The Puritans in Daily Life

Questions to answer in this Equipping Hour 1. Who exactly were the Puritans? 2. What can they contribute to your everyday walk with the Lord? The Believer’s Standing in Christ 1. Union with Christ (Rom. 6:1-11) 2. Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:18-20) 3. People of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) 4. A New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24) The Relationship between Positional & Progressive Sancti cation 1. Positional — We are Sancti ed (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 6:11) fi fi fi 2. Progressive —We ought to pursue Sancti cation (Rom. 6:19; 1 Thess. 4:3) The Relationship between Justi cation & Sancti cation 1. Obedience is necessary subsequent to salvation (Luke 6:46; Rom. 2:6; Rev. 20:12) 2. Obedience isn’t necessary as the meritorious cause (Rom. 5:1) fi fi 3. Obedience is necessary as the demonstrable evidence (Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14) The Causes of Sancti cation 1. The Father (Rom. 8:29-30, 1 Thess. 5:23-24) 2. The Son (John 15:4-5, Eph. 5:25-27) 3. The Spirit (Rom. 7:6, 8:3-4) fi 4. The Individual (Rom. 6:11-13, Eph. 4:11-16) The Means of Sancti cation 1. A Consecrated Life 2. A Renewed Mind 3. A Transformed Heart 4. Treasuring the Word 5. Cherishing Prayer fi 6. Devoting oneself to the Church Divinely Instituted Purposes of Marriage 1. Provide Companionship & Mutual Assistance 2. Procreation & building the church through raising godly children 3. God-honoring joy in physical intimacy fl “Now, how will you manifest your love for your children, if you do not teach them God’s law? Is he a loving father that trims and adorns his children’s clothes, but starves their bodies? Surely, then, they are cruel parents who feed their children’s dying esh, bur murder and famish their immortal spirits.” — George Swinnock “When your children are young, you may probably persuade and prevail them to mind holiness and heaven (while they are under the rod they are usually under rule), but if then they be neglected, and be once grown headstrong, it will be easier with blows to break their backs, than with counsel and admonition to break their hearts.” — George Swinnock The Nature of Meditation “Meditation is a serious applying the mind to some sacred subject until our affections are warmed and our resolution is strengthened against evil.” — George Swinnock “It is a holy exercise of the mind whereby we bring the truths of God to remembrance, and seriously ponder them and apply them to ourselves.” — Thomas Watson The Practice of Meditation 1. Seek God’s Blessing 2. Select a Biblical Truth 3. Ask Questions 4. Apply: What have I done? 5. Resolve: What will I do? 6. Seek God’s help The Bene ts of Meditation 1. Deepens repentance 2. Encourages the morti cation of sin 3. In ames devotion 4. Imparts comfort 5. Cultivates joy & thanksgiving fi fi fl 6. Facilitates retention 1. Prayer is a Sensible pouring out of the heart to God “Sincerity carries the soul in all simplicity to open its heart to God, and to tell Him the case plainly without equivocation, to condemn itself plainly without dissembling (disguise or conceal true motives), to cry to God heartily without complementing… Sincerity is the same in a corner alone as it is before the whole world.” — John Bunyan 2. Prayer is a Sincere pouring out of the heart to God “God looks not so much to the elegancy of your prayers, how neat they are, nor to the geometry of your prayers, how long they are, but to the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are.” — George Swinnock 3. Prayer is a pouring out of the heart to God through Christ “Christ is the way through whom the soul has admittance to God (John 14:6), and without whom it is impossible that so much as one desire should come unto the ears of the Lord.” — John Bunyan 4. Prayer is a pouring out of the heart to God by the strength of the Holy Spirit “Serious dealing with God in prayer is wrought in us by the Spirit, in whose light we see both God and ourselves, His majesty and our vileness, His purity and our sinfulness, His greatness and our nothingness.” — Thomas Manton 5. Prayer is a pouring out of the heart to God for what He has promised “Prayer it is when it is within the compass of God’s Word, and it is blasphemy (or, at best, vain babbling) when the petition is beside the book.” — George Swinnock