07/14/2022 – Chapter 59 Excerpts – “Practical Lessons from Puritan Theology Today” // Why?: To fulfill our mission to His kingdom as faithful warriors for Christ! // “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…’ ” Jeremiah 6:16
Alistair Begg sermon quote again: “The best of men are men at best!” So indeed, they are just messengers. But warriors who have gone before for us can be our mentors for leading us home.
The book resource: “A Puritan Theology Doctrine for Life” by Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones / ISBN Reference: 978-1-60178-166-6. / published by Reformation Heritage Books / Copyright @ 2012
Excerpts from this chapter only, I will show all section titles,even if I don’t include anything from that section:
Focus on Christ:
“… The Puritans thus taught that any preaching in which Christ does not have preeminence is not valid preaching . William Perkins (1558-1602) said that the heart of all preaching was to ‘preach one Christ by Christ to the praise of Christ.’ According to Thomas Adams (1583-1652), ‘Christ is the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the Scriptures being it were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus.’ ‘Think of Christ as the very substance, marrow, soul, and scope of the whole Scriptures,’ Isaac Ambrose (1604 – 1664)…”
Maintain Biblical Balance:
“By maintaining God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, nearly all of the Puritans stressed that God is fully sovereign and man is fully responsible. How that can be resolved logically is beyond our finite minds. (Jimmy’s bold) When Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) was asked how these two grand, biblical doctrines could be reconciled, he responded like a real heir of the Puritans when he asked that he did not know that friends needed reconciliation.
He went on to compare these two doctrines to the rails of a track upon which Christianity runs. Just as the rails of a train, which run parallel to each other, appear to merge in the distance, so the doctrines of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, which seem separate from each other in this life, will merge in eternity. The Puritans would wholeheartedly concur. Our task, they said, is not to force their merging in this life, but to keep them in balance and live accordingly. We must thus strive for a vibrant, experiential Christianity that does justice both to God’s sovereignty and to our responsibility.
… If you preach with a Reformed balance, some of your parishioners may call you a hyper-Calvinist and others may call you an Arminian, but you will be solidly biblical.
Persevere in Catechizing:
“The Puritans show us the importance of persevering in catechizing family and church members and neighbors. Like the Reformers, the Puritans were catechists. They believe that pulpit messages should be reinforced by personalized ministry through catechesis — the instruction in the doctrines of Scripture using catechisms. …”
Pray without Ceasing:
“MInisters should take to heart Richard Sibbes’s (1577 – 1635) admonition: ‘A minister of Christ is often in the highest honor with men for the performance of one half of his work (preaching), while God is regarding him with displeasure for the neglect of the other half (prayer)” (cf. Acts 6:4)
Handle Trial Christianity:
“God has only one Son without sin but none without affliction…
We can learn from the Puritans that we need affliction to humble us (Deuteronomy 8:2), to teach us what sin is (Zephaniah 1:12), and to bring us to God (Hosea 5:15). ‘Adversity is the diamond dust that heaven polishes its jewels with,’ wrote Robert Leighton (1611 – 1684). View God’s rod of affliction as His means to write Christ’s image more fully upon you so that you may e a partaker of His righteousness and holiness (Hebrews 12: 10-11). Let your hardships move you to walk by faith and wean yourself from the world. As Thomas Watson wrote, ‘God would have the world hang as a loose tooth which, being easily twitched away, doth not much trouble us.’ Strive for grace to allow affliction to elevate your soul to heaven and pave your way to glory (2 Corinthians 4:7).
If you are presently undergoing profound trials, learn from the Puritans not to overestimate those trials. Read William Bridge’s (1600 – 1671) A Lifting Up for the Downcast, Thomas Brooks’s (1608 – 1680) A Mute Christian under the Rod, and Richard Sibbes’s A Bruised Reed. Remember that life is short and eternity is forever. Think more of your coming crown and eternal communion with the triune God, saints, and angels than of temporal tribulations. As John Trapp (1601 – 1669) wrote, ‘He that rides to be crowned need not think much of a rainy day.’
… As George Swinnock (c. 1627 – 1673) quantly said, ‘ A sanctified person, like a silver bell, the harder he is smitten the better he sounds.’
Read The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (c. 1600 – 1646). He will teach you how turn trial into contentment.
Rebuke Pride:
“The Puritans show us how to handle pride. God hates pride (Proverbs 6: 16017). He hates the proud with His heart, curses them with His mouth, and punishes them with His hand (Psalms 119:21; Isaiah 2:12; 23:9) Pride was God’s first enemy. It was the first sin in Paradise and the last we will shed in death. ‘Pride is the shirt of the soul, put on first and put off last, writes George Swinnock.” (Puritan quotations, 224)
…
Seek a deeper knowledge of God, His attributes, and His glory. Job and Isaiah teach us that nothing is as humbling as knowing God. (Jimmy’s bold) (Job 42; Isaiah 6).
Rely on the Holy Spirit:
- “The Puritans were convinced that both preacher and listener are totally dependent on the work of the Spirit to effect regeneration and conversion when, how , and in whom He will.” (pg 970)
- “Ministers knock at the door of men’s heart’s, the Spirit comes with a key and opens the door.”
- “And Joseph Allenine warned, ‘Never think you can convert yourself. If ever you would be savingly converted, you must despair of doing it in your own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead (Ephesians 2:1), a new creation (Galations 6:15; Ephesians 2:10), a work of absolute omnipotence (Ephesians 1:19).”
Soli Deo Gloria!