Holiness - Ryle - XI - Chapter 10

Required reading
Holiness by J C Ryle (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Read Chapter 10, 'A woman to be remembered'.

My summary
Now Ryle gives another Biblical example to heed, Lot's wife.

Firstly, Ryle speaks of the religious privileges which Lot's wife enjoyed.  Then he looks at the sin which she committed.  Finally Ryle examines the judgement which God brought upon her.

Ryle closes the chapter with ten questions.  If the reader responds with a 'yes', it indicates that they are like Lot's wife and in danger of judgement.  Therefore these ten questions basically sum up the entire chapter and make a good summary of it for the book club:
a. Are you careless about the second advent of Christ?
b. Are you lukewarm, and cold in your Christianity?
c. Are you halting between two opinions and disposed to go back to the world?
d. Are you secretly cherishing some besetting sin?
e. Are you trifling with little sins?
f. Are you resting on religious privileges?
g. Are you trusting to your religious knowledge?
h. Are you making some profession of religion and yet clinging to the world?
i. Are you trusting that you will have a deathbed repentance?
j. Do you belong to an evangelical congregation?

What grabbed me
I enjoyed the point that a little look can reveal much about a person: 'That look was a little thing, but it revealed the true character of Lot’s wife. Little things will often show the state of a man’s mind even better than great ones, and little symptoms are often the signs of deadly and incurable diseases. The apple that Eve ate was a little thing, but it proved that she had fallen from innocence and become a sinner. A crack in an arch seems a little thing; but it proves that the foundation is giving way, and the whole fabric is unsafe. A little cough in a morning seems an unimportant ailment; but it is often an evidence of failing in the constitution and leads on to decline, consumption and death. A straw may show which way the wind blows, and one look may show the rotten condition of a sinner’s heart (Matt. 5:28).'

Great illustrations about the crack in the arch and the cough in the throat.  When we sin in a little way we should take it as a warning and examine our hearts for whether it reflects a deeper problem.

Next week's reading
Chapter 11, 'Christ's greatest trophy'.

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