2023 National Conference: Voddie Baucham, Q&A, and Sinclair Ferguson

Jesus is and let's start with Jesus's promise so I took us back to that wonderful moment at caesarea Philippi where Jesus says to the disciples who do they say that I am and all these answers come forth and Peter says you are the Christ the son of the Living God this is who Jesus is this is his identity and then Jesus is able to say well he tells Peter Flesh and Blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven but then he's able to tell Peter that you are Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church in the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it so when we're thinking about standing firm let's start there with that promise of Christ that he will build his church we see the obstacles that are in the pages of the New Testament itself to the building of the church we see the gates of hell with their jaws wide open and their frontal assault on the church and what do we see Jesus is Victorious over sin and death and hell and we see again and again in the pages of scripture that there is Victory and that this promise is indeed reliable well now we can step into church history and now we can start thinking about our moment to be able to stand firm because we know that this promise from Jesus is sure his word cannot fail or fall and his promises will not be broken what do you say to someone that says you know I don't need church history they agree with the first part of your answer just give me the Bible I don't need anything from church history how did Eddie respond to someone saying that you're cutting yourself off you're cutting yourself off on what the Holy Spirit has been teaching the church for the last 2000 years and you're cutting yourself off from examples of faithfulness so we went right to the martyrs in the early Church polycarp in his martyrdom 86 years old and he's he's brought into the arena to be martyred and he's he's given an opportunity to recant and be let go and he says how can I do this Jesus has been my faithful Savior through my whole life how can I now betray My Savior I mean what a what an example for us and we look at the persecution just prior to Constantine intense persecution we move into the era of the pre-reformation and I mentioned John Huss but we could also think of people like Wycliffe and these were folks who were pushing against the darkness of the false teaching of that day and they were pushing against the gates of hell and what do we see the light of the Gospel breaking forth at the Reformation I mean these are just examples of faithfulness for us and you know I ended with this this wonderful example of it was a manuscript and it's traditional Chinese lettering manuscript of the Book of Revelation and it tells an incredible story Nathan this was hand copied from a Bible in 1960s this is the you know the Red Army and the Red Revolution and the people's revolution of China it was an all-out attempt to Stamp Out Christianity Bibles were confiscated Christians were persecuted churches were demolished and these Chinese Christians remembered that the missionaries were buried with Bibles they exhumed the Bible from the grave and they would hand copy books of the Bible and this was this copy of Revelation that we have in our rare book room at the college was made from one of these Bibles what an example of faithfulness what an example that Jesus is indeed building his church if we're going to stand firm we need encouragement church history is full of encouragement for Christians today do you have a favorite example you can't mention Lusa but someone that took a bold stand for truth you've mentioned some already but do you have a favorite that comes to mind so recently I've just been interested in the old Princeton story and this is an example that some know and it's not as well known as some of the other stories but in 1735 William Tennant this is in Neshaminy Pennsylvania rural Pennsylvania builds a rustic cabin and uses it to train ministers and it's called Log College now we think of the 1730s as this sort of Puritan moment in American history it wasn't the church was was very nominal the church was very comfortable a tenet is famous for his sermon the dangers of an unconverted Ministry we have these puritan churches that had sold their Birthright for cultural accommodation in the 1730s and William Tennant basically said enough we're going to train up a whole new generation of ministers who will be faithful in proclaiming the gospel and faithful and proclaiming the word of God well that college eventually moved across the river and became Princeton but here's a fascinating thing about 80 colleges were founded from students who were either directly or indirectly related to The Log College very small in its time but what an incredible impact and it started as a way to say to the church let's remember Jesus's promise I will build my church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against now each of us wants to stand firm and we want that encouragement uh do you think you mentioned William Tennant what would you say was his secret to his ability to stand for him to be faithful and to to pursue what he did yeah that's a great question I think what we have to do constantly as Christians is go back to the basics who is God and once we answer that question now we look to his word and if we understand who God is well it's a given then that his word has Authority and power and we've lost sight of that we've lost sight of the centrality of the word of God we've lost sight of the centrality of God perhaps it's because we have all these challenges in our day and we don't know where to turn and we think doesn't this ancient book really have the answers for life in in the 21st century and we just need to get back to those basics of who God is and his word and when you when you look back over church history this is what you see they knew who God was they trusted in who God was and because of that they knew they had one task to do Faithfully proclaimed the word of God and step out of the way and watch God Work Well thank you Dr Nichols grateful you could spend some time with us my pleasure very much enjoyed it thank you [Music] Jesus Jesus [Music] is [Music] it is [Music] famous song [Music] foreign [Music] Jesus Jesus Christ [Music] foreign [Music] Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Christ [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] the seed was clearly says [Music] foreign foreign [Music] let's say this is [Music] police always [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you one 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 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 which for freedom Christ has set us free stand firm therefore and do not submit again to the Yoke of slavery I can hear Luther at the died of warmth here I stand wasn't standing still he was standing firm for Freedom Christ has set you free and in your freedom and in your Liberation and through the power of the Gospel stop wavering Stand Fast or the obvious purpose by which we have been liberated from the curse of the law is for freedom and it is Jesus who sets us free good morning and welcome back to ligonier's 2023 National Conference I'm Nathan W Bingham and thank you for joining us on the live stream the Lord has already blessed us with two full days of Rich Biblical teaching and as we launch into the final day of the conference I hope these messages have been a help to you if they have I'd invite you to share these messages by telling a friend or family member to download ligonier's free app all of our messages from the conference up to this point can be watched again on the app including all of the seminars that weren't included on the live stream downloading the app is as simple as searching for Ligonier in the app store or by visiting ligonier.org app thank you for sharing this teaching so more Christians can study with us what it means to stand firm for our faith today as the people of God we have been saved by his grace from our sin and from the futile ways of life that formally left us enslaved in this world and that's what our next message is about setting our minds on the truth of Christ rather than on the values and philosophies of a Fallen World joining us in just a moment is our speaker Dr vody baucom with a message titled do not love the world [Applause] well good morning it is a delight to be back at Ligonier it has been far too long if you have your Bibles with you open them to the book of First John first John in chapter two first John chapter 2. and we find here what is in many ways a very controversial text but I think it's a text critical for our day and I'll explain why first let's look at it beginning at verse 15. do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the desires of the Flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father but it's from the world and the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever in one way this passage seems like it ought to collapse under the weight of other texts it appears to be completely out of place and almost contradictory in light of the fact that we as Christians are are not just lovers we're profligate lovers we are called To Love Like Nobody's Business we love because God is love we love because God first loved us we love the Lord Our God with all our hearts soul mind and strength and we love our neighbor as ourselves there are Myriad commands to love one another in fact that's how the world knows that we're Christians by our love and our love for one another but not only our love for one another we love our enemies by love we fulfill the law the Apostle Paul says in Romans 13 8-10 owe no one anything except to love each other the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the Commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law and then there's the issue of the world this seems to contradict our most beloved verse in the Bible John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life that's what can make this text of ours so confusing in light of all of this it comes as a shock to the system when we read the words do not love and yet there they are do not love even when I just let that sit there you don't like it you're like finish your sentence no I want you to hear those words do not love it's a command which means that if we violated that we're in sin in other words love can be sinful remember I told you this is an important word for our day love can be sinful we live in the midst of a culture that needs to hear that it needs to hear that from us because it's it's coming at us with this whole Love Is Love mentality and and how can you be against love nobody can be against love certainly Christians can't be against love because God is love and we are called To Love Therefore how can you stand in the way of any two people who love one another but our text today makes it very clear that there are instances When Love can be sinful in other words this is more than just a theoretical theological discussion for us to have this is a very practical rubber meets the road issue this issue of love being sinful the question is what makes love sinful what could possibly make love sinful under what circumstances would love be considered sinful well first of all love becomes sinful when it is directed at the wrong object love becomes sinful when it is directed at the wrong object look at verse 15 do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him do not love the world now it's very important to note that this word world especially in Johanna in literature is used in at least three different ways first of all the world can refer to all creation you see this in John 1 John 3 John 4 John 6 John 7 John 8 over and over again this word Cosmos refers to all the world to all the created universe John is not saying here that we should not love this universe this world this Earth that God created that's not what's being said here secondly the term World refers to the people that inhabit this world that God created and God is not saying do not love people do not love mankind absolutely not we we know that it doesn't mean that because the love that we're called to give even to our enemies the great commandment love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself so John can't be talking about that first world here and he can't be talking about that second world here that would be a contradiction however there is a third use of the term world and that third use refers to the spiritual realm that is in opposition to God and in Rebellion against his kingdom it is that third sense of world that is being discussed here so when John says do not love the world he says your love becomes sinful when it's directed at that system that is anti-god that system that is anti-kingdom that system that is satanic and he makes it obvious that it's satanic because he uses it several times here even in first John John writes that by faith the Christian is able to overcome the world in first John 5 4 and 5. in our text he says the world passes away in chapter 3 verse one he says the world is ignorant of God and 313 he says the world hates believers in 4-1 he says it's the Abode of false prophets and for three it's the Abode of the Antichrist and in four five it's the Abode of unbelievers and last the whole world is controlled by the evil one it is obvious here that when John refers to world in this text he's referring to that world that is under the control of our adversary the devil that world that is spiritual and ideal ideological and at war with our King and his kingdom and we are told do not love that world not at all listen to Calvin he had said before that the Only Rule for living religiously is to love God but as when we are occupied with the vain love of the world we turn away all our thoughts and affections another way this vanity must first be torn away from us in order that the love of God May Reign within us until our minds are cleansed the former Doctrine may be iterated a hundred times but with no effect it will be like pouring water on a ball you can gather no not a drop because there is no empty place to retain the water like pouring water on a ball when when your affections when your love is pointed toward the world there is no room for the love of God because when your love and your affections are pointed toward the world they are pointed toward that which opposes God thus love can become sinful when it is directed at the wrong object James says something similar in James 4 and verse 4 You adulterous people do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God no man can serve two masters he will love the one and hate the other this is an either or situation you cannot love the world and love God simultaneously in fact in our regeneration in in our Salvation we are taken out of the world we're taken out of that system we're brought out of darkness and into His Marvelous Light we transfer kingdoms we transfer allegiances but if our love is still for the world our Allegiance has not legitimately been transferred which is why in 219 just after our Passage John says they went out from Among Us because they were not all of us if they had been of us they would have remained but they left so that it might be known so that it might be obvious that we might see that that they were never ours they were never his because their love their affections were pointed at the system that is opposed to God first John 5 4 everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith John 15 19. if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you John 17 16 they are not of the world just as I am not of the world John 17 18 as you sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world again we've been sent into the world to proclaim the gospel but we're not of this world we're in this world but not of this world and we are most assuredly not to love this world a great way to see this picture is to think about the love that a man is commanded to have for his wife husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her there's a love that husbands are called to give exclusively to their wives and the moment you turn that love onto another you are guilty of idolatry it's the same point here the moment you turn that love that we are called to have for God that love that has been shed abroad in our hearts the minute you turn that to the world out of which you were saved that minute you are communicating the fact that you do not have the love of God or love for God beloved we must constantly examine our hearts for the presence of this love of the world now be careful here because there is a tendency to take this in very wrong directions we we we've gotta we've got to fight worldliness and so what that means is you don't drink smoke cuss or chew or date the girls that do right that's not what this is that's the enemy's sleight of hand because I can love alcohol and not drink it amen I can love drugs and not take them I I can look I I can love these things my passions and my affections can be pointed in these directions and yet my legalism and my moralism says I'm better not just than I was but I'm better than you amen because I fight the urge because I don't participate I still love it with every fiber of my being John's not saying here don't participate in the world he says don't love the world we must develop discernment in order to determine the difference but not only that love becomes sinful when it arises from the wrong source not only when it's when it's put in the wrong direction pointed toward the wrong object but when it arises from the wrong source verse 16. for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world so so there's a problem first with the object and now here there's a problem with the source that that this love for the world arises from the world just like our love for God and for the things of God arises from God it is God who gives us the capacity to love God but here we have a love that is arising from a different source the first two categories that are mentioned here cravings and lust are sinful desires boasting however is sinful Behavior from internal to external the first two are internal and hidden sins the last one is revealed the first two pertain to the individual person the last one pertains to this person in community with others kiss demacher says three categories cravings lust and boasting these things arise from the world cravings inordinate desires for things and again we have to separate these two when we say cravings and and lust and boastings we have to recognize that we're talking about this third world and not the first two for example in that first world I can love the beauty of a sunset I can love the beauty of a perfectly cooked steak sorry well I can I can I can love the beauty of music art again those things in this world that God has made I can and I must love the people whom God has created in this world but the kind of love that I have for those things is a love that arises from God to himself but even those loves can be perverted and so now instead of me loving the beauty of a sunset or a beauty of God's created order now I worship God's created order I worship the creature rather than the Creator rather than loving the the beauty of those things that God has given us now all of a sudden those things become means to an end to satisfying myself to gratifying My Flesh to quenching my lustful desires that's when they've crossed a boundary and then there are these boastings that's when it gets outward my Cravings my lust and in my pride true love can lead me to share my testimony and pride can make me exaggerated true love can cause me to use my voice to proclaim the truth of the Gospel Pride makes me love the sound of my voice so that I just talk too much true love can lead me to share a story but my pride causes me to make myself the hero of every story I tell can make me one of those people who constantly gives you their resume that's what it looked like looks like when it becomes outward true love can show gratitude for the things with which God has blessed me but but my pride can make me constantly give you the price tag of those things so that you can be impressed are you smelling what I'm stepping in so our love can become sinful based on its direction and based on its source but finally and ultimately and most importantly our love becomes sinful when it produces the wrong fruit when it leads to the wrong ends look at verse 17. and the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever here you have these these these two opposite ends on the one hand you have this world that is passing away and on the other hand you have our God who abides forever love becomes sinful when it leads to wrong ends and produces wrong fruit our passions become sinful when they are appointed in directions that lead to death and destruction as opposed to Leading to life First Corinthians 7. 29-31 this is what I mean Brothers the appointed time has grown very short from now on let those who have wives live as though they had none and those who mourn as though they were not mourning and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing and those who by as though they had no goods and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it for the present form of this world is passing away there is no life there and this leads us back to what I was mentioning earlier the poignant way in which this is so pertinent to our times because of the Love Is Love crowd particularly in the area of same-sex marriage how can you be opposed to same-sex marriage when same-sex marriage is just about people who love each other being allowed to express that love but that's a love that's pointed at the wrong object that is not a love that comes from God or that brings glory and honor to God it is pointed at the wrong object it is a love that arises from the wrong Source look with me if you will at Romans chapter 1. beginning of Verse 18 familiar passage but I want us to look at it for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is playing to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish Hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things therefore God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity here we are these lusts these desires to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worship and served the creature rather than the Creator who was blessed forever amen for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable Passions dishonorable passions the desires themselves are dishonorable enough already with this gay Christian stuff and I don't just say enough already I I don't mean this in the sense of you know they're over there and I'm over here I mean this in in the Pastoral sense how cruel is that if a man comes to me talking about a desire for a woman who is not his wife I'm not going to tell him to just go ahead and embrace the desire because the desire in and of itself is okay it's not God gave them up to dishonorable Passions for their women exchange the natural relations for those that are contrary to Nature and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another men committing shameful acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error there is the bad fruit pointed in the wrong direction it is a rising from the wrong source and it is producing bad fruit therefore it falls into the category of love that is sinful it falls into the category of love that does not glorify God it falls into the category of love for that third version of the word world not the first God's created order not the second people in the world but that third that system that is openly opposed to all that God is and that Rebels against the reign of God and his kingdom and that is precisely where we are brothers and sisters and not only that this Rebellion is no longer covert but it has become overt it is out there and it is in our faces and unfortunately it is being urged Along by people within the church who are essentially arguing that love is always righteous love is always Godly love is always appropriate because God loves everyone and God loves everything and right here the Bible says do not love there are some loves that are out of bounds there are some loves that are unacceptable in other words there are some loves that are not truly love and if you're here today and you you wrestle with that let me say to you that the last thing you need to do is to give in to that love and Define Yourself by it because that's love of the world do not love the world do not love based on your passions and your desires but love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul all your mind and all your strength which means your passions are to be turned in his Direction and no other we must reject the lie that says there is no love that is out of bounds because ultimately that lie that says there is no love that's out of bounds is a lie that says there is no truth in God I'm a father nine times over what that means is I am very well acquainted with the fact that love is not defined by allowing Those whom you love to have what they want when they want it just because they want it [Applause] some of the most loving moments between me and my children have been moments when I have said authoritatively and unequivocally no amen [Applause] and we see that here in this text why blend with this look at it again the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever do you see what's happening here this do not love the world is not God saying listen there's good stuff out there that I want to keep from you that's the LIE of the serpent this do not love says that looks good to you and may even feel good to you but in the end you will perish I'm calling you away from it because I actually do love you and in loving you I want you to abide in God to remain in God and to not perish because our desire is that Christ indeed may have the fullness of the reward for which he died so do not love the world let's pray our gracious God and our heavenly father God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ The God Who created this world and everything in it The God Who was the king and ruler overall God we bow before you as a humble and grateful people and we bow before you recognizing that we have a tendency to love the world ironically we have to fight to love that first world and fight to love that second world and fight not to love that third one because we are fallen and frail human beings Grant by your grace that we might have not only the wisdom to see the difference and the faith to trust you to transform us but that we might also have the will to deny our flesh and to not love the world father I pray that this would not cause us to flee out of the world but that we would be wise enough to be in the world and not of it and that in doing so we would be distinct and continue to be those who are known by and marked by our love love for God love for the brethren love for mankind love for the Lost even love for our enemies but not love for the world Grant by your grace that this may be true of us for we ask it in Christ's name and for his sake amen you just heard Dr vodi Balcom with a stirring message calling us to hold fast to the truth of God and to reject the lies of a fallen world we're about to head into a very quick break before our next session but stay with us because we're only minutes away from sharing the theme for our national conference in 2024. in the meantime we have something special that we'd like you to have as our thanks for watching the live stream today you can request a free download of four eBooks from Dr R.C sprawl titles include everyone's a theologian Lutheran the Reformation save from what and Dr sproul's expositional commentary on the book of Romans we're calling this the digital Reformation resource package and you can access all of these ebooks at no cost by visiting ligonier.org reformed so take a moment to benefit from that free offer and we'll be back in just a moment with the trailer for ligoners 2024 National Conference I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'll see you shortly foreign [Music] [Music] who said [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] he loves me [Music] please [Music] famous song [Music] tonight [Music] foreign [Music] thank you forever [Music] inside of you Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Christ [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] not even one Lord foreign [Music] Jesus say that he was any study of the person of Christ at best can only scratch the surface when your eyes are open and you see the radiance of Christ Everything Changes Jesus is the Incarnation of Truth the light of the world the one in whom there is life abundant there are beats within every human heart a hope that somehow there will be victory over the grave and all of that comes down not to an argument but to a person Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me foreign [Music] is now live for our 2024 National Conference the way the truth and the life next year in Orlando we will consider scripture's essential teaching on the personal work of our Lord Jesus Christ confusion abounds about who Jesus is and what he has done and Dr RC Sproul considered this the greatest crisis facing the Church of our day I hope you'll be able to join us in person as we're encouraged to see Christ at the center of our lives and to follow him Faithfully when you register now to join us in 2024 you'll save 50 on your registration this is the lowest rate we'll offer and it's only available for one week so register today to learn more about next year's National Conference see our list of speakers and browse the planned schedule of messages visit ligonier.org 2024. we still have a couple of sessions left in this year's National Conference and next up is our final q a session of the weekend this morning's q a featuring Ligonier teaching fellows doctors Sinclair Ferguson W rubber Godfrey Stephen Lawson Stephen Nichols Burke Parsons and Derek Thomas they'll be live with us in just a moment foreign good morning what does the panel believe has weakened the local churches the most and what advice can they give to our friends who've been unsuccessful in finding a faithful Church in their local area so it's a question about the weakening of local churches what's come against them the most and then many people we know do struggle to find a faithful local church in their area so let's uh let's give some counsel here did you hear that did you hear that start with the oldest and they all immediately look at me because I am the oldest um well I since I'm a church historian I was about to say a humble church historian but that's not exactly true uh since I'm a church historian here amongst theologians I'll leave the theology to the theologians but I I remember some years back reading a um an article a very insightful article I thought at the time by some sociologists of religion normally I'm not big on sociologists but but these people said as a sort of conclusion to an article on what happened to the careful observance of the Lord's Day in American Protestant churches um was it the seminaries that failed in their teaching was it the ministers who failed in their preaching and they concluded in America people get what they want and when churches are weak it's because the people want churches that way people have sought out churches that way mega churches often we might think are weak theologically but they're full of people and so we have to begin by examining our own Hearts have we sought the kind of churches we ought to be seeking have we encouraged ministers who are trying to build churches Faithfully according to the word of God and have we prayed as we ought to pray that our churches would become strong and would become faithful and would be in their worship and in their teaching conformed to what Paul has said we ought to do and to to those of you who have prayed who are looking I would just say keep looking there are churches and you have to sort of begin to think what are my priorities as I look for a church um and uh at different stages of our families we have to look at um for different things perhaps but I I sometimes hear people who have to have a church with a really good youth program well the best youth program in any church is faithful preaching of the word in Savile services and secondly faithful Catechism classes maybe that's a good question when you call a church say what Catechism classes do you have for my children and if you're greeted with utter silence maybe that's a sign you should keep have I gone too far that's not possible for you I do I do think that we've noticed something over the last few years that when the church tries to make the gospel relevant to our current society and and the introduction of wokish elements to the gospel simply in the name of relevance at some point the message then becomes irrelevant and when was it Tozer Steve what's the what's the the ship is in the ocean but if the ocean is in the ship what is that quote well you want your boat in the water but not the water in the boat parts of the modern church has the water in the boat uh on on a whole variety of issues I can't believe that we're discussing some of the things that we're discussing um when scripture is is is very very clear on on some of these issues and I think I think when you compromise the message um that's that's when the church begins to decline and eventually in a generation it'll cease to be I think the loss of the second service has had a Monumental impact on the Evangelical Church for a number of reasons one is most of us aren't really spiritual enough to use that one day in the week well if the church isn't helping us to that's that's one point second point is that we have an extraordinary arrogance if we can if we think we can live the quality of Christian Life that reformed Christians have lived in the past on the basis of a fraction of the diet of ministry that they have had I mean I've I see churches in our tradition kind of putting themselves forward so it's really being right churches because for example they may have the Lord's Supper every week and the question I always ask is why do you not have a second service if you think you've got back to Geneva why is your minister not preaching when he's strong enough to do it every day of the week why do not have Wednesday given over to prayer we are so undernourished in terms of the Christian character that we're producing partly because we have assumed we can we can do it like an In-N-Out Burger in an hour and a Sunday and that doesn't necessarily mean that the second service should be six o'clock but our our reformed tradition that built real character was never without those helps to all of us to be garrisoned by Ministry of the word fellowship with God's people opportunity to linger with them and the climax of worship being not the first service but the second service I've administers telling me that they've had experts then who have told them the quality of their morning worship is outstanding and I think I've probably lost the possibility of Friendship with them because I've said I've got a litmus test for the quality of morning worship and it's whether people want to be back again in the day and when a church has lost that the challenge to the eldership is often Monumental especially in a success Church world because they know that launching a second service is ordinarily not going to be an immediate success and for a minister it is it involves a tremendous investment and I think the tragedy of all that is that many Christians their minds Boggle at the idea of a second service being the climactic service the great service because they've never actually experienced it and they assume that we can judge spiritual Reality by the level of our own experience so I really believe that's that's one thing because we've lost a day that anchors the whole week the Sabbath commandment as we often say is not about one day a week it's about all the days of the week but the way we use all the days of the week is determined by the way we use that day of the week and the second thing I think that has weakened our witness is because so often churches have thought when we're building a new Sanctuary which many churches have what we need to do is to find a plot of land as near to the junction of as many highways and freeways as we can and rarely to ask the question where is the actual neighborhood in which we can embed ourselves as witnesses to the gospel where we interact with one another so as long as we build churches where people can drive from 30 miles 50 miles away our impact is going to be correspondingly minimized so in both counts I think and the first count uh churches have failed because we have been so obsessed with the success mentality and often in the last 50 60 years we've built in the wrong places because we've been so obsessed by the Numbers mentality um and those are two characteristics that are very difficult to reverse and I think the only way to reverse the first characteristic is for people actually to experience what it means to have been washed in the first service and to taste glory in the second service and in most of our churches that's been completely lost and it to me it's tragic of course I agree with everything that's been said here I would just draw attention to the sufficiency of scripture we and the the lessening of that we speak of the authority of scripture but sort of where the rubber meets the road on our view of inerrancy is the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture and for talking about a weakness in the American church if we go back three four five generations of American culture uh we see an increasing hostility towards scripture and culture and a challenge to scripture in American culture turn of the 20th century and through the 20th century and then into our own moment there was a time where the Bible was a good book in American culture for many today the Bible is a dangerous book because of what it teaches and so it's so outmoded and so not with the current scene so that's happening in American culture and so sadly as the culture goes so often times the church goes and so we wonder is this ancient book sufficient for life in the 21st century and so we look elsewhere for guidance we look elsewhere for wisdom and pulpits are full of preaching that is not about the word of God it's commentary on what's happening it's movie clips it's whatever it may be God promises to bless none of that he only promises that his word will not return void and so it's kind of preaching people want I think that's a good point they get what they want but to return to the idea that scripture is sufficient and therefore scripture is at the center of the church and the pulpit is at the center of the church and the sermon is at the center of church life and all of a sudden we're no longer weak Christians but now we're strong Christians because we're standing firm on God's word so that's the first part the second part I think if if Dr sprole were here he would say drive as far as you need to and if that doesn't work move yeah just to support what Stephen's saying just one verse Amos chapter 8 behold days are coming says the Lord when there will be a famine in the land not for drink or food but for the hearing of the word of the Lord and it was the severest Judgment that God could bring on the northern kingdom that they would be taken to a place as Syria where they would not hear the word of God because when you heard the word of God in the northern kingdom you rejected the word of God so therefore my judgment is you will not hear the word of God anymore and it was God himself Who removed the prophets it was God himself who silenced the voices that the people would now really be given over to judgment and I think we're seeing that in our own day that however many years ago when there was some Fidelity to the preaching of the word a deaf ear was turned to it and there has been a you know a leak in the tire a slow decline until we've hit the point I mean I hear it as I travel around the country and even overseas people come up to me that there's just not someone preaching the Bible in in our town where do I go what do I do I think it's the reality it's kind of like Romans 1 that when you knew God you were not grateful and so therefore God gave them over and I think we're witnessing that in in our day um the thought that you would have to move which I would agree with that you would have to move to go find a church that would preach the word of God I think it really is is evidence that there is a famine in the land for the hearing of the word of the Lord and and how rare it is for there to be a Pulpit as Martin Luther said that it really is the throne by which God speaks to his people and is enthroned in the life of the church where there's an Open Bible and how rare that actually is but I do love as I meet pastors my first question is always what are you preaching through and I just love hearing that answer I'm preaching through acts I'm preaching through Romans I'm preaching through Daniel and you just need to find those churches and you're you're probably going to have to drive past 20 churches to get to that one Church but the distance is worth the difference so I would seek that out and either you need to drive a long way or you need to move or you need to start your own church with some other people and it's almost easier to start a new work and you've got a clean slate than to try to turn a battleship around and it rarely starts at the Grassroots level it it has to start at the top and if the top is not wanting if the elders if the leadership in the church are not fiercely committed to biblical preaching then it just perpetuates a famine in the land and I would also say Pulpit committees can just be Amateur hour and they really don't in so many cases have no idea what they're doing or what they're looking for and so they give the people the one who has the best personality has the best Pizzazz the problem is he may have good bedside manners but he can't practice medicine um and he actually can't preach the word of God and so it just continues to seal the tomb it perpetuates um a commitment to less than mediocrity why Johnny can't preach is a great book um and and that's and that's really worth reading and that's what we have [Applause] my Catholic roommate points to the fact that protestantism has so many denominations of varying beliefs she argues from this that Sola scriptura cannot be true because so many individual interpretations result in a wide array of beliefs she argues that this proves we need a higher authority to interpret for us how would you answer this thank you for your help you know I want to say one thing to that very quickly and let all the other men hop in there is no difference in primary areas of Doctrine I mean the gospel is the gospel the Trinity is the Trinity Heaven and Hell and a final judgment we all agree on that if not then you're not even a Christian Church it's on second second level issues that there begins to be diversity diversity but on primary issues that I mean there is one Faith one hope one baptism one spirit I mean there's a unity in the true church so I I think that the argument or the question actually falls on its own sword because it's not a true statement there is unity and Essentials and [Applause] and on the other hand it's a romantic myth that there's doctrinal unity in the Roman Church um [Applause] I now get my news from my phone in my pocket which is deplorable but I I won't look right now um but I I have been amazed just recently at the at the reports that even make it to my phone that um the German Roman Catholic Bishops are defying the advice of the Pope on whether to bless same-sex relationships or not to the point where the pope has actually said to the German Roman Catholic Bishops we already have one Protestant Church in Germany we don't need another um the pope is unable to bring Unity of Doctrine to the Roman Catholic church and so what does the Roman Catholic Church teach um the first Vatican Council in the 19th century says no one can be saved who is not in fellowship with the bishop of Rome is that what your Roman Catholic roommate believes is that what her priest believes is that what her Bishop believes at least there are huge numbers of Roman Catholics who don't believe that anymore the Council of Trent said all the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church were taught by the apostles in the first century no Roman Catholic Theologian really believes that today so this myth that Rome is United really has to be addressed by us as Protestants and when you hear a report from Rome by some activity going on in the Vatican and you hear some priests Whispering this has been going on for two thousand years depending on what side of the bed you got up on you may be inclined to say that's just not true and um I you know so we certainly want to make the point Steve is making which is the more important point that bible-believing Christians are much more united than we appear to be but we also need to make the point that Rome is nowhere near as United as it claims to be Steve was very worried about my visit from a cardinal the other night at three in the morning and I had to explain to him it was actually a dream and not a reality um and he's he's I think he's worried about my interest in the Roman Catholic Church um in which I have I've had a very considerable interest um actually an increasing interest um and I try and keep tabs on what is happening and I I think I would say you need to be able to back up this statement and understand what it means but you could ask your friend have you never watched YouTube because if you watch Roman Catholicism on YouTube you will find the sociological mirror of what you find in protestantism exactly absolutely exactly from extreme fundamentalism on the one hand cursing the present Pope and all his minions to such liberalism on the other hand that they're trying to pull the pope off the planet and the idea that there is Unity the only the only justification for saying that is I that there is Unity is that Roman Catholics have popes and Protestants don't but there are very serious questions about whether every Pope is actually a Roman Catholic so for example I knew somebody who taught at the Catholic University in DC is it in DC Bob um and I asked them about discussions about the Council of Trent and the great formulations so totally ignored nobody ever mentions them so the drift from the foundations to the present reality is mind-bogglingly phenomenal and you you don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that we're the present Pope stands and where uh Pope Benedict Joseph ratzinger stood theologically are as diverse as you're going to find anywhere in the at least in the Western World in churches so as Bob's saying is a total miasma a myth that has been created and the truth of the matter is actually most Roman Catholics do not have a good grasp on what Roman Catholicism actually is traditionally or what it is actually phenomenologically and existentially today so we I think we what I'm saying at Great length is that we mustn't no believer should be intimidated by those very though that was an accusation that arose at the time of the Reformation and we have many more reasons today not to be intimidated by it amen amen amen amen I I think what we need to to bear in mind I don't know how long you want to go on about this but uh one of the things that always makes it difficult I shouldn't say always often makes it difficult for Protestants to communicate with with Roman Catholics is many many Roman Catholics whether they know the terminology or Not really believe in implicit faith and the church encourages what is known as implicit Faith which is to say the Roman Catholic is only obligated to say I believe what the church believes even if I don't know what the church Billy is I have such confidence in the priests and the Bishops and the popes that I just know whatever it is they believe is right and I agree with them and so when you say well what about this Doctrine or that Doctrine they often just sort of shrug and say I don't know anything about that but I know the priest knows the Bishops to know the the pope knows and that's difficult to break through and um if you get as agitated as I do you probably never will break through but but the ideal would be to open the Bible and say well I know that Roman Catholics believe the Bible let's look at what the Bible says what does the Bible say about some of these things and you know if you read your Bible you may discover it's not so hard it's not so difficult um so anyway just add here because I don't think this is the question but I think it's important to mention this because sadly there are evangelicals who are taken by those romantic myths of Catholicism whether it's the historicity or the catholicity and I think it's very helpful for us to let our young people know what is true historically of the Roman Catholic Church what is true phenomenologically of the Roman Catholic Church and if you really want to swim the Tiber as they say which we've all seen it I don't I wouldn't even want to put a toe in that water let alone swim across the Tiber um let's give them a clear-eyed picture of what Roman Catholicism is not these romanticized visions of it that entice them away from being a Protestant and committed to the Solas of the Reformation I do think bit of what is attractive to some Protestants in Rome is a fatigue with personal responsibility as Protestants we have a personal responsibility to study the scripture to know the Christ to grow in Grace and it can get exhausting and there can be a kind of attraction to say I don't have to think about these things anymore I don't have to think through them anymore I can just rest in Rome I could just let the Bishops and the priests have the responsibility um but you won't find that attitude I believe anywhere in the scripture it's not what Peter taught in First Peter there's hardly a better apologetic book against Rome in the New Testament than first Peter where I think Peter preaches the gospel clearly and he talks about being an elder a fellow Elder with all the Elder Elders there's no princely character of Peter in First Peter and um I'm rambling now but anyway read first Peter to your Roman Catholic friends is there anything wrong with saying hate the sin Love The Sinner well depends on who's saying it because we are called to love Sinners we are called to love our enemies I find it fascinating that when people want to narrow the definition of who our neighbor is when the Bible calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves they they find it difficult to narrow that definition of who our neighbor is when they run into the sermon on the mountain Jesus says you're to pray for your enemies and love those who persecute you now there are different types of love we understand that different degrees of love we we acknowledge that there's a different love that we have for our spouses our children than we have for our friends different love we have for our neighbor and a different love that we have for our enemies but there are different degrees of that love and we are called to love this sinner and hate the sin God however hates the sin and hates all those who are at enmity with him and hates all those who are not among his elect now I realize that's difficult for some people to hear but the Bible is very clear about this the distinction that Paul makes as he rests on the Old Testament is that God both hates the sin and hates the reprobate sinner whom he has not elected unto Everlasting Life whom he has both passed over and whom he has destined to Everlasting damnation now it's hard to say it's hard for some to hear but I believe that that is what the Bible clearly teaches if I don't believe that it's going to be very difficult for me to believe in the grace of God for wretched Sinners such as we it has been said in this conference that Satan is bound and it has been said that Satan is attacking is Satan bound in eschatological terms who is ruling this world right now Christ or Satan well Satan has been bound in the in the sense that under the old Covenant the gospel was more or less confined to the Jews there were occasional proselytes but they were occasional but in the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the 70 when they come back from that that mission of theirs I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning so so an aspect of Satan's control over the world um was affected by the ministry of Christ and and by the death and resurrection of Christ in the day of Pentecost would suggest that now the gospel is to be preached in all the world but he he is still referred to as The Prince and power of the air he's he still has power maybe not as much power as he did under the old Covenant but but he still has power he's still to be reckoned with we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and Powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world I mean C.S Lewis said somewhere in in screwtape letters possibly that you can make you can make too much of the devil but you can also make too little of him he hasn't yet been cast into the bottomless pit that the Book of Revelation speaks of in in chapter 20. so he he is very much to be reckoned with even in the New Covenant but I I think we have to be I certainly agree but we have to be very clear Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords now um and [Applause] I think Lewis is exactly right we can't make too much or too little on the too much side sometimes we talk about Satan almost as if he were a minor God he's a finite creature which I think means now I'm only a church historian a humble church historian um but I think that means he can't be everywhere at once he can't be the Holy Spirit um and and so he has all these minions who serve him uh but but we almost talk sometimes as if there's the holy God and then there's the evil God Satan Satan is not God he's he's a finite creature he's he's limited by his finitude as well as by God's sovereignty and so he is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour but he's chump change compared to to The Sovereign God he he is limit he has been defeated and he will be destroyed and um our calling is not to let him destroy us before he's destroyed we all try and put things and answers to questions sing the same thing in different ways and I think two things I've found helpful in this context context are one what Bob has alluded to Matthew 28 18 to 20. but what what Jesus is saying in Matthew 20 18 to 20 is that as the second man and the last Adam he has won back the Dominion on Earth the Adam lost Adam lost his Dominion he fell to the tempter Christ has overcome the tempter so that he now says all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me now we instinctively think well he's the son of God all authority in heaven Earth Is His but he is speaking in a particular context here of saying that now the Dominion that Satan one in the Garden of Eden has been overthrown and that Authority is now his and the second thing is to pick up what what Derek said and to remember I think in in the the limiting context of the expression about The Binding of Satan is as Derek said so that he would no longer deceive the Nations so it's not not just a general statement Satan is bound but that Satan is bound in this particular respect that until the resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit the coming of the last days Satan was deceiving all of the Nations except the one nation that God was undeceiving in his mercy and that what is actually happening on the day of Pentecost in the in the crowd that gathers that is analogous to the crowd that gathered in order to build the Tower of Babel and to pull God down and God judge the Nations committed them to the deception of Satan is that now from the day of Pentecost onwards symbolized in the Gatherings of the people and now experienced for 2000 years is that the nations are being undeceived by the preaching of the Gospel um and I mean that's just another way of saying you know we always need to look at the context in which phrases are used so that we don't just see a phrase and then make up ourselves what it means when the scriptures are in very specific ways helping us to to see these statements within a particular grid and context so that when the scriptures say that he is the God of this age we realize that those who are not Christians are living in this age whereas we the end of the ages has dawned on us and what the preaching of the Gospel does is continues to invade this age to bring people into the the new age and that this will continue until the Lord comes and then comes the end whatever your eschatology then comes the end in my sin I feel that I have seared my conscience how do I make my conscience tender again to the will of God and the cost of sin I'm grateful that this person asks the question because I think it's a question that a lot of Christians have and if it's a question that they're not asking it's a question they should be asking because at some level every Christian at some point in his or her life struggles without temptation our consciences are easily seared by our sins and the rationalization of our sins but the answer is really very simple you have to pray you have to pray and you have to continue praying fervently asking God to make you sensitive to your sin to convict you of your sin that is a daily prayer of mine it's a weekly prayer of mine with a friend of mine that I've been praying with for many years every week we pray that for each other something he requests regularly that that we would hate our sins as much as God hates our sins that we would see our sins and so it's a it's a constant prayer and it's a hard prayer because it's a scary prayer to ask the Lord to search our hearts and to know us and to see if there's any wicked way in us that's a scary prayer because often God shows us those Sins Not in the delicate ways we would like him to it usually means hurting someone we love when we see the realities of the hurt of our sin and doesn't matter how old we are it doesn't matter how young we are we have to keep praying this I've seen so many Christians who think they've arrived they think because they've gotten to a certain age and they've just sort of settled into their ways they've even got their wives conditioned to say well that's just the way he is they got their children thinking well that's just the way he is and I think we should live our lives in such a way where we never presume upon the grace of our loved ones never presume upon the grace of God and always be constantly striving to mortify every sin not just the big ones but the little ones that we as Christians would be the most repentant people that unbelievers know and that we would live our lives with daily repentance as Luther said in his first thesis that when our Lord Master Jesus Christ called us to repent he willed that the entire life of the Christian be one of repentance we have to be looking for opportunities every hour of every day to repent to the Lord to our friends to our children to our spouses it ought not be an infrequent thing in our lives repentance and restoration and forgiveness and Reconciliation ought to be an hourly daily thing that takes place in our lives foreign how can I be saved if I have sin in my life that I hate but keep committing I'm discouraged by my sin and I've gotten to the point where I'm scared that I can't be saved what can I do well we need more information than just you know one sentence so it's just a broad General response to a broad General question there is a sense in which it's a healthy sign that you're concerned about your sin Paul was concerned about his sin in Romans chapter 7. it's the unbeliever who is dead and trespasses and sin and is not as worked up about his sin or deeply concerned about his sin his conscience has become seared as with a hot iron and so the fact that you are concerned and troubled about your sin is actually a good thing is a healthy sign because previously you were just living in sin and sinful flesh and then you were regenerated and you are now a new man in Christ and you have Nu sensibilities and new sensitivities towards sin obviously we need far more information than than what we have in the question but just to give an initial pastoral response I would not immediately say well then you're obviously not saved um actually it may be that you are saved because you have such a deep troubled spirit and heart over this sin so obviously there's many more things that can be said and as I look down I see one second left so I'll leave it at that thank you men thank you you just heard the ligander teaching fellows six men selected by Dr R.C Sproul to help this ministry remain true to its founding purpose and to inform our ongoing gospel Outreach we're grateful for the way they have Faithfully carried on Dr sproul's vision for Ligonier in service to the Lord for all of you watching a live stream today we'd like to extend an offer to one of our newest Resources with your gift of any amount in support of the teaching fellowship of Ligonier Ministries we'll send you R.C sproul's hardcover book Galatians and expositional commentary it's drawn from Dr sproul's verse by verse sermon series through the book of Galatians and this commentary is designed to help you understand key themes of scripture and apply them to all areas of your life you can request this resource today at ligonier.org Galatians and thank you for your prayerful generous support of this ministry without Ministry friends today's live stream would not be possible Christians like you around the world play a significant role in ligonier's mission to Proclaim teach and defend the Holiness of God in all of its fullness to as many people as possible we're heading now into a short break but we'll be back around 11 eastern time with our final Message from Dr Sinclair Ferguson I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'll see you back here soon [Music] thank you [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] lost by the Lord he calls his friends [Music] the Lord shall resistance [Music] for shall we said zombies [Music] foreign [Music] we're joined by Ligonier teaching fellow Dr Derek Thomas Dr Thomas at the conference this weekend you spoke on the end times the last things what do we mean as Christians when we we speak of the last things well in scripture the last things means the days from the time of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit until Jesus comes again so on Pentecost Peter said in these last days he's talking about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Hebrews 1 chapter 1 also speaks of the last days as being something that's contemporary with the author of Hebrews now most Christians many Christians think the last days are the days just before Jesus comes and depending on where you are in your eschatology stuff might happen before he comes or stuff might happen after he comes but in the Bible we we are in the last days the next great Redemptive event is the second coming of the Lord Jesus how does understanding the end times the last days better help us to stand firm that's the theme of our conference this year is that the major accomplishment that brings about the last days namely the atoning sacrifice of Christ has been done and the outpouring of the holy spirit is God the father's sign of approval that what his son did um achieved salvation for God's people and Peter is referencing Joel and the prophet Joel who speaks about in in these last days the spirit will be poured out so so understanding that we're in the last days means that there's there's nothing else that must happen before God brings about the renewal of all things the the restoration of the new heavens and the new Earth at the end of Revelation it you hear this cry come Lord Jesus and Christians resonate with that we want the Lord to return this great suffering and even opposition to the gospel but at the same time as a father with uh Teenage children and young children I I don't know if do I really want to come back I want to see them get married I want to have grandchildren how do we deal with that tension is that tension okay or do I need to have my mind renewed and we live in that space where it's like no Lord come back if you come back in 10 minutes that is a good thing yes a number of things I don't actually believe in the uh any moment return of Jesus um people who believe in the Rapture believe in in that for sure I I think there's unfulfilled prophecy that must be fulfilled before Jesus comes and one of those prophecies uh Jesus refers to in the so-called all about discourse in Matthew 24 25 that the gospel must be preached in all the world and depending on how you interpret that if you interpret that in the sense of people groups distinct people groups that must hear the gospel before Jesus comes and there are anything between 8 000 and 16 000 depending on which missiologist you're speaking to so if there is unfulfilled prophecy he's not coming back in the next five seconds and but he could come within our lifetime and it would be a wonderful thing not to have to experience death I think I think the experience of death and separation of body and soul whilst whilst there's a positive that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord will be in heaven but it's it's not it's not what the end is going to look like the end is going to look like the new heavens and new earth and resurrected bodies that no no pain or sorrow or or suffering and I think that is better than I wish I'd seen my my daughter getting married or it is for me it is no I stand corrected so I appreciate that as a final question for you how do we as Christians go about sharing this hope with hopeless people in a hopeless world by living out and out for Christ I think is the answer to that by displaying the joy of the Lord so much Christianity can can be very doer and very off-putting but I I think we when you read the New Testament Joy is one of those words that just pops off the pages of Jesus and his Farewell discourse Paul in his prison Epistles that were to rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice to demonstrate to people that that being a Christian means absolutely everything and it's something that totally fulfills us as human beings and that without it they they lack they they are always wanting and and only only in Christ can they be made complete and full well Dr Thomas thank you for spending some time with us and sharing with our online audience thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] amen foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] the homes [Music] is water [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] my voice [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you one 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 through which the light of God's word was brought out of the darkness to shine with clarity once more 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 foreign [Music] 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 views he answered his interlocutors by saying we're a Fogo you want me to say revoco 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 thank you 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 we're join this weekend by Dr vodi balcombe Dr balkam you just addressed us at this National Conference and encouraged us do not love the world what are some of the ways that you see the church not obeying that and actually loving the world yeah it's interesting you know that that love that we're called to have for you know this world as in God's creation and this world isn't the people who inhabit the world is is just and stark contrast to this world system right and I think a couple of the ways that we see many in the church loving this world system is by adopting ideologies that are antithetical to biblical truth and then practices that are born from those ideologies um secular humanism you know used to be the big one but now neo-marxism cultural Marxism right this is sort of the the the the new ideology du jour that has sort of crept in and um and captured many and then from that are flowing um you know ideologies about about race um ideologies about sex uh and and and and you know genders multi-genders and all these other things and then same-sex marriage and sexual identity all this sort of stuff um these are ways um that we're loving the world I think other ways that we're loving the world are um Christian education right involved in Christian education and you know many Christian colleges have gone down the road of providing an education that only has a thin veneer of Christianity their love for the world has caused them to abandon their ideology and their theology in favor of something that will be more acceptable to the world this world that is opposed to God and his kingdom turning our attention now to the individual Christian someone's listening and they're aware is that their desires in them in the country to the word of God and they're loving some of these worldly ideologies or worldly desires what do you say to them to encourage them and exhort them yeah number one repent I mean repent you know acknowledge those things that are in you and and turn from them but secondly we have to become wise and discerning we've we've we've got to be why is the serpents and innocent is doves right we need to come to recognize those ways um subtle and not so subtle that the world comes at us and tries to tweak our thinking and our convictions and resist those things you serve in Africa as we think about the global church are there lessons that the church in the United States can learn to help us stand for them that is the theme of the conference this weekend but any lessons from the global church that could help us here in the United States I I think a number of things that I think we need to look at the global church and see that Christianity does not consist in the abundance of things right we we tend to Define our Christianity any abundance of things because we have an abundance of things and because that because of that you know we we get bogged down and sometimes almost paralyzed when we can't leverage an abundance of things whereas the the worst the rest of the world doesn't have that abundance and is always you know figuring out how to operate without that abundance I think another thing is we we need to look to the rest of the world the rest of the Christian World um in order to be taught what it looks like to be Christian when you're not the big dog I mean I mean let's face it in America um you know our influence has been the greatest our voice has been the greatest since our founding so now you know we we Face a little opposition and find ourselves in many ways on the outside looking in and and we think it's the end of the world whereas the rest of Christendom is going hey welcome guys you know um so I think there's things that we can can learn in that regard this is a final question if there was one issue that you would say the church needs to stand firm on today what would that be human sexuality yeah I think the issue of human sexuality that's where the fight is fiercest right now and that's where um that's where the stakes are the highest right now human sexuality I'm grateful you're with us this weekend thank you for your message and Ministry my pleasure [Music] thank you receive my birthday us through [Music] the library my God [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] to us with him [Music] the spirit friends [Music] live forever thank you fearness is always against his power [Music] house [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] ten thousands [Music] yes [Music] the secret place [Music] where our praise forever [Music] for the future we're back and somehow we're only moments away from hearing our final message at ligonier's 2023 National Conference time really has gone by fast this weekend I'm Nathan W Bingham and I'm grateful that you've been joining us this weekend and I hope you've benefited from these three days of Biblical teaching I also hope that I might be able to see you next year at our national conference earlier today we announced our theme for 2024 the way the truth and the life and you can learn more about next year's conference as well as save 50 on your registration by visiting ligonier.org 2024. this is the lowest rate we'll offer and it ends this week so make sure you get your registration in Dr Sinclair Ferguson will close out this year's National Conference with a message on our Union and communion with our Lord Jesus Christ this truth is at the heart of our identity as Christians and understanding it can help us stand firm in a dark World Dr Ferguson's message is called United with Christ and we'll hear from him soon well I guess I can say about myself as people tend to say he needs no introduction so thank you but without without losing too many of my minutes that countdown they are second by second I I do want to say a couple of things first of all on behalf of those of us who are that have the privilege of being speakers and uh my brothers who are teaching fellows uh it has been such a blessing for us to be with you and we are profoundly indebted to Chris Larson and the staff at Ligonier for the amazing job they do um not only Chris at the front of the podium where he is he has developed a magical and friendly touch but the large number of staff and volunteers who make this conference look as though it runs smoothly and to smooth over many of the rough edges that many of us create so we are tremendously indebted to them about 35 years ago probably more at a Ligonier conference in on the west coast I was picked up at the airport by the manager of the big conference hotel that the the conference was being held at and it just it just struck me a moment ago maybe he had just dropped off his wife at the airport and that I was perplexed while he was there but on the drive back he said and this was many years ago now he said you know my business is nothing but conferences we do nothing but conferences we are constantly working with professional conference organizers but we have never worked with people of the quality of Ligonier Ministries and I thought that was a great great testimony to the spirit and the atmosphere that RC and Vesta had created in the staff that has wonderfully continued under um president Larson and look at the opportunity to use that word president where I come from so it's nice to use it so as we come to the last session let's settle our hearts and Minds for a moment of quiet and seek the Lord's face and his help as we come to this final segment of the ministry of the word our heavenly father we thank you for being able to gather as your children and to sense in the joy of our fellowship and the cleanliness of the language and the opportunity to meet old friends and make new friends all of whom have come to know you and trust you and love you and some who may be in the process now of coming to know and trust and love you we thank you for your attendance with us your visitation of us in these days through your word and by your Holy Spirit and for the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ in our midst we pray as we come to these concluding times as we look forward to the final singing of your praise and the Adoration of our Lord Jesus Christ and the anticipation of Glory but truly even in these minutes Our Savior will come to us and in his presence heaven will come down and we may have some sense that glory is filling our souls so hear us as we pray and help us we ask in Jesus our savior's name amen well I have the subject of Union with Christ and there are two ways of handling this subject if you know your English vocabulary well one is to give you a Vista that is a narrow perspective beginning perhaps and ending with just one passage of scripture and the other is to take a wide panoramic view and I want to combine those two approaches first of all by giving you a Vista in one text of the New Testament and then spending the rest of our time on a panoramic view and one text is one that's very familiar to your second Corinthians chapter five and verse 17 for the Apostle Paul says if any one is in Christ he is a new creation or more literally if any in Christ New Creation if any in Christ New Creation Christians I think are prone in reading that text to focus on the new creation and perhaps slide over the any in Christ and I think that's partly because most Christians I suspect do not think of themselves fundamentally as those who are in Christ they think of themselves if they are asked fundamentally as Christians and perhaps it never Dawns on them that is just possible that no one in the New Testament era if asked about themselves would have described themselves as a Christian the term is used only three times in the New Testament and it looks to me as though on each occasion they they were called Christians first in the church at Antioch by Outsiders Paul was asked to remember do you think you can so easily make me a Christian and Peter speaks about suffering as a Christian that probably originally the word Christian was not a term invented by Believers but invented by unbelievers and opponents just as actually the word Puritan was used in the 16th and 17th centuries those we call Puritans virtually never describe themselves as Puritans it was a it was a demeaning word a curse word it was like the way people spit out the word fundamentalist today and so from one point of view it's very surprising that we all speak about ourselves as Christians And yet when you probe Christians actually a a relatively small number seem to think of themselves most fundamentally as those who are united to Jesus Christ and are described in the pages of the New Testament as those who are in Christ but once you notice that is the way the New Testament and especially the Apostle Paul describes the Christian believer you realize that that expression and variance of it all over the apostolic letters the Apostle Paul uses that language or a variant of it in Christ in Christ Jesus in him over 200 times in the course of 13 mainly relatively short letters and that itself should indicate to us how important it is that day by day in our Christian lives as we awake as we go to bed when we reflect on ourselves we need to remember that's who we are we are men and women as Believers teenagers as Believers boys and girls as believers who have this fundamental personal identity I am someone in Christ Jesus I must say I was rather slow to understand that I started reading the Bible I think when I was nine probably when I was somewhere near 14 maybe 15. I was reading Paul's words in second Corinthians 12 verse 2 where you remember he says I knew a man in Christ once and for ages afterwards I kept going back to that passage and asking the question who was this Anonymous Man in Christ that the Apostle Paul said he once knew of course it's called in Scotland and the brain works more slowly but it was some time before it dawned on me of course he's speaking about himself this is his fundamental way of thinking about himself that he has been taken out of the old order the old adamic family and he has been transferred into a new family he is no longer in the land of Adam a citizen of the country of Adam dominated by the adamic nature he is now in Christ land he is a citizen of Christ's Kingdom and what is most fundamentally true about him is that he has been United to the Lord Jesus Christ now I have very little doubt that in a a gathering this size if you think of 6 000 professing Christians that will be many here who day and daily think about ourselves as men and women in Christ and it is just possible that there is a younger Sinclair Ferguson aged 14 or 15. who has never thought about the fact that if we are believers we are in Christ Jesus and all that this means so what I want to try and do in the time that we've got together is to to give a kind of map of the new testament's teaching of what it means when the Apostle Paul says that he is a man in Christ and that if we are believers we also are men and women in Christ think back to a book that I bought for one of our boys when he was young and an enthusiastic golfer and for his Christmas I bought him a book by Jack Nicklaus uh golf my way I think it was called and as a good father I read the book first of all before he got the book to make sure he wouldn't beat me too quickly and I was very impressed by Nicholas's introduction when he said at the beginning of every uh tour season he would actually come down from Ohio where he lived to Florida where his golf coach Jack grout lived he would arrange to meet him in the the practice area he would take a golf club with him and when they'd go over the pleasantries he would say to him as a very polite individual Mr grout please teach me to play golf and that struck me as a marvelous parable of how we should be as Christians that we what he meant was make sure the fundamentals are in place so no matter whether this is old hat to you and I have to say it it isn't a problem for me to say the same thing to you again or whether it is new it seems to me that grasping what it means to be in Christ enables us to learn how to live the Christian Life What will what will give our lives rhythm and balance and Clarity and keep our lives down the center of the Fairway of godliness if I can extend the golfing metaphor without weeping and gnashing of teeth in this Gathering so I want us to think about our Union with Christ as our entry into a multi-dimensional world our entry into a multi-dimensional world and in this world of being in Christ Jesus in this new citizenship in his new kingdom I think there are there are five Dimensions to the new existence to the experience of the new creation that help us to grasp both the magnitude and The Wonder of what it means to be in Christ the first of these Dimensions is what we might call the Eternal dimension where did this Union with Christ begin and you remember how Paul emphasizes in Ephesians 1 3 following that the sheer Wonder of God's grace is that God has had deeper Magic from before the dawn of time than anything we have ever experienced because we have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world United to Christ in the mind and purpose of God and so he goes on to say in his love he has predestined us to be adopted out of the old family of Adam and into the new family of our Lord Jesus Christ it's tragic really when you read these words that that people of such hostility and antagonism to those two words isn't it election and predestination because they they point us to our only hope as men and women who are dead and trespasses and sins that we have been brought to Salvation not because of our capacity to resurrect ourselves any more than Lazarus had capacity to resurrect himself but because any town that a God in his plan and his mind has set his love upon us he predestined Us in love to bring us into the family of Jesus Christ well how do you measure love you measure Love by the the gap between the the lover and the Beloved don't you the greater the Gap the greater the contrast the more amazing is the love and you you measure the Love by this is what the the best stories are about about the obstacles that the lover overcomes in order to win the Beloved the distance the lover is willing to travel to gain the Beloved the sacrifices the lover is willing to make the gifts the lover is willing to give the long-lasting nature of the love that the lover has for the Beloved and this is the atmosphere in which the New Testament encourages us to think that if we are Christian Believers and in Christ this did not just begin with our decision to of faith in Christ or even with our own birth but began in the Eternal mind of God so that he would not have his creation come to its consummation without you enjoying the Privileges of being the Beloved of God United to our Lord Jesus Christ um those of you who love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice whether you've read the book or seen any of the Thousand movie versions you remember how Elizabeth Bennett's sister asks her when her disposition towards Mr Darcy changed and she says I think it was when I saw pemberley his magnificent mansion and this is a very different kind of love isn't it this is a love that as one great theologianist said has no end because I actually had no beginning if we speak about it it's a beginning it is in the mystery and the deeper Magic from before the dawn of time in the heart of our Eternal heavenly father so that as Calvin says I think helpfully in the institutes there is of course this Paradox that he loved us even when he knew that he hated us and so we need to rest in this that our Union with Christ is first of all anchored in the Eternal heart of God and therefore it has an eternal Dimension and an eternal Foundation second it has an incarnational Dimension or what the theologians have often called a federal dimension that is it begins in the heart of God and then it is anchored in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the way in which he joined us took our flesh in order to become our representative and this of course is part of The Wonder of what the prologue to John's gospel tells us isn't it that the one who was face to face with God and The Wonder of that Eternal Sublime Fellowship of Father and Son came and while he was still face to face with God came face to face with us and lived out the whole of his life from the moment of his conception right through to his Ascension where he still wears our human nature and will do so perpetually he furthers the Eternal plan of God in our Union with him by uniting himself with us in our human nature and in our human nature against all the odds in the context of a fallen world a world in which ultimately he will be completely alone he undoes what Adam did and does what Adam was meant to do this of course is what Romans 5 12-21 is all about it's about the way in which the tragedy of Adam's fall is responded to by the super abundant grace Of The Obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ what theologians often call his act of obedience that every stage of his life and Ministry he was undoing what Adam and we have done and doing what Adam and we have failed to do as our representative the New Testament uses the word to describe him as the one who goes where no man has been able to go so that joined to him those who belong to him may go where he has gone and so this idea of Union with Christ that's anchored in the in the mind and will of God is and flashed in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ it's one of the early fathers of the church Arena said he became an infant for infants a boy for boys a young man for young man going through to full maturity so that where our representative head Adam failed and in him as Paul says we all sinned and failed and died in our representative Jesus Christ joined to him in the mind of God joined to him in the plan of God and clearly According To Jesus prayer in John 17 joined to him in the mind of our savior who prayed not only for his contemporaries but also for those who would believe in him like ourselves through the apostolic word he did all this for you because he had United your flesh to himself in order that is a an incarnate man for fallen human beings he might do for you what you cannot do for yourself and as the representative to whom you're United in the mind of God and will be existentially United by the Holy Spirit everything you need for life and salvation is found in Jesus Christ the Redemption says Paul is in him and so somewhat contrary to the language that was used to draw me to Christ that I was invited to let Jesus into my heart the emphasis of the New Testament while it does speak as we will see about Christ indwelling us the emphasis of the New Testament is that we need by faith to get out of ourselves and into this Jesus Christ and that's part of the power of the Gospel that actually our reformation and reformed tradition is well understood remember how Luther says is often said from this platform either here or wherever it is basic problem is that we are in curvatures in say and what the gospel does and the power of the Holy Spirit is to draw us from trusting in our own resources to the resources that there are for us embodied in Our Savior Jesus Christ that's why as many of you know there is a there is this little expression used in the New Testament that is apparently the grammarians tell us use nowhere else in classical literature that the Christian believes into Jesus Christ uine Ace into Jesus Christ and that of course is the third dimension of our Union with him forged in eternity embodied in the Incarnation in Christ's Federal representation of his people and then what we might call the spiritual dimension of Union with Christ thirdly where the word spiritual has a capital s when we are united to the Lord Jesus by the present Ministry of the Holy Spirit and this is what the spirit is given for us Jesus himself teaches us isn't it when the spirit comes he says to the disciples in the upper room what he's going to do is he is going to show me to you and not only show me to you but he is going to come in the sheer mystery of his ministry and bring you so that you believe into me and as you believe into me all that is in me for you New Life justification adoption sanctification perseverance glorification it's all in Jesus Christ for us and so our great need is to flee from ourselves into Christ and find in Jesus Christ an ocean of Grace sufficient for all of our needs and ultimately sufficient to bring me into his eternal presence no this is a vast subject on its own so let me just touch on one subsection of it what happens to us when we are personally spiritually United to the Lord Jesus Christ there are several important places where Paul expounds this one of course is in Romans chapter 6. and if we can summarize the power of what he says there in which he's he's really saying to the Roman Christians dear once don't you understand the inner significance of baptism your baptism was not a sign of a big decision you made your baptism was a sign of what is for you through faith in Jesus Christ and what is it that's for us in Christ in Paul's emphasis in that context it is he says that we have died to the Dominion of sin it no longer Reigns over us and while we are not yet free from the presence of sin we no longer live in the Kingdom of sin and we are no longer under its Authority and of course in a way reflecting on one of the questions here earlier on That's what Satan presses against when we sin and fall he says you poor depressed Christian there you go you're under the Dominion of sin and as we grasp what it means to be in Union with Christ we understand I cannot any longer be under the Dominion of sin because I'm in Christ and he is no longer under the Dominion of sin in death he died to sin once for all and I'm United to him in his resurrection that's irreversible I am no longer the man I once was I'm no longer the person I once was in Adam and this of course is what he says he says well what is it that's happened to you when he says doesn't he hear in Romans 6 and verse 6. the old man that you were in Adam has been crucified with Christ so that the body of sin that is to say I think this body dominated by sin this body under the Dominion of sin so that the body of sin might be released might be freed from sin's Dominion so that we would no longer serve sin but serve our Lord Jesus Christ and righteousness and Holiness and this is such a staggering thought I I think Paul realized that if the Roman Christians hadn't fully grasped the meaning of their baptism this was a staggering thought that this was their new identity in Christ but it goes on to say if that's your new identity that sin is no dominion over you and here is the exhortation therefore consider yourself as someone who has died to sin and been raised in newness of life and don't let sin Reign Over You now for many of us as Christians I think because we are so often turned back in upon ourselves this can this can be a difficult thing to grasp but think about it this way forgive me for our racial illustration it's my own race many years ago the president of the seminary in which I was teaching uh addressed me on the Seminary campus and he said Sinclair have you become an American citizen yet now let me pause here it is not sin for someone British to become an American citizen because as Dr Thomas knows you can retain your British citizenship okay but my instinctive response to him was to say why would I want to become an American I'm Scottish and I suppose you would feel the same way if our late magistrate had offered you said now I know some of you would have taken it at a grab if she'd offered you citizenship and wait a minute until the bill for a couple of hundred years back taxes arrived and we wanted our tea back but we've we've all got that Basic Instinct haven't we this is who I am and that's what Paul is driving at and it's so important today isn't it we're in a world in which our young people are being encouraged to try and find out who they are and if anything is a stabilizing and wonderful uh Revelation to a young Christian believer in this world it's surely this the newest Christian the simplest Christian even the struggling Christian is able to say on the basis of the New Testaments teaching but I know who I am I'm a citizen of another kingdom I live in this world with its laws and atmospheres according to the laws and atmospheres of another kingdom and it's one of those strange things about our own nationality that we we simply assume that our nationality is the best nationality in the world they don't want another nationality because we know who we are and that's what Paul is driving at here because our baptism is really a naming ceremony isn't it we are named for the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit but we are so prone to a kind of spiritual amnesia that we forget who we are and then the Devil comes in and we need to recover this that we are men and women and young people in Christ Jesus and we have a very special citizenship that frankly makes us sound strange in the world I've said often enough that one of my slightly dark Pleasures in living in the United States has been riding on elevators and engaging in conversation with people and then getting out of the elevator and the shy Americans who have been in the elevator pluck up the courage to say well where do you come from and I'd love just to turn around as the doors are closing and say Columbia South Carolina because they they realize that there's something about me that doesn't seem to belong here and because of the Oddity of many American minds they find the Scottish accent attractive because they don't know they have an accent of Their Own and that's really what Paul is driving at here it's our consciousness of our identity that gives the life that we live the atmosphere of the Kingdom to which we belong so this Union is eternal it's incarnational or federal it's spiritual it's a bond created in our regeneration and Faith by the Holy Spirit and the fourth dimension is this it's mutual a very beautiful emphasis in the New Testament isn't it that we dwell in Christ but also Christ dwells in ours that beautiful Revelation the Lord Jesus gave to the disciples and the farewell discourse to stabilize them when he looked forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit and said you know when the spirit comes you will begin to understand that I am in the father and the father is in me and it doesn't stop there Because by the indwelling of the spirit in your life I will come to dwell in you and it goes on in John 14 doesn't he to say this this um meltingly beautiful truth that when we love him the spirit will come and indwell us and the father and the son will make their home in US make our lives as it were lives where God is comfortable to dwell and most of the New Testament focus on this is in the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in US I've been crucified with crisis Paul and yet I live but not I but Christ lives in me paradoxically that is the ultimate explanation for the struggles of the Christian life isn't it this tremendous Paradox that you find and call in Galatians 2 20 Christ lives in me and then his words in Romans 7. sin dwells in me we are delivered in Union with Christ we are delivered from the Dominion of sin but we're not yet delivered from the presence of sin and it shouldn't therefore surprise us that there is what the Western confession calls an irreconcilable war that we fight all through this life because we are those in whom the Lord Of Glory dwells and yet simultaneously sin dwells but he is the Conqueror and that's the great thing and we need to think about this fourth dimension of Union with Christ not just that we are united to him but that he and his grace and mercy and the Mystery of the person of the Holy Spirit has come to indwell us and there are not six thousand Holy Spirits in this room but this mystery that every single one of us who has United to Christ is indwelt by the same Christ by one and the Same Spirit no wonder we love to be together no wonder it can be said about us for all our sin and failure see how these Christians love one another I've never forgotten as a youngster I think I was maybe 15 not more 16 hearing a sermon from my local Minister and the words at the end of Colossians 1 Christ in you the hope of glory and I will not try to do it making sure as I left church no one was around and dancing home at this thought that poor me a young teenager was indwelt by the Lord Jesus Christ in the beauty the Majesty the life transforming sense of who am I that I am one who in his grace the Lord Jesus by his Spirit has come to dwell and not only in me but also in all those who love him so yes Eternal Dimension Federal Dimension spiritual Dimension Mutual Dimension and then best of all eschatological dimension I I never use the word eschatological when I'm preaching but this is a Ligonier conference and if that's too long a word for you to take in the Eternal dimension this is a union that will never end it will no more end than Jesus Will sloth off the humanity that he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary that he wears in heaven now for our sake and will wear for all eternity as the guarantee that he will save us forever and this is this is what we want to think about as our conference comes to an end remember how he puts it in Colossians 3 4 he's spoken about Union with Christ Union with Christ and his death and his burial in his resurrection in his Ascension and then he says this and when Christ appears you and I will appear with him if I can put that in a in a way that is hyperbolic we might say that when the father says to the son at the consummation my beloved Son goal the Beloved son will say to his father but father we agreed that I would not appear without them that's how profound his love is for you that's why we know he will never let us go that's why this Union is so significant to us because on that day as John says you remember in first John chapter 3. it does not yet appear what we shall be yes we are his children now but it does not yet appear what he shall be what we shall be but we know this when he appears we shall be like him I love the little expression John Cotton the old and the New England Puritan uses in his commentary on First John when he makes this very striking succinct statement this reproveth man's squint looking and we need this don't we because we've all got Squints we've all got eyes that are so easily diverted just to the side or just underneath and we're taken up with lesser things and John is saying yes in the midst of all the struggles in the midst of all the antichrists in the midst of the darkness yes we are already the children of God but we are passed by day and daily by men and women and young people who do not see it but one day it will be visible to all creation it does not yet appear what we shall be but when he appears we who have been United in the mind of God United to him in his flesh United to him by the Holy Spirit indwelt by him if I can put it this way all that he has made us Within will be turned outside and who we really are will be clear to all I'm sure you'll love to think about this as you as you ask questions like will we recognize one another in heaven and the answer is yes we certainly will but perhaps not immediately I see people at conferences and sometimes I say to them but you weren't dressed like this the last time I saw you in church on Sunday and I wonder if it would be like that just a moment until we all so that's who you really were that's who you really were I don't know if there are apologies in heaven but maybe if there's a little opportunity we'll be able to say you know I'm sorry I didn't see that I was blind to all that God's grace was doing in you but now I see it now appears to me who you really are and uh I'm sure that person will say to you I was thinking exactly the same thing about you and then our lord Jesus prayer in John 17 24 surely will be answered I'm praying that they may be with me where I am to behold my glory the glory you've given to me and your love for me from the very foundation of the world and as they see me in my glory That Glory will be reflected in their beings and their Union with me will have come to its final glorious consummation as I said I think this is so important for us today and especially for those of us who are perhaps teenagers students faced with a world that tells us to choose our identity from all these different kinds of options and you'll notice they're all sexual options part of the idolatry of this world they have nothing to do with character nothing to do with transformation of life nothing to do with the gospel and my dear friends especially those of you who are younger than all of us who are teaching fellows when when this grasps you it is inevitable there will be those who in their confusion distress and disorder we'll ask the question where do you really come from and you'll be able to see I come from Jesus Christ and then that day will come to pass for which we long yes long even with Charles Wesley love divine or loves excelling Joy Of Heaven to Earth come down finish then thy New Creation pure and spotless let us be let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee changed from Glory into Glory till in heaven we take our place till we cast our crowns before thee lost in Wonder Love and praise that's the kingdom to which we are going but it's the kingdom to which we already belong so by God's grace as we listen to Christ being praised at the end of this conference let us go with our heads held high knowing that to be a Christian is surely the most wonderful thing in the world because here already we are in Christ and there forever we shall be with him let's pray together our lord Jesus we thank you for the way in which you came from Heaven to Earth for us to make us your bride to bring us to yourself to fill us with your grace and love pray for one another as you have been with us and blessed us that all we have sensed here of the power of your word and the graciousness of your presence and the love of the brothers and the sisters will remain with us as nourishment for the journey that lies ahead and this we pray in our savior's name amen what a great message to conclude our 2023 National Conference and what amazing past few days these have been from all of us on the Ligonier team thank you for joining us online thank you for sharing the live stream with your friends and your family this weekend all of our conference messages will soon be available in the free Ligonier app and this includes the conference seminars that weren't featured in the live stream you can simply search for Ligonier in your app store to gain access and I do hope we'll see you in Orlando next year remember that when you register now for our 2024 National Conference you'll save 50 percent and receive our lowest rate but this discount is only available for one week learn more about next year's conference and watch the trailer at ligonier.org 2024 it has been a great privilege to gather with you around the teaching of God's word we pray that this conference has been a help for all of us to live courageously and without compromise for the Eternal truth of God and now I hope you have a wonderful Lord's day tomorrow as you sit under God's word and worship with your local church I'm Nathan W Bingham and I look forward to seeing you next time who did Jesus say that he was any study of the person of Christ at best can only scratch the surface when your eyes are open and you see the radiance of Christ Everything Changes Jesus is the Incarnation of Truth the light of the world the one in whom there is life abundant there are beats within every human heart a hope that somehow there will be victory over the grave and all of that comes down not to an argument but to a person Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me foreign [Music]

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

Views: 427,453

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

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Length: 204min 25sec (12265 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 25 2023