Month: May 2022

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INTRODUCTION TO OUR PART IN SANCTIFICATION

“God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thes 2:13 ESV).

“The Scriptures place great emphasis on our part in sanctification” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Jan 27th).

“Do not be conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2 ESV).

“Growing in the Christlike virtues will give believers increasing confidence that God really did call them and really did elect them to salvation” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2419).

“[B]e filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:9-14 ESV).

“The Scriptures place great emphasis on our part in sanctification, on what you and I have to do” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Jan 27th).

“[B]e diligent to confirm your calling and election” (2 Pet 1:10 ESV).

Definition of a ‘holy life:’ “[A] life sanctified through the influence of faith, the achievements of prayer, and the endowments of holiness. Such a life is a living demonstration of the divinity of the Bible, and does more to confirm its truth and spread it throughout the world than all that has ever been spoken or written on the evidences of Christianity” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, June 6th).

“[A]nswer the call of Him who asks for all because He is all” Gene Edwards (ref#226, Dedication Page).

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THE LORD PLANS AND DOES

“The LORD [plans] and does what He [speaks]” (Jer 51:12 ESV).

“[U]nblemished goodness governs His absolute sovereignty. His decrees are as firm as though no man had the liberty of will: yet we all have a choice as truly as if there were no fore-determining decree. God suffers men to make a free choice, and gives to all men that which they finally choose. He gives not to His elect either grace or glory without their knowledge and against their consent: and He does not utterly desert or destroy others, till they harden their hearts, and choose darkness rather than life” Daniel Burgess (ref#225, Oct. 26th).

“I learn conversion to be both God’s work, and ours. It is God’s work; ‘I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people’ (Jer. 31:33). It is ours; and He commands it. ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’ It is His; He gives to will and to do. It is ours; we do it, and move, by Him moved. Daniel Burgess (ref#225, Oct. 26th).

“What He desires that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me” (Job 23:13-14 ESV).

“I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people and I will be their GOD. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes” (Ezek 37:23-24 ESV).

“God is a Shepherd as able as He is good, and as good as He is able. Not only He has green pastures to lead me into which shows His ability, but He leads me into them, which shows His goodness” Sir Richard Baker (ref#225, June 8th).

“God gives you His supernatural power in order to do supernatural work. He imparts to you His divine energy and His divine authority so that you may participate fully and successfully in His divine plan” Charles F. Stanley (ref#230, p30).

“Every one of us needs God’s power to infuse our will so that we truly have willpower” Charles F. Stanley (ref#230, p26).

“[L]et us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Heb 12:28 ESV).

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GOD SENT JESUS

“I am the LORD your GOD. [Y]ou know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior” (Hosea 13:4 ESV).

“Thus says, the LORD who made the earth, who formed it to establish it—the LORD is his name: call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jer 33:2-3 ESV).

“God called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (2 Tim 1:8-10).

“Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:28-29 ESV).

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:24-25 ESV).

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also” (John 12:26 EVS).

“Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:20-21 ESV).

“We believe that due to their fallen condition people are born spiritually dead, eternally lost and totally unable to deliver themselves from their present state of condemnation” Denny Johnson (ref#385).

 “Men and women need to be delivered from the punishment of their sin. But they also need to be delivered out of this kingdom of the devil, out of the kingdom of Satan; and they need to be translated into the kingdom of God. Christ came into this world in order to conquer Satan and his kingdom and in order to introduce His own kingdom” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p62).

“Eternal life is the life of Jesus in us. He who has the son, has the life. And Jesus himself has promised, ‘I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.’ He imparts his life to us through the Holy Spirit as an act of his sovereign grace when he miraculously regenerates us, cleanses us from all sin, gives us a new heart and a new spirit and causes us to be born again” Denny Johnson (ref#386).

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GOD’S LOVE

“I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3) A.W. Pink (ref#253, p7).

“God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him” (Rom 5:6-8 MSG).

“God who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them (I Tim 1:11)” John Piper (ref#220, p53).

“[T]he salvation of the sinner is not so much a manifestation of the justice, holiness, wisdom, or power of God, as it is a display of His love” Octavius Winslow (ref#252, p1).

“[I]f God has already granted you a place in eternity, then he has also granted you all the grace you need along the way, or you’d never get there. There is grace for our fickle and easily distracted hearts. There is rescue for our self-absorption and lack of focus. The God of eternity grants you his eternal grace so that you can live with eternity in view” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Jan 3rd).

“[A]ll God’s trying, wounding, disappointing dispensations towards His people are the result of His everlasting love. He Who smiles today and Who frowns tomorrow, Who kisses now and smites us then, is the same tender, faithful Father, Whose love knows no change and Whose faithfulness never fails” Octavius Winslow (ref#256, p31).

“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence” (Acts 2:28 ESV).

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph 3:17 ESV).

“Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:8 ESV).

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WHAT GOD DOES TOWARD OUR SANCTIFICATION

“You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17 MSG).

“Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by was of Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:28-31 MSG).

“It is utterly impossible that God should deny his love to a soul wholly devoted to him; and which desires nothing so much as to serve and please him; he cannot disdain his own image, nor that heart in which it is engraven: love is all the tribute which we can pay him, and it is the sacrifice which he will not despise” Henry Scougal (ref#321, p76).

“Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Nov 4th AM).

“God will empty out all that you have before He will put His own into you. He will first clean out your granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water, but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength that He Himself imparts” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Nov 4th AM).

“Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give you victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Nov 4th AM).  Note to me: Embark on something GOD blesses and is way too big for me.

“Our natural affections are not wholly to be extirpated and destroyed, but only to be moderated and over-ruled by a superior and more excellent principle” Henry Scougal (ref#321, p50).

“May God himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thes 5:23-24 ESV).

“[E]veryone who hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3 ESV).

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GOD’S POWER FOR US

“[W]hat the kingdom of Christ bestows upon us raises us even to eternal life, so we can patiently live at present under toil, hunger, cold, contempt, disgrace, and other annoyances. [H]e arms and equips us by his power. [W]e here are clothed with his righteousness, we can bravely surmount al the insults of the world and as he replenishes us liberally with his gifts, so we can in our turn bring forth fruit unto his glory” John Calvin (ref#113, p320).

“His presence gives us the courage to take on evil and win! He enables us to withstand temptation” Charles F. Stanley (ref#230, p25).

“The fact that we have been saved frees us from guilt and from God’s judgment The fact that we are being saved frees us from bondage to our own self-centeredness. And the fact that we shall be saved frees us from all fear about the future” John Stott (ref#258, p83-84).

“How happy are they who can believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves” John Newton (ref#322, p137)!

“Only be strong and very courageous” (Jos 1:7 ESV).

“Keep listening to the thunder in his voice” (Job 37:2 ESV).

“[B]e strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:1 ESV).

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PURELY GOD

“It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised” (2 Cor 1:12-14 MSG).

“It is true, we shall still fall short; we shall find, that when we would do good, evil will be present with us. But the attempt is glorious, and shall not be wholly in vain. He that gives us thus to will, will enable us to perform with growing success, and teach us to profit even by our mistakes and imperfections” John Newton (ref#322, p138).

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:4-5 ESV).

“He comes to us at the moment of our salvation, and he comes to us again and again as we journey from the ‘already’ to the ‘not yet.’ He sits down with us, assuring us again of his love, drawing out from us love for him, and sending us on our way to do the work he has chosen us to do. He does not wait for us to come to him; he comes to us. It is the way of grace” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Oct 24th).

“O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works” (Isa 26:12 ESV).

“God accepts those gifts which he himself has conferred upon his servants” John Calvin (ref#164, Jan 7th).

“Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength” (Isa 45:24 ESV).

“What then shall we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:31-32 ESV)?

“We have a Keeper, and our safety is his commitment” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, July 4th).

“[H]e who is the blessed and only Sovereign,, the King of kings and LORD of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen” (1 Tim 6:15-16 ESV).

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THE SPIRIT, OUR PROVISION

“Jesus cannot come as long as there is anything in the way either of goodness or badness. When He comes am I prepared for Him to drag into the light every wrong thing I have done? It is just here that He comes. Repentance does not bring a sense of sin, but a sense of unutterable unworthiness. ‘He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.’ John does not speak of the baptism of the Holy Ghost as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. ‘He shall baptize you.’ The only conscious experience those who are baptized with the Holy Ghost ever have is a sense of absolute unworthiness” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Aug 22nd).

“God has made provision for our holiness and He has also given us a responsibility for it. God’s provision for us consists in delivering us from the reign of sin, uniting us with Christ, and giving us the indwelling Holy Spirit to reveal sin, to create a desire for holiness, and to strengthen us in our pursuit of holiness. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and according to the new nature He gives, we are to put to death the misdeeds of the body” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p78).

“The saving work of the Spirit in the heart of God’s elect is a gradual and progressive one” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p78).

“It is not the work of the Spirit to tell you the meaning of Scripture, and give you the knowledge of divinity, without your own study and labour. To reject study on the pretense of the sufficiency of the Spirit, is to reject the Scripture itself” Richard Baxter (ref#225, July 22nd).

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:16 ESV).

“Weakness is a reproach when such a might is at our service. Defeat is dishonor when the partnership of God is rejected” Samuel Chadwick (ref#195, p73).