Category Archives: Puritans

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10 Special Helps Against Satan

Armor of God

On weeks when I don’t preach, like this one, I aim to place myself on unusual watch against Satan’s schemes. He rages at all times, but in my own experience it’s weeks like these that he bears his lion-teeth with uncommon fervor.

In addition to the word, prayer, and fellowship I have found Thomas Brooks’ classic Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices to be of great help. His final chapter on “10 Special Helps and Rules Against Satan’s Devices” worth revisiting whenever you feel the Worm is raging. Consider these helps and rules this week as you strive against Satan.

10 WAYS TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ENEMY

Walk by rule of the Word of God. (Prov. 12:24; Gal. 6:16) He who walks by rule, walks most safely; he who walks by rule, walks most honorably; he who walks by rule, walks most sweetly. When men throw off the Word, then God throws them off, and then Satan takes them by the hand, and leads them into snares at his pleasure.

Take heed of vexing and grieving of the Holy Spirit of God. Ah! if you set that sweet and blessed Spirit a-mourning, who alone can secure you from Satan’s depths—by whom will you be preserved? Man is a weak creature, and no way able to discover Satan’s snares, nor to avoid them—unless the Spirit of the Lord gives skill and power.

Labor for more heavenly wisdom. It is not the most knowing Christian—but the most wise Christian, who sees, avoids, and escapes Satan’s snares. ‘The way of life leads upward for the wise,’ says Solomon, ‘that he may depart from hell beneath’ (Prov. 15:24). Heavenly wisdom makes a man delight to fly high; and the higher any man flies, the more he is out of the reach of Satan’s snares.

Make immediate resistance against Satan’s first motions. He who will play with Satan’s bait, will quickly be taken with Satan’s hook! The promise of conquest is given to resisting, not to disputing: ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7).

Labor to be filled with the Spirit. He who thinks he has enough of the Holy Spirit, will quickly find himself vanquished by the evil spirit. Therefore labor more to have your hearts filled with the Spirit than to have your heads filled with notions, your shops with wares, your chests with silver, or your bags with gold; so shall you escape the snares of this fowler, and triumph over all his plots.

Keep humble. An humble heart will rather lie in the dust than rise by wickedness, and sooner part with all than the peace of a good conscience. Humility keeps the soul free from many darts of Satan’s casting, and snares of his spreading; as the low shrubs are free from many violent gusts and blasts of wind, which shake and rend the taller trees. He who has a gracious measure of humility, is neither affected with Satan’s offers nor terrified with his threatenings.

Keep a strong, close, and constant watch (1 Thess. 5:6). A sleepy soul is already an ensnared soul. That soul that will not watch against temptations, will certainly fall before the power of temptations. Shall Satan keep a crafty watch, and shall not Christians keep a holy spiritual watch? Watchfulness is nothing else but the soul running up and down, to and fro, busy everywhere. Watchfulness is the heart busied and employed with diligent observation of what comes from within us, and of what comes from without us and into us.

Keep up your communion with God. Your strength to stand and withstand Satan’s fiery darts is from your communion with God. A soul high in communion with God may be tempted—but will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death. Communion with God furnishes the soul with the greatest and the choicest arguments to withstand Satan’s temptations.

Do not engage Satan in your own strength—but be every day drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus. Ah, souls! when the snare is spread, look up to Jesus Christ, who is lifted up in the gospel, as the brazen serpent was in the wilderness, and say to him, “Dear Lord! here is a new snare laid to catch my soul, and grace formerly received, without fresh supplies from your blessed bosom, will not deliver me from this snare. Oh! give me new strength, new power, new influences, new measures of grace, that so I may escape the snares!”

Be much in prayer. Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God and a scourge to the devil. There is nothing that renders Satan’s plots fruitless like prayer; therefore says Christ: ‘Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation’ (Matt. 26:41). You must watch and pray, and pray and watch, if you would not enter into temptation.’

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Pastors Need Prayer

john-newton

John Newton is a pastoral counselor par excellence. One only needs to read his letters to see uncommon wisdom and skill in using the balm of Scripture.

Preachers all across the world will ascend to the sacred desk this morning and will plead with people to cling to Christ. Their pleading will need power. An old letter from Newton humbly captures this posture we ought to always have when preaching:

I trust I have a remembrance in your prayers. I need them much: my service is great.

It is, indeed, no small thing to stand between God and the people, to divide the word of truth aright, to give every one portion, to withstand the counter tides of opposition and popularity, and to press those truths upon others, the power of which, I, at times, feel so little of in my own soul. A cold, corrupt heart is uncomfortable company in the pulpit.

Yet in the midst of all my fears and unworthiness, I am enabled to cleave to the promise, and to rely on the power of the great Redeemer.

I know I am engaged in the cause against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. If He died and rose again, if He ever lives to make intercession, there must be safety under the shadow of his wings: there would I lie.

In his name I would lift up my banner; in his strength I would go forth, do what He enables me, then take shame to myself that I can do no better, and put my hand upon my mouth, confessing that I am dust and ashes—less than the least of all his mercies.

May preachers all across the world preach today in such prayerful dependence.

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Owen’s Advice to Preachers

In his day John Owen was called the “prince of the English divines,” “the leading figure among the Congregationalist divines,” “a genius with learning second only to Calvin’s,” and “indisputably the leading proponent of high Calvinism in England in the late seventeenth century.”

Have you read any of his works?

“HEAVY AND HARD TO READ”

owenIf you haven’t, you are in the vast majority. Owen is notoriously hard to read. Spurgeon said, “I did not say that it was easy to read [Owen’s works]!—that would not be true; yet I do venture to say that the labour involved in plodding through these ill-arranged and tediously-written treatises will find them abundantly worthwhile.” To discover Owen’s abundant usefulness you simply need to read his timeless work The Mortification of Sin. Just how helpful is this “little” book?

Jerry Bridges said, “John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written.” JI Packer feels indebted to Owen, for he once wrote, “I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, and I owe more to this little book [The Mortification of Sin] than to anything else he wrote.”

Around this time last year I had a few dozen men in my church read The Mortification of Sin (the Puritan Paperback version from Banner) a good handful of them said something to the effect of, “This is one of the most useful books I’ve ever read!”

Indeed.

LAY DOWN THE AXE

The book is also oh so useful for pastors in their personal pursuit of holiness and faithfulness in pastoral ministry. Here’s what I mean. Chapter seven closes with a luscious aside directed to preachers who aim to be instruments of mortification in the hearts of their hearers. The Prince of Puritans warns,

Let me add this to them who are preachers of the word, or intend, through the good hand of God, that employment: It is their duty to plead with men about their sins, to lay load on particular sins, but always remember that it be done with that which is the proper end of law and gospel;—that is, that they make use of the sin they speak against to the discovery of the state and condition “wherein the sinner is; otherwise, haply, they may work men to formality and hypocrisy, but little of the true end of preaching the gospel will be brought about. It will not avail to beat a man off from his drunkenness into a sober formality.

A skillful master of the assemblies lays his axe at the root, drives still at the heart . . . To break men off particular sins, and not to break their hearts, is to deprive ourselves of advantages of dealing with them.

. . . Can sin be killed without an interest in the death of Christ, or mortified without the Spirit? . . . If such directions should prevail to change men’s lives, as seldom they do, yet they never reach to the change of their hearts or conditions, they may make men self-justiciaries[sic] or hypocrites, not Christians.

I believe the margin next to this section in my copy reads, “Boom! and Amen.”

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Book to Look For: On John Owen’s Piety

Foundation_front__74064.1396468482.1280.1280Reformation Heritage Books has quietly amassed a goldmine for piety in its “Profiles in Reformed Spirituality Series.”

The “series is designed to introduce the spirituality and piety of the Reformed tradition by presenting descriptions of the lives of influential Christians with select passages from their works. This combination of biographical sketches and primary sources gives a taste of each subject’s contribution to the Reformed tradition’s spiritual heritage and direction as to how the reader can find further edification through their works.”

The next installment, due in just over a month, is entitled “The Foundation of Communion with God: The Trinitarian Piety of John Owen.” Ryan McGraw, who did his PhD on Owen’s liturgical theology, offers up a digestible feast from the Prince of the Puritans. Which is no small accomplishment!

AN ACCESSIBLE OWEN

Owen is notoriously difficult do read, and so RHB and McGraw ought to be commended for their hard work in making Owen accessible to the average church member.

The book’s forty-one chapters are broken down into the following four sections:

  1. Knowing God as Triune
  2. Public Worship and Scripture
  3. Heavenly Mindedness and Apostasy
  4. Covenant and Church

I have read quite a few of the other volumes in this series and each one has been fantastic. They are great for discipling and are also suited nicely for morning devotions. Make sure to grab this one when it comes out and then consider which installment you might read next.

Tolle lege!

I hope I may own in sincerity that my heart’s desire unto God, and the chief design of my life . . . are, that mortification and universal holiness may be promoted in my own and in the hearts and ways of others, to the glory of God, that so the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be adorned in all things. – John Owen

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3 Diaries Every Pastor Should Read

Pastors and Reading

Several years ago it was a normal practice to ask Christian friends to reflect upon what things stirred their affections for God.

It was always fun to see how, in God’s creative providence, there were several things which received almost universal mention: beholding God’s glory in creation, the power of music to move the soul, and stirring effect of spiritual conversation with godly brothers and sisters in Christ.

WHAT STIRS YOU TO HOLINESS?

One wrinkle I now add to the conversation started is this: “What things stir your soul to pursue holiness?” Having your affections stirred for God and soul stirred for holiness are not mutually exclusive realities, but they are distinct nonetheless.

You know what might just be the most common thing I’m told that stirs people to pursue holiness? Reading Christian biography and the journals of mighty saints.

There is a peculiar power in reading about God’s “oaks of righteousness” from centuries gone by. And the Bible actually tells us why. Philippians 3:17 says, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Notice that Paul doesn’t merely say keep your eyes Christ or His apostles. He says, “Keep your eyes on anyone that follows the Christ-centered apostolic example.” Here then is a principle for life: wherever you see a life lived in the ­power of Christ, according to the word of Christ, for the glory of Christ, “keep your eyes on that life.”

And that’s exactly what we get to do with Christian biography and old diaries. You can check out my previous post to see my recommendations on “Biographies Every Pastor Should Read“, so let me today suggest three diaries that will encourage you unto holiness.

3 DIARIES EVERY PASTOR SHOULD READ

9780851519548The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd edited by Jonathan Edwards. In the mid-18th century David Brainerd took the gospel to various Indian tribes in New England. His self-denial, courage through suffering, and holiness of life were the stuff of legend. He eventually crossed paths with Jonathan Edwards and even died in the Edwards home of tuberculosis. After his death Edwards edited Brainerd’s diary and journal for publication, and it created a firestorm of mission activity. Brainerd’s short words inspired such missionaries as William Carey, Henry Martyn, Robert Morrison, David Livingstone, and Robert Murray M’Cheyne in the nineteenth century and Jim Elliot in the twentieth. Edwards wrote in his preface to the diary, “In twenty-nine years David Brainerd (1718-1747) made a deeper and more lasting impression on the world in which he lived than most men make in a long lifetime.”

EdwardsThe Diary of Jonathan Edwards.I will grant I am somewhat biased on this work. Few things have been as used to God to so immediately change my life as Edwards’ diary entries. No one has yet published the diary by itself, so you’ll have to either read it online or spend some precious pennies on Volume 1 of his collected works. You’ll never regret the purchase. It’s here you will discover his famous Resolutions and find your soul transfixed by his single-minded pursuit of godliness. Edwards’ diary paints a compelling picture about the role of God’s beauty and an eternal perspective in “striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

0851510841mMemoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne by Andrew Bonar. The circulation of this work underscores the timeless allure of M’Cheyne. First published in 1844, within twenty-five years it went through one hundred and sixteen English editions. In 1910 it was estimated that, including translations into other languages, not less than half a million copies were in circulation. M’Cheyne’s diary is not as long as the other two, but it is has an atomic force of pithy gravity. It’s here the reader is invited into the mind and “Personal Reformation” of a man so holy that people were known to weep at just the sight of his godly countenance.

Spurgeon, in a lecture to his pastoral students, said, “Read McChyene’s Memoir, read the whole of it, I cannot do you a better service than by recommending you to read it; there is no great freshness of though, there is nothing novel or striking in it, but as you read it, you must get good out of it, for you are conscious that it is the story of the life of a man who walked with God.”

Check out my past suggestions in the “3 Books Every Pastor Should Read” series here.

It’s a notable Scripture (Heb. 13:7) to show that the ministers of the Word should be eminent in their conversations every way, and that all those to whom they speak the Word of God should see in their conversations the beauty and excellency of the Word of God they speak to them, for people look at the lives of ministers as well as listen to their words. It is not good enough only to be a good man in the pulpit unless it is in the constant way of their conversations. – Jeremiah Burroughs

Gospel Conversation, 35.
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A Scottish Appetizer

robert_mcheyneA few years ago I read Andrew Bonar’s Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne and in many ways I’ve never been the same.

“This is one of the best and most profitable volumes ever published,” said Spurgeon. “The memoir of such a man ought surely to be in the hands of every Christian and certainly every preacher of the Gospel.”

M’Cheyne’s zeal for Christ and pursuit of holiness bleeds through on every page and the spilling is oh so glorious. Here are a few choice quotes to whet the appetite.

FEASTING WITH M’CHEYNE

  • “If I am to go to the heathen to speak of the unsearchable riches of Christ, this one thing must be given me, to be out of the reach of the baneful influence of esteem or contempt.  If worldly motives go with me, I shall never convert a soul, and shall lose my own in the labour. (16)
  • Clear conviction of sin is the only true origin of dependence on another’s righteousness, and therefore (strange to say!) of the Christian’s peace of mind and cheerfulness.” (22)
  • A M’Cheyne letter to a young student, “Remember you are now forming the character of your future ministry in great measure, if God spare you.  If you acquire slovenly or sleepy habits of study now, you will never get the better of it.  Do everything in its own time.  Do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, the do it with all your might.  Above all, keep much in the presence of God.” (29)
  • “Nothing is more needful for making a sermon memorable and impressive than a logical arrangement.” (31)
  • “Enlarge my heart, and I shall preach.” (40)
  • “I see a man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ’s sake – until he gives up striving to attract people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ.” (45)
  • “Two keys are committed to us by Christ: the one the key of doctrine, by means of which we unlock the treasures of the Bible; the other the key of discipline, by which we open or shut the way to the sealing ordinances of the faith.  Both are Christ’s gift, and neither is to be resigned without sin.” (73)
  • “How will we accomplish [deeper affection for Christ]?  To begin with, we need to simply spend more time with Him.  The Christian’s love for the unseen Christ grows by communion with Him.  He is a person, a real person, a living Lord and Savior, who has promised to be with us all of our days.  We must spend time with Him daily, and as we do, we will be overwhelmed with His greatness and glory to the end that we will want to tell others about Him.” (110)

I remember thinking after reading the memoirs of M’Cheyne that only Edwards’ diary, in my opinion, exceeds the Scotsman in a warm-hearted, Christ-centered piety. M’Cheyne would seem to agree for notice what he said one March 20th:

Read part of the Life of Jonathan Edwards.  How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear beside such a sun! But even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me.

Awesome. And yes, the same sun shined brightly on the young Scotsman. So grab a copy of Bonar’s work and let Mr. M’Cheyne encourage you unto Christlikeness.

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Watson on Praying for Sermons

WatsonBeatitudesMondays are sermon prep days, at least for me. Rarely is the day occupied with anything else.

When Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers”, was asked why his ministry was so effective, he responded, “My people pray for me.”

It is my hope that congregations everywhere pray consistently for their preachers. I have told my congregation which days of the week I devote to sermon preparation in hopes they offer supplication and intercession on my behalf (Eph. 6:19). Consider these words from Thomas Watson:

God’s Spirit must fill the sails of our ministry. It is not that scatters the seed which makes it spring up, but the dews and influences of heaven. So it is not our preaching, but the divine influence of the Spirit that makes grace grow in men’s hearts. We are but pipes and organs. It is God’s Spirit blowing in us that makes the preaching of the Word by a divine enchantment allure souls to Christ. Ministers are but stars to light you to Christ. The Spirit is the lodestone to draw you.

Oh, then pray for us, that God will make his work prosper in our hands. This may be one reason why the Word preached does not profit more, because people do not pray more. Perhaps you complain the tool is dull, the minister is dead and cold. You should have whetted and sharpened him by your prayer. If would have the door of a blessing opened to you through our ministry, you must unlock it through the key of prayer. (Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes, 23)

May our people be praying people and our preachers “prayed for” preachers.

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In Which I Cry “Uncle”

boston

Almost two weeks ago I decided to add a new Endeavor for 2014: read the collected works of Thomas Boston. It was a “go big or go home” Endeavor and I wanted to go big. But now I am going home.

Just yesterday said, “Uncle,” to the great Scotsman.

My reasoning for laying aside the Boston endeavor is quite simple. To read through the twelve volumes in eleven months would mean reading about thirty-five pages a day. If I’m reading fast, those pages would occupy about forty minutes of each day. I spent about ten days attacking the first volume with verve and nearly knocked out the whole thing. But it didn’t take long to realize that this one Endeavor was going to rob time from the other three Endeavors, while also infringing on my afternoon prayers.

Right as I was thinking about laying Boston aside in order to protect prayer time in the afternoon I read this part of Spurgeon’s magnificent lecture on “Earnestness: Its Marring and Maintenance“:

Fan [earnestness] with much supplication. We cannot be too urgent with one another upon this point: no language can be too vehement with which to implore ministers to pray. There is for our brethren and ourselves an absolute necessity for prayer. Necessity!–I hardly like to talk of that, let me rather speak of the deliciousness of prayer–the wondrous sweetness and divine felicity which come to the soul that lives in the atmosphere of prayer. John Fox said, “The time we spend with God in secret is the sweetest time, and the best improved. Therefore, if thou lovest thy life, be in love with prayer.” The devout Mr. Hervey resolved on the bed of sickness–“If God shall spare my life, I will read less and pray more.”

I often think about dying and what I would say on my deathbed. The older I get the more I realize how likely it could be that I would say the same thing as good Mr. Hervey.

And I don’t want to.

So I put Boston back on his venerable shelf in my study and sat down to pray. I think the good Scotsman would commend that endeavor.

A prayerful journey through Boston is still, very much, in the cards . . . just not in 2014.