Ephesians Chapter 4
Ephesians 4 (King James Version) King James Version (KJV) Public Domain Ephesians 4 1I …
Join Now
Called to be saints."
Romans 1:7We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, "We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves." Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are "called to be saints" by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian's duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, "looking unto Jesus," and our saintship will soon be apparent.
Romans 1:7We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, "We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves." Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are "called to be saints" by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian's duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, "looking unto Jesus," and our saintship will soon be apparent.
Charles Spurgeon
Father come to you with much thank for the many blessing you done for us and for your word and for the saints who you put in place thank you for all in Jesus name i pray
Comments
You might also like ...
Forget Not All His Benefits
Forget not all His benefits." Psalms 103:2 It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand of …
yes this is true Rick,, I think the key word here is we have to "force" our way in, I find that we have to many distractions on this earth to remove the focus of people from God to self. The enemy works over time and with fast pace living many people cant keep up with the things of God , they think that just by going to church they will be saved. I lived in Puertorico for 12 yrs, but I was born and raised in buffalo new york, my husband is from Puertorico and wanted to go back home. It was very hard for me not knowing the language and living with less electronics as they have here. In other words they are real behind and a lot of things are still done manually. There is more time for people to focus on God if they want to,, and the people there have not taken God out of school or goverment or anywhere, It was wierd to take my kids to school and have them starte by praying instead of the pledge of allegence lol. But here I find that we want to live a fast food God. Not like in the apostles days where they had no tv or movies, yet many found time for other Gods. I dont know if you see where Im going with this, but being in a different culture makes a difference. The point is we still have to press forward and reach that goal, yet sin is rippening and the love of most grow cold.
yetza