June 4, 2018 Show with Jeffrey D. Johnson on “The Pursuit of Glory: Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone”

The Program Introduction and the Meaning of Proverbs 27:17

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions. Now here's our host, Chris Arns.

Good afternoon Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth, listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arns and your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Monday on this fourth day of June 2018.

I'm delighted to have back on the program a returning guest, Jeffrey D. Johnson, who is founder of Free Grace Press and pastor of Grace Bible Church in Conway, Arkansas, which is the home of the Grace Bible Institute.

We're going to be addressing his new book, The Pursuit of Glory, Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone, and we've also got some exciting announcements to make regarding upcoming events that Pastor Johnson is conducting with Dr. Joel Beeky and Dr. Stephen Lawson, but it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Jeffrey D. Johnson.

Chris, thanks for having me back on. It's a privilege. Hey, it's my pleasure, brother, and let's hear something about, for those of our listeners especially that have not yet heard you on the program, because it's been quite a while since we've had you on the show, and we are streaming on a new Reformed Network First Love radio out of Dublin, California, so we have got a lot of new listeners added to our audience.

In fact, my webmaster has informed me that our audience has doubled since last year, so there are there are, I'm sure, a lot of new listeners that are unfamiliar with you, so let us know about the Grace Bible Church of Conway, Arkansas.

Grace Bible Church and the Growth of the Grace Bible Institute

Yes, Grace.

Bible Church is right in the middle of 20 years. A year and a half ago, Reformed Baptist Seminary. Wow, the only seminary in Arkansas. Yes, we're excited about not only where we have our own resident students in our church, another never looking to further their education, you know, take a class here, take a class there, and we're really excited about some of the professors we're able to.

Bring in as well. Great, well that's exciting, definitely. In fact, I don't think that you had the Grace Bible Institute up and running the last time you were on the program. I think this is new to me and to the listeners.

Yes, yeah,.

It's pretty exciting. We really didn't realize it would be such a such a major endeavor. We had the opportunity. I was teaching, like, a lot of teaching ministry for pastoral candidates and young men, if they'll call the ministry.

We had, for years, we've had a class that I would teach once a month, and what we did, we expanded that and we begin to outside of the state from different people in, like Tom Nettles is come, we've had Joe Biggie, who's coming, Steve Lawson, we have Bodie Balcombe come, and so we've had different men coming in, and we have a slate of people coming in the years to come, I mean, in the next year and the year after that, and the way it works, we bring in for a week-long modular, and our classes are, we're in the process of certified, and we're working with arts.

What is arts? Arts is a, like, a puritan, and like, we're pouring back to seminary, but it's not associated, and if we keep a standard of academics, it's not just a diploma meal, it's not just a Sunday School or a Sunday School class, it's a true, normal rigor, masters or other seminaries, and by partnering up with arts, it gives us that, gives the students assurance that...

Upcoming Puritan Theology and Ministry Seminar with Joel Beeke

Well, praise God, and I.

Also know, as I hinted at earlier, that you are having two upcoming events, one of them is just ten days from now, that would be the Puritan Theology and Ministry Seminar from June 14th through the 17th, featuring guest speaker Dr. Joel R. Beeke, who is a friend of mine, a friend of mine for many years, going back to the early 1990s.

Tell us about the first one, first of all. Yes, we're excited.

About that, like you said, it's ten days, he's coming in, he's going to teach for an extended weekend, Wednesday through Sunday, and it's the all-day event every day. I think there's 30 lectures slated, and he's going to be teaching on Puritan Theology, and so in the community, or anyone that wants to drive in and be a part of it, they're welcome to come, and it's a pre-event, and so we're excited to be able to...

Preaching with Precision and Power with Steven J. Lawson

And then.

Also, you have the Preaching with Precision and Power live course from August 13th through the 15th with Dr. Steven J. Lawson. Tell us about that. Yeah,.

Yeah, we're really excited about Steve Lawson. There's many people in our church that happened to... Steve Lawson used to pastor in Arkansas many years ago, so there's a community, many of them having him, many of our members, this will be a...

I remember, I don't know if it was the church in Arkansas where he once was, but one of the churches where he pastored, when he became a believer in the doctrines of Sovereign Grace, Dr. Lawson told me and my audience years ago when he was a guest on Iron Trip and Zion Radio that a deacon, either deacon or plural deacons, attempted to try to drag him away from the pulpit when he was.

Preaching on the doctrines of grace. Oh, I haven't heard that. That's crazy. I just thought I had it bad, but that's all I'm saying.

Well, and how does a listener to Iron Trip and Zion Radio attend the Preaching with Precision and Power course? That is a Ligonier event, and so what they.

Want to do, anybody who wants to come and be a part of that, is go to Ligonier .com and take care of all the registration. Now, with that event, there is a registration fee. That's great. Well, I will give our listeners, even though I'll be repeating.

It later, first of all, the Grace Bible Church of Conway, Arkansas website is gbcconway .com, gbcconway .com, and then the Grace Bible Institute email, I'm sorry, website address is gracebible .institute.

I'm sorry, gracebible .institute. Definitely got to get new glasses, or should I say, for the first time, get prescription glasses. Gracebible .institute is the website for the Grace Bible Institute in Conway, Arkansas.

Yeah, and if you go to Warner, the other site, there's a link. You can get linked to either site.

The Pursuit of Glory and the Search for Satisfaction in Christ Alone

Great. Well, I want to give our listeners our email address if they have any questions for you on the topic for the day, The Pursuit of Glory, Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone. Our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com, c-h-r-i-s-a-r-n-z-e-n at gmail .com.

Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA. Before I even begin asking you questions about this book, I just want to read a couple of very powerful endorsements for it by people that many, if not all, of our listeners will recognize.

First of all, we have Jay Adams, the world-renowned New Thetic counselor and conference speaker and author. He writes,. The Pursuit of Glory is must-reading for every Christian. In it, Jeffrey Johnson conveys major aspects of Christian living as they relate to glory.

His topic is unusual, as it is often thought that only God has glory. Read with faith and know, you too may pursue glory, for God is glory. And then we have my friend Tom Nettles, who's also been a guest on this program a number of times along with Jay Adams.

Tom Nettles writes,. This book gives an expanded exposition of the Augustinian summary of human purpose. You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

Jeff Johnson wants the reader to experience satisfaction in this universal quest. He is not proposing some secret mystical incantation or detachment from reality, but points to the plainly revealed, clearly proposed gospel of the birth, life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

He is the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form. If we would find glory in all its accompanying values, we will find them only in Christ. That is the driving purpose and the clear message of this book.

Take and read. Obviously quoting from the phrase that the children were chanting in Augustine's Salvation Testimony, and he used that as a sign of God. Am I right on that? That's right. Well, those are very powerful endorsements by two very powerful men in the kingdom of God.

And, well, let's start off with this title, although we have this hinted at in both of these endorsements, The Pursuit of Glory. First of all, it's a good thing that you have the subtitle, Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone, because of the fact that someone might wrongly interpret the pursuit of glory, especially if they were either an unbeliever or perhaps they are in the Word of Faith Pentecostal movement, which still may put them under the category of unbeliever.

But this may be misconstrued as someone thinking that they can receive fame, fortune, prestige, and so on, but that is the polar opposite of what you're talking about. It's exactly the opposite. Yeah, but.

You know, God has put these longings, is that there's two types of longings that we have, seeing that we're made up of body and soul. And the body has appetites or cravings, and they're not necessarily evil if they're used properly and restrained.

But your body has cravings, and their cravings, and that's what the world is seeking to satisfy, is their body. Things that we can be seeing, materialism, patience, you know, that's what the world's seeking to find happiness in.

And with multiple chapters, and each chapter is a longing of the soul, a longing for having ourselves. And I think that's why people are trying to satisfy. And no matter how much you give the body, it never really gets deep enough to really give us what we're made for, what we're designed for.

And that's why the world continues, most of the people in the world, and even sometimes us Christians, we get deceived and get misled and getting tricked to go back to the world, I can't be happy until I get this, I can't be happy until I get that, and we're lost in wealth, and the next experience, and on we go indefinitely, and that whole eternal, immutable God.

Yes, I had interviewed one of Dr. Joel Beakey's professors at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, David Murray, who you may be familiar with, who wrote the book, The Happy Christian, and that is a title and a theme that is strangely out of the comfort zone with many who share our theological convictions.

It's kind of interesting how you might often hear Reformed people rail against people having as a priority happiness in this life, but the reason I say it's ironic is that the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, as you are very familiar with, I'm sure, is what is the chief end of man, and the answer is a man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, and I think that that goes right along hand-in-hand with your chapter on pursuing happiness.

That's exactly right. In fact, if you're happy, a small child cannot.

Yeah, and I think that very often we have a false definition of what happiness is. I mean, those of our brethren in our theological camp who say that many, if not most, Christians put priority on too high a level of importance, I think that what they are really meaning, and I hope that they are meaning, that the definition and source of their happiness is wrong, not that happiness in and of itself is wrong, because obviously if our ultimate goal is to be in glory for eternity with Christ, that is the ultimate happiness that we are striving for.

So, I mean, obviously there can't be anything wrong with craving happiness. It's where we get it is the key, am I right?

That's right, and I would even go to as far as say God is the one that put that in us. We may go trying to find happiness in giving up on love. That's a God-given desire that God made us, that it's a matter of not being deceived and thinking that we can find it in the...

Amen. Now, it might be, or it definitely is, an easier thing to say than it is to actually actively involve yourself in pursuing happiness in the correct way, in a godly way, in a God-centered way, and in a biblical way.

A pastor can easily say we should be pursuing our happiness by pursuing the enjoyment of God, and that can be even said flippantly, especially to somebody who is in a crisis, who is depressed, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, or somebody that they love has been diagnosed, or they are going through a divorce unwillingly.

There's a host of things, losing jobs, being in financial crisis, and all kinds of things, and we could flippantly say, well, find your happiness in God. But what do you actually mean? How does the rubber meet the road in pursuing happiness?

Yeah, that's one thing, the objective problem, and they both have the same objective problem, is how you're emotional, how you cope with the problem is the real problem. And a lot of people, one person can go, okay, I've got a flat tire and move on with his life, the other person might crumble underneath the weight of it.

It may be the straw that breaks the camel's back, it might be the one thing that just tops off the day as being terrible, and they can't, and so what really is the problem is not, I got diagnosed with cancer, or my mother just passed away, these are hard, really, we're knowing, we know someone.

That's where the book is seeking to redirect our, in a way that we, the real key is, before tragedy happens, before the flat tire, before the diagnosis with cancer, is have your priorities in line, and so when, that can be like the Apostle Paul, may die, he doesn't know if he's going to live or die, he doesn't know if he's going to get out alive or not, but he's in there singing, and he's rejoicing, and he's saying, either or, if I live or die, you know, I'd be happy, I'm going to rejoice, because he realized, not either in my life, and still in my death, and then I'd be, for the Apostle Paul, and that's the way it can be, I understand, you know, that we're not to weep, with those who weep, and weep over, that kind of, well, if you want to hear.

How Dr. Sinclair Ferguson responded to a flat tire when I was in the car with him, he, he actually, actually was worse than a flat tire, it was a tire that had nearly completely come off the axle, we were driving with a deacon from the church where I was a member back in those days, from, we were driving from New York to Connecticut to drop Dr. Ferguson off at a Reformed Baptist Church there in East Haven, Connecticut, where he was scheduled for another conference, this is way back in the 1990s, and the car started shaking, and then all of a sudden, the, the driver, this deacon friend of mine, had to pull over, he got out of the car, and he stuck his head in the, the door, and he said, I can't believe it, the, the tire, it's a good thing I pulled over, because the tire is only being held on to the axle by one of the five bolts, the other four bolts have broken, and so Dr. Ferguson, after a moment of silence, said from the back seat, only one of the five bolts is holding on the tire, do you think the Lord is telling us that only one of the five points of Calvinism is true?

Well, that's a lot better reaction than I had recently, and in this studio, when I had Dr. Hensworth Jonas on my program, who is a Reformed Baptist pastor in Antigua, in Barbuda, and he was here in the studio with me, because he was in town for the Banner of Truth conference, and I was having a bit of a mental meltdown, because we were having technical difficulties, and I just thank God that a legion of angels descended into the studio and held my tongue from saying any kind of profanity in my anger, but he could tell, he could tell I was getting a little bit too upset about the situation, and that, that is one thing that I need to greatly learn in my own life, is that I, I too quickly get angry over things like that, rather than just relax and trusting in God, being in control over the situation.

That's one thing about the.

Book, that I do a lot of counseling, and a lot of my counseling over the years integrated as these illustrations or examples in the book, and it's not upon anxiety management, it's not upon depression, it's not upon any of these things in particular, although I mention all those things, and, and, and give counsel, and in counseling, it may be on marriage, it may not be on anxiety or depression, it may be in particular of that nature, it kind of hits home, and kind of like, put it in our, is that we can't control our emotions, or we're exempt from being responsive, now, or I, maybe I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have, you know, retaliated, we, we take responsibility there, but, but we kind of excuse our, our feelings, like I can't help, but, with my wife, and I don't, that's what's going to control your emotions, okay, my, my wife passed home with a, easy, in fact, if it's easy, you didn't really love your spouse, like the Apostle Paul had, then what can take, well, we have to go to our first break, if anybody would.

Like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com, chrisarnsen at gmail .com, that's C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com, please give us at least your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence, if you live outside of the USA, and please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter, and we will permit questions, since our guest today is a pastor, we will permit questions that are a bit off topic, they may, that may involve matters of personal counseling, and I can understand that that would lead you to want to remain anonymous, but, other than that, please give us your first name, city and state and country of residence, if you live outside the USA, and don't go away, God willing, we're going to be right back after these messages with more of Jeffrey D. Johnson.

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Defining Glory as Weight, Worth, and Intrinsic Value

Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen, if you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours, with a little bit less than 90 minutes to go, is Jeffrey D. Johnson, founder of Free Grace Press, pastor at Grace Bible Church in Conway, Arkansas, which is the home of the Grace Bible Institute, and we are addressing his new book, The Pursuit of Glory, Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone, a publication of Reformation Heritage Books, and if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.

ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. We do have a listener in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. We have BB who asks, can you please give me a more precise definition of glory? I am sorry if I'm tuning in too late and you already addressed this, but I've heard glory referring to eternal life in heaven, and I've heard glory referring to some kind of a vibrant, shining majesty coming from God himself, and other definitions I have heard as well.

How are you using it.

Specifically in this book? Okay, that's a good question. I'm using glory, as I define it in the book, as a equivalent of what is the glory. When we think about glory, or think about how much value, I mean, they're on their last leg.

I have a lawnmower that's worth more than my vehicles. My new lawnmower, the Zero Turn, it's got value to it, but what determines the value? What determines the part? You have to look at the object, how something that doesn't last very long seems to have less value, like the Bible's contrast to glory is the word vanity, and it likens vanity to grasping the air.

If you could grab hold of the air, what did you have? You have really nothing, and it's not worth anything. It's not something you can sell. There's no value to it, and weeds that are here one has longevity, and it has substance to it, and that's why in the Hebrew word for glory is the word weight, or weightiness.

We don't, maybe not correspond. Why does weightiness have to correspond to glory, or to value? Well, one reason why is in the Old Testament days, the value of ancient coins was determined by the substance.

In our days, it's what's stamped on the coin, or on the paper note. $100, that drive by the, and then they would weigh that coin, and the heavier, or the weightier the coin is, the more value, and...

Are you still there? I think I've lost my guest. Well, that's happened before, and hopefully he will call us back. In the meantime, our email address is ChrisArnson at gmail .com. ChrisArnson at gmail .com, and he is calling back right now, and there you go.

I hope this is Pastor Jeff. Yes, it sure is. I'm sorry, I got phone drop on me. See, that's one of those circumstances where you can't lose control,.

Or lose your temper, right? Yeah, things outside of our control, yeah.

Right, that was the providence of God, and a revelation of a sense of humor, saying, oh, you think this is easy, huh? Knocked the phone right out of your hand. But you were talking about the difference between the way that a coin, or note, has its value printed, or engraved on it, or stamped on it, because of the numeric value.

That's right. A paper note that has a dollar on it, it's not worth anything, it's just that we perceive it's worth a dollar, because that has value that transcends the government stamp on it. It's precious metal, and the heavier that metal is, if it's silver, gold, bronze, whatever the metal is, the heavier it is, the more it's...

And so weightiness, or value, and so we're talking about glory, we're talking about the intrinsic worth of God's glory. There's no price you can put upon the value, and the worth, and the glory of God, because He's infinite, He's weighty, He's eternal, He's immutable, He's going to outlast everything,.

Are you there, Pastor? Yes, can you hear me?

Yeah, now I can, but you cut out for about five seconds.

Okay.

I don't know if you were getting a phone call coming in or something, but you went totally blank.

Okay, hopefully back now.

Yes, you are.

Yes, and so I'm just trying to say to know that our life is meaningful, and by meaningful we're saying valuable, that I have a purpose, that I have a reason to exist, that my life is not a waste, it's not just empty, it's not useless.

We're looking for our lives to have glory, to have worth, and that's how I'm using the word glory in this book.

Great, well thank you, Bibi, and you have won a free copy of the book that we are addressing today, The Pursuit of Glory, Finding Satisfaction in Christ Alone, compliments of Reformation Heritage Books, and also compliments of CVBBS .com, sponsors of Iron Trip and Zion Radio, that's Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, who will be shipping that book out to you at no charge to you or to Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

Thank you so much for providing such an excellent question, and please make sure we have your full mailing address. We have Murray in Kinross, Scotland, who has a question, and Murray says, I have to enlarge the font on his email, he says,.

In John 15, Jesus teaches his disciples to abide in him and to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit. He encourages them to love and keep commandments just as he has. Then in verse 11, he adds,. These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

How would you differentiate between his joy and our joy, and do you believe that abiding, bearing fruit, loving, and obeying are the necessary requirements for us to have true joy in him?

I agree that that's exactly right. Our joy will be the joy of the Lord. Let's put it this way. The joy that we're looking for is not our joy, but God's joy. And the glory that we're looking for is not our glory.

We don't want to glorify in the Lord. So we want meaning, we want happiness, we want companionship, we want all these internal longings of the soul that I deal with in all these chapters, but they come only through knowing God and glorifying God.

And that's where the obedience and loving God comes from, is to glorify God and to enjoy him, is to obey him and to please him. In so doing, that and that alone, to know that my life means something, that I have a reason to exist, and that my existence is not wrapped up in my own self-gratification or in myself being greater than the moment, something greater than the now that I have to live for.

And my obedience has an eternal meaning. It's something that has eternal ramification. It gives meaningfulness. It gives every moment purpose. Even though God knows it's not a waste, it's not purposeful, we can rest assured that not only does this work out as needed, and it has a purpose, and it's not wasted.

It's not useless. It's not, well, immediately, what does this mean, and why did God allow this? I know it means needed. It's useful. Otherwise, God...

Well, thank you, Murray and Ken Ross Scotland. Please keep listening to Iron Trip and Zion Radio and spreading the word about the program in the UK and beyond. What you just said, I'm assuming you would agree that very meticulous care needs to be involved in seeking to bring anyone comfort or encouragement in the midst of losing a loved one, like a spouse, for instance.

I am a widower. And I think I would get pretty angry if somebody, especially fresh on the heels of losing my wife, had said to me that that is for your good, it's for a purpose that's going to make your life better.

How and when should that be crafted in a presentation to someone who is mourning the death of a loved one without seemingly trying to be overly theological in a time when compassion is more required?

Well, the Bible tells us to mourn with people who mourn. And not only do we rejoice with those who rejoice, we enter into people's mourning. And there's a difference, as you know, between sympathy and empathy.

And I think the Lord is, in His example to us with Lazarus, you know, He wept knowing that He was going to raise them and mourn with them because He was grieving. We're poor comfortable terms at people who are in deep grief.

And furthermore, it's never wise to the mourning process in years of depression. It's not helpful. Solomon says that the time of mourning is never a pleasant. Mourning is God's way to grieve and to go through that.

But even, you know, as you've experienced, in fact it could be even more difficult than an unbelieving person mourning his wife because it could be even strangely good, you know. So a believer will mourn probably deeper than an unbeliever that goes side by side.

It doesn't undo the mourning, but it goes side even by side.

In fact, we'll let you pick up right when we come back from our break because we were already late for the break. This is an elongated break because Grace Life Radio 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida requires a 12-minute break from us.

So please be patient and take this time not only to write questions for our guest, Jeffrey D. Johnson, but also take this time to write down the information provided by our advertisers so that you can patronize them.

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