Great Christian Biographies with John Piper: John Owen, Part 3

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Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Sunday School Great Christian Biographies with John Piper: John Owen, Part 3

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So that's my closing thing here. How did he pursue holiness?
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And I know what I'm about to say is terribly inadequate. I'm no
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Owen scholar. I've read two biographies and three or four of his books. That's all
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I've done to get ready here. Nothing you couldn't do in a few months like I did.
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But I'll tell you what I found and what I think is true, even though limited and maybe lopsided.
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I have four answers to the question how he pursued and achieved such a degree of holiness that he was known this way.
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Number one, Owen humbled himself under the mighty hand of God.
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He was a very well -known, influential, famous person who hobnobbed with even the king when the king was his enemy.
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But when he came to die two days before he died, he was with Charles Fleetwood. And this is what he said to assess his own life.
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I'm leaving the ship of the church in a storm. But while the great pilot is in it, the loss of a poor under rower will be inconsiderable.
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I don't think that was mock humility. It was said in private to a friend, a poor under rower will scarcely be missed in his book on mortification.
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He wrote to keep our souls in a constant state of mourning and self -abasement is the most necessary part of our wisdom.
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That's about the most unmodern thing he could say. But he'll say a hedonistic thing in 30 seconds.
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And it is so far, this abasement and mourning are so far from having any inconsistency with those consolations and joys which the gospel tenders unto us in believing as that it is the only way to let those joys into the soul in a due manner.
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You see why it's hard to read? But in a nutshell, if you don't keep yourself in a self -abased mourning frame, you won't be as happy as you should be.
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I learn a lot of my Christian hedonism from people that write like this.
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Which is why I never, never felt it was a frothy, simple, light, glib, frivolous thing to talk about joy.
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With regard to his immense learning and his tremendous insight, he said something that I think is so remarkable.
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He said, I make no pretense of searching into the bottom or depths of any part of this great mystery of godliness,
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God manifest in the flesh. They are altogether unsearchable unto the limit of the most enlightened minds in this life.
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What we shall farther comprehend of them in the other world, God only knows.
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Now, here's the amazing thing about that sentence to me. Owen was the kind of person,
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Edwards was another one, who had climbed so high up the steeps of wonder revealed in the
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Scriptures, that he could pull his face up over the ridge to see the ridges.
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Most people are down here looking up at that first ridge, carping at intellectuals who try to understand it.
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The people who really know how low they are, are the ones who climb high enough in biblical revelation to see over the first ridge, to the other ones that disappear into the clouds.
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These people down here who never got to the top of the first ridge, they might be a little impressed, but they haven't even begun to see what
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Owen saw when he climbed up over 16 volumes worth into God and said,
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Heaven, I think he was a humble man, and I think his humility opened him to the greatest visions of God, and he believed 2
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Corinthians 3 .18, that we may be gradually transformed into the same glory by beholding glory.
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Number two, second means by which I think he went after holiness.
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He grew in knowledge of God by obeying what he already knew.
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He increased in life transforming knowledge of Scripture by obeying what he already knew.
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In other words, holiness was not only the goal of his life, it was the means of pursuing the goal of his life.
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Now, spiral. Here's what he wrote. The true notion of holy evangelical truths will not live, at least not flourish, where they are divided from a holy life.
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As we learn all to practice...
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I put little exclamation parts after that to say Sinclair Ferguson was right. Everything he wrote was practical.
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He meant it to change practice. That's what he just said here. As we learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice.
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That's a typical Puritan way of talking. Owen's not good at it. The other
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Puritans are a lot better than Owen at little sentences like that. They just shove into a sentence so much.
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We learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice.
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And herein alone we can come under the assurance that what we know and learn is indeed the truth.
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And hereby will they be led continually into farther degrees of knowledge.
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For the mind of man is capable of receiving continual supplies in the increase of light and knowledge, if they are improved into their proper end in obedience unto
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God. But without this, the mind will be quickly stuffed with notions, so that no streams can descend into it from the fountain of truth.
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My second point is, I think Owen advanced continually in holiness, because in all of his studies, he studied to obey.
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He never studied just to stock his mind with a new thought or defeat an argument.
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We'll see more of that in a minute. Number three, Owen passionately pursued a personal communion with God.
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He passionately pursued personal communion with God. It is incredible to me that Owen was able to keep writing edifying weighty books and pamphlets under the pressures of his life.
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And I think the key was his ongoing personal communion. One of his early biographers,
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Andrew Thompson, wrote this. It is interesting to find the ample evidence which his work on mortification affords that amid the din of theological controversy, the engrossing and perplexing activities of a high public station, and the chilling damps of a university, he was yet living near God.
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And like Jacob amid the stones of the wilderness, maintaining secret intercourse with the eternal and invisible.
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Packer comments, communion with God was a great thing to the
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Puritans. To evangelicals today, it is a small thing.
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The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way that we are not.
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The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it.
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When Christians meet, pastors meet, they talk to each other about their
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Christian work and Christian interests and their
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Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches and the problems of theology, but rarely of their daily experience of God.
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Do you feel that? I feel it. That's mainly what I talk about with you guys and pastors' gatherings.
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It's not because of any one individual bad person in this room.
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It's because we breathe a non -God air. We breathe a make -it -happen air.
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What's interesting in this country and what's interesting to talk about is what you have made to happen, not who you know in heaven and what you tasted of Him last night at one o 'clock.
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I'm going to make you all uncomfortable now around the table, aren't I? But that's okay, because my guess is in this room, there are such sweet and wonderful and terrible insights into God in the last, say, three weeks that some of you ought to just dare to break in at the table and say,
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God tell you about something I saw three weeks ago in God and what it meant to me. Try it.
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Try it. We need to help each other.
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I don't do it very well. I mean, I've sat at the table as often as you have and I haven't done it yet. Well, I might have tried one little thing, maybe my little miracle story, you know, what
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God did this morning. But we're not good at this. We're not comfortable talking about our personal communion with God.
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That's not good. We should be comfortable. He wrote in a letter when he was sick in 1674,
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Christ is our best friend and Erlong will be our only friend. I pray,
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God, with all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but communion with him.
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May I be weary of everything else but communion with God.
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So God was using illness to drive this man to communion. He'll do what he must do to get us there,
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I believe, in the ministry. But he was very intentional. He didn't just respond to Providence. He also was aggressive and intentional about communion with God.
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He wrote, friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits.
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Right, Rob? Rob's got some great insights on friendship. Friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits.
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And these, the more free and less occasioned by urgent business.
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That's the way he knew his God. He made many visits to his
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Lord. He was talking about God in that context, not human friends.
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He made many visits. He didn't just go with petitions.
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He didn't just go with pleas for deliverance. He went to contemplate
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Christ. The last book he wrote, he was working on it when he died.
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It was published after his death. It was called, Meditations on the Glory of Christ. And in it he said, the revelation of Christ deserves the severest of our thoughts.
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I like that phrase, severest of our thoughts. And best of our meditations and our utmost diligence in them.
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What better preparation can there be for our future enjoyment of the glory of Christ than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the gospel.
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There are two things in his mind that are involved in that contemplation which leads to holiness.
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One is severe thought or best meditation.
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He calls it in another place, assiduous meditation. Severe, assiduous meditation on the word of God.
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And the other thing is relentless prayer. Let me illustrate these two from his comment about his commentary on Hebrews.
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Biggest book that's ever been written on Hebrews in the history of the world. Seven volumes on Hebrews.
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I would love to know why. Why Hebrews? Why not Romans, you know?
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If I had time to read it, I'd find out why. He said this about his work on Hebrews.
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It came out in four volumes over his life. Well, first of all, he said when it was done, now is my time to die.
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But here's what he said, how he got it written. I must now say that after all my searching and reading.
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And he knew Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, English, French, Dutch. He read everything.
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He knew everything that was being written about Hebrews in his day from every language. I must now say that after all my searching and reading.
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Prayer and assiduous meditation have been my only resort.
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And by far the most useful means of light and assistance.
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By these my thoughts have been freed from many an entanglement.
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Now, if you said that, it might not be impressive. Because you haven't written seven volumes on Hebrews.
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But when a man finishes writing seven volumes on Hebrews. That have stayed in print for 300 years.
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And when I dip into them like I did the other day. To find out what he thought it meant. That the one who has the power of death had been put to naught.
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I found more help there than all the other academic commentaries in my library.
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And when a person who writes that kind of book says. The most important thing was assiduous mulling over the
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Greek text. In my heart and mind. And prayer for divine assistance. I listened.
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Brothers, you know. If you're acquainted with these men. The Puritans. That most commentaries written today are absolute fluff.
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Absolute fluff. And the more footnotes the more fluff by and large. And I can't even communicate that with the men who write them.
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Because they don't know what I mean. They don't know what
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I mean. They have it evidently bathed in six or eight pages of meditation.
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On what it means for the devil to be put to naught.
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And yet still be active. But does that mean? How does it make a difference in our life?
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Well. You read through it just like that in F .F. Bruce. Just poof. Just like that. It's like poof.
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I mean what? It's just. I suppose
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I can say that being a pastor instead of teaching anymore. But I.
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I. I really think it's sad. That the academic world.
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Has developed the means of producing accolades for froth. Prayer.
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I suppose he said. This may be fixed on as a common principle of Christianity.
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Namely. That constant and fervent prayer for the divine assistance of the
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Holy Spirit. Is such an indispensable means for attaining the knowledge of the mind of God in Scripture.
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As that without it. All others will not avail. Brothers do you pray over every paragraph you read in commentaries and in the
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Bible. Repeatedly. Repeatedly asking for assistance. That you will see things.
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I won't go into the details but. Having read all this stuff. I was preaching last
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Sunday on 1 Peter. 123 to 25. And.
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There's a phrase in there that says. Having. Been.
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No. Therefore. Having cleansed your souls by obedience of the truth.
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Unto Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Unto brotherly love. Love one another eagerly from the heart.
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I said now. What does it mean. I argued that cleanse your heart.
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By obedience to the truth meant cleanse your heart by faith. Acts 15 9. Obedience to the truth being faith.
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If that's true. What he's saying is. Put faith. In. The gospel.
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And thus cleanse your heart. Unto. Philadelphia.
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The commentaries. What does that mean. Do it. Unto Philadelphia. How many of you at age 6.
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I was saved at age 6. How many of you at age 6. Put your faith in Jesus. Unto. Brotherly love.
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What does it even mean to put your faith in Jesus. Unto brotherly love. To be obedient. And cleanse the heart.
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Unto brotherly love. Because you see. It's followed by a command to love. So it's talking about something you already did.
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You cleanse your heart. Unto brotherly love. Now. I got that. No. No. Love. Even two different words. I went to the commentaries.
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No. What is. They're not even wrestling with my problems. Half the time.
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And I pray. I just. I just. Said all my books. And I said Lord. I'm not really asking you to say a loud word in my brain.
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I'm just asking you to take all I've studied here. And bring something together. So that I get some insight.
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On. Unto. Brotherly love. And then I was silent. I was waiting.
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And I got an idea. I got an idea. I will tell you what my idea was.
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I didn't preach it. It was so new. And so fresh. And I'm. I'm so skeptical of my own subjectivity. That I waited.
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And we'll let you. You know. Put it back on me. But. I. I think.
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Maybe. What Peter is saying is. Everybody should. Should become a believer.
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With a view to joining a family. And never. With a view.
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To isolation. There is no becoming a believer.
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And cleansing your heart. Unto independence. It is always. Unto phila. And then he shifts the word.
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To agape. In the next verse. Has a lot to do with evangelism.
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If you take that seriously. Having. By obedience to the truth. Cleanse your heart.
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Unto Philadelphia. And now love. The brotherhood. Love each other. Earnestly from the heart.
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So back there. When you all became Christians. You became Christians. Unto a family.
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That's what it means to become a Christian. To join a family. Now. God gave me that.
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In answer to prayer. It's probably in a book somewhere. But I'm using this to illustrate prayer.
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Waiting upon the Lord. When you're stuck. He won't. He won't. He's never. I've been preaching this book for 13 years.
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I've never been without a message. And I've never been so stuck over a text. That I couldn't find enough glorious truth in it.
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To exalt. In fact we around Bethlehem right now. Have got this new phrase we like. I like it anyway.
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Called expository exaltation. That's my definition of preaching now. Expository exaltation.
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Just exalting in the stuff you turn up in Greek. And if you exalt in it. Your people will get excited about it.
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And it will be valuable to them. If it's valuable to you. He struggled.
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He really struggled. He wrote to John Elliot. I do acknowledge unto you. That I have a dry and barren spirit.
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And I do heartily beg your prayers. That the Holy One would. Notwithstanding all my sinful provocations.
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Water me from above. So he pleaded for prayer. He didn't just pray him. Himself. So I think.
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The chief source of all of Owen's holiness. Was communion with God.
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That has as its core. Assiduous meditation. And prayer.
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Now let me close with the last one. Number four. Quickly. Then we'll take just a few minutes for questions.
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Owen was authentic in commending in public. Only what he had experienced in private.
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Owen was authentic in commending in public. Only what he had experienced.
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In private. Now why do I think that's important enough to end on? As a pastor.
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The longer I preach. The easier words get for me.
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I am a word man now. After thirteen years of preaching. And six years of teaching before that.
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I'm a word man. Words are my trade. I minister by means of words.
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And they come relatively easy for me. That's dangerous. That's incredible.
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Because. You can start. Preaching. On mystery.
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Without standing in awe. And you can preach on purity. Without feeling pure.
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And you can preach on zeal. Without spiritual passion. There can be like.
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Who said it this morning? Ray? There can be John Piper passion. That comes pretty natural.
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Without God passion. Probably only the old saints in the church see the difference at times.
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You can preach on God's holiness and not tremble. You can preach on sin without sorrow.
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You can preach on heaven without eagerness. And a terrible hardening moves into the life.
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Because you're so good with this thing called. Words. Which means.
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If you're going to be holy. If you're going to have integrity. In your life. You've got to find a way.
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Not. To preach. What you don't feel. And experience.
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Now. Let me just give you some illustrations of what he meant by that. He said. Our happiness.
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Consisted. Not in knowing the things of the gospel. But in doing them. So doing what he learned.
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Was important. He wrote. I hold myself. Bound in conscience. And in honor.
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Not even to imagine. I have attained a proper knowledge of any one article of truth. Much less publish it.
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Unless through the Holy Spirit. I have had such a taste of it. In its spiritual sense.
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That's what's missing from most of contemporary writing. They don't even know that distinction. Knowing something with a spiritual sense.
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Knowing something just notionally. Now I've lost this awful sentence.
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Taste of it in spiritual sense. That I may be able from the heart to say. With the psalmist.
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I have believed. And therefore I spoke. In other words. I'm not going to preach anything. That I haven't spiritually tasted.
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Well now that produces authenticity. If you can pull that off. There's authenticity. In his exposition of Psalm 130.
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Eight verses. 320 pages. On those verses. Andrew Thompson says.
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When Owen laid open the book of God. He laid open the same time. The book of his own heart. And of his own history.
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And produced a book which enriched golden thoughts. His instinct with the living experience.
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Of one who spake what he know. And testified what he had seen.
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He preached to his own heart. And then he preached to his congregation. This is what he wrote.
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A man preaches that sermon well. Unto others. Which preacheth itself to his own soul.
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And he that doth not feed on. And thrive in. The digestion of the food which he provides for others.
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Will scarce make it savory unto them. Yea he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison.
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Unless he hath freely tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with. Dwell with power in us.
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It will not pass with power. From us. And so he was authentic.
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Through and through. When he spoke. His heart as he says was cast into the mold.
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Of the doctrine. That he spoke. So let me close with this.
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This key sentence. When the heart is cast into the mold of the doctrine.
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That the mind embraces. When the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us.
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When not the sense of the words only in our heads. But the sense of the thing abides in our hearts.
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When we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for. Then we shall be garrisoned.
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By the grace of God against all the assaults of men. When I read that I thought there's the key. There's the key to his life.
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Surrounded by academic pressure. Political pressure. Ecclesiastical pressure. Family pressure.
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And he says. When we have communion. With God. In the doctrine we contend for.
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Then we are garrisoned. About against the assaults. Of men.
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At the end of his life. Oh brother pain. The long wished for day has come at last.
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In which I shall see the glory in another manner. Then I have ever done or was capable of doing.
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In this. The primary lesson
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I get from this. Survey. Is that in all of our enterprises and in all of our projects the primary goal.
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For us in ministry. Should be. The display of God's glory in our own personal holiness.
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And the indispensable means of that holiness. Is the cultivation of personal deep authentic communion with God.
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And what that means in full. I leave to you to.
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Investigate in his book. Communion with God. The glories of Christ.
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And the other. Stop here. And take ten minutes.
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For questions and then dismiss you at three. Thirty if you need to go I understand you can walk out but.
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I might have told you all I know is but I'll try to ask. The question is is there anybody writing commentaries nowadays that.
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That do help me. I'm counting on Tom Schreiner with Romans. Yes. I do get some help especially on historical issues.
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And some grammatical issues although I'll tell you. When I'm stumped with a with a grammatical or syntactical or logical.
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Flow all I go to Henry Alford. Henry Alford. Mostly answers he he comes closer more consistently than any other human.
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Commentator to asking my kinds of questions. John Murray on Romans is a great.
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He's appeared. And I get tremendous help.
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Brought us on Matthew. Great help. There. There are others
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I'm sure. I don't use commentaries very often frankly.
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If I think I'm unsure about what I've seen I'll check it out but. By and large as did you see a pastor only has so much time to get ready for Sunday morning.
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If you've got a block of 10 to 20 hours wherever you fit in there. And you can only do so much.
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Assiduous meditation on the original languages and prayer are much more important than reading six commentary.
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Both is better because you might guard yourself from from really stupid mistake. If you check it out with another mind.
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But if you got to choose. I choose assiduous meditation.
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Thank you for listening to this message by John Piper. Pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis Minnesota.
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