Monday, November 10, 2014

Dominating Sin vs. Growth in Godliness




Quotes about pursuing holiness:



"The Bible:  Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book."


"...the goal of memorization is application of the Scripture to one's daily life.  It is through the application of Scripture to specific life situations that we develop the kind of conviction to see us through the temptations that trip us up so easily."  Jerry Bridges


"If men would be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of the absolute, unrivaled, unadulterated holiness of God, I think that has such a sanctifying effect and the fear of God rightly cultivated in the heart."  Steven Lawson


"God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him, but He does require that we be serious about holiness, that we grieve over sin in our lives instead of justifying it, and that we earnestly pursue holiness as a way of life."  Jerry Bridges


"God's Word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions."  Jerry Bridges


"Holiness is not a series of do's and don'ts, but conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God."  Jerry Bridges


"Are we willing to call sin 'sin' not because it is big or little, but because God's law forbids it?  We cannot categorize sin if we are to live a life of holiness."  Jerry Bridges


"Everyone, then, who professes to be a Christian should ask himself, 'Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life?  Do I desire and strive after holiness?  Do I grieve over my lack of it and earnestly seek the help of God to be holy?' "  Jerry Bridges


"The person who does not avoid small faults, little by little slips into greater ones.  You will always be glad at evening if you have spent the day well.  Watch over yourself, rouse yourself, chide yourself, and no matter what others may do, do not neglect yourself."  Thomas a Kempis


"We have the 'just one more time' syndrome.  We will take just one more lustful look, eat just one more rich dessert before starting our diet, watch just one more television program before sitting down to our Bible study.  In all of this we are postponing the day of commitment, the day when we say to sin, 'Enough!' "  Jerry Bridges


"Jonathan Edwards, one of the great preachers of early American history, used to make resolutions.  One of these was, 'Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.'  Dare we modern-day Christians make such a resolution?  Are we willing to commit ourselves to the practice of holiness without exceptions?  There is no point in praying for victory over temptation if we are not willing to make a commitment to say no to it.


It is only by learning to deny temptation that we will ever put to death the misdeeds of the body.  Learning this is usually a slow and painful process, fraught with much failure.  Our old desires and our sinful habits are not easily dislodged.  To break them requires persistence, often in the face of little success.  But this is the path we must tread, painful though it may be."  Jerry Bridges


"It is time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness.  Too often we say we are 'defeated' by this or that sin.  No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient!  It might be good if we stopped using the terms 'victory' and 'defeat' to describe our progress in holiness.  Rather we should use the terms 'obedience' and 'disobedience.'  When I say I am defeated by some sin, I am unconsciously slipping out from under my responsibility.  I am saying something outside of me has defeated me.  But when I say I am disobedient, that places the responsibility for my sin squarely on me.  We may, in fact, be defeated, but the reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey.  We have chosen to entertain lustful thoughts, or to harbor resentment, or to shade the truth a little.


We need to brace ourselves up and to realize that we are responsible for our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.  We need to reckon on the fact that we died to sin's reign, that it no longer has any dominion over us, that God has united us with the risen Christ in all His power, and has given us the Holy Spirit to work in us.  Only as we accept our responsibility and appropriate God's provisions will we make any progress in our pursuit of holiness."  Jerry Bridges


"What you feed grows, and what you starve dies."  Michael Leahy


"It does start with your devotional life and it ends with your devotional life.  You need to cling to God's word.  ...You need to guard your devotional life as if you're guarding your wife, escorting her through a prison in Columbia and it's an all-men's prison and these guys are just gawking at your wife.  You're gonna protect her.  Well that's the way you need to look at your devotional life.  That's the way you need to look at your personal purity.  ...you need to be proactive.  You need to take those steps.  You think, 'It'll never happen to me'.  Well, guess what?  You are wrong.  The enemy is out to get you.  And if he's not out to get you, well, there's something wrong with that.  That means you're not up to something.  That means you're not marching forward.  You're not advancing for the cause of Christ.  Be so busy, if you would, in the things of God, that the enemy's wondering and worrying what you're up to.  So seek God in prayer, get accountable, and move forward.  But you need to take this seriously.  Because, it's so serious that Christ died for it."  Mark Spence


"Get out of the comfort zone of sin and pursue Christ with all your heart."  Emeal Zwayne

0 comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...