Holiness - Ryle - X - Chapter 9

Required reading
Holiness by J C Ryle (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter 9, 'Lot - a beacon'.

My summary
In this Chapter Ryle holds up Lot as a warning to Christians.

Firstly Ryle tells us that just because Lot is a warning to us, we should not doubt that he was saved.

Secondly, Ryle explains what Genesis 19:16 means when it says Lot 'lingered' around evil people.

Thirdly, Ryle tries to understand what are the reasons for Lot's lingering.

Finally, Ryle looks at the lack of fruit that Lot's lingering produced.

What grabbed me
Great paragraph on the terrible consequences of making a wrong choice: 'Make a wrong choice in life, an unscriptural choice, and settle yourself down unnecessarily in the midst of worldly people, and I know no surer way to damage your own spirituality and to go backward about your eternal concerns. This is the way to make the pulse of your soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the way to make the edge of your feeling about sin become blunt and dull. This is the way to dim the eyes of your spiritual discernment, until you can scarcely distinguish good from evil, and stumble as you walk. This is the way to bring a moral palsy on your feet and limbs and make you go tottering and trembling along the road to Zion, as if the grasshopper was a burden. This is the way to sell the pass to your worst enemy, to give the devil vantage ground in the battle, to tie your arms in fighting, to fetter your legs in running, to dry up the sources of your strength, to cripple your energies, to cut off your own hair, like Samson, and give yourself into the hands of the Philistines, to put out your own eyes, grind at the mill, and become a slave.'

We shouldn't neglect the warnings of Scripture about lingering amongst evil - it will simply lead to more and more trouble.

Next week's reading
Chapter 10, 'A woman to be remembered'.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.