Sanctification

Godly Men Do Not Indulge in Sin – Thomas Watson

A godly man does not indulge sin. Though sin is in him, he is troubled at it and would gladly get rid of it. There is as much difference between sin in the wicked and sin in the godly—as between poison being in a serpent and poison being in a man. Poison in a serpent is in its natural place and is delightful—but poison in a man’s body is harmful and he uses antidotes to expel it. So sin in a wicked man is delightful, being in its natural place—but sin in a child of God is burdensome and he uses all means to expel it.

– Thomas Watson –
from The Godly Man’s Picture, 1666

A Single Eye for the Glory of God – Elisabeth Elliot

[Amy Carmichael’s] great longing was to have a “single eye” for the glory of God. Whatever might blur the vision God had give her of His work, whatever could distract or deceive or tempt other to seek anything but the Lord Jesus Himself she tried to eliminate.

– Elisabeth Elliot –

The Cure for a Weak Faith – Andrew Murray

To someone asking for some means to get more strength in his arms and hands to be able to seize and hang on to things, a physician would say that his whole constitution must be built up and strengthened. So the cure of a weak faith is only found by revitalizing our whole spiritual life through close fellowship with God.

– Andrew Murray –
from Teach Me To Pray

The Gospel Changes – Samuel Bolton

The law may chain up the wolf, but it is the Gospel that changes the wolfish nature.

– Samuel Bolton –
from The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, 1645

Sanctification – John Owen

Sanctification is an immediate work of the Spirit of God on the souls of believers, purifying and cleansing of their natures from the pollution and uncleanness of sin, renewing in them the image of God, and thereby enabling them, from a spiritual and habitual principle of grace, to yield obedience unto God, according unto the tenor and terms of the new covenant, by virtue of the life and death of Jesus Christ. Or more briefly:—It is the universal renovation of our natures by the Holy Spirit into the image of God, through Jesus Christ.

– John Owen –