September 30, 2025 Show with Brian G. Hedges on “William Bridge: A Puritan Every 21st Century Christian Should Know”

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Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

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George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

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Jim Thorpe. It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have a view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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And now, here's your host, Chris Armisen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

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Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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This is Chris Armisen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 30th day of September 2025.

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And I am so thrilled to be back after a wonderful weekend on Long Island.

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This past Saturday was the 80th birthday celebration for a longtime very dear friend of mine,

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Pastor Rich Jensen, who is still actively and powerfully pastoring

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Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island. And it was such a joy to be there to join the celebration and to see some friends, not only those that I've seen fairly recently during a previous trip to Long Island to host the memorial service for my late brother,

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Andy, just a few weeks ago, but also some folks that were at the birthday celebration for Pastor Jensen that I haven't seen in 20 years or more.

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So it was just an absolute joy and a thank you for all your prayers for my safe travels to and from Long Island.

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I had a very close call on Long Island the day that I was leaving, where a van came within inches of slamming into the

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Uber that I was riding in. And that was quite a startling occurrence.

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But thankfully, your prayers were answered and the Lord kept me safe. And I'm so thrilled to be back.

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But today, we are having a returning guest in the program, Brian G.

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Hedges. He is an author and he's the lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan.

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Today we're going to be addressing William Bridge, a Puritan every 21st century

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Christian should know. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Brian Hedges.

03:41

Thank you, Chris. It's so good to be back on your show again. Thanks for inviting me. Hey, my pleasure.

03:47

Well, tell us about Redeemer Church there in Niles, Michigan. Yeah, Redeemer Church is an independent church, but pretty similar in makeup and theology and beliefs with Reformed Baptists.

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And we are in Niles, Michigan, just a few miles north of South Bend, Indiana.

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So our congregation is what we call a Michiana congregation. It's Michigan, Indiana, and Indiana.

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So we have a congregation of about 400 people, and I've been here for 22 years.

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So a long time. I spent a majority of my ministry in this church.

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Very thankful for it. We have a wonderful staff and a godly team of elders.

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They're leading the church, and we're in a wonderful season right now. We've seen a lot of growth in the last few years, really since COVID.

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Seems like we've seen a lot of growth in our church, and grateful for the opportunity to be here. Well, I'm assuming you do know that a congregation of 400 people in Reformed Baptist circles, that's a mega -church.

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Yeah. Well, as I say, we're similar to Reformed Baptists. We're certainly Reformed -leaning in our theology and Baptistic.

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Our congregation is a bit more diverse than that. So we do pull quite a few people from Presbyterian upbringing or non -denominational

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Bible church backgrounds and so on. But yeah, we're very grateful. It feels like the

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Lord has really blessed the ministry these last few years, especially. And of course, you can't measure too much by numbers.

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More people just means more sin and more problems that you have to deal with.

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But we do have wonderful people here, and we're grateful for many people that are growing in the Lord and the opportunity to minister.

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So I know that the former name of the church was Fulkerson Park Baptist Church. So I have the old website, fulkersonpark .com.

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Do you have another website? That's right. Do you have a new one? We are now, it's redeemer .ch.

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Redeemer .ch is the new website. So when I moved to this in 2003, it was

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Fulkerson Park Baptist Church. And I didn't really have any ambition of changing the name of the church or even trying to become 400.

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I don't know if I even would have believed it if someone had told me that would happen. But over the years, a number of different people in the church, and I guess probably about 10 years ago, maybe even more, some folks started suggesting maybe we should reconsider the name of the church.

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And the elders in 2018 made the determination that that would be a good thing to do and let our church through that process.

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And it wasn't a change of theology. It was really just choosing a name that we felt like would be more missional and would better identify the church for our community.

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And the Lord blessed that. I'm thankful to say that we led the church through that change. We didn't lose any members of our church in that process.

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Even though some had been in this church for 30 years and knew it as Fulkerson Park Baptist. So yeah, we've been

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Redeemer Church now for the last seven years. Redeemer .ch. Yes, sir.

07:28

Redeemer .ch. Oh, okay. Great. Well, today we are going to be addressing, as I've already said at the outset of the program, a figure from Puritan history that is not one, unless you are thoroughly knowledgeable about the

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Puritans and have a lot of knowledge about the history of the

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Puritans, you might not necessarily immediately have the name

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William Bridge pop into your mind when you are discussing the

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Puritans. So tell us about this figure from history that was so important to you that it compelled you to write the book,

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An Infinite Treasury, Grace in the Piety of William Bridge, which is a publication of Reformation Heritage Books.

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Yeah, you know, I came across William Bridge probably 15, 20 years ago in Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperback series.

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There's a volume by William Bridge called A Lifting Up for the Downcast, and it's a series of 13 sermons he preached from Psalm 42.

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And it just was really helpful for me personally in wrestling with some discouragement in my life and ministry, and reading that book was such a blessing to me.

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That was actually the very first Puritan paperback that Banner of Truth ever published. So it seems like those publishers understood the significance of that volume and of this author.

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And then in 2022, they actually did publish the works of William Bridge in five volumes.

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So that's in publication now. I think William Bridge is not as well known because his works were really out of circulation for a long time.

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So not as well known maybe as, you know, John Owen or Richard Baxter or some of the better known

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Puritans. But I have grown in appreciation to William Bridge because of how he helped me personally and spiritually.

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And reading that book made me want to read him more. And so I searched high and low to find a used set of the works of William Bridge and did, started reading those.

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And yeah, a book was kind of born out of that process. So I'll give you just a few details about his life.

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We don't know a lot about William Bridge because there's just not that much, there's not many letters or, you know,

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I didn't leave behind diaries and things like that. So he's not as well known and we don't have much information, but we know some basic things.

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We know that he was born in 1600, the same year that Thomas Goodwin and Charles I were born.

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He was educated at Emanuel College in Cambridge and earned both a

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BA and then an MA degree. He was initially ordained priest in the Church of England in 1627, but early on, he refused to wear vestments, the priestly clothing.

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So he was right from the beginning, had a part of that, a movement within the

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Church of England that was pushing back against the more Catholic elements in the

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Church of England. And that got him in trouble. So by 1634, he was coming under scrutiny because of his opposition to Arminianism and because he was preaching the doctrine of particular redemption or limited atonement.

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And so he was starting to get in trouble with the bishops that were over him. And finally, in 1636, he was suspended and excommunicated from the

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Church of England by Bishop Matthew Wren. And so he was actually one of those

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Puritans that ended up exiled for a while. He had to leave England and went to Holland.

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And that was just over his opposition to Arminianism? It was his opposition to Arminianism and his refusal,

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I believe, his refusal to conform to the various things that the

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Church of England was warning him to do doctrinally and practically. Yeah, because even the

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Church of England back then, I'm assuming, was nearly universally, if not completely universally, at least professing to be governed by the 39 oracles of religion, which are clearly

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Calvinistic. That's true. To the best of my knowledge, that's true.

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But there were these elements within the Church of England, some bishops that were in power that were in pretty strong opposition to the

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Puritan element, into the, you know, the stronger doctrinal strands of the

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Reformation. And so Matthew Wren, in particular, was really opposed to William Bridge.

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And when he was excommunicated, he left England, he went to Rotterdam in Holland, and he renounced his ordination.

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He was ordained as an independent or congregationalist minister and helped lead an

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English congregation there. And we actually have a note to Charles I when this happened, and said that William Bridge had left, and Charles I wrote in the margin, well, we're glad to be rid of such good rites.

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They wanted to get rid of these Puritans, they did not like the Puritans that were within the Church.

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And so, you know, of course, many of these things playing in to not only the lack of the

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Church, the ecclesiology of the day, but also the political life of England. And so you have the

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English Civil Wars, and Bridge returned during that time period.

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He was just gone from England from 1636 to 1641. And he returned in 1641, and this was a very tumultuous time in England.

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And William Bridge was actually a prominent independent, so he was preaching to the Long Parliament multiple times, addressing the

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Long Parliament, and he preached a sermon called Babylon's Downfall, in which he was criticizing and rejecting both the

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Scottish and the English forms of Church governments, and was an advocate for independency and for congregationalism.

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And then he had also published a sermon called The Wounded Conscience Cured.

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And this is quite interesting, Chris, because this sermon argued for the right of Christians to defend themselves against a tyrannical government, which, of course, is really important.

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Yeah, very much a topic of not only conversation, but even heated debate amongst

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Christians today ever since it probably was brought to the forefront more than ever before during the

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COVID pandemic, where governments were, both federal and local, were abusing their authority and imposing ridiculous mandates on the population.

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Sure, yeah. And, you know, of course, it was at least one important strand of thought, philosophically and religiously, that played into the formation of our country.

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And so independence from influence a century later. So I don't know how influential

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Bridge was in those conversations a century later, but certainly within the 17th century, Bridge was one of the primary leaders in the movement for church independence.

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You know, he was also a member of the Westminster Assembly and one of only 10 independents that sat in the assembly, along with Thomas Goodwin, who's probably the most famous of those.

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And then a couple of other facts. He co -authored a document called

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An Apologetical Narration. He did this with fellow Congregationalists and helped draft the

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Savoy Declaration, which was the Congregationalist Confection of Faith, modeled in some ways after Westminster Confession, but with a distinctively

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Congregationalist and independent view of church government. So that was in 1658 when he helped draft the

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Savoy Declaration, did that with John Owen and Thomas Goodwin and several other leading independents of the day.

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And then, of course, he was ejected by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, along with 2 ,000

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Puritan ministers that were kicked out of their churches and continued to preach for the years following, despite restrictions, sometimes, you know, getting himself close to getting himself in trouble.

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And then he died in 1671. So before the

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Act of Toleration. Now, those are kind of the basic events of his life. I'm assuming that he was in some way close with Philip Nye, a fellow

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Congregationalist who was at the Westminster Assembly.

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I have that famous portrait of the Westminster Assembly hanging in my living room where Philip Nye is standing up giving his presentation in defense of Congregationalism.

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Yeah, yeah. And that happens to be a topic that a group of Reformed Baptists, including my own congregation, where I am a member,

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Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. We are strongly

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Congregationalist and believe that the 1689 London Baptist Confession would lead us to that opinion.

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Of course, first and foremost, we believe that the Scriptures would. But there is a group of Reformed Baptists who are trying to revive

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Congregationalism amongst the Reformed Baptists globally because there has been a history of overly emphasized elder rule.

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And sometimes that has been rightfully the source of some authoritarianism in some

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Reformed Baptist churches. Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a perennial danger to the church, isn't it, that there's authoritarianism and leaders that are stepping beyond the biblical bounds of their authority and leadership?

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So, yeah. So William Ridge, I think, would be an ally for those who believe in Congregationalism.

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He was actually called the Puritan of the Congregational Way.

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There's a kind of a biography of William Ridge, the only one that I know of that has been written by a guy named

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Rumberg to the last name. So that volume is called William Ridge, the Puritan of the

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Congregational Way. So, yeah, so he was really influential,

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I think, in those circles. Now, giving you all that detail, his significance for me was not so much his ecclesiology.

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It was more his approach to spirituality and the power of his preaching.

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And so most of what we have in his writings are sermons. And he just was a very race -oriented pastor, a very

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Christ -centered pastor. And it was his distinctive notes in preaching and the way he addressed people in preaching that really grabbed my heart.

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And I've written in this book that he reminds me, more than any other Puritan, he reminds me of Martin Luther before him and Charles Spurgeon after him.

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Huh. There's a specific note that these guys hit.

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So Luther, and especially his commentary on Galatians, really Spurgeon in all of his ministry, was just always pointing people to Christ.

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And that's William Ridge. William Ridge was like that in his ministry. Now, do you know whether or not

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Spurgeon himself was acquainted with the writings of William Bridge and was fond of them in any way?

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You know, I really searched to try to find that. I think he probably was familiar, but I have searched, done the word search and so on.

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I've got all of Spurgeon's sermons and a lot of software, and he does not refer to William Bridge very often, maybe once or twice, but not often.

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So I don't know that he was as familiar with William Bridge as some of the other Puritans, and that's probably just because his works were probably not in circulation.

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I don't know that they were. Remember now, I'm looking very, see if they were published in the way they were published in 1845.

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So it's possible that Spurgeon had them, but he's not referred to as often. So I don't know what the reason is for that.

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Well, we're going to go to our first commercial break. And if you have a question, you may feel free to email us with a question for my guest today,

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Brian G. Hedges. The email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

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Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sherpa and Zion Radio. And if you've just tuned us in, our guest today is

26:18

Brian G. Hedges. We are discussing the

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Puritan, Congregationalist Puritan, William Bridge.

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And in addition to my guest being the pastor of Redeemer Church in Nile, Michigan, he is also an author, including a book he has written about the

26:48

Puritan we are discussing today, William Bridge, titled An Infinite Treasury, Grace in the

26:55

Piety of William Bridge. If you have questions for our guest today, our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com,

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chrisarnzen at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside of the

27:13

USA. And so tell us some more details about William Bridge that you include in this book,

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Grace in the Piety of William Bridge. Yeah, so this book is a part of this series that's published by Reformation Heritage Books called

27:36

Profiles in Reformed Spirituality. And so the book follows the format of all the volumes in the series with a biographical introduction to a significant character or figure in Reformed history and then a selection of readings that illustrate the spirituality or the piety of that person.

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And so, you know, essentially what I give is a biographical introduction to William Bridge, and we've kind of covered the details of that, and then a selection of readings about Grace in the

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Piety of William Bridge. I break those readings down into four sections called the

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Treasury of Grace, the Reception of Grace, the Experience of Grace, and the

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Means of Grace. And each one of those sections has, you know, eight to 12, 15 readings that are illustrating examples of William Bridge on those topics.

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So can I read just a brief quotation from William Bridge that gives you a flavor? OK, so this is the epitaph of the book, so it's the quotation at the beginning of the book.

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I'll just read a portion of it. That's where the title comes from. So William Bridge, in a sermon called

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Grace for Grace or the Overflowings of Christ's Fullness Received by All Saints, said these words, quote,

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There is an infinite treasury of grace and holiness in Jesus Christ, whereby he is able to supply and succor all those who are tempted.

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Jesus Christ is not only the Lord treasurer of all our comforts, but the Lord keeper of all our graces.

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And I think that's a pretty good description of the piety in the approach of William Bridge.

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He really believed that everything the believer needed for life and godliness was found in Jesus Christ, the treasury of grace in Christ.

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And that's where I benefited from him so much. He's just so prisonerred, and it's so encouraging to read him because he gets the eyes of the believer off of himself, off of herself, off of their problems, off of their reasons for discouragement and onto Christ and onto God's promises that are laid up in Christ and the fullness that we have in Christ.

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That's really at the heartbeat of William Bridge's spirituality. And that seems to be a reflection of the sentiments that compelled him to write the book that Banner of Truth has brought back into print that you mentioned earlier.

30:31

The title escapes me right now. Yeah, A Lifting Up for the

30:37

Downcast. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, and so that's really a book that's written for discouraged believers or people who are struggling with being downcast or discouraged or depressed.

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And so in that book, his argument is that the saints should never be discouraged no matter what their condition.

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And then he takes these conditions and he addresses them one by one.

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And so he looks at these different cases, the case of great sin. When you're guilty of great sin, should you be discouraged?

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And Bridge essentially says you should be humbled, but you shouldn't be discouraged. You should repent, but you should not be unbelieving.

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You should still trust in Christ and you should turn to Christ and find encouragement for your repentance of Christ.

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And so he looks at great sins. He looks at weak grace. He looks at a lack of assurance. He looks at temptation, affliction and so on.

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So he goes through probably about 10 different conditions of the heart that may cause someone to be discouraged.

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And he gives reasons why you should not be discouraged, but instead should find encouragement in Christ.

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Yes, that is so often, it seems anyway, the compelling factor for those who have committed great sins, scandalous sins that require discipline and even if not repented of, require excommunication.

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When these folks, rather than submit to discipline, do what is asked of them by their elders and just enjoy the fact that they have been stopped in their tracks and rejoice in the fact that they will put that activity behind them.

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Rather than do that, they just flee from the church and flee from any authority over them in the church.

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Have you as a pastor recognized that to be true? For sure.

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I mean, thankfully, it's been a fairly rare occasion, but our church has had to practice excommunication.

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And yeah, I think so often when people are caught in sin, even though it makes them miserable,

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I think rather than viewing the encouragements from the church and even confrontation and correction, viewing that as a means to help them get back on track.

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When people are resisting that, there really hasn't been genuine repentance yet.

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And people can maybe mistake the difference between being humbled for their failures and having a genuine spiritual evangelical humility.

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They can fail to distinguish between that and being discouraged.

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And so Bridge addresses that in his book, and he says that true humiliation is no enemy but a real friend to spiritual joy.

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And the more a man is humbled for sin committed, the more he will rejoice in God and rejoice that he can grieve for sin.

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Yes. And when there's a lack of that—go ahead. No, you can go ahead and finish your thought. Well, it just shows that when there's a lack of that, there's a lack of rejoicing in the

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Lord and grieving for sin, it shows that there's a lack of real humility. There's still pride in there somewhere.

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Yeah, I was just going to say, I thank God that that very thing and being disciplined myself for a season in my life where I sinfully returned to drunkenness, habitual drunkenness, during some very sad and depressing times in my life, rather than waiting on the

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Lord to lift my spirits, I heavily consumed spirits.

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And I look upon that time as a gift from God, that discipline that I received by loving elders and even loving pastors of other churches that were involved in the discipline because they were friends of mine.

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And I look upon that as something that actually saved my life.

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I think that I would have perished if I continued in that habitual consumption of large quantities of alcohol.

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I don't drink anything today. Not that I want to rob other Christians of their liberty to responsibly, moderately consume alcohol.

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I just know that I shouldn't ever return to even trying to do that. But people are all too afraid of church discipline and the humiliation and embarrassment that comes from that.

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But it can really be one of the best things that ever happened to you. And I'm fairly confident you would agree that I'm not exaggerating about that.

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No, no. I mean, I think when church discipline is done biblically, you know, when it's done faithfully with an aim for restoration and with love for the sinning erring member, then it is a means of grace through which

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God works. And that's the design. I mean, if you read the key passages, you know, Galatians chapter six on 1

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Corinthians chapter five and so on, I mean, it's clear that that's the aim in those passages and the reason why this one is so necessary.

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I know at some point you want to give a broader treatment of the Puritans in general, not that they were all identical.

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There is a wide spectrum of personalities and approaches and even beliefs on some occasion within the

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Puritans, from among the Puritans historically.

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I mean, Richard Baxter wasn't even a Calvinist, one of the rare Puritans we know of that was not in our theologically reformed camp, even though he wrote the

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Reformed Pastor, it was not about theologically reformed doctrine he was speaking about.

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But unless you have not yet concluded any specific things you want to highlight about William Bridge, you can feel free to move on to the

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Puritans in general and why they should not be overlooked or shunned as some

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Christians do today. In fact, many Christians do today. A lot of it has to do with the stereotypes and slanderous caricatures they've heard about the

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Puritans. But whenever you're ready to do that, feel free, like I said, unless there's something else you want to highlight about Bridge.

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Yeah, I mean, I would just encourage readers to, especially readers who are already familiar with Puritan literature, to try to rediscover

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Bridge or maybe discover Bridge for the first time. And so there's a number of ways to do that.

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So my book is really just meant to be kind of an introduction to William Bridge to whet somebody's appetite.

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But it is an easy entry point because you get the biographical introduction and then 45 selections from Bridge's writings.

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And these are like two, three page readings. So you can easily read one a day, you know, and take a month and a half to read through it and you'd get a pretty good sample of Bridge.

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But his works are also available through The Inner Truth. We've already mentioned Lifting Up for the

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Downcast. And then I'll mention one other title by William Bridge called

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Comforts in Holiness from Christ's Priestly Work. And that's actually the first volume

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I worked on related to Bridge. So that is a modernization of a series of sermons that William Bridge preached on the priestly work of Jesus Christ.

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And it's published in Reformation Heritage Books. There's a little series of volumes called

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Puritan Treasures for today. And also just, again, greatly encouraging.

39:52

I wanted to do that volume because I found those sermons so helpful for me personally and wanted to share that with others.

40:01

So those are all good places to go for Bridge. I was just about to give the websites.

40:08

If anybody wants to look up those books, go to heritagebooks .org, heritagebooks .org,

40:15

and also banneroftruth .org, banneroftruth .org.

40:22

And you can also find out more about the

40:28

Puritans from my friend Mike Gaydosh's publisher.

40:35

Mike Gaydosh was my very first pastor who baptized me in the 1980s.

40:42

And he operates solid -ground -books .com, sorry, solid -ground -books .com,

40:51

solid -ground -books .com. And he offers a number of works by Puritan authors.

40:58

So I just thought I'd give that information to the listener.

41:03

But go ahead. I'm sorry I interrupted you. Yeah, no, I'm glad you did. You know, Christmas is coming.

41:09

It's a great time for people to buy books for their family members and Puritan volumes, especially the modernization of the

41:16

Puritan paperbacks and Puritan treasures for today. They're great gifts, a great way to encourage people.

41:25

I agree with you. I think the reason why Puritans get a bad rap is because there's just actually a great deal of ignorance about what the

41:34

Puritans actually taught and believed, even among Christians. I mean, you're certainly going to get this, you know, if you go to any kind of secular context, secular university, and take a class on American history or English literature, all you're going to get on the

41:54

Puritans is that Jonathan Edwards preached Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and the

42:02

Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Salem Witch Trials.

42:08

And that's pretty much all that anybody knows, except for the rare believers who have taken the time to dig into this historic literature.

42:20

And so it's really tragic neglect, because I can't think of a generation of Christians in history who wrote more for the spiritual and personal and practical application of biblical truth to the heart and to the life of the believer as much as the

42:44

Puritans did. And so sometimes they are known in our circles as, you know, physicians of the soul, and they really are that.

42:54

They really do have the unique ability to diagnose the problems of the heart, to apply scripture in a very powerful way to the issues of the heart.

43:08

So Bridge does that with discouragement, but, you know, you can name just about any issue, there's a

43:13

Puritan volume that deals with it. So, you know, whether it's anger, you could go to John Dallin and cure from just anger, or if it's discontent, you could go to Jeremiah Burroughs and the

43:25

Wear Jewel of Christian Contentment, and the list could just go on and on of the value of these volumes.

43:32

So I love the Puritans. I love having the opportunity to promote them. In fact, if anybody listening wants to get an accurate evaluation of the

43:44

Salem witch trials that my guest just mentioned that have been, unfortunately, a primary reason why many people, whether they're

43:56

Christians or not, avoid the Puritans because they have been slandered in so many ways, even in their involvement in the

44:08

Salem witch trials. But if you go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

44:14

my website, ironsharpensironradio .com, and if you type in the search engine,

44:23

Paul J. Lee, J -E -H -L -E, or you could even type in witches, which is easier to remember.

44:31

If you type in witches in the search engine, you will find an audio link from my interview with Paul J.

44:38

Lee last year, January 23rd, 2024, where he was offering a critique of Bill O 'Reilly's book,

44:48

Killing the Witches, and he did a great job doing so. Just to let you know, folks,

44:55

I'm not saying that everything that Bill O 'Reilly wrote is bad or should be avoided, but if he ever is writing about anything involving

45:06

Christians or Jesus Christ, avoid it like the plague, because he is extremely ignorant of those areas.

45:14

And of course, whoever his co -authors are on these books, they are obviously profoundly ignorant of the

45:26

Christian faith and history of the Christian church, so just avoid those. I also wanted to point out,

45:34

I just found out when I looked up my friend Mike Gadosh's website for Solid Ground Christian Books, which, once again, is solid -ground -books .com,

45:47

he does offer the works of William Bridge, and there are a number of other books there in his catalog that you can choose from by or about William Bridge and other

46:02

Puritans. So, that's solid -ground -books .com. I thought I'd throw that out there again.

46:08

So, we have about seven minutes before we get to our midway break if you'd like to bring up some of these valuable jewels that we have been given by the providence of Jesus Christ in gifting the church with the

46:27

Puritans. They were not perfect people. There were Puritans that were involved in abuses of authority and so on, but tell us about why they are still nonetheless so meaningful and so important for Christians to be acquainted with.

46:47

Yeah, I mean, there's many reasons I think the Puritans are useful to us. Joel Beeky and I, I'm sure you're familiar with Joel Beeky, who's the foremost

46:59

Puritan scholar in our day, I think. Very close friend of mine. I've known Joel going all the way back to the 1990s.

47:07

He was very unknown at that time outside of Reformed circles and even inside of Reformed circles.

47:15

Hardly anybody knew who he was, and I was the first one that got Joel on the radio.

47:23

Yeah, he started co -hosting a radio program I created called The Voice of Sovereign Grace on WMCA 570

47:31

AM in New York, and he was one of five hosts of that program.

47:38

It aired every night, Monday through Friday, and after that, he introduced his gospel trumpet radio program onto the station.

47:52

He was just my Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Free Pastors Luncheon speaker.

48:02

The three luncheons ago, he was the speaker. Okay, great.

48:09

Well, I have a real appreciation for Dr. Beeky. You've known him much longer than I have, but I've done several books with Reformation Heritage Books, which he founded that publishing company and is still very involved in it.

48:26

We've actually partnered in a book together. We did a book a few years ago that he and I co -authored called

48:32

Thriving in Grace, 12 Ways that Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth.

48:40

The book essentially goes through these different categories through which the

48:46

Puritans can really help us. There's 12 chapters in the book, and he wrote six of them, and I wrote six of them.

48:53

We talk about how the Puritans shape our lives by the authoritative scriptures, how the

49:00

Puritans lift our gaze to the greatness and glory of our Triune God, how the

49:06

Puritans open our eyes to the beauty and loveliness of Christ, and liberate our hearts with the freedom and the power of grace, and so on.

49:15

Those are some of the chapter titles in the book. So one reason I think I've benefited from the

49:21

Puritans so much is because they've helped me in those specific ways of just really giving me a greater view and a greater understanding of who

49:31

God is. Sometimes in our church, when we're introducing people to Reformed theology or the doctrines of the

49:40

Reformation—we have people coming from all kinds of backgrounds, but they're not always well acquainted with church history—sometimes one of the things we will say to them is that the

49:51

Reformation and Reformed theology gives us big God theology.

49:58

It magnifies the greatness of God. And so this strong emphasis on the sovereignty of God and the holiness of God, the providence of God, and the grace of God that really are so much deeper than our understanding, that's a hallmark of Puritan teaching and preaching.

50:19

And I'd recommend Stephen Charlock's wonderful volume called

50:25

The Existence and the Attributes of God, or George Slinnock wrote a book also on the attributes of God.

50:34

So those are some of the reasons why I find the Puritans so beneficial, so helpful, how they deepen my understanding of who

50:41

God is and what Jesus Christ has done for us. Well, we do have

50:47

Tony in Hasbro Heights, New Jersey, who has a question.

50:55

Tony asks, How has William Bridge or the Puritans in general benefited your actual role as a pastor of a church?

51:10

Yeah, I think that's a great question. So, you know, I'd say there's probably several ways that the

51:18

Puritans in general have helped me, and then Bridge in particular. So one, I think the Puritans kind of set a very high benchmark for what pastoral ministry should be.

51:28

So you mentioned a while ago, Richard Baxter, who wrote The Reformed Pastor.

51:35

And, you know, Richard Baxter's not my favorite of the Puritans. There's many things I would disagree with them about, of course, but that volume,

51:42

The Reformed Pastor, I read that early in my ministry. And it's always kind of out there as an ideal for pastoral ministry in the way that he was so faithful, not only in preaching, but in trying to do personal pastoral ministry with his people.

51:58

And, you know, I would say that's a benchmark that I'll fall far short of, but it's in the back of my mind pretty often when we're, as an elderly, we're trying to do pastoral care.

52:10

We're trying to be sure that we're contacting the members of our congregation and checking in on them and paying attention to how they're doing spiritually and trying to meet their pastoral needs.

52:20

So the Puritans help in that. I think also the Puritans help with their combination of doctrine and practice.

52:32

And so this is common in Puritan sermon, that the first part of the doctrine where they explain the truth of the passage, and it's, you know, it's theological terms, they're really expounding the truth of the passage.

52:48

But invariably, the Puritans, by the end of the sermon, get to what they call the use of the passage.

52:54

And that's where they really begin to drill into application and applying that specific truth or that specific doctrine to the hearts and to the lives of the people.

53:07

And I think that's a great model for pastors, and it's been helpful for me to think about preaching as always having that application element.

53:16

I don't call it the use of the sermon, you know, when I preach, but frequently in my sermons,

53:22

I will try to spell out the practical application of the passage we're looking at. So the

53:27

Puritans are helpful in that model. In fact, you can pick up where you left off. We have to go to the midway break right now.

53:33

So don't go away. We'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors. Puritan Reformed is a

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It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron radio listeners from all over the world.

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Here's Joe Reilly, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

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I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

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where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. Truly grateful for many things that the

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Tell them Chris from Iron Radio sent you. Welcome back.

01:05:35

Before I return to my guest today, Brian Hedges and our discussion on William Bridge and also the

01:05:43

Puritans in general and why Christians in the 21st century need to get to know these giants of the faith from past history, before I return to that conversation,

01:05:57

I want to remind you about some important things. Folks, we have lost two primary advertisers on Iron Trip and Zion Radio, very large financial supporters of Iron Trip and Zion Radio that has put us in a real financial predicament, and we hope that many of you will come to the

01:06:23

I'm sure many of you remember, if you listen regularly especially, that our good friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, CVBBS .com,

01:06:35

are going out of business. This Friday is going to be their last day, unless for some reason they extend that deadline a couple of days, but they are planning to close their doors permanently this

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Friday, and they had to obviously cease advertising with us.

01:06:55

They were one of our largest financial supporters, and we've lost that account, sadly, and it's also very sad to lose such a valuable resource for Christian literature, and we've lost another very large advertiser recently.

01:07:16

So, I'm asking all of you, if you really love this show, please help us by going to ironsharpenzionradio .com,

01:07:26

click support, then click to donate now. You could donate instantly with a debit or credit card.

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If you prefer snail mail, mailing a physical check to a physical mailing address, there will also be a physical mailing address that appears on your screen when you click support at ironsharpenzionradio .com,

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where you can mail your checks made payable to Iron Trip and Zion Radio. If you want to advertise with us, we would love to hear from you.

01:07:56

Just send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line, whether it's a church, a parachurch ministry, a business, a private professional practice like a law firm, a medical firm.

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Maybe it's just a special event that you want to advertise. Whatever the fact is, whatever the case may be, please, as long as whatever it is you want to advertise is compatible with what

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I believe, I would love to help you launch an advertising campaign very quickly. Please send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com.

01:08:31

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name. I'm sorry. Give us your name of whatever it is that you want to advertise and all the details that I need to contact you.

01:08:44

Also, I want to remind you, those of you who do want to financially support

01:08:50

Iron Trip and Zion Radio, please never do so by cutting into the financial resources that you specifically set aside for your

01:09:01

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01:09:11

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But if you are blessed financially above and beyond your ability to provide for church and family, and you have extra money above and beyond your ability to provide for church and family, you have extra money for benevolent, recreational, and trivial purposes, please share some of that money with us so that we can continue to exist.

01:10:03

Also, if you are not a member of a Christ -honoring, biblically faithful, theologically sound, doctrinally solid church like Redeemer Church in Nile, Michigan, well, please send me an email—no matter where you live in the world—send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

01:10:29

and put I Need a Church in the subject line. I've helped many people across the world, spanning the globe, find churches that are biblically faithful, even sometimes within just a couple of minutes from where they live.

01:10:46

So that may be you, too. Send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put

01:10:54

I Need a Church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Brian Hedges about the

01:11:01

Puritans. chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name, at least. City and state and country of residence.

01:11:08

So, Brian, if you could pick up where you left off answering that listener question.

01:11:15

I think that was Tony in Hasbrook Heights, New Jersey, who asked how knowing the

01:11:21

Puritans, reading the Puritans has benefited your role as a pastor. So if you could continue on that.

01:11:29

Yeah, so just to kind of recap what we've already said, the

01:11:35

Puritan model for pastoral care, that was the first thing. Richard Baxter just setting such a high standard,

01:11:42

I think, for really caring for the people in the congregation. Then their model of preaching, where they are concerned not only with the doctrine of a passage, but the use or the application of the passage.

01:11:55

That was the second thing. I would say a third way that the

01:12:00

Puritans have really helped me personally, and this has fed into my preaching ministry as well, is the very specific practical help that the

01:12:12

Puritans give to specific issues. So I love William Bridge.

01:12:18

We've been talking about him. I've found great help in dealing with discouragement from Bridge.

01:12:24

My favorite Puritan of all is actually John Owen, who's probably much better known by the listeners.

01:12:31

But I found Owen's teaching on the mortification of sin, dealing with temptation and indwelling sin.

01:12:39

That's just been invaluable in my own spiritual life. And so when

01:12:44

I'm teaching on the practicalities of sanctification and holiness,

01:12:51

John Owen has been especially helpful in that regard. And then I would say a fourth and final way that the

01:12:57

Puritans have helped me is their focus on the person and the work of Jesus Christ, which

01:13:04

I think is so important. And in our day especially, there is a push that—and

01:13:11

I think many pastors will feel this—there's a pressure sometimes to focus on practicality, on application, on felt needs, on being culturally relevant.

01:13:27

And all of those things certainly have a place, but it is easy to get so focused on those things that we neglect to preach the gospel itself and to stay centered on Jesus Christ, incarnate, crucified for our sins, risen from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God.

01:13:47

And that's the heart of the gospel. And if in our preaching we are spending more time and getting more focused to what people should do than we are to what

01:13:59

Jesus Christ has done for us, I believe there is a danger of us slipping into a kind of moralism where we are simply giving people

01:14:09

Christian ethics without really giving them the gospel itself.

01:14:16

And the Puritans, I think, are a wonderful corrective in this because they're so relentlessly focused on the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

01:14:25

I could give many examples of Puritan authors, Puritan books that have helped me or inspired me or encouraged me in that way, but I think it's a needed thing in Pope Innocent Day, and it's certainly been a help in my own pastoral ministry.

01:14:42

Amen. Thank you, Tony, for the great question. We have Randolph in Searcy, Arkansas.

01:14:51

Randolph says, Whenever I try to promote a book that I love to an

01:14:57

Armenian brother in Christ, then they are reluctant to take my advice and recommendation or to even receive a free copy of the book that I may want to offer them because they are fearful that I am merely trying to indoctrinate them about Calvinism.

01:15:17

How would you introduce the Puritans to Armenians who have no interest in learning more about Reformed theology?

01:15:27

What a great question. I think my advice on that would go back to something a mentor of mine told me many, many years ago when

01:15:37

I was a very young man. I mean, I was probably 19, 20 years old and full of zeal for talking about theology and doctrine and the doctrines of grace and Calvinism and all these things.

01:15:51

I had a mentor tell me one time, Brian, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

01:16:00

And I think he discerned something in my life at that time where I had a lot of knowledge and I had a lot of zeal, and it was genuine zeal to share that knowledge, but really needed to work on the relationships, loving people, and building an opportunity, building a relationship with someone before trying to give them more knowledge, more information, whatever.

01:16:27

Now, I have no idea what a Randolph situation is, but I've certainly found in my own life that when people know that I love them,

01:16:35

I have shown that through friendship and through care and through an interest in them personally and caring for them and finding common ground with them, they tend to be much more receptive than to recommendations that I may have for their spiritual growth later on.

01:16:54

I also think we live in a day where a lot of people don't like to read, and so that can be a hindrance. So, maybe you find another way of giving people useful input, maybe recommend the

01:17:09

Iron Sharpens Iron podcast instead. Yeah, definitely do that. And you might want to not necessarily hand over to your

01:17:20

Arminian friend who has no interest in learning more about Calvinism.

01:17:26

You might not want to choose a massive tome by a Puritan. In fact,

01:17:33

Banner of Truth has a series of very brief books that they brought back into print called

01:17:42

Puritan Paperbacks, and you can even inexpensively—and my voice is echoing back again,

01:17:52

Brian. I don't know why that happened, but you might want to try that.

01:17:58

And I have had those kinds of interactions with non -Calvinists and anti -Calvinists.

01:18:07

I know a pastor who is a vehement anti -Calvinist, but ironically, he loves the

01:18:15

Puritans. He loves the emphasis on holiness and things like that.

01:18:24

And so, it is not a lost cause. And I have a very dear friend who actually sponsors

01:18:34

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dan Botafuco. He's an attorney on Long Island, personal injury attorney, and he has been advertising with me for many years.

01:18:48

In fact, even before I had Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, he was advertising with me when

01:18:54

I was an account executive at WNCA Radio. He was my biggest client, actually.

01:19:00

And I remember giving to him a book on Christmas Eve, Grace Unknown, by R .C.

01:19:09

Sproul, which was later retitled Reformed Theology, I believe. But when

01:19:14

I gave Dan that book, his initial reaction was, you're giving me propaganda on Christmas Eve?

01:19:23

But then he reluctantly took the book and then called me up on New Year's Day. I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

01:19:30

He said, Chris, I haven't been able to sleep. I read that book cover to cover. I'm Reformed. I'm Reformed now.

01:19:38

So, like I said, it's not a hopeless cause.

01:19:46

But yeah, the Puritans were not one -string banjos.

01:19:52

It's not like they're always indoctrinating people on Calvinism, right? I mean, they cover a whole host of issues.

01:20:00

Many of them remarkably ring true even in the 21st century, don't they?

01:20:06

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, there are a few issues that we could encounter today that the

01:20:12

Puritans don't address when you really get down to heart level issues. So, certainly, they're not talking about modern technology or things like that.

01:20:22

But the Puritans do talk about how to deal with distraction at times.

01:20:28

They certainly talk about spiritual practices and disciplines, prayer and meditation.

01:20:35

I just finished reading, actually, a couple of days ago, a volume that will soon be coming out by Thomas Manton called

01:20:42

Holy Meditation. It's a modernization of the Puritan Thomas Manton's teaching on meditation and Scripture.

01:20:49

It's absolutely excellent. It's one of the best things I've read on meditation. So good, so practical, so helpful.

01:20:56

Yes. And there is a book,

01:21:02

I believe it was by Thomas Brooks, published by Banner of Truth on Repentance.

01:21:07

The title escapes me right now, but... Yeah. So, there is a volume that's just called

01:21:14

The Doctrine of Repentance, Banner of Truth paperback. That's Thomas Watson. Maybe it was

01:21:19

Thomas Watson. But I remember reading whatever book this was published by Banner of Truth and was astonished how the only thing that would let you know that this was written in an earlier time was the usage of the

01:21:44

English language, because the details that were in the book so clearly applied to our modern day.

01:21:54

Yeah, right. Well, and that's one of the impulses behind the series that Reformation Heritage is doing now,

01:22:02

Puritan Treasures for today, is to try to take that very practical and helpful, and in many ways, this is just evergreen teaching, it never goes out of date, that you get from the

01:22:16

Puritans, and to make it as accessible as possible for a modern audience.

01:22:22

And we're actually involved, I'm one of the editors for some of these volumes, so we're involved in the process now of taking these volumes, and even volumes that have already been edited, doing a second edit, where we are trying to break these volumes down into shorter chapters, just minimal historical detail, and just trying to get to the essence of what these

01:22:49

Puritan pastors and theologians are saying on a whole realm of different issues, and just get it right down to the most practical, helpful, accessible thing in modern

01:23:01

English, so that pretty much anyone who can read could pick one of these books up, read short, easily digestible chapters, and benefit from this teaching from the

01:23:15

Puritans. And so it's actually a pretty exciting enterprise. I'm doing a little promotion for Reformation Heritage books in this series,

01:23:24

Puritan Treasures for today, but check those out, because those, you won't even notice as much the difference in English, because we're doing so much work to modernize them and make them easy for people to understand today.

01:23:37

Okay, we've got Claudia in Troy, New York, who wants to know, there are some people who refuse to read the

01:23:44

Puritans because of their reputation in history of being so harsh in their persecution of Baptists and Quakers.

01:23:55

How do we get people to overcome that obstacle? Yeah, that's also a good question, and it's a,

01:24:04

I would say that's a little bit, the reputation broad brushes the Puritans a bit.

01:24:11

So, you know, we were talking earlier about the life of William Bridge, who

01:24:17

I'm kind of counting as a Puritan, but actually, he himself was persecuted by the

01:24:25

Church of England and ended up as a Congregationalist and Independence.

01:24:31

So we would say broadly, he's a part of that Puritan stream, but he himself was a subject of persecution.

01:24:38

And the same could be said for John Owen, certainly for John Bunyan, probably one of the, probably the most famous Baptist from the 17th century and the author of Pilgrim's Progress.

01:24:48

John Bunyan spent 12 years in the Bedford jail and himself was persecuted, but he gave us probably the greatest classic from the

01:24:56

Puritan era, which is the Pilgrim's Progress. So we have to be careful that we don't broad brush too much. Certainly, there was persecution, and there were persecution from so -called

01:25:06

Protestants during that day of other Protestants. But when we're talking broadly about the

01:25:13

Puritan movement, we're not including every person, you know, every pastor, every leader, every bishop, or whatever, who lived during that time period.

01:25:23

Just as today, it was complex, it was diverse. You've already said it, you know, that they weren't playing a one -string banjo.

01:25:32

There's a lot of variety within the Puritans. And so, there are some who are much better than others, and many who actually were persecuted and have a great deal to teach us about faithfulness in suffering.

01:25:45

Tom Hanks Yeah. And, of course, there is very often a protest against Calvinism as a whole because John Calvin did indeed consent to the execution of Michael Servetus, the anti -Trinitarian.

01:26:06

And first of all, they do, many of these anti -Calvinists, either through ignorance or intentionally, make

01:26:18

Servetus some kind of an innocent victim in his execution.

01:26:25

He was actually calling upon for the execution of John Calvin. But people have to—it may be difficult, but people have to look beyond the errors and even sins of great

01:26:44

Christian minds if they have a lot to say that will greatly benefit the church in matters of theology.

01:26:54

Tom Hanks Of course. Tom Hanks And so, we have to and should just say to ourselves, look, these men were sinners.

01:27:04

We believe in sola scriptura for a reason. We don't base our eternity on anything these men said or wrote.

01:27:15

But at the same time, you are robbing yourself if you ignore many of these great men of history.

01:27:22

And by the way, Calvin, although he consented to the execution of Servetus, pled for a more painless and humane execution.

01:27:35

He did not want Servetus burned at the stake, but the Genevan officials would not listen to him.

01:27:43

Tom Hanks That's right. I would also add to that, Chris, that I think we have to be careful of what

01:27:50

C .S. Lewis one time called chronological snobbery, where we judge people in history with modern sensibilities.

01:28:02

And if we do that and we write off someone because of the errors they made, especially if the errors they made were errors very common at their point in history, and we write somebody off and say we can't benefit from them.

01:28:16

There'll be no benefit from history at all. And this would be true, you know, not only with Christians, but, you know, in every level of society.

01:28:25

So are we going to say that we should not benefit at all from or have any admiration for the founding fathers, you know,

01:28:33

George Washington or Thomas Jefferson? Both of them were slave owners. Both of them,

01:28:39

I think, were wrong in significant aspects of their life.

01:28:45

And yet, men who nevertheless were great men and were instrumental in the founding of our country and the freedoms that we now enjoy.

01:28:54

So we do have to be careful that we don't, you know, hold people to such a high standard that we forget their place in history and recognize that in spite of their flaws, in spite of the mistakes they made, oftentimes mistakes that were common at their time period in history, that they still have things to teach us and that we can benefit from.

01:29:16

Yes. There are many who have a higher view of themselves than they should have in thinking that if they were to live in that era, that they would have behaved any differently or any better.

01:29:30

People even will say that about Adam and Eve, who object to the teaching of original sin and the concept of how the fall polluted the human race.

01:29:45

You know, they think that they would have done better if they were in the garden.

01:29:52

But, you know, that's obviously, that would not have happened.

01:29:58

Nothing would have been better if they themselves were in the garden. Let's see, we have

01:30:05

CJ in Lindenhurst, Long Island. CJ wants to know, if you could give us one gem of truth about William Bridge, what would it be?

01:30:21

So, I'm not sure if CJ is looking for a quotation from Bridge or just something in general that I have learned, but I'll paraphrase instead of trying to find a direct quotation.

01:30:35

In William Bridge's sermons on the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the priestly office in the ministry of Jesus Christ, there's a place where Bridge made this observation.

01:30:47

I'd never seen this anywhere else before, anyone else say it before, but he said that the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ was foundational for the believer for benefiting from every other office of Christ.

01:31:07

And so, his reasoning was this, that for the unbeliever, Christ is king, but a king who will rule and judge.

01:31:18

For the unbeliever, Christ is prophet, but the word of Christ will ultimately condemn.

01:31:27

But for the believer who is the beneficiary of the priesthood of Christ, who benefits from the priestly work of Christ, the other offices of Christ only work for His good.

01:31:41

Because if Christ has borne your sin, if Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, if Christ intercedes for us at the

01:31:50

Father's right hand, if Christ represents us before the Father, then everything works for our good.

01:31:59

The kingship of Christ is a rule that leads to our ultimate good, and His word is for our good, but it's all built on the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

01:32:11

And so, Bridge makes much of this, that the priesthood of Christ is absolutely essential. And he says that all of our comforts and all of our holiness flows from this treasury or from this storehouse, the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

01:32:27

I found that helpful. And I think if you read the epistle to the

01:32:33

Hebrews, you'll find that it's true. Tom Miller Amen. And let's see here.

01:32:40

We have Nate in Holly Springs, North Carolina. And Nate asks, should we seek to imitate everything that the

01:32:56

Puritans did or the things that you will admit the Puritans did and taught that we should avoid as seeking to emulate?

01:33:11

David Yeah, of course. Of course, there are things that the Puritans got wrong, and different Puritans got different things wrong, and we should never make any even being our ultimate model.

01:33:24

I think the right attitude is that we follow them only in as much as they follow

01:33:29

Christ. And so, they're models to us in many ways of things that are taught in Scripture and wonderful examples.

01:33:37

And so, when they're following Scripture, we should follow their counsel. But we're certainly not bound to them in any kind of way other than as examples for us of Godliness.

01:33:50

Amen. And obviously, we have to be very careful about hero worship and basing theology and even changes that we make in our theology or practice just because we have a hero that has one particular view or another.

01:34:18

And this is not meant to be a disparagement of our Pato Baptist brethren, but I have spoken to a number of former

01:34:30

Reformed Baptists who became Pato Baptists, and when

01:34:35

I've asked them, it was clearly because of hero worship or putting too much stock,

01:34:42

I should say, in the views of great Presbyterians or Pato Baptists from history.

01:34:51

I can even clearly remember one brother who was a friend of mine who said, when

01:34:59

I asked him why he became a Pato Baptist—he used to be a member of my church, a

01:35:05

Reformed Baptist church—and he said, well, I really came to the opinion of how could

01:35:10

John Calvin, John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards all be wrong?

01:35:16

You know, and I would have the same revulsion over a

01:35:23

Pato Baptist who became a Credo Baptist, a believer in baptism by immersion for believers alone, if they said, well,

01:35:36

I knew Charles Haddon Spurgeon believed in that view, and how could he possibly be wrong?

01:35:41

I'd have to warn them, as much as I'm happy to see you joining a Reformed Baptist church, that's not the reason to be doing it.

01:35:50

Right. Yeah. Well, we should be like the Berean Christians in Acts 17, 11,

01:35:59

I think it is, the Bereans who were more noble than the believers in Thessalonica because they took the things they heard from Paul, and they searched the

01:36:07

Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so. And that should be every Christian's approach to their beliefs and their behavior is to test everything by Scripture.

01:36:19

Okay, we have a question from Terry in Farragut, Tennessee. And Terry asks, how have you responded to those

01:36:32

Christians who insist that we only should be reading and studying the

01:36:39

Scriptures and never making reference to those books that have been written by great men of history?

01:36:52

Yeah, you know, to be honest, I have not encountered that argument very often. It's been years, if ever, where I have.

01:37:02

I suppose maybe early in my Christian life, I was surrounded by people who were pretty suspicious of anything outside the

01:37:09

Bible. But, you know, I think the same way that we would say, well, we need the gifts of teaching and preaching that God gives to the church.

01:37:22

And He does give different gifts. And He gives others gifts that He's not given me. And He gives these gifts so that the church will benefit.

01:37:29

And it's foolish for us to refuse to benefit from a gift that God has given. And if we just extend that and say, you know, the gifts that God has given to the church are not only the gifts that are given in your local church and given current today, but it includes teachers of past generations who wrote things down or who preach things that we can benefit from today.

01:37:53

If they are gifts of the church, then we should take advantage of those gifts and use them and be grateful for them.

01:37:59

So it seems to me just to be a lack of understanding of how God has gifted the church with great teachers and theologians and pastors and preachers.

01:38:11

Yeah, I have heard that view that our listener mentioned most often in relationship to creeds and confessions.

01:38:24

And they will disparage the use of creeds and confessions saying,

01:38:30

I don't need them, I've got the Bible. But the creeds and confessions themselves state clearly in prominent places that the

01:38:44

Scriptures are infinitely superior to what they have compiled, and they are not to be taken equally or especially not superior to the

01:38:56

Scriptures, these creeds and confessions. Now, I've definitely witnessed abuse of creeds and confessions, but at the same time, the good ones are merely summaries of scriptural truth.

01:39:13

And as I've heard accurately said, even the phrase,

01:39:20

I have no creed but the Scriptures and no confession other than Christ, that is a creedal statement.

01:39:32

Right. Yeah, I think sometimes we forget that historically, these creeds, whether we're talking about the

01:39:40

Nicene Creed or the definition of Chalcedon, or we're talking about the Westminster Confession of Faith or the

01:39:46

London Baptist Confession of Faith or whatever, these creeds and confessions arise in a historical context where it is necessary to safeguard the teaching of Scripture from error by giving a clear summary of what the church believes.

01:40:06

And that's its focus. That's its intended aim, is to give a summary of what the

01:40:12

Scriptures teach in order to safeguard against false teaching. And almost any false teacher is going to sneak in with a

01:40:18

Bible verse. The problem with false teaching is it takes passages out of context, or it takes truths and distorts them from their biblical balance, or takes statements and misunderstands what those statements actually mean.

01:40:38

And you've got to have some way to defend against that. And creeds and confessions are one way of doing that.

01:40:43

It's not the only way, but it's certainly a valid way of doing that. Amen. Well, we have to go to our final break, so don't go away.

01:40:51

We'll be right back after these messages. Puritan Reformed is a

01:40:57

Bible -believing, kingdom -building, devil -fighting church. We are devoted to upholding the apostolic doctrine and practice preserved in Scripture alone.

01:41:07

Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image -bearing prophets, priests, and kings.

01:41:14

We teach families to worship together as families. Puritan is committed to teaching the whole counsel of God so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

01:41:27

We sing the Psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt

01:41:33

Christ. This is Pastor David Reis of Puritan Reformed in Phoenix, Arizona.

01:41:39

Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth.

01:41:47

Puritan Reformed Church. Believe. Build. Fight. PuritanPHX .com.

01:42:03

I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

01:42:12

Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight -volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the

01:42:22

Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity by Dr. Joseph Morecraft.

01:42:28

It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.

01:42:40

Dr. Morecraft is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

01:42:51

For details on the eight -volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com.

01:42:59

For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,

01:43:07

heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Please tell Dr. Morecraft and the

01:43:12

Saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia that Dr. Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sent you.

01:43:35

This is Pastor Bill Sousa of Grace Church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

01:43:42

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

01:43:51

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our

01:44:03

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

01:44:10

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

01:44:23

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

01:44:33

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

01:44:41

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

01:44:47

Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

01:45:04

I'm Dr. Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

01:45:10

I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

01:45:16

Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jansen and Christopher McDowell.

01:45:23

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

01:45:41

Christ Jesus the King and His doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.

01:45:48

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

01:45:57

For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

01:46:03

That's hopereformedli .net, or call 631 -696 -5711.

01:46:12

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

01:46:36

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

01:46:42

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

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01:48:30

I'm Simon O'Mahony, pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

01:48:35

Originally from Cork, Ireland, the Lord in his sovereign providence has called me to shepherd this new and growing congregation here in Cumberland County.

01:48:44

At TRBC, we joyfully uphold the Second London Baptist Confession, we embrace congregational church government, and we are committed to preaching the full counsel of God's Word for the edification of believers, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of our triune

01:49:00

God. We are also devoted to living out the one another commands of scripture, loving, encouraging, and serving each other as the body of Christ.

01:49:08

In our worship, we sing psalms and the great hymns of the faith, and we gather around the Lord's table every

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Sunday. We would love for you to visit and worship with us. You can find our details at trbccarlisle .org.

01:49:22

That's trbccarlisle .org. God willing, we'll see you soon.

01:49:45

I'm pastor Keith Allen of Lindbrook Baptist Church, a Christ -centered, gospel -driven church looking to spread the gospel in the southwest portion of Long Island, New York, and play our role in fulfilling the

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01:50:24

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01:50:41

Salvation in Christ also results in righteous living, good works, and appropriate respect and concern for all who bear

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01:50:54

Lord's Day, we'd love to have you come and join us in worship. For details, visit lindbrookbaptist .org.

01:51:01

That's l -y -n -brookbaptist .org. This is Pastor Keith Allen of Lindbrook Baptist Church reminding you that by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And I also want to remind you that this program is paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco &

01:54:24

Associates. If you're the victim of a serious personal injury or medical malpractice anywhere in the

01:54:31

United States, call 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or visit their website 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com,

01:54:39

1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com. Please tell Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, that you heard about his law firm,

01:54:46

Buttafuoco & Associates, from Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And we are now back, and we have

01:54:54

Amanda in Nissaquag, Long Island, who asks, can you please give us your three favorite

01:55:03

Puritan books, especially if someone plans to give them to another individual who is not very well read in the

01:55:13

Puritans? Well, it's always hard to choose because I love these books so much, but I would recommend this volume

01:55:26

I've already mentioned, Comfort in Holiness from Christ's Priestly Work by William Bridge.

01:55:34

Since we're talking about Bridge, and I did work on that book, and Reformation Heritage has published it.

01:55:41

It's a wonderful modernization. So I would certainly recommend that. I would recommend The Pilgrim's Progress.

01:55:47

And again, there are modernized versions of that. And I think for someone who's not familiar with the

01:55:53

Puritans, that's a wonderful, wonderful place to start. And then a third volume

01:55:59

I think I'd recommend is Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.

01:56:05

That's the one that I was trying to remember where it was remarkable to me how much

01:56:13

Brooks was speaking as if he was speaking to a modern audience, other than the use of the

01:56:19

English language. But it was really, it could be, it was timeless. Yeah. Well, that's a wonderful book.

01:56:25

That's just, I think, a classic book on practical aspects of Christian life and spiritual warfare.

01:56:34

It's just so good. And one thing that's so great about Brooks, he's full of illustrations. He's a very picturesque writer, and there's short sections.

01:56:46

It's just, it's an easy book to read. One of my favorites in the Puritans. Banneroftruth .org for anybody who wants to get that.

01:56:53

Well, I want to thank you so much for being such a superb guest. I look forward to having you back on the program.

01:57:03

And I want to remind our listeners about some necessary information to get a hold of Pastor Brian Hedges.

01:57:18

First of all, the website for Redeemer Church in Nile, Michigan is redeemer .ch.

01:57:29

The website of the publisher of the book that we have been speaking about today, that has been written by my guest,

01:57:41

Brian G. Hedges, An Infinite Treasury, Grace in the Piety of William Bridge.

01:57:47

The publisher's Reformation Heritage Books can be found at heritagebooks .org,

01:57:55

heritagebooks .org. And once again, you can also get the works of William Bridges at the website of my dear friend,

01:58:07

Mike Adosh, who runs Solid Ground Christian Books, which is solid -ground -books .com,

01:58:14

solid -ground -books .com. And of course, Banner of Truth is banneroftruth .org,

01:58:21

banneroftruth .org. Oh, well, Brian, let's keep in touch because I definitely want to have you back on the program.

01:58:29

Oh, thank you. I appreciate the invitation. Hey, my pleasure. I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write.

01:58:38

I want to remind you to please pray for Iron Trip and Zion Radio, that we can find new advertisers or donors that will help replenish the funds that we have lost by losing two of our biggest advertisers.

01:58:54

I would appreciate you praying about that or even contacting me with any recommendations that you have for those who may be interested in advertising.

01:59:03

But I want you all to always remember for the rest of your entire lives that Jesus Christ is a far, far greater

01:59:13

Savior than you are a sinner. I look forward to hearing from you and your questions tomorrow on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.