Many, by a fair profession, a false conviction, and a bastard conversion, seem half way to heaven, who yet will lodge for ever in hell. He who sits down at halfway, and rests there, will never come to the end of his journey, but is still afar off. O sirs, it is to be feared that the most part of you, that even come so near to Christ, in approaching to his house and ordinances; yet you are as far from him as light is from darkness, or darkness from light; and we need not go far to prove the charge; for, if you be not washed, you are far from God and Christ; yea, you have no part in him; "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me," [John 13:8] said our blessed Lord to Peter. If you be not washed from the guilt of sin in justification, and from the filth of sin in sanctification, you have no part in Christ, and so are far enough from him; and this is the state, not of a few, but of a multitude; "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." [Prov 30:12][Ralph Erskine]
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