Meet The Puritans.

On this day (August 24th) in 1662, English Parliament/The Church of England banished the puritans from the churches and schools in England. The decree was known as "The Uniformity Act of 1662" or "The Great Ejection." Puritans didn't let that stop them from preaching God's word. They ended up preaching in fields, barns, or wherever possible. In 1664, The Conventicle Act was passed. This banned all "non-conformists" from preaching in fields or conducting services in secret. In 1665 the Five Mile Act was passed and outlawed puritans from coming within five miles of their former churches or any city or town.

Although Puritans were barred, it didn't silence them. They continued to preach God's word and write many incredible God-exalting books.

The reason for such hostility against the Puritans was for their fervent dedication to God and scripture, that provoked them to speak up about the problems within the Church of England. The church began to become weak on scripture, which led to much compromise in teaching, church leadership, obedience, and truth. Some major goals/focuses of the Puritans were:

1. Dedication to search and study the truths/doctrines of scripture and apply them to their lives. They believed doctrine and life-change went hand in hand.

2. A fascination with the character of God and His work in their lives (but not on the experience itself) to give all glory to God for any work done in one's life. Their high view of God was also evidenced also by their strong reformed theology. (High view of God/Low view of Man.)

3. A passion for love.

"It is unusual today to find books that feed the mind with solid biblical substance and move the heart with affectionate warmth, but the puritans do both. They reason with the mind, confront the conscience, and appeal to the heart. They write out of love for God's Word, love for the glory of God, and love for the souls of readers. They set forth Christ in His loveliness, moving us to yearn to know Him better and live wholly for Him."

-Meet The Puritans (Joel R. Beek & Randall J. Pederson)

4. In the same mind as the Reformers, they sought for change within the church that called for the church to conform to the instruction of Scripture on all matters of doctrine, leadersip, and fellowship.

5. Focused on personal evangelism by proclaiming God's word/the gospel.

There is so much more I can write about these men and women. They were/are my heroes.

(much of the information that i got for this post was summarized from what I read in the book "Meet The Puritans")

Biblical Principles Can't Sanctify You

Studying the great Romans 7 debate, I have come across some beautiful gems of Gospel truth. One of them, once again, points out the inadequacy of relying on Biblical "do's" for sanctifying work. These Biblical principles that we all have a tendency to cling to in our Bible reading are no more than the "law" as described in Romans 2,3,4,5,6,7 and so forth.

Romans 7:4

"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God."

Doug Moo:

"[in Romans 7], Paul argues that a person's bondage to the law must be severed in order that he or she may be put into a new relationship with Christ (7:1-6)... Despite [the law's] divine origin, the law can neither justify nor sanctify."

We are quick to say that the law will not justify us (save us), but after we are "in", we quickly hug the law as our sanctifying tool. Instead, we should use the law in the same way it was used to show us our need for Christ for justification - As unregenerate sinners we only bring sin to the table. But as believer's we STILL only bring sin to the table. We can't depend on our ability to "love God and love others" but we need complete reliance on the cross. The righteousness of Christ is our only righteousness. So instead of "do" we rely on His "did".

why pray?

Hebrews 4:16

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Psalm 27:7
"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me."

"You say, “Well what is the point in talking to God like that? I mean, if you know God is sovereign and you know God is all wise and all powerful and all knowing and has purposed everything from the beginning to the end and all the way through the middle, what in the world is the point of praying?” And the answer is because God has not only ordained the end, He has ordained the means to the end. And I don’t know about you but I’d rather be a part of God’s means than anything else."

-John MacArthur