We Must Be Changed (2)

(2) We all expect glory in heaven. But how can we reach that unless we are made fit for it? The church is the fitting place for glory. We enter into heaven in the church here. We are hewn and squared here. If we are not holy here, we will never enter into heaven. The change must begin here if ever it is to be perfected in heaven. No unclean thing will come there (Rev. 21:27). As soon as Satan, an angel of light, sinned, he was tumbled out of heaven. It will allow no unclean thing; no unclean thing will ever come there again. Our nature must be altered suitable to that place and glorious condition, before we go to heaven. Unless we are born anew, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
But this is forgotten. Men trust to the grace and mercy of God, but do not look for a change; and this prevents many from embracing the whole truth of the gospel and from knowing Christ as the truth is in him. They hear that they must be changed, and they are unwilling. They believe that God is merciful, and that Christ died, and so on. They snatch enough of the gospel to build themselves up in self-love and think all is well. But when they see the kind of grace that must teach them to 'deny ungodliness and worldly lusts' (Titus 2:12), and the grace that must alter them, this they cannot endure. They are content to go to heaven if they may have it on a way to hell, in maintaining their corruptions, being proud and covetous and worldly as they are. This must not be. There must, of necessity, be a change.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Glorious Freedom, pp. 103-04 [114]
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