June 14, 2022 Show with Nate Pickowicz on “R. C. Sproul: Defender of the Reformed Faith” PLUS Mack Tomlinson on “Mature Manhood: Being Useful for the Master”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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

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

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse 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 two hours and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions and now here's your host,

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

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

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

Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 14th day of June 2022.

We've got two returning guests for our program today. During the first hour we have

Nate Pickowitz returning to the program. He is pastor of Harvest Bible Church in Gillington Ironworks, New Hampshire and author of a number of books including

Reviving New England and Why We're Protestant. He's going to be addressing his latest book today called

R .C. Sproul, Defender of the Reformed Faith. So I'm really looking forward to that discussion.

In the second hour we're going to be joined by a mutual friend of both

Pastor Nate's and mine, Mack Tomlinson, pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas and author of a number of books including

In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill. He's going to be addressing the theme,

Mature Manhood Being Useful for the Master, and that will be the next position of 2

Timothy chapter 2 verses 20 through 22. But first of all to discuss

R .C. Sproul, Defender of the Reformed Faith, it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Nate Pickowitz.

Thank you Chris, good to be with you. Well, why don't you refresh our memories or inform for the first time our listeners who have not heard you before something about Harvest Bible Church in Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire.

Sure, so Harvest Bible Church is a church plant that we launched in 2013. It's in a pretty rural town in New Hampshire and for those of you who might not know,

New England is largely an unreached people group in the Northeast, and so just working hard to bring the gospel to this region as well as a lot of other church plants as well.

And so we're coming up on 10 years and we're pretty excited about that, so the Lord's been very kind. Yeah, and it's always so sad when

I am reminded about New England being an unreached people group or a theologically barren area of the

United States when at one time it was the very hub of Puritanism and Reformed theology.

Yeah, absolutely. And I was talking to a friend earlier about this today that it is depressing to think about what we had here at one point,

Jonathan Edwards and the tours of George Whitefield and Adeniram Judson and so much happening, but on the bright side,

I think that there's so much ministry to do, the harvest is so plentiful, the laborers are few, but it is a good ministry to have.

So I'm very thankful to be here and it is a great joy to serve the Lord here. Great.

Well, if anybody is going to be passing through Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire, or perhaps you already live very near that area,

I urge you to visit hbc -nh .org, that's the website of our guest's church, and I hope that you pay a visit to that church and if you do not have a church home that is biblically sound and you live in that area or you know someone in that circumstance,

I hope that either you or they not only visit but join Harvest Bible Church in Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire, and that's hbc -nh .org.

Well, you have written only the second biography that I'm aware of, there may be more, but that's the second biography of the late

R .C. Sproul, one of my greatest heroes of the 20th and 21st century, and a man whom

I had the honor and privilege to interview on this program and the honor and privilege to receive from him a glowing commendation for Iron Shepherds, Iron Reddeer.

It still blows my mind when I think about it. What was it that compelled you to say, you know something,

I've got to get my own biography of R .C. Sproul in print? Yeah, it's a great question, it actually wasn't my idea at all.

I had not initially set out to do this, you know, a figure like R .C. or others, you know, they're daunting

I think, especially when you revere them so highly, but the publisher had reached out to me and asked me, I'd done some work for them before, they asked if I would consider writing a biography, and I was planning on taking a writing break, and I said, well, what would you like it to be on?

And they said, R .C. Sproul. So I went to my wife and I said, honey, they want me to write a book on R .C. Sproul, what do you think?

And she said, well, you have to do that. So I very joyfully accepted the offer to do that and was just really blessed to be able to work through that project, and I already loved

R .C. just as a believer. He was an incredible encouragement to me, but then as a researcher to go and learn more about his life and read all of his works, it was just a tremendous joy.

So thankful that he came to my doorstep. Yes, a very remarkable and extraordinary and unusual man.

And one of the reasons I say he was unusual is that there are theologians and scholars who predominantly, if not exclusively, appeal to the academic realm, and there are those that predominantly, if not exclusively, appeal to what has been nicknamed layman, the ordinary

Christian. But R .C. Sproul had a unique gift of being able to intrigue and grab the attention of both of those seemingly opposite wings of Christianity.

And he was able to stretch the minds of those that might not quite understand where he is initially coming from when preaching, teaching, giving a lecture, but then eventually he breaks those things down, those hard -to -understand words and concepts, always broke them down for the average reader or listener.

Wouldn't you agree? Absolutely. I mean, one thing that R .C. was known for and was well -versed in was the clear communication of truth.

R .C. very easily could have had a career in the academy, and at the beginning of his career he was in the academy.

He worked at Gordon -Conwell and his alma mater as well, but really very quickly realized that he liked ministering to people in the pew.

He really enjoyed people. He loved being around them, he loved teaching them, and he's credited really for popularizing the

Reformed faith, at least in our generation. So really had the acumen for academics, but really had a passion to make sure that people, everybody anywhere, even down to children, could understand

Reformed truth, and so that was a great desire of his. Oh yeah, he even wrote several children's books.

That's right, that's right. And one of the other things that is very memorable about him is that for some reason he was able to gain the love and admiration and friendship of people who were in many ways theologically opposed to some of his core beliefs as a

Reformed and Covenantal Christian, and yet maintained very long -time friendships.

Not only friendships, but co -labored in evangelism with men like Dr.

John MacArthur, who was a world -renowned dispensationalist, preacher and teacher and author, and others that were not quite exactly in the circle of theological framework that he,

Dr. Sproul, made himself most well -known. But he was able to lay those issues aside, at least while co -laboring with somebody like John MacArthur, without diminishing or compromising.

He just had a unique gift in that way and seemed to attract people from a broad spectrum of theological viewpoint within Christendom.

Yeah, R .C. was really, he was pretty gracious with people, and I think that was one of the things, and it's a theme

I stress in the book too, is he was articulate when it comes to truth.

He wanted to make sure that the truth is very clear, but he also understood what was core doctrine, what is non -negotiable for the faith, and so even during some of his doctrinal battles, he knew what the core issues were and he fought vigorously for them.

But then he also knew that there were other issues that were relatively secondary, that we were still brothers in Christ but just disagreed on more minor points, and so those were some of the friendships that he had with some of those folks.

But the other thing about him is that he won people over because of his kindness, and he was kind, he was gracious, he's not a perfect man, but he really tried to be gentle and kind to people and smile.

I mean, heaven forbid, a Calvinist smile, but he did. He wanted to win people to the truth, and he wanted to be lockstep with brothers, with men who could defend the truth with him, and that's why he loved people like John MacArthur and James Boyce, because they were fierce for the truth with him, and he had a good loving relationship with those men.

Well, tell us some of the highlights of your biography of Dr. Sproul.

Where do you start in his life, and what are some of the primary landmarks throughout his ministry that you draw our attention to?

Yeah, so the decision I made early on with the book, I knew it was going to be a short book. I was asked to write something that was only going to be maybe 150 pages.

It was not going to be a large volume like Dr. Nichols' book on R .C., and so I had to be selective with where I went, and what

I began to notice when I was researching was that all the major doctrinal battles that he fought really could be sort of framed within the five solas of the

Reformation. You know, during the 70s, he was contending for inerrancy in the authority of the

Bible. That was sola scriptura, you know, and then he begins to write about Chosen by God, that famous book

Chosen by God and the doctrine of God, contending for sola gratia. He's fighting in the evangelicals and Catholics together battle, which is quite literally a battle over sola fide.

He plants St. Andrew's Church with a team of people and really begins to contend for what is the sound biblical truth of church, and as opposed to the

Roman Catholic Church, really contended for Christ alone. And then really the last decade of his life, he began to do all things, writing music and opening schools and writing children's books and everything he touched, he wanted to make sure he did it for the glory of God.

So the framework of the book that I write is really tied to that, more focused on his major doctrinal battles and his major points than really more of the biographical details.

I want people to read this and be encouraged, instructed, and have someone as a model to follow after.

We are supposed to imitate the faith of those who imitate Christ, and so that's what I believe Dr. Sproul does. We have a

Christian in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania who has a question. Christian asks, can you tell us how profoundly the teaching and preaching and writing of Dr.

Sproul affected your own life as not only a Christian but as a pastor? Absolutely, that's a great question.

I had been reading and following and listening to R .C. for probably about 12 years, but it wasn't really until he passed that I actually began to think about all the things that I had learned, not just from Dr.

Sproul but also just from Ligonier, the ministry that he began and the ministry that has been carried on, and I just began to take stock in the fact that I learned so much.

Every time I'd have a theological question, I would find myself just grabbing my phone and clicking on Ligonier and typing in a question and asking a question, and I always found that whatever answer

I got, with the exception of baptism in my case, but every answer I got was sound, was faithful, was biblically true, and I could trust that minister.

I could trust his teaching. So he really became a source of truth for me.

He was able to communicate truth in a way that I could understand, in a way that I could turn around and communicate to the church people that I had.

So I found that not only him as a teacher, as a shepherd, but even as a pastor, he's been very helpful to me to model how to communicate truth clearly and accurately.

That's really and really important. So I owe him a great debt for that, and then add to that, just writing the biography was just a tremendous joy on top of that.

So he has blessed my life in multiple ways more than I could even count. Now, have you had any opportunities to meet

Dr. Sproul while he was still with us face -to -face? I did not. I've had a chance to get to know some folks who've worked closely with him, but I never had the blessing of meeting him on this side of heaven.

So that'll be something I look forward to in the future, 10 ,000 years from now, whenever I get around to seeing him up there.

Yes, I have very fond memories of meeting him face -to -face.

I've been at a number of events where he was speaking, but I had one wonderful providential opportunity to be actually having two conversations with him, not only on my radio program as a guest, but I was at a church,

Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, where he was speaking at a conference, and I worked part -time at that time for Calvary Press Publishing, and we had brought back into print a small book by Jonathan Edwards, which

I believe is an excerpt out of a larger book by Edwards called Heaven, a World of Love.

And I knew that Dr. Sproul loved Jonathan Edwards, so I wanted, and Calvary Press wanted me to try to get an endorsement from him.

And when I saw that after he finished speaking, when everyone had stood up to sing a hymn, he snuck out the back, and I knew that he was probably going to the bathroom.

I chased him down the hallway, and I said, Dr. Sproul, and he said, if you want to talk to me, you've got to come in here.

So I got into the men's room, and I pitched to him writing the endorsement for Heaven, a

World of Love while he was at the urinal. And two weeks later, we got it in the mail, the commendation.

The other time was actually during that same conference.

I had a wonderful time in a fellowship hall having a fun conversation with him, and he split a gut laughing as I was doing a

John Gerstner imitation for him. John Gerstner, who was his mentor. But it was interesting how he was laughing so hard, because at that time in his life,

Dr. Sproul began to sound very much like John Gerstner. That's right. That's right.

And as far as what made him stand out in the contemporary realm of evangelicalism, what would you say are those things that made him someone very different and unique toward, whether it be his writing or his public presence as a grade, other very gifted men who are preachers, teachers, and theologians, and maybe even writing voluminously.

But what would you say makes him stand out and is marked out as someone quite unique in this contemporary age of evangelicalism?

I think one of the things Dr. Sproul did well, and he's remembered for, was the fact that no matter what the question was, he made it his personal business to study every possible thing he could.

He was constantly learning, and he had a steel trap mind. He could just recall things. He could memorize whole passages from books and things he read and could recall them.

Whenever a question came up, he always seemed to be able to weigh in, and weigh in in a way that was clear, accurate, and even authoritative.

Whenever R .C. spoke, if you were going to disagree, you had to make sure that you had done your homework before you disagreed, because he was so well studied.

So a man who, in the book I have a line that I say that he had a John Calvin mind with a

Billy Graham reach. He was able to popularize and reach so many people like a

Billy Graham in terms of masses, but yet he was a theological thinker. He understood how truth worked, and he had studied doctrine extensively.

He loved the writings of Turretin and just ate that stuff up. So I think that was the thing, is that we're missing definitiveness.

We're missing truth that is declarative. We tend to sort of say things with nuance, and we want to sort of tiptoe around truth where R .C.

didn't care. He just wanted to make sure that it was clear, it was accurate, and the truth was the truth, and you had to deal with that truth.

So he despised something he called studied ambiguity, where you would couch, or you would sneak in certain ideas and theological concepts through very vague and broad language, and he watched the liberals do it for years.

That's where he was reared in all these liberal schools and had to fight against that to get out. But he watched them do it for years and degrade doctrinal truth through vague terminology, and we see that in our denominations even today.

So I think we're missing someone who just stands fast on truth, speaks plainly, speaks boldly, and with conviction, and makes sure that the doctrine's accurate.

And really, nobody did that better than R .C. Sproul. Amen. And we're going to our first break right now.

If anybody wants to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

chrisarnson 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 the

USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

In this case, I can't imagine how it would unless, of course, if you have grown to love the preaching and teaching of R .C.

Sproul and your pastors or your denomination do not have a heart for Reformed theology.

Maybe they have an intense dislike for anyone who has promoted these truths, and you don't want to identify yourself.

That's really one of the only reasons I could think someone would remain anonymous. But so please, in general, just give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with Nate Pickowitz right after these messages from our sponsors. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries here, excited to announce that my longtime friend,

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Welcome back, this is Chris Arnzen and if you just tuned us in, our guest for the first half of the program is

Nate Pikowitz. He is author of a new biography on R .C. Sproul, titled

R .C. Sproul, Defender of the Reformed Faith. If you'd like to join us, our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com,

chrisarnzen at gmail .com. We have a very loyal listener, one of our oldest listeners,

I don't mean by that his age, I mean by the length of time he's been listening to this program,

I think going all the way back to 2005 when we first launched the program. We have

Grady in Asheboro, North Carolina. Greetings brothers, the one thing that surprised me with Dr.

Sproul was that he was a classical apologist and not presuppositional.

Was this because of his friendship with Dr. Gerstner? That's interesting, I know that he wrote a book with Dr.

Gerstner on classical or evidential apologetics, but I don't think

Dr. Sproul would have been so shallow to just have that position because of his friendship with Dr.

Gerstner, but if you care to comment. Yeah, it's interesting, I thought a similar thing because when you read up on his previous position, you know, he was

Vantillian, I mean he had learned presuppositional apologetics and then he gets into classes with Gerstner and next thing you know he's classical apologetic.

But you know, I think that, you know, to your point, I mean R .C. didn't just flip on a dime because Gerstner said so,

I mean R .C. had to be convinced, you had to motivate and convince him from the scriptures, from reason, from logic, otherwise he wouldn't flip the position.

So I mean he'd studied out all of these things himself and landed there and when they wrote the book together on apologetics with Art Lindsay, they sent

Vantill a copy and he was delighted, he was absolutely delighted. And even though he didn't agree with the position, you know, it was a friendly debate between all of them.

But yeah, R .C. would not have just jumped simply because Gerstner said so, but obviously they would have seen things the same way.

Well, thank you, Grady. And we have an anonymous listener, an anonymous listener who says,

I have been very concerned, in fact even disturbed by some of my closest

Christian brothers and sisters and friends who have developed an increasingly soft position on the heresies of Roman Catholicism.

I was always very blessed by the fact that Dr. R .C.

Sproul held the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism very seriously and strongly, and in fact so much to the point that he had to publicly rebuke his friend

J .I. Packer for signing the ECT document, Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

Do you know if that rift between Dr. Sproul and J .I.

Packer was ever healed in any measure before Dr. Sproul went home to glory?

As far as I know, they were able to mend things quite a bit, but I don't think the relationship returned to its former position prior to.

And the thing is, if you read up on J .I. Packer's story, he's got a couple biographies that are out there,

I think he came from a different place than R .C. did, and J .I. Packer was more willing to give in to some of the errors because of the common ground.

I mean, he'd come out of the Church of England and they were trying to find common ground so much so that they would bend and flex quite a bit on certain things.

And I think that to J .I. Packer's credit, he was trying to be charitable, and he said many times that he didn't consider himself

Roman Catholic, he didn't agree with the doctrine, but for him it was more than, you know, can we find enough common ground?

And R .C. was fine with establishing common ground as well when it came to social issues, but he was just very clear that when it came to the matters of the gospel, we are speaking very different languages here, and that was his biggest issue.

One of his biggest issues was, you know, you can say that we're justified by faith, but you have to use the word alone.

We're justified by faith alone in Christ. And that was all the difference in the world. His other issue was over imputation.

Is this an infused righteousness that becomes ours and we sort of grow into, or is this an imputed righteousness that's credited to us on our behalf?

Those distinctions matter, and that was an issue of gospel or no gospel in the mind of R .C.

Sproul, and to his thinking it was very clear, and you don't hold hands with those as brothers who disagree with the gospel and refute the gospel.

So I don't know where the final analysis landed on their personal relationship, but I do know that they were able to work together in a joint statement after E .C

.T. came out, affirming the gospel itself and even publishing a book called

Getting the Gospel Right, and J .I. Packer and R .C. Sproul, along with several other leaders, signed that statement together to reaffirm what is the gospel itself.

But it definitely was probably the most tumultuous period publicly of R .C.'s

ministry because he had to disagree so strongly with some of his closest friends, Packer being one and Chuck Colson being the other.

What are you aware of that developed over time and perhaps even changed in Dr.

Sproul's thinking and perhaps theological beliefs?

You just mentioned something that he seemed to be clearly Vantillian in his apologetics at one time, but then later became an advocate of classical apologetics or evidentialism.

I know of another one where he at one time was an old earth creationist and became very strongly a young earth creationist, but do you know anything else, or perhaps you want to further expand on the two things

I mentioned? Yeah, I think there were a few things over time. I'm really not privy to all of them.

I think for R .C. he was constantly refining. I know that some of his friends would tease him about changing his eschatological position, his end times position.

You know, you read the last days according to Jesus and he seems to lay out for something pretty straightforward, but he was always being teased that he was changing that position.

Even going back to what you said though, R .C. saw classical apologetics as really a third way between evidentialism and presuppositionalism.

He rejected some of the tenets of evidentialism, so I think he was mostly just trying to refine his understanding of truth.

I don't think he had large, huge swings in his doctrine. You'd have to push pretty hard and convince him pretty hard to move on something.

It'd have to be irrefutable in his mind, but I'm not aware of big, huge things that he changed on, especially in the latter years of his ministry.

Now, you mentioned eschatology. I believe that he was making a case in his last book that involved eschatology.

I think he was making a case for partial preterism, although I don't know if he made a specific alliance with either amill or postmill, because both may be partial preterists.

Do you know where he was on that? From reading that book and just hearing a couple of other things he was teaching through, you know, you read his positions even in his commentary on Romans when he exegetes

Romans 11, you know, it's funny because he sounds almost premillennial in his defense of national

Israel, but then you read his last days according to Jesus and he sounds very amillennial. So that's kind of the, you know, he would kind of follow the truth wherever the truth would go, even if it didn't fit into that position, but the purpose of his writing the last years according to Jesus was to really refute the full preterist position, and that was really the intention of that to say that we don't acknowledge full preterism as being legitimate, it's not biblical.

But I'll be honest with you, I had a hard time following his end times position, and I know I'm not the only one, but I have full confidence that his end times position is very good right now, so I'll leave it at that.

Have you actually changed your view or opinion or belief on something significant from either reading

Dr. Sproul or hearing and seeing him preach and teach? I haven't changed any positions personally, even though I'm sure that he would have loved to see me change a few things if he had known me.

One thing that studying his life and teaching has done for me more recently is it's really made me focus in on creedalism and confessionalism, and really developing a love, a fresh love for the early church creeds.

And I would just, over time, just listen to him expound on some of these truths, and when push came to shove, he would always lean on the early church history to help articulate, because that's what the early church creeds do for us.

They help us put into words the truth that might not have been as clear to us in the earlier years.

They put a fine point on these truths, and so I really grew to appreciate the early creeds because of that.

And just a little sort of a tip going ahead, I'm actually writing a book on an introduction to creeds that should be coming out in the next year or two, so he had a huge impact on me with that to really get me to think about the value of church history and historical theology, essentially.

So that was very helpful, and I owe him a great debt for that as well. Now I'm interested about this new book you're writing, are you specifically focusing on the ancient creeds or the 17th century confessional statements that came out from the different branches of the

Reformed faith? So it's both, and what I'm looking at right now is part one of the book will be early church written for laypeople, so it should be very simple to follow, and the second half of the book, if it goes the way

I'm thinking, will be sort of a general survey, a doctrinal survey of some of the key truths that came out of the

Reformation and the confessions associated with them. So I'm still working on that,

I want to make sure that it comes together well, and so I don't want to over -speak, but that's something I'm working on currently.

One of the things that Dr. Sproul proved to me was that the idea that in order to effectively communicate the gospel to any different people group, whether it be their ethnicity, their national origin, or their skin color, that it's always best to have a representative of that specific group do the evangelizing and teaching, and Dr.

Sproul disproved that because of the fact that there have been so many, especially black

Christians, who came to embrace the Reformed faith through him, this old white guy.

Did you share my enthusiasm and excitement over witnessing that?

Yeah, I think for people like R .C. and for you and I, the truth is the truth.

The gospel knows no skin color, sin knows no skin color, these are eternal truths for souls, and so it's the same gospel that saves every person who comes to Christ.

So I think that a clear communication of truth done in a winsome way, and I mean that in a genuine winsomeness, not in a nuanced way that's popular today, but R .C.

could communicate truth with a smile on his face, and it didn't matter to him what your background or your skin color, your culture, or your heritage, he just wanted you to love

Christ, and I think that it doesn't need to be more complicated than that. So I think those kind of barriers can break down when we have the truth in common, and I think we don't need to overthink that,

I don't think. I think that today's culture, we've gotten so caught up in that, slicing truth and slicing that up into a million different categories, and with all these different nuances,

I just don't think we need that. Communicate truth clearly, and those who will be saved will be saved.

I think it's very simple. Well I'd like you to have several moments of time before we run out of time, since you're only on the first hour, in fact less than that, because we have to depart for our midway break at about 53 minutes into the show, but if you could highlight what you most want our listeners to know about this biography that may further whet their appetites and increase and heighten their interest in getting a hold of this biography.

Yeah, I think there were two main thrusts behind the book itself, two main things I was hoping that people would come away with, and I think the first one is that we need leaders and teachers and those who can model a desire for speaking the truth clearly, doctrinal precision.

We're living in times when everything's ambiguous and everything is, like I mentioned earlier, nuanced, and there's your truth and my truth, and everything's relative, and that's just not the way of the

Lord. The Lord is a God of truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So we have to be people about the truth, and so I think that when we're dealing with doctrinal disagreement, the answer is not more ambiguity, the answer is more clarity.

And so I think those who would read this, I would hope, would be encouraged to pursue a clarity and precision in the way that they speak and write and share the truths of the gospel, the truths of the faith.

But I think the second component that really matters to me is something that R .C. modeled with his own life, that he was generous and charitable toward people who disagreed with him.

In watching all the video and reading everything, I didn't find ever a place where R .C.

disparaged people or slandered people. He would tell you if he disagreed with you for sure, but he would always do it in a way that was kind, and he would be honest about it.

He wouldn't look for cheap shots. He wouldn't build straw men and then attack the worst possible position.

Even when it came to his debates over Roman Catholicism, I mean, he would talk about what was good in the

Roman Catholic tradition, but then he would say, but here's where we disagree and here's why this is important.

He wanted to make sure that people were clear on what the issue actually was and not just take cheap shots.

So I think the way that we engage with one another, the way that we communicate truth, the way that we treat each other, especially in the faith, is of the utmost importance to the

Lord, and so we would do well to model and pattern our engagement after those who do that well, and I think

R .C. did that well. You watch video or tape of him, even on stage with his friends with whom he disagreed, he would make his point, and then he would smile and laugh.

I mean, he understood that there was truth, but he also had to be loving to people. So truth and love, truth and love, that's really the two most important things,

I think, coming out of this book for sure. Harney in Perry County, Pennsylvania, wants to know, what are your favorite books by R .C.

Sproul? Oh, that's like picking children. No, I mean,

I share with probably most of R .C.'s audience, I love The Holiness of God. One book that really actually changed quite a bit for me in terms of understanding the doctrine of justification was his book

Faith Alone. Faith Alone is a marvelous, marvelous book. If anybody hasn't read that, please read that ASAP.

But Faith Alone's a great book, and there's also another book he wrote called Are We Together?, and it's his apologetic against Roman Catholicism.

That's also very helpful, but so many books he's written that are just really remarkable, must -have books, and those are some of my favorites for sure.

Yeah, I've got a couple of my own that I have given out in large numbers over the years.

One has actually changed its title. It used to be called

Grace Unknown, and now it is called What is Reform Theology. That's right.

And I gave that book to my very dear friend, Dan Buttafuoco, who in his entire life growing up and into adulthood has been in Pentecostal Armenian churches.

And one Christmas Eve, I gave him

Grace Unknown. This was back in the 90s. And he said to me,

Are you kidding me? You're giving me propaganda for a Christmas present? Are you out of your mind? And Dan called me up on January 1st on New Year's Day, called me up about 11 in the morning or so, and said,

Chris, I haven't been to sleep. I read the book cover to cover. I agree with Dr. Sproul.

I'm reformed now. Oh, wow. And he is still to this day.

Dan is still holding, standing firm, standing firm on the doctrines of Sovereign Grace and also a book that I give out frequently, especially when people are going through serious trials in their lives.

I give, along with the late Jerry Bridges classic book,

Trusting God Even When Life Hurts, I give Dr. Sproul's book, Surprised by Suffering.

And that book, and actually, I don't know if it's still available, but he also used to have, when they used to have videos,

I'm assuming it must be available on the DVD now, but he had a video of that book, of the contents of that book, provided in a lecture form.

And watching that was of enormous benefit to me while going through the grieving process after losing my mother in 1995 from pancreatic cancer.

So I highly recommend both of those books. And as I said, Grace Unknown is now known as What is

Reformed Theology, and the other one was Surprised by Suffering. Well, I want you now, in the four minutes that we have left, to summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today before we go off the air.

Absolutely. So there's nothing more important for any person listening than to know the

Lord Jesus Christ and to understand their need for Christ. And I hope and pray if there are any unbelievers, those who do not profess to know and love

Jesus Christ, if there's anyone who realizes and sees their need for a Savior, that they would turn away from their sins immediately, to forsake their sins, to hate their own sins, and to put their faith squarely in Jesus Christ.

A loan for salvation, that Christ gave his life on the cross to pay the penalty for sins, and actually credited us with his own righteousness and took our filthy rags of sin upon himself, and in resurrection gave new life to all those who would repent and believe.

So if people don't know that, they need to know that there's no more important message than that. And even for those who do profess faith in Christ and who love

Christ, that message, I need that message daily. I need to remember my salvation, not to forget these things.

Just because they're basic to the Christian life, they're not simplistic. You don't outgrow the

Gospel. So that would be my greatest desire. That was certainly Dr.

Sproul's greatest desire, and Chris, I suspect your greatest desire as well, for people to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Amen. And before you go, if you could let us know about any upcoming speaking engagements, or I know that you've already hinted at one writing project.

Tell us about what may be going on in your, not only at Harvest Bible Church in Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire, but also your traveling ministry as an evangelist.

Yeah, so I haven't been doing as much traveling lately. There's been quite a bit going on at our home church with the building project, and we hired a new pastor back in January.

So a lot happening at the home front with our church as well. So the Lord has blessed our church.

I am speaking actually with Dustin Benj in October in Pennsylvania at a church.

That announcement will be coming pretty soon. Like I said earlier, working on a book on the creeds for Christian Focus.

Also republishing Why We're Protestant in an expanded edition with Christian Focus, and just signed another book with Moody Publishers on the kindness of God.

So I've got quite a lot to work through on my plate, but I'm just really pleased that the

Lord has saw fit to put me into ministry in a region that needs Him the most. So I'm just thankful to have the blessing of being in ministry.

So that's what's going on. Well, you know I live in Pennsylvania now, so where in Pennsylvania are you and Dustin Benj going to be speaking?

Because I've got to see if I can attend that. You know, I think it's going to be close to Harrisburg, but I'd have to go back and check.

Yeah, that's only a half hour away from me. Yeah, well, we'll have to sync up, and if the announcement comes, you can put it out to your listeners.

It'd be great to see people there. Just out of curiosity, it wouldn't have to be Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Harrisburg, would it? Josh Miller is the pastor.

That's Grace Bible Fellowship Church. Yeah, we'll be there in October. Oh, wow, that is phenomenal.

And as long as I'm alive and my heart's beating and I'm still in this area,

I am going to make a point to attend that. And I hope that, in fact,

I'm going to look up while I'm saying goodbye to you, I'm going to look up Pastor Josh's what do you call it, his contact information for Grace Bible Fellowship Church, because I want my fellow listeners in this area to also attend this event if they can.

Okay, the phone number is 717 -652 -5229, 717 -652 -5229, and the website is gracebfc .com,

gracebfc, for biblefellowshipchurch .com. And also, don't let me forget to repeat your website for the

Harvest Bible Church in Gilmont and Ironworks, New Hampshire. That website is, and it's hbc -nh .org,

hbc -nh .org. And if anybody wants to purchase the book that we have been addressing, the biography of R .C.

Sproul, R .C. Sproul, Defender of the Faith, you can go to Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, who sponsors this program, cvbbs .com.

And I have a surprise for everybody who sent in a question. You are all going to receive a free copy of the book,

R .C. Sproul, Defender of the Reformed Faith, by compliments of our guest today,

Nate Pikowitz, the author. And Nate has assured us he'll be shipping those out very shortly. Well, thank you so much,

Nate, and I look forward to your return to Iron Truckers Iron Radio. Thank you very much, Chris.

And don't go away, folks, because we're going to be joined momentarily by Mack Tomlinson, and he'll be joining us after the midway break, discussing mature manhood being useful for the master.

Send in your questions to Mack Tomlinson, to chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away,

God willing, we're going to be right back right after these messages from our sponsors. Attention all men in ministry leadership.

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Before I return to the program and for our second guest,

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Send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com, and put I need a church in the subject line.

That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Mac Tomlinson, my second guest today.

Mac is a dear friend for many years and has been a faithful supporter of Iron Troupe and Zion Radio.

He's pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, author of a number of books, and today we are addressing

Mature Manhood, Being Useful for the Master, an Exposition of 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 -22, and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Troupe and Zion Radio, Mac Tomlinson.

Hello Chris, it's always a blessing to be with you, and thank you for the invitation today.

Well, tell our listeners about Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. Well, we are a

Reformed Baptistic Church here in Denton, a half hour north of Dallas Fort Worth in North Texas, and we are a loving congregation that loves the preaching and teaching of the

Word of God, the plurality of elders who do it faithfully, a congregation that loves one another and that seeks the

Word and example locally and worldwide to advance the

Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we welcome anyone who's in the

Dallas Fort Worth area to reach out to us and visit us to worship anytime. And if anybody wants more information about Providence Chapel of Denton, go to providencedenton .org,

and hopefully I will remember to repeat that before we go off the air.

Well, why is it that you were so eager to specifically address the issue of mature manhood being useful for the

Master today? Well, our church, our men have a thorough men's study twice a month, and we've just started for the rest of the year, actually, since May, trying to dive deep into the subject of manhood, what it means to be a man biblically.

And so it's really on the minds of our men in our church and our leaders.

And I preached recently from this passage in 2 Timothy 2, which doesn't directly address men, but it addresses what every

Christian must become in maturity, in godliness, and certainly starts with Christian men as fathers, as husbands, as leaders in the church.

So, you know, that's been the most recent thing that's been on my heart, and so I felt like it would be beneficial to the listeners to just emphasize this today from 2

Timothy 2. Well, let me read that passage. This is 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 through 22.

Now, in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the

Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the

Lord from a pure heart. And may God bless the reading of his word today.

So, if you want to begin to exegete this and show us why this is such an important text, bearing upon maturity in Christian manhood.

Yes, we know any believer in America that is paying attention at all knows that there's a real crisis in America, and in the

Evangelical Church, Lord, a crisis about the family. Not only in unbelieving families, but in professing

Christian families, there is much fracture, there's much dysfunction about the family, and in male leadership about manhood.

In the Evangelical Church, it's obvious. I do think there's been progress of late emphasizing this in men's conferences and wonderful books on the family and on biblical manhood.

One book in that regard I would recommend is a book titled

Manly Dominion by Mark Chansky. And if our listeners, whether you're a single man, a teenager, or especially if you're in a relationship with a young woman who you may end up proposing to, or if you're engaged to be married,

I urge you to read that book Manly Dominion by Mark Chansky.

And I think it speaks to the issue of manhood in a wonderful way.

This is an urgent need in our day for Christian men, and it basically means to become what

God is calling men to be biblically. And really the best and only way for that to happen is to take

Scripture very seriously about where to be as men. And the

New Testament has great emphasis on this, about manhood, and at the root of that is maturing into Christ -likeness and godliness as a man.

The Apostle Paul in various places in the New Testament calls all believers to maturity, but he addresses the responsibility of men especially.

In 2 Timothy chapter 2, Chris, which you just read, this passage has great application for men and manhood.

Now, it has application for Christian women. The passage is not just to men, but it's especially applicable to men to become the person

God wants to shape us into. So if we were to go back to the beginning of the chapter, which we will not do, if you look at the context, the whole chapter really is about what

I would summarize as the difficulties in the Christian life, the dangers in the

Christian life, and the disciplines of living the Christian life. So I'll summarize some of those leading up to us just looking at the text.

And Chris, you can interrupt me anytime you need to. But if you go back and look at the first six verses,

Paul mentions difficulties, that is, things that face us as men.

In verse 20, he calls us to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

In verses 3 and 4, he speaks of enduring hardship as a good soldier of Christ.

In verse 5, he speaks about the champion athlete training lawfully.

And in verse 6, he speaks about the hard work of a diligent farmer. So those things show us the difficulties of growing and what we have to become.

You get on now to the middle of the chapter, particularly verses 16 to about verse 23.

He gives two warnings about dangers that are there. And if you read that area closely, the dangers are two things, false teachers who propagate false teaching, and actually false brethren, false

Christians. So in there, Paul says to Timothy, avoid empty talk and false teaching because it will impact wrongfully in a negative way any believer or any

Christian man who is subject to false teaching. So in essence,

Paul wants Timothy to avoid all shallow, questionable, weak, imbalanced, and false teaching because it is dangerous.

You know, I get often asked from young Christians or believers who are somewhat ignorant of even books, and they'll ask me about, what do you think about this book by this guy?

It might be a popular televangelist. And I generally have one reply.

You know, books by such men like that, and I'll call the names that they asked me about.

Their books are good. And in the person, I get kind of surprised thinking that I would say that.

And then I say, I'll tell you what they're good for. Tear the pages out and line the bottom of your birdcage with those books.

That's what the books of false teachers are good for, that they are dangerous.

And so Paul says this and warns his false teachers, as he does in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now, those who say the resurrection has already passed, he says, don't be deceived. Evil communication, evil connection with such people damages good behavior.

So the second thing he warns here, it is a danger, is false Christians.

Now, verse 20, Paul speaks about the great house. And this has to be viewed in the history of Christianity as meaning all of professing

Christendom, all of professing Christianity, Protestantism in a broad way.

And in that, you know, Paul wasn't meaning that as he wrote it to Timothy, but he's talking about the whole professing faith of Christianity.

And in that house, he said there are vessels of gold and silver that are honorable vessels, and there are vessels of wood or clay that are dishonorable vessels.

And Paul says there, Timothy, if you purge yourself or cleanse yourself from these, meaning false teachers, false teaching, and false brethren, then you will be able to be what he says in verses 21 and 22.

And that's what I want to get to. He said, if anyone purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor.

That's the first thing he mentioned. So he's going to mention several things in verse 21 that we must become.

So that's really the heart of it. If we want to be a vessel of honor for Christ, useful for the master as men,

Paul's implication is here we cannot hang out or be connected to wrongly with vessels of dishonor.

So the application here is a Christian man, if he is going to become a vessel of honor for Christ, to become a biblical man, he can't worship in a worldly church without becoming worldly.

He can't be joined to a compromised church without compromising ultimately, because there is no real true fellowship possible with false

Christians. And Paul warned this about this throughout the New Testament. If a believer wants to become a man of honor and become a biblical man scripturally, he cannot be connected to such closely because he will be affected.

And so Paul says, you must cleanse yourself from these things and then you'll be a vessel of honor.

So that's calling us to be a man who's biblically godly.

And we must remind ourselves in that text Paul uses the word useful for the master.

And let's think about it for a moment. Just because a man is a Christian, doesn't mean he's fully useful yet.

Paul uses the word useful for the master. We have to acknowledge that at times in our own

Christian life, we weren't really useful yet because of besetting sin, immaturity.

Just because we're a believer doesn't mean we're fully useful yet. And I would go further than that.

Just because a believer holds to reform doctrine, or he's in a reformed church, doesn't necessarily mean he's truly useful yet.

I mean, if we're honest, we know many Calvinists that might be proud, argumentative, and really do no good to anybody because they're argumentative, they're divisive, they're proud and arrogant.

That is not being useful for the master. Also, just because we might be in a biblical church, doesn't necessarily mean we're useful vessel for Christ yet.

So what makes us become a man who is being biblical in our life?

Really, verses 21 and 22 in a real way summarize it.

What is found in these verses is what makes a man become more of a man biblically.

That he might become a vessel of honor and really useful to the master. So to borrow

Peter's words from 2 Peter 1, Peter said, if these things are in you and abound, you will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

So what I'm going to bring out briefly this afternoon in the time we have left, the two truths that are found in verse 21 and verse 22, and the first is found in verse 21.

In fact, I would like you so I don't have to interrupt you again at a more crucial time.

I'd like for you to address those two points when we return from our final break.

If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question, I would ask, I would urge you to do it now because we're rapidly running out of time.

Our email address is ChrisArnson at gmail .com. ChrisArnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with Mack Tomlinson and Christian Manhood right after these messages.

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Welcome back and Mack Tomlinson if you could now enter into those two main points that you want us to most focus upon in 2

Timothy chapter 2 verses 20 through 22. Yeah Chris can you still hear me?

I hear you fine can you hear me? Can you yeah can you hear me? There we are. Yeah before I do that I just want to make sure just to emphasize again you know the greatest need in the church in many ways is for Christian men to truly live godly lives and not just know truth and that means they really love their wives in a sacrificial way.

They are examples to their children of godliness and humility and they they serve their children from a from a pure heart and only as men become that are they reaching the realm of being a biblical manhood in terms of what

Christ calls his men to be. So to get there we have to have work within us in our lives our hearts our minds and our souls the truths that Paul states as found here in 2

Timothy 2 and certainly not the only only one but what we see here in verse 21

Paul outlines basically four things that we are to become and it's a process we know sanctification is a process but the four things he says in verse 21 are these that we are to be a vessel for honorable use that's number one that we're to be sanctified or set apart as holy that's number two that we're to be useful to the master that's number three and that we're to be ready for every good work.

So let's just briefly go through those verse 21 what we're to be the first thing he says is that we're to be

I'm looking back at the verse now that we're to become a vessel of honor and that's that simply means that we are to be men who have as our life's goal to bring honor to Jesus Christ is that our priority is that our ultimate life priority and goal is to be a vessel it really does bring honor to Christ that our entire life and all of our ways reflect the goodness and greatness and the love and grace of Jesus Christ we must become a vessel that brings honor to him so men if they want to become a man biblically progressively they must answer the question do

I want my life to fully honor Jesus Christ not only in what

I believe and profess to believe but in my works in my the way

I do I am as a husband as a father as a churchman is my goal in life not to become wealthy or famous or have a great position but do

I really want to be a vessel that brings honor to Christ that's what biblical manhood is the second thing he mentions is that phrase being set apart as holy or the simple word sanctified now most

Christians know what that concept means it means to be set apart and biblical

Christians who who know basic Christian doctrine know that when we are joined to Jesus Christ through faith our lives are set apart they're set apart as um for Christ ownership and lordship but here

Paul isn't talking to Timothy about initial conversion he's talking about a process that if we're going to be a vessel of honor we have to be sanctified we must be daily set apart and so men need to think about what a sanctified life looks like what does that mean practically it means that our our will is yielded to the will of God sincerely we want to do his will and not our own that we want

Christ to increase and and for us to decrease a sanctified life is a life that has a consecrated heart to Christ devotionally in love with Jesus Christ that we're dedicated that we're all out committed and that means that we have a sanctified life as a husband as an employee or an employer that we lead our family in a sanctified way that our home and our time are set apart for God's glory and purpose so many times

I've examined my life over the years as a Christian and as a pastor and I've had to ask myself right now is my life really set apart is it sanctified daily is my time truly the

Lord's is my money my home my choice is my future the

Christian man must really view it that everything he is and has is to be set apart for Jesus Christ you know

I love the old the old hymns of consecration we don't sing them enough

I don't think and we we need to sing them and live them more living for Jesus the life that is true striving to please him and all that I do the old wonderful princess

Havergill hymn take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee and so this is really the meaning of Romans 12 1 and 2 to be a biblical man is that we are presenting our lives as a as a living sacrifice daily surrendered as as a living sacrifice whole unacceptable to him so the third thing he mentions in that verse is to be that we're to be useful for the master so think about it we should ask ourselves as men is my life really useful for the master is it is it am

I a vessel that God can use or are there things in my life that are displeasing to him habits upsetting sins

I've not gotten victory over that I'm not mortifying sin and therefore

I'm really not a useful vessel yet I I spoke to some brothers the other day along this line and I said you know every

Christian man would do well to make his life motto useful for the master can

I say that could that be edged on my tombstone when I'm gone that my life was truly useful to master that should be our goal and our passion if we're going to be a biblical man of God regardless of what we do in life well the fourth thing in there is the last phrase that we're to be ready for every good work some translations use the word prepared and some use the word ready but good works is the topic that to be a man biblically we have to be a man that excels in serving

Christ and our family in good works and you know good works often aren't emphasized enough but I just want to quickly mention that a basic truth and we know as biblical

Christians that good works are not optional if we're going to be a biblical man in fact they're not optional even in salvation they are the fruit of true salvation

Paul said to Titus some of the most amazing statements about good works

I'll just share a couple of them he said to Titus in all things showing yourself an example of good works so every man that wants to be a biblical man should ask himself am

I truly an example of good works he also said there to Titus this is a faithful saying and I want you to constantly affirm it that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works and he also goes on and he says that Christians are to be zealous for good works and that we're to be careful to do them so biblical manhood calls us to be these things that he says there in verse 21 that we're to be the best for honor the honor of Christ we're to be set apart as holy that we're to be useful for the master and then we're to be ready for every good work well hurrying on um in verse 22

Chris you want me to proceed I'll just proceed there yes I do have a question from a listener but it may take uh too long since we only have six minutes left it may take too long for you to answer so perhaps you should just proceed yeah well quickly as I said verse 21

Paul tells us what we're to be as men and as Christians if we're to fulfill the role of a biblical manhood but verse 22 he speaks of two things that we are to do 21 is about what we're to be 22 is about what we're to do and it's very simply outlined there if you read the verse he says we're to flee some things and we're to follow after some things so every man who wants to be a biblical

Christian has to have these practices in his life first of all what's he tell us to flee he tells us to flee youthful love now that is applicable to every man whether he's 20 or whether he's 50 or whether he's 75 it means fleeing avoiding vain desires worldly passion worldly pursuits pleasures um going after popularity reputation fame fortune or just the vanity of this world the apostle john said love not the world neither the things are in the world for the for the those who love the world the love of the father's not in them so here paul categorically calls timothy to be a man by fleeing from those things in order that he might be a vessel of honor and useful for the master that's why the new testament calls every believer to come apart from the world and be separate uh so that's pretty straightforward language of paul calling timothy uh i'm sorry titus uh and timothy to do that to flee youthful lust but the second thing he says is we must follow some things and again paul outlines it very very simple there in verse 22 he says that we are to follow after or pursue four things righteousness faith love and peace righteousness here this gets to the heart that sanctification is greatly upon the christian our growth is our job our business and our you know jc ryle in the 19th century he put a dagger in the view of passive sanctification in his book holiness and ryle calls us to active obedience here so here paul says follow after righteousness he means righteous living godly living we're to pursue it he says there also if we are to follow after and pursue faith in other words living the life of faith no man can be a man biblically if he's not following after these things really being diligent about them the third thing is love love for christ love for a man's wife and children love for his neighbor and love for other believers we're to pursue after these things to be a biblical man and the last thing is to pursue after peace in another place paul said as much as it depends on us be at peace with all men so we can't be a man that's mature and biblical and please christ if we aren't pursuing those things with others but he also says in there one one phrase right after that along with those who call on the lord from a pure heart no man biblically can become what god wants him to be apart from a right relationship with a local church that's why paul says there to timothy to pursue these things along with those who call on the lord now while paul wrapping this up real quickly paul says the same kind of things in second of peter chapter one and all this quickly hit on them he says giving all diligence in second peter 1 5 to 8 add to your faith add moral excellence the moral excellence add knowledge the knowledge add self -control the self -control and perseverance the perseverance godliness the godliness brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness love and peter says for if these things are yours and are increasing you will not be useless or unfruitful in the true knowledge of the lord jesus christ but chris every man who wants to be a biblical man has to realize this is up to us in terms of seriousness in terms of self -denial in terms of diligence we have to become what paul says here um if we're going to be a vessel of honor so um there's never been a more urgent day for christian men to rise up and be men of god to have as the hymn says have done with lesser things um our families need it our church needs it dying world needs us to be men who are biblical our neighbors need to see an example that's different that we might be a bright and shiny light that we might be salt and light in the earth in our neighborhoods for jesus christ god's causing men calling men to rise up and be biblical christians as far as manhood and we are out of time and i want to just uh recommend a book to the anonymous listener who could not have his or her question asked because of time limitations i strongly urge you i strongly recommend the book what he must be if he wants to marry my daughter by vody balcom uh very much reflecting what pastor mack tomlinson was discussing today and that's uh published by crossway you can get that at cvbbs .com

cumberland valley bible book service cvbbs .com and if you want to find out more about providence chapel in denton texas go to provenancedenton .org