"Train yourself for godliness," wrote the Apostle Paul to Timothy (1 Tim. 4:7). But what does that mean? And how does it work? In this final installment of our recordings together, I asked author and teacher Jerry Bridges to explain this passage and he did so by describing how conduct produces character.

To listen to our 10-minute conversation, right-click to download, or listen here:

Note: For more on how conduct produces character see Bridges' book The Fruitful Life, chapter 1.

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Author and speaker Jerry Bridges is 81 years old, and he's been walking with the Lord for 63 of those years. So what advice does he have for a young whippersnapper* like me? I asked him recently in the Sovereign Grace Ministries studio and he boiled down his answer to five life truths he's discovered during his 63 years in the faith.

To listen to our 8-minute conversation, right-click to download, or listen here:

* At 34, the accuracy of this term for me is debatable.

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The Old Testament book of Leviticus is filled with detailed ancient rituals which have not been performed now for almost 2,000 years. So preaching through the book of Leviticus in a modern church is a herculean task, but it’s also a challenge a growing number of pastors are willing to take on. Jared Mellinger, the senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church, is one of them. This year he preached a text-topical series through the book (lasting from May to September). I asked him about the experience.

Was Leviticus as hard or intimidating to preach as you were expecting?

Preaching straight through the entire book would have likely been very challenging, and it would have forced me to say things that my parents taught me to never talk about in public! I cheated a bit and decided to limit the series to 14 sermons on select passages. After studying the entire book, I identified four major themes in Leviticus, and then preached sermons that focused primarily on those themes. There is some great scholarship on Leviticus that makes preaching this difficult book less challenging.

What was the effect of all those months in Leviticus on your own soul?

I fell in love with Leviticus as I studied this book.

The four themes that we focused on in the series describe what Leviticus did in my own soul.

First, I learned to stand in awe of the holiness of God. God gave us Leviticus because he is determined to be regarded as majestic and glorious among his people.

Second, I came to see more of the sinfulness and seriousness of sin in my own life. Chapters 4 and 5 of Leviticus, in particular, expanded my understanding of the doctrine of sin with categories like sins of omission and unintentional sins.

Third, Leviticus helped me grow in treasuring Christ’s work of substitutionary atonement and deepened my understanding of the absolute centrality of his death on the cross.

Fourth, I was challenged to grow in radical holiness in every area of life. Reading Leviticus causes me to continually re-consecrate my life to the Lord.

How did folks in the church respond to the series?

People were enthusiastic about it and we saw God answering our prayers for the series. I was greatly encouraged. My brothers and sisters at Covenant Fellowship love God’s Word, so they are always quite happy as long as we are feeding them the Scriptures. But still, it was challenging to transfer a passion for Leviticus beyond the Sunday service.

One woman told me she was excited about Leviticus after one of the sermons, but when she went home to read Leviticus that week, she rediscovered that the book was just as lifeless as she remembered it to be! I think we can all relate to that challenge on some level. Also, a good number of people had questions about certain obscure texts they were already familiar with. I had lumberjacks saying, “I can’t wait until you get to the part about beards,” and mothers of teenagers saying, “I am very much looking forward to the passage on tattoos.” I’m afraid I might have disappointed some people by dodging certain issues!

What unexpected benefits did the church experience from the series?

After studying Leviticus, I think we now have more confidence in approaching difficult sections of Scripture. We have learned through experience that all Scripture is breathed out by God, relevant to our lives today, and profitable in equipping us for good works. We were also able to understand more of how the Old Testament and the New Testament relate to each other. We came to realize how essential familiarity with the Old Testament is in knowing and treasuring Jesus Christ as we ought. And the book of Hebrews came to life in a whole new way for us as we understood it in light of Leviticus.

What (if any) resources were surprisingly helpful to you as a preacher of Leviticus?

The book of Hebrews was helpful! Although that was hardly a surprise. Also not a surprise was Wenham’s masterful commentary on Leviticus (the resource I found most helpful), and Ross’s Holiness to the Lord. One book that isn’t as well known as it should be, in my opinion, is Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship, by Tremper Longman. It is the best resource I know on the Old Testament sacrificial system, the sacred spaces of the tabernacle and temple, the priesthood, and the special festivals and days on Israel’s calendar. Also, Andrew Bonar’s commentary was the resource I used in my devotions. He brings life and passion to Leviticus, feeds my soul more than any other author on Leviticus, and shows how each passage points to Christ.

You can find the 14-week sermon series on Leviticus listed below. And preachers considering Leviticus may be interested in this list of resources compiled by The Gospel Coalition.

1. Holy: Why Leviticus? [05.01.11; Jared Mellinger]
2. Holy: The Perfect Sacrifice [05.15.11; Jared Mellinger]
3. Holy: Realizing Our Guilt [05.22.11; Jared Mellinger]
4. Holy: True Repentance [05.29.11; Jared Mellinger]
5. Holy: The Priesthood [06.05.11; Rob Flood]
6. Holy: The Glory of the Lord Appears [06.12.11; Jared Mellinger]
7. Holy: Bewail the Burning [06.26.11; Jared Mellinger]
8. Holy: The Consecration Connection [07.03.11; Jared Mellinger]
9. Holy: Full Atonement! [07.10.11; Jared Mellinger]
10. Holy: The Sanctity of Sex [07.17.11; Jim Donohue]
11. Holy: Holiness through Love [07.24.11; Jace Hudson]
12. Holy: Holy Celebration [08.07.11; Jared Mellinger]
13. Holy: If Your Brother Becomes Poor [09.11.11; Jared Mellinger]
14. Holy: He Will Remember the Covenant [09.25.11; Jared Mellinger]

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While recently in the recording studio with author and speaker Jerry Bridges, I asked him about this hypothetical situation:

Someone comes up to you who is a believer and is struggling. This person sees his sin clearly, but he sees little personal growth in holiness. He seems to be doing the spiritual disciplines, or at least he's trying. But he is deeply discouraged by his own lack of progress. And he wants your help. What would you say?

To listen to Bridges's 6-minute answer, right-click to download or listen here:

Note: The book mentioned in this interview is Respectable Sins.

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The doctrine of union with Christ "lies at the heart of the Christian life," wrote Sinclair Ferguson.* And yet it's also a somewhat bizarre idea to modern sensibilities. So I asked author and teacher Jerry Bridges to explain this prominent theological concept in as simple terms as possible. What is union with Christ? And does this have any bearing on our pursuit of personal holiness?

To listen to our 7-minute conversation, right-click to download, or listen here:

Note: For more detail on union with Christ, see Bridges's books The Gospel for Real Life (chapter 3) and The Discipline of Grace (chapters 3 and 4).

* The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction (Banner of Truth, 1989), 104.

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Author Jerry Bridges recently joined us in the studio to record a series of brief interviews about his life, the pursuit of holiness, and the ongoing importance of the gospel in the Christian life. He was in town teaching a course in our Pastors College.

Bridges is now 82 years old. He became a believer in 1948, 63 years ago. And for nearly 50 of those years he has been regularly "preaching the gospel to himself." He has written that in the pursuit of holiness, nothing is more important than learning to preach the gospel to yourself every day.

So what exactly does that mean, I asked him. And why, after 50 years, must he continue?

To listen to our 8-minute conversation, right-click to download, or listen here:

Notes: To further study the topic of preaching the gospel to yourself, consult Jerry Bridges's book The Discipline of Grace, chapter 3. You'll find our November 2008 interview with him here.

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All the general-session messages from our 2011 Pastors Conference are now online:

• Session 1 — Sinclair Ferguson, “Consider Jesus” (Hebrews 2:5–3:1)
• Session 2 — Dave Harvey, “Walking Forward Together” (Ephesians 4:1–3)
• Session 3 — C.J. Mahaney, “When a Pastor Loses Heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1–18)
• Session 4 — Mickey Connolly, “Two Parent Pastoring” (1 Thessalonians 2:1–12)
• Session 5 — Ted Kober, “Forget Not All His Benefits” (Psalm 103:1–5)
• Session 6 — Craig Cabaniss, “Sent” (John 20:19–23)

The Wednesday afternoon guest breakout with Bob Kauflin and Mark Prater, “What Does It Mean to Be a Continuationist?”, is also available. To download it, right-click here.

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Craig Cabaniss closed out our Pastors Conference with a message on mission, focusing on the sending of the disciples in John 20:19–23. Craig opened with a series of questions:

I want to begin tonight with a question, an awkward question, but a serious question: Is this appropriate? Is it appropriate that at a time like this, facing what we're facing, that we have a message on our mission? We've been navigating some difficult waters. And to close our conference with a focus on mission, does that possibly distract our attention from where it really should be focused upon pressing needs? Is it really important to talk about mission at a time like this?...

If reading the example of the New Testament churches teach us anything it is this: the gospel continues to grow and bear fruit even when the church faces problems—external problems and internal problems; and the churches in the New Testament all have plenty of problems. Yet even in seasons of difficulty there is forward motion with the progress of the gospel. The gospel mission doesn't go on pause in the New Testament when challenges arise. In church history, the gospel mission doesn't go on pause whenever there's a problem so that the church can address the problem. That's not what happens. If that's what happened, none of us would be here tonight.

The Lord is pleased to extend his mission through a limping church to reach a dying world.

Right-click to download, or listen here:

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Mickey Connolly preached from 1 Thessalonians 2:1­-12 at the fourth general session of our Pastors Conference. His message, titled "Two Parent Pastoring," looked at Paul's maternal/paternal model of ministry. Paul's approach, showing a balance of motherly tenderness and affections (v. 7) with fatherly courage and leadership (v. 11), is a pattern for all pastors to learn from.

Early in the message Mickey said,

The motives and methods of effective pastoring are modeled for us in a mother and father's care for their children. While fathers certainly have affections, and mothers certainly are involved in leading the children—there's something about a mother's affection that uniquely models our motive for pastoring. And there is something about a father's leadership that uniquely models our methods for pastoring.

Right-click to download, or listen here:

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C.J. Mahaney spoke at the third general session of our Pastors Conference on "When a Pastor Loses Heart," based on 2 Corinthians 4:1–18.

In his introduction, C.J. shows how commonly pastors get discouraged by turning to one of his favorite pastors:

I encourage you to pick up Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students and turn to the chapter "The Minister’s Fainting Fits." Spurgeon writes, "As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may it be written of all the servants of the Lord. Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down." Then he begins working through the chapter in typical Spurgeon detail. He begins talking about how we can be unsound physically. Then he transitions to "mental maladies." This is classic Spurgeon: "As to mental maladies, is any man altogether sane? Are we not all a little off balance? Some minds appear to have a gloomy tinge essential to their very individuality."

Then at the end he says this: "The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble. Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary ministerial experience."

So what does a pastor do when he begins to lose heart for this role and task? Here's what we will discover this evening: there's hope for all pastors who are tempted to lose heart. [In 2 Corinthians 4:1–18] Paul is about to tell us what informs his resolve so that our resolve can be freshly informed and strengthened. We're going to consider three reasons why Paul did not lose heart...

These three reasons formed the outline for C.J.’s message:

1. The call of Christian ministry (vv. 1–6)
2. The context of Christian ministry (vv. 7–15)
3. The hope of Christian ministry (vv. 16–18)

Right-click to download, or listen here:

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