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Romeo Fernando

Sanctification - Purification - Inner healing • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Sanctification

Healing

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HOW TO GET RID OF AFTER EFFECTS OF SIN - BRY BRINGIN ALL BEFORE THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO SANCTIFES US

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AFTER CONFESSION I NEED TO BE SANCTIFIED

The Holy Spirit come to sanctify :

After very sin, we loose some graces and giftings

Need to be be restored and gained

Mind needs to cleared of blocks

POWER

# “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” .

CLEANSES OUR CONSCIENCE FROM DEAD WORKS

# 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Holy Spirit is the Helper

# i

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper. () The Helper will guide us into all the truth, convicting us of sin, of righteousness, and judgement. ()

8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin,

and of righteousness,

and of judgment: of sin,

because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, nbut you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, othe Spirit of truth, has come, pHe will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 qHe will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 rAll things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He 3will take of Mine and declare it to you. We will get to see ourselves, what dwells in our flesh, through the Spirit in the light of God’s Word.

The Holy Spirit gives us power for victory over conscious sin. It is written, if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

() Walking in the Spirit

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

If we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we won’t become high-minded, provoking and envying one another.

()

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Think of the fellowship that grows out of this work of the Spirit,

as the fruits of the Spirit grow in us more and more!

By Brunstad Christian Church

What does the Holy Spirit do for us?

Anything of eternal value in this life and in eternity comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Written by William Kennedy

What does the Holy Spirit do?

What does the Holy Spirit do for us? Anything of eternal value in this life and in eternity comes through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we want to follow Jesus and see that we need help to do so, God gives us His Holy Spirit. We need simply to ask for it, and be obedient. (; ) Once we become disciples and have received the Holy Spirit, He begins a work in us, to transform us into the image of Christ. () Disciples set their minds on the things of the Spirit, and they will be led into life and peace.

The Holy Spirit gives power

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” .

What is this power from the Holy Spirit for? Paul testified that it was his “earnest expectation and hope” that by life or death Jesus would be magnified in his body. () What greater task does the Holy Spirit have than to empower His disciples to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, and that His life would be manifested as we bear in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus? () We bear witness to Jesus Christ in this way. We absolutely cannot do this in our own strength, only through the power the Holy Spirit gives us.

Jesus opened a new and living way through His flesh, through the Eternal Spirit, and offered Himself without spot to God, so that we too could serve the living God in those works that God intended for us. (; ) The Holy Spirit will lead and empower us in a development to learn obedience to the Word of God in our sufferings, and be led to perfection, just as Jesus was. ()

Jesus said that His Father is glorified when His disciples bear much fruit. Those who bear fruit will get a further training so that they bear more fruit. (,) This is the process of sanctification through the Holy Spirit, which leads us to partake of Jesus’ glory (His virtues). () The power of the Holy Spirit strengthens our will to endure in this process so that we do not lose heart, but can stand firm until the end!

The Holy Spirit is the Helper

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper. () The Helper will guide us into all the truth, convicting us of sin, of righteousness, and judgement. () We will get to see ourselves, what dwells in our flesh, through the Spirit in the light of God’s Word.

The Holy Spirit gives us power for victory over conscious sin. It is written, if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. () If we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we won’t become high-minded, provoking and envying one another. () Think of the fellowship that grows out of this work of the Spirit, as the fruits of the Spirit grow in us more and more!

The Holy Spirit is our intercessor

Another task of the Holy Spirit is that of an intercessor. () He will take what is from Jesus and declare it to us. () We don’t know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit does. He leads us into many various situations in our daily life which will cause our flesh to react. These situations bring to light the sin in our flesh. We react in different ways, whether by word or action. As we think about what we’ve said or done, we get to see that sin was present. It wasn’t the virtues that came forth, but our human nature. We get to see that we did what we hated, just as Paul saw in .

These involuntary reactions from the flesh that we get light over are referred to as the “deeds of the body,” and can take the form of thoughts, words and even actions. There is no condemnation for these, because we didn’t consciously agree to sin. Yet, through the Spirit, we can still overcome these deeds of the body after they have come out of our bodies by loving and acknowledging the truth about what happened, and consciously choosing to disagree with them and hate them. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” () When the Spirit is my guide and strength, then I continue to walk in the light and can overcome in the future before it happens again.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts

Jesus gave diversities of gifts to His disciples through the Holy Spirit; gifts of healing, prophecy, tongues and interpretation, the Word of knowledge, the Word of wisdom, working of miracles, discerning of spirits, etc. The Holy Spirit works these gifts in us for the profit of all. () They are used by His disciples to build and edify Christ’s earthly body. “… till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” .

Paul exhorted to desire the best gifts but spoke about a more excellent way. He went on to describe the qualities of love, and to say that without them, we are nothing. “Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own; is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” . Let us measure ourselves against these divine qualities, and let the Holy Spirit work with us, that we can come to them in truth.

“… to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” .

An amazing calling, an amazing glory, through the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us humble ourselves deeply under God’s mighty hand, through the leading of His Spirit, so grace comes over us, so that we actually come to this fullness. So let us do as Paul exhorted Timothy, meditate on these things, give ourselves entirely to them, that our progress may be evident to all. ().

You can read more about what the Holy Spirit does on our topic page about the Holy Spirit here, or in the recommended articles below:

What is the baptism of the Spirit?

The Holy Spirit—a powerful motor

Published in Edification , Questions

JOHN PIPER

How the Spirit Sanctifies

Resource by John Piper Scripture: Topic: The Holy Spirit

I myself am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, "They shall see who have never been told of him, and they shall understand who have never heard of him."

"Sanctification" is a very irrelevant word, but it is not an irrelevant reality. It's like a hundred technical medical terms. Nobody but doctors use them, but your life depends on the reality they stand for. "Sanctification" comes from two Latin words: sanctus which means holy, and ficare which means make. So to sanctify means to make holy. But, of course, the word "holy" isn't much more relevant today than sanctification—what with "holy mackerel" and "holy cow" and "holy buckets"—we've just about ruined one of the highest and most valuable words in the Bible.

An Irrelevant Word and a Crucial Reality

I don't think there is any point in trying to invent new words for these old realities. It would take too long and by the time the new words got established people would already be using them for a banged finger. Instead, I think we should dig into the minds of the biblical authors until we see the reality they were talking about when they said "sanctified." And then, whether we use their word or not, we should make sure of the reality behind the word "sanctification." You don't ever have to use the word "insulin," but if you are a diabetic, your life may depend on the reality. You may never have heard of the word hyperopia, but you won't be able to read unless you get glasses to correct it.

As irrelevant as the word sanctification may be where you work and in your neighborhood, the reality is very crucial, very contemporary, and very relevant. Suppose you've always concealed private sources of income when filling out your tax returns. Then you come to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and begin to tell the truth on your tax returns—that's sanctification. Suppose you're always on your husband's case, and then the Word of God pricks your conscience and you begin to preach less and look for ways to show respect—that's sanctification. Suppose you're sleeping with your girlfriend, and you meet Jesus Christ and get the courage to move out—that's sanctification.

There are living images of sanctification in our world today which are more real, more authentic than all the people put together who think sanctification is passé. Malcolm Muggeridge takes Mother Teresa as an example:

I think a person like her comes into the world, not by chance, and radiates the Christian faith at its most simple, most pure, most effective level. She takes any baby that is given to her and looks after it. She brings in dying people from the streets who might live for only a quarter of an hour. When they leave this life with a loving Christian face beside them instead of one of rejection, she would say that it is well worth it. She is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the age—abortion is a horror to her, and all the attitude of mind associated with it. (Eternity, April 1984, p. 27)

When a young woman living in the security and comfort of middle class Western society moves to Calcutta in obedience to Jesus, that is sanctification, and it is not irrelevant. Don't let the irrelevance of the word mislead you. The reality is immensely important.

Three Questions About

Let's look at our text and try to answer three questions:

What is sanctification?

Why is it so important?

How can we be sanctified?

1. What Is Sanctification?

At the end of Paul says, "Grace has been given to me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." Focus for a moment on this one fact: sanctification is the goal of Paul's missionary labor. He pictures himself as a priest. His ministry as a priest is to preach the gospel. And the offerings he brings to God as a priest are Gentiles. And these Gentiles are acceptable because they are sanctified. Paul is not merely aiming for converts; he is aiming to make people sanctified.

As soon as we see clearly that the aim of Paul's missionary labor is sanctification, we can get a very clear idea of what sanctification is by reading verse 18 which describes the aim of his life in different words: "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles." What is the aim of Paul's missionary labor in this verse? Or more precisely, what does Christ aim to achieve through Paul's missionary labor? Answer: he aims to win obedience from the Gentiles.

So here's what I conclude. Since the aim of Paul's ministry in verse 16 is to present Gentiles to God who are sanctified, and in verse 18 Christ's aim in Paul's ministry is the obedience of the Gentiles, therefore sanctification means obedience to Christ. Jesus himself told us what the aim of missionary labor should be: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." The aim of Christian missions is to cause people to obey a new Commander. Sanctification is happening where the words of Jesus are being obeyed.

confirms that we've gotten on track with Paul in connecting obedience and sanctification. Verse 17: "Thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed." Then verse 19b: "For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification." If you put verse 17 beside verse 19, you see the same thing we saw in . Obedience to the teaching of Christ in verse 17 is the same as sanctification in verse 19. So the process of becoming sanctified is the process of more consistently and more fervently (note "from the heart," ) obeying Jesus Christ. (See also for another connection of sanctification and obedience.)

2. Why Is Sanctification So Important?

One of our goals at Bethlehem is to be a people with a wartime mentality and a wartime lifestyle. A people who see the warmth and beauty of spring but do not forget that vast populations of our world and vast regions of the human heart are ice-bound by unbelief; that every season of the year Satan is fighting with his forces to resist the liberation troops of the gospel and expand his own deadly kingdom. God helping us, we will not be a people with a peacetime mentality. Daffodils and tulip blossoms and Aspen leaves and carpets of grass will not make us think the millennium has come.

The war rages on right through the summer. Every new, fresh, beautiful leaf is an offer of love from God to a rebellious world. The deep blue sky and the warm sun and the cumulus clouds are a merciful call to repentance before the final storm gathers. Every softball game, every fishing trip, every hour in the garden, every day at the lake is a field of conflict. And there are a hundred ways for you to gain victory over evil in the power of Christ and advance his cause in the way you work and play this summer—if you maintain a wartime mentality.

And what Paul has done for us in and 18 is to define sanctification so that it can be a part of our wartime vocabulary. Sanctification is obeying the Commander-in-Chief. Sanctification is a wartime word. A sanctified person has unswerving commitment to his cause. A sanctified person has uncompromising loyalty to the Commander and to his comrades in arms. So whenever you think of sanctification, think of wartime missions and wartime character. It was the goal of Paul's mission strategy, and it was the radical obedience that fulfilled that goal from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum ().

3. How Does Sanctification Come About?

If we go back now to , we can see how sanctification comes about. Let's start again at the end of verse 15. The first and highest foundation of sanctification is the grace of God. According to verse 15, God's grace turned Paul into a minister of Christ. Moved by this grace, then, Paul undertakes the service of the gospel—he preaches the good news that Christ died for sinners and offers eternal joy to those who believe. According to verse 16, then, the result of this preaching is that Gentiles become sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Let's try to picture it like this. Visualize a triangle with the grace of God at the top point. The free grace of God is the foundation of everything. On one side of the triangle this grace is poured out into a man named Paul. It utterly revolutionizes his life and he becomes the ambassador of Christ preaching the gospel to Gentiles. So one of the bottom corners of the triangle is the apostle Paul. Now he moves out along the base of the triangle to preach the gospel to the unbeliever at the other corner of the triangle. The goal of this preaching is a sanctified believer (verse 16).

But verse 16 says that a person is sanctified by the Holy Spirit, not just by the preaching of the gospel. So the other side of the triangle is the power of the Holy Spirit flowing out from God's grace and opening the person's heart to receive the gospel (). Sanctification happens when the gospel preached and the Spirit poured out meet with power in the human heart.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, and most recently Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship.

SCRIPTURE ON SANCTIFICATION

What does the Bible say about sanctification?

Sanctification is defined as God’s will for us (). Throughout the Bible, sanctification is mentioned frequently as a common reminder of how to align yourself with God's command. Learn more from our list of Bible verses about sanctification below!

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesso that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

QUOTES ON SANCTIFICATION

2018 Goodreads Choice Awards

A.W. Tozer

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

Sheri Dew

“If you're serious about sanctification, you can expect to experience heart-wrenching moments that try your faith, your endurance, and your patience.”

― Sheri L. Dew, If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard: And Other

Paul David Tripp

“The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.” ― Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change

tags: christ, church, confession, conversion, forgiveness, paul-david-tripp, purpose, reconciliation, repentance, sanctification 64 likes Like

C.S. Lewis

“It would be nice and fairly nearly true, to say that 'from that time forth, Eustace was a different boy.' To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

tags: sanctification 50 likes Like

“To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God.”

― John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You

tags: god, love, sanctification, spirituality 34 likes Like

Elisabeth Elliot

“One does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime. Nor is surrender to the will of God (per se) adequate to fullness of power in Christ. Maturity is the accomplishment of years, and I can only surrender to the will of God as I know what that will is.”

― Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot

tags: discipleship, salvation, sanctification 26 likes Like

Joyce Meyer

“You can have Jesus in your spirit and have an outrageous mess in your soul.”

― Joyce Meyer

tags: sanctification 23 likes Like

Oswald Chambers

“Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.”

― Oswald Chambers

tags: christianity, saint, sanctification, sin 23 likes Like

Joyce Meyer

“You have the fruit of the spirit in you, because when Christ comes in you everything he is and has comes with him as a seed as a seed as a seed as a seed. If we can ever understand this we can finally get over being confused about what the Bible says we have compared to our experience. Everything the Bible says we have we have it. As believers in Christ it is in us, but it comes as a SEED! The Bible actually calls Christ THE Seed. Capital "S". So, I like to put it like this: When Christ first comes into your life the seed of everything God is comes into your spirit. The Bible says that the image of Christ is captured in us and that we are destined, you have a destiny, a destiny to be molded into his image of Jesus Christ. Your destiny and my destiny is to get out into the world and act like Jesus.”

― Joyce Meyer

tags: sanctification 21 likes Like

“To be in Christ -- that is redemption; but for Christ to be in you -- that is sanctification!”

― Major W. Ian Thomas

tags: christ, redemption, sanctification 21 likes Like

Martin Luther

“To progress is always to begin always to begin again”

― Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans

tags: forgiveness, progress, salvation, sanctification 14 likes Like

Richard J. Foster

“Conversion does not make us perfect, but it does catapult us into a total experience of discipleship that affects - and infects - every sphere of our living.”

― Richard J. Foster, Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups

tags: christianity, sanctification 12 likes Like

“Secondly, it is the very nature of spiritual life to grow. Wherever they principle of this life is to be found, it can be no different for it must grow. "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (); "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger" (). This refers to the children of GOd, who are compared to palm and cedar trees (). As natural as it is for children and trees to grow, so natural is growth for the regenerated children of God.

Thirdly, the growth of His children is the goal and objective God has in view by administering the means of grace to them. "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints...that we henceforth be no more children...but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head" (). This is also to be observed in : "as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, " God will reach His goal and His word will not return to Him void; thus God's children will grow in grace.

Fourthly, is is the duty to which God's children are continually exhorted, and their activity is to consist in a striving for growth. That it is their duty is to be observed in the following passages: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (); "He that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (). The nature of this activity is expressed as follows: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after" (). If it were not necessary for believers to grow the exhortations to that end would be in vain.

Some remain feeble, having but little life and strength. this can be due to a lack of nourishment, living under a barren ministry, or being without guidance. It can also be that they naturally have a slow mind and a lazy disposition; that they have strong corruptions which draw them away; that they are without much are without much strife; that they are too busy from early morning till late evening, due to heavy labor, or to having a family with many children, and thus must struggle or are poverty-stricken. Furthermore, it can be that they either do not have the opportunity to converse with the godly; that they do not avail themselves of such opportunities; or that they are lazy as far as reading in God's Word and prayer are concerned. Such persons are generally subject to many ups and downs. At one time they lift up their heads out of all their troubles, by renewal becoming serious, and they seek God with their whole heart. It does not take long, however , and they are quickly cast down in despondency - or their lusts gain the upper hand. Thus they remain feeble and are, so to speak, continually on the verge of death. Some of them occasionally make good progress, but then grieve the Spirit of God and backslide rapidly. For some this lasts for a season, after which they are restored, but others are as those who suffer from consumption - they languish until they die. Oh what a sad condition this is! (Chapter 89. Spiritual Growth, pg. 140, 142-143)”

― Wilhemus A'Brakel, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 4

tags: holiness, sanctification 11 likes Like

Rick Joyner

“We do not want to have mercy for the things God has under judgment. We do not want to fall in the ditch on the otherside of unsanctified mercy.”

― Rick Joyner

tags: judgment, love, mercy, sanctification 9 likes Like

Criss Jami

“To esteem what makes you holy over what makes you happy - that is the greatest dare.”

― Criss Jami, Healology

tags: challenge, conscience, contentment, danger, dare, determination, difficulty, esteem, flesh, fruitfulness, godly, happiness, heart, holiness, humility, joy, love, lust, passion, peace, perseverance, persistence, responsibility, righteousness, risk, sanctification, selfishness, selflessness, spirituality 3 likes Like

Alexander Whyte

“You’re not likely to err by practicing too much of the cross.”

― Alexander Whyte, Bunyan characters in the Pilgrim's progress

tags: cross, sanctification, self-denial 3 likes Like

Jonathan Edwards

“As it is with spiritual discoveries and affections given at first conversion, so it is in all subsequent illuminations and affections of that kind; they are all transforming. There is a like divine power and energy in them as in the first discoveries; they still reach the bottom of the heart, and affect and alter the very nature of the soul, in proportion to the degree in which they are given. And a transformation of nature is continued and carried on by them to the end of life, until it is brought to perfection in glory.”

― Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections

tags: sanctification, soul, transformation 2 likes Like

Stephen Altrogge

“This book is not the memoir of a contented man. It's not the poignant reflections of a white-haired guru who has finally figured out the secret to contentment. It's more like sweaty, bloody, hastily scribbled notes from a battlefield. I'm still struggling to escape the sinister fingers on this conspiracy. I'm still waging war against the discontentment that rages in my life. I can see contentment in the distance, like a hazy oasis, but I have to pick my way through a minefield to get there. I'm not the contented man God wants me to be, but I'm fighting to get there. I'm writing this book the hope that you'll join me in the fight.”

― Stephen Altrogge, The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence

tags: contentment, sanctification 2 likes Like

“Indeed is it not the case that in this matter of sanctification our tendency is always to start with ourselves, instead of starting with God? I have got this sin that is worrying me and always getting me down, this sin that defeats me, and my tendency is to say, 'What can be done about this sin, this problem of mine. How can I get rid of this thing? How can I get peace?' I start with myself and my problem, and as certainly as I do that when I am considering this doctrine of sanctification, I am sure, in some shape or form, to end by regarding God as merely an agency who is there to help me solve my problems. And this is a totally unscriptural approach to the almighty ever blessed God.”

― Martyn Lloyd-Jones

tags: god, sanctification, sin 2 likes Like

John Bunyan

“Let the Kingdom be always before you, and believe with certainty and consistency the things that are yet unseen. Let nothing that is on this side of eternal life get inside you.”

― John Bunyan

tags: belief, christianity, eternity, faith, holiness, perserverance, sanctification 2 likes Like

“Never do anything which you know perfectly well is going to be the means of temptation to you. If you know that certain things, which may not be bad in and of themselves, generally get you down and you are a worse person afterwards than you were before, do not do them; never, as it were, provide yourself with the occasion to sin.”

― Martyn Lloyd-Jones

tags: sanctification, sin, temptation 1 likes Like

C.S. Lewis

“We may be content to remain what we call 'ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

tags: humility, sanctification 1 likes Like

Sinclair B. Ferguson

“When I am tempted and feel the power of sin and its tug on my affections, the gospel gives me something to say: 'Christ bled and died for this sin—I will therefore have nothing to do with it. I am now united to Christ by the indwelling of the Spirit—how can I drag him into my sin?”

― Sinclair B. Ferguson, Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification

tags: mortification, sanctification, temptation 1 likes Like

“The Spirit in the believer's spirit penetrates and spreads throughout their whole inner being.”

― Henry Hon, ONE: Unfolding God's Eternal Purpose from House to House

tags: holiness, holy-spirit, human-spirit, inner-being, new-birth, salvation, sanctification, soul, transformation 0 likes Like

Lailah Gifty Akita

“How could be be sanctified? By avoiding sexual immorality.”

― Lailah Gifty Akita

tags: adultery, christian, prostitution, sanctification, sex, sexual-immorality, sin 0 likes Like

“See, then, dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, in the sanctification of the Levite the type of your own separation unto God. Like them, " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price," (, .) You belong wholly and entirely to Him who purchased you with His own most precious blood. You are the exclusive property of Him who laid down His life for you; to Him you owe everything; and being set apart unto Him, neither the world, the flesh, nor the devil have any longer the slightest claim on you. You are "debtors," but "not to the flesh." Your ransomed body, soul, and spirit, saved from destruction by the blood of the Lamb, are, from the moment of your deliverance, the Lord's, and His alone. And you are His for ever: a Levite could never return to the position of an ordinary Israelite, nor can you ever belong to any one else but the living God. You are one of a "peculiar people," a "royal priesthood," the saints of the Most High. You may, alas! often forget your wondrous position, and walk unworthily of Him who has "called you unto His kingdom and glory." But thanks be unto God, the same that said, "I sanctified them for myself," said also, "Mine they shall be. I am Jehovah," (.) -- Stevenson Blackwood, The Shadow and The Substance”

― Stevenson A. Blackwood

tags: belonging-to-god, royal-priesthood, sanctification, set-apart 0 likes Like

Ian Morgan Cron

“Christianity is not something you do, so much as something that is done to you.”

― Ian Morgan Cron, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

tags: change, christianity, discipleship, faith, growth, sanctification, transformation 0 likes Like

Marilynne Robinson

“There is never just one transgression. There is a wound in the flesh of human life that scars when it heals and often enough seems never to heal at all.”

― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

tags: christianity, forgiveness, salvation, sanctification, sin 0 likes Like

Sinclair B. Ferguson

“If you are going to resist the desires of the flesh (negative), you will need to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and walk according to his disciplines (positive).”

― Sinclair B. Ferguson, Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification

tags: sanctification 0 likes Like

Lailah Gifty Akita

“The soul can only be sanctified with the Truth!”

― Lailah Gifty Akita

tags: inspirational, sanctification, sanctified, soul, truth 0 likes Like

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100 Quotes from You on Sanctification

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JUNE 29, 2012

100 Quotes from You on Sanctification

Article by Jonathan Parnell

Pastor, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Without further ado . . . the randomly selected winner of the quote contest is Andrew Donth, who shared some Spurgeon with us. Here's the quote:

Charles Spurgeon: "If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterward." (Sermon, "Justification by Grace")

Thanks to all of those who participated in the "send us a quote" contest that began on Monday. We have received hundreds on sanctification, the theme of our National Conference. There were so many that we literally cannot fit them into one blog post (I tried). So I've whittled the list down to 100 for you to spread or archive.

100 Impactful Quotes

A. W. Tozer: "We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by. We must take refuge from God in God. Above all we must believe that God sees us perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of His holiness" (The Knowledge of the Holy, 107).

J. C. Ryle: "Tell the young, tell the poor, tell the aged, tell the ignorant, tell the sick, tell the dying — tell them all about Christ. Tell them of His power, and tell them of His love; tell them of His doings, and tell them of His feelings; tell them what He has done for the chief of sinners; tell them what He is willing to do until the last day of time; tell it to them over and over again. Never be tired of speaking of Christ. Say to them broadly and fully, freely and unconditionally, unreservedly and undoubtingly, ‘Come unto Christ, as the penitent thief did; come unto Christ, and you shall be saved.'" (Sermon, "Christ's Greatest Trophy")

C. H. Spurgeon: "If heaven were by merit, it would never be heaven to me, for if I were in it I should say, “I am sure I am here by mistake; I am sure this is not my place; I have no claim to it.” But if it be of grace and not of works, then we may walk into heaven with boldness." (Sermons, 6.354.)

Jerry Bridges:"Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. To say it another way: Grace and works are mutually exclusive. As Paul said in , “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” Our relationship with God is based on either works or grace. There is never a works-plus-grace relationship with Him." (Transforming Grace, 22)

R. C. Sproul: "Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him… To love a holy God requires grace, grace strong enough to pierce our hardened hearts and awaken our moribund souls." (The Holiness of God)

Horatius Bonar: "Grace burst forth spontaneously from the bosom of eternal love and rested not until it had removed every impediment and found its way to the sinner's side, swelling round him in full flow. Grace does away the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had created. Grace meets the sinner on the spot where he stands; grace approaches him just as he is. Grace does not wait till there is something to attract it nor till a good reason is found in the sinner for its flowing to him... It was free, sovereign grace when it first thought of the sinner; it was free grace when it found and laid hold of him; and it is free grace when it hands him up into glory." (Sermon, "God's Purpose of Grace")

Martyn Lloyd-Jones ON IMPULSE TO PRAY!

"Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse. Where does it come from? It is the work of the Holy Spirit (). This often leads to some of the most remarkable experiences in the life of the minister. So never resist, never postpone it, never push it aside because you are busy. Give yourself to it, yield to it; and you will find not only that you have not been wasting time with respect to the matter with which you are dealing but that actually it has helped you greatly in that respect. You will experience an ease and a facility in understanding what you were reading, in thinking, in ordering matter for a sermon, in writing, in everything which is quite astonishing. Such a call to prayer must never be regarded as a distraction; always respond to it immediately, and thank God if it happens to you frequently." (Preaching & Preachers, 170-171)

J.C. Ryle: "In justification the word to be addressed to man is believe — only believe; in sanctification the word must be 'watch, pray, and fight.'" (Holiness, ix)

John Owen:

"He does not so work our mortification in us as not to keep it still an act of our obedience. The Holy Ghost works in us and upon us, as we are fit to be wrought in and upon;

that is, so as to preserve our own liberty and free obedience.

He works upon our understandings, wills, consciences, and affections, agreeably to their own natures;

he works in us and with us, not against us or without us; so that his assistance is an encouragement as to the facilitating of the work, and no occasion of neglect as to the work itself.

And indeed, I might here bewail the endless, foolish labor of poor souls, who, being convinced of sin and not able to stand against the power of their convictions, do set themselves, by innumerable perplexing ways and duties, to keep down sin, but, being strangers to the Spirit of God, all in vain.

They combat without victory, have war without peace, and are in slavery all their days. They spend their strength for that which is not bread and their labor for that which profits not." (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 62)

Thomas Watson: "Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet." (The Doctrine of Repentance, 63)

John Piper: "I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God." Desiring God, 12.

John Calvin:

"The whole lives of Christians ought to be a kind of aspiration after piety, seeing they are called unto holiness (; ).

The office of the law is to excite them to the study of purity and holiness, by reminding them of their duty. For when the conscience feels anxious as to how it may have the favor of God, as to the answer it could give, and the confidence it would feel, if brought to his judgment-seat, in such a case the requirements of the law are not to be brought forward, but Christ, who surpasses all the perfection of the law, is alone to be held forth for righteousness." (Insittutes III, 19, 2)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe.

Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself.

Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct if for selfish purposes.

Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won where the way leads to the cross.” (Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, 241)

C. S. Lewis:

"Lose you life and you will save it.

Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death to your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing.

Nothing that you have given away will be really yours.

Nothing in you that has not died will be raised from the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.

But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in." (Mere Christianity, 226-227 )

John Owen: "In this would I live; in this would I die; upon this would I dwell in my thoughts and affections, to the withering and consumption of all the painted beauties of this world, to the crucifying all things here below, until they become to me a dead and deformed thing, no way suitable for affectionate embraces." (The Glory of Christ)

Ed Welch: "But remember once again that we cannot avoid God. All paths lead to Him. If you are tempted to skip over His words on perseverance, remember that He is life. His words give life. Whatever He says is surprising in its beauty and elegance, and is of invaluable worth." (Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, 92)

Ed Welch: "Your future includes manna. It will come. There is no sense devising future scenarios now because God will do more than you anticipate. When you understand God's plan to give future grace, you have access to what is arguably God's most potent salve against worry and fear." (Running Scared, 140)

Elyse M. Fitzpatrick: "Unless we're very intentional about meditating on these truths [that show God's love], they slip from our thoughts like misty dreams that evaporate in the morning light. That's why Luther said we must "take heed then, to embrace...the love and kindness of God...[and to] daily excercise [our] faith therein, entertain no doubt of God's love and kindness." (Because He Loves Me, 36 )

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "You pray and make your requests made known unto God, and God will do something.’ It is not your prayer that is going to do it, it is not you who is going to do it, but God. ‘The peace of God that passeth all understanding’—He, through it all, ‘will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’.” (Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, 270)

John Owen: "Consider who and what you are; who the Spirit is that is grieved, what he has done for you, what he comes to your soul about, what he has already done in you; and be ashamed. Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness than this: That the blessed Spirit, who has undertaken to dwell in them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in their hearts unto, and rejoices when his temple is kept undefiled." (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 102)

Kevin DeYoung, "...,the will of God for your life is pretty straightforward: Be holy like Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, for the glory of God." (Just Do Something, 62)

T. S. Eliot: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason." ("Murder In The Cathedral")

Charles Spurgeon: "The axle of the wheels of the chariot of Providence is Infinite Love, and Gracious Wisdom is the perpetual charioteer." (Gleanings Among the Sheaves)

Jonathan Edwards: "The soul of a true Christian, as I then wrote my meditations, appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year; low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's glory; rejoicing as it were in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy; standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of other flowers round about; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun. There was no part of creature holiness, that I had so great a sense of its loveliness, as humility, brokenness of heart and poverty of spirit; and there was nothing that I so earnestly longed for. My heart panted after this - to lie low before God, as in the dust; that I might be nothing, and that God might be all, that I might become as a little child." (Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, 51-52)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "But to procrastinate and prevaricate simply because you’re afraid of erring, when others — I mean our brethren in Germany — must make infinitely more difficult decisions every day, seems to me almost to run counter to love. To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love." (Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, 218)

J. D Greear: "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more and nothing I have done that makes You love me less." (Gospel)

Oswald Chambers: "I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God." (My Utmost for His Highest)

John Piper: "The universe, they say, is so vast, it makes man utterly insignificant. Why would God have bothered to create such a microscopic speck called the earth and humanity and then get involved with us? Beneath this question is a fundamental failure to see what the universe is about. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself. And he says it for us to learn and enjoy—namely, that he is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful. The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God. And it is an understatement." (Don't Waste Your Life, 34)

Robert Murray McCheyne: "Ah! believers, you are a tempted people. You are always poor and needy. And God intends it should be so, to give you constant errands to go to Jesus. Some may say, it is not good to be a believer; but ah! see to whom we can go." (Works, 59)

R. C. Sproul: "[Uzzah] stretched out his hand and put it squarely on the ark, steadying it in place lest it fall to the ground. An act of holy heroism? No! It was an act of arrogance, a sin of presumption. Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth. But it wasn’t the ground or the mud that would desecrate the ark; it was the touch of man. The earth is an obedient creature. It does what God tells it to do. It brings forth its yield in its season. It obeys the laws of nature which God has established. When the temperature falls to a certain point, the ground freezes. When water is added to dust, it becomes mud, just as God decided. The ground doesn’t commit cosmic treason. There is nothing polluted about the ground. God did not want his holy throne to be touched by that which was contaminated by evil, that which was in rebellion to him, that which by its ungodly revolt had brought the whole of creation to ruin and caused the ground and the sky and the waters of the sea to groan together in travail waiting for the day of redemption. . . " (The Holiness of God, 140-141)

John Stott: “For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God [], while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man []. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.” (The Cross of Christ)

Andrew Murray: "Not to be occupied with your sin, but to be occupied with God brings deliverance from self." ("Humility: The Beauty of Holiness")

A.W. Tozer: “With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favored of all creatures.” (The Knowledge of the Holy, 64)

John Owen: "What then is holiness? Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing and living out of the gospel in our souls ()." (The Holy Spirit, 100)

John Owen: "The growth of trees and plants takes place so slowly that it is not easily seen. Daily we notice little change. But, in course of time, we see that a great change has taken place. So it is with grace. Sanctification is a progressive, lifelong work (). It is an amazing work of God's grace and it is a work to be prayed for ()."(The Holy Spirit, 108-109)

John Owen: "Great winds and storms help fruit-bearing trees. So also do corruptions and temptations help the fruitfulness of grace and holiness. The storm loosens the earth round its roots so the tree is able to get its roots deeper into the earth, where it receives fresh supplies of nourishment. But only much later will it be seen to bring forth better fruit. So corruptions and temptations develop the roots of humility, self-abasement and mourning in a deeper search for that grace by which holiness grows strong. But only later will there be visible fruits of increased holiness." (The Holy Spirit, 110-111)

John Owen: "Though we are commanded to 'wash ourselves', to 'cleanse ourselves from sins', to 'purge ourselves from all our iniquities', yet to imagine that we can do these things by our own efforts is to trample on the cross and grace of Jesus Christ. Whatever God works in us by his grace, he commands us to do as our duty. God works all in us and by us." (The Holy Spirit,124)

Timothy Keller: "The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. Gospel-humility is not needing to think about myself. Not needing to connect things with myself. It is an end to thoughts such as 'I'm in this room with these people, does that makes me look good? Do i want to be here?' True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self forgetfulness." (The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness)

Charles Spurgeon: "There, poor sinner, take my garment, and put it on; you shall stand before God as if you were Christ, and I will stand before God as if I had been the sinner; I will suffer in the sinner's stead, and you shall be rewarded for works that you did not do, but which I did for you." (The Essential Works of Charles Spurgeon, 36)

John Owen: “Never was sin seen to be more abominably sinful and full of provocation than when the burden of it was upon the shoulders of the Son of God...Would you, then, see the true demerit of sin?—take the measure of it from the mediation of Christ, especially his cross.” (Communion with the Triune God, 203-04)

C. S. Lewis: "You have a traitor there, Aslan," said the Witch. Everyone present knew that she meant Edmund. But Edmund had gotten past thinking about himself after all he'd been through and after the talk he'd had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn't seem to matter what the Witch said. "Well," said Aslan, "his offense was not against you."...Edmund was on the other side of Aslan, looking all the time at Aslan's face. He felt a choking feeling and wondered if he ought to say something; but a moment later he felt that he was not expected to do anything except to wait, and to do what he was told." (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, 141-143)

John Bunyan: "And, indeed, this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world; namely, that a righteousness that resides in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth!" ("Justification By An Imputed Righteousness")

Martin Luther: "A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone." (On Christian Liberty)

C.S. Lewis: "The whole idea of seeing through something is to see something through it. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see." (The Abolition of Man)

J.I. Packer: "[N]obody can produce new evidence of your depravity that will make God change his mind. For God justified you with (so to speak) his eyes open. He knew the worst about you at the time when he accepted you for Jesus' sake; and the verdict which he passed then was, and is, final." (Knowing God, 273)

Timothy Keller: "Jesus does not divide the world into the moral "good guys" and the immoral "bad guys". He shows us that everyone is dedicated to a project of self-salvation, to using God and others in order to get power and control for themselves. We are just going about it in different ways. Even though both sons are wrong, however, the father cares for them and invites them both back into his love and feast." (The Prodigal God, 43).

John Bunyan: "But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was adoing, mGod could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, 35-36)

Thomas Watson: “There is justice in hell, but sin is the most unjust thing. It would rob God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, the soul of its happiness.” (The Great Gain of Godlines)

J.I. Packer: "Do I as a Christian understand myself? Do I know my own real identity? My own real destiny? I am a child of God, God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Saviour is my brother; every Christian is my brother too. Say it over and over again to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as you wait for the bus, any time when your mind is free, and ask God that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true. For this is the Christians secret of the Christian life, of a God-honouring life." (Knowing God)

David Brainerd: "Saw so much of the wickedness of my heart that I longed to get away from myself…I felt almost pressed to death with my own vileness. Oh what a body of death is there in me…Oh the closest walk with God is the sweetest heaven that can be enjoyed on earth!" (The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, 86)

John Piper: "...all the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven—none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel." (God is the Gospel, 47)

C.H. Spurgeon: "Our faith is a person; the gospel that we have to preach is a person; and go wherever we may, we have something solid and tangible to preach, for our gospel is a person. If you had asked the twelve Apostles in their day, ‘What do you believe in?’ they would not have stopped to go round about with a long sermon, but they would have pointed to their Master and they would have said, ‘We believe him.’ ‘But what are your doctrines?’ ‘There they stand incarnate.’ ‘But what is your practice?’ ‘There stands our practice. He is our example.’ ‘What then do you believe?’ Hear the glorious answer of the Apostle Paul, ‘We preach Christ crucified.’ Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the person of Christ Jesus." (Ray Ortlund blog, Christ Is Deeper Still)

Milton Vincent; "For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me." (The Gospel Primer)

John Owen: "...but let it suffice us to know that it became God, who is the supreme Ruler, Governor and Judge of all that sin should be punished with death in the sinner or his surety; and therefore if God would bring many sons to glory, the Captain of their salvation must undergo sufferings and death, to make satisfaction for them." (Commentary on )

Jerry Bridges: "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace" (The Discipline of Grace, 19)

Charles Spurgeon: "My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, HE is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me. Hallelujah!" (Morning and Evening)

David McIntyre: “To what profit is it that we dwell in Jerusalem, if we do not see the King’s face? And when He comes forth from His royal chambers, accompanied with blessing, are we to hold ourselves at leisure that we may yield Him worship and offer Him service?” (Hidden Life of Prayer)

John Owen: “The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh…The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin…Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (Mortification of Sin In Believers)

John Owen: “Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in his way takes no steps towards his journey’s end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it.” (Mortification of Sin In Believers)

David Powlison: “Don’t ever degenerate into giving advice unconnected to the good news of Jesus crucified, alive, present, at work and returning.” (Who is God? The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Volume 17, Number 2, Winter 1999, 16)

John Owen: "The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin. So the apostle, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth" (). To whom does he speak? Such as were "risen with Christ" (v. 1); such as we're dead with him (v. 3); such as whose life Christ was and who should "appear with him in glory" (v. 4). Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work." (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 50)

C. S. Lewis: "If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire; the great men who built up the Middle Ages; the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this." (Mere Christianity)

Sinclair Ferguson : "When I know that Christ is the one real sacrifice for my sins, that His work on my behalf has been accepted by God, that He is my heavenly Intercessor - then His blood is the antidote to the poison in the voices that echo in my conscience, condemning me for my many failures. Indeed, Christ's shed blood chokes them into silence!" (In Christ Alone, 151)

John Bunyan: “Now while they were thus drawing towards the gate, behold, a company of the heavenly host came to meet them; to whom it was said by the other two Shining Ones, These are the men that have loved our Lord when they were in the world, and that have left all for his holy name; and he hath sent us to fetch them, and we have brought them thus far on their desired journey, that they may go in and look their Redeemer in the face with joy. Then the heavenly host gave a great shout, saying, ‘Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” (The Pilgrim's Progress, 195)

C. H. Spurgeon: "I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the Gospel... unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of his elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend the Gospel which allows saints to fall away after they are called." (Sermon, "Christ Crucified")

C. S. Lewis: "You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape." (The Screwtape Letters, 56)

Jerry Bridges: "Don't believe everything you think. You cannot be trusted to tell yourself the truth. Stay in The Word." (The Great Exchange)

John MacArthur: “Discipleship entails a life of total self-denial, a humble disposition towards others, a whole-hearted devotion to the Lord alone, a willingness to obey His commands in everything, an eagerness to sense Him even in His absence, and a motivation that comes from knowing He is well pleased.” (Slave, 43)

Horatius Bonar: "This righteousness is 'reckoned' or 'imputed' to all who believe; so that they are treated by God as if it were actually theirs. They are entitled to claim all that which such a righteousness can merit from God (as the Judge of righteous claims). It does not become ours gradually, or in fragments or drops; but is transferred to us all at once. It is not that so much of it is reckoned to us in proportion to the strength of our faith, or the warmth of our love, or the fevour of our prayers; but the whole of it passes over to us by imputation. In its whole quality and quantity it is transferred to us. Its perfection represents us before God; and its preciousness, with all that that preciousness can purchase for us, henceforth belongs to us". (The Everlasting Righteousness, 82-83)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon: "If you stop and say, "I want to know first whether I am elect," you ask you know not what. Go to Jesus, be you never so guilty as you are. Leave all curious inquiry about election alone. Go straight to Christ and hide in His wounds, and you shall know your election. The assurance of the Holy Spirit shall be given to you, so that you will be able to say," I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have commited to him." Christ was at the everlasting council: He can tell you whether you were chosen or not; but you cannot find it out in any other way. Go and put your trust in Him, and His answer will be-"I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." There will be no doubt about his having chosen you, when you have chosen him." (Morning and Evening)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "After he has been following Christ for a long time, the disciple of Jesus will be asked, “Lacked ye anything?” and he will answer “Nothing, Lord.” How could he when he knows that despite hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, the Lord is always at his side?" (The Cost of Discipleship, 181)

J. D. Greear: "For many evangelicals the gospel has functioned solely as the entry rite into Christianity; it is the prayer we pray to begin our relationship with Jesus; the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity. After we get into the pool, we get into the real stuff of Christianity: mastering good principles for our marriage; learning rules and regulations of how to behave; and figuring out if Kirk Cameron will be left behind. The gospel, however, is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity; it is the pool itself. It is not only the way we begin in Christ; it is the way we grow in Christ. As Tim Keller says, the gospel is not just the ABCs of Christianity, it is the A-Z; it is not the first step in a stairway of truths, it is more like the hub of God's wheel of truth. All other Christian virtues flow out of it." (Gospel, 21)

J. C. Ryle: "Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on earth — we will never be prepared to enjoy Heaven. ...I do not know what others may think — but to me it does seem clear that Heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise. People may say in a vague way, that they "hope to go to Heaven," but they do not consider what they say. There must be a certain "fitness for the inheritance of the saints in light." Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory — we must pass through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly-minded and have heavenly tastes in the present life — or else we will never find ourselves in Heaven in the life to come! (Holiness)

John Piper: "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." (Let the Nations Be Glad!)

John Stott: "We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgments instead. If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God’s, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior." (Authentic Christianity)

Jerry Bridges: "...God has made provision for our holiness. Through Christ He has delivered us from sin's reign so that we now can resist sin. But the responsibility for resisting is ours. God does not do that for us. To confuse the potential for resisting (which God provided) with the responsibility for resisting (which is ours) is to court disaster in our pursuit of holiness." (The Pursuit of Holiness, 57)

Martin Luther: “This life is not godliness, but growth in godliness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way; the process is not yet finished, but it has begun; this is not the goal, but it is road; at present all does not gleam and glitter, but everything is being purified.” (A Defense and Explanation of All Articles, AE 32:24)

John Piper: "The inner essence of worship is cherishing Christ as gain - indeed as more gain than all that life can offer - family, career, retirement, fame, food, friends. The essence of worship is experiencing Christ as gain. Or to use words that we love to use around here: it is savoring Christ, treasuring Christ, being satisfied with Christ." (Sermon, The Inner Essence of Worship)

Thomas Brooks: "Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith." (Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, 220)

Oswald Chambers: "Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don't say, "I will endure this until I can get away and pray." Pray now - draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God's grace through prayer." (My Utmost for His Highest)

John Piper: “I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” (Don't Waste Your Life)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." (The Cost of Discipleship, 44-45)

D. A. Carson: "Some Christians want enough of Christ to be identified with him but not enough to be seriously inconvenienced; they genuinely cling to basic Christian orthodoxy but do not want to engage in serious Bible study; they value moral probity, especially of the public sort, but do not engage in war against inner corruptions; they fret over the quality of the preacher's sermon but do not worry much over the quality of their own prayer life. Such Christians are content with mediocrity." (A Call To Spiritual Reformation,121)

Matt Chandler: "God’s response to the belittlement of his name, from the beginning of time, has been the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross." (The Explicit Gospel, 57)

John Piper: "True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in thrush are the bone and marrow of biblical worship." (Desiring God, 81-82)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "The One who has done the greatest thing of all for you, must be concerned about you in everything, and though the clouds are thick and you cannot see His face, you know He is there. 'Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.' Now hold on to that. You say that you do not see His smile. I agree that these earth born clouds prevent my seeing Him, but He is there and He will never allow anything finally harmful to take place. Nothing can happen to you but what He allows, I do not care what it may be, some great disappointment, perhaps, or it may be an illness, it may be a tragedy of some sort, I do not know what it is, but you can be certain of this, that God permits that thing to happen to you because it is ultimately for your good. 'Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness...' ()." (Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cure, 145)

Jeremiah Burroughs: "Though the lives of men are dear and precious to God, yet they are not as precious as His glory. The glory of His name is a thousand, thousand times more dear unto God than the lives of thousands and thousands of people...We think much to have the lives of men taken away, but if we knew what the glory of God meant, and what infinite reason there is that God should be glorified, we would not think it so much that the lives of so many men should go for the glory of God. It is mercy that our lives have not gone many times for God's glory. How often might God have glorified Himself in taking away our lives? We have cause to bless Him that our lives have been preserved for as long as they have." (Gospel Worship, 28)

John Piper: "Life and death! They seem like complete opposites-at great enmity with each other. But for Paul-and for all who share his faith-there is a unity, because the same great passion is fulfilled in both-namely, that Christ be magnified in this body-our bodies-whether by life or by death." (Don't Waste Your Life, 66)

David Powlison: "We are meant to long supremely for the Lord himself, for the Giver, not his gifts. The absence of blessings - rejection, vanity, reviling, illness, poverty - often is the crucible in which we learn to love God for who he is. In our idolatry we make gifts out to be supreme goods, and make the Giver into the errand boy of our desires." (Seeing with New Eyes, 134-135)

Bill Farley: "Those who understand the cross increasingly see their sin as God does, and therefore begin to feelabout sin as does God. We begin to mourn for and hate it. In other words, at the cross God becomes larger and we become smaller. This separation is at the heart of the fear of God. This "fear" opens God's wisdom to us because only in light of God's immensity can I see the importance of living for the right end, his glory. And only in the light of my smallness can I feel overawed by the means he used to save me, his cross." (Outrageous Mercy: Rediscovering the Radical Nature of the Cross, 139-140)

C.H. Spurgeon: “We would labor earnestly to raise a believer in salvation by free will into a believer in salvation by grace, for we long to see all religious teaching built upon the solid rock of truth and not upon the sand of imagination. At the same time, our grand object is not the revision of opinions, but the regeneration of natures. We should bring men to Christ, not to our own particular views of Christianity. (The Soulwinner, 10)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "Ultimately it comes down to this, that the real cause of our trouble is failure to realize our union with Christ. Many Seem to think that Christianity means that we are delivered in that sense that our sins are forgiven. But that is only the beginning, but one aspect of it. Essentially salvation means union with Christ, being one with Christ. We have been crucified with Christ - 'I am crucified with Christ', says Paul. 'All that has happened to Him has happened to me. I am one with Him.' Read the fifth and sixth chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. The teaching is that we have died with Christ, have been buried with Christ, have risen with Christ, are seated in the heavenly places in Christ and with Christ. That is the teaching of the Scriptures. 'Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God' (). The old man has been crucified and all that belonged to Christ, you are risen with Christ. ‘Reckon ye yourselves then to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord’ ()." (Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, 74-75)

John Piper: "Faith stands or falls on the truth that the future with God is more satisfying than the one promised by sin. Where this truth is embraced and God is cherished above all, the power of sin is broken. The power of sin is the power of deceit. Sin has power through promising a false future. In temptation sin comes to us and says: "The future with God on his narrow way is hard and unhappy, but the way I promise is pleasant and satisfying." The power of sin is in the power of this lie." (Future Grace, 326)

C. S. Lewis: "If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (The Weight of Glory, 1-2)

Jonathan Parnell (@jonathanparnell) is the lead pastor of Cities Church in Minneapolis–St. Paul, where he lives with his wife, Melissa, and their seven children. He is the author of Never Settle for Normal: The Proven Path to Significance and Happiness.

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