happy if he can lure you away from God by making

4
you so sports crazy that you don't pay attention to God or cultivate a relationship with
Jesus or think about your eternal destiny. Satan is no happier if you worship a pagan
idol than if you worship soccer or hockey. Satan is no happier if parents drive their kids
crazy through abuse than if parents make their kids crazy about baseball. Satan is no
happier if senior citizens get drunk all day Sunday than if they play golf all day Sunday.
All Satan cares about is keeping you away from God, and whatever it takes to do that is
okay with him.
In fact, the sports trap may be more effective than some of Satan's filthier
methods. After all, people who fall into sleazy behavior may sense something is wrong
and feel unhappy and perhaps even pray for God's help. But if you're in the sports trap,
you may not see anything wrong. You think it's clean and wholesome to have sports at
the center of your life, and you feel no great need to put Christ at the center.
Your main problem isn't that you're too excited about games but that you're not
excited enough about God. It's not that you care too much about sports but that you
care too little about salvation. The reason you're cramming every spare moment with
sports is that you haven’t found anything better to fill your emptiness. The reason
winning is your ultimate goal is that you haven't found a higher goal.
Satan would like to keep it that way. Satan wants you to fill your time with
anything but God and have you seek any goal except becoming godly and spending
eternity with God in heaven. But now you know better. You've heard how Satan can
twist sports from an innocent pastime into something that can draw you away from God
and destroy your soul in hell. To defeat Satan's scheme, don't just admit that you've
been too crazy about sports; confess that you've cared too little about God.
Trying to find ultimate satisfaction in sports is like chasing the wind. Living
without Jesus at the center of your life may seem fun and fulfilling for awhile, but at
some point, you come up empty. Athletic achievements don't last, and when they're
gone, what will you have left?

Get a Life!
If you care more about sports than anything else, you need to change. You need
to get a life! If you're a kid dreaming of becoming a star, start dreaming of something
greater. If you're a mom or dad trying to live out your dreams through your kids' athletic
achievements, set higher goals for yourself and your family. If you're a middle-aged
person who spends countless hours trying to improve your golf swing, work on
something more worthwhile. If you're a fanatical follower of some college or pro team
and you go wild when your favorite team wins and get gloomy when your favorite team
loses, find something more important to get excited about. If you're a sports junkie who
stays glued to a TV sports channel watching game after game after game even when
you hardly know who is playing, get a life!
I mean that literally: get a life. Get a life that is joyful even when you can't run fast
or jump high. Get a life that enriches your family even when your kids aren't star
athletes. Get a life that nothing can spoil. Get eternal life in Jesus Christ. Don't let
anything come between you and the Lord.
The Bible never says it's bad to play games or be involved in sports, but the Bible
does say it's bad to put anything ahead of God. Sports is worth something, but it's not
everything. Games have value, but the value is limited. Training and workouts may

5
improve your physical fitness—and that’s good—but physical fitness isn't as important
as spiritual fitness. The Bible says, "Train yourselves to be godly. For physical training is
of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the
present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8). A healthy body is good, but it's not
nearly as important as a healthy relationship to God.
As for the thrill of competing and winning, it may be fun while it lasts, but it
doesn't last forever. Eventually your playing days come to an end. Any games you win
become faded memories. Any ribbons, trophies, medals, or championship rings you
collect become junk on a shelf. They have no lasting value. As the Bible puts it, athletic
champions "get a crown that will not last" but those who pursue eternal life "get a crown
that lasts forever (1 Corinthians 9:25).
If you want eternal life, believe in Jesus as God's best gift. Prize Jesus more than
anything else. Trust his blood to pay for all the ways you've offended God when you
placed other things, including sports, at the center of your life. Count on Christ's
perfection credited to you as the only way you can be worthy of a crown in heaven. Rely
on God's Holy Spirit to live in you and keep you in touch with the Lord. Then, energized
by God's Spirit, go after godliness and eternal life with even more desire and
determination than an athlete seeking a championship.
The Bible sometimes compares the Christian life to a race and urges us to make
Christ our goal and to press forward to know him better (Philippians 3:12-14). This
involves effort and training. Once you've been born again through faith in Jesus, his
Spirit moves you to get involved in the kind of training that will make you a strong
spiritual athlete. Just as athletes need good nutrition, you need the nourishment of Bible
reading, prayer, church involvement, and regular participation in the Lord's Supper. Just
as athletes give up things that interfere with their goals, you must give up sins and even
cut back on some good things that may be keeping you from the best things. Just as
athletes need to practice over and over to get something right, so you need to practice
obeying God and helping others until holiness becomes a habit. "Train yourselves to be
godly" says the Bible (1 Timothy 4:8). Athletes go into training "to get a crown that will
not last," but followers of Jesus "do it to get a crown that will last forever" (1 Corinthians
9:25).

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

6
 III. Holiness

III.
HOLINESS

“Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”—Heb. xii. 14.

The text which heads this page opens up a subject of deep importance. That subject is
practical holiness. It suggests a question which demands the attention of all professing
Christians—Are we holy? Shall we see the Lord?

That question can never be out of season. The wise man tells us, “There is a time to
weep, and a time to laugh—a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccles. iii. 4, 7); but
there is no time, no, not a day, in which a man ought not to be holy. Are we?

That question concerns all ranks and conditions of men. Some are rich and some are
poor—some learned and some unlearned—some masters, and some servants; but there is
no rank or condition in life in which a man ought not to be holy. Are we?

I ask to be heard to-day about this question. How stands the account between our souls
and God? In this hurrying, bustling world, let us stand still for a few minutes and consider
the matter of holiness. I believe I might have chosen a subject more popular and pleasant.
I am sure I might have found one more easy to handle. But I feel deeply I could not have
chosen one more seasonable and more profitable to our souls. It is a solemn thing to hear
the Word of God saying, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” (Heb. xii. 14.)

I shall endeavour, by God’s help, to examine what true holiness is, and the reason why
it is so needful. In conclusion, I shall try to point out the only way in which holiness can be
attained. I have already, in the second paper in this volume, approached this subject from
a doctrinal side. Let me now try to present it to my readers in a more plain and practical
point of view.

I. First, then, let me try to show what true practical holiness is—what sort of persons are
those whom God calls holy.

A man may go great lengths, and yet never reach true holiness. It is not knowledge—Ba-
laam had that: nor great profession—Judas Iscariot had that: nor doing many things—Herod
had that: nor zeal for certain matters in religion—Jehu had that: nor morality and outward
respectability of conduct—the young ruler had that: nor taking pleasure in hearing preach-
ers—the Jews in Ezekiel’s time had that: nor keeping company with godly people—Joab and
Gehazi and Demas had that. Yet none of these was holy! These things alone are not holiness.
A man may have any one of them, and yet never see the Lord.
35

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 III. Holiness

What then is true practical holiness? It is a hard question to answer. I do not mean that
there is any want of Scriptural matter on the subject. But I fear lest I should give a defective
view of holiness, and not say all that ought to be said; or lest I should say things about it that
ought not to be said, and so do harm. Let me, however, try to draw a picture of holiness,
that we may see it clearly before the eyes of our minds. Only let it never be forgotten, when
I have said all, that my account is but a poor imperfect outline at the best.

(a) 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 in 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, he is the most holy man.

(b) A holy man will endeavour to shun every known sin, and to keep every known com-
mandment. He will have a decided bent of mind toward God, a hearty desire to do His
will—a greater fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the world, and a love to all His
ways. He will feel what Paul felt when he said,”I delight in the law of God after the inward
man” (Rom. vii. 22), and what David felt when he said, “I esteem all Thy precepts concerning
all things to be right, and I hate every false way.” (Psalm cxix. 128.)

(c) A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live the life
of faith in Him, and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength, but he will also labour
to have the mind that was in Him, and to be “conformed to His image.” (Rom. viii. 29.) It
will be his aim to bear with and forgive others, even as Christ forgave us—to be unselfish,
even as Christ pleased not Himself—to walk in love, even as Christ loved us—to be lowly-
minded and humble, even as Christ made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself.
He will remember that Christ was a faithful witness for the truth—that He came not to do
His own will—that it was His meat and drink to do His Father’s will—that He would con-
tinually deny Himself in order to minister to others—that He was meek and patient under
undeserved insults—that He thought more of godly poor men than of kings—that He was
full of love and compassion to sinners—that He was bold and uncompromising in denoun-
cing sin—that He sought not the praise of men, when He might have had it—that He went
about doing good—that He was separate from worldly people—that He continued instant
in prayer—that He would not let even His nearest relations stand in His way when God’s
work was to be done. These things a holy man will try to remember. By them he will endeav-
our to shape his course in life. He will lay to heart the saying of John, “He that saith he
36
abideth in Christ ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John ii. 6); and the
saying of Peter, that “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His
steps.” (1 Peter ii. 21.) Happy is he who has learned to make Christ his “all,” both for salvation
and example! Much time would be saved, and much sin prevented, if men would oftener

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ask themselves the question, “What would Christ have said and done, if He were in my
place?”

(d) A holy man will follow after meekness, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, kind
tempers, government of his tongue. He will bear much, forbear much, overlook much, and
be slow to talk of standing on his rights. We see a bright example of this in the behaviour
of David when Shimei cursed him—and of Moses when Aaron and Miriam spake against
him. (2 Sam. xvi. 10; Num. xii. 3.)

(e) A holy man will follow after temperance and self-denial. He will labour to mortify
the desires of his body—to crucify his flesh with his affections and lusts—to curb his pas-
sions—to restrain his carnal inclinations, lest at any time they break loose. Oh, what a word
is that of the Lord Jesus to the Apostles, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life” (Luke xxi.
34); and that of the Apostle Paul, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest
that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Cor.
ix. 27.)

(f) A holy man will follow after charity and brotherly kindness. He will endeavour to
observe the golden rule of doing as he would have men do to him, and speaking as he would
have men speak to him. He will be full of affection towards his brethren—towards their
bodies, their property, their characters, their feelings, their souls. “He that loveth another,”
says Paul, “hath fulfilled the law.” (Rom. xiii. 8.) He will abhor all lying, slandering, backbiting,
cheating, dishonesty, and unfair dealing, even in the least things. The shekel and cubit of
the sanctuary were larger than those in common use. He will strive to adorn his religion by
all his outward demeanour, and to make it lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all around
him. Alas, what condemning words are the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and the Sermon
on the Mount, when laid alongside the conduct of many professing Christians!

(g) A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence towards others. He
will not stand all the day idle. He will not be content with doing no harm—he will try to do
good. He will strive to be useful in his day and generation, and to lessen the spiritual wants
and misery around him, as far as he can. Such was Dorcas, “full of good works and almsdeeds,
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which she did,”—not merely purposed and talked about, but did. Such an one was Paul: “I
will very gladly spend and be spent for you,” he says, “though the more abundantly I love
you the less I be loved.” (Acts ix. 36; 2 Cor. xii. 15.)

(h) A holy man will follow after purity of heart. He will dread all filthiness and unclean-
ness of spirit, and seek to avoid all things that might draw him into it. He knows his own
heart is like tinder, and will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation. Who shall dare

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to talk of strength when David can fall? There is many a hint to be gleaned from the ceremo-
nial law. Under it the man who only touched a bone, or a dead body, or a grave, or a diseased
person, became at once unclean in the sight of God. And these things were emblems and
figures. Few Christians are ever too watchful and too particular about this point.

(i) A holy man will follow after the fear of God. I do not mean the fear of a slave, who
only works because he is afraid of punishment, and would be idle if he did not dread discov-
ery. I mean rather the fear of a child, who wishes to live and move as if he was always before
his father s face, because he loves him. What a noble example Nehemiah gives us of this!
When he became Governor at Jerusalem he might have been chargeable to the Jews and
required of them money for his support. The former Governors had done so. There was
none to blame him if he did. But he says, “So did not I, because of the fear of God.” (Nehem.
v. 15.)

(j) A holy man will follow after humility. He will desire, in lowliness of mind, to esteem
all others better than himself. He will see more evil in his own heart than in any other in
the world. He will understand something of Abraham’s feeling, when he says, “I am dust
and ashes;”—and Jacob’s, when he says, “I am less than the least of all Thy mercies;”—and
Job’s, when he says, “I am vile;”—and Paul’s, when he says, “I am chief of sinners.” Holy
Bradford, that faithful martyr of Christ, would sometimes finish his letters with these words,
“A most miserable sinner, John Bradford.” Good old Mr. Grimshaw’s last words, when he
lay on his death-bed, were these, “Here goes an unprofitable servant.”

(k) A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in life. He will
try, not merely to fill his place as well as others who take no thought for their souls, but even
better, because he has higher motives, and more help than they. Those words of Paul should
never be forgotten, “Whatever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord,”—“Not slothful in
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” (Col. iii. 23; Rom. xii. 11.) Holy persons should
aim at doing everything well, and should be ashamed of allowing themselves to do anything
ill if they can help it. Like Daniel, they should seek to give no “occasion” against themselves,
38
except “concerning the law of their God.” (Dan. vi. 5.) They should strive to be good husbands
and good wives, good parents and good children, good masters and good servants, good
neighbours, good friends, good subjects, good in private and good in public, good in the
place of business and good by their firesides. Holiness is worth little indeed, if it does not
bear this kind of fruit. The Lord Jesus puts a searching question to His people, when He
says, “What do ye more than others?” (Matt. v. 47.)

(l) Last, but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavour
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

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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 travelling to his home.
To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of His people—these
things will be the holy man’s chiefest enjoyments. He will value every thing and place and
company, just in proportion as it draws him nearer to God. He will enter into something
of David’s feeling, when he says, “My soul followeth hard after Thee.” “Thou art my portion.”
(Psalm lxiii. 8; cxix. 57.)

Such is the outline of holiness which I venture to sketch out. Such is the character which
those who are called “holy” follow after. Such are the main features of a holy man.

But here let me say, I trust no man will misunderstand me. I am not without fear that
my meaning will be mistaken, and the description I have given of holiness will discourage
some tender conscience. I would not willingly make one righteous heart sad, or throw a
stumbling-block in any believer’s way.

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;”—that often when he would do good “evil is present with him”; that the old man is
clogging all his movements, and, as it were, trying to draw him back at every step he takes.
(Rom. vii. 21.) But it is the excellence of a holy man 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.” (Dan. ix. 25.)

Neither do I say that holiness comes to ripeness and perfection all at once, or that these
39
graces I have touched on must be found in full bloom and vigour before you can call a man
holy. No: far from it. Sanctification is always a progressive work. Some men’s graces are in
the blade, some in the ear, and some are like full corn in the ear. All must have a beginning.
We must never despise “the day of small things.” And sanctification in the very best is an
imperfect work. The history of the brightest saints that ever lived will contain many a “but,”
and “howbeit,” and “notwithstanding,” before you reach the end. The gold will never be
without some dross—the light will never shine without some clouds, until we reach the
heavenly Jerusalem. The sun himself has spots upon his face. The holiest men have many a
blemish and defect when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. Their life is a continual
warfare with sin, the world, and the devil; and sometimes you will see them not overcoming,
but overcome. The flesh is ever lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and
“in many things they offend all.” (Gal. v. 17; James iii. 2.)

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But still, for all this, I am sure that to have such a character as I have faintly drawn, is
the heart’s desire and prayer of all true Christians. They press towards it, if they do not reach
it. They may not attain to it, but they always aim at it. It is what they strive and labour to
be, if it is not what they are.

And this I do boldly and confidently say, that true holiness is a great reality. It is some-
thing in a man that can be seen, and known, and marked, and felt by all around him. It is
light: if it exists, it will show itself. It is salt: if it exists, its savour will be perceived. It is a
precious ointment: if it exists, its presence cannot be hid.

I am sure we should all be ready to make allowance for much backsliding, for much
occasional deadness in professing Christians. I know a road may lead from one point to
another, and yet have many a winding and turn; and a man may be truly holy, and yet be
drawn aside by many an infirmity. Gold is not the less gold because mingled with alloy, nor
light the less light because faint and dim, nor grace the less grace because young and weak.
But after every allowance, I cannot see how any man deserves to be called “holy,” who wilfully
allows himself in sins, and is not humbled and ashamed because of them. I dare not call
anyone “holy” who makes a habit of wilfully neglecting known duties, and wilfully doing
what he knows God has commanded him not to do. Well says Owen, “I do not understand
how a man can be a true believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow, and
trouble.”

Such are the leading characteristics of practical holiness. Let us examine ourselves and
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see whether we are acquainted with it. Let us prove our own selves.

II. Let me try, in the next place, to show some reasons why practical holiness is so import-
ant.

Can holiness save us? Can holiness put away sin—cover iniquities—make satisfaction
for transgressions—pay our debt to God? No: not a whit. God forbid that I should ever say
so. Holiness can do none of these things. The brightest saints are all “unprofitable servants.”
Our purest works are no better than filthy rags, when tried by the light of God’s holy law.
The white robe which Jesus offers, and faith puts on, must be our only righteousness—the
name of Christ our only confidence—the Lamb’s book of life our only title to heaven. With
all our holiness we are no better than sinners. Our best things are stained and tainted with
imperfection. They are all more or less incomplete, wrong in the motive or defective in the
performance. By the deeds of the law shall no child of Adam ever be justified. “By grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any
man should boast.” (Ephes. ii. 8, 9.)

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Why then is holiness so important? Why does the Apostle say, “Without it no man shall
see the Lord”? Let me set out in order a few reasons.

(a) For one thing, we must be holy, because the voice of God in Scripture plainly com-
mands it. The Lord Jesus says to His people, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven.” (Matt. v. 20.) “Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
(Matt. v. 48.) Paul tells the Thessalonians, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.”
(1 Thess. iv. 3.) And Peter says, “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation;” because it is written, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter i. 15,
16.) “In this,” says Leighton, “law and Gospel agree.”

(b) We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came
into the world. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “He died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.” (2
Cor. v. 15.) And to the Ephesians, “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that
He might sanctify and cleanse it.” (Ephes. v. 25, 26.) And to Titus, “He gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works.” (Titus ii. 14.) In short, to talk of men being saved from the guilt of sin,
without being at the same time saved from its dominion in their hearts, is to contradict the
witness of all Scripture. Are believers said to be elect!—it is “through sanctification of the
Spirit.” Are they predestinated?—it is “to be conformed to the image of God’s Son.” Are
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they chosen?—it is “that they may be holy.” Are they called?—is it “with a holy calling.” Are
they afflicted?—it is that they may be “partakers of holiness.” Jesus is a complete Saviour.
He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin, He does more—He breaks its
power, (1 Peter i. 2; Rom. viii. 29; Eph. i. 4; Heb. xii. 10.)

(c) We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we have a saving faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Twelfth Article of our Church says truly, that “Although good
works cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment, yet are they
pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively
faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned
by its fruits.” James warns us there is such a thing as a dead faith—a faith which goes no
further than the profession of the lips, and has no influence on a man’s character. (James
ii. 17.) True saving faith is a very different kind of thing. True faith will always show itself
by its fruits—it will sanctify, it will work by love, it will overcome the world, it will purify
the heart. I know that people are fond of talking about death-bed evidences. They will rest
on words spoken in the hours of fear, and pain, and weakness, as if they might take comfort
in them about the friends they lose. But I am afraid in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred

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such evidences are not to be depended on. I suspect that, with rare exceptions, men die just
as they have lived. The only safe evidence that we are one with Christ, and Christ in us, is
holy life. They that live unto the Lord are generally the only people who die in the Lord. If
we would die the death of the righteous, let us not rest in slothful desires only; let us seek
to live His life. It is a true saying of Traill’s, “That man’s state is naught, and his faith unsound,
that find not his hopes of glory purifying to his heart and life.”

(d) We must be holy, because this is the only proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. This is a point on which He has spoken most plainly, in the fourteenth and fifteenth
chapters of John. “If ye love Me, keep my commandments.”—“He that hath my command-
ments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.”—“If a man love Me he will keep my
words.”—“Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John xiv. 15, 21, 23; xv.
14.)—Plainer words than these it would be difficult to find, and woe to those who neglect
them! Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can think of all that Jesus
suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering was undergone It was sin that
wove the crown of thorns—it was sin that pierced our Lord’s hands, and feet, and side—it
was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave. Cold
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must our hearts be if we do not hate sin and labour to get rid of it, though we may have to
cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it.

(e) We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we are true children of
God. Children in this world are generally like their parents. Some, doubtless, are more so,
and some less—but it is seldom indeed that you cannot trace a kind of family likeness. And
it is much the same with the children of God. The Lord Jesus says, “If ye were Abraham’s
children ye would do the works of Abraham.”—“If God were your Father ye would love
Me.” (John viii. 39, 42.) If men have no likeness to the Father in heaven, it is vain to talk of
their being His “sons.” If we know nothing of holiness we may flatter ourselves as we please,
but we have not got the Holy Spirit dwelling in us: we are dead, and must be brought to life
again—we are lost, and must be found. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they,” and
they only, “are the sons of God.” (Rom. viii. 14.) We must show by our lives the family we
belong to.—We must let men see by our good conversation that we are indeed the children
of the Holy One, or our son-ship is but an empty name. “Say not,” says Gurnall, “that thou
hast royal blood in thy veins, and art born of God, except thou canst prove thy pedigree by
daring to be holy.”

(f) We must be holy, because this is the most likely way to do good to others. We cannot
live to ourselves only in this world. Our lives will always be doing either good or harm to
those who see them. They are a silent sermon which all can read. It is sad indeed when they
are a sermon for the devil’s cause, and not for God’s. I believe that far more is done for

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Christ’s kingdom by the holy living of believers than we are at all aware of. There is a reality
about such living which makes men feel, and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and
influence with it which nothing else can give. It makes religion beautiful, and draws men
to consider it, like a lighthouse seen afar off. The day of judgment will prove that many be-
sides husbands have been won “without the word” by a holy life, (1 Pet. iii. 1.) You may talk
to persons about the doctrines of the Gospels, and few will listen, and still fewer understand.
But your life is an argument that none can escape. There is a meaning about holiness which
not even the most unlearned can help taking in. They may not understand justification, but
they can understand charity. I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent
Christians than we are aware of. Such men are among Satan’s best allies. They pull down
by their lives what ministers build with their lips. They cause the chariot wheels of the
43
Gospel to drive heavily. They supply the children of this world with a never ending excuse
for remaining as they are.—“I cannot see the use of so much religion,” said an irreligious
tradesman not long ago; “I observe that some of my customers are always talking about the
Gospel, and faith, and election, and the blessed promises, and so forth; and yet these very
people think nothing of cheating me of pence and half-pence, when they have an opportunity.
Now, if religious persons can do such things, I do not see what good there is in religion.”—I
grieve to be obliged to write such things, but I fear that Christ’s name is too often blasphemed
because of the lives of Christians. Let us take heed lest the blood of souls should be required
at our hands. From murder of souls by inconsistency and loose walking, good Lord, deliver
us! Oh, for the sake of others, if for no other reason, let us strive to be holy!

(g) We must be holy, because our present comfort depends much upon it. We cannot be
too often reminded of this. We are sadly apt to forget that there is a close connection between
sin and sorrow, holiness and happiness, sanctification and consolation. God has so wisely
ordered it, that our well-being and our well-doing are linked together. He has mercifully
provided that even in this world it shall be man’s interest to be holy. Our justification is not
by works—our calling and election are not according to our works—but it is vain for anyone
to suppose that he will have a lively sense of his justification, or an assurance of his calling,
so long as he neglects good works, or does not strive to live a holy life. “Hereby we do know
that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.”—“Hereby we know that we are of the
truth, and shall assure our hearts.” (1 John ii. 3; iii. 19.) A believer may as soon expect to
feel the sun’s rays upon a dark and cloudy day, as to feel strong consolation in Christ while
he does not follow Him fully. When the disciples forsook the Lord and fled, they escaped
danger, but they were miserable and sad. When, shortly after, they confessed Him boldly
before men, they were cast into prison and beaten; but we are told “they rejoiced that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts v. 41.) Oh, for our own sakes, if
there were no other reason, let us strive to be holy! He that follows Jesus most fully will always
follow Him most comfortably.

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(h) Lastly, we must be holy, because 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. The book of Revelation says
expressly, “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.” (Rev. xxi. 27.)

I appeal solemnly to everyone who reads these pages, How shall we ever be at home and 44

happy in heaven, if we die unholy? Death works no change. The grave makes no alteration.
Each will rise again with the same character in which he breathed his last. Where will our
place be if we are strangers to holiness now?

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?

Now perhaps you love the company of the light and the careless, the worldly-minded
and the covetous, the reveller 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 or 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”? (Isa. xxv. 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

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cast out! He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amidst 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
45
may say, in a vague way, “they hope to go to heaven;” but they do not consider what they
say. There must be a certain “meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.” Our hearts
must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory, we must pass through the training
school of grace. 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.

(1) 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 straitly, 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. xii. 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 hearts. 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

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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,
46
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 hope in Christ purifieth
himself.” (1 John iii. 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 I were so holy I would be unlike other people.” I answer, “I know it
well. It is just what you ought to be. Christ’s true servants always were 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 1,900 years ago.
“Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it.” (Matt. vii. 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. They turn
their backs on an “inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” “Ye will
not come unto Me,” says Jesus, “that ye might have life.” (John v. 40.)

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 1,900 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.

Whatever we may think fit to say, we must be holy, if we would see the Lord. Where is
our Christianity if we are not? We must not merely have a Christian name, and Christian
knowledge, we must have a Christian character also. We must be saints on earth, if ever we
mean to be saints in heaven. God has said it, and He will not go back: “Without holiness no
man shall see the Lord.” “The Pope’s calendar,” says Jenkyn, “only makes saints of the dead,
but Scripture requires sanctity in the living.” “Let not men deceive themselves,” says Owen;
“sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the

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conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven but whom He sanctifies
on the earth. This living Head will not admit of dead members.”

Surely we need not wonder that Scripture says “Ye must be born again.” (John iii. 7.) 47

Surely it is clear as noon-day that many professing Christians need a complete change—new
hearts, new natures—if ever they are to be saved. Old things must pass away—they must
become new creatures. “Without holiness no man,” be he who he may, “shall see the Lord.”

(2) Let me, for another thing, speak a little to believers. I ask you this question, “Do you
think you feel the importance of holiness as much as you should?”

I own I fear the temper of the times about this subject. I doubt exceedingly whether it
holds that place which it deserves in the thoughts and attention of some of the Lord’s people.
I would humbly suggest that we are apt to overlook the doctrine of growth in grace, and
that we do not sufficiently consider how very far a person may go in a profession of religion,
and yet have no grace, and be dead in God’s sight after all. I believe that Judas Iscariot seemed
very like the other Apostles. When the Lord warned them that one would betray Him, no
one said, “Is it Judas?” We had better think more about the Churches of Sardis and Laodicea
than we do.

I have no desire to make an idol of holiness. I do not wish to dethrone Christ, and put
holiness in His place. But I must candidly say, I wish sanctification was more thought of in
this day than it seems to be, and I therefore take occasion to press the subject on all believers
into whose hands these pages may fall. I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married
together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things, beyond
question, but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified, and
all sanctified are justified. What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder.
Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast
not of Christ’s work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit’s work in you. Think not that
Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided. I doubt not that many believers know these things,
but I think it good for us to be put in remembrance of them. Let us prove that we know
them by our lives. Let us try to keep in view this text more continually: “Follow holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord.”

I must frankly say I wish there was not such an excessive sensitiveness on the subject of
holiness as I sometimes perceive in the minds of believers. A man might really think it was
a dangerous subject to handle, so cautiously is it touched! Yet surely when we have exalted
Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life,” we cannot err in speaking strongly about what
should be the character of His people. Well says Rutherford, “The way that crieth down
duties and sanctification, is not the way of grace. Believing and doing are blood-friends.”
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I would say it with all reverence, but say it I must—I sometimes fear if Christ were on
earth now, there are not a few who would think His preaching legal; and if Paul were writing
his Epistles, there are those who would think he had better not write the latter part of most
of them as he did. But let us remember that the Lord Jesus did speak the Sermon on the
Mount, and that the Epistle to the Ephesians contains six chapters and not four. I grieve to
feel obliged to speak in this way, but I am sure there is a cause.

That great divine, John Owen, the Dean of Christ Church, used to say, more than two
hundred years ago, that there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going
about complaining of their own corruptions, and telling everyone that they could do nothing
of themselves. I am afraid that after two centuries the same thing might be said with truth
of some of Christ’s professing people in this day. I know there are texts in Scripture which
warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come from men who walk in
the steps of the Apostle Paul, and fight a good fight, as he did, against sin, the devil, and the
world. But I never like such complaints when I see ground for suspecting, as I often do, that
they are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness, and an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we say
with Paul, “O wretched man that I am,” let us also be able to say with him, “I press toward
the mark.” Let us not quote his example in one thing, while we do not follow him in another.
(Rom. vii. 24; Philip. iii. 14.)

I do not set up myself to be better than other people, and if anyone asks, “What are you,
that you write in this way?” I answer, “I am a very poor creature indeed.” But I say that I
cannot read the Bible without desiring to see many believers more spiritual, more holy,
more single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more whole-hearted than they are in the nine-
teenth century. I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a more decided sep-
aration from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven, a closer walk with
God—and therefore I have written as I have.

Is it not true that we need a higher standard of personal holiness in this day? Where is
our patience? Where is our zeal? Where is our love? Where are our works? Where is the
power of religion to be seen, as it was in times gone by? Where is that unmistakable tone
which used to distinguish the saints of old, and shake the world? Verily our silver has become
dross, our wine mixed with water, and our salt has very little savour. We are all more than
half asleep. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Let us awake, and sleep no more.
Let us open our eyes more widely than we have done hitherto. “Let us lay aside every weight,
49
and the sin that doth so easily beset us.”—“Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God.”—(Heb. xii. i; 2 Cor. vii. 1.) “Did
Christ die,” says Owen, “and shall sin live? Was He crucified in the world, and shall our af-

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fections to the world be quick and lively? Oh, where is the spirit of him, who by the cross
of Christ was crucified to the world, and the world to him!”

III. Let me, in the last place, offer a word of advice to all who desire to be holy.

Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with
Christ. You will do just nothing at all, and make no progress till you feel your sin and
weakness, and flee to Him. He is the root and beginning of all holiness, and the way to be
holy is to come to Him by faith and be joined to Him. Christ is not wisdom and righteousness
only to His people, but sanctification also. Men sometimes try to make themselves holy first
of all, and sad work they make of it. They toil and labour, and turn over new leaves, and
make many changes; and yet, like the woman with the issue of blood, before she came to
Christ, they feel “nothing bettered, but rather worse.” (Mark v. 26.) They run in vain, and
labour in vain; and little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end. They are building
up a wall of sand; their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are baling water
out of a leaky vessel: the leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of
“holiness” can no man lay than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. “Without Christ we
can do nothing.” (John xv. 5.) It is a strong but true saying of Traill’s, “Wisdom out of Christ
is damning folly—righteousness out of Christ is guilt and condemnation—sanctification
out of Christ is filth and sin—redemption out of Christ is bondage and slavery.”

Do you want to attain holiness? Do you feel this day a real hearty desire to be holy?
Would you be a partaker of the Divine nature? Then go to Christ. Wait for nothing. Wait
for nobody. Linger not. Think not to make yourself ready. Go and say to Him, in the words
of that beautiful hymn—

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, flee to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace.”

There is not a brick nor a stone laid in the work of our sanctification till we go to Christ.
Holiness is His special gift to His believing people. Holiness is the work He carries on in 50

their hearts, by the Spirit whom He puts within them. He is appointed a “Prince and a Sa-
viour, to give repentance” as well as remission of sins.—“To as many as receive Him, He
gives power to become sons of God.” (Acts v. 31; John i. 12, 13.) Holiness comes not of
blood—parents cannot give it to their children: nor yet of the will of the flesh—man cannot
produce it in himself: nor yet of the will of man—ministers cannot give it you by baptism.
Holiness comes from Christ. It is the result of vital union with Him, It is the fruit of being
a living branch of the True Vine. Go then to Christ and say, “Lord, not only save me from

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the guilt of sin, but send the Spirit, whom Thou didst promise, and save me from its power.
Make me holy. Teach me to do Thy will.”

Would you continue holy? Then abide in Christ. He says Himself, “Abide in Me and I
in you,—he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. (John xv. 4, 5.)
It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell—a full supply for all a believer’s
wants. He is the Physician to whom you must daily go, if you would keep well. He is the
Manna which you must daily eat, and the Rock of which you must daily drink. His arm is
the arm on which you must daily lean, as you come up out of the wilderness of this world.
You must not only be rooted, you must also be built up in Him. Paul was a man of God in-
deed—a holy man—a growing, thriving Christian—and what was the secret of it all? He
was one to whom Christ was “all in all.” He was ever “looking unto Jesus.” “I can do all
things,” he says, “through Christ which strengthened me.” “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Let us go and do likewise.
(Heb. xii. 2; Phil. iv. 13; Gal. ii. 20.)

May all who read these pages know these things by experience, and not by hearsay only.
May we all feel the importance of holiness, far more than we have ever done yet! May our
years be holy years with our souls, and then they will be happy ones! Whether we live, may
we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, may we die unto the Lord; or if He comes for us,
may we be found in peace, without spot, and blameless!

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 E P I S O D E 3

T h e

RENAISSANCE
I. The Art of the Renaissance Is One of Mankind’s Glories
A. The artists reflect their culture.
B. The artists often provide the way for the next step in culture.
1. Positive emphasis on nature in Giotto’s art.
2. Significance of work of Masaccio.
3. Perspective as a form of humanism.
4. Parallel and supportive developments in Low Countries. Van Eyck’s Adoration of the Lamb, the
substitutionary work of the crucified and risen Christ. Also an example of landscape naturalism.
5. Dante’s life and work.
a) Following Aquinas, he mixed Christian and classical elements.
b) Dichotomy in Dante and other writers between sensual and idealized, spiritual love.
6. Brunelleschi’s architecture and the conquest of space.
7. Trend to autobiography and self-portraiture a mark of emphasis on Man.
C. Italian Renaissance music.
1. Invention of orchestration.
2. Invention of movable type for music.

II. Increased Drift Toward a Total Humanism

A. Could have gone either way—with emphasis on real people living in a real world which God had
made, or humanism could take over with its emphasis on the individual things being autonomous.
B. The die was cast: Man tried to make himself independent, autonomous.
C. A growing humanism sees what preceded the Renaissance as the “Dark Ages.”
D. Idea of a “Dark Age” and a “rebirth” in Renaissance.
E. Aquinas had opened the door for that which is the problem of humanism.
1. Illustrated by Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican: The School of Athens.
2. Humanism’s problem: What is the meaning of individual things, including Man, if there is no final
thing to relate them to? And how do we know what is right or wrong if there is no absolute to
give us certainty? Humanism ends with only statistical averages.

— P A G E 10 —
F. Fouguet’s Red Virgin as an example.
1. At first, only religious values seemed threatened.
2. But gradually the threat spread to all of knowledge and all of life.
G. Man as hero: Michelangelo’s Prisoners and David. Change in his later work, however.
H. Leonardo da Vinci and the dilemma of humanism.
1. Logical conclusion of humanism as perceived by Leonardo.
2. Final pessimism of Leonardo an expression of inevitable progression of humanism
towards pessimism.

III. Christianity’s Answer to Humanism’s Problem

Questions
1. In what ways is this treatment of the Renaissance different from other treatments with which you
are familiar?
2. Attitudes toward nature and Man seem to be crucial to understanding the Renaissance. How far
were these attitudes Christian and how far non-Christian?
3. Can you see any parallels between the evolution of humanism in the Renaissance—from hopeful
dawn to ominous sunset–and the changing outlook on human and world problems during your own
lifetime?

Key Events and Persons

Dante: 1265-1321
The Divine Comedy: 1300-1321
Giotto: c. 1267-1337
Brunelleschi: 1377-1446
Jan van Eyck: 1380-1441
Masaccio: 1401-1428
Fouquet: 1416-1480
Duomo, Cathedral of Florence: 1434
Leonardo da Vinci: 1452-1519
Michelangelo: 1475-1564
Michelangelo’s David: 1504
Francis I of France: 1494-1547

— P A G E 11 —
Further Study
There are so many good picture books of Renaissance art and architecture that, rather than try to select
one or two, I will simply urge the importance of consulting some. With profit, one might also listen to
Renaissance music, such as the selection in The Seraphim Guide to Renaissance Music.

J. Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 2 vols. (1958).

Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography (1966).
E. Gorin, Italian Humanism (1966).
E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology (1962).
Georgio Vasari, The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, 4 vols. (1963).
W.H.Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators (1963).

— P A G E 12 —