Archive | Sanctification RSS feed for this section

Augustine – Sanctification, Free Will, and the Holy Spirit

21 Feb

The human will is so divinely helped in the pursuit of righteousness, that he [the believer] receives the Holy Spirit, by whom there is formed in his mind a delight in, and a love of, that supreme and unchangeable good, which is God. By this gift to him of the down payment, as it were, of the free gift, he [the believer] conceives a burning desire to cleave to his Maker. A mans free will, indeed, does not help at all except to sin, if he does not know the way of truth. And even after he begins to know his duty and proper aim, unless he also takes delight in and feels a love for it, he neither does his duty, nor sets about it, nor lives rightly. Now, in order that such a course may engage our affections, Gods love is shed abroad in our hearts, not through the free will which arises from ourselves, but through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us [Rom 5: 5].

~Augustine~


Historical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan; 2011) Chapter 24: Sanctification

Books by Augustine

Kindle Books

Other Augustine Quotes

Tags: ,

John Owen: How Do We Fight Sin?

18 Feb

[13] 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. – Romans 8:13

The principal efficient cause of the performance of this duty is the Spirit: ei de pneumati—“if by the Spirit.” The Spirit here is the Spirit mentioned [in Rom. 8] verse 11, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, that “dwells in us” (v. 9), that “quickens us” (v. 11); “the Holy Ghost” (v. 14); the “Spirit of adoption” (v. 15); the Spirit “that makes intercession for us” (v. 26). All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit. Men, as the apostle intimates (Rom. 9:30-32), may attempt this work on other principles, by means and advantages administered on other accounts, as they always have done, and do; but, says he, “This is the work of the Spirit; by him alone is it to be wrought, and by no other power is it to be brought about.” Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-inven­tion, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.

~John Owen~





Overcoming Sin & Temptation (Wheaton, IL; Crossway; 2006) p. 47.

Books by John Owen

Kindle Books

Biography of John Owen

Other Owen Quotes

Tags: ,

John Calvin – Repentance Unto Life

4 Feb

18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. – Acts 11:18

Whosoever will rightly profit in the gospel, let him put off the old man, and think upon newness of life, (Ephesians 4:22;) that done, let him know for a certainty that he is not called in vain unto repentance, but that there is salvation prepared for him in Christ. So shall it come to pass, that the hope and assurance of salvation shall rest upon the free mercy of God alone, and that the forgiveness of sins shall, notwithstanding, be no cause of sluggish security.

~John Calvin~







Calvin’s Commentaries – Acts (Spokane, WA; Olive Tree Bible Software; http://www.olivetree.com) Commentary on Acts 8:2

Books by John Calvin

Biography of John Calvin

Online Books Available

Other Calvin Quotes at the Old Guys

Tags: ,

George Whitefield – A Living Experience in Our Own Souls

31 Jan

To make us meet to be blissful partakers of such heavenly company, this ‘marred clay’, I mean, these depraved natures of ours, must necessarily undergo an universal moral change. Our understandings must be enlightened; our wills, reason and consciences, must be renewed; our affections must be drawn toward and fixed upon things above. And because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. And thus old things must literally pass away and behold all things, even the body as well as the faculties of the soul, must become new.

This moral change is what some call, repentance, some, conversion, some, regeneration. Choose what name you please, I only pray God, that we all may have the thing. The scriptures call it holiness, sanctification, the new creature and our Lord calls it a ‘New birth, or being born again, or born from above.’ These are not barely figurative expressions, or the flights of eastern language, nor do they barely denote a relative change of state conferred on all those who are admitted into Christ’s church by baptism. But they denote a real, moral change of heart and life, a real participation of the divine life in the soul of man. Some indeed content themselves with a figurative interpretation but unless they are made to experience the power and efficacy thereof, by a solid living experience in their own souls, all their learning, all their laboured criticism, will not exempt them from a real damnation. Christ hath said it and Christ will stand, ‘Unless a man,’ learned or unlearned, high or low, though he be a master of Israel as Nicodemus was, unless he ‘be born again, he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’

~George Whitefield~




The Sermons of George Whitefield edited by Lee Gatiss (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2012) Sermon 13: The Potter and the Clay

Books by George Whitefield

Kindle Books

Online Books

Other Whitefield Quotes at the Old Guys

Tags: ,

William Gurnall – God is at the Top and Bottom of the Ladder

24 Jan

[13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. – Philippians 2:13

He makes the heart new, and having made it fit for heavenly motion, setting every wheel, as it were, in its right place, then he winds it up by his actuating grace, and sets it on going, the thoughts to stir, the will to move and make towards the holy object presented; yet here the chariot is set, and cannot ascend the hill of action till God puts his shoulder to the wheel: ‘To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not,’ – Rom. 7:18. God is at the bottom of the ladder, and at the top also, the Author and Finisher, yea, helping and lifting the soul at every round, in his ascent to any hold action.

~William Gurnall~


The Christian in Complete Armour Vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth; 1989) p. 19.

Books by William Gurnall

Tags: ,

John Owen: The Remedy For Sin-Sick Souls

21 Jan

Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and you will die a con­queror; yea, you will, through the good providence of God, live to see your lust dead at your feet.

~John Owen~





Overcoming Sin & Temptation (Wheaton, IL; Crossway; 2006) p. 131.

Books by John Owen

Kindle Books

Biography of John Owen

Other Owen Quotes

Tags: ,

Matthew Henry – Gird Up Your Loins

11 Jan

20120407-223228.jpg

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober- minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 1:13

1. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, etc., v. 13. As if he had said, “Wherefore, since you are so honoured and distinguished, as above, Gird up the loins of your mind. You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do; as the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gather in, and gird up, their long and loose garments, that they may be more ready, prompt, and expeditious in their business, so do you by your minds, your inner man, and affections seated there: gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you; restrain their extravagances, and let the loins or strength and vigour of your minds be exerted in your duty; disengage yourselves from all that would hinder you, and go on resolutely in your obedience.

~Matthew Henry~


Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Spokane, WA; Olive Tree Bible Software) Commentary on 1 Peter 1:13

Books by Matthew Henry

Kindle Books

Other Matthew Henry Quotes at The Old Guys

Tags: ,

George Whitefield – Let Us Not Be Content With An ‘Almost Christianity’

10 Jan

The enemies, the greatest enemies a young convert meets with, my dear brethren, are those of his own house. They that will be godly, must suffer persecution. So it was in Christ’s time and so it was in the Apostles’ time too, for our Lord came not to send peace but a sword. Our relations would not have us sit in the scorner’s chair.

They would not have us be prodigals, consuming our substance upon harlots. Neither would they have us rakes or libertines, but they would have us be contented with an ‘almost Christianity.’ To keep up our reputation by going to church and adhering to the outward forms of religion, saying our prayers, reading the word of God and taking the sacraments. This, they imagine, is all that is necessary for to be Christians indeed and when we go one step farther than this their mouths are open against us, as Peter’s was to Christ: ‘Spare thyself, do thyself no harm.’

~George Whitefield~




The Sermons of George Whitefield edited by Lee Gatiss (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2012) Sermon 9: The Folly and Danger of Not Being Righteous Enough

Books by George Whitefield

Kindle Books

Online Books

Other Whitefield Quotes at the Old Guys

Tags: ,

John Owen: The Battle Will Continue Until the End

7 Jan

To mortify a sin is not utterly to kill, root it out, and destroy it, that it should have no more hold at all nor residence in our hearts. It is true this is that which is aimed at; but this is not in this life to be accomplished. There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any sin, but he aims at, intends, desires its utter destruction, that it should leave neither root nor fruit in the heart or life. He would so kill it that it should never move nor stir anymore, cry or call, seduce or tempt, to eternity. Its not-being is the thing aimed at. Now, though doubtless there may, by the Spirit and grace of Christ, a wonderful success and eminency of victory against any sin be attained, so that a man may have almost constant triumph over it, yet an utter killing and destruction of it, that it should not be, is not in this life to be expected.

~John Owen~





Overcoming Sin & Temptation (Wheaton, IL; Crossway; 2006) p. 70-71.

Books by John Owen

Biography of John Owen

Other Owen Quotes

Tags: ,

George Whitefield – Let Our Practice Correspond to Our Profession

3 Dec

Only permit me to ‘stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance’, and to exhort you, ‘if there be any consolation in Christ, any fellowship of the spirit,’ again and again to consider, that as all Christians in general, so all members of religious societies in particular, are in an especial manner, as houses built upon an hill. And that therefore it highly concerns you to walk circumspectly towards those that are without and to take heed to yourselves, that your conversation, in common life, be as becometh such an open and peculiar profession of the gospel of Christ, knowing that the eyes of all men are upon you, narrowly to inspect every circumstance of your behaviour and that every notorious wilful miscarriage of any single member will, in some measure, redound to the scandal and dishonour of your whole fraternity.

Labour, therefore, my beloved brethren, to let your practice correspond to your profession. And think not that it will be sufficient for you to plead at the last day, ‘Lord have we not assembled ourselves together in thy name and enlivened each other, by singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs?’ For verily, I say unto you, notwithstanding this, our blessed Lord will bid you depart from him, nay, you shall receive a great damnation, if in the mists of these great pretensions you are found to be workers of iniquity.

~George Whitefield~




The Sermons of George Whitefield (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2012) Sermon 8: The Necessity and Benefits of Religious Society

Books by George Whitefield

Kindle Books

Online Books

Other Whitefield Quotes at the Old Guys

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →