Self-Examination - John Charles Ryle

“Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached
the word of the Lord and see how they are doing” (Acts 15:36).

The text which heads this page contains a proposal which the Apostle Paul
made to Barnabas after their first missionary journey. He proposed to
revisit the Churches they had founded, and to see how the were getting
along. Were their members continuing steadfast in the faith? Were they
growing in grace? Were they going forward, or standing still? Were they
prospering, or falling away? “Let us go back and visit the brothers in
all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are
doing.”

This was a wise and useful proposal. Let us lay it to heart, and apply
it to ourselves today. Let us search our ways, and find out how matters
stand between ourselves and God. Let us “see how we are doing?” I ask
every reader of this volume to begin its perusal by joining me in self-
examination. If ever self-examination about religion was needed, it is
needed today.

We live in an age of unusual spiritual privileges. Since the world began
there never was such an opportunity for a man’s soul to be saved as there
is in England at this time. There never were so many signs of religion
in the land, so many sermons preached, so many services held in churches
and chapels, so many Bibles sold, so many religious books and tracts
printed, so many Societies for evangelizing mankind supported, so much
outward respect paid to Christianity. Things are done everywhere now-a-
days which a hundred years ago would have been thought impossible.

Pastors support the boldest and most aggressive efforts to reach the
unconverted. Clergy of the most formal and structured denominations
advocate special missions, and vie with the Evangelical brethren in
proclaiming that going to church on Sunday is not enough to take a man to
heaven.

In short, there is a stir about religion now-a-days to which there has
been nothing like since England was a nation, and which the cleverest
skeptics and agnostics cannot deny. If Romaine, and Venn, and Berridge,
and Rowlands, and Grimshaw, and Hervey, had been told that such things
would come to pass about a century after their deaths, they would have
been tempted to say, with the Samaritan nobleman, “Look, even if the LORD
should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” (2 Kings
7:19). But the Lord has opened the floodgates of heaven. There is more
taught now-a-days in England of the real Gospel, and of the way of
salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, in one week, than there was in a year
in Romaine’s time. Surely I have a right to say that we live in an age
of spiritual privileges. But are we any better for it? In an age like
this it is well to ask, “How is it going with our souls?”

We live in an age of special spiritual danger. Never perhaps since the
world began was there such an immense amount of mere outward profession
of religion as there is in the present day. A painfully large proportion
of all the congregations in the land consists of unconverted people, who
know nothing of heart-religion, never come to the Lord’s Table, and never
confess Christ in their daily lives. Myriads of those who are always
running after preachers, and crowding to hear special sermons, are
nothing better than empty tubs, and tinkling cymbals, without a bit of
real vital Christianity at home.

It is curious and instructive to observe how history repeats itself, and
how much sameness there is in the human heart in every age. Even in the
Early Church, many persons were found at church for the great Christian
ceremonies, and at the theaters, or even at the temples, for the heathen
spectacles. The ritual of the Church was viewed as a theatrical
spectacle. The sermons were listened to as the display of rhetoricians;
and eloquent preachers were cheered, with clapping of hands, stamping of
feet, waving of handkerchiefs, cries of “Orthodox,” “Thirteenth Apostle,”
and such like demonstrations, which such teachers as Chrysostom and
Augustine tried to restrain, that they might persuade their flocks to a
more profitable manner of hearing. Some went to Church for the sermon
only, alleging that they could pray at home. And when the more
attractive parts of the service were over, the great mass of the people
departed without remaining for the Lord’s Table.

The parable of the sower is continually receiving most vivid and painful
illustrations. The pathway hearers, the stony-ground hearers, the
thorny-ground hearers abound on every side.

The life of many religious persons, I fear, in this age, is nothing
better than a “continual course of spiritual tasting.” They are always
morbidly craving fresh excitement; and they seem to care little what it
is if they only get it. All preaching seems to be the same to them; and
they appear unable to “see differences” so long as they hear what is
clever, have their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd. Worst of all, there
are hundreds of young believers who are so infected with the same love of
excitement, that they actually think it a duty to be always seeking it.
Insensible almost to themselves, they take up a kind of hysterical,
sensational, sentimental Christianity, until they are never content with
the “old paths” and, like the Athenians, are always running after
something new.

To see a calm-minded young believer, who is not stuck up, self confident,
self-conceited, and more ready to teach than learn, but content with a
daily steady effort to grow up into Christ’s likeness, and to do Christ’s
work quietly and inconspicuously, at home, is really becoming almost a
rarity! They show how little deep root they have, and how little
knowledge of their hearts, by noise, forwardness, readiness to contradict
and set down old Christians, and over-weaning trust in their own fancied
soundness and wisdom! Well will it be for many young professors of this
age if they do not end, after being tossed about for a while, and
“carried to and fro by every wind of doctrine,” by joining some petty,
narrow-minded, censorious sect, or embracing some senseless, unreasoning
heresy. Surely, in times like these there is great need for self-
examination. When we look around us, we may well ask, “How is it with
our souls?”

In handling this question, I think the shortest plan will be to suggest a
list of subjects for self-examination, and to get them in order. By so
doing I shall hope to meet the case of every one into whose hands this
volume may fall. I invite every reader of this paper to join me in calm,
searching self-examination, for a few short minutes. I desire to speak
to myself as well as to you. I approach you not as an enemy, but as a
friend. My heart’s desire and prayer to God is that you may be saved
(Romans 10:1). Bear with me if I say things which at first sight look
harsh and severe. Believe me, he is your best friend who tells you the
most truth.

(1) Let me ask, in the first place, “Do we ever think about our souls at
all?”

Thousands of people, I fear, cannot answer that question satisfactorily.
They never give the subject of religion any place in their thoughts.
From the beginning of the year to the end they are absorbed in the
pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self-indulgence of
some kind or another. Death, and judgment, and eternity, and heaven, and
hell, and a world to come, are never calmly looked at and considered.
They live on as if they were never going to die, or rise again, or stand
at the bar of God, or receive an eternal sentence! They do not openly
oppose Christianity, for they do not have sufficient reflection about it
to do so; but they eat and drink, and sleep, and get money, and spend
money, as if Christianity was a mere fiction and not a reality.

They are neither Roman Catholics, nor Socinians, nor infidels, nor High
Church, nor Low Church, nor Broad Church. They are just nothing at all,
and do not take the trouble to have opinions. A more senseless and
unreasonable way of living cannot be conceived; but they do not pretend
to reason it out. They simply never think about God, unless frightened
for few minutes by sickness, death in their families, or an accident.
Barring such interruptions, they appear to ignore Christianity
altogether, and hold on to their way cool and undisturbed, as if there
were nothing worth thinking of except this world.

It is hard to imagine a life more unworthy of an immortal creature than
such a life as I have just described, for it reduces a man to the level
of a beast. But it is literally and truly the life of multitudes and as
they pass away their place is taken by multitudes like them. The
picture, no doubt, is horrible, distressing, and revolting but,
unhappily, it is only too true. In every large town, in every market, on
every stock-exchange, in every club, you may see specimens of this class
by the scores–men who think of everything under the sun except the one
thing needful–the salvation of their souls.

Like the Jews of old they do not “consider their ways,” they do not
“consider their latter end;” they do not “consider that they do evil”
(Isaiah 1:3; Haggai 1:7; Deuteronomy 32:29; Ecclesiastes 5:1). Like
Gallio they “care for none of these things:” they are not in their way.
(Acts 18:17). If they prosper in the world, and get rich, and succeed in
their line of life, they are praised, and admired by their
contemporaries. Nothing succeeds today like success! But for all this
they cannot live forever. They will have to die and appear before the
bar of God, and be judged; and then what will the end be? When a large
class of this kind exists in our country, no reader need wonder that I
ask whether he belongs to it. If you do, you ought to have a mark set on
your door, as there used to be a mark on a plague-stricken house two
centuries ago, with the words, “Lord have mercy on us,” written on it.
Look at the class I have been describing, and then look at your own soul.

(2) Let me ask, in the second place, whether we ever do anything about
our souls?

There are multitudes who think occasionally about Christianity, but
unhappily never get beyond thinking. After a stirring sermon, or after a
funeral, or under the pressure of illness, or on Sunday evening, or when
things go bad in their families, or when they meet some bright example of
a Christian, or when they fall in with some striking, religious book or
tract, they will at the time think a good deal, and even talk a little
about religion in a vague way. But they stop short, as if thinking and
talking were enough to save them. They are always meaning, and
intending, and purposing, and resolving, and wishing, and telling us that
they “know” what is right, and “hope” to be found right in the end, but
they never attain to any action.

There is no actual separation from the world and sin, no real taking up
the cross and following Christ, no positive “doings” in their
Christianity. Their life is spent in playing the part of the son in our
Lord’s parable, to whom the father said, “‘Go and work today in the
vineyard:’ and he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go” (Matthew
21:30).

They are like those whom Ezekiel describes, who liked his preaching, but
never practiced what he preached: “My people come to you, as they usually
do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them
into practice. . . .Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who
sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for
they hear your words but do not put them into practice” (Ezekiel 33:31-
32).

In a day like this, when hearing and thinking without doing, is so
common, no one can rightly wonder that I press upon men the absolute need
of self-examination. Once more, then, I ask my readers to consider the
question of my text, “How is it with our souls?”

(3) Let me ask, in the third place, whether we are trying to satisfy our
consciences with a mere formal religion?

There are myriads at this moment who are making shipwreck on this rock.
Like the Pharisees of old, they make much ado about the outward part of
Christianity, while the inward and spiritual part is totally neglected.
They are careful to attend all the services of their place of worship,
and are regular at all the church functions. They are never absent from
Communion when the Lord’s Supper is administered. Sometimes they are
most strict in observing Lent, and attach great importance to Saints’
days. They are often keen partisans of their own Church, or sect, or
congregation, and ready to contend with any one who does not agree with
them. Yet all this time there is no heart in their religion.

Anyone who knows them intimately can see with half an eye that their
affections are set on things below, and not on things above; and that
they are trying to make up for the want of inward Christianity by an
excessive quantity of outward form. And this formal religion does them
no real good. They are not satisfied. Beginning at the wrong end, by
making the outward things first, they know nothing of inward joy and
peace, and pass their days in a constant struggle, secretly conscious
that there is something wrong, and yet not knowing why. It would be
well, after all, if they do not go on from one stage of formality to
another, until in despair they take a fatal plunge, and fall into Roman
Catholicism! When professing Christians of this kind are so painfully
numerous, no one need wonder if I press upon him the paramount importance
of close self-examination. If you love life, do not be content with the
husk, and shell, and scaffolding of religion. Remember our Savior’s
words about the Jewish formalists of His day: “These people honor me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matthew 15:8-9).

It needs something more than going diligently to church, and receiving
the Lord’s Supper, to take our souls to heaven. These things are useful
in their way, and God seldom does anything for His church without them.
But let us beware of making shipwreck on the very lighthouse which helps
to show the channel into the harbor. Once more I ask, “How is it with
our souls?”

(4) Let me ask, in the fourth place, whether we have received the
forgiveness of our sins?

Few reasonable persons would think of denying that they are sinners.
Many perhaps would say that they are not as bad as others, and that they
have not been really wicked, and so forth. But few, I repeat, would
pretend to say that they had always lived like angels, and never done, or
said, or thought a wrong thing all their life. In short, all of us must
confess that we are “sinners,” and, as sinners, are guilty before God;
and, as guilty, we must be forgiven, or be lost and condemned forever at
the last day. Now it is the glory of the Christian religion that it
provides for us the very forgiveness that we need–full, free, perfect,
eternal, and complete. It is a fundamental belief of the Christian Faith
that we are forgiven.

This forgiveness of sins has been purchased for us by the eternal Son of
God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it for us by coming into
the world to be our Savior, and by living, dying, and rising again, as
our Substitute, in our behalf. He has bought it for us at the price of
His own most precious blood, by suffering in our place on the cross, and
making satisfaction to God for our sins. But this forgiveness, great,
and full, and glorious as it is, does not become the property of every
man and woman as a matter of course. It is not a privilege which every
member of a church possesses, merely because they are a member of a
church. It is a thing which each individual must receive for himself by
his own personal faith, grab hold of by faith, appropriate by faith, and
make his own by faith: or else, so far as he is concerned, Christ will
have died in vain. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but
whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on
him” (John 3:36).

No terms can be imagined more simple, and more suitable to man. As good
old Latimer said in speaking of the matter of justification, “It is but
believe and have. It is only faith that is required; and faith is
nothing more than the humble, heartfelt trust of the soul which desires
to be saved. Jesus is able and willing to save; but man must come to
Jesus and believe. All that believe are at once justified and forgiven:
but without believing there is no forgiveness at all.

Now here is exactly the point, I am afraid, because multitudes of our
people who go to church are unsaved sinners, and are in imminent danger
of being lost forever. They know that there is no forgiveness of sin
except in Christ Jesus. They can tell you that there is no Savior for
sinners, no Redeemer, no Mediator, excepting Him who was born of the
Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, died, and buried.
But here they stop, and get no further! They never come to the point of
actually laying hold of Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ and
Christ in them. They can say, He is a Savior, but not my Savior–a
Redeemer, but not my Redeemer–a Priest, but not my Priest–an Advocate,
but not my Advocate: and so they live and die unforgiven! No wonder that
Martin Luther said, “Many are lost because they cannot use possessive
pronouns. When this is the state of many in this day, no one need wonder
that I ask men whether they have received the forgiveness of sins.

An eminent Christian lady once said, in her old age, “The beginning of
eternal life in my soul, was a conversation I had with an old gentleman
who came to visit my father when I was only a little girl. He took me by
the hand one day and said, My dear child, my life is nearly over, and you
will probably live many years after I am gone. But never forget two
things. One is, that there is such a thing as having our sins forgiven
while we live. The other is, that there is such a thing as knowing and
feeling that we are forgiven. I thank God I have never forgotten his
words.” How is it with us? Let us not rest till we “know and feel” that
we are forgiven. Once more let us ask, in the matter of forgiveness of
sins, “How is it with our souls?”

(5) Let me ask, in the fifth place, whether we know anything by
experience of conversion to God.

Without conversion there is no salvation.

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).

No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (John 3:3).

If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
Christ (Romans 8:9).

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We are all by nature so weak, so worldly, so earthly-minded, so inclined
to sin, that without a thorough change we cannot serve God in life, and
could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks, as soon as they are
hatched, take naturally to water, so do children, as soon as they can do
anything, take to selfishness, lying, and deceit; and none pray or love
God, unless they are taught. Rich or poor, gentle or simple, we all need
a complete change–a change which the Holy Spirit gives to us. Call it
what you please–new birth, regeneration, renewal, new creation,
quickening, repentance–the thing must be possessed if we are to be
saved: and if we have the thing it will be seen.

Sense of sin and deep hatred of it, faith in Christ and love to Him,
delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love for God’s people
and distaste for the things of the world,–these, these are the signs and
evidences which always accompany conversion. Myriads around us, it may
be feared, know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture language, dead,
and asleep, and blind, and unfit for the kingdom of God. Year after
year, perhaps, they go on repeating the words, “I believe in the Holy
Spirit,” but they are utterly ignorant of His changing power on the
inward man. Sometimes they flatter themselves they are born again,
because they have been baptized, and go to church, and receive the Lord’s
Supper; while they are totally destitute of the marks of the new birth,
as described by John in his first Epistle. And all this time the words
of Scripture are clear and plain, “Unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew
18:3).

In times like these, no reader ought to wonder that I press the subject
of conversion on men’s souls. No doubt there are plenty of sham
conversions in such a day of religious excitement as this. But a bad
coin is no proof that there is no good money: no, rather it is a sign
that there is some money currency which is valuable, and is worth
imitation. Hypocrites and sham Christians are indirect evidence that
there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own
hearts then, and see how it is with ourselves. Once more let us ask, in
the matter of conversion, “How is it with us?”

(6) Let me ask, in the sixth place, whether we know anything of
practical Christian holiness?

It is as certain as anything in the Bible that “without holiness no one
will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). It is equally certain that it is the
invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only
sound evidence of indwelling grace, the certain consequence of vital
union with Christ.

Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults. Nothing
of the kind! The wild words of some who talk of enjoying “unbroken
communion with God for many months, are greatly to be condemned, because
they raise unscriptural expectations in the minds of young believers, and
so do harm. Absolute perfection is for heaven, and not for earth, where
we have a weak body, a wicked world, and a busy devil continually near
our souls. Nor is real Christian holiness ever attained, or maintained,
without a constant fight and struggle. The great Apostle, who said “I
beat my body and make it my slave (1 Corinthians 9:27), would have been
amazed to hear of sanctification without personal effort, and to be told
that believers only need to sit still, and everything will be done for
them!

Yet, weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is
a real true thing, and has a character about it as unmistakable as light
and salt. It is not a thing which begins and ends with noisy profession:
it will be seen much more than heard. Genuine Scriptural holiness will
make a man do his duty at home, and adorn his doctrine in the little
trials of daily life. It will make a man humble, kind, gentle,
unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of others, loving, meek, and
forgiving. It will not force him to go out of the world, and shut
himself up in a cave, like a hermit. But it will make him do his duty in
that state to which God has called him, on Christian principles, and
after the pattern of Christ.

Such holiness, I know well, is not common. It is a style of practical
Christianity which is painfully rare in these days. But I can find no
other standard of holiness in the Word of God, no other which comes up to
the pictures drawn by our Lord and His Apostles. In an age like this no
reader can wonder if I press this subject also on men’s attention. Once
more let us ask–In the matter of holiness, how is it with our souls?
“How are we doing?”

(7) Let me ask, in the seventh place, whether we know anything of
enjoying the means of grace?

When I speak of the means of grace, I have in my mind’s eye five
principal things:

The Reading of the Bible
Private Prayer
Public Worship
The Taking of the Lord’s Supper
The Rest of the Lord’s day.

They are means which God has graciously appointed in order to convey
grace to man’s heart by the Holy Spirit, or keep up the spiritual life
after it has begun. As long as the world stands, the state of a man’s
soul will always depend greatly on the manner and spirit in which he uses
means of grace. The manner and spirit, I say deliberately and of
purpose. Many people use the means of grace regularly and formally, but
know nothing of enjoying them: they attend to them as a matter of duty,
but without a lot of feeling, interest, or affection. Yet even common
sense might tell us that this formal, mechanical use of holy things is
utterly worthless and unprofitable. Our feeling about them is just one
of the many tests of the state of our souls. How can that man be
thought to love God who reads about Him and His Christ as a mere matter
of duty, content and satisfied if he has just moved his bookmark onward
over so many chapters? How can that man suppose he is ready to meet
Christ who never takes any trouble to pour out his heart to Him in
private as a Friend, and is satisfied with saying over a string of words
every morning and evening, under the name of prayer, scarcely thinking
what he is about? How could that man be happy in heaven forever who
finds Sunday a dull, gloomy, tiresome day–who knows nothing of hearty
prayer and praise, and cares nothing whether he hears truth or error from
the pulpit, or scarcely listens to the sermon? What can be the spiritual
condition of that man whose heart never “burns within him,” when he
receives that bread and wine which specially remind us of Christ’s death
on the cross, and the atonement for sin?

These inquiries are very serious and important. If means of grace had no
other use, and were not mighty helps toward heaven, they would be useful
in supplying a test of our real state in the sight of God. Tell me what
a man does in the matter of Bible reading and praying, in the matter of
Sunday, public worship, and the Lord’s Supper, and I will soon tell you
what he is, and on which road he is traveling. How is it with ourselves?
Once more let us ask–In the matter of means of grace, “How are we
doing?”

(8) Let me ask, in the eighth place, whether we ever try to do any good
in the world?

Our Lord Jesus Christ was continually “going around doing good,” while He
was on earth (Acts 10:38). The Apostles, and all the disciples in Bible
times, were always striving to walk in His steps. A Christian who was
content to go to heaven himself and cared not what became of others,
whether they lived happy and died in peace or not, would have been
regarded as a kind of monster in primitive times, who did not have the
Spirit of Christ. Why should we suppose for a moment that a lower
standard will suffice in the present day? Why should fig trees which
bear no fruit be spared in the present day, when in our Lord’s time they
were to be cut down because, “why should it use up the soil?” (Luke 13:7).
These are serious inquiries, and demand serious answers.

There is a generation of professing Christians now-a-days, who seem to
know nothing of caring for their neighbors, and are completely swallowed
up in the concerns of number one–that is, their own and their family’s.
They eat, and drink, and sleep, and dress, and work, and earn money, and
spend money, year after year; and whether others are happy or miserable,
well or ill, converted or unconverted, traveling towards heaven or toward
hell, appear to be questions about which they are supremely indifferent.
Can this be right? Can it be reconciled with the religion of Him who
spoke the parable of the good Samaritan, and commanded us “Go and do
likewise”? (Luke 10:37). I doubt it completely.

There is much to be done everywhere. There is not a place where there is
not a field for work and an open door for being useful, if any one is
willing to enter it. There is not a Christian who cannot find some good
work to do for others, if he has only a heart to do it. The poorest man
or woman, without a single penny to give, can always show his deep
sympathy to the sick and sorrowful, and by simple good-nature and tender
helpfulness can lessen the misery and increase the comfort of somebody in
this troubled world. But no, the vast majority of professing Christians,
whether rich or poor, faithful Church attendees or not, seem possessed
with a devil of detestable selfishness, and do not know the luxury of
doing good. They can argue by the hour about baptism, and the Lord’s
supper, and the forms of worship, and the union of Church and State, and
other dry-bone questions. But all this time they seem to care nothing
for their neighbors. The plain practical point, whether they love
their neighbor, as the Samaritan loved the traveler in the parable, and
can spare any time and trouble to do him good, is a point they never
touch with one of their fingers.

In too many places, both in the city and the country, true love seems
almost dead, both in church and chapel, and wretched denomination spirit
and controversy are the only fruits that Christianity appears able to
produce. In a day like this, no reader should wonder if I press this
plain old subject on his conscience. Do we know anything of genuine
Samaritan love to others? Do we ever try to do any good to any one
beside our own friends and relatives, and our and our own denomination or
cause? Are we living like disciples of Him who always “went about doing
good,” and commanded His disciples to take Him for their “example”? (John
13:15). If not, with what face shall we meet Him in the judgment day?
In this matter also, how is it with our souls? Once more I ask, “How are
we doing?”

(9) Let me ask, in the ninth place, whether we know anything of living
the life of habitual communion with Christ?

By “communion,” I mean that habit of “abiding in Christ” which our Lord
speaks of, in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, as essential to
Christian fruitfulness (John 15:4-8). Let it be distinctly understood
that union with Christ is one thing, and communion is another. There can
be no communion with the Lord Jesus without union first; but unhappily
there may be union with the Lord Jesus, and afterwards little or no
communion at all. The difference between the two things is the
difference between two distinct steps, but the higher and lower ends of
an inclined plane. Union is the common privilege of all who feel their
sins, and truly repent, and come to Christ by faith, and are accepted,
forgiven, and justified in Him. Too many believers, it may be feared,
never get beyond this stage! Partly from ignorance, partly from
laziness, partly from the fear of man, partly from secret love of the
world, partly from some unmortified besetting sin, they are content with
a little faith, and a little hope, and a little peace, and a little
measure of holiness. And they live on all their lives in this condition,
doubting, weak, hesitant, and bearing fruit only “thirty-fold” to the
very end of their days!

Communion with Christ is the privilege of those who are continually
striving to grow in grace, and faith, and knowledge, and conformity to
the mind of Christ in all things–who “forget what is behind,” and “do
not consider themselves yet to have taken hold of it, but “press on
toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). Union is the bud, but communion
is the flower: union is the baby, but communion is the strong man. He
that has union with Christ does well; but he that enjoys communion with
Him does far better. Both have one life, one hope, one heavenly seed in
their heart–one Lord, one Savior, one Holy Spirit, one eternal home: but
union is not as good as communion! The grand secret of communion with
Christ is to be continually living by faith in the Son of God, and
drawing out of Him every hour the supply that every hour requires. To
me, said Paul, to live is Christ.–I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21).

Communion like this is the secret of the abiding “joy and peace in
believing,” which eminent saints like Bradford and Rutherford notoriously
possessed. None were ever more humble, or more deeply convinced of their
own infirmities and corruption. They would have told you that the
seventh chapter of Romans precisely described their own experience. They
would have said continually, “The remembrance of our sins is grievous to
us; the burden of them is intolerable.” But they were always looking to
Jesus, and in Him they were always able to rejoice–Communion like this
is the secret of the splendid victories which such men as these won over
sin, the world, and the fear of death. They did not sit still idly,
saying, “I leave it all to Christ to do for me, but, strong in the Lord,
they used the Divine nature He had implanted in them, boldly and
confidently, and were more than conquerors through Him who loved them
(Romans 8:37). Like Paul they would have said, “I can do everything
through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).

Ignorance of this life of communion is one among many reasons why so many
in this age are prey to formal religions and strange doctrines. Such
errors often spring from imperfect knowledge of Christ, and obscure views
of the life of faith in a risen, living, and interceding Savior.

Is communion with Christ like this a common thing? No! It is very rare
indeed! The greater part of believers seem content with the barest
elementary knowledge of justification by faith, and half-a-dozen other
doctrines, and go doubting, limping, groaning along the way to heaven,
and experience little of the sense of victory or of joy.

The Churches of these latter days are full of weak, powerless, and
uninfluential believers, saved at last, but only as one escaping through
the flames, but never shaking the world, and knowing nothing of an rich
welcome (1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Peter 1:11). Despondency and Feeble-mind
and Much-afraid, Pilgrim’s Progress,” reached the celestial city as
really and truly as Valiant-for-the-truth and Greatheart. But they
certainly did not reach it with the same comfort, and did not do a tenth
part of the same good in the world! I fear there are many like them in
these days! When things are like this in the Churches, no reader can
wonder that I inquire how it is with our souls. Once more I ask–In the
matter of communion with Christ, “How are we doing?

(10) Let me ask, in the tenth and last place, whether we know anything
of being ready for Christ’s second coming?

That He will come again the second time is as certain as anything in the
Bible. The world has not yet seen the last of Him. As surely as He went
up visibly and in the body on the Mount of Olives before the eyes of His
disciples, so surely will he come again in the clouds of heaven, with
power and great glory (Acts 1:11). He will come to raise the dead, to
change the living, to reward His saints, to punish the wicked, to renew
the earth, and take the curse away–to purify the world, even as He
purified the temple–and to establish a kingdom where sin will have no
place, and holiness will be the universal rule. The doctrines which we
repeat and profess to believe, continually declare that Christ is coming
again.

The early Christians made it a part of their religion to look for His
return. Backward they looked to the cross and the atonement for sin, and
rejoiced in Christ crucified. Upward they looked to Christ at the right
hand of God, and rejoiced in Christ interceding. Forward they looked to
the promised return of their Master, and rejoiced in the thought that
they would see Him again. And we ought to do the same.

What have we really got from Christ? What do we know of Him? What do we
think of Him? Are we living as if we long to see Him again, and love His
appearing? Readiness for that appearing is nothing more than being a
real, consistent Christian. It requires no man to cease from his daily
business. The farmer need not give up his farm, nor the shopkeeper his
counter, nor the doctor his patients, nor the carpenter his hammer and
nails, nor the bricklayer his mortar and trowel. Each and all cannot do
better than be found doing his duty, but doing it as a Christian, and
with a heart packed up and ready to be gone. In the face of truth like
this no reader can feel surprised if I ask, How is it with our souls in
the matter of Christ’s second coming?

The world is growing old and running to seed. The vast majority of
Christians seem like the men in the time of Noah and Lot, who were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and building, up
to the very day when flood and fire came. Those words of our Master are
very solemn and heart-searching,–Remember Lot’s wife–“Be careful, or
your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the
anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a
trap (Luke 17:32; 21:34). Once more I ask–In the matter of readiness
for Christ’s second coming, “How are we doing?

I end my inquiries here. I might easily add to them; but I trust I have
said enough, at the beginning of this volume, to stir up self-inquiry and
self-examination in many minds. God is my witness that I have said
nothing that I do not feel of paramount importance to my own soul. I
only want to do good to others. Let me now conclude with a few words of
practical application.

(a) Is any reader of this paper asleep and utterly thoughtless about
Christianity?

Oh, awake and sleep no more! Look at the cemeteries. One by one the
people around you are dropping into them, and you must lie there one day.
Look forward to a world to come, and lay your hand on your heart, and
say, if you dare, that you ready to die and meet God. Ah! You are like
one sleeping in a boat drifting down the stream towards the falls of
Niagara! “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God!–Wake up, O
sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Jonah 1:6;
Ephesians 5:14).

(b) Is any reader of this paper feeling self-condemned, and afraid that
there is no hope for his soul?

Cast aside your fears, and accept the offer of our Lord Jesus Christ to
sinners. Hear Him saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). If anyone is
thirsty, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). Whoever comes to me I
will never drive away (John 6:37).

Do not doubt that these words are for you as well as for anyone else.
Bring all your sins, and unbelief, and sense of guilt, and unfitness, and
doubts, and infirmities–bring all to Christ. This man welcomes sinners,
and He will welcome you (Luke 15:2). Do not stand still, wavering
between two opinions, and waiting for a convenient season. On your feet!
He’s calling you. Come to Christ this very day (Mark 10:49).

(c) Is any reader of this paper a professing believer in Christ, but a
believer without much joy and peace and comfort?

Take advice this day. Search your own heart, and see whether the fault
is not entirely your own. Very likely you are sitting at ease, content
with a little faith, and a little repentance, a little grace and a little
sanctification, and unconsciously shrinking back from extremes. You will
never be a very happy Christian at this rate, if you live to the age of
Methuselah. Change your plan, if you love life and would see good days,
without delay. Come out boldly, and act decidedly. Be thorough,
thorough, very through in your Christianity, and set your face fully
towards the sun. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily
overtakes you. Strive to get nearer to Christ, to abide in Him, to
cleave to Him, and to sit at His feet like Mary, and drink full portions
out of the fountain of life. These things, says John, we write to make
our joy complete (1 John 1:4). If we walk in the light, as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7).

(d) Is any reader of this paper a believer oppressed with doubts and
fears, on account of his weakness, infirmity, and sense of sin?

Remember the text that says of Jesus, A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out (Matthew 12:20). Take
comfort in the thought that this text is for you. What though your faith
be weak? It is better than no faith at all. The least grain of life is
better than death. Perhaps you are expecting too much in this world.
Earth is not heaven. You are still in the body. Expect little from
self, but much from Christ. Look more to Jesus, and less to self.

(e) Finally, is any reader of this paper sometimes downcast by the
trials he meets with on the way to heaven, bodily trials, family trials,
trials of circumstances, trials from neighbors, and trials from the
world? Look up to a sympathizing Savior at God’s right hand, and pour
out your heart before Him. He can be touched with the feelings of your
trials, for He Himself suffered when He was tempted–Are you alone? So
was He. Are you misrepresented and slandered? So was He. Are you
forsaken by friends? So was He. Are you persecuted? So was He. Are
you wearied in body and grieved in spirit? So was He. Yes! He can feel
for you, and He can help as well as feel. Then learn to draw nearer to
Christ. The time is short. Yet in a little while, and all will be over:
we shall soon be with the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off (Proverbs 23:18). You need to
persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive
what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming
will come and will not delay (Hebrews 10:36-37).

John Charles Ryle