On Personal Holiness and Sanctification
Pursuing the Portrait of Christ: A Series on Biblical Holiness and Sanctification
Week 2: Defining Holiness: Biblical Foundations
Davis Moore
5/25/25
1 Peter 1:13-19 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
Change. Everyone’s favorite word. Don’t we all simply love it when the things we love and cherish suddenly change into something different? But sometimes the word “Change” is not only a good thing; sometimes it is necessary. When I read C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia for the first time a couple of years ago, I was moved to tears while reading the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It tells a beautiful story of a young boy named Eustace, who was really a pain in the rear end. He wasn’t an intelligent boy, he wasn’t really good at anything, he was a bully, and every time his name was mentioned, I rolled my eyes.
Eustace was skeptical of Narnia, until he was dragged into the world and thrown onto the ship, the Dawn Treader. He gets separated from the rest of the gang and his selfishness and greed lead him straight into the den of a dragon. Because he didn’t want to leave the treasure he had found, he slept upon it that night, and when he woke up, he came to realize he himself was a dragon! I must admit that when I first read this, in my mind, I thought, “Good! He’s getting what he deserves!”
I’m skipping some valuable information about the story for time’s sake (If you haven’t before, you should read the book if you get the chance). Eventually, Eustace met Aslan, the lion. The “God and Savior” of Narnia. Eustace had tried so hard to scratch through the scales on his snake-like body, but to no avail. That’s when Aslan said that only He could scratch through such tough skin. He used His strong and sharp claws to rip into Eustace and painfully remove each scale from him. He cut deep, He cut through his pride and through his selfishness. He cut through him in such a way that only God could.
Last week, Gavin walked us through what it means that God is Holy. He showed us how God being holy is the foundation of our holiness. Holiness means nothing to us if God is not holy. The Dutch Reformed Theologian, Joel Beeke says, “God’s holiness should be our primary reason for cultivating holy living” (APT p. 531). Aslan could only cut through Eustace's skin because Aslan was holy. And because Eustace was so covered in scales, only Aslan could cut deep enough to remove them. In the same way, only God can cut deep enough to remove our scales.
At the moment God cuts through our thick, ugly, and depraved scales, we are forever “changed”. But we aren’t finished at that moment. No, for the rest of our lives we are forever “changing”. We are forever becoming more like the Savior who is changing us. As the narrator of Narnia put it, “It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that ‘from that time forth, Eustace was a different boy.’ To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun (p. 92).”
What is this cure? What does it look like when Christ cuts through our scales? How do we become holy? What does the Bible have to say about holiness and sanctification? What does it mean for us to be changed and set apart to Christ and to have union with Him? Answering these questions is my goal for this morning’s class. Now, of course, this is only the second lesson in our 10-lesson series, so we’ll only be scratching the surface of what any of this means, but Lord willing, this will set us up to use words and everyone know what is meant by them.
The first thing we need to ask is what is sanctification and personal holiness? The puritan William Ames described it well by saying, “Sanctification is a real change of a man from the filthiness of sin to the purity of God’s Image” (p. 482). Likewise, Thomas Vincent said, “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness” (p. 485). Being made holy is us being set apart for God, by God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” We must also remember that our salvation and sanctification is nothing without Christ. As one of my favorite puritans, Robert Traill said, “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” (Vol. 1 p. 484).
Sanctification is the cure beginning in our hearts but is also continuing to heal us throughout the rest of our lives. Horatius Bonar in his excellent book, God’s Way of Holiness said, “The cure is not perfected in an hour” (p. 78). And Bonar’s friend, Robert Murray McCheyne similarly said, “Christ’s work is not done with a soul when He has brought it to pardon – when He has washed it in His own blood. Oh, no! The better half of salvation remains – His great work of sanctification remains” (A Believer’s Joy, p. 84). So being sanctified and made holy means that we are constantly changing and becoming set apart and more and more like Him who is saving us. “Standing by the cross,” Bonar said, “we become imitators of the crucified One” (God’s Way of Holiness, p. 79).
The second thing we need to understand is that personal holiness and sanctification is extremely important. The Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle said, “If the Bible be true, it is certain that unless we are ‘sanctified’, we shall not be saved” (Holiness, p. 21). Hebrews 12:14 says, “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” As if this weren’t clear enough by itself, the word holiness is found 850 times throughout the Scriptures. “For this is the will of God: your sanctification,” “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness,” “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God,” and finally, in our text this morning, “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'”
So, we can see that the concept of our personal holiness is extremely important. But why is it so important? One reason is that it is a sign of our regeneration (meaning that we are saved). 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." Sanctification is important to us because through it by the grace and sovereignty of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are saved. Thus, it is a great sign of our salvation. As Ryle said, “Sanctification is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new principle, and always lives a new life... In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth” (Holiness, p. 24-25). Or, as Martin Luther put it, “Christ in us equals sanctification” (APT p. 531). Therefore, if we are truly saved, we will have striving for holiness and sanctification.
Another reason sanctification and personal holiness are so important is because they are certain evidences that the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us. Romans 8:9: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him." 1 Peter 1:2: "According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you." Ryle said, “The Spirit never lies dormant and idle within the soul: he always makes his presence known by the fruit he causes to be borne in heart, character, and life” (Holiness, p. 25).
Yet another reason sanctification and personal holiness are so important is because it prepares us for our eternal home in heaven. If we do not love holiness here on earth, we will not love holiness in heaven. George Whitefield said, “I want to go where I shall neither sin myself, nor see others sin any more.” “To be really happy in heaven,” Ryle said, “It is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on earth” (Holiness, p. 32). The Baptist Puritan, Richard Baxter said, “Heaven is a state of perfect holiness and of a continual love and praise to God, and the wicked have no heart to this” (P. 238).
So, knowing now that holiness and sanctification are extremely important, we must ask, “How do we live out holiness in our day-to-day lives? What does sanctification look like? If Sanctification is a change in our lives, what is changing?”
One of the great things about the puritans was their desire to live out holiness in all areas of their lives. Their desire was to be holy and to follow the Lord and live out His commands. In week six of this class, I’ll be teaching a lesson on the puritan tradition in relation to Holiness, so we won’t spend too much time here today, but they lay such a helpful foundation, we will look at it briefly.
One helpful thing they point out is that believers must pursue a Trinitarian likeness to the Triune God. Each person of the Trinity shapes the believer’s life of holiness. First, we imitate the Father by walking in Love. “We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expression, or pompous services for him, as when we aspire to a conversing with him with unstained spirits and live to him in living like him” Stephen Charnock said (APT p. 531). Second, we are to conform to the image of Christ by living in obedience to the Father’s Will. “Pursuing Christlikeness,” Beeke says, “is not a condition of salvation but a fruit of it. In Christ we have not only a perfect example of a total life of true holiness, but He is also the source of our holiness” (APT p. 531). Finally, believers are to submit the mind of the Spirit as He is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, who will in turn, sanctify us. Jonathan Edwards said that the Holy Spirit is the indwelling principle of our holiness, for the Spirit “unites himself with the mind of a saint, takes him for his temple, actuates and influences him as a new, supernatural principle of life and action” (APT p. 531).
And another thing that the Puritans stressed strongly was our need of mortification and vivification. In week 4,, I’ll be teaching a lesson on just these two concepts, so I won’t dive deeply into this here, but to introduce them, I will simply share what some of the Puritans believed about mortification and vivification. Mortification is the putting-to-death of sin. The great Puritan John Owen said, “[sin] will no otherwise die but by being gradually and constantly weakened; spare it, and it heals its wounds, and recovers strength” (APT p. 531). And we must find our strength for mortification in the Cross of Christ. The Scottish Presbyterian Puritan, Thomas Boston explained, “[A Christian’s] lusts are upon the cross, nailed through and pierced to the heart, not to come down till they have breathed out their last. Gal. 5:24. Like a dying man taking leave of friends, he is parting with his old lusts.”
And on the flip side of mortification, we have vivification. Vivification is the “quickening, or bringing to life, of the new nature we have received from God” (APT p. 532). Boston pictured vivification as a man raised from the dead saying, “So the sanctified sinner lives as one of another world, not conforming himself to the sinful courses of this world, but being transformed into the likeness of those of the better world, Rom. 12:2, Phil. 3:20” (APT p. 532). Now as previously mentioned, we’re only scratching the surface here.
And finally, the Puritans had a strong belief that we are to diligently use the means of grace. Todd talked about the means of grace a couple weeks ago in his sermon (yes, I’m listening, Todd). Flavel said that God has called us to pursue, “the diligent and constant use and improvement of all holy means and duties, to preserve the soul from sin, and maintain its sweet and free communion with God” (APT p. 532). What are the means of grace? The Sacraments, reading the Scriptures, prayer, communion with the saints. All of these things help us in our sanctification.
Now, with all of these things in mind, what will be the visual effects of personal holiness and sanctification? What does it look like as we strive to pursue the portrait of Christ? First, a man or woman striving after personal holiness is in the habit of being of one mind with God, as we find His will in Scripture. A holy man or woman will endeavor to shun every known sin and keep every known commandment. As Paul said in Romans 7:22, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” They will strive after the fruit of the Spirit. They will strive for temperance and self-denial. Paul again says, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I keep under my body, and ring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” They will strive after mercy and benevolence towards others. They will strive after purity of heart. They will strive after the fear of God. They will strive after humility. They will strive after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in life. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
I know that all of us here this morning are quite burdened by this huge responsibility. How on earth can we desire all of these things all of the time? On our own we cannot. We need Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection; the Father’s tender mercy; the Holy Spirit’s aid. Aslan’s strong and sharp claws. “It is in God, in God alone” B. B. Warfield said, “the God of peace alone, that hope can be placed for such high attainments” (Faith and Life).
But let me ask you this: Do you want to attain holiness? Do you feel this morning a real hearty desire to be holy? Do you want to be a partaker of the Divine nature? Do you want to be “changed”? Then go to Christ. Do not think you can make yourself ready. Go to Him and pray what this great hymn says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling; Naked, flee to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace.”
“Our responsibility to be holy is great,” Bonar says, “but not greater than the means provided for its full attainment” (God’s Way of Holiness, p. 46). Let’s pray.
Pursuing the Portrait of Christ: A Series on Biblical Holiness and Sanctification
Week 5: Mortification
Davis Moore
6/22/25 Romans 8:12-17, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
If you’re a homeowner, and you see just a single termite, what do you do? Do you just shrug your shoulders and say, “Well, he’s probably alone”? Or do you give him a fresh block of wood to enjoy? Or do you actually solve the problem? If you leave termites unchecked, they can silently destroy the structure, weaken the foundation, and cause permanent, irreparable damage. A small colony might consist of just a few hundred termites, often found in early stages of an infestation. A typical infested house can host hundreds of thousands to several million termites. The queen can lay up to ten thousand eggs per day, contributing to the colony’s rapid growth. To keep your home standing, you must identify the pests and take deliberate action, spraying, poisoning, trapping, removing them completely.
In our Christian walk, sinful desires, habits, and tendencies are like termites. They can silently and subtly enter our hearts and our minds. If we see just one, and we ignore it, it can cause spiritual decay. It destroys the structure, weakens the foundation, and causes permanent damage to our faith. Such decay will weaken our relationship with God and hinder any further growth. Erroll Hulse wrote that “Sin, if not continually mortified, will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, and soul-destroying sins” (Doctrine & Practice of Holiness, p 125). He continues, “Mortification withers the root and strikes the head of sin every hour. The best saints in the world are in danger of a fall if found negligent in this important duty!” (p 126).
Mortification is the intentional effort to exterminate these sinful pests. We must identify, confront, and remove them from every part of our lives. Just like the homeowner, who must be vigilant and proactive to ensure that their house is protected, we as believers must also be actively engaged in mortifying sin, taking deliberate steps to root out sin and thereby preserve our spiritual health and integrity.
This morning, we will look at mortification in two categories, which I introduced a couple of weeks ago: mortification and vivification. On the one side, mortification: the putting to death of sin; and on the other, vivification: the quickening of life in the Holy Spirit and increasing conformity to the Son.
First, we must define mortification. The great Puritan John Owen, in his famous work The Mortification of Sin in Believers, said, “To mortify... ‘if ye put to death’: a metaphorical expression taken from the putting of any living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigor, and power, so that he cannot act or exert or put forth any proper actings of his own; so it is in this case. Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called the old man, with his faculties and properties; his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength. This, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified – that is, have its power, life, vigor, and strength to produce its effects taken away by the Spirit” (OFTPM, p 348). There are three aspects of mortification I would like to focus on. The first is that mortification is a fight. It involves a spiritual warfare. The second is that, in mortification, we are killing the thing that would be killing us. And the third thing is that we need obedience, not victory.
The first is that mortification is a fight. It involves a spiritual warfare. “The true Christian is called to be a soldier and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease in indolence and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep or doze along the way to heaven like one travelling in an easy carriage. ... If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must fight.” (Ryle, Holiness, p 73). We may not enjoy the concept of a lifelong war with sin, but as Jerry Bridges said, “.. the more we realize and accept it, the better equipped we will be to deal with it. The more we discover about the strength of indwelling sin, the less we feel its effects. To the extent that we discover this law of sin within ourselves, we will abhor and fight against it” (POH, p 62). So we see very plainly that mortification is a fight. But what are we fighting against?
We are fighting against the flesh. Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (mortified) the flesh, with its passions and desires.” Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.” Erroll Hulse wrote, “If sexual sin is not mortified in its roots, then when a strong temptation comes in the form of opportunity which seems safe (nobody will find out), then that unmortified lust will break out with a power that it did not seem capable of before, and with rage will plunge its victim into sin” (p 128). So mortification is a fight with the flesh.
We must also be fighting against the world. “You must mortify your affections toward your estates and possessions in the world. The poorest age produced the richest Christians and noblest martyrs” (John Flavel, Triumphing Over Sinful Fear, p 85). Or, as J.C. Ryle put it, “The subtle influence of that mighty enemy must be daily resisted and, without a daily battle, can never be overcome. The love of the world’s goods – the fear of the world’s laughter or blame – the secret desire to keep with the world – the secret wish to do as others in the world do and not to run into extremes – all these are spiritual foes which beset the Christian continually on his way to heaven and must be conquered” (Holiness, p 74). James 4:4 “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to the world.”
We must fight against the devil. As if fighting against the flesh and the world were not enough, we’re given a third thing we must fight against in addition. As Gurnall said, “The Christian wrestles not with his naked corruptions, but with Satan in them. Were there no devil, yet we should have our hands full in resisting the corruptions of our own hearts, but the access of this enemy makes the battle more terrible, because he heads them who is a captain so skillful and experienced. Our sin is the engine, Satan is the engineer; lust the bait, Satan the angler. When a soul is enticed by his own lusts, he is said to be tempted (James 1:14), because both Satan and our own lusts concur to the completing the sin” (Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour, p 85). So it becomes clear that all three of these things – the flesh, the world, and the devil – must be continually fought throughout the life of a Christian.
It is also important to note that, if you do not kill sin, it will kill you. As John Owen said, “If you are not killing sin, sin will be killing you.” Romans 6:22 “For the wages of sin is _____.” Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you.” Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once lived.” James 1:15 “Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death.” Sin equals death.
One trap that we sometimes find ourselves in when thinking about or practicing mortification is the idea of victory. When fighting many sins, we become very easily discouraged when we don’t see immediate victory or victory at all. We have all thought at one time that we have beat an ’abitual sin that has haunted us for years, when on a random rainy afternoon, it comes to haunt us again. When this happens, we think to ourselves, and we hear the devil’s lies, that we have failed. Victory is never ours.
But the reality is that victory is not found in our actions, it is found in Christ. Christ is victorious. We are simply to obey. Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” “Let us throw off the sin and let us run with perseverance,” Jerry Bridges said. “Clearly [God] expects us to assume responsibility for running the Christian race” (POH, p 82). This is not a stop-trying and start-trusting. We’re still to do the work. Jerry Bridges continues, “It is time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are ‘defeated’ by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient! It might be well if we stopped using the words ‘victory’ and ‘defeat’ to describe our progress in holiness; rather we should use the terms ‘obedience’ and ‘disobedience.’ When I say I am defeated by some sin, I am unconsciously slipping out from under my responsibility. I am saying something outside of me has defeated me. But when I say I am disobedient, that places the responsibility for my sin squarely on me. ... We may in fact be defeated, but the reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey” (Bridges, p 84). So in a word, we need not victory in our actions, but obedience to God’s Word.
Now a brief word of application. There are many things that could be stressed under the topic of mortification, but the most important is that we cannot mortify sin without the work of the Holy Spirit.
Mortification is only achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit. There are false views of mortification: the mortification of perfectionism, which teaches that we will immediately be healed. As the great theologian Jonathan Edwards said, “Allowances indeed must be made for the natural temper which conversion does not entirely eradicate. Those sins which a man by his natural constitution was most inclined to before his conversion he may be most apt to fall into still. But yet conversion will make a great alteration even with respect to these sins. Though grace while imperfect does not root out a natural evil temper, yet it is of great power and efficacy to correct it” (Works of Edwards, Vol I, p 302). “There is no easy formula to take the place of the duty of mortification” (Hulse, p 131). There is also a cheating or avoiding of mortification, which takes place when professing Christians avoid mortification by making up their own commandments. “A Spirit-filled life in which sin is mortified will be crowned with eternal and joyful life when the race is completed” (Hulse, p 132).
This joy and this life, which is found only in Christ, is found more and more as we mortify the flesh and our sinful desires. We are becoming more like Christ, Who redeemed us. He permits us to come nearer to Him, and the process of this happening is called vivification.
There are two things in vivification that I would like to point out this morning. The first thing is that vivification is a growth in grace. The second is that it is a transformation.
Vivification is a growth in grace, but this does not mean that a believer’s interest in Christ can grow. His justification is complete instantly; nothing can be added to his justification from the moment that he believes, and nothing can be taken away. So what is meant by growth in grace is simply the increase in the strength, degree, size, power, and vigour of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart. 2 Thessalonians 1: 3 “Your faith is growing abundantly.” 1 Thes. 4:10 “We beseech you that you increase more and more.” 2 Cor. 10:15 “Having hope when your faith is increased.” 2 Peter 3:18 “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” It is clear that the Scriptures teach that the believer, being sanctified, mortifying sin, and thereby being vivified, grow in grace.
What does this growth in grace look like in the believer’s life? First, it looks like spiritual health. “Healthy life in an animal or vegetable will always show itself by progress and increase. It is just the same with our souls. If they are progressing and doing well, they will grow” (Holiness, p 118). So we can know we are growing and others are growing in grace by spiritual health. Next, it looks like humility. “The brighter and clearer his light, the more he sees the shortcomings and infirmities of his own heart” (Holiness, p 120). So another sign of this growth in grace is humility. Last time I taught Sunday School, we talked about two other signs of this growth in grace. We mentioned the Trinitarian likeness and the diligent use of the means of grace. These are all signs of growth in grace.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve talked about what it means that God is holy; primarily that we cannot be holy without God’s holiness; that any kind of understanding of holiness must be based on a Holy Father. Then we defined what it meant to have personal holiness. We discussed many different aspects and angles of holiness in our lives. Then Gavin walked us through the trajectory of sanctification. This morning we’ve added another layer. We have discussed what mortification looks like; a daily battle against sin. An extermination of spiritual termites.
Just as the homeowner must check their house regularly for termites, we also must check our hearts regularly (in fact, daily!), to ensure that we do not have any dangerous pests living inside. Let us also never forget that any attempt or effort to be holy must in the Lord. As Charles Hodge said, “The secret to holy living lies in the doctrine of the union of the believer with Christ.” (Hodge, p 265). Let us pray.
Pursuing the Portrait of Christ: A Series on Biblical Holiness and Sanctification
Week 6: Learning from the Puritan Tradition
Davis Moore 07/06/2025
The topic this morning, as the title of the poster suggested, is learning from the Puritan tradition. I’ve thought about several ways that I could teach this, and I’ve decided it would be fun to introduce specific Puritans who we may have quoted in this class, who both taught on the topics of holiness and sanctification and also lived out what they taught in their day-to-day lives. So this morning we’re going to look at each topic that we’ve looked at in this class thus far, and view it through the eyes of a Puritan who taught it.
First, we’ll talk about the holiness of God with Stephen Charnock. Second, we’ll look at defining holiness with John Flavel. Third, we’ll look at the trajectory of sanctification with John Bunyan. Fourth, we will look at mortification of sin with William Gurnall. Fifth, we’ll look at pursuing holiness with William Bates.
Before we dive into the first one, though, I want to spend just a few minutes discussing why the Puritans are important and why they’re worth reading. Well, for one thing they had a strong view of sin. Sin is very important to the subject of sanctification and holiness. And the Puritans viewed sin in a fourfold manner. First, they used God’s moral law to define sin. Second, they expounded the truth of original sin. Third, they stressed the necessity of mortification of sin. And fourth, they warned of eternal punishment. If you’d like to know more about this, there’s a great section in Erroll Hulse’s book The Doctrine and Practice of Holiness on those four points.
The Puritans also believed in living out the Bible’s commands in all areas of their lives. Lloyd-Jones points out, “They dealt with ‘cases of conscience’, namely, the difficulties that arise in the living of the Christian life” (Lloyd-Jones 239). For instance, Puritanism actually became a thing because William Tyndale translated the Bible into English because of his conviction. In the same way, all the Puritans that followed held to the infallibility of the Scriptures.
They also had a strong desire to see the faith reformed, meaning brought back to what is meant in the Scriptures. “The Puritan is primarily concerned about a pure church, a truly Reformed church.” (Lloyd-Jones 258-9).
Finally, they were also just really talented writers. “The Puritans had such a way with words,” Voddie Baucham said, “and their lives were so saturated with Scripture that their writings are among the most compelling things we can read” (Family Shepherds 131). Their writing is full of Scripture, and as it has been said of John Bunyan, “If you cut him he would bleed Scripture.” When you read them, you feel Christ permeating the text. They were learned men, they were academic, but they were also experiential. They wrote about what they lived.
On the flip side of how great the Puritans were and are as we read them, it’s also important to recognize that there are some traps we can fall into. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it, “Puritanism can become a snare and a real danger. There are these voluminous tomes and very easily one can play a most exciting, intellectual game picking out subjects and having most interesting theoretical discussions . . . I am interested in Puritanism because it seems to me to be one of the most useful things any preacher can do” (Lloyd-Jones 237-8).
There is also legalism, which we talked about a couple weeks ago. The idea of Puritanism is not to be perfect; it is not a set of rules that say ‘do this’ or ‘do that’; it is rather a desire to be holy, a desire to be set apart, a desire to be “pure.” But with all this being said, let’s dive into our first Puritan.
Stephen Charnock wrote the massive and wonderful work The Existence and Attributes of God, in which he spends not a small amount of space discussing the holiness of God. For context, he was born in 1628, the son of an attorney. He studied in Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1642, and while at Cambridge, Charnock was saved. He was very quickly convicted to preach the gospel to all people. In the late 1640s, he spent some time preaching as chaplain in a private family, and undertook a ministry in Southwark, London. Later, Charnock moved to Oxford, where he became a fellow at New College in 1650. He was a diligent student, specializing in Biblical language, reformed and scholastic theology, patristics, and philosophy. In 1660, he lost his pastoral job and lived for fifteen years in London without preaching, and apparently practiced medicine during this time. This is actually reflected in his writings; as you read TEaAoG, you can find many references to anatomy. In 1666, Charnock lost his entire library in the Great Fire of London. After this, however, he continued to study and write, becoming in the words of one commentator “a very considerable scholar and an imminent divine, noted for his personal piety and his extraordinary command of the original languages of Scripture” (MTP 143). In 1675, Charnock became co-pastor with Thomas Watson, another noteworthy Puritan, at a nonconformist congregation at Crosby Hall, Bishop’s Gate St, London. He remained there until his death in 1680.
It’s been said that during a time of serious illness, some of Charnock’s friends urged him to rest and take care of his health, but he responded that he felt the greatest duty that he had was to continue laboring in God’s word and in prayer, even if that meant shortening his life. Charnock’s life exemplified a deep humility, devotion, and reverence for God’s majesty, and his example is an encouragement to all believers to pursue similar devotion, emphasizing that true knowledge of God leads to greater holiness and humility.
“The holiness of God is His glory, and His grace is His riches. Holiness is His crown, and His mercy is His treasure. This is the blessedness and nobleness of His nature. It renders Him glorious in Himself and glorious to His creatures that understand anything of this lovely perfection” (EaAoG 1146-7). “The better anything is, the more unable it is to do evil. God, being the only goodness, can as little be changed in His goodness as in His essence” (1168). “Since holiness is a glorious perfection of the nature of God, He will certainly value every holy soul” (1153). “A deep consideration of the holiness of God cannot but be followed with a deep consideration of our impure and miserable condition by reason of sin” (1155). “A due sense of this perfection in God would produce in us a fear of God and arm us against temptation and sin” (1159). “As we cannot attain [holiness], so we cannot maintain it without Him. . . . Let us apply ourselves to Him for holiness, as He is a god ‘glorious in holiness’ (Ex 15:11). By this we honor God and advantage ourselves” (1177).
Next up in our ring of theological boxing, we have John Flavel (or Flavell). John Flavel was born in 1628 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, [worse-ster-sher] son of Richard Flavel, who was also a minister. His father Richard died of the Plague in 1665, while he was in prison for nonconformity. This is important to note because John Flavel was educated by his father, and later entered university college Oxford. In 1650, he was ordained and later he settled in Diptford. He married a godly woman who died during childbirth in 1655. Both she and the baby died. It took Flavel a year to recover from this, but he later married again and was blessed with a great marriage and many children. In 1656, Flavel accepted an invitation to be the minister in the seaport of Dartmouth. Though he earned less money, his spiritual work was much more profitable, and through it many were saved.
One man who attended his congregation stated, “I could say much, though not enough, of the excellency of his preaching, of his seasonable, suitable, and spiritual manner, of his plain expositions of Scripture, his talking method, his genuine and natural deductions, his convincing arguments, his clear and powerful demonstrations, his heart-searching applications, and his comfortable supports to those that were afflicted in conscience. In short, that person must have a very soft head or a very hard heart, or both, that could sit under his ministry unaffected” (MTP 245-7). And in fact, his preaching was so powerful that Robert Murray McCheyne wrote about an American immigrant, Luke Short, who remembered hearing a sermon Flavel preached in England when he was only fifteen. Eighty-five years after hearing Flavel preach, the Spirit of God converted him at the age of 100 while he meditated on the sermon.
Flavel was removed from his position as pastor in 1662 for nonconformity, but he continued to meet secretly with his congregants in their homes. On some occasions, he would even preach to them in the woods on holidays. There’s a funny story that Joel Beeke tells about Flavel, which says that at one time he was “pursued by authorities, and he plunged his horse into the sea and managed to escape arrest by swimming through a rocky area to reach Slapton Sands” (MTP 247). In 1665, Flavel moved to Slapton, and there he ministered to many people. At times, he would preach secretly in the woods to very large numbers of people, sometimes even as late as midnight. “Once, soldiers rushed in and dispersed the congregation,” Beeke says. “Several of the fugitives were apprehended and fined, but the remainder brought Flavel to another wooded area, where he continued his sermon” (247).
Flavel’s power as a preacher came from the depths of his spiritual experience. He spent many hours very early in the morning praying, meditating, and self-examining and studying the Scriptures. He prayed for hours before he wrote anything or preached anything. One of his children wrote, “he was always full and copious in prayer, seemed constantly to exceed himself, and rarely made use twice of the same expressions.” Flavel was a humble, godly, and learned man.
“A man is what indeed he is in his family and among his relations. He that is a bad child can never be a good Christian. Either bring testimonies of your godliness from your relations, or it may be well expected to be no better than counterfeit. Never talk of your obedience to God whilst your disobedience to the just commands of your parents gives you the lie” (OftPM). “As holiness is the soul’s best evidence for heaven, so it is a continual spring of comfort to it in the way thither. The purest and sweetest pleasures in this world are the result of holiness. Till we come to live holily, we never live comfortably. Heaven is epitomized in holiness” (Fountain of Life 388). “There is a twofold evil in sin: the guilt of it and the pollution of it. Justification properly cures the former, sanctification the latter. But both justification and sanctification flow unto sinners out of the death of Christ, and though it is proper to say the Spirit sanctifies, yet it is certain it is the blood of Christ that procured for us the Spirit of sanctification” (387).
Next, under the topic of the trajectory of sanctification, we’ll look at John Bunyan. He was born in 1628 at Elstow, near Bedford, to Thomas Bunyan and Margaret Bentley. His father was a tinker and was poor, but didn’t starve. With this in mind, Bunyan was not well-educated. While a teenager, Bunyan became quite rebellious, frequently swearing. As he wrote later in life, “It was my delight to be taken captive by the devil at his will: being filled with all unrighteousness that from a child I had but few equals, both for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy Name of God” (The Works of Bunyan, Vol I, p 6). Bunyan went through seasons of great conviction, however, which restrained him from the majority of that rebellion. When Bunyan was sixteen, his mother and sister both passed away a month apart. While his father recovered quickly, remarrying a month later, Bunyan joined Cronwell’s New Model Army, where he continued to follow his rebellious tendencies. Though it was in the civil war that he was greatly softened. He came many times near to death, but the Lord in His providence spared him.
He left the army in 1646 or –7, and in 1648 he married a God-fearing woman whose name remains unknown, who owned nothing more than two books. Those two books, however, when Bunyan read them, greatly convicted him of his sin. He began attending church, stopped his swearing, and began trying to honour the Sabbath. He later began speaking to congregants, who taught him about Christ, and he greatly desired the joy that Christ brings in a soul. “I cannot now express with what longings and breakings in my soul I cried to Christ to call me,” he said. Later, in 1651, he was introduced to John Gifford, the local pastor. God used Gifford to lead Bunyan to repentance and faith. Bunyan’s conversion story can be fully found in his book Grace Abounding.
One of the biggest years in Bunyan’s life was 1655, when he moved to Bedford with his wife and four children under the age of six. He became a member at Gifford’s church and soon became a deacon. Word of his testimony quickly spread through the town, and several people were led to conversion in response to it. But by the end of the year, the pastor passed away. And so, in 1655, Bunyan began to preach. Hundreds of people came to hear him preach. The next year, he published his first book, and two years later he published another one. In 1661, while preaching in a farmhouse, Bunyan was arrested for preaching without official rights from the king. When they told him he would only be freed if he would swear to stop preaching, he wittingly responded, “If I am freed today, I will preach tomorrow.” He was thrown into prison, where he wrote an insane amount of material, and made shoelaces to provide some income for twelve and a half years, from 1661-1672.
It was in prison that he wrote the famous book The Pilgrim’s Progress. That book sold more than 100,000 copies within the first decade of its publication, and has since been reprinted at least 1500 times and translated into more than 200 languages, with Dutch, French, and Welsh all appearing within Bunyan’s lifetime. It is known now as one of the most-sold books ever written. It is a fantastic book, allegorically teaching the story of the Christian life, or as Joel Beeke described it, “This is a moving allegorical account of spiritual warfare experienced by a wayfaring pilgrim travelling from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, in which Bunyan allegorises his own religious experience as a guide for others . . . regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, mortification, sanctification, and perseverance are poignantly painted for us in biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical detail” (MTP 111). Or as Peter Toon puts it, “One of the great values of this book is that it declares very clearly that the Christian life, though lived on earth, must be directed heavenward to be authentically Christ-centred. For the narrow way leads in only one direction – to Christ in heaven” (Spiritual Companions 50).
This book is a perfect representation of the trajectory of sanctification. “I must venture; to go back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life everlasting beyond it: I will yet go forward” (PP 44). “Then he gave me a Book, written by Jesus, and about Jesus, to encourage me more freely to come. He told me that regarding the Book, every single bit of it was firmer than heaven and earth.” “Just as Christian came up to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from his back. It began to tumble and continued to tumble until it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.”
Next, we take a look at the Puritan William Gurnall. This is going to be shorter of a biography, because there is very little known about Gurnall. One of his biographers, J.C. Ryle, said, “Perhaps there is no writer who has left a name so familiar to all readers of Puritan theology, but of whose personal history so little is known. Except the three facts that he was a Puritan divine of the 17th century, that he was a minister of Lavenham, and that he wrote a well-known book of practical divinity, most persons know nothing of Gurnall” (Light from Old Times 297). But we do know that he was born in the year 1616, and that he lost his father in 1631. His father’s tomb is no longer in existence, because it was blown down in a violent hurricane in 1741. The first fifteen years of his life were spent in his hometown, where he attended the free grammar school up until the time he went to Cambridge. It was there that he was surrounded with Puritanical theology and influenced strongly by the other Puritans around him. “The college to which Gurnall belonged was always famous in the 17th century for its theological tendencies. It was imminently Puritan” (305). He was at the school from 1632-39. There were many great Puritans who studied at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, some of which (but not limited to) are Jeremiah Burroughs, Samuel Crooke, John Cotten, Matthew Poole, Thomas Watson, William Bridge, and Stephen Charnock. Some of those without a doubt were contemporaries and fellow students of Gurnall himself. Of his preaching career, Ryle says, “the subject of Gurnall’s entrance into ministry is shrouded in complete obscurity. There is no one point in his personal history about which we know so little. When he was ordained, where he was ordained, to what cure of souls he was ordained, by whom he was ordained, whether he was first ordained by Episcopal or Presbyterian ordination, are things about which we are entirely in the dark” (311). But we know that he did preach many fantastic sermons.
It’s also fascinating to note that some of the Puritans we’ve talked about today, and many others, were living close by, and we know much more about them than we do Gurnall. “It is ceertainly somewhat remarkable that during the period of Gurnall’s minsitry at Lavenham that is between 1644 and 1679, some of the best and holiest Puritan divines were at one time or another living within twenty miles of Gurnall’s home at Lavenham” (327).
It is actually his death that brought the most information about him. The Puritan who preached his funeral sermon gives a list of key character traits about Gurnall. First, he told us that we should look to his faith, and second, we should imitate his exemplary conversation. He discusses the soundness of his faith, the steadfastness of his faith, his imminent humility, his extensive love to God and to souls and to all Christians, his diffusive charity, his preserving diligence and faithfulness, his tender sympathy, and his daily care and endeavour to live religion in all his capacities.” It is clear from this excellent sermon that Gurnall was a man admired by those that lived around him.
All of his Christ-like characteristics are shown in his wonderful book The Christian in Complete Armor. Spurgeon said of Gurnall’s work, “it is peerless and priceless. Every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive. The whole book has been preached over scores of times and is in our judgement the best thought-breeder in our library.” John Newton said, “If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose the Christian in Complete Armour,” and J.C. Ryle wrote of it, “You will often find in a line and a half some great truth put so consisely and yet so fully that you really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words.”
“The Christian’s armour is made to be worn. No laying down or putting off our armour till we have done our warfare and finished our course” (Gurnall 64). “Either we must lay self aside, or God will lay us aside.” “Perhaps thou findest thy duty of thy calling too heavy for thy weak shoulders, make bold by faith to lay the heaviest end of thy burden on God’s shoulder, which is thine (if a believer) as sure as God can make it by promise.” “The greatest weapon against temptation is a heart fixed on Christ.”
And finally, last but not least, the great Puritan William the frick Bates. Bates was one of the most popular and esteemed preachers of his time. He was a master of the Puritan plain style of preaching and heavily stressed the idea of piety, which earned him his nickname Silvertongue. He graduated from Queens’ College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1645 and a Master of Arts degree in 1648. Bates’s first wife died young, as did his first daughter, but at the age of 36 he married Margaret, the 21-year-old daughter of Edward Gravener. She outlived him by a generation. Bates remained a leading Puritan until the end of his life, and was often invited to preach at the funerals of close Puritan friends, which included Richard Baxter, Thomas Manton, and others. All of Bates’s writings convey excellent scholarship, wide reading, and careful writing. His works include numerous sermons and papers on Christian living, all of which are packed with edifying material. “If you’re looking for a Puritan who always writes well,” Beeke said, “who is both practical and heavenly, and is never tedious, read Bates’s works” (Meet the Puritans 59).
“According to the evidences of our holiness, the more exact is our resemblance to God, and the more clear and comfortable is the evidence of our filial relation to him. Fire is more clearly discovered by flame than by a little heat; so grace is most conspicuous in the view of the conscience by its radiant operations.” “Holiness is the work of God’s grace in the heart transforming us into the likeness of Christ. The more holy a person is, the more fit they are for heaven.”
Now to wrap all of this up, as has been clear, hopefully, in this lesson, the Puritans’ writings have a great substance that we as Christians can enjoy today. The Puritans sought to search the Scriptures and apply everything that they learned in the Scriptures to all the areas of their lives. They had a Trinitarian character of theology; they believed in the significance of the church in the purposes of Christ, they looked to Scripture for light on the duties of kings and citizens; and they were focused on personal, comprehensive conversion. With the Holy Spirit’s blessing, just as the Puritans lived, their writings can bless us. In the way they shaped their lives by Scripture, in their marrying of doctrine and practice, on their focus on Christ, how they handled trials, how they show us true spirituality.
Pursuing the Portrait of Christ: A Series on Biblical Holiness and Sanctification
Week 8: Spiritual Disciplines as Pathways to Holiness
Davis Moore
7/20/25 Last week, Gavin walked us through what it means to suffer in relation to sanctification. We learned that as we become more like Christ, we suffer like Christ. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps” 1 Peter 2:21. And also John 15:20, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
A few weeks ago, we talked about the mortification of sin. One of the things we discussed that helps you become more sanctified and helps in mortifying the flesh is the means of grace. The means of grace are offered to us in Christ Jesus, but they must be accepted. There is a sense in which we may not receive the means of grace.
When I was five, I received my first cello. It was a gift from my parents to me. It was the thing my heart longed for, because I had always wanted to play the cello. But what soon struck me was that simply receiving the gift was not all that was required. I actually had to practice. I actually had to work at it! Every day! To make matters worse, it wasn’t just playing my favourite songs and pieces that I had to practice; I also had to practice scales! Arpeggios! And etudes! Oh my word, the etudes! And, as it stands, I’ve had to practice a lot since then. And in fact, I am still practicing today.
There’s a lot of suffering that goes into something like playing the cello. There’s a lot of discipline. But all of that work takes you somewhere. It starts as a gift, and it ends as a greater gift if you invest and work hard at it. By working from the age of five to the age of sixteen, I went from a scratchy Twinkle Twinkle to playing at Carnegie Hall in the Carolina Youth Symphony. Spiritual disciplines are no different. They are given as gifts, and if you work hard at them, if you are disciplined, and if you follow what the Lord commands, it will take you from a filthy sinner to Christ-like spirituality.
Now as we’ve already discussed in previous class lessons, you cannot do this without the Holy Spirit’s help, and all the things I say in this lesson are in light of that statement. That being said, however, God does also command us to do certain things, and when doing those certain things, God will reward you -- and, as Todd would say, that’s not prosperity gospel; that’s just the gospel. So what I’d like to do in this lesson is discuss the various means of grace, these gifts from God: how we are to accept them; how we are to apply them to our daily lives; and what effects they have on the way that we live and even the way we die.
As we go through each of these, please feel free to interject with your own experiences and how they’ve affected your life.
The first thing I want to talk about is reading the Scriptures. The reason this is first is because it is of the utmost importance. “You have all great need to study your Bibles well. According to their diligence in using of the word of God, is the thriving of men’s souls.” Robert Traill, Works of Robert Traill Vol 2, p 95
For one thing, it is the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So as this verse teaches, the Scripture is the word of the Lord, and it equips us to live out what He commands in His Word, through His Word, and in the end, will complete our holiness by His Word. When Jesus began preparing His apostles for the time of His departure, He made a promise about the coming of the Holy Spirit, Whom He described as the Spirit of truth. He told them that the Holy Spirit would come to help guide them into all truth (John 14:26). This isn’t just true for the apostles, though, but it also applies to all those who partake in Christ’s body and blood. 1 John 2:20 says, “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have knowledge;” or another translation says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” This is referring to a believer’s ability to grasp the teachings of the Scripture. As Erroll Hulse says, “The Holy Spirit of truth, who inspired the Scriptures, applies their meaning to believers. They are all spiritually equipped to grasp the Word” (94).
For another thing, we need the Bible in order to be saved. As 2 Timothy 3:15 says that the Bible is able to “make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” It teaches you of the commands of God, of man’s fallen nature, of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible also, when applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, is how souls are first converted to God. “In this way, the Bible has worked moral miracles by thousands,” Ryle said. “It has made drunkards become sober, unchaste people become pure, thieves become honest, and violent-tempered people become meek. It has wholly altered the course of men’s lives” (Practical Religion 104-105).
The Bible is also the only place where doctrine can be tested, tried, and procured, and the only place where duty is to be found. In order to know if what we’ve been teaching even in this class is correct, you must first know what is taught in the Scriptures. “The Word must be studied in all its fulness. Over its whole length and breadth we must spread ourselves. Above all theologies, creeds, catechisms, books and hymns, the Word must be meditated on, that we may grow in the knowledge of all its parts, and assimilation to its models.” Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness, p 126
The Bible is also of great comfort as we near the end of our lives. As Ryle said, “I am bold to say that the man who thinks to go to his deathbed without having the Bible for his comforter, his companion, and his friend, is one of the greatest madmen in the world. There are no comforts for the soul but Bible comforts, and he who has not got hold of these has got hold of nothing at all, unless it be a broken reed” (120). “Ye must go in at heaven’s gates, and your book in your hand, still learning” Samuel Rutherford. The Bible must be pored over; meditated on; and read daily, just like any other discipline.
The next subject of interest is prayer. Now I must be careful while teaching on really any subject of practical importance, but specifically as it relates to prayer, because I am still rather young and not greatly experienced in any thing. But with that being said, there are some valuable things that could be said about prayer. Prayer must flow from our understanding of Scripture. As Andrew Bonar says, “Prayer will be very lame and dry if it does not come from reading the Scriptures” (The Smile of Thy Love 41).
And, just as Scripture is a gift from God, so is prayer. As Isaac Watts said, “The gift of prayer may be described as an ability to suit our thoughts to all the various parts and designs of this duty, and a readiness to express those thoughts before God in the fittest manner to profit our own souls as well as the souls of others that join with us” (A Guide to Prayer 37-38).
And, just like Scripture, prayer is also necessary for salvation. Another great benefit of prayer is that it is of the greatest religious encouragement. We are enabled by the blood of Christ to approach the throne of grace boldly (Hebrews 4:16). As Robert Traill put it, “This throne of grace is a privilege full of rich advantages. All believers know somewhat of them. All their acceptance with God; all their access to God; all their communications from Him and fellowships with Him; all their blessings in time and their hopes for eternity, are all owing to this: that God is on a throne of grace” (Vol 1, 39).
We also have great hope in prayer that the Lord hears us and will answer our prayers. Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.” And again in Matthew 21:22, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” And again in John 14:13-14, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Let me also point out that lack of prayer is one great cause of backsliding. Ryle points out, “Bibles read without prayer, sermons heard without prayer, marriages contracted without prayer, journeys undertaken without prayer, residences chosen without prayer, friendships formed without prayer, the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over or gone through without heart, -- these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall” (73). Another of my favourite theologians, Robert Traill, says, “He that prays much, believes well; and no man that neglects prayer can act faith” (143). And, as John Witherspoon wrote, “Prayer and watchfulness have a reciprocal influence upon one another. Neglect of prayer will make you yield to temptation, and the indulgence of sin will make you afraid to pray. But habitual watchfulness will carry you with comfort to God at the hour of prayer, both in thankfulness for the past mercies, and reliance on him for future strength" (190).
And, finally, prayer is one of the best means to attain happiness and contentment in the world. “Sicknesses, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander, all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Someday or other they will find us out. The greater our affections, the deeper our afflictions. And the more we love, the more we have to weep. And what is the best receipt for cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better receipt than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer” (Ryle 74).
An interesting topic that has come up multiple times in my reading is an idea of rising early to seek the Lord. “Rose early to seek God, and found Him Who my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?” (McCheyne 39). “When we pray in the morning to be filled with the Spirit, may we expect to be filled all day with thoughts of Christ.” Andrew Bonar, The Smile of Thy Love, p 43. And another instance of this is in Jonathan Edwards’s diary, in which his only entry in 1728 reads, “I think Christ has recommended rising early in the morning by His rising from the grave very early” (94).
The next thing for us to look at is fellowship of the saints. Every week, if not more than once a week, we recite the Apostles’ Creed. In it we say, “I believe in the communion of the saints.” Beeke points out, “This phrase goes back at least to the early 5th century as a description of the spiritual oneness of the church. The ‘saints’ are not especially holy people, who have died out, but ‘all that are sanctified by the blood of Christ’” (641). Fellowship can also take place with anyone in the world who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, as the Westminster Confession of Faith says. “Saints, by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus” (26.2).
Just like reading the Scriptures and prayer, this too is a discipline that we must work at. We don’t simply wake up at church. (Unless you’re Insert someone present as you feel led.) There’s a real effort that goes into coming to church on a Sunday morning, or on a Wednesday night, or to your weekday Bible study. This is not something that comes naturally without the work of the Holy Spirit within you.
Communion of the saints is meant to be a holy companionship. It’s a meaningful friendship. “The companionship of believers in Christ is holy because it is energised and directed by the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of Christ” (Beeke, Vol 4 642). Believers in the early church, as Acts 4:32 tells us, were “of one heart and of one soul.” This deep level of unity is a gift from God to His people.
The Puritans referred to fellowship, or communion of the saints, as conference, and believed that Christians should gather together for mutual encouragement. As we talked about John Bunyan a couple weeks ago, he was converted after overhearing several members of the church talking about Christ -- communing; fellowshipping. Rutherford says that “Christians meeting for prayer and conference warm one another as many coals in one heap make a great fire . . . let saints meet and by conference and prayer draw down new influences of the Spirit” (Beeke 644), or, as Simeon Ashe said, “Social religion is the nurse of all the graces of the Holy Spirit in the souls of believers” (Ore 186).
It is also a time of peace and comfort as we live in a strife-filled world. Brakel proclaimed, “How refreshing it is for God’s children being hated by the world, to have communion with each other, to make their needs known to each other, and in love and familiarity may enjoy each other’s fellowship!” (Vol II 100). We are greatly blessed to be in a place where people love to gather together even multiple times a week, but especially on Sunday mornings, to fellowship together and to enjoy one another (except for Todd). But we should not take this for granted, as many churches are not so blessed.
And, finally, the fellowship of the saints helps us when we draw near to death. Just as knowing the Scriptures and praying to God comforts us in our final hours, so does our companionship with fellow believers.
Next, let’s discuss the two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
I won’t spend very much time on baptism. Apart from saying that it is a gift from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to those who are being welcomed in to the covenant of grace. Or, as the Westminster Confession of Faith states, “Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ; not only for the solemn admission of the party baptised into the visible church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life, which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in His church until the end of the world” (28.1). Baptism is also for all those who claim Jesus as Lord. If you have faith, you should be baptised, and if you have not been baptised, you should enquire about it.
Finally, we come to communion. Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is one of the greatest gifts that the Lord has given to those who love Him. It is a sweet and holy thing. It is truly communing with God, eating at His table. “The Lord’s Supper is the most spiritual ordinance ever instituted,” Thomas Watson said. “Here, we have to do more immediately with Christ. In prayer, we draw near through Christ; in this ordinance, we become one with Him. In the word preached, we hear of Christ; in the Supper, we feed on Him” (Ore 312).
Faithful believers also receive great benefits upon partaking in the Lord’s Supper. The Westminster Confession beautifully says, “Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly, by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporately, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporeally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really but spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance as the elements themselves are to their outward senses” (29.7). So all of the benefits of Christ are found in the Lord’s Supper. Thomas Watson adds to this thought by saying that the Lord’s Supper “when partaken of in faith, hath glorious affects on the hearts of God’s children: it quickens their affections, strengthens their faith, mortifies their sin, revives their hopes, increases their joys, and gives a rich foretaste of heaven” (Ore 311). Can we just take a moment and think about the glory of this?
But there’s actually even more to communion than this. Watson, in a different place, speaks of the Lord’s Supper as being “nothing else but a pledge and earnest of that eternal communion the saints shall have with Christ in heaven. . . . If Christ be so sweet in an ordinance, when we have but short glances and dark glimpses of Him by faith, O then how delightful and ravishing will His presence be in heaven, when we shall see him face to face and be forever in His loving embraces” (A Godly Man’s Picture 220-1).
So we see very clearly that communion is vitally important to the Christian. It helps ground our faith in Christ; it gives encouragement in our struggles; it gives confirmation in seasons of trials and temptations; and it reminds us of our eternal joy in heaven with Christ, the One with Whom we are communing. The Puritan Nathaniel Vincent beautifully ties together the two sacraments of baptism and communion in a prayer that he wrote in his book The Spirit of Prayer. May this be also our prayer today. He says, “We were given up to Thee, O Lord, in baptism; O break our hearts for our unfruitfulness and help us now to be steadfast in Thy covenant. We have been baptised with water; O that we may be washed and sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. Let the ordinance of the Supper be earnestly desired; let not Thy table be contemptable. O that we may prize the Bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world; let us not labour for the meat that perishes. Wherefore should we spend our money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which cannot satisfy? Let us look unto Christ, Whom we have pierced, and mourn; let us eternally fall out with sin, beholding it besmeared with the blood of Jesus. Help us to believe that Christ was made sin and bore the curse that was due to us, and to conclude that the Lord Jesus is as really given to us as the outward elements. Make us eager to receive a whole Christ in all His benefits, and to give up ourselves wholly and immediately to Him” (Spirit of Prayer 154-5).