By J. C Ryle
This
also sounds hard. I do not wonder. Our sins are often as dear to us as our
children: we love them, hug them, cleave to them, and delight in them. To part
with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye.
But it must be done. The parting must come. “Though wickedness be sweet in the
sinner’s mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; though he spare it, and
forsake it not,” yet it must be given up, if he wishes to be saved. (Job 20:12,
13.) He and sin must quarrel, if he and God are to be friends. Christ is willing
to receive any sinners. But He will not receive them if they will stick to
their sins. Let us set down that item second in our account. To be a Christian
it will cost a man his sins.
(3) For
another thing, it will cost a man his love of ease. He must take pains and
trouble, if he means to run a successful race towards heaven. He must daily
watch and stand on his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take
heed to his behaviour every hour of the day, in every company, and in every
place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He
must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his
imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be
diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all
their means of grace. In attending to these things he may come far short of
perfection; but there is none of them that he can safely neglect. “The soul of
the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be
made fat” (Prov. 13:4).
This
also sounds hard. There is nothing we naturally dislike so much as “trouble”
about our religion. We hate trouble. We secretly wish we could have a
“vicarious” Christianity, and could be good by proxy, and have everything done
for us. Anything that requires exertion and labour is entirely against the
grain of our hearts. But the soul can have “no gains without pains.” Let us set
down that item third in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man his
love of ease.
(4) In
the last place, it will cost a man the favour of the world. He must be
content to be thought ill of by man if he pleases God. He must count it no
strange thing to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, persecuted, and even hated.
He must not be surprised to find his opinions and practices in religion
despised and held up to scorn. He must submit to be thought by many a fool, an
enthusiast, and a fanatic — to have his words perverted and his actions
misrepresented. In fact, he must not marvel if some call him mad. The Master
says — “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than
his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they
have kept My saying, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20 ).
I dare
say this also sounds hard. We naturally dislike unjust dealing and false
charges, and think it very hard to be accused without cause. We should not be
flesh and blood if we did not wish to have the good opinion of our neighbours.
It is always unpleasant to be spoken against, and forsaken, and lied about, and
to stand alone. But there is no help for it. The cup which our Master drank
must be drunk by His disciples. They must be “despised and rejected of men”
(Isa. 53:3). Let us set down that item last in our account. To be a Christian
it will cost a man the favour of the world.
Such is
the account of what it costs to be a true Christian. I grant the list is a
heavy one. But where is the item that could be removed? Bold indeed must that
man be who would dare to say that we may keep our self-righteousness, our sins,
our laziness, and our love of the world, and yet be saved!
I grant
it costs much to be a true Christian. But who in his sound senses can doubt
that it is worth any cost to have the soul saved? When the ship is in danger of
sinking, the crew think nothing of casting overboard the precious cargo. When a
limb is mortified, a man will submit to any severe operation, and even to
amputation, to save life. Surely a Christian should be willing to give up
anything which stands between him and heaven. A religion that costs nothing is
worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a
useless Christianity, without a crown.
