Academic
Rediscovering Holiness
Outline: Whatever Happened to Holiness? "There was a time," writes J. I. Packer in Rediscovering Holiness, "when all Christians laid great emphasis on God's call to holiness. But how different it is today! To listen to our sermons and to read the books we write, and then to watch the zany, worldly, quarrelsome way we behave, you would never imagine that once the highway of holiness was clearly marked out for Bible-believers." In Rediscovering Holiness, the highway is once more clearly marked out for us, pointing to true freedom and joy-both now and in eternity.
The Pursuit of Holiness, and Why It Matters.
Dr. J. I. Packer contends that, to our own peril, we modern Christians have largely lost our vital heritage of holiness. Now we must rediscover the call to personal holiness or suffer grave consequences. In our age too many of us have been enthralled by "the euphoric, sin-spawned confidence that human endeavor in science, education, the harnessing of nature, and the increase of wealth would generate human happiness to the point of achieving something like heaven on earth," J. I. Packer writes, "It ends, however with note of these hopes realized, but with sickening memories of many great evils committed, and with hearts everywhere full of restless and gloomy unease regarding humanity's future prospects and life's present worth." In Rediscovering Holiness, Dr. Packer provides Christians with a road map for the journey which will increase our assurance and joy and usefulness to God. He describes the pursuit of holiness as nothing less than a lifelong passion for loving God and following his ways, drawing upon the Bible and the teaching of prominent Christian leaders like Andrew Murray and Charles Ryle. On our journey, we must first realize our desperate need for God and inability to pursue him on our own strength. Like the psalmist, we cry out for help and salvation. Then, guided by God's saving grace, we can begin to experience the joy-filled life of repentance and become more like Christ. But in the peaks and valleys of life, we need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the discipline of endurance to light the way, lest we stumble. Even in our darkest moments, the promise of God is sure: if we cleave to Christ, God our Father will delight in us; and we, in him. We will experience a profound joy and happiness in God's presence - a sense of coming home.
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