The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable "goodness." Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, December 7

4 Brief Thomas Watson Quotes

There is always something that needs mortifying. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm The hearing of the Word may affect us;, but the meditating upon it doth transform us. Meditation stamps the impression of divine truths upon our hearts. By meditating on God's holiness, we grow holy. ~Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm Toleration is the grave of reformation. By toleration we adopt other men's sins, and make them our own. ~Thomas Watson, Gleanings, 134 Sin . . . puts a Christian out of tune so that he is not fit for prayer or praise" ~Thomas Watson, The Mischief of Sin, 7.

Spurgeon

‎"I am glad that there is some trouble in being a Christian, for it has become a very common thing to profess to be one. If I am right, it is going to become a much less common thing for a person to say 'I am a Christian.' There will come times when sharp lines will be drawn. Some of us will help draw them if we can. The problem is that people bear the Christian name but act like worldlings and love the amusements and follies of the world. It is time for a division in the house of the Lord in which those for Christ go into one camp and those against Christ go into the other camp. We have been mixed together too long." - Charles Spurgeon

Repentance

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable "goodness." Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, December 7

Oswald Chambers

When a man is at his wits' end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with Reality.  ~Oswald Chambers Holiness, not happiness is the chief end of man. ~Oswald Chambers It is impossible to get exhausted in the work for God.  We get exhausted because we try to do God's work in our own way.  ~Oswald Chambers Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. ~Oswald Chambers 
 The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ. ~Oswald Chambers Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, March 19

The Desire for Holiness

Only one who has a strong desire to be holy will ever persevere in the painfully slow and difficult task of pursuing holiness. There are too many failures. The habits of our old nature and the attacks of Satan are too strong for us to persevere unless the Holy Spirit is at work in us to create a desire for holiness. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Holiness

The Holy Spirit strengthens us to holiness first by enabling us to see our need of holiness. He enlightens our understanding so that we begin to see God’s standard of holiness. Then He causes us to become aware of our specific areas of sin. One of Satan’s most powerful weapons is making us spiritually blind—unable to see our sinful character. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Dead to Sin

Only as we reckon on these twin facts—that I am dead to sin and its reign over me and that I am alive to God, united to Him who strengthens me—can I keep sin from reigning in my mortal body. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

The Battle for Holiness

If we are to win this battle for holiness, we must recognize that the basic problem lies within us. It is our own evil desires that lead us into temptation. We may think we merely respond to outward temptations that are presented to us. But the truth is, our evil desires are constantly searching out temptations to satisfy their insatiable lusts. ~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

The witness of a righteous walk

Close walking with God would put to silence the adversaries of the truth (1 Pet. 2:15). Careless behavior puts a sword into wicked men’s hands to wound religion. What a sad thing it is when it is said of professing Christians that they are as proud, as covetous and as unjust as others. Will this not expose the ways of God to contempt? But holy and close walking would stop the mouths of sinners, so that they should not be able to speak against God’s people without giving themselves the life. Satan came to Christ and ‘found nothing in him’ (John 14:30). What a confounding thing it will be to the wicked when holiness is the only thing they have to fasten on the godly as a crime. ‘We shall not find any occasion against Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God’ (Dan. 6:5). ~Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture

When Holiness Confronts Dead Religion / Lawson

There is no more dangerous place to be than where the direct, straightforward teaching of the Word of God confronts dead religion. As long as dead religion is allowed to sleep the sleep of death, all continues placidly and peaceably. But when the truth of Scripture challenges empty religion, a cataclysmic collision is sure to result. This is because whenever the Word is taught in houses of worship that are devoid of gospel truth, hell is aggravated. As soon as the light of holiness and truth shines into the kingdom of darkness, sin is exposed, unclean spirits are angered, and Satan is provoked. Satan has no greater strongholds than houses of worship where the truth is suppressed. Nowhere is he more deeply entrenched in the lives of people than among those who are religious but who have no supernatural light of holiness and truth. But there is no greater threat to Satan’s kingdom than the penetrating light of holiness and truth as it invades these fortresses of demons. ~Excerpt from Steven Lawson’s contribution in Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God

Andrew Murray

Oh, that what remains of sin in us might become unbearable to us! May we no longer be complacent about the fact that we, as redeemed ones, sin against God’s will in so many ways. May the desire for holiness become stronger in us. Shouldn’t the thought that the blood has more power than we can comprehend, and can do for us greater things than we have yet experienced, cause our hearts to reach out for it with strong desire? If there were more desire for deliverance from sin, for holiness and intimate friendship with a holy God, it would be the first thing needful for being led further into the knowledge of what the blood can do. ~Andrew Murray, “The Blood of Christ”