August 18, 2020 Show with Dr. Joe Morecraft on “The Westminster Larger Catechism” (Part 1)

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

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

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

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

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

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

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Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

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Cumberland County Pennsylvania Lake City Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensirenradio .com.

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This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 18th day of August 2020 and I'm thrilled to have as a returning guest somebody who is going to begin a new topic today his name is

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Dr. Joe Moorcraft seems that a lot of other people are very enthusiastic about his return to the program today he is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming Georgia and today we are going to begin a series on authentic Christianity the theology and ethics of the

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Westminster Larger Catechism and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Dr.

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Joseph C. Moorcraft III. Always a privilege and a pleasure. And let me give our email address to our listeners immediately in the event that any of them would like to ask a question on the

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Westminster Larger Catechism and it could obviously be a broader spectrum of questions on Reform Theology in general on the

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Westminster Confession of Faith on Presbyterianism on Reform Theology anything regarding the scriptures but we are focusing our own questions today on the

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Larger Catechism of the Westminster Divines and our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

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C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Dr. Moorcraft if you could before we even go into our subject in hand please let our listeners know about Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming Georgia.

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Heritage Presbyterian Church is a small little congregation of Hanover Presbytery we started it three or four years ago and particularly during all this

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COVID mess every Sunday for the past several weeks we've had more people and some of our best attention highest attendance has been while we have been having services while other churches have closed down.

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Well I want our listeners to know that if you are visiting Cumming Georgia or if you live in Cumming Georgia or if you have family friends and loved ones who live near or in Cumming Georgia please do some research on this church where Dr.

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Moorcraft is the pastor and the website is heritagepresbyterianchurch .com heritagepresbyterianchurch .com

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and we intend to repeat that information later on in the program and one thing that I definitely want you to do also before we get into the discussion is to tell us about your commentary on the

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Westminster larger catechism. In the late 20th century

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I began a series of sermons on the Westminster larger catechism that took me about 20 years to get through and I had all these notes so I asked some friends of mine if they would help me publish these notes so they were generous enough to do so so we published the first edition of this about 10 or 12 years ago through American Vision and sold hundreds and hundreds of sets but back then it was five big fat volumes and called

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Authentic Christianity a study of the theology and ethics of the Westminster larger catechism and then we sold out and so then a young man named

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Kyle Shepard who knows publishing books wanted to republish it so we raised some more money and now it's eight volumes there have been very few commentaries on the

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Westminster larger catechism through the centuries the first and a very good one was in the early 1700s and it was two volumes and then in I suppose the 1950s

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Johannes Voss wrote a big one volume so I decided that I was going to put everything

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I knew about the Westminster larger catechism in these books and so now it's eight volumes you can get it through westminstercommentary .com

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and the last volume eight is nothing but indices which makes it very very user friendly the uh

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I preached these sermons 400 sermons on the

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Westminster larger catechism and I didn't even start on the ten commandments and so hopefully before I die

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I'll be able to preach through the ten commandments too but the Westminster larger catechism which we'll talk about more in a minute is to me one of the greatest documents ever written by man in that it is theologically and biblically sound it gives scriptural footnotes for almost every phrase and idea that is found in these questions and answers it is not was not written by a group of ivory tower scholars who were writing for a seminary class these were pastors and you can feel and hear and read their pastoral heart throughout these books it is not only theologically and biblically sound it's practical people ask me what's the best thing

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I know to give people on the ten commandments and I'll tell them it's the questions and answers of the

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Westminster larger catechism now catechism in the 1700s and 1600s uh 17th century and 16th century catechisms were very popular and a catechism was a a way to teach people the christian faith we have the shorter catechism which is was originally written in the 1640s for children to be taught by their parents at home in terms of question answer type of form the parent asks the question and then the child is to memorize an answer and to give the answer and the parent is to explain the answer and then there's also there was in on the continent of europe there was a great catechism produced called the heidelberg catechism and the larger catechism is a question and answer form of education for adults for older children for people who want to plunge wholeheartedly into the depth of a reform worldview and reform theology and the ideas of the protest reformation as they're reflected in the scriptures and so it has well over a hundred questions and answers and uh it i go back to it i just last sunday i referred to it in my sermon i go back to it time and in time again but because along with the

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Westminster confession of faith which is uh 33 small chapters of few paragraphs each spelling out the basic doctrines of the christian faith in the process of reformation and with the with the

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Westminster confession of faith Westminster larger catechism and Westminster shorter catechism you have biblical christianity in its purest human form now they didn't have the denominations a denominational type atmosphere like we have today there were people in the 1600s who were

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Presbyterians Congregationalists Independents Baptists Episcopalians and there was a great unanimity among them the

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Episcopal of the Church of England had what's called the 39 articles of the Church of England and it's basically a reformed document not not not completely so but basically reformed and then

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Westminster uh then the the uh Presbyterians and the Congregationalists and the

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Independents met and produced the Westminster standards and then the uh

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Independents produced the Savoy Declaration under the leadership of men like John Owen and then the

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Baptists produced a great document called uh the 1689 Second London Confession of Faith and the unanimity between them is amazing unlike today where not only have denominations left their historical roots but there's much differences dramatic differences between the doctrine theology and ethics of denominations today not after the promised reformation wherever there's a great move of the holy spirit like the promised reformation of the 16th century was uh the greatest work of the holy spirit in revival of the church since apostolic times whenever you have a great move of the holy spirit throughout history there's always been the production of creeds and confessions and catechisms and because the holy spirit is the author of truth and the creator of unity there's always been a unity among those who profess to believe the word of god today the church is fragmented who knows how many hundreds of various denominations each having its own little distinctive very little doctrinal unity in the church today because we need another promise of reformation we need another great revival of the holy spirit of the church in fact the reason our country is in such dire straits politically and socially and morally and economically is because of the condition of the church the church is spiritually backslidden and spiritually apostate many of it and the only way we're going to solve all these problems that are tearing us apart now is not through a conservative republican or democrat president supreme court congress but only by the repentance of the church to turn from all of her innovations and all of her cowardice and all of her false doctrine and to return to the faith of our fathers you see that's where parliament of the 17th century 1640s has it over our congress and over most christians today uh in the 1640s the mid 1600s and anytime you want to stop me go ahead oh no you can continue uh that in the 1640s england was in the midst of a bloody civil war the king of england king charles stewart the first was a man who believed he was not only the head of state he was the head of the church he not only believed that he was above the law he believed that his will is the law and so he was a tyrant in the full sense of the word at the same time england was experiencing reformation so the parliament was predominantly puritan and puritans were people who were children of the protest of reformation so there was a great war between king charles who wanted to extend his tyranny over england and parliament who wanted to limit his authority and reform england by the word of god charles the first raises a mercenary army of people from ireland and brings this army against his own people in england so the english parliament now has to defend the english people against charles and his mercenary army advancing tyranny so they plead with scotland scotland had had a thorough reformation and the church of scotland was thoroughly reformed particularly under the influence of john knox and alexander henderson and others and the reformation was settled so the english parliament appealed to scotland and said would you help us in our battle against charles the first and scotland answered with a solemn league and covenant we say we will provide you with assistance militarily if you defend the reformed church in scotland and seek to reform the church of england by the word of god in its worship doctrine discipline ethics so there was a solemn league and covenant between an english parliament and between scotland joining together to oppose the tyranny of charles the first and so the way the parliament of that day was superior to congress or most even congress uh evangelical christians and some reformed christians is that they understood that the civil war and of course we're going through a civil war in 2020 that the civil war in england and the advance of tyranny and the economic political chaos that was plaguing england would only end if their spiritual doctrinal unity that there has to be a renewed unity in the truth as revealed in the word of god or tyranny will continue to advance the economy will continue to collapse the civil war will continue to be bloody i wish our people believe so they uh they asked parliament asked in the 16 1643 they asked 120 preachers from england and ireland to come about 120 and to meet at westminster abbey hence the westminster assembly to advise parliament on how to unify england in the christian faith the anglican church had its 39 articles and they wanted uh the westminster assembly to strengthen those but then with the solemn legion covenant the westminster assembly then realized we just can't improve these 39 articles we've got to write standards that'll be the basis of the faith of the church for generations to come so they created they they wrote the westminster confession of faith 33 chapters of one to eight or nine paragraphs each loads of scriptural footnotes explaining the basic doctrines of christian faith from predestination to the second coming and beyond they wrote the shorter catechism to train children how to think as little children and as the basis of family education homeschooling etc and then they wrote the larger catechism to teach people how to advance the christian faith scotland sent some preachers and elder to the westminster assembly from the government of scotland to make sure that the englishmen would do what they promised to do in the solemn legion covenant and these men that came to the westminster assembly as commissioners some of the greatest men in the history of the church particularly a man named samuel rutherford alexander henderson george gillespie who was the youngest man at the westminster assembly man named bailey uh and the the the anglican church that is the church of england its whole government was dissolved by parliament because its government was by archbishops and bishops and the like and this puritan parliament dismantled the whole government of the church of england so it didn't have a government and uh so these men so as a result the only elders only elders at the westminster assembly from were from scotland and one was a was a martyr named lord worreston so with these commissioners from scotland whom the english puritans trusted they participated they weren't allowed to vote on decisions but they participated with these 120 so english puritans and i don't think today people ask me often why don't we write a confession of faith today instead of having to be dependent upon the one that's 400 years old i say i don't think we could bring together today 120 preachers of the caliber of the 120 preachers that met at the westminster assembly right sad commentary that is a sad commentary and of course the the whole concept outside of reform theology you know you have obviously presbyterians adhering to the westminster confessions and catechisms you have the reformed baptists adhering to the second london baptist confession you have the anglicans adhering to the 39 articles a very small minority of anglicans who would still adhere to the 39 articles uh those that are truly reformed uh and you have the three forms of unity uh embraced by the dutch calvinistic denominations and you have the savoy declaration uh probably even embraced by a tinier number of congregationalist assemblies and today this is totally out of vogue outside of these groups which today are comparatively a minority although there is a rise in the interest and acceptance and embrace of reform theology as we are still nonetheless a minority in the landscape of of christendom and uh the whole why do you think this whole concept of confessions and catechisms just fell out of vogue and you have uh just a minority of people it seems truly adhering to them as a summary of christian doctrine and biblical truth that is a very very good question particularly in the light of the fact that god's church has always been confessional that the church of god even all the way back in the old testament that the church of god has publicly confessed what it believes to the world you go to deuteronomy 6 and you see an early form of a confession of faith you go to uh in paul's time it talks about that if we confess publicly with our mouths that jesus is lord and believe in our hearts that god has raised him from the dead we'll be we'll be saved and then in the early church you have the early church couple hundred years after new testament uh the apostles creed the nathanael creed the athanasian creed what was also going on during this time the holy spirit was a work reviving the church and advancing the borders of the church all over the world and then you had the uh period of compromise by the medieval church and then god uh took all that he could take and so he raised up great uh leaders in the 16th century and you just mentioned a few of the confessions and catechisms that were written in the 16th and 17th centuries west minster all those you mentioned plus on the continent of europe there was the belgic confession the canons of dork uh more over and over various uh great confessions of faith during this period of revival and this the the uh reason today uh that is for the past 250 plus years the reason that the church is anti -confessional in my opinion is twofold or several fold one i don't think there's been a real revival of the holy spirit in western culture since the 1860s and probably the revivals in the confederate armies in 1865 and uh as a result there's a breakdown in unity a fragmentation of protestantism the second reason is because we've been greatly influenced by irrationalism and subjectivism ever since the late 1800s and the idea that truth is propositional the idea that that that revelation has content to it uh the idea that revelation from god comes in words and sentences and phrases that are meaningful to god and meaningful to us uh is very distasteful particularly since the rise of karl barck who used our words but who tried to fill them with irrationalism so that today you hear an average uh liberal or martian talk or and he talks about how revelation hits you like a lightning bolt and it's up to you to describe what that means to you as best you can and the tragedy is that bart was attempting to refute liberalism he was a he was reacting to it in a negatively and wound up becoming uh today uh a champion of liberals yeah he was trying to refute rationalistic liberalism with this irrationalistic liberalism and uh so we live in a culture uh where people don't like to talk about propositional revelation because that sounds too hellenistic i read a man one time who told me that this is somebody who knew better this is somebody who professed to be reformed since then he's repudiated what he said but he said the real problem in the in the modern church is we still believe the westminster confession of faith and the westminster confession of faith is the biggest compromise with hellenistic aristotelian theology in history wow and uh so you have this distaste for precision if you talk about precision in doctrine if you talk about the inner consistency of doctrine if you talk about doctrine as a system and that christianity is a system of teachings not just an isolated truth here and there but a system that fits together and that it is coherent and it's consistent with itself you're bound to be greek and not biblical wow because they because all the hebrews did the old testament was told stories and so we just sort of have to tell stories today instead of being precise and so we see the mess we're in today is that you have people not able to stand up leading evangelicals reform people not able to stand up against this tidal wave of uh false doctrines social justice critical race theory all these things socialism they have no answers now amazingly though there have been some of the largest supporters and proponents of all of those horrible things you mentioned who have came and still are in uh some of the presbyterian denominations that are allegedly conservative and are still confessional don't get me started on that is the problem that that you have people who are celebrities they want to maintain that celebrity status they want to maintain their platform so that they can be invited to to be on television shows and to maintain their popularity and their power and maybe maintain their donor list and so you have people who know better who have been instead of leading the sheep into the great doctrines of the faith and have led them away from it and those men are the ones that i have a great uh understatement just stays for yeah i i actually bumped into in manhattan providentially uh waiting for a light to change a young lady who looked like she was just getting out of work she noticed something that i uh was carrying that i was carrying a christian book she said oh are you a christian and i said yes and she says oh so am i and i said where do you go to church and she mentioned the name of the church that i will not mention but it's a very well -known theologically reformed or at least that's the reputation it has a theologically reformed church in manhattan that she where she is a member and i said uh well i happen to be reformed myself and she said what's that i said what do you mean what's reformed me and i said you know calvinistic and she said what's that right that uh we we live in an age influenced by irrationalism distaste as distaste for propositional revelation uh does not really believe that the idea that truth never changes that what was divine truth in 1640 is divine truth today uh and that uh we i pray for revival so that we can have a revived church that loves the reformed faith that believes in biblical christianity through and through so we can write another confession of faith that is consistent with the old that is put in modern language because the problem now with teaching westminster confession and catechism which i've done for 50 years or more is that we also have to explain the lesbian language right and let me have you pick up right where you're leaving off here because i have to go to our first break all right if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com give us your first name city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the usa we'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors with more of dr joseph c more craft and our discussion on the westminster larger catechism was your business shut down during the covet 19 pandemic depriving you of earning any money causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income maybe you've had to close your doors for good the good news you thought was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor or that you would be in good hands you filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause the pandemic exclusion since 2006 most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878 buttafuco and associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation and they are working with lead council to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims it is the best way for you to proceed there's absolutely no risk to you you do not have to pay them out of pocket and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim you need to call 1 -800 -669 -4878 right now trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on long island new york are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit buttafuco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4878

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that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past or present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio here's what gary demar president of american vision had to say about iron sharpens iron radio recently good to be back chris i always enjoy our time you i have to tell you one of the better interviewers out there and i've been doing this for 30 more than 30 years wow that's some compliment how much do i owe you for that you don't have to owe me anything we're in good we're in good shape i'm glad you said it on the air so i don't have to brag about myself tell your friends and loved ones about iron sharpens iron radio airing live monday through friday 4 to 6 p .m

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that's ptl bible rebinding .com so when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the nasb i'm dr joe moorcraft pastor of heritage presbyterian church in cumming georgia and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm anthony eugenio founder of the reformrookie .com

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that's nasbible .com to place your order this is pastor bill saso grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole council of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee and franklin is just south of nashville maybe 10 minutes or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us some lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church at franklin our website is grace church at franklin .org

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that's grace church at franklin .org this is pastor bill sasa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always welcome back this is chris arnzen if you just tuned us in our guest today for the full two hours of the program with about an hour and 20 minutes to go is dr joseph c moorcraft iii and we are discussing today the westminster larger catechism and one of the reasons why dr moorcraft is the guest to conduct this is that he is the author of an eight volume commentary series on the westminster larger catechism and keep in mind when this used to be originally only five volumes long uh gary demar whose voice you just heard on the on the program while he was plugging this program uh he was plugging iron sharpens iron radio because he seems to enjoy being a guest here very much and we enjoy having him when it was still only a five volume commentary series gary demar called it the most exhaustive commentary ever written on the westminster larger catechism now it's eight volumes and i want to read an endorsement from somebody who has been a guest on this program who has written a wonderful endorsement for this program and i look forward to having him back on this program dr joseph a pipa jr the president of greenville presbyterian theological seminary in south carolina uh dr pipa says every christian who is serious about the reform faith and the westminster standards should have and use this set it is much more than an exposition of the larger catechism it is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology and you can find out more about this commentary series this eight volume commentary series at westminstercommentary .com

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westminstercommentary .com and by the way dr morecraft even as a baptist i have proudly hanging in a place of prominence in my living room on the wall that really wonderful renowned uh or should i say a print of that wonderful renowned painting of the westminster assembly by the 19th century artist john rogers herbert you probably are very familiar with the exact scene of the westminster assembly that i'm referring to i have it in my office too and it's significant that you like that because there was a very important debate going on that day congregationalism yeah well as it relates to religious liberty that uh who is going to be what groups are going to be free to worship god publicly in england just the presbyterians just anglicans or anybody that believes orthodox christianity and uh the congregations the independents uh who uh were backed by other cromwell one of my heroes um the presbyterians and the independents and baptist congregations shot past each other the independents thought the presbyterians were going to outlaw any uh worship service except presbyterians and the presbyterians thought the independence of cromwell would allow any kind of group or sect to worship and both of wrong about each other but what's interesting about that print the faces on that day there was not just the westminster divines there were other famous people in that room john owen was there john milton was there and uh as much as they could they took faces from portraits of all these men to put the faces of the men at the westminster assembly and what's sort of humorous all of these people that the westminster assembly except about five were presbyterian and these five gray independents thomas goodwin etc they were the minority and so to give them all support in the middle of that picture is oliver cromwell who came to the westminster assembly armor and sword in hand to probably do a little intimidation well one of the old scottish elders found out that cromwell was going to be there so on the left part of the picture is the scottish elder with his armor and sword just in case cromwell got out of hand so it is a great picture reflecting a very historical moment in the life of the westminster assembly uh let me tell you why i love the larger catechism i love it not only because it's theologically sound exegetically sound practical applications of these truths but i love it because of what it was trying to do and what it produces in a person that believes it it had as his purpose to produce in us a thoroughly christian worldview it wasn't just a few doctrines about this or that it was a whole uh system a whole inner weaving of the truths of scripture in such a way as to teach us how to think seriously deeply and consistently about every area of life from a distinctively christian perspective and so it's not just some people are afraid of it today in fact it's of all the catechisms and confessions of the protestant reformation era that's probably been the most neglected of all of them because it is so long number one but and it intimidates moderns because any any form of that requires sustained thought is uh intimidating to modern christians modern christians usually can only sustain thought between commercials that is 10 minutes at a time and then you got a commercial you don't have to think anymore and then you after the commercial is over you think again now i know that's critical but i'm serious that we have lost the ability of sustained thought and systematic thought when it comes to teaching the word of god the purpose of the bible to so many people today you go to church you hear a sermon because you want to feel better and you judge a sermon on how it makes you feel it is believed don't you think that the very things that you mentioned as truly wonderful and beneficial elements of not only the westminster larger larger catechism but the great creeds and confessions of the reformation in general the systematized aspect the thoroughness these things are viewed today as hindrances to vibrant loving exciting christianity and also they are allegedly uh adding and fueling sectarian bigotry and hatred and all this nonsense and today you have so many churches that are anti -credal and confessional uh or some of them might be uh the bare bones minimum uh we just uh have the the apostles creed and nothing more that kind of thing uh or even worse maybe i have to say we have no creed but christ no law but love right well they think that that is a pathetic creed at that yeah and then they think that that is a wonderful development to the progress in the church to make the church more like christ in their minds uh and to just add to the love and the zeal and the excitement of being a christian yeah i've had people tell me all the time as i'm sure you do said i'm not into doctrine doctrines uh maybe for preachers and people that are particularly tuned in to the bible but i'm a practical person i want to just talk about love love is impossible without doctrine and that is a doctrine that they mentioned that you just said is a often cited claim that very thing is a doctrine it's just a horrible one yeah all right and doctrine that's not a bad word it's used all over the new testament uh it means reveal truth uh biblical doctrine is a revealed truth it's something that god has revealed about himself his character his will his relation to us in holy scripture now we don't like false doctor we don't on biblical doctrine but biblical doctrine is revealed truth and whenever whenever you say uh jesus died on the cross for my sins that is a doctrine that is a revealed truth interpreting and explaining the historical death of jesus christ so anything you say about jesus you say i believe in jesus well what do you believe about jesus whatever you say next is either going to be a false doctrine or a revealed truth you can't escape it and the bible says in paul's epistles that truth is according to godliness and that truth is in christ so you can't live a godly life you can't live a loving life you can't be a practical christian if you have no love for or interest in revealed truths of the scriptures i .e

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doctrine uh you remember jude says that he like this book to defend that doctrine once for all revealed to the saints so it is the truth revealed about god all the truths about god uh i'll recommend your readers read first timothy read second timothy read titus and see how important uh true doctrine is in the christian life in fact we're going to we're going to have to pick up where you left off when we returned from our midway break and no it went by fast here but this is our longer than normal break in the middle of the show because grace life radio 90 .1

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fm in lake city florida requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because the fcc requires of them the localization of their programming including iron sharpens iron radio they have to localize it to lake city with their own public service announcements and other local announcements so please be patient with us as we take this longer than normal break and please use this time wisely by writing down as much of the information as possible that you hear on our advertisements because this will enable you to more frequently and successfully patronize our advertisers and remember folks we cannot exist without the financial support of our advertisers without them the show would disappear we do not make nearly enough in donations from individual listeners to support this program on their own although we do have wonderful and faithful and loyal and generous and benevolent listeners who send in donations uh monthly the amount is not enough to sustain us without the advertisers so please try to patronize our advertisers whenever possible and also write down questions for dr joseph c morecraft the third about the westminster larger catechism about reform theology in general our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com give us your first name at least your city and state of residence in your country of residence if you live outside the usa and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away we'll be right back with joe morecraft right after these messages from our sponsors iron sharpens iron radio depends upon the financial support of fine christian organizations to remain on the air like the historical bible society the historical bible society maintains a collection of christian books manuscripts and bibles of historical significance spanning nearly a thousand years the mission of hbs is the preservation and public display of ancient scripture dissemination of scripture to provide tools equipping believers in christian apologetics with evidence for the bible's reliability and to introduce reformation literature and christian art to a broader audience since 2004 hbs has toured schools and churches throughout the northeast united states reaching thousands of believers and non -believers alike who are hungry for knowledge of the bible hbs's founder daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law is committed to sharing this collection along with an inspirational historical message that will captivate you and your church come journey through their website historicalbiblesociety .org

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today thank you daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law for your faithful support of iron trump and zion radio linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call in brook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

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that's linbrookbaptist .org we are excited to announce another new member of the iron sharpens iron radio advertising family banu gadi owner of three new york pharmacies lee's drugs of floral park long beach chemists and prescription center of long island in hempstead banu gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic please contact dr gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media to find the pharmacy nearest you call 516 -354 -2000 that's 516 -354 -2000 or order online at lee's drugs rx .com

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that's l e e s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program greetings in the matchless name of our lord jesus christ my name is banu gadi i'm a pharmacist in new york which is the epicenter of the latest a crisis the world is going through in psalm 139 verse 14 the psalmist offers praise to the lord like this i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well he saw god's goodness and mercy kindness and the beauty and what god has designed and he has erupted into praise in any crisis or problem brothers and sisters our only fallback position is to trust god's design and once we do there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him when the whole world is searching for a solution god in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness which can be very serious such is the beauty of his design knowing that design how can we not add up in praise to our great god like the psalmist did may god bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design thank you every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

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that's liyfc .org when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the nasb i'm dr joseph piper president and professor of systematic and homiletical theology at greenville presbytery and theological seminary in taylor's south carolina and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor chuck whited the first trinity lutheran church in tonawanda new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor anthony methenia of christ church in radford virginia and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jesse miller of damascus road christian church in gardenville nevada and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor bruce bennett of word truth church in farmerville long island new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor rodney brown of metro bible church in south lake texas and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jim harrison of redmills baptist church in mayapac falls new york and the nasb is my bible of choice here's a great way for your church to help keep iron sharpens iron radio on the air pastors are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart consider restocking your pews with the nasb and tell the publishers you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio go to nasbible .com

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that's nasbible .com to place your order so james white of alphanomega ministries here if you've watched my dividing line webcast often enough you know i have a great love for getting bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity and besides that they feel so good i'm so delighted i discovered post tenebrous lux bible rebinding no radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently but i'll give it a shot jeffrey rice of post tenebrous lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan all his work is done by hand from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the perimeter stitching jeffrey uses the finest and buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors like the turquoise goat skin tanned in italy used for my nestle all in 28th edition with a navy blue goat skin inside liner and the electric blue goat skin from a french tannery used to rebind a reformation study bible i used as a gift the silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art for more details on post tenebrous lux bible rebinding go to ptl bible rebinding .com

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that's ptl bible rebinding .com chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio announcing a new website with an exciting offer from world magazine my trusted source for news from a christian perspective try world now at no charge for 90 days by going to getworldnow .com

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today also check out world news group's podcast the world and everything in it at wng .org

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forward slash podcast this is pastor bill sasser grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee and franklin is just south of nashville maybe 10 minutes or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us some lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church at franklin our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org

01:06:03

that's gracechurchatfranklin .org this is pastor bill sasser wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always was your business shut down during the covet 19 pandemic depriving you of earning any money causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income maybe you've had to close your doors for good the good news you thought was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor or that you would be in good hands you filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause the pandemic exclusion since 2006 most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuoco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878 buttafuoco and associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation and they are working with lead council to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims it is the best way for you to proceed there's absolutely no risk to you you do not have to pay them out of pocket and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim you need to call 1 -800 -669 -4878 right now trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on long island new york are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit buttafuoco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4878 dr tony costa professor of apologetics and islam at toronto baptist seminary i'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where i've been invited to speak and have grown to love hope reform baptist church in quorum long island new york pastored by rich jansen and christopher mcdowell it's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of god like the dear saints at hope reform baptist church in quorum who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim christ jesus the king and his doctrines of sovereign grace in suffolk county long island and beyond i hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as i have for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reformed li .net

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that's hope reformed ally .net or call 631 -696 -5711 that's 631 -696 -5711 tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of quorum long island new york that you heard about them from tony costa on iron sharpens iron foreign and that wonderful canadian voice that you just heard of dr tony costa professor of apologetics and islam at toronto baptist seminary he will be our guest tomorrow on iron sharpens iron radio to address a very controversial subject i have a feeling i may unfortunately and sadly gain some enemies tomorrow but we're going to be debunking the myth of the noble savage and refuting the charge that christian colonialists came and took over native american lands and abused the native americans it's one of the arguments the left and social justice advocates make against the west and christianity and dr costa will guide us through a refutation of that commonly regurgitated myth but before we return to our guest today dr joseph c mork rep the third in our discussion this is no doubt only part one and i'm hoping uh part one of many uh parts on iron sharpens iron radio on our discussion on the larger catechism of the westminster divines but before we return to that discussion i just have some important announcements to make first of all i hope that as many of you as possible will join me next week uh well actually uh 10 days 10 and 11 days from now the 28th and 29th of august friday and saturday i will be manning an iron trip design radio exhibitors booth in scranton pennsylvania at an event being hosted by the association of certified biblical counselors also known as acbc on the theme of biblical counseling more specifically the basics of biblical counseling this is a conference being conducted by dale johnson the president or executive director i should say of acbc and dale johnson will be addressing the need for biblical counseling the definition and goal of biblical counseling progressive sanctification qualifications of a biblical counselor secular and integration theories what makes biblical counseling biblical and a q a session with the audience will follow this will begin a friday night at 5 p .m

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and will continue all day saturday until 5 p .m i hope that as many of you will join me in scranton pennsylvania as possible to attend this event if you want more details on registering the website to go to is biblicalcounseling .com

01:12:55

forward slash scranton dash pa dash training that's biblicalcounseling .com

01:13:02

forward slash scranton s -c -r -a -n -t -o -n dash pa dash training and you can also go to the website of the venue where this is being held high point baptist church which is in larksville pennsylvania a suburb of scranton and high point baptist church's website is highpointbaptist .church

01:13:23

highpointbaptist .church also folks if you love this show you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves please we are in urgent need of your financial support we lost two of our largest financial supporters in fact they were our two largest financial supporters by far we lost them because of the coronavirus epidemic hysteria that negatively impacted their businesses so greatly we are hoping that these sponsors return we have confidence they will eventually return but they had to put us on hiatus because of the negative impact that they have received on these businesses that they own and so we are hoping that you will help make up for that great loss and enable us to remain on the air i want to thank immediately all of you who have been helping to do your part to make up for that loss i love you more than i can describe i am so grateful to god for you and so grateful to you personally more than i can describe for your loyalty for your support both those who have been faithful sponsors uh through donation of this show since we first launched in 2005 and also brand new donors that i have never heard from before until recently i just want to thank you so much for helping us regain that which was lost and helping us to remain on the air but if you have loved this show and listen to it regularly and have never given before or perhaps you've just discovered it and you love it and you don't want it to disappear please go to irontreppanzionradio .com

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click support then click click to donate now also folks if you are not a member of a local bible believing church and you're not even prayerfully looking for one you've got to rectify that situation you've got to repent of that i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the planet earth and i may be able to help you find a church that you didn't even know existed right near you i've already helped many people in our audience find churches that they have visited and in some instances joined sometimes they are visiting these churches while they're on vacation away from home sometimes they are referring to these churches to loved ones that they know do not know of a church near them and these churches are all over the united states and all over the globe and i may be able to help you too if you need a church send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

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chrisarnson at gmail .com but i need a church in the subject line and that's also the email address to send in a question on the westminster larger catechism or anything related to reform theology in general chrisarnson at gmail .com

01:17:59

we are interviewing today if you just tune us in dr joseph c morecraft iii on the westminster larger catechism and that is because he is the author of an eight volume commentary on the westminster larger catechism and you can find out more about that monumental series at westminstercommentary .com

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westminstercommentary .com i also want to just quickly give a plug to reformation art that is where i purchased my own print of the westminster assembly print of that 19th century painting that you may want to proudly adorn in your own home painted by john rogers herbert in the 19th century i love this painting and dr morecraft obviously does too and you can get it rather inexpensively and i hope that you will pay them a visit and i hope that you will tell them that you heard about them from iron sharpens iron radio and that website is reformationart .com

01:19:18

reformationart .com there's a search engine there if you typed in westminster assembly this will come up this painting that i'm referring to or should i say the prints of it and they have many other examples of wonderful christian art as well by the way uh dr morecraft i wanted to give a plug to your sister -in -law judy rogers as well uh it's it's a tragedy as we are discussing the downfall of modern day evangelicalism that has been sliding down a slippery slope for many years many decades actually uh where everything old is being jettisoned and we who are in love with the old hymns we do not uh especially those of us who are sane we do not prohibit biblically sound contemporary music and your sister -in -law is one great example of that her music some of which includes music for little tiny children has more depth and biblical meat to it than much of the modern day evangelical music intended for adults but if anybody wants to find out more about judy rogers and her music go to judy rogers .com

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judy rogers .com you want to say a couple words about your very talented sister -in -law yes sir she has some songs based on the shorter catechism she has songs based on the ten commandments based on the book of proverbs all kinds of songs for all ages and they all have dignity and beauty and truth to them and i would highly recommend people to go to judy rogers .com

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and buy all of the things they possibly can from her amen well isn't that a part i mean we will get into the actual contents of the larger catechism momentarily and keep in mind folks this is only part one of this series that we're doing uh but before we go into that isn't that a number isn't that another reason why you believe that confessions of faith and catechisms are out of vogue is because the church wants to jettison everything old because they somehow think that is less christian that is less christ -like they it's it's a spirit of arrogance actually it's a spirit of pride and arrogance that they think many of these pastors and song leaders and band leaders and leaders in general think that whatever they do these novelties and these new what they would call a new breath of fresh air into the church or whatever they want to call it they think that they are superior than the great minds of the faith and it's it's it's ironic because they might point very rightly to some of the sins of the past like the many of our great heroes of the christian faith unfortunately owned slaves for instance or or at least supported slavery but people in their arrogance uh think that we are more enlightened and more christian today when you have uh even churches supporting the slaughter of millions of unborn children and even supporting the death of children who are born alive during an abortion attempt and you know of being soft on uh men marrying men and women marrying women and we could go on and on i mean it's an arrogance that has blinded them to the sins of our own age i was going to say it's an arrogance that can be reputed with 60 million reasons amen the uh we've lost our sense of history that's one of the big problems the liberals the humanists have succeeded in rewriting history convincing us as christians that history is on our side it's on their side and so it's only been recently when christians have even taken an interest in history at all and you can see this very practically when american evangelicals think that uh christianity is a pond and they're it and everything that they're doing and saying and recommending is what the church has believed for centuries was as a matter of fact uh it is a river that has been flowing for millennia sometimes that river has been a gushing stream sometimes it's been a a trickling stream but there's always been this river of historic christianity uh they believe the same things they live the same way it was never perfect but it's quite a different thing than the stagnant mosquito filled pond of evangelicalism that you see in the 20th and 21st century i think two of the assumptions three of the assumptions that our westminster fathers uh made were number one that the more unified in the truth the whole all the churches are the greater their impact is going to be on culture the the more they'll glorify god of course that's the first thing but the greater their impact is going to be on culture the more the churches in a particular society are agreed upon the word of god assuming that what they're agreed upon is true and i told you earlier that as you know that in the mid 17th century there was a massive civil war in england we're going through a civil war that's not hyperbole we're going through a civil war that's only secondarily about race it's about the survival of christianity in the united states that's what it's about and unless christians understand what christianity is then all the weapons we're using against the anti -christians are pop guns compared to their nuclear bombs they're throwing hand grenades and we're throwing powder puffs yeah because we really because we really don't know what christianity is and i and these westminster fathers said assume that if the church in england scotland ireland would unite in the truth as it is in jesus they would be an unstoppable church an invincible church not just the minority we're in the minority today but we're not in the minority forever it won't be just a minority church it'll be a church that captures culture for the lord jesus christ and re -establishes a civilization based upon his word the second assumption they make is that the more you understand about what god has revealed about himself and his will in holy scripture and the more you believe it and apply it the better you will know god and the more effective and consistent christian you will be and the third thing they assumed is that you can really grow in your christian life by studying doctrines what does the doctrine of predestination say the doctrine of creation the doctrine of god the doctrine of creation of providence the doctrine of christ the doctrine of the work of christ and on and on and on the more we study and understand those revealed truths the stronger our faith will be and the more consistent our christian life will be but they also understood that real growth starts to accelerate when you begin to understand the relation of these doctrines to each other how they relate to each other how they point to each other how they flow out of each other in other words to understand this system of divine truth it's not a system that we impose upon it we're not trying to squeeze a size 10 foot into a size five shoe we take the doctrines and the relay the way they relate to each other from scripture the bible tells us the doctrines but the bible also tells us how they relate and how they flow into each other and apply each other and assume each other so that's when you really start to mature as a christian when you not only seek to understand these truths so as to know god and god's will for your life but you start to understand how they are related to each other and that's when real maturity starts to accelerate and that's the beauty of the westminster larger catechism amen yeah uh well you have said and your publishers uh have described your commentaries as a way to access practical application of biblical principles to various areas of life including ethics law politics family church state piety education and more let's start with ethics uh what uh can we learn about christian ethics from the westminster larger catechism and you got about five more hours this evening well we have more than five hours awaiting us in the future okay okay that's a great question and the answer is that the uh first question of the larger catechism is what's man chief in man in essence it says man's chief end is glorified god enjoy him forever that's the beginning of ethics if you don't understand that basic presupposition your ethics will wind up immoral self -centered and useless the beginning of behavior how we know how to serve god how to relate to each other is rooted in that first little question that because god does all things for his own glory and because man's made the image of god our goal in life in everything we do in all of our behavior self -expression relationships our relation is to glorify god and enjoy him forever and some of our reformed brothers have to remember that very key phrase in that very first question enjoy him forever it seems that sometimes not always but sometimes the stereotype of reformed christians is true we have to admit it that's very often more than we care to admit they are dull and lifeless and dry i agree with that a hundred percent that our goal is to glorify him to honor him and to enjoy his presence at his gifts in our life joy inexpressible that's full of glory comes from knowing god and seeking to live for him and knowing that jesus is your savior and the holy spirit is your helper i try to inspire that in my children from their time they were newborn for instance in my last daughter my first three children are in their 40s and my youngest daughter's in her late 20s about to turn 30 and i can remember when i would uh sometimes help becky out in the middle of night and go in when she'd cry as a newborn and rock her to sleep and as i was rocking her to sleep i would preach to her over and over and over same words god is your father jesus is your savior the holy spirit is your helper over and over knowing that that's the only source of salvation and source of joy in this world you know by the way the word greek word for grace and the greek word for joy are almost uh indistinguishable we're saved by grace we're saved by joy and for joy in fact i've been told i read this many years ago that joy is a concept that's only found in society's influence by christianity wow because there is no joy outside of christ and so you're exactly right in fact doesn't somebody need to have a heart checkup and i don't mean physically like i just had to have after going to the hospital for congestive heart failure but if you are not enjoying your faith in christ if you are not enjoying worshiping him if you are not excited about uh the church and fellowshipping with the brethren and i'm not talking about uh equating uh a bubbly uh feeling that you get and uh you you're you feel as if uh or you think wrongly that you are not in a spirit -filled place quote quote unless everybody's jumping up and down and clapping their hands like children i'm not saying that that's always inappropriate but i'm just saying that that is what some people equate with spirit filled i'm not talking about that but if you are grudgingly getting together with your brothers and sisters in christ and it's always a chore and a depression for you to go to church well either you're in a horrible church and you've got to find a one that's truly biblical and if that is indeed your motive and it should be if you're genuinely saved but you need a heart checkup don't you because i mean if your absence if you're absent of joy there's something really seriously wrong there yes sir i agree with you 100 percent yeah and i think now particularly during all the things that are taking place today there's no circumstance nothing happening today that a christian should allow to to uh destroy his joy the one book in the new testament that has the word joy rejoiced more than any other book is paul's book of philippians and when he wrote that book he was in a dungeon being persecuted for christ but he never lost his joy i'll tell you a quick story about judy rogers husband uh that's caster wayne rogers for our listeners i knew i met judy when she was 11 or 12 and becky was about 15 and i was 19 and my best friend was wayne rogers who was 18 and wayne rogers grew up in an orphanage and then he became a christian and he hadn't learned much yet he was just a christian and loved it the news of the family of god finally so he'd go to shopping centers where men were in their cars waiting for women their wives to spend their money and wayne would go up to the window of men in the car this is all he knew to say he would say brother do you have the joy and that would be the basis of his witness so he went up to one man in the car and he said brother do you have the joy and the man said to him go to hell and wayne said and wayne said i can't that's a great answer i've got to remember that that is a great answer so it uh then you have that first question and then the the bulk is about everything related to god the father god the son and god the holy spirit and then the larger catechism has some questions on law where does law what role does law play in grace and in the christian life and answers that grace is not lawless grace and then goes to the ten commandments and explains the ten commandments and that is one of the largest sections in fact i think i have more volumes on that section than any other section because it's so long what what it does is it goes through all the ten commandments and asks the question what does this commandment require and secondly what does this commandment forbid and then it gives the various answers the bible gives to each one of those questions and then fills up the page mostly with scriptural footnotes so it is the best thing on christian ethics i know of there's a bunch of good books on christian ethics institutes of biblical law by rush dooney theonomy and christian ethics by greg monson thomas watson on the ten commandments etc etc but there's nothing that matches the uh larger catechism's exposition of the ten commandments and i did something on purpose and this was the hardest thing and it wore me out i did something that nobody else had ever done i went through all these scores and scores and scores of scriptural references backing up every phrase in each of the ten commandments and i expounded each one of these verses to show what the bible actually says about this commandment now these westminster fathers were so marinated in scripture that some of these footnotes were in uh scriptural footnotes were in obscure passages in the bible that i don't think anybody's ever quoted since because these people knew the bible and they would go to this passage and say now here's here's the proof here's what the bible says about how you break or how you keep the fifth or the sixth commandment i mean brilliant stuff and uh and sometimes they would quote the same passage as scriptural proof of more than one commandment because they knew the bible enough to know that in the context it was talking about more than just one sin uh and so i i would recommend to fathers and mothers to study the larger catechism look up this because like in my commentary the most important thing in my eight volume commentary of the larger catechism are the scripture references they obviously are far more important than anything i said about them like spurgeon said it's not our comment on the word of god that saves is the word of god amen so go through the larger catechism parents preachers and uh you know when i speak at conferences now i'll make somebody mad but you've made people mad too so it's okay oh when i go when i go to conferences and i know they're all going to be preachers i lower the intellectual nature of what i'm going to say because i've learned that preacher has preachers have a harder time thinking than the average christian does that uh it's been a long time since the average creature has really studied in depth the word of god there is so used to giving pablum to the people to keep them babies because if they gave him more than pablum the people would want more than pablum and that would mean that the preachers have to work harder and as i said i think i told you this but as i said in a sermon the other day i'm more afraid of preachers than muslims because i think they quit studying the word of god in depth yes in fact i have disagreed with uh christians who rightly have apprehensions and want to expose the falsehoods of islam i have corrected them when they have told me that the greatest threat to america and the world is islam i've said no i don't think so muslims muslims are not murdering millions of babies in america are they yeah i think to quote somebody you referred to the other day in manhattan the dangerous thing is wolves in sheep's clothing right if wolves just came to the sheep as wolves they could be spotted identified but somebody is a greater danger and threat to the church who says some things right but who uh says many things that are completely contrary to christian faith and that's what the bible means about wolves in sheep's clothing by the way i want to give a i want to give a quick plug to your brother -in -law's church since you mentioned him uh if anybody lives in i think it's haisey virginia right haisey virginia uh dickinson first presbyterian church if you go to facebook uh that is where you're going to find the information they spell dickinson differently down there than dickinson college here in carlisle pennsylvania it's d -i -c -k -e -n s -o -n first presbyterian church and that's haisey h -a -y -s -i virginia their phone number at the church is 276 -865 -5650 276 -865 -5650 we have to go to our final break and then we will return to the conclusion of the program and this is just part one folks remember and we will be back right after these messages with more of joe moorcraft right after these messages from our sponsors so do not go away chris sorensen host of iron sharpens iron radio here i want to tell you about a man i have personally known for many years his name is dan buttafuoco dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind dan cares about people and is a theologian himself recently he wrote a book titled consider the evidence for the bible ravi zacharias wrote the foreword dan also has a master's degree in theology dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states he represents many christians in serious injury matters all over the country dan is an exceptional trial lawyer he wrote the test for the national board of trial advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for one million dollars or more and in approximately 10 different states in illinois his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history in new york his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the law journal if you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state i recommend that you call dan consultations are free there is no fee unless you win dan buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878 1 -800 -669 -4878 or email me for dan's contact information at chris arnzen at gmail .com

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that's chris arnzen at gmail .com james white of alphanomega ministries and the dividing line webcast here although god has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach preach and debate at numerous venues some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with pastor rich jensen and the brethren at hope reform baptist church now located at their new beautiful facilities in corham long island new york i've had the privilege of opening god's word from their pulpit on many occasions have led youth retreats for them and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my new york debates i do not hesitate to highly recommend hope reform baptist church of corham long island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught discipled and edified by the holy scriptures and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in christ i also want to congratulate hope reform baptist church of corham for the recent appointment of pastor rich jensen's co -elder pastor christopher mcdowell for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reformed li .net

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that's hope reformed li .net or call 631 696 -5711 that's 631 -696 -5711 tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of corham long island that you heard about them from james white on iron sharpens iron radio we are excited to announce another new member of the iron sharpens iron radio advertising family banu gadi owner of three new york pharmacies lee's drugs of floral park long beach chemists and prescription center of long island in hempstead banu gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic please contact dr gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media to find the pharmacy nearest you call 516 -354 -2000 that's 516 -354 -2000 or order online at lee's drugs rx .com

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that's l -e -e -s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program are you a christian looking to align your faith in finances then you'll want to check out thriving financial we're not your typical services provider we're a not -for -profit fortune 500 organization that helps our nearly 2 .4

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we have uh some lister questions dr moore craft uh we have bb in cumberland county pennsylvania who asks uh is the theological perspectives of the larger catechism broad enough where those who are outside of presbyterianism will find it to be a helpful biblical guide as well without doubt uh in fact it was written for everybody in england now it does have some emphases but basically anybody that calls himself reformed uh and who is reformed whether he's reformed baptist reformed presbyterian reformed episcopalian reformed congregationalist reform independent they will love the westminster larger catechism because in the 17th century all those various groups shared the theological perspective and worldview of the larger catechism with its covenant theology its emphasis on the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture on the sufficiency of christ and his uh redemption on the purse of christ the law of god that the lord's prayer eschatology in the future what what what the church has to look forward to there was a great unanimity so the uh presbyterian distinctively presbyterian things which also the independents the congregationalists would have agreed with but not the baptists is uh it does teach infobaptism uh but by and large the rest of the book is something i don't know if somebody's really reformed whether he would i don't think he would disagree with anything in it well thank you now there are some christians that will disagree with it because we have so many diverse viewpoints it is anti -dispensational it is of course there wasn't even uh dispensationalism that existed when it was written didn't even exist rapturism didn't even exist it is anti -antinomianism that is the view that's so prevalent among christians today that since we're under grace we should not have to worry about obeying the law of god those people won't like it but if they read it honestly and look up the scripture references and then honest with themselves they will they will be convinced thank you bb we have an anonymous listener who says chris orange and i happen to know from what you have said in this program that you are not personally a theonomist or a christian reconstructionist i was wondering why you interview so many of them well that is a great question and the interesting thing is there's nothing new about theonomy or christian reconstruction the terms are new and so there's a lot of terms that i'm not crazy about one of which term is calvinism uh that the average person today has a negative view of calvinism so if somebody asked me if i'm a calvinist i will ask them what do you mean by that and if it's some modern caricature then i will say no so it's not a semantic issue uh in in the in the westminster standards like in the second london baptism confession like in the belgic confession the heidelberg catechism and all the rest there was the universal agreement that god's law drives us to christ for salvation and once we come to christ by grace for salvation the nail scarred hands of christ hands us back his law saying now here's how i want you to live as saved people so secondly the word christian reconstruction is a a new phrase and it simply historically means that what the reformers practiced and then the puritans why were the puritans called puritans because they wanted everything about england to be pure of course when you say new phrase you mean 1970s or so yeah right or 1960s actually uh but you know the englanders wanted a pure economy they wanted a pure society they wanted a pure church and by pure they didn't mean perfect because they knew you couldn't be perfect this life they wanted a society and economics and church and society regulated by and based upon the word of god and we're going to have to let you uh pick up where we left off on our next interview okay and i just wanted to let my list my anonymous listener know that i appreciate uh biblically learned uh brothers and sisters in christ from varying uh theological perspectives as long as i believe they are not heretical or dangerous and i know that some people wrongly think theonomy and christian reconstruction is or are in of in and of themselves dangerous i have never met somebody who believes that who accurately describes or defines theonomy and christian reconstruction but i one of my greatest heroes is a dispensationalist john macarthur i have many people on this show that disagree with me on key points and i still if they are feeding me uh biblical wisdom and truth i will love to hear what i embrace and i am not so proud that i have to dismiss them just because i have disagreements i just thought i'd throw that in there and i want to make sure that our listeners have the website for heritage presbyterian church in cumming georgia it's heritage presbyterian church .com

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heritage presbyterian church .com and to find out more about this eight volume commentary series by dr joe moorcraft on the westminster larger catechism go to westminster commentary .com