2023 National Conference: Sinclair Ferguson, Michael Reeves, and Harry Reeder

[Music] oh my feelings forever [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] blessings [Music] oh God [Music] who has three times [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] marks scratched with us [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] Lord [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] Jesus [Music] Christ [Music] told you he draws he is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] we shall see his eyes [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] not here [Music] foreign [Music] singing [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] good morning and welcome back to the 2023 Ligonier National Conference I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'm glad you can join us live as we continue with this year's conference theme stand firm although the world around us is constantly changing Hebrews 13 8 reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever the Lord is our anchor and our Solid Rock and we can have firm footing as we look to him and stand on his grace I hope this conference has been a great encouragement to you so far I want to remind you that you can watch all of yesterday's messages again in the free Ligonier app just visit ligonier.org app or search for Ligonier in your app store of choice today's live teaching will start shortly with Dr Sinclair Ferguson he's about to deliver a message titled pursuing Godly marriages and it's a very timely subject don't you think because there are many attempts today to redefine marriage and to reject the reality that God created US male and female but as we'll soon in here the Bible provides instructions for husbands and wives so that our marriages and our families May shine as light in a dark World Dr Ferguson will be live with us in just a moment well it's kind of embarrassing to be a podcaster at my age so I cannot blame those of you who are not subscribed and speaking of being discombobulated I am I had a visitation about three o'clock in the morning um I think related to the discussion in the session yesterday on Roman Catholic baptism and I was visited by a Roman Catholic cardinal who told me that there was going to be a new Council and it would be possible to talk behind closed doors well our topic is pursuing Godly marriages and I think all of us realize from the oldest to probably the very youngest that this is a topic of immense significance in the times in which we're living but it's also always a very sensitive topic for us because as we come to a conference like this in the numbers in which we do we come in varied conditions in relationship to marriage some of us have lost our marriage some of us think marriage is very far off in the future some of us may have reconciled ourselves never to be married some of us undoubtedly come with strains in our marriage and some of us perhaps naively come in the assumption that we have found the perfect marriage and I want us to try to consider in this very brief time that we have not everything that scripture has to say about marriage because it begins in Genesis 1 and it really ends in Revelation chapter 22 but to focus on one or two passages of scripture and during the course of the next 40 minutes I think I will probably refer to no more than five passages of scripture but I want to read the first of them in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis in these words familiar to us in Genesis 1 26 then God said let us make man as our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the Earth so God created man as his own image that's the image of God he created him male and female he created them and then Moses uses a word that is always associated in scripture with God's gracious Covenant and God bless them and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion we live of course in a very unusual and stressful cultural moment many people who are Christian Believers of my generation constantly say to me how can this have happened so quickly but the truth of the matter the distortions of marriage and gender and sexuality that have taken place have not in fact happened as quickly as we imagine we live in a small village in the grampian highlands in Scotland if some of you will be able to picture where our late Queen had her holiday residence we live about 10 minutes along the road from that castle and between her castle and our modest home there stands Another Castle on the banks of the river D an old Scottish keep and about seven years ago our beautiful River D over flooded the banks swamped half of the houses in our village and almost toppled this Castle on the edge of the river D and people's reaction was why did the idiot build his castle on the edge of the river d when the truth of the matter is that he had built his castle at some distance from the river d but over the centuries over the decades the river D had changed its course and eaten into the riverbank and made its way up to the very edge of his house that were it not for the help of others would undoubtedly have toppled into the sea and this is exactly what has happened in relationship to issues of gender and sex and marriage in our own time undoubtedly there has been a strategy begun and often masterminded by intellectuals essentially to do one thing to tear God from his throne and therefore as a result to inevitably begin to deconstruct every single one of his creation ordinances the central of which and the Apex of which is what we have read in Genesis chapter 1. that when he made Manus His Image he made man male and female and as the author of Genesis puts this story under the microscope in Chapter 2 we read what this combination of as it were antithesis is meant to teach us very interesting isn't it in Genesis chapter one whenever God creates anything then immediately their followers are discrimination a distinction in what he has made there is a kind of pairing goes on all the way through the chapter until instead of in 126 God creating Man simply by Divine Fiat is very evident isn't it when you feel the chapter coming to its climax at this point that God now enters into Divine counsel with himself as though to announce that what is about to be created is the Apex of everything it's where creation has been going it's where he is going to most clearly manifest his glory in the creation of man and in the creation of man as we read here as male and female and it shouldn't surprise us Romans 1 18-32 has been mentioned already several times during the course of the conference that when people begin to worship the creature rather than the Creator when they when the glory of God is distorted and defaced and rejected it is actually intellectually and sociologically inevitable that the significance of man made us the image of God will begin to disappear first of all from the way people think about themselves and the application of it to male and female will first of all become distorted in false sexuality and then rebelled against in antagonism and eventually of course as has happened in our own time making the claim of equality of opportunity eventually end up in Social dominance so that what is sin in Scripture becomes righteousness in the 21st century and what is godliness in Scripture becomes one of the great sins of the age in which people Proclaim their own truth that is the external reason why it's so important for us to be well grounded in the Biblical teaching on marriage it's also the reason and in some ways this is what we need to press upon ourselves in some ways it underlines the importance in an ungodly Society of Christian Believers having marriages that so shine in the darkness of that ungodly Society that out of the darkness the light shines and even those who say they hate the message of the Christian Gospel and hate what this couple profess to believe find themselves confronted with this beautiful reality that they see in this married couple an echo of how life was originally meant to be and they themselves in our neighborhoods where we work as they see the recreation that God is working in the marriages of Christians begin to feel a a thirst in their throats because we are the salt of the earth and our marriages make them thirsty for such a marriage and the light of the world and a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden because no matter how unconscious we are ourselves of the atmosphere that our marriages communicate within our home and family and to those who of any association with us it is undoubtedly true that this ordinance of creation this Marvel of recreation that Jesus Christ has given to us is surely one of the beacon points of Christian witness in a world without Christ and if that's to be true then I think there are two things that we need to grasp and I'm going to try and work through them very simply I say two things but both of these two things of a number of subordinate headings if our marriages are to portray what my friend Glenn Harrison calls a better story Than The Narrative of this present age then we first of all need to understand the biblical doctrine of marriage and then we need to have some grasp of the Biblical teaching on the application of these principles to our marriage and it's these two things I want us to reflect on for these few minutes first of all the biblical doctrine of marriage and of course the beautiful thing is that that biblical Doctrine is embedded in the opening two chapters of scripture the passage that we read which gives us the the macro picture of creation and then in Genesis 2 and greater detail in verses 18 through 25 this micro picture where where the the producers and directors camera focuses in the garden on on this couple who are being brought together by God's grace and in his Mercy and as certainly um every Minister explains to every couple who are going to be married what is going to take place in your wedding service is an echo of what took place in this first wedding service when a father brought a woman to the man to whom she was going to be bound and it's for this reason that when we get married one of the simplest and most important things for us to understand is that while marriage is not a sacrament of the Gospel it is a beautiful presentation of the story of creation and because it's a powerful representation of the story of creation and how marriage was originally intended to be your wedding service and I've often said to couples who are being married especially to the girl the sooner you can forget about this wedding service being yours the better it is about you but it's not really for you and if you grasp that and pray this then by God's grace your wedding service may lead to the recovery of fragmented marriages May reorient single people who are there may bring such marvelous refreshment to those who have been faithful in their marriage to recognize that this is really one of the most glorious gifts that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us but what is it for well let me suggest that we find here in Genesis 2 especially that our marriage according to this creation prototype is for four things first of all it is for deep companionship and it's interesting I think that this was one of the places in which the Reformation reversed the tradition of the medieval Church and indeed of the church that has continued from the Middle Ages in that church the first reason for marriage is the procreation of children in biblical marriage in the Reformation tradition the first reason for marriage is deep companionship Genesis 2 18 these beautiful words it is not good that the man should be alone interesting isn't it it's only when God has created the man and the woman that everything is very good this is the Capstone of creation and what it's intended for is this deep companionship now yes there is such a phenomenon as romantic love but no solid marriage is ever going to be built on romantic love solid marriages are based on best friendships on this kind of companionship where we can gaze upon one another in the knowledge that we share a secret Union that none else shares and there is someone who is there for us I remember as a teenager and I think I may tell you my neither my dad nor my mum gave me the talk about the birds and the bees and I think I thought you got children by holding hands with a girl um but I remember reading a book by the Yale scholar Roland Benton on sex love and marriage and the Reformation and I was surprised to read there as a teenager that in the Reformation men and women didn't get married because they fell in love they fell in love because they had got married and what seems so curious to us who have been so influenced by Hollywood and it's facade of terribly sad people often portraying glorious experiences that this is actually the Biblical teaching there is a there is a kind of moment here in the Genesis story where you get a Touch of Romance but the big thing in the Genesis story is that this woman has been made for this man to be his lifelong best friend if you read through the Old Testament there are there are one or two narratives of of how a couple get married and perhaps the the most beautiful one the one that Gertie called the most beautiful short story in the world is the story of Ruth and Boaz and there's a word that requires like a drum beat through the little book of Ruth that really underlines for us what is absolutely Central to biblical marriage it's the word loyalty love friendship it was this chiefly that Boaz saw in Ruth and this chiefly that Boaz demonstrated to Ruth uh one could put it this way if you are contemplating marriage one of the things you need to ask about your potential spouses is this man or this woman going to be my lifelong best friend because that's why God gave this gift of marriage for deep companionship and loyal love but yes also secondly for Mutual enjoyment and that I think comes to expression doesn't it in the first words that Adam speaks here um this is really quite interesting because all of this happens apparently on the very first day of Adam's creation he sees the woman that God brings to him verse 22 of chapter 2 and then if you're using a modern version you'll notice that the next statement is set out in Poetic form he breaks into poetry he breaks into song and he says at last now that's rather curious isn't it I mean he is not a single day old yet but the the at last refers not so much to how has it taken you so long to bring this beauty to me but the fact that this woman is the last of a long line of kind of potential best friends I mean you can see here I was listening to my dear friend Derek Thomas speaking about dogs in the resurrection life and you can you can see Adam in Derrick Thomas fashion going into the face of the dog but then coming back and seeing you know I'm too intelligent for this to do for me and then she appears and he says wow at last and there's a there's a kind of tail end to that isn't there at the end of the chapter in which in this these words that I remember years ago RC Sproul describing as the concluding unscientific PostScript which is a title of a book by Sauron kirkegaard and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed Christians over the years have been very sensitive about the idea of the nude haven't they and and understandably so because we're Fallen creatures but the sheer beauty of the man and the woman made as the image of God that that not only meets me in terms of of my social needs but my aesthetic pleasures and it's all here I almost laugh when I hear people say why is it that you Christians are always banging on about sex and I want to see we are not the ones who do that we're in a world that worships sex often distorted sex and that's why we react because we have a higher view of this with a real view of beauty we have a right aesthetic we understand what beauty is and what beauty is here I remember reading somewhere that's very difficult to tell what beauty is but one simple test is take a photograph of yourself and fold over in the middle and if both halves meet exactly then you are a beauty don't even think about doing that it will depress you for the rest of your life but what is actually true and I think is true here in creation is that beauty is a real match between what a person is physically and what a person is in character and both of them are present here and the beauty of regeneration and life of a married couple is both of them are present I mean if they were to turn on all the lights and the men were able to go around every single woman here it would only be eventually when they found their wives that they would say at last there would be several thousand women in this I'm going to get into trouble for this there may be several thousand women in this room that you wouldn't even think about marrying but what you found in the woman you married was that however quirky she looked to other people you saw in what she was physically and what she was spiritually and in terms of character that that these two things matched you know one of the awful things about so many marriage guidance gurus is that they speak all right as though God meant that one size fits all but what God does in creation is he makes one size fit one size so it's not that beauty is in the eye of the beholder simply it's often that beauty is hidden from the eyes of other beholders to see what you see so yes God gives creation for deep companionship from Mutual enjoyment and then obviously for shared activity you notice in verse 18 the Lord God said it's not good that the man should be alone I will make him a helper fit for him and there are two things there there is the idea of the itself the helper uh like if one can put it this way the and some of us know this by sheer experience the helplessness of the man who is who is without the woman to be to be able to function um but also there's this idea that this helper is fit for him uh you know how sometimes people describe if you ask them how did you meet and how did you get together they said well there was just something that clicked and of course that's true both for Christians and for non-christians because this is not a Redemptive ordinance this is a creation ordinance there is an instinct in us to use that language because it reflects this language God made a helper that clicked with him she is exactly what I need and of course that's one of the beauties that we see in Real Marriage the sense of help the sense of being fitted to one another clicking the sense that we belong together I had a dear friend an older student at Seminary who eventually died of an inoperable brain tumor and I remember sharing a room with him at the at the Seminary Student conference and he was going over and over and over again that everybody who knew him thought you had better just either die or marry this woman she is to die for and he was fussing and you know it was all the man thing of you know basically not being prepared to commit and when he died I had the privilege of writing a little Memoir of his life and I found these words that he had written in his journal just as he got to the point of proposing to this wonderful wonderful woman who was such a blessing to him he said I realized that we would be more together than either of us could be separately and that's what Genesis is speaking about here and it's so very beautiful and then of course the fourth element is the element of Covenant commitment and we find that don't we here in verse 29. at 24 therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife you know one of the reasons for the transformation in marriage statistics but not so much that people cease to believe in marriage but that people became so self-obsessed that they were unwilling to make a radical commitment to another human being and therefore it's not surprising that they never really found themselves because in a wonderful sense that is what marriage is really for and although it may seem inelegant of Moses to use the language if you've got really really good eyesight you'll notice something in one of these footnotes I think it may be footnote number eight that God did two things the first thing was he built the woman the second thing was he brought the woman and in a sense that's the essence of the whole thing that's the the Marvel that is actually the Romance of the whole road that leads us to marriage which is quite simply that the Lord builds somebody for us I know that sounds a little inelegant I don't know what shape or size that means but what it implies is that God has done this lovingly personally beautifully and this is his gift for me and so he reenacts for us in Genesis chapter 2. the story We reenact in our own marriages the truth that refreshes our own marriages that it's God who began the good work which he has continued and given to us and if that however superficially is the basic Christian doctrine of marriage then it shouldn't surprise us that since this is the Apex of creation that God makes man and woman and then also that within that context because not every man not every woman in scripture is married but within that context of creating man and woman he also creates marriage and we understand that male and female is actually the Apex whether there is marriage or not and that marriage in a sense is the Blessed icing on the cake of that relationship then it shouldn't surprise us that this is where the enemy attacks and this of course is exactly what happens in Genesis chapter 3. the disintegration of the relationship the disintegration of the family and then the disintegration of society and you're not out of chapter four before you discover uh a scenario that is so reminiscent of today of adultery and of violence and of the disintegration of God's very best gift and we need to begin to recover this story actually there's a very enigmatic indication that the gospel recovers this story in the passage in First Corinthians 11 that we all think of as the passage about head covering if you can just get that out of your mind for a minute and remember what Paul says in that context he says that man has been made as the image of God and the woman is the glory of the man and it seems to me that is a bachelor's inspired by the spirit insight into what the restoration of biblical marriage looks like that in that relationship the glory of the relationship is seen in the woman not just in the man and the man understands that where his dignity will be most apparent is in the woman to whom he has committed himself well that leads us briefly to our second consideration I should have told you at the beginning that the second consideration the practical application would be shorter and it's certainly now needs to be not because it's less important but because we understand we all understand in this room that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds so that when we capture the biblical vision of marriage then the application of that is energized is this the blessing God may have for me is this a blessing God has given to me then of course a b c and d will follow but scripture doesn't leave us to our own devices here and you'll remember especially how Paul works this out in Ephesians chapter 5. and I think it's important that when we read the marriage section in Ephesians chapter five we we don't allow our eyes immediately to go to the paragraph about husbands and wives or wives and husbands but that we take in the whole of what Paul is saying here because you'll remember how chapter 5 begins it begins in a sense back in Genesis chapter one and two what's the first word in chapter five therefore be imitators be images be likenesses of God as beloved children you see what he's doing he's taking us all back as it were to the Garden of Eden and he's saying what what the gospel is doing he is the gospel is beginning to restore you to the way things were and and all their purity originality and beauty and yes Glory and that means two things if you're going to be a limitator of your heavenly father then like Christ you must walk in love and in Christ you must walk in wisdom walk in love in verse two and also immediately he he contrasts walking in love with sexual immorality and then walking in wisdom in verse 15 look carefully how you walk not as unwise but as wise and you remember Genesis 3 they gave way to the creature that was the wisest and most subtle creature of all so these beautiful Echoes of Genesis chapters one through three and then there is this statement in verse 21 that the way in which this will come to manifest itself as you give thanks for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ there is this Mutual submission that pervades the Christian's relationship with others and in a sense that's the principle that we need to grasp first of all if we're going to understand the atmosphere of what Paul says in verse 22 wives submit to your own husbands that's not an oppressive statement that's a statement saying there is a very special application of the general principle governing all Christian relationships expressed in verse 21 in this unique relationship between the husband and the wife and as he begins to expand that there are some very important principles I think for us to grasp but I do want to emphasize that they are principles they might have had a kind of long concern that when it comes to to um preparing young couples for marriage in the church where we take marriage seriously we've we've tended to look to the professionals instead of looking to old Mr and Mrs Smith who sit at the back of the church I think if I were giving marriage guidance counsel to a young couple I would ask them who they knew in the church and if they said the new old Mr and Mrs Smith I would say I will take you through the marriage service but sit down together with a list of questions and go and visit Old Mr and Mrs Smith because they've done it they're not gurus in their 30s telling you how to have the perfect marriage often transforming biblical principles in their application of it back into principles that aren't actually biblical and so you hear them or read what they say and you are wrecked because you know you cannot meet that standard when that standard is sometimes their own arrogant projection of how they are married onto your marriage and they I think especially with with women that has often brought women to a sense of inadequacy and paralysis in their marriage but your marriage isn't their marriage and to be absolutely honest about it you do not know how marriages have worked out until the children are well into their 30s at least because that often is going to be the expression of your marriage so what are Paul's principles well they're fairly obvious aren't they the first is the nature of the wife's devotion to her husband in her role as helpmate a dear younger ones if you're if you're if you're on the verge of marriage or of aspiration to a particular individual that's one of the questions you really do need to ask is this the man to whom I want to be a helpmate do not enter marriage with the notion of I will change him and that's how all this emerges and the interesting thing is the extent to which this devotion presupposes that the man is worthy of respect verse 33 and incidentally says Paul see that you respect your husband that's often the the first question I would ask a girl on her own do you respect him and sometimes you can see a look of nervousness come across her face because she doesn't actually respect him but you see if marriage is about companionship companionship is about respect not about his or her Perfection but about your sense this person yes with all his limitations yes of course he's a sinner but there are these qualities that I'm able to respect that I think is why this famous saying from the Middle Ages it goes back I think at least to Peter of Lombard is so right on that the man is worthy of respect and that's why the woman not only respects him but sees herself as his help meet and therefore is willing to come alongside him in that capacity because as Lombard says she was not made out of his head to rule him not from his feet to be Trampled Under him but out of his side to be cared for by him near to his heart to be loved by him and under his arm to be protected by him we truly do have a better story and this is why as Paul goes on who has the greater challenge the woman or the man that the man is urged to see Christ's sacrifice on the cross as the model of his love for his wife looking to nurture and to nourish her and when that is true we see great Beauty I used to look out of my office window some people from the church in Colombia here they don't know this I've never said this I'm not sure I've said it to anybody I used to look out my church when my office window just as people were gathering for the second morning service to see a member of the congregation who had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and his citation was extraordinary getting out of his car going to the passenger side and helping his handicapped wife out of the car and I used to think that's what Paul is speaking about that is so beautiful so as I said at the beginning we are a great mixture here some of us aspirants to marriage some of us engaged some of his newlywed some of us with marriages gone cold some of us with marriages that have been fractured some of us who are like Paul who have been called to singleness but it's vital for our churches for our society for our witness to the gospel that what God gave in the Garden of Eden is restored in the gardens of Our Lives so let's take a moment of quiet together and I'm going to do two things as we close and then I'll ask you to have another moment of quiet because this is really so important to us all and then Chris will return to the podium let's bow together I want to quote you first of all some words I've often quoted at weddings from a missionary to Egypt by the name of Temple girdner who wrote this on the evening of his marriage and perhaps if marriage lies in the future you can pray it with him and if you are married you can be refreshed by it that I may come nearer to her drumming than to her that I may know her make me to Know Thee more than her that I may love her with the perfect love of a perfectly whole heart caused me to love thee more than her and best of all and then if I may want to do something else to refresh those of us who are married to encourage those of us who are on the way to be married and since this is the United States it's okay to take your spouse's hand will you have this woman to be your wedded wife to live together after God's ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony will you love her comfort her honor her and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all other keep you only to her as long as you both shall live and will you have this man to be your wedded husband to live together after God's ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony and will you honor him and serve him love him and keep him in sickness and in health and forsaking all other keep thee only to him as long as you both shall live Lord give us such marriages we pray now and into the future that we may shine as lights in a dark place be salt be cities set on Hills that Jesus Christ may be praised we ask it in his name amen with us heard an important Message from Dr Sinclair Ferguson on God's good design for marriage I appreciate Dr Ferguson's teaching and my wife and I have really benefited from his book in the year of Our Lord during the conference you can request a free copy of the ebook Edition in 20 brief chapters Dr Ferguson will take you through an overview of 20 centuries of church history with memorable stories and even Christian hymns from throughout the ages you can get your free ebook at ligonier.org year now is a great time to request this resources we're heading into a very quick break here in Orlando but we'll be back in only a few minutes with Dr Michael Reeves he'll provide us with foundational teaching on the doctrine of the Trinity so stay close we'll return shortly many of us feel overwhelmed we can start to believe what the world has been telling us for years to believe the Bible is a leap of faith to say that Jesus Christ is the only way to know God is arrogant the Temptation is to retreat and take our gospel hope with us it's time for us to recapture that Vision to take back lost ground it's time to renew our minds [Music] is [Music] this is ourselves [Music] thank you is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] please please [Music] Jesus Christ [Music] like we're not here [Music] our Lord 's Grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] and I hope you're enjoying ligonier's National Conference so far we'd love to hear what you're learning on social media if you use the hashtag ligcon that's ligcom you can tell us about the insights you've gained some of the moments that you've appreciated or quotes from our speakers that have stood out to you and please remember you can share the conference live stream with your family and friends to help extend the reach of this teaching our next speaker is Dr Michael Reeves and his message is titled the triunity of God the doctrine of the Trinity can sometimes seem daunting to Christians yet understanding God as Father Son and Holy Spirit can deeply enrich our Christian lives and as Dr Reeves is about to explain this truth can also help embolden us to stand firm in our faith today foreign good morning friends well we here this morning we are the children of the Reformation we care about the sort of truth that Lutheran Calvin and Friends fought for in the Reformation we care about salvation as a gift of pure grace being declared righteous by God not because we've been righteous ourselves but because Christ clothes us with his righteousness we care about those sweet truths but what has the trinity to do with all that what possible difference can the Trinity make to those beautiful truths about salvation that the reformers fought for that we love does the trinity shape the gospel that we cherish and what we're going to see this morning is that the Triune nature of God is the mold for the gospel the fact that God is father son and spirit shapes the gospel everything beautiful about the gospel is only so because God is Triune the Trinity gives Our Gospel its character its flavor and all the gratuity and comfort of the Gospel that Luther would fight for in the Reformation all of it found its source in the Triune nature of God and Luther actually was absolutely clear on this right at the very beginning of the Reformation Luther called the Trinity the highest article on which all others depend so let's look at the Trinity particularly through Paul's letter to the Romans so I want to get a big picture view of Romans but let's start with the first few verses how he introduces the letter Romans 1 verses 1 to 4. here's how Paul introduces the gospel Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he God promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy scriptures concerning his son who is descended from David according to the Flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of Holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ Our Lord so for Paul do you see the gospel is trinitarian it is verse 1 the gospel of God that is it is the good news of the father verse 3 concerning his son who verse 4 was declared Son of God in power according to the spirit now straight away this is a very different way to start thinking of the Trinity to what we often see haven't you been in a Bible study group and a young Christian says so can someone tell me about the Trinity please and what sort of answers do you get you'll get someone going ah yes the Trinity um I like to think of the Trinity a bit like a shamrock Leaf it's it's one leaf but it's got three bits sticking out of it just like God and someone else says no I find it really helpful to think of God is like H2O it's like one thing but three kind of ways of being that one thing it could be ice water or steam so you know you have the father warm him up a bit and he becomes sunny keep warming it up and it all becomes more spiritual or someone else says Trinity is like an egg there's the shell the Yoke and the white but it's one egg and we wonder why the world laughs and people think of course this is irrelevant who is going to bow down in awe at the eggishness of God and so we think of course let's leave this bizarre Doctrine to the sort of socially disastrous theologians who like discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin but Paul here believes in the Trinity not because he senses God's similarity to eggs or h2o but because of the Gospel and what we'll see throughout Romans is the importance of knowing chapter 1 verse 7 God our Father who sends his son that we might have peace with him that he sends the spirit of sonship that we might be sons of God crying Abba father and so what Paul sees in the gospel is that the Living God is eternally a father and why eternally well if at any time the father did not have a son he simply would not be father for it it's not as if God the father is something else on underneath that at some point he chose to become a father if that's how it is then it's like he's got a nice blob of fatherly icing on top but he's something else deep down before he chose to become a father no no he is Father all the way down and is his eternal identity for that to be true for his essential identity to be father he must eternally have a son and so to be who he is this God the Father must have a son to be father then means to love to beget the son and therefore this God would not be who he is if he did not love for eternity before the foundation of the world the father has been loving the son John 17 24 pouring out his Spirit on him and so we see because our God is Triune and only because our God is Triune we can say God is love and so we begin to see why the Trinity is such good news God is love because God is Trinity because for eternity the father has been positively bursting out with love for his son and you get a picture of this in the baptism of Jesus and if you ever want an illustration of the Trinity rather than H2O this is the place to go there the father of the Jordan of the baptism of Jesus the father declares his love for the son and his pleasure in him as the spirit rests on him like a dove for the spirit is the one who makes the love of the father known causing the sun to cry Abba and there's this lovely moment in Luke 10. where we read Jesus full of joy in the Holy Spirit cried I praise you father Lord of Heaven and Earth for the Father's Love For Him poured out through the spirit fills him with an answering Delight in the father so I hope you see it that when you start with the gospel the Triune God doesn't come across as an irrelevant philosophical headache here is a God who is love a father loving his son in The Fellowship of the spirit all this means that the very nature of the Triune God it is at complete odds with the nature of all other gods have you ever thought about the gods of human religion all of them share something in common they are needy they need us to serve or worship them they're weak so just imagine a God who is a single person sitting alone on his throne for eternity by himself what's he like lonely solitary so why would he create the world to get some friends to get some slaves see such a God needs us his glory is like a black hole sucking in taking but the Triune God doesn't need us at all the father's never been lonely for eternity he's been perfectly satisfied in his glorious son needing nothing he has life in himself and so much so he's brimming over with it his glory is radiant and outflowing the Sun shows this glory in going out from the Father the father begets his son eternally in the sun then goes out from the father as the bright Radiance of his father's glory for that's what this God is like not needy but full overflowing fruitful and that is why this God can relate to us by sheer Grace no other God can do that and I think there's an enormous challenge for the church here today that we must make it more obvious that we do not believe in just any God we believe in this God for people assume when we say God that the Living God is just the same as all the idols and bores of human imagination and religion but in the gospel we see the only God who is love who is overflowing who is sufficient the god beyond the tiresome Idols of human imagination and therefore only with this God is there the possibility of salvation by grace or salvation at all do you know let's take Islam as an example in Islam there is no word for salvation because there is no such thing in Islam the closest word you have would be translated as success isn't that revealing the Triune god of love offers salvation Allah requires success no there is no salvation without the trinity and we can see this in Romans 3 let's start jogging on a bit through Romans Romans 3 from verse 23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood now you see if God were not Triune if the father had no son to die in our place well God would have to make some third party suffer to achieve atonement in other words we would have to provide a perfect man to die in our place we would have to provide the substitute because God would have none to offer us we would have to produce the perfect one but that's not Grace God would have done nothing for us and that's not possible it is only because the father has a son that God can accomplish the entire work of Salvation himself he provides the sufficient sacrifice it is because God is trying that the cross works so there is no salvation without the trinity but I think Christians do often present a trinity Light gospel so try this as an account of the Gospel see if it sounds familiar it's the story of the Heavenly school principle and his naughty students it goes like this we've all been caught breaking the rules and so we're due a Long Detention but then Along Comes A nice classmate called Jesus and he takes the punishment for us so we can go home with a clean report sound familiar now there's much in there that does Echo some of the lines of the Gospel but there was nothing about the Trinity there and therefore that account of the Gospel was deeply defective because you started with a god who's not a father eternally loving his son but what if what if before all things in eternity past you do start with a God who is a father whose very life has been about loving delighting in his precious son who so enjoyed loving his son he wants to spread that love then you see a different gospel then you see the gospel of a god whose ultimate aim is not to send us home with a clean school report but to draw Us in to his life and joy to embrace us with the very love with which he has for his dear son the nature of God radically shapes the nature of the Salvation he would offer see if God is just a solitary individual who's decided he wants a creation to rule over then salvation is just about becoming a law-abiding citizen under his rule that's it but if God is a father loving his son then the gospel is something far sweeter salvation is about becoming Spirit anointed sons of God more than just forgiven more than righteous adopted and here ultimately and beautifully is how the Trinity shapes the gospel so come and have a look with me at Romans 8 now which captures this trinitarian shape to our Salvation so wonderfully and I want to start with the surprise okay this is outrageous language that Paul uses ladies pay special attention for how culturally offensive this is verse 14 ladies all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God oh misogyny well scripture does sometimes speak of generically of children of God but Paul here wants us to be clear the status all believers are given is quite specifically the status of the son himself you know the men have to make peace with being part of the bride of Christ so we've all got issues here because this thing to talk of our sonship it's about being clear all believers we share in nothing less than what the son himself has naturally because the father doesn't just give us some exalted semi-angelic status we can imagine that can't we yes the father loves his son and then the children of God no the son shares with us his own sonship Paul goes on in verse 15. but you did not receive the spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear you've received the spirit of adoption as Sons by whom we cry Abba Father the spirit of adoption or in Galatians 4 4 he calls it this it calls him the spirit of his son United to the Sun and so adopted in him sharing his sonship the children of God received the very Spirit the comforter of the son which is why he makes us cry the very Cry of the son Abba and isn't that strange in this holy Greek letter there's Paul inserts this one Aramaic word to remind us of Mark 14. where Jesus praying in the garden in private is talking to his father and calls him Abba Father echoing that Paul is showing us as intimately as he can sonship means being given by grace the very relationship with the father that the son himself eternally and naturally has enjoyed so we come before the Father the most high as Jesus Does the father's eternal love for the son encompasses us John Calvin said that Christ's aim in all that he did was to restore us to God's grace and so make the children of men children of God to make The Heirs of gehenna Heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom that is the aim of redemption now friends if God was not a father he could never give us the right to be his children if he did not enjoy Eternal fellowship with his son you have to wonder does he have any Fellowship to share with us does he know what Fellowship is a single person God wouldn't if for example the son was a creature distant from the father what sort of relationship with God could he share with us if the son himself had never been close to the father how could he bring us close if God was a single person if the father has no son salvation would look entirely different such a god might possibly might allow us to live under his Rule and protection but he'll be at a distance we'd probably have to approach him through intermediaries he maybe he might offer forgiveness but he he couldn't offer closeness he just couldn't do it and since by definition he wouldn't be eternally loving you have to ask would he deal with the price of sin himself and offer forgiveness for free no distant heilings we would remain if God was a single person and we would never hear the sun's golden words to his father you have loved them even as you have loved me brush your teeth with those words every morning this Gospel of this God gives us such intimate access to the Holy One beloved Children of the most high no other God could bring us so close and have us so loved no other God could so win our hearts without this God we could never say our father but we can we pray as it were through the mouth of Jesus and our father Delights to hear the calls of his children and that enables a hearty prayer life you see if that's what it is I can approach the emperor of the universe as my loving pure father that means prayer becomes a delightful privilege and once again it all means you've got a Salvation that is by Grace from first to last see if salvation is not about being adopted into the family of the father the grace is not so clear see we often speak of Salvation like this we say our problem is God's standards are really high and our standards aren't good enough and that's our problem but if that's our only problem you know what we're all going to do God stand is a high I know we're not doing well enough we'll try a bit harder but if salvation is to be adopted as children into the family of the father then our performance can have nothing to do with it it's simply a wrong category you cannot earn your way into a family God's blessing is sonship and so effort can have nothing to do with it your efforts can make you a Slave but no amount of effort can make you a son all our efforts to win God's salvation by Our Own Strength will only produce slaves slaves who do not inherit but sonship is free and this is right at the heart of the Christian battle knowing that the only blessing God has is completely of Grace free adoption for real sinners because naturally I go through life thinking I'm so in constant I'm so faithless I'm so riddled with sin my Christian life is so poor and so I doubt God could love me but that's why our Christian lives are so poor because we've bought this satanic inversion of the Gospel that once I sought myself out then God will love me what would any kind father think hearing that from their child the father hearing his child thinks she needs to earn his love and you know that ABBA cry it tells us something else as well about how the Trinity shapes the gospel for that cry is not just about our new status before God those who call on God as their father do so not just because they can but because they've been transformed see the natural sinful mind Paul says earlier in Romans 8 verse 7 is hostile to God it hates God but in Salvation Romans 5 5 God has poured his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit he's given us turning our hearts this is what the spirit does he turns our hearts from our natural love of sin and hatred of God he turns our hearts so that we love God and hate sin and so Believers cry Abba not just because they're allowed to but because they now adore him as their father now think for eternity God the father has delighted in his perfect son your son has delighted in his father in The Fellowship of the spirit and we've been created that we might share that that we might glorify God and enjoy him forever just as the spirit moves on the firstborn sun he works on all the sons of God God pours his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we too cry out I praise you father Lord of Heaven and Earth as it is with the father and the son so it is with us the spirit Catches Us up to share their Mutual pleasure and this friends is the heartbeat of what it means to be holy with this God what it means to be Godly it's why Jesus says in John 8 42 if God were your father you would love me for the father's very identity consists in his love for his son and so when we love the Sun we reflect what is most characteristic about the father it is the prime reason the spirit is given to us you know the Puritan John Owen wrote therein consists the principle part of our renovation into the image of God nothing makes us so like God as our love for Jesus Christ that's when you're really being like God when you love the son as he does so the spirit makes us like the father love the son and the spirit gives us the mind of Christ and what is characteristic of the Sun John 14 31 I love the father the heart of our transformation into the likeness of the sun is our sharing in his deep Delight in the father and so in our love and enjoyment of the sun we're being like the father in our love and enjoyment of the father we're being most like the son that is the happy life the spirit calls us into so how great and lovely then is the work of the spirit he unites us to the Sun so that the Father's Love For the son encompasses us he draws us to share the father's enjoyment of the son he calls us to share the son's Delight in the father what could be more delicious than to keep in step with a spirit whose purpose is that and it means something wonderfully transformative for the spirit is not just about bringing us to some mere external performance for God but bringing us to find we love him we find our joy in him what we love and enjoy is foundationally important and you should think about this today what do you really enjoy it's far more significant than your outward Behavior because it is your desires that drive your behavior what do you want what do you long for drives how you live the father son and Spirits love and enjoy each other and our problem is that our desires have been off kilter we've desired other things that we are made to enjoy God that's what Humanity was created for we've turned to Love and Enjoy other things things that aren't able to satisfy but the spirit's first work is to set our desires in order to open our eyes and give us the father's own relish for the son the son's own enjoyment of the father you know the Heidelberg Catechism captures this brilliantly it asks what is the coming to life of the new man answer to what is regeneration answer it is wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to see the spirit would never be interested merely in empowering us to do good merely his deeper desire which is the desire of the father and the son is to bring us to such a hearty enjoyment of God through Christ that we Delight to know him that we Delight in all his ways and that therefore because we Delight in him we want to do as he wants and we hate the thought of grieving him that is the life the spirit gives he gives us himself opening up to us the lovely Fellowship of the Father the Son and the spirit he wins our hearts to share their satisfaction and pleasure in each other and there's just one more brief thing to note from the very last few chapters of Romans in the gospel from Romans 12 on we see the spirit not only reconciles us to God he reconciles us to each other so you see the spirit leads us to Romans 12 verse 10 love one another with brotherly familial affection the God of Peace and fellowship reconciles male and female black and white Jew and Gentile all to the same uniting love of God which spills over into a heartfelt love of each other and so the father son and spirit share their Heavenly Harmony that there might be Harmony on Earth that peoples of different genders languages ethnicities might be one in peace and love and that one day with one heart one Spirit One Voice we might cry salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb only such a relational intrinsically harmonious God could or would do that so how does the Trinity shape the gospel the Trinity makes the gospel with the Father the Son and the spirit we have a god of love a God would want to know a God we can trust the Trinity makes salvation possible and The Trinity makes salvation sweet only with this God are we freely welcomed in together as brothers and sisters to share the very Joy of God and cry together our father and so now the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all amen you just heard Dr Michael Reeves with an encouraging message about our Triune God and far from abstract doctrines with no relevance for today these foundational Christian truths are what we need to be faithful Witnesses for Christ in a lost and confused world don't forget that you can find resources from Dr Reeves and our other speakers in ligonier's online conference bookstore since we're about to head into a short break make sure you take some time to browse the significantly discounted collection at ligonier.org bookstore there you'll find hundreds of helpful books teaching series and more to further your study and your growth in the knowledge of our holy God as Heirs of the Protestant Reformation we embrace the Latin phrase Solly deogloria which means to God alone Be The Glory the whole of our salvation and everything in our lives is for God's glory and that includes our everyday work and vocations we'll be back at around 11 35 eastern time and Dr Harry Rita is going to deliver a message titled working for the glory of God I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'll see you back here for our next session I grew up on the streets and my youth I was in and out of juvenile I'm selling a lot of drugs I get the attention of the federal government and at 21 years old I'm indicted on a federal drug trafficking conspiracy as soon as you get arrested everybody says you turn to God read the Bible pray and in my mind I'm like no why turn to God to be apartments right here on several occasions I was shot at when I was right there from somebody over here [Music] during this time my then girlfriend was going to church I didn't know she knew I was against it she knew I didn't support it I had never read the Bible I had never even looked at it I don't even know what's what she says read the book of John she wanted me to read the Gospel of John but I ended up reading first second and third John and I never forget those verses where that verse said that God is love and then the other verse where it says this is love that he sent his son I didn't know what that meant at that time but I knew I was I was blown away about the Simplicity of it and about that truth that God is love I didn't know how to pray I didn't know who to pray to I don't know what to say I said God I don't I don't know what to do I don't know what to say but one thing I do know I want to know you and I want to serve you I had new desires that that I knew something had happened from that day on we started a Bible study when I got sentenced it was I sent us 156 months which comes out to 13 years and in a lot of ways I was grateful that of course you know you know it's a long time this one occasion we we got in a heated argument the brother was saying that you could not lose your salvation and all of us were saying yes you could lose your salvation he goes I want to give you a book so I hope this will help you understand you know I said yeah okay give me the book I read it I said I'm gonna prove this guy wrong and the book he handed me of course was chosen by God Dr sprole when I read the truth it's just it was just like I was just overwhelmed like man I can't get over it little did I know that that God was going to prepare me to preach and teach to these brothers four months before I was going to be released providentially an old friend came into my into my life and that was my my now wife there's testimony of the testimony from every every angle I mean whether it be from work relationships friendships church I mean every yeah you know the God's hand is literally at every angle it's beyond expression you know it's just so many things you could share [Music] what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I [Music] and when I when I think of the grace of God in my life nobody knows more than me that I have absolutely no right to be such a recipient of such Grace [Music] and when I read this verse and I just the joy of the Lord is runs through the blood in my veins foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] oh no Lord [Music] 's cross Ed [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] loss again [Music] is ourselves [Music] thank you is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we're not here [Music] hi we're joined by Dr Stephen Lawson Dr Lawson this weekend at our national conference you're going to be addressing the Bible and how we need to stand firm on our conviction that the Bible is the word of God and we mustn't compromise amen how do you answer the critics that say you know the Bible's just an old book what could it possibly have any relevance for today well first of all anyone who would say that has an unconverted mind and heart so of course they're not going to see the relevance of the Bible because they don't know God through Jesus Christ so that's an outsider looking in if they had a renewed mind then they would see that this is the most relevant book that has ever been written in the history of the world that it speaks to every heart and every generation on every continent and so they're blind so they can't see and God needs to give them eyes to see so that's the very clear answer to your question I think all evangelicals would at least give lip service to say they love the Bible yeah I love the word of God yeah but it's not uncommon when it comes to life decisions who should I marry where should I work that they're waiting for a still Small Voice now look into the word of God for counsel but I want God to speak to them directly yeah what do you say to them well the Bible is our guide for everything and while it may not address specifically the name of the job you're to have or which house you are to buy or the name of the woman you're to marry nevertheless there are Timeless principles that guide us into the will of God such that you should only marry a Believer and which woman would help you most glorify God and aspects like that and so that's why you need to know really the whole Bible JC raw once said it takes a a whole Bible to produce a whole Christian and so you need to be aware with all of the Timeless principles in the scripture and they it'll be like a compass that will direct you onto the path of God's will our theme this weekend is stand firm yeah and you know Christians are facing greater opposition at least in these United States that they have in recent times um there are some on college campuses they're in workplaces they want to be bold in their face but they're they're trying to stay out of the line of fire this kind of put my head down I want to study I want to just do my job well how do you encourage them and what does it look like to stand firm when you're out there in a secular workplace or school yeah well it boils back to the word convictions and the deeper your convictions are in the word of God the stronger will be your witness for the truth in Scripture so I understand that we all face some hesitancy we don't want to offend people and we don't want to be cut off Etc however the deeper Our Roots are in the scripture the more there will be the fruit of an outgoing witness and to speak up for for Christ in the book of Acts every time it says someone was filled with the spirit either the rest of the verse or the next verse it says they open their mouth and spoke with boldness so it really does boil back to being filled with the spirit being governed and controlled empowered by the spirit of God and you cannot help but speak out for Christ regardless of what the uh the the the result will be so filled with the spirit deeper convictions in the word Jesus really said what's done in the heart comes out of the mouth and and what's down in the well comes up in the bucket and so to be filled with the spirit and the word of God in the heart it will come out of the mouth now for those that watch your message perhaps they come away and I say you know I need to be in the Bible more absolutely I need to spend more time in the Bible what does that look like how have you maybe engaged with the Bible differently throughout your life and Ministry and how would you encourage them to to get in the word yeah sure Nathan um and we do go through different seasons in our Christian Life different approaches to reading the Bible everything from read through the Bible in a year to taking one book in the Bible and reading through that multiple times I'm a big believer in taking a book in the Bible and read what I like to do is is make a photographic copy of that book where I have a pen in hand and as I read it I mark it up underline circles arrows asterisks from Interactive with it and you've got to read it several times obviously a shorter book it's easier to do that but it's not just that we get into the word of God the word of God needs to get into us and so after doing that you really need to pray through that and make it personal in my own life that God would incorporate what I'm reading into my daily walk with the Lord to really seal it on the inside so that that would be my encouragement either read through the whole Bible in a year or take one book in the Bible and try to master it in some way I really like that idea take a photocopy one book reread it I've done that my whole life and I like doing it with a study Bible like the Reformation Study Bible and there are other study Bibles where he has some notes at the bottom as well that you can reference as you're reading that's especially helpful like with Old Testament books some historical background as you're reading through this that's really practical advice well Dr Lawson I'm grateful for you for your time and thanks for being with us this weekend thank you Nathan love the conference hi my name is Maddie Martin and I serve as director of admissions here at Reformation Bible College I'm so excited to take you on a tour of our campus here in Sanford Florida this is Aaron Aaron is our lead admissions recruiter and an RBC Alum our founder Dr arshi swirl's Vision was that we would be a college Faithfully educating students to better help know serve and worship God throughout all of life our first stop is Founders Hall this is our newest building on campus and where most of Life at RBC happens here you'll find our main classrooms faculty offices library and our student Commons we even host some of our events and small conferences in the main hall this is one of my favorite places on campus Our Cafe and bookstore so whether you want to break for coffee or pick up something on the way to class this is a nice perk of this building you can even purchase some RBC swag or books by our faculty our student Commons is the heart of RBC Student Life what sets RBC apart is our community where discipleship is encouraged by our staff faculty and campus pastors a lot of that discipleship is actually driven by our own students where we have bi-weekly Bible studies and it's not uncommon to see our students praying and studying throughout the campus we are now in the library here students can find thousands of sources and articles written by key figures of the reformed classical tradition to help them study for their classes and write their papers the library also houses the Hanson rare book room these doors are modeled after the doors of the black Cloister which was a former Monastery that became Luther's home in Wittenberg now if you want to see what's behind those doors you are going to have to visit us on campus here at Reformation Bible College we teach theology for life meaning wherever the Lord calls you in the future you have a solid Biblical truth to build upon our academic curriculum is focused for students to learn communication critical thinking and problem solving this is Simpson Hall our largest classroom and here among other classes students are learning great works of literature history Systematic Theology philosophy and more this map reminds our students of a global task of making God known knowing the truth is the first step to communicating and defending the truth Founders Hall also contains more classrooms and other study areas behind us is the administration building this houses the admissions office a few small classrooms and the office of our president Dr Nichols and if you know the history of Dr sproul's Ministry when you visit that building see if you can find the original sign from the Ligonier Valley study center this beautiful campus is a blessing from the Lord and we're so grateful to see it continue to expand and serve a growing student body by God's grace every student who walks through the doors of RBC will be equipped to spread the gospel and stand for the truth and whatever calling the Lord has for them since you just received a taste of what RBC campus is really like we invite you to come visit us in person our admissions team is looking forward to hearing from you [Music] [Music] thank you the song please [Music] foreign [Music] no glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] must not be raises [Music] us ES [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you because [Music] I agree research problems I know [Music] [Applause] I saw my life [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] this is foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is truth is [Music] no curse for those he calls his friends he stays [Music] you [Music] know foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you because I've seen on foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] repeat I have the story [Music] if I grazed [Music] my days [Music] your spirit [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus is [Music] foreign [Music] offers [Music] Jesus Jesus Christ please please [Music] Jesus Jesus [Music] Jesus Jesus Christ [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] not even one Lord is our Lord [Music] is my love just hope was no mercy we thought we had something [Music] inside his mistakes [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] amen ities [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign hammer in the hand of an obscure augustinian monk changed the world forever [Music] Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg Germany calling his fellow professors to examine issues of supreme theological importance thus began the Reformation to which the light of God's word was brought out of the darkness to shine with clarity once more [Music] one of the central cries of the Protestant Reformation was this the just shall live by faith Luther's development of the doctrine of justification by faith alone recovered the gospel that had been hidden during the Middle Ages and at the center of that gospel is the affirmation that the righteousness by which we are declared just before a holy God is not our own it's a foreign righteousness an alien righteousness a righteousness that Luther said is extra nose apart from us namely it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ that righteousness that is imputed or counted for all who put their trust in him because of that affirmation Luther was involved in serious controversies controversies that culminated and his being brought to trial before the princes of the church and even before the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charles V and there at the diet of warmth summoned in Germany Luther was called upon to recant his View answered his interlocutors by saying we're a Fogo you want me to say revoko that I recant I will not recant unless I'm convinced by sacred scripture or by evident reason I cannot recant from my conscience is held captive by the word of God and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe here I stand I can do no other God help me in every generation the gospel must be published Anew with the same boldness and the same Clarity and the same urgency that came forth in the 16th century Reformation [Music] the church has always done this in both the spoken word and in song producing hymns that tell us of the great salvation that has been wrought by God Alone through Christ Alone these hymns that you hear today are Sacred Music for the church giving glory to the Holy One [Music] Lord Joy [Music] CE [Music] hungry holy holy Rose [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] all right foreign [Music] [Music] praise the souls from us it is for us please [Music] oh God [Music] then maybe [Music] foreign rise to me welcome back I'm Nathan W Bingham and you're with us live at ligonier's 2023 National Conference yesterday and today we've heard several messages on how Christians must stand firm for God's truth in a world that is growing increasingly hostile to the truth earlier this morning we thought about what that means for our marriages and our next message will focus on our families and vocations how can Christians glorify God at home in the workplace or wherever it is that the Lord has us to help us provide a Biblical answer to that question we're about to hear from Dr Harry Rita with a message titled working for the glory of God so if you've got your copies of God's word would you turn with me to our text assigned which is a little bit of a story here go with me to First Corinthians chapter 10. so let me start this way First Corinthians chapter 10 we'll be down at verse 31. so uh I guess most of you know that things run pretty much on time on track here at Ligonier as you can see pretty Dependable on the calendar the schedule and so when you're invited to speak which I'm privileged to be here and grateful to be here I uh you usually get you get your theme you get your text and you get your time and uh for some of us that's a little unusual uh the theme the text and the time but but we get it and you know normally my Ministry is one of expository preaching so I the text just kind of comes up lectio Continuum working through but now to get a text and then to do an expositional sermon on the text that's assigned and expository preaching obviously is a Hallmark and a blessing in this ministry for multiple reasons I can't help but remember a time this fella came to Briarwood and by the way you're all invited uh come to Briarwood come to Birmingham Alabama come to Alabama it won't be a culture shock when you get to heaven so just come and join us you'll really enjoy it so um so this fella met me at the back he said are you Harry reader and I said yes he said well I'm here today I said we'll praise the Lord and he said I've been listening to you for three years I didn't know you were right here in Birmingham I thought you were one of those California guys and I said no we're right here he said well listen I've been looking all over for a suppository preacher and uh yeah well I I think I got some Elders that'll agree with that description so anyway uh he was uh became a good friend and is still there thankfully um so I got the theme uh when that with the invitation Stan Furman I must say to you I was exhilarated uh by the theme because of this present age and this present distress whereby we find ourselves in serving Christ in this world so I was thrilled with that for a number of reasons and then I and then later I got the I got my text which was first Corinthians 10 31. well I just looked at it and I said oh they're wanting me to preach on the glory of God as related to standing firm and then I looked a little closer in fact my wife I think looked a little bit closer and said no I think they want you to preach on the glory of God in the Theology of work and vocation well I'd already done my work and I'd already gotten very excited about the glory of God in relationship to standing firm the theme so this is Omaha Omaha Omaha how many of you know what that is that's an audible now by the way I happen to have a member who played for the Denver Broncos and I said when Peyton Manning says Omaha Omaha Omaha what does that mean he said absolutely nothing and uh so but it means I I called and went right to the top of Ligonier to get permission to take the theme and how does the glory of God work in relationship to standing firm which will allow us to look at a Theology of vocation briefly as well I went right to the top and no that's not I didn't uh that's not Chris Larson that's Vesta and uh people have always thought I had a good friendship with the RC which I did and I was very grateful for it we had a lot of things in common a lot of discussion and of course I valued him as one of my professors in the 1980s and so deeply appreciated him but I became friends with Vesta because I found out she graded all the papers and so but anyway Crystal is very gracious and uh so I want to do this with you now standing firm attracted my attention very quickly it attracted my attention very quickly because I do believe we are in a very crucial time I I did not surprise me that Ligonier would sense that and oh and Orient a conference to help us as Believers stand firm because there is clearly a present conflict that is going on it has rightly been understood as a as a a conflict of almost revolutionary proportions a conflict in which the church is under assault Christendom is under assault throughout what is Western Civilization we are in a now let me be clear about this we are in a spiritual war not a culture War it is a spiritual war the culture is one of the battlefields the church is one of the battlefields the current ISM of the age progressivism secular progressivism it's it's um focus is deconstruction and it wants to deconstruct Western civilization particularly removing the influence of what has historically been called Christendom in this imperfections of what has been known as western civilization and then Progressive Christianity which I don't think ultimately is Christianity at all is penetrating the Evangelical Church and again the theme is deconstruction how many times have we picked up in the last three to four years previous leaders that we have read and looked at that now say well I'm halting and I'm examining my reformed and Evangelical faith and engaged in the deconstruction of it the battlefields or the culture the battlefields or it would be the church the battlefield would be your own life your own family and I think the call to stand firm is one that we need to hear we need to respond to we need to we need to embrace but stand firm is not passive stand firm is for a purpose we stand firm so that we can stand up and we stand firm to stand up so that we can speak out and when you speak out and you speak up and when you stand firm stand up speak out speak up then you stand out and that means you will be assaulted by Satan this should not surprise us spiritual warfare should not surprise us at all I have many times people will say you know Pastor I think I'm going through spiritual warfare and I'll say well tell me what you mean and they'll begin to explain it to me but you need to understand something spiritual warfare is not a subset of Christianity that comes into your life periodically spiritual warfare is the Christian Life we're always engaged in we may have seasons of respite but spiritual warfare is something that Jesus told us is going to be present constantly in front of us continually before us that marvelous moment when he gathers his disciples and says to them peace peace I give to you not as the world gives in the world you have tribulation in me you have peace take courage I have overcome the world or as we heard from one of our previous speakers that glorious promise in Matthew 16. as Peter confesses Christ he says blessed are you Simon barjona flesh and blood is not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and I say to you that you're Peter and Upon This Rock I'll build my church and then he tells them I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it Satan is constantly on the attack now make no mistake about this either we are in a spiritual war but the war has been won the war has been won in Christ when Jesus Christ went to the Cross he took on his and our enemies and he defeated sin Satan death hell and the grave and when he said let's die it's finished Victory had been accomplished then three days later the resurrection is the announcement of the Triumph of Christ by the father as The Same Spirit Who Came Upon him in Who Came Upon him at his baptism went with him in the wilderness throughout his teaching brought him to the Cross brought him out of the Grave that same spirit that brought him out of the grave at the directive of the father then announces to all of us he was delivered up for our transgressions he was raised he was raised for our justification who will bring a charge against God's elect it is God who justifies who is it to condemn Christ Jesus is he who died yesterday mother who is raised again who is at the right hand of the father and even now intercedes for us Christ Victor Christ was risen because Christ is risen now we have been set free from the guilt the shame and the Dominion of sin and that is the gospel message Christ delivers his people from their sins he has bound the strong man he has found the strong man and now he has Unleashed his church he has Unleashed his church on a glorious Enterprise he has Unleashed his church on a god-glorifying christ-exalting Spirit-filled Enterprise and it is very focused go and make disciples of all the nations Satan I abound the strong man plunder his house go and harvest the results and the fruit of my work on the cross I will send my spirit I'll be with you why how because the Risen Christ sends that same Spirit who was with him from the womb at the baptism into his ministry all the way to the cross out of the Tomb received him into Glory now he has poured forth that Spirit upon us and therefore empowers us for this Enterprise that's been given to us but it will not be without opposition Jesus said if they persecuted me how much more will they persecute you we have adversaries but we enter in to the battles and the battlefield knowing Christ has won the victory maybe the best example is if you go over there to the shores of France you go to the beaches of Normandy and you stand there and you look up and as you look up you see those Cliffs well on D-Day when those boys got to the top of those cliffs Hitler was done he was done and the Third Reich was done but they still had to go Hedgerow by Hedgerow Village by Village in town by town and so it was and so it is when Christ came out of that grave we win now we go family by family City by City Nation by Nation and when all of his elect have been brought to himself then that trumpet will blow and that's why I love missions and I love evangelism we're hastening the coming of the day of the Lord I don't know when it's going to happen but I know one thing out there someday somewhere someplace somebody is going to lead the last of the elective God to Christ and that trumpet's going to blow when that happens and I look forward to that day as the gospel goes to all the nations but we are in a war to accomplish it and there are adversaries and so as we enter into this as the adversity comes as the attempts to Prevail over the church comes but the prevailing Church stands how because we stand firm not in passivity we stand firm so that we'll stand up and when we stand up we speak up and when we speak up we speak out we speak out of the glories of the of our Triune God we speak of the glories of our Triune God through the preeminence of Christ the church is making disciples who stand firm stand up speak up speak out and as they speak up and speak out they'll stand out and then Satan puts them right in the crosshairs and when he puts them right in the crosshairs then we are ready to we are ready to serve the Lord and and where and how can we then continue to stand firm in those days look with me in First Corinthians 10. look at verse 31. so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God that was my assignment whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God now let's put it in context it's First Corinthians 10 31. it's the letter one of three letters we know that Paul may have wrote others but we know he wrote three two of them are in the Canon and as he writes this letter to the church at Corinth he is doing something very specific he is answering some questions that the leaders have sent to him and he is answering some concerns he has because of reports he's been given he's been receiving by individuals such as the household of Chloe and others and so he is writing and there but there are specifically seven questions that have been sent you can when you studied the book of Corinthians you can find it pretty quickly because as he's answering those questions he he introduces it with this phrase now concerning the matters about what you wrote now concerning well one of those things that they wrote him about that he is answering now remember Paul's got a special relationship as far as we know this church at Corinth he spent the second longest length of pastoral Ministry time three years he spent in Ephesus and at least 18 months he spent in Corinth and as he is writing to them and answering these questions and the church is in all kinds of has all kinds of problems not only in the assault from the outside but also what's taking place inside the church and that's how Satan works Satan has three schemes intimidation imitation and infiltration he attacks from the outside usually with intimidation and he loves to infiltrate the leadership of the church with false leaders that's what Paul would warn about false leaders who speak false things false teaching twisting the scriptures false leaders who lead the disciples not to Jesus but to themselves be on guard for that sometimes it's wolves in sheep's clothing sometimes it's sheep and wolves clothing but always be on guard for it and then do you not only have the you not only have the problems internally but you have them externally and both of them are deadly listen the the battle inside Friendly Fires are not too friendly it really isn't the battle from the outside the incoming seems to be incessant Satan is always at work how can we stand firm and that's why I rejoiced at this text you stand firm through that glorious call and privilege Duty and honor that whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do all to the glory of God I'm just going to give you three things to think about in terms of how this affects standing firm here's the first one living your life to the glory of God is the fixed point that you need it's the fixed Point whenever you're thinking your way through this what's my next decision marriage School military service vocation my next step in life is God allow me to give glory to you allow me to lift up praise to your name that is ultimately the decision that I want to make there will be other things that I need to think about in this text in particular the thing he's answering and the and the in the context of these seven questions there's one that's come to him about idolatry and in the question about idolatry is another question is hey what about hate um Paul what about when we're going through the market and we see some meat and we see something that we're buying that could have been offered in a pagan sacrifice and my committee an idolatry if I'm eating the meat that I bought in the market that came from a sacrifice or the drink or the or the uh or the grain or the grain that is there am I participating in idolatry and of course he gives this glorious answer we call the doctrine of Christian Liberty which talks about our freedom uh in Christ and that you could freely eat but Christian Liberty has two sides to it as Paul develops in the text I'm not only free to do something and I'm also free to abstain or not to do something if I've got a weaker brother or I've got a opportunity for evangelism and if that would and that would hinder my evangelism so he's developing this doctrine of Christian Liberty but then he says now here is your fixed point whether you eat with your drink or whatsoever you do here is your fixed point do all to the glory of God you have been saved to give God glory you have been saved from your sins what were you doing in sin you were falling short of the glory of God now you're saved by God's grace God's grace is greater than your sin that means your life has been transformed and instead of falling short of the glory of God in everything you do now you can give glory to God and that becomes your greatest Delight in life I have transformed you now you do not exist in self-absorption and self-preoccupation oh you still got an old man that keeps trying to bring you back to that but you're no longer under reigning sin yes you've got remaining sin but you're no longer under reigning sin you can kill sin and follow Jesus and live to the glory of God whether you eat or drink listen whatsoever you do so he gives us the fixed point I remember when I was uh in college at Covenant College and I got the privilege because of my role in the pre-ministerial club I got the privilege to know it but if you ever go to that college and you go up you'll see the chapel in the library and they exist basically because of this man some of you are old enough perhaps to remember Kresge stores his name was Stanley Kresge and he had become a Christian philanthropist and he and his sweet wife came I was you know I'm a college student ready to meet this capitalist and uh my goodness what a gracious kind man I was just I was just astonished the moments I could spend with him but I'd ask him this one question I said Mr Kresge I don't mean to be intrusive or uh and I certainly want to be appropriate and if you don't feel like answering this please tell me but I can't imagine how many people come to you for gifts and donations and how do you decide what to give to he said well Harry there's a number of things I go through but here's the most foundational I never write a check that I can't write First Corinthians 10 31 at the bottom the glory of God if I can't write that I don't write the check it became a fixed point in his life this glorious commitment to the glory of God and that is why we're in spiritual war because Satan's obsession is to Dethrone God to deny Glory going to God that is the obsession of the doctrine of demons that is the obsession of why he intimidates Believers that's why he infiltrates pulpits and Leadership and churches and seminaries that's why that's why he is constantly attempting to imitate and and bring imitations of Christianity that actually deny Christianity the glory of God is this glorious blessing that God has saved us and now we who participated in the dethroning of God with our life now our greatest Delight is to give glory to God that is what we desire to do that is what we want to do and we say no to Satan and we say yes to the majesty and glory of God in anything and everything that God has called us to do why did God make us as you so eloquently heard a few moments ago not because he needed us he made us for his glory why did God save us he didn't save us because he needed us isn't this gospel message amazing the god of Glory the Triune God of Glory this Triune God of Glory sent his son to save us from our sins the god whom we needed but we didn't want was the god who didn't need us but wanted us and this God authored our salvation this God the son accomplished our salvation and God the spirit applied that salvation to the praise of his glorious Grace why did God make us the father authored our existence the son accomplished our existence the Holy Spirit superintends the creation so that all of creation would exist and declare the glory of God and we who are made in the image of God are put over that creation to bring glory to God and what is the fundamental treachery of sin it is the denial of Glory to God and the foolishness of exchanging the truth of God for a lie and living as if we are the focus of Glory professing to be wise we become foolish that's what you're looking at right now in the cultural Battlefield you're looking at a culture of insanity absurdity embracing the obsessions of sexual Anarchy leading to lethality that's what you're watching it's incoherent it makes no sense but what drives it is not wisdom it's the doctrine of demons what drives it is the heart of the problem is the problem with the heart and the only cure for it is Christ Jesus who gives us a new record who gives us a new heart and gives us a new life in which imperfectly but now intentionally our Delight is the duty of whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do do all to the glory of God you see when the church stays on its focus to make disciples through evangelism and discipleship it turns out disciples and the key mark of disciples is worship when Jesus met the disciples at the first general assembly of the church it's not acts 15 it's Matthew 28. he meets the 11 and when they saw him they what they worshiped him evangelism wins them they're baptized and enfolded into the church shepherded and nurtured they're equipped through discipleship but you know you've hit the home run when those who fell short of the glory of God now Delight to give glory to God now please get this and the way their Delight is expressed is two ways number one gathered worship on the Lord's Day and with all due respect I'm grateful for technology that I can help shut in people praise God the people that are all kinds of all but worship is gathered speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs making melody in our hearts to God here is gathered Worship in which the means of Grace initiate the discipleship of the believer as We've Come Together who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing why we who have been dope-side blessed by God now gather to bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name now when we come together to worship now we're ready to scatter and here's the second way we give Glory lifestyle Worship in light of the mercies of God I beseech you Brothers to present I beseech you Brethren to present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service of worship life is worship for the believer that's why we live and whenever we fall short praise God we can confess our sins and he is faithful and just to forgive us he says to the father father forgive them I paid for it now let's move them forward to grow not for Grace let's grow into Grace and knowledge of Christ that the glory of God would be seen even more gloriously so that's that second application that I need to give you the glory of God in life for the believer is not only a fixed point it is the foundation of our life it is the formation of our life it is the motivation of our life we live on the foundation of God's glory manifested in his son and poured out by his spirit and then God's glory becomes the channel markers for our life as we make decisions about responsibility what am I going to do with my responsibilities what am I going to do with my resources what am I going to do with my relationships here's the answer the glory of God is framing me God please give me wisdom from above and what do I want to do I want to give you praise I want to meet you and hear well done good and faithful servant that means I desire God help me grow so that whether I eat or drink or whatsoever I do I do all to the glory of God father I don't live to eat I eat to live for you I don't live to drink I drink to live for you whatever I do that's not the idolatry of my life that's an instrument in life whereby the latria the glory of the father in the name of the son and in the power of the spirit is my chief desire and Delight in the everyday embracing of responsibilities relationships and resources and then the Glorious Day in the Gathering of God's people the glory of God if you see that text that we just read it's comprehensive whatsoever you do it's comfort it permeates all of life the glory of God it permeates it it penetrates it and the glory of God is eternal you know there's when you get to heaven there's two things you're not going to do yeah I know you're sitting there thinking right now let me give them to you you're not going to sin you're not even going to be my accountability group we don't have to meet I don't need you to call me when I'm at the motel room I thank God you do now I'm not going to sin in that day I won't even be able to sin and I won't lead anybody to Jesus on that day I can't do evangelism so I'll tell you what why don't we do more evangelism now knowing we're not going to do any then and why don't we do less sinning now knowing we're not going to do anything and do it why for the glory of God that's why our Westminster divines they made this marvelous confession distilling the truths of the Reformation bringing the strands together around that confession and it looked so great that Parliament sends him back and says well we need to teach Elders that so they make something called the larger catechism as an instrument for pastors to teach Elders then they make something else we need fathers to lead their families so they made a Shorter Catechism so that fathers could lead and and catechize their families may I again encourage you the best discipleship too I have ever used in 40 plus years of ministry is the Shorter Catechism thankful for all the other things buy them at the at the bookstore but learn to use the Shorter Catechism for many it's untried most Christians I meet today are catechized more by Fox News and MSNBC than by the word of God through an instrument that brings you to the word of God and therefore they are they are marked by the world with its anger and divisiveness and its distrust and its cynicism instead of marked by the confidence of a Risen Savior and the power of his word and the power of the gospel and the power of the holy spirit that we need to be discipled thank you I thank Mr Piper where I read years ago when he made the point that there's one in that Shorter Catechism question number one what is the chief somebody tell me the next word and our purpose not plural singular what is the chief end of man the chief end of man is to what well that sounds like two objectives glorify God and enjoy him and he rightly pointed out no it's still one objective now I'd like to if you don't mind edit and just add to what he says very reverently and uh Grace and calmly he was right he said hey it's one end that you glorify God by enjoying him forever but I would also encourage you to see it two ways the Shorter Catechism has got an objective with two sides glorify God and enjoy him and you glorify him by enjoying him let me give you another one you enjoy him by glorifying him the more you glorify God the more you're going to enjoy him the more you enjoy him the more you're going to go they're interdependent they're interrelated and they're reciprocal and so sometimes I'm entering into the glory of God and my joy multiplies sometimes I'm so Overjoyed then I will begin to I I just I can't wait to glorify God because of all that he's done and all that he has at work in my life and so this found this glory of God is Not only a fixed point it's the foundation it's the formation it's the motivation it guides me in my work you see that's how we got the word professional we had this thing so let me what I was supposed to be preaching on let me at least give you a sentence let me at least give you a sense on the Theology of work have you ever heard the word professional that comes out of the red that doesn't mean some people do this work some people are professional no no for the Christian it didn't matter whether you were selling making bricks agriculture it didn't matter you were a professional when you went to work you did your work heartily for the Lord and heartily to the Lord and people saw your relationship with the Lord by the way you did your work your work was a profession of your faith that's the origin of the word professional so I don't care what it is that you're doing if it's that which is Honorable hands mind whatever it is we do our work to the Lord and the way we do our work we work for the glory of God we don't make a living we live for Christ and one of the ways we do it is in our work another way is in our marriage another way is in our parenting another way is being a neighbor another way is the way we do our citizenship whatever we do is to be done as a profession of faith and its purpose is to glorify God as I enjoy him forever and the more I enjoy him the more it shows up in whatever I do because I desire for that to be for his glory so here is the here it is so that not only is it a fixed Point not only is the glory of God a foundation formation and motivation here's the last one and I've only got two minutes so here it comes I'm afraid I'll get shot up in the air I know I know I know the Kennedy Center is just right over here so I'm concerned here's your third one the glory of God is the center of your life it's the circumference I don't care about doing anything beyond it it's the center it's the circumference and it's the substance of your life do you think the Reformation was Warfare did the reformers stand firm hello can I get a Baptist or a Pentecostal do you think the reformers stood firm did they stand up did they speak out were they attacked and what did they do kept standing firm for the glory of God can't you see it at Oxford Mr Ridley as Hugh Latimer said to him octogenarians be of good cheer Play The Man for today we'll light a will light a candle for Christ that shall not be put out in all of England stand firm and when you do you're going to be attacked you keep standing firm your fixed point is to glorify God and enjoy him forever it's the center it's the circumference it's the substance it's the foundation it's the formation it's the motivation as to how you serve him and how you follow him and how you love him and as churches as we make disciples using the whole Bible teaching them to observe what all that I have commanded it takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian and as you and I come out of those churches focused on that mission Unleashed by the spirit of God with the preeminence of Christ to the glory of God we turn out Christians who whether they eat or drink are growing in their ability as to whether they eat or drink or whatsoever they do I want to do all to the glory of God and I want to stand firm because I'm in a battle I'm in a battle for my marriage I'm in a battle for my I'm in a battle for my my children I'm in a battle for my witness I'm in a battle for my church I'm in a battle war is one but I'm in a real battle I need the armor of Christ when I was in college we all we all bought a book called William gurnall's book who I by the way I love his book on gospel worship William gurnall's book it's a great book it's called the Christian and complete honor I mean complete armor the Christian it's his sermons 40 plus sermons on Ephesians 6 10-21 how you like that for suppository preaching it's 1600 pages when I was in college you could be assured every one of us had bought that book you could also be assured none of us had read that book in this entirety he's not giving you a model of expository preaching he's telling you something he is telling you this is the Christian Life you're at War a Victorious savior but you're in the battle stand firm stand up speak up speak out and when you do that you're going to stand out that means you're going to draw more fiery darts put on the armor of Christ and when you put on the armor of Christ stay in the fight I had to wait to get a hold of the TV versions but there were two movies I was going to make sure that I saw one was the uh you know Marine Corps Recon volunteers uh they they would love to go see how Navy Seals do things there was a movie called Lone Survivor it's a tough one another one called 13 days I mean 13 hours waiting for the TV version but it was still the horrific horrific firefights we're just overwhelming and in those two movies there was two things that were asked constantly at every firefight first question are you hit or you hit and if you were that help each other brothers and sisters we're in this together let's love one another well is there a place that the respite of the world can be seen in the Assembly of God's people are you hit we love each other well then they'd ask a second question or you hit yes next question are you still in the fight are you still in the fight for the glory of God in your marriage your family your children know Daddy will be home tonight your wife knows when she leaves he's coming home the husband knows his wife's faithfulness the church knows hear or not specialty store people showing up to see if the worship entertains him this Sunday here are members of the body of Christ and the workplace sees people making Christ the profession of faith and the way they do their work to the glory of God as they enjoy him forever I know you're hit I know God's able stay in the fight father thank you for the moments we could be together pray that you would bless these my brothers and sisters and father allow us to serve you effectively Jesus may you be preeminent to the glory of the father in The Power of the spirit and may the glory of our Triune God be seen in the lives of your people that the world might know Jesus saves I pray in Jesus name amen thank you that was Dr Harry Rita with a message titled working for the glory of God by God's grace it was during the Protestant Reformation that the church recovered a healthy and biblical understanding of the dignity and value of our personal vocations you see reformed theology is much more than head knowledge it impacts the entirety of Our Lives that's why I'm excited to share this next free offer with you as our thanks for joining us on the live stream today and for sharing it with your friends we want to give you a digital Reformation resource package featuring several ebooks written by ligonier's founder Dr R.C sprawl this resource package includes four titles by Dr Sproul including everyone's a theologian Luther in the Reformation saved from what and Dr sprole's expositional commentary on the book of Romans you can receive this entire Reformation resource package for free when you visit ligonier.org reformed also don't forget that you can save on a wide selection of discipleship resources in our online conference bookstore School we're about to take a break here in Orlando so now is a great time for you to explore our discounted selection at ligonier.org bookstore stock up on books teaching series and more while they're available at this low conference rate after our break will return around 2 30 Eastern time with another q a session with several of our speakers so don't go far I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'll see you back here at 2 30 pm foreign [Music] there's a lot of hard times my parents they were together until I was about seven and the house was just always fighting always arguments and there wasn't any peace I struggled a lot with depression and suicidal thoughts but I Wrestled a lot with like why am I here like why was I put on this Earth to to suffer or why is my life like this so just questioning like is everything meaningless or is there actually a purpose to everything that we do I tried to find meeting in relationships and and friendships and and shopping and spending money and just these worthless Idols that I thought okay if I had this much I'll be okay or if I bought this much if I looked like this you know maybe I'll be content so just seeking only like peace and joy and fulfillment and these things that couldn't do that I was constantly disappointed it just it never suffice to never fulfilled me this is why old school and this is where I first heard about Jesus we only became friends at middle school and she had been going to this church that church really emphasized Jesus being the only way to heaven and you can't be saved through any other religion but there wasn't any emphasis on his love and and forgiveness and to give us rest I didn't understand as my relationship still there with God what I said could I have any Assurance is it okay to doubt if can you be a Christian and still struggle with depression so I was grappling with so many of those things and the church couldn't help me they couldn't answer my questions I always felt like God was angry at me when I said and so it was basically all like workspaced and me keeping up my status with God I didn't really understand how to grow and what I needed to grow until I felt like a deer one day a video of scroll popped up on my YouTube and it was the first time I ever heard reformed teaching and I just fell in love with the way that he taught and how he was able to explain things so simply and so easily I trust Ligonier to give me sound answers because they hold to the gospel they preach the gospel with so much Clarity and just explained it well and they're really clear on what they believe and don't believe there are so many teenagers that are being saved online but there are so many false teachers out there going over these key doctrines I realized this is not what my church taught and so I asked like a deer you know what is a good church to go to just being in a sound church has changed my life I'm able to serve down in so much ways in my church and just having a Biblical church where you can trust that that the word of God is going to be taught on Sundays is going to be preached and just having a real community of Christians around you so I would just really encourage any Christians that have been dependent on Ligonier and don't have a church to find a church my life is really different now that I've understood the gospel what does it mean I have Assurance of Salvation now I had no Assurance before I learned things like communism I can trust that Jesus really did die for me and I don't need to worry and God's loving and he's my father and that whatever I do that why is standing with him is right because of what Jesus did even though I thought God only cared about himself and didn't really care about his creation but learning about the Holiness of God I learned that he was holy that he's pure that he's perfect and his standard is good his law is good and so that made me more and off him and I think that takes off so much worry and a doubt and just self-destruction because you realize okay everything is bigger than me like whatever you're going through right now stress depression anxiety mental issues family issues it's bigger than your life right now it's forgotten now I'm able to just rest on God's Providence on his sovereignty and knowing that he ordains whatsoever come comes to pass so that everything is for my good [Music]

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

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Keywords: Ligonier, Ligonier Ministries, Reformed Theology, Reformation Theology, Theology, Educational

Id: BqyZsaWyCv0

Length: 228min 0sec (13680 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2023