I was not converted until the age of 21, but I had grow up all my life in several Baptist churches, one of them a very prominent SBC mega-church I attended 10 years. During these years I walked the aisle, I was baptized at 6, I made purity pledges, went to summer camps, served in various capacities, sang in the choir (oh yes!), faithfully tithed, even re-dedicated my life when I strayed into gross sin. But I was lost the whole time. I was a false convert.

When I was brought to Christ by a Calvinist minister of a tiny church, I began to study scripture in depth and began discovering things I had never heard before. And I still remember the shock I had when I came across Matthew chapter 18 in light of what I had just come out of.

So I became a little bitter. A little angry. Of course God is sovereign over providence and my conversion, but I was furious as to why my gross and at times blatant sin was never challenged in the 15 years I attended church as a professing believer. Maybe, just maybe, if I’d been kicked out of the church years earlier, I might have repented long ago. It took years before the bitterness and anger wore off, but needless to say I still consider church discipline to be one of the most important doctrines of a true church.

On this doctrine I found The Marrow of Theology to speak with wonderful clarity:

“Discipline is usually associated by the best theologians with the word and sacraments in the marks of the church.”

“This discipline is ordained and prescribed by Christ Himself, Matt 16:19; 18:15-17. It is, therefore, plainly of divine right and may not be taken away, diminished, or changed by men at their pleasure.”

“Indeed, he sins against Christ, the author and ordainer, who does not do all he can to establish and promote this discipline in the churches of God.”

“The true reason why the discipline of Christ is solidly constituted and exercised with doctrine in so few churches is because most of those who would seem to know Christ and to hope in Him refuse to receive the whole kingship of Christ and yield themselves completely to Him.”

“As discipline is part of the kingship of Christ, so it is also part of the gospel. For it is the holy manner of promoting the gospel ordained by the gospel itself. Therefore, those who reject discipline accept neither the whole kingship of Christ nor the whole gospel.“

“An idea is man, who attains knowledge by analysis, is brought in from things themselves. Things exist first in themselves and then come into the senses of men and finally to the understanding, where they can form an idea to direct a subsequent operation. But God knows all things by genesis and does not require knowledge through analysis of things; therefore all things are first in His mind before they are in themselves.” -i,vii,15

“In us the things themselves are the pattern and our knowledge is the image of them. But in God the divine knowledge is the pattern and the things themselves are the image or express likeness of it.” -i,vii,16

“An idea in man is first impressed upon him and afterwards expressed in things, but in God it is only expressed, not impressed, because it does not come from anywhere else.” -i,vii,17

“From this one foundation all errors of merit and forseen faith can be sufficiently refuted. For if a particular decree of God depended upon any foresight then an idea of God would have come to Him from somewhere else, which hardly agrees with His nature.” -i,vii,18

“A Middle Knowledge by which God is imagined by some to know by hypothesis before the decree of His will that certain things will be, if such and such free causes meet such and such conditions –knowledge of this kind cannot stand with the absolute perfection of God. For it both supposes that events will happen independently of the will of God and also makes some knowledge of God depend on the object.” -i,vii,28

“Therefore the opinion which holds that God will something antecedent to the acts of a creature and consequent to the acts…is not to be allowed. This makes the will of God mutable and dependent upon the act of the creature, so that as often as the act of the creature is changed God’s will itself is changed.” -i,vii,43

“According to the same opinion, that form of speech prescribed in the word of God whereby we commit ourselves and all of ours to God –I will do this or that, if God wills– is not always to be used: it should be turned around to state that God will do this or that, if man wills.” -i,vii,44

{Here is a brief synopsis of this book for those interested}

“[There is nothing] in theology which does not refer to the final end or to the means related to that end -all of which refer directly to practice.” – I, i, 11, P78

“This practice of life is so perfectly reflected in theology that there is no precept or universal truth relevant to living well in domestic economy, morality, political life, or lawmaking which does not rightly pertain to theology.” – I, i, 12, P78

{Here is a brief synopsis of this book for those interested}

Today, I’d just like to collect and share the various quotes that I have posted on Twitter –quotes that I have found interesting having come across them while reading.

There are some really good quotes below; so I hope you’ll check them out. Feel free to share your thoughts or open up a discussion on any of them:

“Where lies the power of a temptation to sin but in that it offers some contentment that the heart did not have before?”

“The very first [real] work that shall draw the heart to believe and hope in Jesus Christ will draw the heart from the love of every sin…”

“God, in giving all the things of the world to…wicked ones, His enemies, shows there is not much excellency and good in (earthly riches).”

“Shall the understanding of the freedom of the grace of God carry you on less (in obediemce) than your slavish terror did (legalism)?”

(My own observation that might be pertinent to this post): I don’t get why we chide Catholics for their image worship while our own bookstores (Lifeway) market & sell graven images by the thousands

“many godly keep from gross sins…but they should be humbled for their thoughts, for misspending time, and for not sanctifying God’s name”

“It is no love in God to let men go on in sin, and never smite. God’s greatest curse is when He afflicts not for sin.” – T. Watson

“see the dreadful authority in the Word…see that there is more of His glory in the Word than in the whole creation of heaven and earth”

“Ye will not get leave to steal quietly to heaven, in Christ’s company, without a conflict and a cross.” S Rutherford

“Christ is never sweet till sin is felt to be bitter; nor is He rest till man feels sin to be a burden.” – T. Watson

“The gospel starts by teaching that we, as creatures, are absolutely dependent on God, and that He, as Creator, has an absolute claim on us”

“Where Christ sends the gospel there Christ has His people” (unregenerated elect). -JI Packer

“If you have no Calvin, you have no America.” – http://twurl.nl/jcyled

Islamic theologian: “the only version of Christianity we fear is Calvinism, for it encompasses all of life.” – quote from Edward Donnelly

“As theology grew simpler [over time in US history], technique [in evangelism] became predominant”

“If God was severe to His own Son, how dreadful will He be one day to His enemies!” – T. Watson

“If the fountains of science were [studied] without the salt of revealed [divine] truth, they would become a curse.”

“It is [only] the Spirit of God who makes the same means [preaching/evangelizing] more effective at some seasons than at others.”

“Man unhumbled before God believes that God has no right to give to any what he will not equally give to all.”

“It is reverence, humility, and stillness rather than noise and excitement which mark the nearness of God to a people.” – Iain Murray

“Show me a man in whom holiness and sin are struggling for dominion, and I will show you one who is already born again.” – CHS

“The true convert is reconciled because he is pleased with the character of God; the false convert because he hopes God is pleased with him”

“An invitation to come to Jesus Christ is an invitation to become a worshiper of Him.” – J. Mac

“True biblical preaching will never leave unbelievers comfortable in the presence of true Christians.”

Do you agree with Samuel Miller that altar calls “favor the rapid multiplication of superficial, ignorant untrained professors of religion”?

“securing mass consent in evangelism is only possible where the full biblical teaching on depravity & regeneration is kept out of view”

Obvious but still profound: “Wherever there is faith in Jesus Christ a miracle of purification has been wrought in the heart.” – CHS

“God reveals Himself as the God who requires holiness of all who would be in loving relationship with Him.”

“What is repentance? Admitting that you’re not God;valuing Jesus more than your immediate pleasure;giving up the things the Bible calls sin”

“Happiness is the motive of every man, even those who hang themselves.” – Agree or disagree?

From my 20+ years in Baptist churches, I can always remember special services (usually on a Sunday night, or a revival/evangelistic service) when the preacher would invite people to come down to the ‘altar’ to pray. There, at the foot of the pulpit, in front of the whole church, people would get on their knees and pray, cry, lift their hands up, etc. Not to mention that the ‘altar’ was where the ‘decisions’ for Christ took place, and people were always invited down ‘to the altar’ to make these decisions.

From my understanding, the ‘altar’ has been brought over from Roman Catholicism, and that it was introduced into protestantism through the Pelagian heretic Charles Finney and the Revivalists of the 19th century (this along with other fanatical and manipulative techniques aimed at heightening emotion and inducing ‘decisions’ for Christ.)

Thus, I wonder if evangelical churches now days ever consider the ramifications of calling some special place an ‘altar’. The Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs had some thoughts on it, so I read:

“In God’s worship, there must be nothing tendered up to God but what He has commanded…

“…all things in God’s worship must have a warrant out of God’s word. It must be commanded; it is not enough that it is not forbidden…

“if I account one place more holy than another, or think that God should accept worship in one place rather than another…if I do not have Scripture to warrant me, I am therein superstitious…it is a superstition.” – P11, Gospel Worship

What are your thoughts? Is it just a term of convenience, or is there a special significance given to the ‘altar’ thus making it a humanistic (and Roman Catholic) superstition, as well as an unbiblical element of public worship?

In the book, The Art of Manfishing, the Puritan Thomas Boston gives a brief outline of ’shepherding’. Though this list is mostly aimed towards ministers and preachers of the gospel, I found it very helpful, and would recommend it to all, particularly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th points.

According to Thomas Boston, Shepherding the Flock of God consists of,

1) Faithfulness, even when it runs the risk of upsetting people and turning them against us. We must renounce the ‘carnal policy’ of trimmers and time-servers who tone God’s message down, and must present the realities of sin and grace forthrightly, rebuking where necessary, pulling no punches, and leaving the outcome to God.

2) Evangelistic purpose. ‘Christ had the good of souls in his eye… When you preach, let this be your design, to seek to recover lost sheep…to get some converted, and brought in to your Master.’

3) Prayerfulness. Christ spent time and energy in prayer both before and after his preaching of the word, and we need to do the same.

4) Single-mindedness, free from any form of the personal profit motive.

5) Enterprise in usefulness. Jesus took every opportunity to ‘instruct, rebuke, etc., from such things as offered,’ both one to one and in larger companies. So must we: so ‘learn the heavenly chemistry of extracting some spiritual things out of earthly things,’ and ‘do not refuse any occasion of preaching when God calls you to it.’

But now, 6 years later, though I am a radically new man on the outside, my inside (heart sins) often don’t feel much different than my previous life. Instead of drunkenness, it’s wantonness in things more accepted by the Christian culture; instead of hedonism in things clearly forbidden by scripture, it’s hedonism in trivial pursuits and other accepted pleasures; instead of sexual immorality, it’s inward lust; instead of lying, it’s deceitfulness; instead of stealing, it’s covetousness. And the list goes on. Oh, how easy it is to stop all outward, gross manifestations of sin and then neglect the heart!

Thus, I found the following quote helpful in reminding us Christians for our need of humiliation over seemingly ’small’ sins in our lives.

Note, also, his mention of the sin of misspending time. As little as two years ago I wouldn’t have even thought this to be a great sin. But by God’s grace, oh, how I see it to be one of the biggest heart-sins in my life. The selfishness of the heart knows no bounds! In our pleasure-addicted, entertainment-driven society, who doesn’t struggle with the terrible sin of wasting our precious, God-given time? I think this testifies to the wickedness of our hearts more than anything else…for so many sins find their expression in wasting time (selfishness, covetousness, lack of self-control, unfaithfulness, self-righteousness, etc.).

“There may be many godly people who, through God’s mercy, are able to keep from gross sins. They do not find it any great matter to keep from bad company, swearing, drinking, uncleanness, lying, wronging others, or such kinds of sins as these are. They do not see such need for humiliation in this regard, unless it is for the fact that their natures are as corrupt as any, though they do not break forth into those actual gross sins. But the main work of the humiliation of those who are godly is to be humbled for their thoughts, for misspending time, and for not sanctifying God’s name in holy duties.” – Jeremiah Burroughs

Summary: A warm, devotional exposition of 1st John 3:3, “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Though Jeremiah Burroughs is personally not my favorite Puritan to read, I find him to be one of the the very easiest of Puritans to read. This book is no exception, and I would strongly recommend it to young Christians, women, and to friends/family as a short gift book.

But having read a few Burroughs’ books before, I think he is at his very best when he is discussing the vanity of earthly pursuits. The SDG work, A Treatise on Earthly-Mindedness (I’ve blogged excerpts from this work before) is a marvelous work on this topic, and I mention it here because Hope also deals with a lot of the same thing.

Overview:
Hope is a book with two separate sections, the first being and exposition of 1 John 3:3, and the second half of the book being a sermon on Psalm 17:14 entitled ‘The Misery of Those Who Have Their Portion in This Life‘. I personally found the first half to be exceptional, with the second half of the book a little forceful and long-winded.

But the essence of the book deals with the phrase ‘purifies himself’ in 1 John 3:3, where Burroughs rightly shows how the Christian’s hope (i.e. the true Christian’s hope, as opposed to a false professor’s hope) is a a hope that purifies us, prepares us for and greatly anticipates the second Coming of Jesus Christ when “we shall be like Him”.

I greatly benefited from Burroughs expounding on this ‘hope’, as opposed to the ‘hope’ of the ungodly, who prove by their lives that their professed hope really isn’t the hope of Christ’s second coming. Oh, what our churches would be like if this type of exposition took place in pulpits across America! The true ‘hope’ in Christ is a hope that causes the saints to purify themselves, purge themselves from sin, and cast all of their hope in Christ to set things right at His coming! There is no room here for ‘carnal Christianity’, or those who continue unabated in their sinful behavior, even after professing Christ.

Quotes:

While the summary above captures the gist of the book, below I’d like to add a few choice quotes to give you a glimpse of Burroughs’ tone:

“Objection (to the preacher): “But the best of men have some sin”. Answer: Since the best of men have some sin, therefore you hope that all is well with you? The worst of all may have some good in them, just as the saints have had some ill in them. So you hope that, notwithstanding your evil, you may go to heaven. Then I tell you that some reprobates have had more good in them than you have; and notwithstanding your good you may go to hell…Never tell me of some sin in the saints as being your comfort. Rather, look upon the good that was in the wicked and reprobate, and see whether that is not more for your discouragement.” – P40

“When the wicked and ungodly have sin in them, it comes into them as filthy water, and there it putrefies. But the saints sin is as a running water, the principle that they have is stirring in them, and so comes to be cleansing. Indeed, the more active Christians are, the more clean. Christians, if you would be clean, let grace be active. If grace is stirring and active, you will be clean. A man who is most active and stirring usually has the most clean body, and people who stir but little find diseases growing on them. Grace makes the saints active and stirring, and so by that means they purify themselves.” – P46

“It’s not what we have in the world, or what comforts we have in our families; nothing can give rest to the heart but the cleansing it from sin.” – P54

“The main thing that hardens others in their sin is their hope: They hope that they shall be saved when they die and that God loves them; therefore they are secure in their evil and sinful way. The hope of the wicked is the very thing that makes them more secure in their evil ways. The hope of God’s mercies that the saints have is the thing whereby the come to purge out corruption; yea, to purify themselves as Jesus Christ is pure.” (1J ohn 3:3). The hope of the saints makes them purify themselves.” – P56-57

“The very first work that shall draw the heart to believe and hope in Jesus Christ will draw the heart from the love of every sin and corruption whatsoever.” – P80

“What was the great plot in His election? He has chosen us that we might be a holy people unto Him. Now if you think, ‘I hope that God intends good to me,’ and yet go on in wickedness, you cross the plot of God’s election.” – P83

“God gives wicked men a portion here to show unto them what little good there is in all these things, and to show the world what little good there is in all the things that are here below in the world. Certainly, if there were much good, they should never have them. It is an argument that there is no great excellency in the strength of body, for an ox has it more than you; an argument there is no great excellency in agility of body, for a dog has it more than you; an argument no great excellency in gay clothes, for a peacock has them more than you; an argument there is not any great excellency in gold and silver, for the Indians who know not God have them more than you. And, if these things had any great worth in them, certainly God would never give them to wicked men…God, in giving all the things of the world to Turks and wicked ones, His enemies, shows there is not much excellency and good in them.” – P98

Conclusion:
This is a tough call. While the first part of the book (86 pages) is excellent, the second part of the book is simply average (63 pages). Thus given the shortness of the first half and the steep price of this nice hardback, I simply cannot rate it very high. If this book was cheaper, or if this book was simply the first half only, I’d rate it much higher, but because of these things I’m going to give it three and a half stars. If you can find it free to read online, or at a cheap price used, definitely pick it up.

Because we are all sin, believers and unbelievers alike, the hardened unbeliever will always point to the ‘hypocritical’ church, or the fact that even the Godliest of men still have remaining sin within them as an excuse and covering for their own sin. They will argue, ‘Nobody’s perfect, right? Why is my sin, which is maybe a little more than yours, somehow puts me worse off than you?‘

To these types of objections, I found the following section of Jeremiah Burroughs’ book Hope to be very helpful:

Objection (to the preacher): “But the best of men have some sin”

Answer:

Since the best of men have some sin, therefore you hope that all is well with you? The worst of all may have some good in them, just as the saints have had some ill in them. So you hope that, notwithstanding your evil, you may go to heaven. Then I tell you that some reprobates have had more good in them than you have; and notwithstanding your good you may go to hell.

“…Never tell me of some sin in the saints as being your comfort. Rather, look upon the good that was in the wicked and reprobate, and see whether that is not more for your discouragement.”

Not only will this aid us in witnessing to others who point to the sins of saints to justify themselves, but how we should use this to check our own lives as well! Have we deeply considered all the good Mother Teresa did? Or Pope John Paul III? Or even men in scripture, such as Saul or Judas? Burroughs points out that Judas appeared to repent after betraying Jesus, and that he had previously ‘followed’ Christ for many years before his great sin.

The goodness of these people, people that from all we can tell died outside of Christ, should bring us to our knees. Oh, but for the righteousness of Christ, where would we be? Even our good works after conversion can scarcely match those of some of the greatest reprobates!

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear…” – Col 3:4″

Life here is, by a metonymy, put for the author of life.

We have shewed that Jesus Christ, He is first the author of a believer’s spiritual life… “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Secondly, Jesus Christ, he is the matter of a believer’s spritual life…”I am the bread of life.”

Thirdly, Jesus Christ is the exerciser and actor of the spiritual life of believers… “Without me, ye can do nothing.”

Fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the strengthener and the cherisher of a believers’s life… “In the day when I cried, thou didst answer me, and strengthen me with strength in my soul.”

Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the completer, he is the finisher of the spiritual life of a saint… “the author and finisher of our faith.”

…If the Lord Jesus Christ be a believer’s life, then this serves to bespeak all believers highly to price the Lord Jesus. Oh, it is this Christ that is thy life; it is not they husband, it is not thy child, it is not this or that thing; neither is it this ordinance or that that is a believer’s life. No; it is the Lord Jesus Christ that is the author, that is the matter, that is the excerciser, that is the strengthener, that is the completer, of a believer’s life.

You prize great ones; the Lord Jesus Christ is great -He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. You prize others for their wisdom and knowledge: the Lord Jesus hath in Himself all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Col 2:3. You prize others for their beauty: the Lord Jesus Christ is the beautifullest of ten thousand, Cant. 5:10. You prize others for their usefulness: the Lord Jesus Christ is the right hand of a believer, without which he can do nothing.

The believer may say of Christ as the philosopher said of the heavens…’Take away the heavens, and I shall be nobody’; so take away Jesus Christ, and a believer is nobody -nobody to perform any action, nobody to bear any affliction, nobody to conquer corruption, nobody to withstand temptation, nobody to improve mercies, nor nobody to joy in others’ grace. Oh, prize Jesus Christ!”

Thomas Brooks, Christ is the Life of Believers, Works, Volume 6, P319