J.C. Ryle: The World: Source of Great Danger to the Soul from Practical Christianity

About the Author

J.C. Ryle (1815-1900). Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of the first in modern times to rediscover the writings of Bishop J.C. Ryle, whose name had been all but forgotten by the 1930’s, but whose writings at one time were sold by the millions all around the world. Lloyd-Jones said that he just happened to "stumble across" Ryle's Holiness in the 1930's in a second-hand bookshop. "I shall never forget the satisfaction – spiritual and mental – with which I read it." His works have been characterized as “a distillation of true Puritan theology presented in a highly readable and modern form." As a minister, he is considered one of the greatest of the Victorian evangelicals, and man whom Charles Spurgeon described as "the best man in the Church of England." He was converted at Oxford in 1837, so thoroughly that it was to have a profound effect on his later ministry, as he related nearly 40 years later: “Nothing I can remember to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct as my own sinfulness, Christ's preciousness, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity of coming out of the world, the need of being born again and the enormous folly of the whole doctrine of baptismal regeneration....People may account for such a change as they like; my own belief is that … it was what the Bible calls "conversion" or "regeneration" ... and nothing to my mind can account for it, but the free sovereign grace of God." In his ministry, he relentlessly called for the reformation of the Church of England, both its clergy and laity, and especially focused on those whose lives did not match their professions. It is said he "… aimed at four things: the evangelising of English people; the purging of the English national Church; the uniting of English Christians; and the holiness of English believers."

The World:
A Source of Great Danger to the Soul

Excerpt from Practical Christianity

by J.C. Ryle

"The World": A Biblical Definition

By "the world," I do not mean the material world on the face of which we are living and moving. When I speak of "the world" in this paper, I mean those people who think chiefly of this world's things, and neglect the world to come-the people who are always thinking more of earth than of heaven, more of time than of eternity, more of body than the soul, more of pleasing man than of pleasing God. It is of them and their ways, habits, customs, opinions, practices, tastes, aims, spirit, and tone, that I am speaking when I speak of "the world." This is the world from which Paul tells us to "Come out and be separate."

Now "the world," in this sense, is an enemy to the soul. There are three things which a professing Christian must renounce and give up, and three enemies which he must fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and "the world." All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved. Let us then turn to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. If the texts I am about to quote do not prove that the world is a source of danger to the soul, then there is no meaning in words.

Let us hear what the Apostle Paul says:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2)

"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God." (1 Cor. 2:12)

"Christ gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age [world]." (Gal. 1:4)

"You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world." (Eph. 2:1-2)
"Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me" (2 Tim. 4:10)

Let us hear what James says:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (Jas. 1:27)

"Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." (Jas. 4:4)

Let us hear what John says:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:15-17)

"The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1)

"They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them." (1 John 4:5)

"Everyone born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5:4)

"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19)

Let us hear, lastly, what the Lord Jesus Christ says:

"The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life [this world] and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." (Matt. 13:22)

"You are of this world; I am not of this world." (John 8:23)

"The world cannot accept Him [Holy Spirit], because it neither sees Him nor knows Him." (John 14:17)

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first." (John 15:18)

"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:19)

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:16)

Conclusion

I make no comment on those texts. They speak for themselves. If any one can read them carefully, and fail to see that "the world" is an enemy to the Christian's soul, and that there is an utter opposition between the friendship of the world and the friendship of Christ, he is past the reach of argument, and it is a waste of time to reason with him. To my eyes they contain a lesson as clear as the sun at noon day.

I turn from Scriptures to matters of fact and experience. I appeal to any old Christian who keeps his eyes open, and knows what is going on in the Churches. I ask him whether it is not true that nothing damages the cause of Christianity so much as "the world?" It is not open sin, or open unbelief, which robs Christ of His professing servants, so much as the love of the world, the fear of the world, the cares of the world, the business of the world, the money of the world, the pleasures of the world, and the desire to keep in with the world. This is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually being crushed against and destroyed. They don't object to any of the truths of the Christian faith. They do not deliberately choose evil, and openly rebel against God. They hope somehow to get to heaven in the end; and they think it is proper to have some religion. But they cannot give up their idol: they must have the world. And so after running well and longing for heaven while boys and girls, they turn aside when they become men and women, and go down the broad way which leads to destruction. They begin with Abraham and Moses, and end with Demas and Lot's wife.

The last day alone will prove how many souls "the world" has slain. Hundreds will be found to have been trained in Christian homes, and to have known the Gospel from their very childhood, and yet missed heaven. They left the harbor of home with bright prospects, and launched forth on the ocean of life with a father's blessing and a mother's prayers, and then turned from the right course through the seductions of the world, and ended their voyage on the reef and in misery. It is a sorrowful story to tell; but it is all too common! I can clearly see why Paul says, "Come out from them and be separate."



	About the Author J.C. Ryle (1815-1900). Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of the first in modern times to rediscover the writings of Bishop J.C. Ryle, whose name had been all but forgotten by the 1930’s, but whose writings at one time were sold by the millions all around the world. Lloyd-Jones said that he just happened to "stumble across" Ryle's Holiness in the 1930's in a second-hand bookshop. "I shall never forget the satisfaction – spiritual and mental – with which I read it." His works have been characterized as “a distillation of true Puritan theology presented in a highly readable and modern form." As a minister, he is considered one of the greatest of the Victorian evangelicals, and man whom Charles Spurgeon described as "the best man in the Church of England." He was converted at Oxford in 1837, so thoroughly that it was to have a profound effect on his later ministry, as he related nearly 40 years later: “Nothing I can remember to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct as my own sinfulness, Christ's preciousness, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity of coming out of the world, the need of being born again and the enormous folly of the whole doctrine of baptismal regeneration....People may account for such a change as they like; my own belief is that … it was what the Bible calls "conversion" or "regeneration" ... and nothing to my mind can account for it, but the free sovereign grace of God." In his ministry, he relentlessly called for the reformation of the Church of England, both its clergy and laity, and especially focused on those whose lives did not match their professions. It is said he "… aimed at four things: the evangelising of English people; the purging of the English national Church; the uniting of English Christians; and the holiness of English believers." The World: A Source of Great Danger to the Soul Excerpt from Practical Christianity by J.C. Ryle "The World": A Biblical Definition By "the world," I do not mean the material world on the face of which we are living and moving. When I speak of "the world" in this paper, I mean those people who think chiefly of this world's things, and neglect the world to come-the people who are always thinking more of earth than of heaven, more of time than of eternity, more of body than the soul, more of pleasing man than of pleasing God. It is of them and their ways, habits, customs, opinions, practices, tastes, aims, spirit, and tone, that I am speaking when I speak of "the world." This is the world from which Paul tells us to "Come out and be separate." Now "the world," in this sense, is an enemy to the soul. There are three things which a professing Christian must renounce and give up, and three enemies which he must fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and "the world." All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved. Let us then turn to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. If the texts I am about to quote do not prove that the world is a source of danger to the soul, then there is no meaning in words. Let us hear what the Apostle Paul says: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2) "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God." (1 Cor. 2:12) "Christ gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age [world]." (Gal. 1:4) "You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world." (Eph. 2:1-2) "Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me" (2 Tim. 4:10) Let us hear what James says: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (Jas. 1:27) "Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." (Jas. 4:4) Let us hear what John says: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:15-17) "The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1) "They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them." (1 John 4:5) "Everyone born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5:4) "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19) Let us hear, lastly, what the Lord Jesus Christ says: "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life [this world] and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." (Matt. 13:22) "You are of this world; I am not of this world." (John 8:23) "The world cannot accept Him [Holy Spirit], because it neither sees Him nor knows Him." (John 14:17) "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first." (John 15:18) "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:19) "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:16) Conclusion I make no comment on those texts. They speak for themselves. If any one can read them carefully, and fail to see that "the world" is an enemy to the Christian's soul, and that there is an utter opposition between the friendship of the world and the friendship of Christ, he is past the reach of argument, and it is a waste of time to reason with him. To my eyes they contain a lesson as clear as the sun at noon day. I turn from Scriptures to matters of fact and experience. I appeal to any old Christian who keeps his eyes open, and knows what is going on in the Churches. I ask him whether it is not true that nothing damages the cause of Christianity so much as "the world?" It is not open sin, or open unbelief, which robs Christ of His professing servants, so much as the love of the world, the fear of the world, the cares of the world, the business of the world, the money of the world, the pleasures of the world, and the desire to keep in with the world. This is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually being crushed against and destroyed. They don't object to any of the truths of the Christian faith. They do not deliberately choose evil, and openly rebel against God. They hope somehow to get to heaven in the end; and they think it is proper to have some religion. But they cannot give up their idol: they must have the world. And so after running well and longing for heaven while boys and girls, they turn aside when they become men and women, and go down the broad way which leads to destruction. They begin with Abraham and Moses, and end with Demas and Lot's wife. The last day alone will prove how many souls "the world" has slain. Hundreds will be found to have been trained in Christian homes, and to have known the Gospel from their very childhood, and yet missed heaven. They left the harbor of home with bright prospects, and launched forth on the ocean of life with a father's blessing and a mother's prayers, and then turned from the right course through the seductions of the world, and ended their voyage on the reef and in misery. It is a sorrowful story to tell; but it is all too common! I can clearly see why Paul says, "Come out from them and be separate."