I've been doing some reading on sanctification lately. Well, sancfication in the Reformation use of the word to mean growing in holiness and Christ-likeness... Here's a great quote.
Heaven is only for the holy man, and the holy man is only for heaven: heaven is a garment of glory that is only suited to him that is holy...
O sirs, do not deceive your own souls; holiness is of absolute necessity; without it you shall never see the Lord (Heb 12:14). It is not absolutely necessary that you should be great or rich in the world; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy: it is not absolutely necessary that you should enjoy health, strength, friends, liberty, life; but it is absolutely necessary that you should be holy. A man may see the Lord without worldly prosperity, but he can never see the Lord except he be holy. A man may to heaven, to happiness, without honour or worldly glory, but he can never to heaven, to happiness, without holiness. Without holiness here, no heaven hereafter.
Thomas Brooks, Crown and Glory of Christianity (1662), quoted in J.C. Ryle & J.I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness, p244-5
No comments:
Post a Comment