PREACHER OF THE WEEK
WHY READ THE PURITANS TODAY?
- I think there are several reasons for the renewed interest in puritans and their writings.
- The first is that people are tired of the things religion promises.
- But they can’t give them.
- All kinds of promises are made.
- But people investigate religion out of self-interest.
- And when those promises are not fulfilled.
- They become disillusioned.
- I think they too are tired of superficial religion and without seriousness at its base.
- Many people do not praise God.
- Because the god that most people hear.
- Is not the “Lord Almighty God who reigns for ever and ever.
- “He is simply “my friend”.
- And this familiarity certainly produces a disrespect!.
Puritans were men passionately obsessed with the knowledge of God. I listed 10 reasons why we should read Puritans today, each of which derives directly from the puritanical vision of God and the scriptures.
1) They will elevate your concept of God to a level you never imagined possible and show you a God who is truly worthy of your praise and worship. Jeremiah Burroughs, in his classic book Evangelical Praise, said: “The reason we worship God in an uns serious way is because we do not see God in His glory. “The modern man hears of a God who is not worthy of praise. Why should I praise a God who wants to do good, but who cannot succeed because man does not cooperate?Who, after all, is sovereign?
Read to the Puritans and you will find yourself, in a spiritual sense, somehow alone. You’ll be excited about what you read and how you feel in your heart, and you’ll find that few people will understand what you’re talking about; This can be a lonely experience!When you experience God’s vision of Isaiah (Isaiah 6) and when you realize that God’s reality is infinitely beyond anything your mind can understand, you will realize that the common man does not think much of God, let alone the deep level you think of.
One of the reasons we think so badly is that we read so little. Reading helps us think, do we live in a photographic culture?(visual) rather than a typographic culture (letters). It’s all pictures, videos and movies. All the work is done by us, so we don’t have to fight with concepts. Someone else interprets things with images. 400 years ago, the words were frozen, static on one page and forced readers to work mentally with the thoughts expressed there.
2) Did the Puritans have a love story with Christ, and have they written much about the beauty of Jesus Christ?One of the greatest Puritans was Thomas Goodwin, a congregation. Writing about heaven, Goodwin said, “If I had to go to heaven and discover that Christ was not there, I would flee immediately, for paradise would be hell for me without Christ. “Heaven without Christ is not heaven, and if Christ is not there, I have no desire to be there. . These men were in love with Christ.
James Durham wrote in his application of the sermon on Solomon’s Songs 5:16: “If Christ is love as a whole, then everything else is repellent as a whole. “We don’t feel that about Christ, do we? a little Christ, but also a little bit of many other things. But the true Christian loves Christ and nothing but Christ.
Samuel Rutherford wrote the following about the beauty of Christ
I daresay that the writings of angels, the tongues of angels and more, and as many worlds of angels as drops of water are in all the seas, fountains, and rivers of the earth, could not show you. I think his sweetness increased, in me to the greatness of two heavens.
Oh! Who would have given such an outstretched soul, as if extending to the last line of the highest heavens to contain his love, and yet I could contain only a little of that love, oh, what a vision, to be in paradise!, in this beautiful garden of Novo Paraso, and thus see, feel, touch and embrace this beautiful flower of the fields, the always green tree of life!Your shadow would suffice; a vision of Him would be the guarantee of heaven for me.
If there were ten billion worlds and so many heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be hounded to satisfy all of our desires and fill us all. Christ is the source of life; but who knows how deep it is? Put the beauty of ten thousand worlds of paradise, like the Garden of Eden in one; put all the trees, all the flowers, all the smells, all the colors, all the flavors, all the joys, all the loves, all the sweetness in one.
Oh, what a beautiful and excellent thing would that be?And yet it would be less for the beautiful and beloved beloved Christ than a drop of rain in all the oceans, rivers, lakes and fountains of ten thousand worlds.
He’s someone who loves Christ, isn’t he?
3) Puritans will help us understand Christ’s sufficiency. This is under a great attack in our modern church. You may have Christ to save yourself, but today you need psychology to help you in your life. and help you with your spiritual suffering, but you need something else for those deep emotional pains you feel.
Is there a book written by Ralph Robinson? Contemporary Thomas Watson in London?Christ: Everything and everything. Robinson wrote more than 700 pages about a verse of Colossses, but is Christ everything and everything?(Colossses 3:11). You realize that the problem is our inability to understand Christ’s sufficiency. If Christ is everything in everything, how can we turn to another person or anything else for answers?
In his book “The Treasure of the Saints,” Jeremiah Burroughs has a sermon on the Colossian verse. Burroughs made a statement as follows: “Christ is certainly a sufficient object for the satisfaction of the Father. “None of us would argue with that, we Isaiah tells us that God will see “the fruit of his soul’s hard work and be satisfied. “Therefore, Christ is enough to satisfy God. Burroughs continues: “Certainly, then, is Christ enough to satisfy any soul?Did you understand the reasoning? Pity for those Christians who spend their whole lives complaining about their destiny in life, as if Christ were not enough. What blasphemy to say that Christ is enough to satisfy God, but it is not enough to satisfy me!There was a Freud, a Puritan who solved the problem of the “psychology trick” that so fascinated and pleased the church today.
4) Puritans help us see the sufficiency of Scripture for life and piety. This is what Peter says (2 Peter 1:3-4). The scriptures give us the knowledge of God, who gives us everything about life and mercy. Today’s war cry is something like this: “Am I looking for self-esteem?Or “I just want to agree with myself. “
Christians do not lack self-esteem; They lack Christ’s esteem!Isaiah discovered who God was and then knew who Isaiah really was. I remember being invited to speak at a conference on another continent and asked me to talk about myself. I can’t imagine anything more embarrassing than people learning something about me. In the book, Treasure of the Saints, by Burroughs, his first sermon is titled “The Incomparable Excellence and Holiness of God?”and is based on an Old Testament verse “Who like you, O God, among the nations?”It is a 35-page sermon, and Burroughs speaks of God’s splendor in the middle of the sermon. Then write about the second half of the verse, and who like you, O Israel?What’s the point in question? Since there’s no one like your God, there’s no one like you!So you don’t need self-confidence to feel good about yourself; Do you need to have “the esteem of Christ”?you have to feel good about God.
If man was created in the image and likeness of God, how might anyone lack self-esteem?Christ gave his life, paying a high price for his Church. It’s really dignified, my friends!
5) Puritans can teach us the extreme evil of the nature of sin. Edward Reynolds wrote a book called “The Sinfulness of Sin,” and Jeremiah Burroughs wrote “The Evil of Evil. “There is no doctrine that we should be more orthodox than this, because if you are outside the doctrine of sin, you are outside of any doctrine, it is the thread of the skein that will open the whole envelope.
Burroughs wrote 67 chapters on this premise: sin is worse than suffering; people will do their best to avoid suffering, but they will do almost nothing to avoid sin. However, sin is worse than suffering, because sin causes suffering. Actually, Burroughs is going right to the point. Sin is worse than hell, because sin has caused hell and the cause is worse than the consequence of the cause.
Obadiah Sedgwick, a prominent Presbyterian from London who was a member of the Westminster Assembly, wrote a piercing book?The anatomy of hidden sins?a treatise on David’s cry for the deliverance of hidden sins; These sins hidden in the innermost part of our hearts. These sins that no one else knows, just us and God, sins that are as bad and condemned as others.
Jonathan Edwards said of sin: “Every sin is of infinite proportions, and it is more or less evil according to the honor of the offended person. Since God is infinitely holy, is sin infinitely evil?That is why there is no minor sin (sin), for the least sin is an act of cosmic betrayal committed against an infinitely holy God.
Simply because of its enormous literary value, this material is priceless. Edwards’ images in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?”They are unbeatable. Compare God to an archer and his bow in hand; this bow stretches and the arrow points directly at the heart of man; The archer’s arms tremble so strongly that the bow is thrown away and Edwards says that the only thing that prevents God from blowing up this arrow and entering into the sinner’s blood is the blessing of a God who is infinitely angry with sin every day. who was working on Jonathan Edward, a Christian asked him, “You know, if Edwards is right, then this arrow is directed at your heart. How can you sleep at night?” The answer was: “Sometimes he doesn’t sleep!I just hope in God Jonathan is wrong.
6) The Puritans will help us in practical life. Richard Baxter’s book “The Christian Directory” has been called “the greatest Christian counseling manual ever produced. ” Before this century, all advice was given from the pulpit or during a pastoral visit to the family for catechism. The shepherds were considered the doctors of the soul. It is interesting to note that the word? Psychology? means the study of the soul. Suke, where are we from? Psyche? and where does psychology come from? you mean “soul”. It is only today that what was once the healing of sinful souls has now become the healing of sick spirits (sin has turned into disease). This task has been entrusted to the pastor, who knows the soul better than anyone, and has been entrusted to counselors (psychologists) among whom many do not even believe in God. They cannot cure spiritual ailments. The directory? Baxter’s shows the genius of a man who knew how to apply scripture to all areas of life. Dr. James Packer calls this book the best Christian book ever written.
The practice of piety? Lewis Bayly is a model of puritanical devotion manual. The idea was to settle the whole day of a person with the scriptures. John Gerstner says this book launched the Puritan movement.
There was no area of life, the Puritans believe, that should not be regulated by the scriptures. Even time should only be available for the use of mercy. Natanael Ranew wrote a refined work entitled “Solitude Enhanced by Divine Meditation”. it is a classic Puritan work on spiritual meditation. Ranew’s premise is that even when the Christian is alone, you can do it yourself by using your mind for good, meditating on God and his attributes. If there was a eleventh commandment, it would be, “Don’t waste your time. “
The Puritans wrote several of these “manuals. ” John Preston preached five sermons in 1 Thessaloniki 5:17 on prayer, entitled “The Daily Exercise of the Saints,” which are included in “The Puritans and Prayer. “
R. C. Sproul wrote the preface to Jeremiah Burroughs’ book ‘Treaty on Earthly Mentality’. Here is a book about the great sin of thinking as the world thinks, rather than thinking of God’s thoughts and according to God.
Puritans had a strong pastoral character, as well as being very theological. Christopher Love, who did I write a book about?
Do not look too much at your sins, but also at your grace, however weak. Weak Christians consider their sins more than the graces received; God looks at your graces and doesn’t pay much attention to your sins and weaknesses. The Holy Spirit said, “Have you heard of Job’s patience?” But God does not take into account the bad of his people, but the good in him. It is mentioned that Rahab hid the spies, but nothing is mentioned about the lie she told. What was done well was mentioned as commendable about Rahab. Inappropriate is quietly buried, or at least not recorded against you or as a charge against you. Whoever made the drawing of Alejandro with his scar on his face, did it with his finger on the scar. God places his merciful finger on the scars of our sins. Oh, how good it is to serve such a Lord, who is willing to reward the good we do and at the same time is willing to forgive and forget the inappropriate. Therefore, you who have only a little grace, remember that God will always have his eyes on that little grace. He will not crush the broken staff and annihilate the smoking crowd. (It is 42: 3)
7) Puritans will help us in biblical evangelism. Much of today’s evangelization is centered on the human being, but puritanical evangelization was centered on God. The Puritans had another doctrine, which was lost today and what is called?Find it or “preparation for salvation. ” It was a widespread doctrine among Puritans and English reformers. She was taught by Jonathan Edwards in her sermon “Forcing Entry into the Kingdom”, and before that was taught by her grandfather Solomon Stoddard. Stoddard wrote “A Guide to Christ,” which John Gerstner calls the most refined manual on reformed evangelism he knows. Besides that, would you like to read?De Thomas Watson.
The doctrine of research teaches us that God works by means, and if a man is to be saved, he must appropriate those means. Let me give you an example. Faith comes from listening, and men are saved by faith, or rather, men are saved by grace by faith. But if I need faith to please God and realize that I have no faith to believe in God for salvation, what should I do?
And that’s where the “investigation” comes in. If faith comes when I listen, then I must hear someone preach an Orthodox sermon about Christ. If God wants to save me, his normal means will be through the preaching of the gospel. God has no obligation, to save me if I hear a sermon, but he probably won’t save me unless he hears a sermon about God’s grace.
Therefore, the sinner must do everything in his natural power to soften his heart. He may not deserve salvation, but at least he can?With God in your salvation instead of opposing Him, don’t I please God in the quest?do it without self-interest?but I am less offensive to God than more offensive; and even if God does not save me, my punishment in hell will be less. And the Puritans said, “If you cannot go to God with a righteous heart, then go to Him in search of a righteous heart. Seek the Lord.
8) Reading the Puritans will help us get the priorities right. According to Corinthians 5: 9, it is said: “That is why we too, present or absent, strive to be pleasant to you. ” The smile is my greatest reward; Is your expression of disapproval my biggest fear? If it is true that we have become like the people we spend our time with, then it is an investment for eternity to spend time with the Puritans. time with the best! The book? Evangelical fear? Jeremiah Burroughs wants to have the right priority. These are seven sermons on Isaiah 66: 2, on what it means to tremble at the Word of God. If God speaks, that’s what I’m going to look at, and what trembles at my Word? Then it would be wise for us to know what it is to tremble at the Word of God.
9) Puritans can help us clarify the question of how a man is justified before God. Another title for Solomon Stoddard is his masterpiece on imputed justice: “The Assurance of Presentation, on Judgment Day, on the Righteousness of Christ. ” I cannot help overemphasizing the importance of being sane and sober on this issue of imputed justice in these times when so many are not sober and clear on the eternal difference between imputed and attributed justice. and infused justice. The difference between these two positions is not only the distance between Rome and Geneva; but it is also the distance between heaven and hell. I recommend for your reading on this topic, the book “Justification by faith alone. ” If you specifically want a Puritan book on this topic, read “The Puritans and Conversion,” or read Matthew Mead’s book, “The Nearly Christian Discovered. ” Mead lists twenty-six things that a person should do as a Christian. Doing these things does not prove that she is truly Christian, but not doing them proves that she is not Christian. It is not because of the weakness of the heart. It was the 17th century version of The Gospel According to Jesus, 300 years before John MacArthur wrote this precious work.
10) Finally, let us see the Puritans and the authority of the Word. We know that scripture is God speaking to us. Timothy’s classic verse tells us that all scriptures are inspired by God. (literally impressed by God). And we know that everything God says, we have to obey. In fact, this is what God’s people achieved in the Old Testament. In Exodus 24:7, they declare, “All that the Lord hath said we will do and obey. “The Lord says nothing we should not do; and if we don’t, we’re not Christians!The trick is that simple!
A Puritan who was a member of the Westminster Assembly in 1643 wrote: “The authority of Sacred Scripture, by which one must believe and obey, does not depend on the testimony of any man or church; but it is entirely up to God (who is the Truth itself) who is the author And that is why it must be received, why is it the Word of God?
We know that when God speaks, we must listen. Indeed, much of the Great Commission teaches people to submit to the authority of God’s Word, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded them to do?(Mt 28:20).
This is what surprised people when Jesus taught. Matthew 7:29 says that when Jesus taught, people were astonished. What was the basis of your admiration?” He taught them to have authority and not as scribes. “
This is exactly how preachers should preach: with authority. It is a commandment of God that they do so. ” Say these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Don’t let anyone despise you? Titus 2:15, that if God said anything, we would obey Him, we forget that the faithful minister is God who speaks to us today. This is the vision of the Pulp Ministry Reform: when a faithful minister exposes the Word of God, it is the voice of God that you hear and not that of a man. This means that it must be obeyed.
But what do you mean after the sermon?The best thing you’ll hear is, “It’s interesting, do I have to think about it?”But God never gave us His Word to have our opinion or think of it. He gave us His Word for us to obey. Thomas Taylor wrote:
The Word of God must be preached in such a way that his majesty and authority are preserved; Christ’s ambassadors must deliver their message as if they were literally doing so; a flattering minister is an enemy of that authority, because if a minister has to count, placebos?and sweet songs, it’s impossible not to betray the truth. Resisting this authority or weakening it is a dreadful sin, whether in high- or low-ranking men. And the Lord will not allow His messengers to be interrupted. Listeners should: a) pray for their teachers, that they may transmit the Word with authority, power, and clarity; (b) not to confuse this authority of ministers with rudeness or aversion, much less with madness; (c) not refuse to submit to this authority, nor be offended when it overcomes a practice in which they are reluctant to let go; because it is right with God to turn off the light of those who reject the light offered.
Deuteronomy 30:20 equates a loving God with obedience to his voice, and says that is how we love.
Well, this is how the Puritans saw the scriptures, their high vision of God came from their high vision of the scriptures, and if we want to know God as they did, we must love His Word as they do, and this love will only increase through intense and diligent study. And reading to the Puritans is the next good thing. It’s like going to school with the brightest minds the church has ever had.
Where should you start? I recommend the following titles for beginners:
The Christian’s true love for the invisible Christ, by Thomas Vincent. The wickedness of sin or the duty of self-denial, Thomas Watson. Samples by Thomas Watson, a small book of such collected. The grace of the law, Ernest Kevan. ; a good book about the role of the law in Puritan theology.
Puritans and conversion, Puritans and prayer. Two excellent collections that give the reader the best of Puritan thinking on their respective subjects.