Holiness

Henry Scudder A Key of Heaven: The Lord’s Prayer Opened, and So Applied, that a Christian May Learne how to Pray, and to Procure All Things which May Make for the Glorie of God, and the Good of Himselfe, and of His Neighbour: Containing Likewise Such Doctrines of Faith and Godlines, as May be Very Usefull to All that Desire to Live Godly in Christ Jesus, 1633

Be perfect, says Christ, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48); in every thing, and in every way, be perfect. The way to attain this is first to convince the heart that we ought to be perfect.

Then we must see that we are not already perfect.

Thirdly, let us not look on what we have done, and what is behind, but on that which is before us to be done.

Fourthly, we must be daily purging ourselves from filthiness of flesh and spirit, and so perfect holiness.

Fifthly, that we may do all these, we must daily be reading, hearing, and meditating on the Holy Scriptures; for their end is to make the man of God perfect.

Lastly, give all diligence, and press forward toward the mark and prize of the high calling of God in Christ. (Philippians 3:13-14)

John Owen

Holiness is the implanting, writing and realising of the gospel in our souls...the word changed into grace in our hearts. It includes conformity to God, likeness to Christ, compliance with the Holy Spirit, interest in the family of God, fellowship with angels, and separation from darkness and the world. 

The Word of God is the only adequate rule for all holy obedience. The inbred light of nature yet remaining in us may give us direction as to moral good and evil, but this light must be subordinate to the Word.

Gospel truth is the only root whereon gospel holiness will grow.

Richard Sibbes  The Soul's Conflict With Itself

The more holy a man is, the more he sees the holiness of God's nature, with whom he desires to have communion, the more he is grieved that there should be anything found in him displeasing to so pure a Majesty.

Richard Baxter A Christian Directory

The principle or heart of holiness is within, and consists in the love of God, his Word, his ways, his servants, his honour, and his interest in the world. The expression of it in our lives consists in a constant, diligent exercise of the internal life, according to the directions of the Word of God. 

Do not neglect the means which the Spirit has appointed for your help. Pray, meditate, hear, read, do your best, and expect His harvest. Though your ploughing and sowing will not give a harvest without the sun, and rain, and the blessing of God, yet the sun and rain will not bring a crop unless you plough and plant.

George Swinnock  

        The Christian Man's Calling, 1662 

Godliness is the worshipping of God in the inner workings of the hearts and the outward actions of the life. Heart-godliness pleases God best, and life-godliness honours him most.

        The Incomparableness of God, 1672

The holiness and happiness of the rational creature consists in these two: his holiness, in conformity to God; his happiness, in communion with him. And these two have a dependence on each other. They only who are like him, can enjoy him.

Octavius Winslow on  2 Thessalonians 2:13b “God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

It has been the constant effort of Satan to divert men from the great point we are now considering. In two ways has he proved successful. First, in setting them upon the work of mortification of sin before regeneration; and second, in setting them upon the same work after conversion, in their own strength. 

With regard to the first, sanctification is not the antecedent work of an unbeliever: although it is awfully true that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord," (Hebrews 12:14) yet the attainment of holiness is an utter impossibility so long as the heart remains a stranger to the regenerating operation of the Holy Spirit. Repentance and faith are the first duties in the order of time, with an unconverted man.

With regard to the second effort of Satan to deceive the soul, equally ruinous is it to all true mortification of sin. No child of God can accomplish this mighty work in his own strength. Here lies the secret, be assured, of all our failure and disappointment in the work. Forgetting that he who would prove victorious in this warfare must first learn the lesson of his own weakness and insufficiency, and, thus schooled, must go forth in the strength that is in Christ Jesus, and in the "power of His might," (Ephesians 6:10) with the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit—forgetting this important truth, we march to the overthrow of our giant corruptions in our own fancied wisdom and power; and the result always has been, and with the same means ever will be, our complete discomfiture (frustration and failure). 

C.H. Spurgeon  "The Victory of Faith"

It is not the cloak of religion that will do for you; it is a vital godliness you need; it is not a religious Sunday, it is a religious Monday; it is not a pious church, it is a pious closet; it is not a sacred place to kneel in, it is a holy place to stand in all day long.

F.B. Meyer Our Daily Walk

        June 28

2 Corinthians 3:3 "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God."

St. Paul gave utterance to a true and striking description of a Christian disciple. He is an autograph letter, the Author and Writer is the Lord Himself--"an epistle of Christ." The ink is "the Spirit of the Living God." The pen is the teacher or preacher of the Gospel, "ministered by us." The material is the heart and life--"not on tables of stone, but on hearts of flesh."

Let us take care that the message of our lives is clear, concise, and unmistakable.

        July 5

Teach us, O Lord, the art of so living in fellowship with Thyself that every act may be a Psalm, every meal a sacrament, every room a sanctuary, every thought a prayer. 

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones  God’s Way of Reconciliation, An Exposition of Ephesians Two

God does not work through big battalions, He is not interested in numbers; He is interested in purity, in holiness, in vessels fit and meet for the Master’s use. We must concentrate, not on numbers, but upon doctrine, upon regeneration, upon holiness, upon realization that this is a holy temple in the Lord, a habitation of God. 

Raymond Ortlund

There is a realm in the Christian life where God never says "no." He never says "no" to your persistent and eager request that He will make you like His Son. If you really want to be a man of God, you'll be one. Ask - Seek - Knock - until God does something. He waits to do it. 

A.W. Tozer       

         "Glorious Contradictions"

God has revealed so many glorious contradictions in the lives and conduct of genuine Christian believers that it is small wonder that we are such an amazement to this world. The Christian is dead and yet he lives forever. He died to himself and yet he lives in Christ. The Christian saves his own life by losing it and he is in danger of losing it by trying to save it. It is strange but true that the Christian is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strongest. When he gets down on his knees thinking he is weak, he is always strong. The Christian is in least danger when he is fearful and trusting God and in the most danger when he feels the most self-confident. He is most sinless when he feels the most sinful and he is the most sinful when he feels the most sinless. The Christian actually has the most when he is giving away the most; and in all of these ways, the Christian is simply putting into daily practice the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, his Savior and Lord!

        The Divine Conquest

Religious contentment is the enemy of the spiritual life always.

        That Incredible Christian  “Chapter Eighteen - Our Unclaimed Riches”

Spiritual treasures which are ours by blood atonement are deliverance from the sins of the flesh, victory over self, the constant flow of the Holy Spirit through our personalities, fruitfulness in Christian service, awareness of the presence of God, growth in grace, an increasing consciousness of union with God, and an unbroken spirit of worship. These do not come to us unless we make a determined effort to possess them. They are to us what the Promised Land was to Israel, to be entered into as our faith and courage mount. The land will not come to you; you must go to the land and on up into it by the way of self-renunciation and detachment from the world. 

        The Next Chapter After the Last 

The first gift of life is not by works, but by faith in the work of a sufficient Redeemer; but after the miracle of the new birth has been accomplished, the Christian must then "work and walk out his salvation". (Philippians 2:12) 

Isaac Watts

So let our lips and lives express

The holy gospel we profess;

So let our works and virtues shine,

To prove the doctrine all divine. 

Thus shall we best proclaim abroad

The honours of our Saviour God,

When His salvation reigns within,

And grace subdues the power of sin. 

Our flesh and sense must be denied,

Passion and envy, lust and pride,

While justice, temperance, truth, and love,

Our inward godliness approve. 

Religion bears our spirits up,

While we expect that blessed hope,

The bright appearance of the Lord:

And faith stands leaning on His word.

That sacred stream, Thy holy Word,

That all our raging fear controls:

Sweet peace Thy promises afford,

And give new strength to fainting souls. 

Resources

J.C. Ryle  Holiness, 1879 (Highly recommended)

http://www.gracegems.org/Ryle/holiness.htm 

The most pertinent question to ask is this: "Are you holy?" Listen, I beg you, to the question I put to you this day. Do you know anything of the holiness of which I have been speaking? I do not ask whether you approve of holiness in others, whether you like to read the lives of holy people and to talk of holy things and to have on your table holy books, whether you mean to be holy and hope you will be holy some day. I ask something further: are you yourself holy this very day — or are you not?

Sir Stevenson Arthur Blackwood, Heavenly Places, Addresses on the Book of Joshua, “Twelve Stones, or Risen With Christ”, 1872

https://books.google.com/books?id=RuIEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA68

Joshua 4:21 “What do these stones mean?”

1 Peter 2:5 “You are living stones.”

There should be something so remarkable, so different about the life and conversation of a Christian that men should be compelled to ask, “What does this mean?” Is there anything in your character, words, and habits of life so different from the world around you that men are involuntarily compelled to ask themselves or others, “What does this mean?” 

Oh, that we might realize that this is the purpose for which God sends us into the world!

Isaiah 43:7 (NLT) ...everyone who is called by my name...I created for my glory...

We were created to bring glory to God, and bring lost sinners to Jesus.

G. Campbell Morgan “The Purpose of Life”

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WARNING

D.A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

There can be no sanctification without salvation/conversion/regeneration, and "salvation" without progress in sanctification (spiritual maturity and Christ-likeness) may be counterfeit.