‘If you put up with a few little sins, you will soon want a few more. Even as an unbeliever, Juvenal* could say, “Whoever was content with only one sin?” Your path will be regularly worse and worse every year. Jeremy Taylor* aptly described the progress of sin in a man: “First it startles him, then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed! Then the man is impenitent, then obstinate, then resolves never to repent, and then he is damned.”

‘Young men, if you do not want to come to this, remember the rule I am giving you today: resolve at once to renounce every known sin.’

-J.C. Ryle (d. 1900 AD), Thoughts for Young Men, chap 4

*Juvenal (34-12 AD) was a Roman satirical poet.

*J. Taylor (1613-1667 AD) was a Church of England minister.

(GSiV: Ân điển, chứ không phải những quy tắc / Grace not rules; Gospel Grace Versus Dead Religion–part 6; Sanctification (Sự nên thánh): Erickson–part 1; Earning vs effort: grace, justification, and sanctification; Jerry Bridges; Holiness according to the resources available to us in Christ )