It is to be feared, that a secret wish to be saved without holiness, is the great bar to our progress towards perfection. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
It is a sad commentary on the human race that it is opposed to true holiness from beginning to end, but it is even sadder to think that profession believers desire to be saved from hell but not saved from sin itself. We want to be saved from the guilt of and punishment for sin, but we don’t really want to be saved from self and the desires of self. The wicked hearts of human beings want God to save them from all things that will harm them as long as it does not disturb their pride and their essential desire for self and the things of self. The ubiquitous self is every place and in every location of the heart and mind. It is the greatest desire of the heart and that self will use God to get what it wants and it will pursue religion for the safety of its own honor and self-preservation. But apart from a great work of God and of His power in the soul, people desire to be saved from various sins without being saved from the essential nature of sin itself.
What does it say about a heart that desires for God to save it from the guilt of sin and yet does not turn from sin itself and has no real desire to do so? Indeed the heart may have some desires to flee from some sin because of the pain sin causes, some results of sin, or perhaps because of appearances, but it does not hate sin as sin or hate sin as against God. Despite the fact that holiness is to be like God and in reality (in terms of holiness) all the soul can do is receive from God, people are averse to holiness and do not want to repent of sin. Throughout history people have fought against holiness and called those who pursued it derogatory names.
The desire to be saved without holiness has brought forth various theologies that are heretical. Men will defend their desires for sinful things by changing theology rather than being changed themselves. Men will go on the attack of those who think that men should seek holiness in order to defend their own sinful practices. It is much like Romans 1:18-32 where people have to suppress the knowledge of God in unrighteousness in order to continue their own wicked practices, so it should come as no surprise when men do that in areas of theology and holiness.
There is no doubt that many want to be saved without holiness, but what is salvation without holiness? Indeed a lack of desire for holiness, to be like Christ, and to glorify the Father will never lead to maturity, but what can it mean to want to be saved without holiness? In a very real sense that is the same thing as saying a person can be saved without love, and yet we know that is impossible. So what Adam is most likely saying is that some people want some holiness but they don’t want to take pains with it and they really don’t want to die to self. This should grieve our hearts to think about it. Paul taught in the Scriptures, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). It is hard to imagine a believer that would not want to be shed of the burden of sin more and more. So the very least thing we can say is with Adam, a lack of desire for holiness is a great bar to our progress.
God Loves... Himself 
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