Oh, that the eyes of sinners may be speedily opened—that they may see the difference of things, the beauty which is in holiness, and the astonishing madness that is in sin!
~Thomas Watson~
The Great Gain of Godliness (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 2006) Part 2: The Good Effects of Godliness;Section C: The Difference Between the Righteous and the Wicked.
Hence are those manifold cautions that are given us to take heed that we be not deceived, if we would take heed that we do not sin (see Eph. 5:6; 1 Cor. 6:9; 15:33; Gal. 6:7; Luke 21:8). From all which testimonies we may learn the influence that deceit has into sin, and consequently the advantage that the law of sin has to put forth its power by its deceitfulness. Where it prevails to deceive, it fails not to bring forth its fruit.
The ground of this efficacy of sin by deceit is taken from the faculty of the soul affected with it. Deceit properly affects the mind; it is the mind that is deceived. When sin attempts any other way of entrance into the soul, as by the affections, the mind, retaining its right and sovereignty, is able to give check and control unto it. But where the mind is tainted, the prevalency must be great; for the mind or understanding is the leading faculty of the soul, and what that fixes on, the will and affections rush after, being capable of no con sideration but what that presents unto them. Hence it is, that though the entanglement of the affections unto sin be oftentimes most troublesome, yet the deceit of the mind is always most dangerous, and that because of the place that it possesses in the soul as unto all its operations. Its office is to guide, direct, choose, and lead; and “if the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness!” [Matt. 6:23].
~John Owen~
Overcoming Sin & Temptation (Wheaton, IL; Crossway; 2006) p. 295.
He that is not afraid of sinning has good need to be afraid of damning. Truth hates error, holiness abhorreth guilt, and grace cannot but detest sin. If we do not desire to be cautious to avoid offending our Lord, we may rest confident that we have no part in him, for true love to Christ will rather, die than wound him. Hence love to Christ is “the best antidote to idolatry;” f64a for it prevents any object from occupying the rightful throne of the Savior. The believer dares not admit a rival into his heart, knowing that this would grievously offend the King. The simplest way of preventing an excessive love of the creature it to net all our affection upon the Creator. Give thy whole heart to thy Lord, and thou canst not idolize the things of earth, for thou wilt have nothing left wherewith to worship them.
~Charles Spurgeon~
The Saint and His Savior – (Darlington, England; Evangelical Press; 2001) Chapter 7: Love to Jesus – Part 2: Love to Christ Will Make Us Coy and Tender to Offend.
The doctrines of our election, and free justification in Christ Jesus are daily more and more pressed upon my heart. They fill my soul with a holy fire and afford me great confidence in God my Saviour.
I hope we shall catch fire from each other, and that there will be a holy emulation amongst us, who shall most debase man and exalt the Lord Jesus. Nothing but the doctrines of the Reformation can do this. All others leave free will in man and make him, in part at least, a Saviour to himself. . . .
I know Christ is all in all. Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Oh the excellency of the doctrine of election and of the saints’ final perseverance!
I am persuaded, till a man comes to believe and feel these important truths, he cannot come out of himself, but when convinced of these, and assured of their application to his own heart, he then walks by faith indeed! Love, not fear, constrains him to obedience.
~George Whitefield~
George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival Vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth Trust; 1970) p. 407.
Other Whitefield Quotes at the Old Guys
HT: Dane Ortlund
What is accomplished and fulfilled by the death, blood-shedding, or oblation of Jesus Christ, is no less clearly manifested, but is as fully, and very often more distinctly, expressed; as
First, reconciliation with God, by removing and slaying the enmity that was between him and us; for “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,” Rom. v. 10. “God was in him reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,” 2 Cor. v. 19; yea, he hath “reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,” verse 18. And if you would know how this reconciliation was effected, the apostle will tell you that “he abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments consisting in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,” Eph. ii. 15, 16: so that “he is our peace,” verse 14.
Secondly, Justification, by taking away the guilt of sins, procuring remission and pardon of them, redeeming us from their power, with the curse and wrath due unto us for them; for “by his own blood he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” Heb. ix. 12. “He redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us,” Gal. iii. 13; “his own self bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. ii. 24. We have “all sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” but are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins” Rom. iii. 23–25: for “in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” Col. i. 14.
Thirdly, Sanctification, by the purging away of the uncleanness and pollution of our sins, renewing in us the image of God, and supplying us with the graces of the Spirit of holiness: for “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself to God, purgeth our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14; yea, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John i. 7. “By himself he purged our sins,” Heb. i. 3. To “sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the gate,” chap. xiii. 12. “He gave himself for the church to sanctify and cleanse it, that it should be holy and without blemish,” Eph. v. 25–27. Peculiarly amongst the graces of the Spirit, “it is given to us,” ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, “for Christ’s sake, to believe on him,” Phil. i. 29; God “blessing us in him with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,” Eph. i. 3.
Fourthly, Adoption, with that evangelical liberty and all those glorious privileges which appertain to the sons of God; for “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,” Gal. iv. 4, 5.
Fifthly, Neither do the effects of the death of Christ rest here; they leave us not until we are settled in heaven, in glory and immortality for ever. Our inheritance is a “purchased possession,” Eph. i. 14: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance,” Heb. ix. 15. The sum of all is, — The death and blood-shedding of Jesus Christ hath wrought, and doth effectually procure, for all those that are concerned in it, eternal redemption, consisting in grace here and glory hereafter.
~John Owen~
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth Trust; 1959) p. 158-159.
[Commenting on Hebrews 8:10:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.]
The heart, as distinguished from the mind, is made up of the will and the affections, which are compared with the stone tablets on which the letter of the law was engraved. For as by that writing and engraving the tablets received the impression of the letters and words that contained the law, so they were nothing but law as they were used. So, by the grace of the new covenant there is a durable impression of God’s law on the wills and affections of men, through which they are able to carry it out since they have a living principle of it living within them. This work has two parts, namely, the removal from the heart of what is contrary to God’s law and the implanting of the principles of obedience to God’s law. So, in Scripture this double action is described. Sometimes it is called a “taking away of the heart of stone,” or “circumcising of the heart,” and sometimes the “giving of a heart of flesh,” the “writing of the law in our hearts,” which is the renewal of our natures to God’s image in righteousness and holiness of truth. So in this promise all of our sanctification, its start and its progress, in its work on our whole souls and all their faculties, is comprised.
~John Owen~
Hebrews (Crossway Classics) (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 1998) Commentary on Hebrews 8:10 – “On their hearts”.
Would we not be enticed or entangled? Would we not be disposed to the conception of sin? Would we be turned out of the road and way which goes down to death?—let us take heed of our affections; which are of so great concern in the whole course of our obedience, that they are commonly in the Scripture called by the name of the “heart,” as the principal thing which God requires in our walking before him. And this is not slightly to be attended unto. Says the wise man, “Keep your heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23) or, as in the original, “above” or “before all keepings”—“Before every watch, keep your heart. You have many keepings that you watch unto: you watch to keep your lives, to keep your estates, to keep your reputations, to keep up your families; but,” says he, “above all these keepings, prefer that, attend to that of the heart, of your affections, that they be not entangled with sin.” There is no safety without it. Save all other things and lose the heart, and all is lost—lost unto all eternity.
~John Owen~
Overcoming Sin & Temptation (Wheaton, IL; Crossway; 2006) p. 331.
And here we may digress a little to consider what regard we ought to have to the command on the one hand, and to the promise on the other,; to our own duty and to the grace of God. Some would separate these things as inconsistent. A command, they suppose, leaves no room for a promise; and a promise, they think, takes off the influencing authority of a command. If holiness be our duty, there is no room for grace; and if it be an effect of grace, there is no place for duty. But all these arguing are a fruit of the “wisdom of the flesh;” the “wisdom that is from above” teaches us other things. It is true, that works and grace are opposed in the matter of justification, as utterly inconsistent; “If it be of works, it is not of grace; and if it be of grace, it is not of works.” But our duty and God’s grace are no where opposed in the matter of sanctification; for the one supposes the other. Neither can we perform our duty herein without the grace of God; nor does God give us his grace to any other end than that we may rightly perform our duty. He who denies either that God commands us to be holy in a way of duty, or promises to work holiness in us in a way of grace, may with as much modesty reject the whole Bible. Both these therefore we must duly regard, if we intend to be holy.
~John Owen~
The Holy Spirit – The Works of John Owen Vol. 3 (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust, 1966) p. 384-385. http://www.crosswaybooks.com. eBook.
The Old Guys 