Self-Inquiry: from An Illustrated Summary of J.C. Ryle's Practical Religion

This is a chapter from J.C. Ryle's classic book Practical Religion.

SELF-INQUIRY

"Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord, and see how they do." Acts 15:36

This text contains a proposal the apostle Paul made to Barnabas after their first missionary journey. He proposed revisiting the churches they had been the means of founding to see how they were getting on. Were their members continuing steadfast in the faith? Were they growing in grace? Were they going forward or standing still? Were they prospering or falling away? "Let us go again ... and see how they do."

That was a wise and useful proposal we today can take to heart and apply to ourselves. If ever self-inquiry about religion was needed, it is needed now. We live in an age of spiritual privileges. There is more taught of the real Gospel and the way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ in one week in many parts of the world than there was in one year in most times and places. Are we any better for it? What is the true state of our souls?

We also live in an age of peculiar spiritual danger. A painfully large proportion of all congregations consists of unconverted people who know nothing of heart religion, never come to the Lord's Table, and never confess Christ in their daily lives. Our Lord's Parable of the Sower describes this situation: the hard-path hearers, the rocky-ground hearers, and thorny-ground hearers abound on every side. 

The life of many religious people, I fear,  is nothing better than a continual course of spiritual shot glasses. There is a craving for fresh excitement. All preaching seems alike to them and they appear unable to see differences, so long as they hear what is clever, have their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd. Many take a sensational or sentimental approach to religion, never content with the "ancient paths," and like the Athenians in Paul's day, always "telling or hearing something new." It is increasingly rare to see a calm-minded believer who is not stuck up, self-confident, self-conceited, and more ready to teach than learn, but content with a daily steady effort to grow up into Christ's likeness and to do His will quietly in their spheres of influence. Surely in times like these there is great need for self-examination.

I invite every reader to join me in calm, searching self-examination, speaking to myself as well as to you, for I approach you not as an enemy, but as a friend. "My heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may be saved" (Romans 10:1). Bear with me if I say things that at first sight seem hard. Believe me, he is your best friend who tells you the most truth.

1. Do we ever think about our souls at all? From the beginning of the year to the end, most people are absorbed in the pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self-indulgence of one kind or another. Death, judgment, eternity, heaven, hell, and a world to come are never calmly looked at and considered. They live on as if they were never going to die or rise again or stand before God to receive an eternal sentence. Many do not openly oppose religion, for they have not thought much about it, but they eat, drink, sleep, and get and spend money as if religion were a mere fiction and not a reality. They  never think about God unless frightened for a few minutes by sickness, death in their family, or an accident. Barring such interruptions, they appear to ignore religion altogether  and hold on their way cool and undisturbed, as if there were nothing worth thinking of except this world.

It is hard to imagine a life more unworthy of an immortal creature than such a life as I have just described, for it reduces man to the level of a beast. Like the people the Jewish prophets tried to reach, they do not "consider their ways," "consider their latter end," or "consider that they do evil" (Isaiah 1:3; Haggai 1:7; Deuteronomy 32:29; Ecclesiastes 5:1). Like Gallio the Roman proconsul, they pay "no attention to any of this" (Acts 18:17). Think about the class of people I have been describing, and then look at your own soul.

2. Do we ever do anything about our souls? There are multitudes who think occasionally about religion, but unhappily never get beyond thinking. After a stirring sermon or funeral, when under the pressure of illness or family trouble, when they meet some bright example of a Christian, or read a striking religious article or book, they will at the time think a good deal, and even talk a little about religion in a vague way. But they stop short, as if thinking and talking were enough to save them. They are always meaning, intending, purposing, resolving, wishing, and telling us they know what is right, and hope to be found right at last, but they never attain to any action. There is no actual separation from service to the world and sin, no real taking up the cross and following Christ, no positive doing in their Christianity.

Their life is spent in playing the part of the son in our Lord's parable to whom the father said, "Go, work in my vineyard." He said he would go, but he did not (Matthew 21:30). They are like those the prophet Ezekiel described who liked his preaching, but never practiced what he preached. God Himself says of them, "You are to them like one who sings a lovely song with a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: they hear your words, but do not do them" (Ezekiel 33:31-32). In a day like this, when hearing and thinking without doing is so common, no one can justly wonder that I press upon all the absolute need for self-examination.

3. Are we trying to satisfy our consciences with a mere formal religion? There are myriads at this moment making shipwreck on this rock. Like the Pharisees of old, they make much ado about the outward part of Christianity while the inward and spiritual part is totally neglected. They are careful to attend services at their place of worship, attach importance to certain days, and are often keen partisans, ready to contend with anyone who does not agree with them. Yet anyone who knows them well can see their affections are set on things below, not on things above, and that they are trying to make up for the lack of inward Christianity by an excessive quantity of outward form.

This formal religion does them no good. They are not satisfied. Beginning at the wrong end, making outward things first, they know nothing of inward joy and peace, passing their lives in a constant struggle, secretly conscious there is something wrong and yet not knowing why. If you love life, do not be content with the husk, shell, and scaffolding of religion. Remember our Savior's words about the Jewish formalists of His and Isaiah's day: "This people draws near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship" (Matthew 15:7-9; Isaiah 29:13). It requires more than going to church and receiving the Lord's Supper to take our souls to heaven. Means of grace and forms of religion are useful in their way, and God seldom does anything for His church without them. But let us beware of becoming shipwrecked on the very lighthouse meant to show us the way into the harbor.

More than scaffolding is needed.

4. Have we received the forgiveness of our sins? Few reasonable people would deny they are sinners. Many would say they are not so bad as others, and that they have not been so very wicked, but who can honestly say they have never done, said, or thought a wrong thing? As sinners we are guilty before our perfectly righteous God, and as guilty, we must be forgiven or condemned on Judgment Day. It is the glory of the Christian religion that it provides for us the very forgiveness we need: full, free, perfect, eternal, and complete.

This forgiveness of sins has been purchased for us by the eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has purchased it for us by coming into the world to be our Savior by living, dying, and rising again as our Substitute, on our behalf. He has bought it for us at the price of His own most precious blood, by suffering in our place on the cross and making satisfaction for our sins. But this forgiveness—as great, full, and glorious as it is—does not become the property of every man, woman, and child as a matter or course. It is not a privilege that every member of a church possesses. It is a thing each individual must receive for himself by his own personal faith, lay hold on by faith, appropriate by faith, and make his own by faith. If not, as far as he or she is concerned, Christ will have died in vain. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).

No terms can be imagined more simple and more suitable to man. It is only faith that is required, and faith is nothing more than the humble, heartfelt trust of the soul that desires to be saved. Jesus is able and willing to save, but man must come to Jesus and believe. All who so believe are at once justified and forgiven, but without believing there is no forgiveness at all.

Here is exactly the point, I am afraid, where multitudes of people fail and are in imminent danger of being lost forever. They know there is no forgiveness of sin except in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate. But here they stop and go no further. They never come to the point of actually laying hold of Christ by faith and becoming one with Christ, and Christ in them. They can say He is the Savior, but not my Savior; the Redeemer, but not my Redeemer, so they live and die unforgiven. It is no wonder Martin Luther said that many are lost because they cannot use possessive pronouns. How about you? Never forget two things: There is such a thing as having our sins forgiven while we live, and there is such a thing as knowing and feeling that we are forgiven.

5. Do we know anything by experience of conversion to God? Without conversion, there is no salvation. "Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven." "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." "If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (Matthew 18:3; John 3:3; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are all by nature so weak, worldly, earthly minded, and inclined to sin that without a thorough change, we cannot serve God in life and could not enjoy Him after death. Just as ducks take naturally to water soon after they are hatched, so do children: as soon as they physically can do anything, they take to selfishness, lying, and deceit. None pray or love God unless they are taught. We all need a complete change that it is the special office of the Holy Spirit to give us. Whether you call this change the new birth, regeneration, renewal, new creation, quickening, or repentance, the thing must be had if we are to be saved, and if we have it, it will be seen.

An awareness of sin and deep hatred for it, faith in Christ and love for Him, delight in holiness and a longing for more of it, a love for God's people and lack of worldliness: these are signs and evidences that always accompany conversion. Myriads around us know nothing about it. They are, in Scripture language, dead, asleep, blind, and unfit for the Kingdom of God. Sometimes they flatter themselves that they are born again because they have been baptized and go to church, but they are destitute of the marks of the new birth as described by John in his first letter. No doubt there are plenty of sham conversions, but bad coin is no proof that there is no good money: rather, it is a sign there is true currency that is valuable and worth imitation. Hypocrites and phony Christians are indirect evidence that there is such a thing as real grace among men. Let us search our own hearts then and see how it is with ourselves.

Good changes take place in the truly converted.

6. Do we know anything of practical Christian holiness? It is certain that "without holiness, no one shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). It is equally certain that holiness is the invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only sound evidence of indwelling grace, and the certain consequence of vital union with Christ. Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults. Nothing of the kind! Perfection is for heaven and not for earth, where we have a weak body, a wicked world, and a busy devil continually near our souls. Nor is real Christian holiness ever attained or maintained without a constant fight and struggle. The great apostle who said, "I fight, I labor, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Corinthians 9:27) would be horrified to hear popular false teaching today that sanctification is without personal exertion and that believers need only sit still and everything will be done for them!

As weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is a real true thing and has a character about it as unmistakable as salt and light. It will be seen much more than heard. Genuine biblical holiness will lead a person do his or her duty at home and work in the little trials of daily life. It will exhibit itself in passive graces as well as in active. It will make a person humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go out of the world and shut himself up in a cave, like a hermit, but will make him do his duty in the state to which God has called him, on Christian principles and after the pattern of Christ.

Such holiness is not common. It is a style of practical Christianity that is painfully rare these days, but there is no other standard of holiness  that comes up to the pictures drawn by our Lord and His apostles in the Word of God. 

7. Do we know anything of enjoying the means of grace? When I speak of the means of grace, I have in mind five principle things: reading the Bible, private prayer, public worship, the Lord's Supper, and the rest of the Lord's Day. They are means God has graciously appointed to keep up the spiritual life after it has begun. The state of a person's soul depends greatly on the manner and spirit in which he or she uses the means of grace. Many people use them regularly and formally as mere duties, but know nothing of enjoying them. 

This formal, mechanical use of holy things is worthless and unprofitable. Our feeling about them is one of the many tests of the state of our souls. How can a man suppose he is ready to meet Christ if he never takes any trouble to pour out his heart to Him in private as a Friend, but is satisfied with saying a string of words every morning and evening labeled "prayer," scarcely thinking what he is praying about? How could a woman be happy in heaven forever who finds Sunday a dull day, who knows nothing of hearty prayer and praise, and cares nothing whether she hears truth or error from the pulpit, or scarcely listens to the sermon? What can be the spiritual condition of the man or woman whose heart and mind is never moved by the bread and wine that remind us of Christ's very real and painful sacrifice on the cross for the atonement of sin?

These inquiries are very serious and important. If the means of grace had no other use, and were not mighty helps towards heaven, they would be useful in supplying a test of our real state in the sight of God. Tell me what a man does in the matter of Bible reading, prayer, Sunday worship, and the Lord's Supper and I will soon tell you what he is and on what road he is traveling. How do you do in these matters?

8. Do we ever try to do any good in the world? Our Lord Jesus Christ was continually "going about doing good" while He was on earth (Acts 10:38). The apostles, and all the disciples in Bible times, were always striving to walk in His steps. A "Christian" who was content to go to heaven himself but did not care what became of others, whether they lived happy and died in peace or not, would have been regarded as a kind of monster in biblical times, clearly devoid of the Spirit of Christ. Why should we suppose for a moment that a lower standard will suffice in the present day? Why should a fig tree that bears no fruit be spared in the present day when in our Lord's time it was cut down for using up the ground (Luke 13:6-7)? These are serious inquiries that demand serious answers. 

There is a generation of professing Christians who seem to know nothing of caring for their neighbors, wholly swallowed up in their own family concerns. They eat, drink, sleep, dress, work, and get and spend money year after year, but whether others are happy or miserable, well or ill, converted or unconverted, traveling toward heaven or toward hell appear to be questions about which they are supremely indifferent. How can that be reconciled with the religion of Him who spoke the Parable of the Good Samaritan, telling us to "go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37)?

There is much to be done on every side. There is no place  where there is not a field for work and an open door for being useful if anyone is willing to enter it. There is not a Christian who cannot find some good work to do for others if he or she has the heart to do it. The poorest man or woman, without a single penny to give, can always show his or her deep sympathy to the sick and sorrowful, and by simple good nature and tender helpfulness, lessen the misery and increase the comfort of someone in this troubled world. But so many professing Christians, whether rich or poor, seem possessed with a devil of detestable selfishness. They can argue about baptism, the Lord’s Supper, worship, music, and other subjects, but  seem to care nothing for their neighbors.

The plain practical point, whether they love their neighbor as the Samaritan loved the traveler in the parable, and can spare time and trouble to do him good, is a point they never touch with one of their fingers. In too many churches, true love seems almost dead, and wretched party-spirit and controversy are the only fruits that Christianity appears able to produce.  Do you ever try to do any good to anyone beside your own friends and relatives, and your own party or cause?

9. Do we know anything of living in habitual communion with Christ? By communion I mean what Jesus speaks of as abiding in Him as essential for Christian fruitfulness (John 15:4-8). Let it be distinctly understood that union with Christ is one thing, and communion is another. There can be no communion with the Lord Jesus without union first, but unhappily there may be union and afterwards little or no communion at all. Union is the common privilege of all who feel their sins and truly repent, coming to Christ by faith and thereby accepted, forgiven, and justified in Him. Some, however, partly by ignorance, laziness, fear, or attachment to something unworthy, are content with just a little faith, hope, peace, and holiness. They live in doubt, are weak, and bear little spiritual fruit.

Communion with Christ is the privilege of those who are continually striving to grow in grace, faith, knowledge, and conformity to the mind of Christ in all things. They do not "look to the things behind" or "consider themselves to have attained," but "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-16). Union is the bud, but communion is the flower; union is the baby, but communion is the full-grown man or woman. He who has union with Christ does well, but he or she who enjoys communion with Him does far better.

The secret of communion with Christ is to be continually living a life of faith in Him, consciously depending on Him for the supply that every hour requires. "To me," said Paul, "to live in Christ. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Philippians 1:21; Galatians 2:20; Matthew 6:11, 34). Communion like this will "fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13). The apostle Peter tells us that Christ's "divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). Faithful Christians throughout church history have used the divine nature Christ implanted in them boldly and confidently, becoming "more than conquerors through Him who loves us" (Romans 8:37). Like Paul they said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). 

The churches of these latter days are full of weak, powerless, and uninfluential believers, saved at last, "but so as by fire," never "turning the world upside down" and knowing nothing of an "abundant entrance" (1 Corinthians 3:15; Acts 17:6; 2 Peter 1:11). In the Christian classic The Pilgrim's Progress, the allegorical characters Despondency, Feeble-mind, and Much-afraid reached the Celestial City as really and truly as Valiant-for-truth and Greatheart. But they certainly did not reach it with the same comfort and did only a fraction of the same good in the world. In the matter of vital communion with Christ, how are you doing?

10. Last, are we ready for Christ's second coming? He is coming back for sure. The world has not seen the last of Him. We have it on His own authority as well as that of angelic eyewitnesses that as surely as the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven bodily on the Mount of Olives, so He will come again, "with power and great glory" (Acts 1:11-12; Matthew 24:30-31). He will come to raise the dead, change the living, reward His saints, punish the wicked, and renew the earth, taking away its curse and setting up a Kingdom where sin shall have no place and holiness shall be the universal way of life.

Are we living as if we long to see Christ return and love His appearing? Readiness for that appearing is nothing more than being a real, consistent Christian. It requires no man to cease from his daily business. Each and all cannot do better than be found doing his or her duty, but doing it as a Christian with a heart packed up and ready to be gone. The majority of professing Christians seem like the people in the times of Noah and Lot, who were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and building up to the day when flood and fire came. These words of our Master are very solemn and heart searching: "Remember Lot's wife. Take heed lest at any time your heart is preoccupied with the cares of this life, and that Day comes upon you unexpectedly" (Luke 17:32; 21:34). In the matter of readiness for Christ's second coming, how are you doing?

I end my inquiries here. I might easily add to them, but I trust I have said enough to stir up self-inquiry and self-examination. God is my witness that I have said nothing that I do not feel of paramount importance to my own soul. I only want to do good to others. Let me conclude with five points of application:

A. Is anyone reading this asleep and utterly thoughtless about religion? Awake and sleep no more! Look at the cemeteries. One by one the people around you are dropping into them, and one day you must lie there. Look to the world to come and lay your hand on your heart and say, if you dare, that you are fit to die and meet God. You are like one sleeping in a boat drifting down a stream toward the Niagara Falls! "Why are you sleeping at a time like this? Arise and call upon your God! Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Jonah 1:6; Ephesians 5:14).

B. Is anyone reading this feeling self-condemned and afraid there is no hope for his or her soul? Cast aside your fears and accept the offer of the Lord Jesus Christ to sinners. Hear Him saying, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). "Whoever comes to Me I never cast out" (John 6:37). Do not doubt that these words are for you as well as for anyone else. Bring all your sins, unbelief, sense of guilt, unfitness, doubts, and weaknesses—bring them all to Christ. "This Man receives sinners," and He will receive you (Luke 15:2). Do not stand still, halting between two opinions, waiting for a convenient season. "Get up, He is calling you!" (Mark 10:49). Come to Christ this very day.

C. Is anyone reading this a professing believer in Christ, but without much joy, peace, and comfort? Search your own heart and see whether the fault lies with you. Very likely you are sitting at ease, content with only a little faith, repentance, grace, and sanctification, unconsciously shrinking back from spiritual effort. Change your plan without delay if you love life and would see good days. Come out boldly and act decidedly. Be thorough, very thorough, in your Christianity, Lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset you. Strive to get nearer to Christ to abide in Him, cleave to Him, and sit at His feel like Mary, drinking full cups from the fountain of life. "These things we write to you that your joy may be full.... If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:4, 7).

D. Is anyone reading this a believer oppressed with doubts and fears because of his or her feebleness, infirmity, and sense of sin? Remember the text that says of Jesus, "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench" (Matthew 12:20). Take comfort in the thought that this text is for you. If your faith is weak, it is better than no faith at all. The least grain of life is better than death. Perhaps you are expecting too much in this world. Earth is not heaven. You are in a fallen human body not yet refashioned. Expect little from self, but much from Christ. Look more to Jesus and less to self.

E. Is anyone reading this sometimes downcast by the trials he or she meets with on the way to heaven: bodily trials, family trials, and trials of circumstances from neighbors or the world? Look up to a sympathizing Savior at God's right hand, and pour out your heart to Him. "Because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). Are you alone? So was He. Are you misrepresented? So was He. Are you forsaken by friends? So was He. Are you persecuted? So was He. Are you weary in body and grieved in spirit? So was He. The Lord Jesus can feel for you, and He can help as well as feel. Learn to draw nearer to Him. Time is short. "Surely there is an end and your hope will not be cut off" (Proverbs 23:18). "You have need of patience so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. In just a little while, the Coming One will come and will not delay" (Hebrews 10:36-37).