KenH
Well-Known Member
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Hebrews 10:14
To be "sanctified" is to be made a partaker of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; to be made a new creature; to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;"(Ephesians 4:24). In short, to be "made a partaker of the divine nature,"(2 Peter 1:4), and thus have the holiness of God breathed into and communicated to the soul. Without this inward sanctification, none can enter the gates of heaven. To be made fit, therefore, for the heavenly inheritance, you must have a heavenly heart and a praising, adoring, loving spirit; you must delight yourself in the Lord as being so holy and yet so gracious, so pure and yet so loving, so bright and glorious and yet so condescending and sympathizing.
Now this fitness for the holiness, happiness, and employments of heaven is communicated at regeneration, in which the new man of grace, though weak, is still perfect. Look at the thief upon the cross - what an instance is he how the Spirit of God can in a moment make a man fit for heaven! Here was a vile malefactor...and as we are told that "they who were crucified with Him reviled Him," we have reason to believe that at first he joined his fellow malefactor in blaspheming the Redeemer.
Then, unsought and unrequested, sovereign grace touched his heart, brought him to see and feel what he was as a ruined sinner, opened his eyes to view the Son of God bleeding before him, raised up faith in his soul to believe in His name, and created a spirit of prayer that the Lord of heaven and earth would remember him when He came into His kingdom.
...
The dying Redeemer heard and answered his cry, and said to him, "Today shall you be with Me in paradise," (Luke 23:43). Spirit and life accompanied the words, and raised up at once in his soul a fitness for the inheritance, and before the shadows of night fell, his happy spirit passed into paradise, where he is now singing the praises of God and of the Lamb.
Many a poor child of God has gone on almost to his last hours on earth without a manifestation of pardoning love and the application of atoning blood; but he has not been allowed to die without the Holy Spirit revealing salvation to his soul, and attuning his heart to sing the immortal anthem of the glorified spirits before the throne. No child of God has left this world before he was sanctified, before he put on the new man, or before he became a partaker of the divine nature.
- J.C. Philpot, Through Baca's Vale, March 29
To be "sanctified" is to be made a partaker of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; to be made a new creature; to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;"(Ephesians 4:24). In short, to be "made a partaker of the divine nature,"(2 Peter 1:4), and thus have the holiness of God breathed into and communicated to the soul. Without this inward sanctification, none can enter the gates of heaven. To be made fit, therefore, for the heavenly inheritance, you must have a heavenly heart and a praising, adoring, loving spirit; you must delight yourself in the Lord as being so holy and yet so gracious, so pure and yet so loving, so bright and glorious and yet so condescending and sympathizing.
Now this fitness for the holiness, happiness, and employments of heaven is communicated at regeneration, in which the new man of grace, though weak, is still perfect. Look at the thief upon the cross - what an instance is he how the Spirit of God can in a moment make a man fit for heaven! Here was a vile malefactor...and as we are told that "they who were crucified with Him reviled Him," we have reason to believe that at first he joined his fellow malefactor in blaspheming the Redeemer.
Then, unsought and unrequested, sovereign grace touched his heart, brought him to see and feel what he was as a ruined sinner, opened his eyes to view the Son of God bleeding before him, raised up faith in his soul to believe in His name, and created a spirit of prayer that the Lord of heaven and earth would remember him when He came into His kingdom.
...
The dying Redeemer heard and answered his cry, and said to him, "Today shall you be with Me in paradise," (Luke 23:43). Spirit and life accompanied the words, and raised up at once in his soul a fitness for the inheritance, and before the shadows of night fell, his happy spirit passed into paradise, where he is now singing the praises of God and of the Lamb.
Many a poor child of God has gone on almost to his last hours on earth without a manifestation of pardoning love and the application of atoning blood; but he has not been allowed to die without the Holy Spirit revealing salvation to his soul, and attuning his heart to sing the immortal anthem of the glorified spirits before the throne. No child of God has left this world before he was sanctified, before he put on the new man, or before he became a partaker of the divine nature.
- J.C. Philpot, Through Baca's Vale, March 29
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