Full transcript
0:07What was it that marked out the
0:12Puritans?
0:14What was it that made the Puritans
0:18so rich,
0:21so so theologically pastorally profound,
0:27so transformative?
0:31Well, on the one hand, there there were
0:35many distinctive marks of Puritanism.
0:39And like a good Puritan, I'm going to
0:42list a good number of them.
0:47But if I were just to give you a list of
0:50distinguishing marks,
0:53my list could appear to be random. And
0:56the result could be that the Puritans
0:59could appear to be eccentric,
1:02as if they were an odd sect marked out
1:07by a list of quirky idiosyncrasies
1:12with no biblical rhyme or reason.
1:16So in order to show you how unacentric,
1:21how deeply simply Christian they were, I
1:26want to show all their distinguishing
1:29marks
1:32how they fall under two master
1:35categories
1:38and the two master categories are these.
1:41The Puritans were first
1:45deeply
1:46and thoroughly scriptural
1:51and secondly
1:53they were deeply and thoroughly
1:57trinitarian.
2:00So first point
2:02they were deeply and thoroughly
2:05scriptural.
2:07Now in their own day, this was the trait
2:11that left them
2:14so misunderstood in their own day
2:17because the Puritans passionately loved
2:22scripture,
2:24Bible study,
2:26listening to sermons. And again and
2:29again we hear of Puritans happily
2:32traveling hours to listen to a good long
2:35sermon.
2:37Sermons
2:39of up to seven hours long were not
2:44unheard of. This one Puritan the many of
2:47the pulpits in their day used to have an
2:50hour glass in them and you can still see
2:52remnants of these in some old Puritan
2:54pulpits. And one old Puritan once said,
2:57"I gave the class two or three good
3:00terms."
3:02He's not sure.
3:05Uh Lawrence Chadton, the extraordinarily
3:09long-lived master of that nursery of
3:12Puritanism, Emanuel College Cambridge,
3:15once preached for two hours
3:18to people and then apologized, realizing
3:21he'd been going for two hours. And when
3:23he apologized, the congregation cried,
3:26"For God's sake, sir, go on. Go on."
3:29[clears throat]
3:31And to people who've never experienced
3:33the Bible as something thrilling, that
3:37behavior sounds well, at best boring and
3:39at worst deranged.
3:44But Europe had been without a Bible that
3:46people could read in their own language
3:48for something like a thousand years.
3:52and for them to hear God's voice,
3:57to read God's words, and to see in them
4:02good news that God saves sinners,
4:08not on the basis of their performance,
4:10but entirely by his own grace. It was
4:14like a burst of sunshine into the gray
4:17world of religious guilt.
4:21And really to fail to appreciate that
4:25makes it impossible to understand the
4:27Puritans.
4:29So take for example an account of a very
4:31typically Puritan event, a sermon
4:36preached by the wonderfully named
4:38roaring John Rogers
4:41in the pretty little village of Dedum in
4:44the east of England. My grandparents are
4:46buried right under his bust by his
4:48pulpit.
4:50And we are told of this event in that
4:52pulpit. In that sermon, John Rogers fell
4:56into an exposulation with the people
4:58about their neglect of the Bible.
5:02And he impersonated God to the people,
5:06telling them, "Well, I've trusted you
5:07for so long with my Bible, and you have
5:11slighted it. It lies in your houses
5:13covered with dust and cobwebs, and you
5:15don't care to look into it. Do you use
5:17my Bible?" So well, you shall have my
5:20Bible no longer.
5:23And personating God, he lifted up the
5:26Bible from its cushion and was to make
5:29away with it.
5:31At which point Rogers then took the part
5:34of the people.
5:37And he fell on his knees, cried, and
5:40pleaded most earnestly,
5:42Lord, whatsoever
5:45thou dost take from us, take not thy
5:48Bible from us.
5:51Kill our children, [clears throat]
5:54burn our houses, destroy our goods, only
5:59spare us thy Bible."
6:04And then he personates God again to the
6:07people. Say you so
6:10well
6:12I will try you a little longer and here
6:14is my Bible for you. I will see how you
6:17will use it, whether you will value it
6:20more, whether you will observe it more,
6:22whether you will practice it more. And
6:24by
6:26these actions he put the congregation
6:28into so strange a posture
6:33that he never saw any congregation the
6:36like. The place was a mere bockim a
6:39valley of tears. The people delued with
6:42their own tears. And when Goodwin, who
6:45reports this, told me that he was about
6:48to go
6:49and take his horse to be gone, he hung
6:53for a quarter of an hour upon the the
6:56neck of his horse, weeping before he had
6:58the power to mount so strange an
7:01impression was upon him and generally
7:04upon the people
7:06on having been thus exposulated with for
7:10the neglect
7:12of the Bible. Bible.
7:16And that whole story is quite
7:18incomprehensible
7:20without appreciating.
7:24The Bible, the Puritans saw, is the most
7:29valuable thing that this world affords.
7:36Puritanism
7:37[clears throat] was about reforming
7:40all of life under the supreme authority
7:45of God's word in scripture.
7:51The second
7:53main distinctive mark of Puritanism
7:58was their deep and thorough
8:01trinitarianism.
8:04And John Owen showcases this
8:07brilliantly. One of his most important
8:09and well-known pastoral works was the
8:13snappily titled
8:16Communion with God the Father, Son, and
8:19Holy Ghost. Each person distinctly in
8:21love, grace, and consolation.
8:25And it is a completely trinitarian
8:28explanation and exhortation to the
8:31Christian life.
8:33And Owen there is so emphatic that it is
8:36impossible for have any for anyone to
8:39have any dealing with God. Simply put,
8:45for there is no undifferentiated
8:48Godhead for anyone to deal with.
8:52He said this, "Those who in their
8:55worship or invocation attempt an
8:58approach unto the divine nature
9:00absolutely considered without respect
9:05to the dispensation of God in the
9:07distinct persons of the Holy Trinity
9:11reject the mystery of the gospel and all
9:13the benefit of it. But so it is with
9:16many."
9:17He wanted to be clear. Christians
9:21worship each person distinctly
9:26which isn't to say that the persons can
9:28be separated from each other. When we
9:31worship the son, we worship him as the
9:34son of the father.
9:36We do so in the spirit sent by the
9:39father and the son.
9:43But the father, the son, and the spirit
9:45are distinct persons, and we have
9:48distinct communion with each
9:52wonderful work, communion with God.
9:57But communion with God, one of his best
10:00known, rightly
10:03best known books, was not an
10:05unrepresentative one-off.
10:09Owen's thought was so entirely molded by
10:12the trinity that trinitarianism became a
10:17possibly the driving characteristic of
10:20his theology
10:22and he believed that the triune being
10:25should shape
10:27all Christian belief and practice. Now,
10:30of course, all Christians nod along in
10:33agreement to say, "Yes, yes, all quite
10:35correct." But for Owen, it made a
10:36profound difference.
10:39He was trinitarian through and through.
10:44So for example, Owen's theology has been
10:47categorized and divided up in all sorts
10:49of different ways. But he himself
10:52believed God's triune being means that
10:55studies of his ways
10:59should go under two governing heads of
11:03doctrine.
11:05christologology
11:08which deals with God's giving of his son
11:10and pneumatlogy which deals with God's
11:12giving of his spirit.
11:16They were trinitarian.
11:18Now this point
11:21this is where we go deeper down.
11:25I want to drill down into the
11:28trinitarianism
11:29of the Puritans and see why it made them
11:34so special. I want to pause it out. And
11:38here are my sub points. This is nicely
11:40Puritan.
11:44For the Puritans, being trinitarian
11:47meant three things.
11:50It meant first of all they were God
11:56centered.
11:59It meant secondly they were Christ
12:03shaped
12:05and thirdly it meant they were spirit
12:09dependent.
12:11[sighs]
12:13So first they were god centered.
12:18uh Steven Charuk in his wonderful
12:20discourse on the knowledge of God put it
12:23like this.
12:25He said error in knowledge of God was
12:30the first deformity in man
12:37believing the lie about God.
12:41It was the first deformity and the cause
12:43of all the rest. And just so knowledge
12:47of God is the first line the spirit
12:51draws on our souls.
12:56Whence all those beautiful graces that
12:59appear in every region of the soul are
13:01formed.
13:04As rebellion against God stems from a
13:08false conception of him. All goodness
13:13and holiness break out of the womb of a
13:17sound notion of him.
13:23He went on, "If we know God in the glory
13:27of his grace,
13:29in the amiiableness of his nature, what
13:33a choice delight will we have in our
13:35approaches to him and our actions for
13:38him." The more clearly he is understood,
13:43the more he is beloved.
13:46The more he is beloved,
13:49the more readily he is obeyed.
13:53You see, John knew John 17:3, "This is
13:58eternal life that they may know you, the
14:01only true God and Jesus Christ whom you
14:03sent."
14:06He saw knowing God is not a luxurious
14:12extra in the Christian life.
14:16And isn't that how Christians so often
14:18act?
14:19Action, busyiness,
14:24the action and busyiness of service
14:26often with no time for communion with
14:29God.
14:33John knew, the Puritans knew knowing God
14:36is life.
14:40And only
14:42those who know God have life. And
14:46actually only those who know God even
14:48know themselves correctly
14:52because
14:53the gospel of the glory of God
14:58by which we see the light of the
15:00knowledge of God in the face of Jesus
15:03Christ. Well, Chanuk said this, that
15:06light of the knowledge of God discovers
15:09the glory of the sun and the filth of a
15:13dungill at the same time.
15:17That's what the light of the knowledge
15:18of God does. The light
15:22reveals God in his glory and reveals
15:27sinners in their filth at the same time.
15:33And that is the light in which we grow
15:35in the Christian life. The light of the
15:38knowledge of the glory of God. And so
15:41Chanuk put it like this. He said, "Every
15:44notion of Christ is a light that opens
15:48our eyes
15:51to advance faith in God
15:55and humility in ourselves."
16:00And this is precisely what the Puritans
16:02so well appreciated and one of the most
16:05essential ways they can help the church
16:07today.
16:11They were not human centered.
16:15And by the way, it is very easy to be
16:20human centered and sound biblically and
16:24theologically orthodox and still be
16:27human centered.
16:29But unlike modern Christian human
16:32centeredness where sin is a small
16:35problem and therefore Christ a small
16:39savior, God just a satellite orbiting
16:44around us.
16:47The Puritans saw integrity to the gospel
16:51requires a god centeredness. For the
16:54gospel is after all first Timothy 1, the
16:58gospel of the glory of the blessed God.
17:05And you know that
17:08that aroma of worshipful
17:13trembling wonder at God. It just
17:20oozes from every page of their writings.
17:24You can't miss it. I remember it was
17:27something that immediately struck me the
17:29very first time I opened my first
17:31Puritan, John Owen, and I immediately
17:34smelt this. It It was like an exotic
17:38foreign rarity.
17:43It it had a different mentality about
17:46it. For deep in the Puritan DNA was this
17:50sense, God is the glory, the treasure,
17:56the delight, the reward of faith. They
17:59saw,
18:01as Paul puts it in Romans 4:20, Abraham
18:04grew strong in his faith as he gave
18:07glory to God.
18:10As David cried, "You, oh Lord, are my
18:13portion, my shield, my glory."
18:19For them,
18:21it seemed instinctive to say with Paul
18:25in Galatians, "Am I seeking now the
18:28approval of men or the approval of God?"
18:33If I am seeking to please men, I am not
18:38a servant of Christ.
18:42And that is the sweet
18:46but sometimes difficult to drink tonic
18:50the Puritans offer us.
18:55And let's be clear, this is not just a
18:57small tightening of focus.
19:01Your view of God is the mold that will
19:04shape your whole understanding of the
19:06gospel and the Christian life.
19:09And if you fail to see the blazing glory
19:13and holiness of God,
19:19you will fail to see just how repulsive
19:24and monstrous
19:26sin against him is.
19:29And then
19:32of course when God is small, sin is
19:34small. And when sin is small, well, if
19:39sin is a small problem, it doesn't take
19:41much to sort itself out.
19:44If we've only got a very small handicap,
19:47we can overcome it. We can sort
19:49ourselves out.
19:51Salvation can be Jesus giving us a
19:53little helping hand. Thank you a little
19:56bit, Jesus.
20:00Only when God is high and magnificent
20:05and therefore sin deep, vile,
20:11then you see salvation must be a rescue
20:16of the helpless.
20:20And then
20:21you see why people object to it. But
20:24then you can abandon your self-reliance
20:29and throw yourself wholly on the all
20:32sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
20:37Only when you recognize yourself as a
20:39great sinner can you enjoy Christ as a
20:42great savior.
20:45And that is the door the Puritans open
20:49for us.
20:52And it meant that the Puritans were
20:54outstandingly
20:56devotional
20:58in their theology. Not frothy,
21:02but their theology
21:04always led to doxology
21:08[clears throat] to worship.
21:11Yes, integrity to the gospel requires a
21:15god centeredness [snorts]
21:19and the glory of God in the face of
21:23Jesus Christ has always been the load
21:27star, the guiding light of refreshment
21:31and renewal in the church. Always
21:36it is when Christians have appreciated
21:39and adored God as all necessary, all
21:44sufficient, all beautiful.
21:47That is when they come alive.
21:52That is when they start to walk away
21:54from their sin. That's when they're
21:56awakened and made fruitful.
21:59It's then when they see him, then for
22:03[clears throat] them the world is no
22:04longer enough.
22:06For the splendor and allure of Jesus
22:10Christ is greater and the world pales
22:14beside him.
22:17So the Puritans were God centered.
22:22[snorts]
22:23But they were equally clear secondly
22:28that the God they worshiped
22:30was known in his selfrevelation
22:34in Jesus Christ.
22:38We see the light of the knowledge of the
22:41glory of God in the face of Jesus
22:44Christ.
22:46And so they thought they sought to be
22:50Christshaped
22:53in their theology and their life.
22:58So Steven Charuk
23:01after writing his discourse of the
23:04knowledge of God wrote next his
23:08discourse of the knowledge of God
23:11in Christ.
23:13[snorts]
23:14And there he argues the clear knowledge
23:18of God is attained only in Christ.
23:24So
23:25that means all talk of God's glory and
23:28holiness without Christ is skewed
23:33unfaithful.
23:36And so Charak and the Puritan tradition
23:39he represents is so tenaciously
23:43Christ centered that while he has the
23:47highest theology, it is not a Christless
23:51big God theology.
23:55And because the Puritans always sought
23:57to know God in Christ, that's why their
24:02theology was never a cold theology.
24:07Because [snorts]
24:10God for them was never some abstract
24:14supreme being.
24:18He is
24:20the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24:26We know
24:28his character, his nature in his loving
24:32sending of his son, in his fatherliness,
24:35we see that he is gloriously kind,
24:39delightfully loving and compassionate.
24:42And so in the midst of his discourse on
24:45the existence and attributes of God,
24:48Charuk would rapsidize like this. Chanuk
24:52said, "Is not God the father of lights,
24:57the supreme truth, the most delectable
25:02object? Is he not light without
25:05darkness? Love without unkindness,
25:08goodness without evil, purity without
25:11filth, all excellency to please, without
25:14a spot to distaste? Are not all other
25:20things infinitely short of him? More
25:24below him than a cab of dung is below
25:27the glory of the sun.
25:31Now, how can you be so happy in God?
25:34Where does that come from?
25:37Well, Charlie is absolutely clear.
25:40Knowledge of the living God is found in
25:43and through Jesus Christ. But what we
25:45see in Jesus Christ is so beautiful.
25:50It can make the sad and tested
25:55sing for joy.
25:59It can make the [clears throat] dead
26:01spring to life.
26:04And so John said, "Nothing of God,
26:10nothing of God looks terrible in Christ
26:15to a believer.
26:18The sun is risen. Shadows have vanished.
26:23God walks upon the battlements of love.
26:26Justice has left its sting in a Savior's
26:30side. The law is disarmed. weapons out
26:33of his hand, his bosom open, his bowels
26:37yearn, his heart pants, sweetness and
26:39love is in all his carriage. And this is
26:43life eternal. To know God believingly in
26:48the glories of his mercy and justice in
26:54Jesus Christ.
26:58The Puritans were adamant that to know
27:02God, the living God truly,
27:07to come to a worshipful love of him,
27:13we must come to him through Jesus
27:16Christ,
27:18the son who reveals his father.
27:22And in fact, John Owen wanted to push
27:24this so that we understood the
27:27radicality with which he means this to
27:31argue nobody comes to true faith in God
27:34apart from through Christ. And he knows
27:37there'll be some who are going well hang
27:40on do you really mean that Owen?
27:43What about the Old Testament? Did people
27:47have faith in God without Christ then?
27:49No, said Owen.
27:52And he says, "The faith of the saints
27:55under the Old Testament did principally
27:57respect the person of Christ, both what
28:01it was and what it was to be in the
28:02fullness of time when he was to become
28:04the seed of the woman. This has been the
28:07foundation of all acceptable religion in
28:09the world since the entrance of sin.
28:12There are some who deny that faith in
28:13Christ was required from the beginning
28:15or necess or necessary to the worship of
28:17God or the justification and salvation
28:20of them that did obey him. For whereas
28:24it must be granted that without faith it
28:26is impossible to please God, they
28:29suppose it is faith in God under the
28:33general notion of it without respect
28:36under Christ. It is not my design, says
28:39Owen, to contend with any such
28:42ungrateful opinions, such pernitious
28:45errors, but such strike at the very
28:49foundation of the Christian religion. It
28:52deprivives us of all contribution of
28:54light and truth from the Old Testament.
28:56And so he said, "Be wary of those who
29:00profess a respect unto the divine being
29:06but have little regard under the person
29:08of the son
29:10in their religion. Be wary."
29:16So for the Puritans,
29:18Christ shaped their theology
29:23and Christ shaped their life.
29:29They saw Christ is the way to know God
29:34and Christ is the way to true godliness.
29:42For the reason we are called to love
29:45Christ
29:47is because the father so loves him.
29:54And the father's love is the original
29:57fountain of all love. All love in
29:59creation is an echo and extension of
30:02that primordial prime principle heavenly
30:06love.
30:09>> [clears throat]
30:09>> And so when we love Jesus Christ,
30:14it is a reflection, an echo of the
30:17father's love for his son.
30:21And Owen said this,
30:24"Therein consists the principle part of
30:28our renovation into the image of God.
30:32Nothing
30:34makes us so like God as love for Jesus
30:39Christ.
30:41Because what has the father been about
30:43eternally? John 17:24, "Father, you
30:47loved me before the foundation of the
30:49world." That is his identity. To be
30:52godly, to be like the father means to
30:56love Jesus Christ.
30:59And
31:01trusting the son, we become like the son
31:04because you always become like what you
31:06trust.
31:09And so when we trust Christ,
31:13we become like what the father loves.
31:18We're conformed into the image of God.
31:25And this is why John Owen said he wrote
31:29his wonderful crystalallogue year and
31:33his unmissable I'm giving you these
31:35titles to read if you've not read them
31:40meditations and discourses on the glory
31:43of Christ. This is why he wrote them. He
31:46said, he said he wanted to placard what
31:50he called the personal excellencies of
31:53the Lord Christ for he said by
31:56appreciating them the hearts of the
31:59saints are endeared to him.
32:04And so the overall effect of reading
32:08Puritan christologology it's like
32:11reading an invitation come and welcome
32:14to Jesus Christ.
32:20Let me read you an invitation from John
32:22Owen.
32:24[snorts] He says, "Do any of us find
32:26decays in grace prevailing in us? A
32:30deadness, a coldness, a kind of
32:32spiritual stupidity and senselessness
32:35coming upon us? Do do you ever find an
32:39unreadiness to the exercise of grace?
32:42Would you have your soul recovered from
32:44these dangerous diseases? [snorts]
32:47And Dr. Owen says, "Let us assure
32:50ourselves there is no better way for our
32:53healing and deliverance, no other way
32:57but this alone,
32:59the obtaining of a fresh view of the
33:03glory of Christ,
33:06namely a steady abiding therein.
33:11constant contemplation of Christ and his
33:16glory putting forth its transforming
33:19power unto the revival of all grace is
33:23the only relief in this case
33:27feeling spiritually cold
33:32there's the solution
33:35the glory of God in the face of Jesus
33:38Christ
33:40or Take the one known as the heavenly
33:43doctor,
33:45Richard Sibs, who wrote in his classic,
33:49The Bruised Reed. He said, "The gracious
33:52nature and office of Christ is the
33:57spring of all service to Christ and
34:01comfort from him."
34:05You know, Sibs once preached a little
34:07sermon on Philippians 1 entitled,
34:10"Christ is best."
34:15And he compared true faith to dead
34:18religion.
34:21And he said, "Do you notice when Paul
34:23speaks about his dilemma in Philippians
34:261, Paul doesn't say, "My my desire is to
34:30depart and be in heaven," which would be
34:33far better. He doesn't say that. Paul
34:36says, "My desire is to depart and be
34:40with Christ."
34:43For said Sibs, heaven is not heaven
34:47without Christ.
34:52But true faith is not about buying into
34:55some abstract system of salvation where
34:59someone who could be called Jesus or
35:01could be called Bob buys you this thing
35:05called grace and you think lovely. Give
35:07me the grace. Give me the heaven. Give
35:09me the life. Thank you delivery boy.
35:15No
35:18life
35:20is having him the benefit of union with
35:25Christ is Christ.
35:31This is the spirit's aim to bring me not
35:34to enjoy some thing called grace or
35:37heaven or righteousness or salvation but
35:40bring me to know, love, adore
35:45Jesus Christ as the father does. This is
35:48life.
35:51And so Sib said this is the aim of
35:55Puritan pastoral ministry. Brother
35:58pastors note well
36:02Sib said the main end purpose of our
36:07calling the ministry is to lay open and
36:11unfold the uncarchable riches of Christ.
36:16Can I just pause sib there for a moment?
36:19The main end or purpose of pastoral
36:23ministry is not
36:27to show your people how learned you are,
36:30how great you are, to share with them
36:33your opinions,
36:35to share with them your hobby horses.
36:39The main glorious end of the ministry is
36:45to lay open and unfold the unsearchable
36:49riches of Christ. To dig up the mind and
36:53thereby to draw the affections of those
36:57that belong to God to Christ.
37:02It is the the goal of our calling to sue
37:06for a marriage between Christ and every
37:09soul. We are friends of the bride to
37:12bring the church to him and we are
37:16friends of the church to bring Christ to
37:19them. [clears throat]
37:21That that's from his sermons on Song of
37:23Songs where he talks about us as friends
37:27of the bride.
37:31The best friend of the bride and the
37:33bridegroom at the wedding does not flirt
37:36with the bride.
37:39He points the bride to the bridegroom.
37:43This is our purpose
37:46to point the bride nowhere else but to
37:49him. He is the bridegroom we are made to
37:53enjoy. He is the treasure and the reward
37:57of our faith.
37:58So the Puritans were God centered,
38:02Christ shaped
38:05and thirdly they were spirit dependent.
38:11And what this means is
38:13they saw that true transformation
38:19and growth in the Christian life depends
38:23not on the flesh but on the spirit.
38:31The sinful flesh
38:34loves self-improvement,
38:36wants to change.
38:38But the sinful flesh, its idea of change
38:42is let me better myself that I can boast
38:46in myself. Look how wonderful I am, says
38:50the flesh.
38:54But the flesh with all its
38:56self-improvement can never bring about
38:59radical renewal.
39:02Only the spirit working through the
39:05gospel
39:07can make us truly a new make us heavenly
39:11spiritual.
39:14And to understand what this means,
39:19I want to introduce you to a little
39:21sermon Richard Sibs preached titled the
39:25tender heart.
39:29And the tender heart is a a sermon that
39:33Sibs preached on 2 Chronicles 34 where
39:36the Lord is said to have heard Josiah
39:40because his heart was tender.
39:47And the subject of this little sermon
39:52actually lay in the very foundations of
39:56Sibs's theology.
39:58Because in his ministry, Sibs always
40:01sought to get under the superficial
40:05layer of his listeners behavior
40:09and deal with what drove the behavior,
40:14their affections, their loves, their
40:17wants, their desires.
40:20And for Sibs,
40:23this wasn't a secondary matter. It
40:26wasn't that Sibs has his has his cold
40:29theology and then this sort of sweet
40:31cuddly exterior where he talks about the
40:34importance of the heart
40:36which makes him sound a bit friendly. So
40:39he's got a a velvet glove over an iron
40:42fist of theology.
40:45Now, in looking to deal with the heart,
40:49he believed he's preserving one of the
40:52most profound insights of the
40:55Reformation. And so, again in his
40:59sermons, Sibs would speak of both
41:01Catholic priests and Protestant pastors
41:05who, whatever their professed theology,
41:08acted as if people's real problem is in
41:13their behavior.
41:15We've done wrong things. We need to
41:16start doing right things. Change your
41:18behavior and everything will be all
41:20right.
41:22And so that becomes the weight of
41:25certain ministries. Change your
41:28behavior.
41:32Sibs plums much deeper.
41:37He knew the outward acts of sin are
41:42merely the manifestations
41:45of what's going on deeper in the heart.
41:49And to simply alter a person's behavior
41:53without dealing with those desires and
41:55affections in the heart is to create
41:58whitewashed tombs.
42:02people who outwardly look
42:06righteous,
42:08the sort you want to elect as elders,
42:12but inside are full of dead men's bones.
42:17And Sibs noted that ministries that work
42:21like that, that think the issue is all
42:24about people's outward behavior, they
42:27always look cruel.
42:29They're always based on browbeating.
42:33Because when a pastor like that wants
42:36change and he thinks the only change
42:38that is necessary is behavioral change,
42:41he can just demand it. And on the basis
42:43of his demands, people will change as if
42:47his will has the ability to change their
42:50lives.
42:55No. Sibsaw people's hearts must be
42:59changed and their love, their cherishing
43:03of sin must be eclipsed by a stronger
43:06new desire for Christ.
43:10And so in the tender heart, Sibs sets
43:14about the deepest possible work of heart
43:16surgery.
43:20And he explains that those who are
43:22tenderhearted,
43:26the reason they come to have a different
43:29view of their sin is because [snorts]
43:33they begin to desire not just salvation,
43:36they desire the Lord of salvation
43:39himself. And by desiring him,
43:44that's where their hearts have been
43:45turned. Once they were hostile to God.
43:48Now they cry, "Aba, Father." And
43:51therefore, the way they now look at
43:53their sin is not, "Let me cover it up
43:57this delicious sin that I'll cherish,
44:01but I want to keep hidden from the holy
44:05eyes of God, and I dread merely his
44:08punishment." No, they begin to dread the
44:11filth of sin itself, not just its
44:14punishment.
44:16Sin becomes obnoxious in itself to them.
44:20God himself becomes not one merely
44:23reluctantly to obey but to be enjoyed,
44:26adored.
44:30And so Sibs, he he pours burning coals
44:35on hypocrisy. And as you read him, you
44:38find you are mourning your
44:40hard-heartedness
44:44and you're feeling what a wretched thing
44:46it is to be a whitewashed tomb.
44:51And then when he's there, having wetted
44:55your appetite for such a tender heart,
44:59he tells you
45:01what makes a tender heart. And he says
45:04this,
45:06"Tenderness of heart
45:09is brought about by an apprehension of
45:15tenderness and love in Christ." A soft
45:20heart is made soft by the blood of
45:25Christ.
45:27He said, "When things are cold like our
45:30hearts,
45:32when things are cold, we bring them to
45:33the fire to warm them, to melt them. So
45:37let us bring our cold hearts to the fire
45:40of the love of Christ. If you will have
45:43this tender melting heart, be always
45:46under the sunshine of the gospel."
45:52He's making the most significant point.
45:58It is the sight of Jesus Christ
46:03in his crucified glory
46:07that is the power of God for the
46:10salvation of those who believe. That is
46:14what will draw all people to himself.
46:17[sighs]
46:18But also,
46:20Sibs is saying we continue to be
46:24sanctified
46:25as we were first saved
46:29through believing in Christ. It is the
46:33grace of God that saves us. And it is
46:36the grace of God, Titus 2, that then
46:38trains us to renounce ungodliness. For
46:41it is that sight of him that makes our
46:45hearts love him and therefore despise
46:48sin and therefore act differently.
46:54And so by revealing Christ to me, that's
46:58the spirit's ministry bearing witness
47:00about me, says Jesus.
47:03The spirit turns me from my natural
47:06dread and hatred of God
47:10towards a love for him.
47:14And so Sibs, who was the most friendly
47:18of men with a network
47:21of friends,
47:23said to his young friend, Thomas
47:28Goodwin,
47:30he said, "Young man,
47:34if ever you would do good,
47:37you must preach the gospel and the free
47:42grace of God that is in Christ Jesus.
47:46He meant that with every fiber of his
47:48being. For he saw it is the free grace
47:51of God in Christ Jesus that is the means
47:54by which the hearts of sinners are first
47:57turned to God. And the hearts of
48:01believers continue to be turned away
48:04from love of sin to love of God.
48:10Oh, brother pastors,
48:13young man, if ever you would do good,
48:16preach the gospel
48:19and the free grace of God that is in
48:22Christ Jesus.
48:24Let him be your banner. Let him be your
48:26message. Let him be your glory.
48:32I don't think I can exaggerate the
48:33importance of the tender heart for today
48:36because our busyiness, our activism as
48:39Christians so easily degenerate into a
48:42hypocrisy
48:45in which we keep up the appearance of
48:47holiness without the heart of it. And
48:50ministers can bludgeon their people into
48:53such hollow holiness
48:57instead of
48:59themselves enjoying Christ as their own
49:02savior.
49:07True
49:09reformation,
49:11whether in the Puritans's day or ours,
49:15must begin in the heart with love for
49:19Christ.
49:21And that can only come when he is lifted
49:24up in all his grace and glory.
49:28In fact, said John Owen, holiness is
49:30nothing but the implanting, writing,
49:34realizing of the gospel in our souls.
49:37It is that look to him that does that
49:42work that will be ultimately completed
49:45when we see him as he is and become like
49:48him completely.
49:55Now, tragically, the word devotional
49:58today is often a mild slur, meaning
50:02frothy and lightweight.
50:05But frothy and lightweight are words
50:07that really don't apply well to the
50:09Puritans.
50:11The Puritans tended to be highly learned
50:14men,
50:16welltrained in linguistics,
50:19highly educated in biblical, systematic,
50:24historical theology. [snorts] The
50:26Puritans had a depth and seriousness to
50:31their study and great erudition as a
50:34result.
50:36And so
50:38theirs tended to be a theology that
50:41stretches the mind.
50:46Yet theirs also was a theology that
50:51inflames the heart.
50:54In Puritan hands, deep and thoughtful
50:58theology was never allowed to become a
51:01game for the intelligencia, where
51:04doctrines are treated like
51:09balls in a game of theological pingpong.
51:16No, they wanted to instill more than
51:19mere intellectual ascent to the
51:22doctrines of the gospel. They wanted to
51:24see a heartfelt
51:26knowledge of God,
51:29an adoration of him. So John Owen in his
51:33great crystal gear said, "The great end
51:37of the description given of the person
51:39of the Christ, here's why I'm writing
51:42it,
51:43is that we may love him
51:47and entirely thereby be transformed into
51:50his image.
51:55mind stretching, heart inflaming.
52:00And the difference between a Puritan and
52:02a nonpuritan
52:04understanding of holiness
52:07can be seen well in the difference
52:10between the 17th century Puritans
52:13and their contemporaries, a tradition
52:16you may be less familiar with.
52:20They're contemporaries who are known as
52:22the high church Caroline Divines.
52:25Caroline because of King Charles I.
52:29And possibly the best known of the
52:32Caroline Divines was Charles's favorite
52:36Archbishop of Canterbury, William Lord.
52:41Uh [snorts] probably the most
52:42influential of the Carolines. Now,
52:44William Lord
52:46uh was known for his uh pet turtle
52:51um and what he called
52:55the beauty of holiness.
52:59And
53:01that beautiful scriptural phrase, the
53:03beauty of holiness, what Lord meant by
53:06it was lurggical orderliness.
53:12And so Lord, as Archbishop of Canterbury
53:15strictly insisted all clergy must follow
53:19all the rubrics of the Church of
53:22England's prayer book. And he was deeply
53:25concerned with clergy dress codes,
53:29the maintenance of church buildings
53:33and the physical beauty of church
53:35buildings.
53:37And you know it was a particular sort of
53:40building that Lord preferred. He Lord
53:44despised the reformation or defamation
53:47as he called it. Um and so when new
53:51churches were built in his day, we're
53:53talking about 1630s now. He wanted
53:56churches built in the pre-reformation
53:59Gothic style.
54:04And the really important point was the
54:07central architectural feature will be an
54:11altar,
54:13a place for ongoing
54:16sacrifice.
54:19And he said
54:23the altar
54:25is the greatest place of God's residence
54:29upon earth. The altar is greater than
54:31the pulpit.
54:33For there on the altar, the place of
54:36sacrifice.
54:39There he said is hawk est corpus mayam.
54:44This is my body. But in the other the
54:47pulpit, it is at most hawk verb may.
54:51This is my word.
54:54That was most revealing of his theology.
54:58His preference for altars over pulpits
55:03tended towards an emphasis on ongoing
55:06priestly mediation
55:09by the clergy as opposed to an emphasis
55:14on the completed work of Christ
55:17rather than the completed work of
55:18Christ. Let's have ongoing daily
55:20sacrifices for sin.
55:23[snorts]
55:24But also
55:26that emphasis on ceremony,
55:31on architecture,
55:34on correct lurggical procedure.
55:38It emphasized
55:40the Caroline idea
55:43that what is important is on the outside
55:49and we change from the outside in.
55:55And so the stress in Caroline theology
55:58would not be placed on the need for
56:01personal faith
56:04but for external things to be done
56:07correctly,
56:09right dress, right act, right behavior
56:13with a prime concern.
56:17Now the Puritans,
56:20they valued liturgy.
56:23They valued orderly behavior. I mean, it
56:26was, after all, a reformer who'd written
56:28their first prayer book.
56:31But while they were concerned about
56:34their actions, they didn't want their
56:36actions to be misconstrued,
56:38they were less concerned with ritual
56:41because they saw that the gospel works
56:44in another way.
56:47Well, they saw our first need is not
56:51correct behavior. What matters is not
56:54primarily what's on the outside. Our
56:57need is a new birth and a new heart that
57:01loves differently.
57:04Conversion of heart they held is more
57:09vital than maintenance of a particular
57:12ritual
57:13because the spirit changes us from the
57:17inside out.
57:21And as a result, the Puritans
57:26prioritized
57:27preaching
57:30the pulpit as architecturally central
57:36for them. Pulpits took priority
57:40because that is where the gospel that is
57:44the power of God to turn sinners is
57:48proclaimed.
57:50So Richard Sibs said this. He said, "The
57:54outward is easy and subject to
57:56hypocrisy. It is an easy matter to rend,
57:59to rip clothes, and to force tears. It's
58:03a hard matter to afflict the soul.
58:06The heart of man takes the easy ways and
58:10leaves the hardest alone, thinking we
58:12can please God with the easy ways. God
58:15will not be served." So God must have
58:18the inward affections or else he hates
58:21the outward actions.
58:25Therefore said Sibs, let us labor for
58:28humble hearts as well as humble
58:31gestures.
58:35We must rend our hearts and not our
58:38clothes
58:40when we come into the presence of God.
58:44Oh outward and visible holiness the
58:47Puritans wanted
58:49but only if it was rooted in the heart
58:53not if it was a superficial show.
58:58This was the Puritan way.
59:02It was scriptural.
59:05It was trinitarian.
59:08It was God centered.
59:12Christ shaped
59:14spirit dependent.
59:18And so
59:20the triune God was glorified
59:25and the people were brought not to the
59:28drudgery of the flesh
59:31but the joy of the Holy Spirit.
59:35And so, as it was through the ministry
59:39of the Puritans long ago,
59:41may God be gracious to us and bless us.
59:47May the glory of his face shine upon us
59:51that your way be known on earth, your
59:55saving power among all nations. Let the
59:58peoples praise you, oh God. Let all the
1:00:02peoples praise you.
1:00:04Amen.