Part 7 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 8 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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7. Seventhly, Real holiness naturalizes holy duties to the soul; it makes religious services to be easy and pleasant to the soul. Hence prayer is called the prayer of faith, because holy faith naturalizes a man's heart to prayer, 1 Pet 1:2, and James 5:15. It is as natural for a holy man to pray, as it is for him to breathe, or as it is for a bird to fly, or fire to ascend, or a stone to descend: and hence it is that obedience is called the obedience of faith, because holy faith naturalizes a man's heart to obedience, Romans 16:26, and Psalm 119:166. As soon as ever this plant of renown was set in the heart of Paul, he cries out, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Acts 9:6.
And hence it is that hearing is called "the hearing of faith," because this holy principle naturalizes a man's heart to hearing God's word. Psalm 122:1, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." And so in Isaiah 2:3, "And many people shall go and say—Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths."
And hence patience is called "patience of hope," because this holy principle of hope naturalizes a man's heart to a patient waiting upon God, 1 Thes. 1:3. Romans 8:25, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
Just so, holy love naturalizes the soul to holy service; in 1 Thes. 1:3, you read of "the labor of love." Holy love is very laborious. Nothing makes a Christian more industrious, painstaking, and diligent in the service and ways of God—than holy love. Holy love will cause us to pray and to praise; it will cause us wait and work; it will provoke souls to study Christ, to admire Christ, to live to Christ, to lift up Christ, to spend and be spent for Christ, and to break through all difficulties that it may come nearer to Christ, and cleave closer to Christ, Rom 14:7-8, and 2 Cor. 12:14-16.
As Jerome once bravely said, "If my father," said he, "should stand before me, my mother should hang upon me, and my brothers should press about me—I would break through my brothers, throw down my mother, tread under feet my father—that I might the faster cleave unto Christ my Savior." Oh the laboriousness of holy love! So far as a Christian is holy, so far holy services will be delightful and easy to him: Romans 7:22, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man;" verse 25, "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God;" Psalm 119:16, "I will delight myself in your statutes: I will not forget your word;" verse 35, "Make me to go in the path of your commandments; for therein do I delight;" verse 47, "And I will delight myself in your commandments which I have loved;" verse 92, "Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction;" verse 143, "Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet your commandments are my delight."
Sirs, honor is not more suitable, delightful, and pleasing to an ambitious man, nor pleasure to a voluptuous man, nor flattery to a proud man, nor gold to a covetous man, nor overindulgence to an intemperate man, nor revenge to an envious man, nor pardon to a condemned man—than pious duties and services are suitable, pleasing, and delightful to a holy man, Psalm 27:8, and 81:8-16.
But unholy hearts are very averse to holy duties and services: they are averse to hearing, averse to praying, averse to reading, averse to meditating, averse to self-judging, averse to self-examining, averse to holy worship. Amos 8:5, "When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat?" Isaiah 26:10-11, and Jer. 5:1, 6. You may sooner draw a coward to fight, or a guilty criminal to the court, or a bear to the stake—than you shall draw unholy hearts to holy services. [Wicked hearts are habitually averse to all that is good, etc.]
But if at any time, by the strong motions of the Spirit, the close debates of conscience, the powerful persuasions of the word, the education of godly parents, the pious example of bosom friends, the rich treasures in precious promises, the dreadful evils in terrible threatenings; or if at any time by the displeasure of God, the smarting rod, the affections of God's mercy, the wooings of God's love; or if at any time by some flashes of hell, or glimpses of heaven, or by the heavy sighs, the deep groans, and the bleeding wounds of a dying Savior—their hearts are wrought over to pious services—Isaiah 58:1-5—ah, how soon are they weary of them! What little delight or pleasure do they take in them! Isaiah 43:22, "But you have not called upon me, O Jacob"—that is, you have not worshiped nor served me sincerely, faithfully, feelingly, heartily, affectionately, humbly, holily, as you should and as you ought—"but you have been weary of me, O Israel;" that is, you have been weary of my worship and service, and you have counted it rather a burden than a benefit, a damage rather than an advantage, a reproach rather than an honor, a disgrace rather than a favor, a vexation rather than a blessing. And for all your formal courtings and complimentings of me—you have been secretly weary of me!
Just so, in Mal. 1:12, 13, "But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the Lord Almighty. When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" They did God but little service, and that they did was after the worst manner too—and yet they snuff, and puff, and blow, and sweat, and swell, and fall into a pompous and exaggerated fume—as if they had been over-tired and wearied with the burden and weight of those sacrifices which they offered up to the great God.
A holy heart thinks that what he does for God, is all too little; but an unholy heart thinks every little thing that he does for God, to be too much. A holy heart, like the holy angels, loves to do much—and make no noise; but an unholy heart makes most noise when he does least service. An unsanctified soul has a trumpet in his right hand, when he has but a penny to give in his left hand, as here. But,
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Part 8 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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