Ask Ligonier with Derek Thomas (May 2019)

good evening I'm Nathan W Bingham and welcome to ask Ligonier for the next 60 minutes our special guests will be answering your biblical and Theological questions live if you'd like to submit a question this evening you can message us on Facebook you can use the hashtag ask Ligonier on Twitter or basically leave a comment wherever you're watching this evening's livestream while our special guest is the senior minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia South Carolina he's also the chancellors professor of systematic and pastoral theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and he serves everyone as one of Ligonier teaching fellows dr. Derek Thomas thank you so much for joining us this evening Thank You Nathan it's a pleasure I think we'll find out we'll find out now if you have a question for dr. Thomas tonight you can submit those again as I said using the hashtag ask Ligonier on social media so make sure you reach out to Ligonier ministries on social media and submit those theological questions now dr. Thomas correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I've heard you say that Romans 8 is the greatest chapter in all of the Bible can you tell us firstly is that true you've said that before and what's so great about Romans 8 I've said that many times I wasn't the first person to say that and I I can't but imagine that ever since Paul penned Romans that the eighth chapter became a favorite because it contains so many gospel notes and some of the most famous texts in all of Scripture are in Romans 8 but as it as it works through Romans 8:2 that marvelous peroration at the end who shall separate us from the love of Christ and so on I often think you know what what chapter of Scripture would you like to hear if you were dying it would not be first Chronicles perhaps were the first eight chapters being a list of names but but I think it would be the eighth chapter of Romans and of course you've done a teaching series with Ministry's titled romans 8 it is available now in the Ligonier store but i would commend that to people if they want to hear doctor Thomas's study through Romans 8 to get a copy of that that teaching series now dr. Thomas we get lots of questions coming in during an event like this so we like to begin with a lightening round to help us to try and get to as many of these as possible so for a lightening round we try and restrict your answers to around 90 seconds or less do you think you're ready for a first lightening round let's go okay all right well our first question has been asked on Facebook from Avery and Avery wants to know what does sola scriptura mean well it's one of the five principle Solars of the Reformation and the Reformation was in many respects a recovery of the authority of Scripture over all of doctrine and all of life the final answer to any question is what does the Bible have to say about this and so putting scripture above human opinion whether that's the opinion of a single individual or a preacher or a commentator or a pope or or the opinion of a collection of like a like a council or a synod scripture is the final authority all right we have another question on YouTube Nate is asking what is a biblical church that's a great question and if you were in the patristic era you would say one holy catholic apostolic would be some of the marks of a true biblical church and if you're in the Reformation you would add faithful preaching of the Scriptures the right administration of sacraments and the exercise of biblical church discipline okay another question here on Facebook for you are you doing great on this lightning round how can we interpret Scripture properly without a seminary background or education well we believe in something called the perspicuity of Scripture it's at the heart of the mr. confession for example in the first chapter and that and that says that that any Christian with the right use of means like preaching or a commentator or being blowing to a Bible study or asking someone who has more knowledge can come to an understanding of the essential doctrines of the Bible but if you're if you're going to be able to understand the immensities of Scripture the deep things of Scripture you you do need to learn what are the rules of interpretation and for that especially if you're going to be a preacher I would say that for most people you need a seminary education another question here on Twitter asking when we pray should we pray only to the Father no although I think that there is a rule of thumb a general rule of thumb that we pray to the Father through the intercession of the Lord Jesus and by the help and strength of the Holy Spirit so I think I think prayer generally speaking should be Trinitarian Jesus taught his disciples to pray saying our Father who art in heaven but I think it is appropriate on occasion and in certain circumstances to pray directly to Jesus or to pray directly to the Holy Spirit and and realizing some of the aspects that are peculiar to each person of the Trinity but on Sunday morning in a pastoral prayer I want it to be Trinitarian another question here on Facebook for you how can I discern the will of God oh you can read Sinclair Ferguson's book on that topic just discovering God's will I most it's an interesting fact that problems relating to finding our God's will is a is a very 20th 21st century problem and if you went back into the 17th of the sixteenth century and and and just looked at sermons and books that they were not preoccupied with knowing God's will because the answer to them was that once you knew and understood the scripture you would be able to discover 99% of the answers to what does God want me to do here because mostly they're ethical and and moral issues to which the Bible has sometimes specific or sometimes general things to say another question for you here at this time being asked on YouTube what is the role of entertainment maybe you could even ask is there a role for entertainment in the church I'm a Presbyterian and I think that Presbyterians find it difficult to have fun so I do believe that that God intends us to have fun I'm not sure that that's in church and most definitely not in an act of worship worship should be worship and worship should be reverent and solemn and and it should not be about entertaining ourselves but giving praise to God but but I think that as Christians we gather together and there is a theology of fun and there's a wonderful chapter and book that Jim Packer once wrote on Udo monism I think he calls it and from the Greek for pleasure and there is a proper biblical theology of pleasure okay thank you helpful another question here from Facebook what does it mean when the Bible says God created us in His image yes that's another interesting question he created us to reflect aspects of his being righteousness holiness these are some of the ways the New Testament refers to the image of God in us you know and there are other aspects the the the fact that we we need community the fact that we are rational the fact that we are inquisitive and and and many other things reflect something of the very character of God himself one final question for this lightning round this time asked on YouTube how should Christians understand the Mosaic law well that's a tricky question because Mosaic law is usually divided into at least three different segments and and that is the moral law the Ten Commandments and expositions of the Ten Commandments then there is the civil law the law that was peculiar to the State of Israel as a theocracy and then there's the ceremonial law which was done away with or fulfilled in Jesus Christ the first is the only one that's binding upon the conscience --is of Christians and that is the moral law the the civil law my own confession the Westminster Confession speaks of the general equity of that as applicable in a very different set of circumstances in a modern democratic state as opposed to a theocracy when I say general equity there is that like the general value or the general wisdom yes you can tease out for example how the law would have been applied in a theocracy and there may be some general print moral principles that can be applied in a modern state well you survived that first lightning round sir congratulations we'll come back to a another lightning round later in our time this evening but I want to let you know if you love the teaching of Ligonier ministries and would like to be able to introduce other people to the teaching of dr. Sproul and the trusted teaching of Ligonier ministries i want to encourage you to get them to visit ask Ligonier org slash offer if they go there we would love to send them a free copy of dr. Sproles new booklet god is holy it's been designed with evangelism and disciple ship in mind it is an abridged version of dr. Sproles popular book the holiness of God and it as a free gift we love to send anyone that's never contacted Ligonier ministries before if they reside in the US or Canada so it's a wonderful opportunity if you'd like to introduce as I said the teaching of dr. Sproul and the resources of Ligonier ministries to some to family or friends encourage them to visit ask Ligonier org slash offer well dr. Thomas we have another question here coming in from Twitter it's not a lightning round so you can take a deep breath and answer take as much time for your answer as you like how about this questions asks in Romans 1:28 what does it mean when it says God gave them over to a reprobate mind so the first chapter of Romans and it extends after after the introductory sort of prologue that really is in some ways a summary of the whole book of Romans Paul begins his exposition of sin which will lead all the way through to the middle of the third chapter sin both in Jews and in Gentiles so that none is without excuse and as a result of man's fall and rebellion as a result of Adam's fall and rebellion Adam lost his native ability to will that which is good and giving over to a reprobate mind is that God consigns mankind to live in that condition that can only be undone by the gospel it can only be undone by a powerful regenerative work of the Holy Spirit to renew the will to renew the affections to give a new heart so that the natural man only does evil all the time from the point of view of God's holiness no it doesn't mean to say that every reprobate is as reprobate as they possibly can be there are gradations of sin but all of mankind is fallen all of mankind is in a state of sin and inability and only the gospel can liberate them from that condition so we're not to understand that giving over to a reprobate mind to suggest that there are certain sins that if you knew friend or a family member that may have certain sins in their life their lifestyle that we're to kind of think well there's no hope for them in the gospel let's not evangelize them because clearly God's given them over to a reprobate mind we should always be preaching the gospel and praying for their salvation no I think that Paul is saying in Romans 1:28 that that all of mankind have been given over to a reprobate mind and if that interpretation were true then then there would be no hope for anyone but the gospel is the good news that God so loves sinners that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life we have a question here from Facebook can you see suggest a biblical reference that speaks directly to the abortion issue oh that's a particularly pointed question for tonight for sure yes you know in Psalm 139 for example the psalmist speaks of a relationship of God with the individual from the moment of conception but just think of of Jesus when the Holy Spirit conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary the infant Jesus who is a day old a week old a month old who's in the third trimester at what point is is Jesus the Incarnate son of God and the answer is from Gabriel himself that it's at the moment of his conception that he is the entity that is the son of God incarnate and therefore abortion would therefore be something that would justify the killing of of Jesus so from a biblical worldview life begins at the moment of conception does the church have a mandate to speak out against abortion yes and it does that in different ways and and there are there are some individuals who are Christians who are in public office who have a responsibility and and and a platform to do that but yes I mean I think it's a clear implication of thou shalt not kill so in any any sermon or exposition on the right of life or anything about murder would I mean one obvious our application of that would be abortion we have another question here asked on YouTube are baptized infants in any sense in union with Christ in any sense they are not in necessarily in regenerative union with Christ but but in they are in covenant with Christ I think that I prefer to use that language and I speak as a head of Baptist and one who regularly administers baptism to infants baptism doesn't say anything at all about the regenerative nature of the infant it is not a sign of faith and it's not a sign of union with Christ it's a sign to union with Christ and it's a sign to regeneration that the one who believes will be in union with Christ and the one and one can think of union with Christ in in the eternal sense there there is a sense in which we have been in Christ from eternity in the sense of the decree that God decreed in the sense of election and the sense of predestination but there has to be an existential dimension to union with Christ we have to be brought existential and experientially into union with Christ and that may occur at any time at the behest of the Holy Spirit but but I believe that baptism is a sign to that not not a sign of it what advice would you give to two parents that have had their infants baptized and say a Presbyterian Church to help them as they're raising that that young person that young one I do not give them a say a full sense of assurance because they were baptized what wisdom would you share the two Peter Baptist parents right I think that it is important to remind children of their baptism and if there were baptized as infants then they're not going to have a memory of their baptism so they they need to be reminded that they are baptized and and there are implications of being baptized and there are consequences in terms of the privileges that baptism entails and that they've been raised in a godly home and that they've heard the gospel from the very moment of consciousness and and many many other privileges but I still believe that we need to evangelize our children and and we evangelize our own children differently from a complete stranger would may not know anything about the gospel but there are always opportunities to speak to children in special circumstances when unusual Providence's occur and it's a moment to quietly reinforce the gospel and and the need for our children to exercise faith they need to believe they need to they need to repent and believe in the gospel and and each each child will be different and each parent is different but the opportunities will be the same another question here being asked on YouTube since we are chosen by God to all babies go to heaven well yes according to the Belgic confession agnostic according to the Westminster Confession the Westminster Confession says that all elect infants go to heaven which is really not saying anything at all really it's the safest answer yes but I think if you had polled the Westminster Divine's I'm perfectly persuaded that all of them believed that infants who died in infancy went to heaven and it was an enormous issue in the 17th century since the majority of human beings died in infancy and John Owen had 11 children 10 of them died in infancy and the one that survived into adulthood died in their late 20s so it was a very very sensitive pastoral issue my own belief although I have no biblical text but it it's just something that I think that is at the heart of the way that God has revealed himself that I fully expect to see all infants and all aborted infants in heaven but I have no text for that and do you think as you were saying the Westminster Divine's would hold that physician if they were individually asked or or just leave I believe the majority of them would have done so yes if the parents were not believing themselves right okay we have another question here from Facebook changing the tone a little bit what would you say is the biggest challenge facing pastors in 2019 the biggest challenge facing pastors there are many I mean I think that post modernity or late modernity whatever you want to call it you know has done a number on our society and therefore getting a platform in which what you are saying is being heard the way you intend it to be heard is increasingly more difficult and it's not just out there it's it's the congregation that you're actually speaking to who are constantly being molded and shaped by a broad abroad of what is acceptable and what isn't in terms of truth and doctrine and morals and and and ethics and and therefore maintaining the doctrine of the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture and and the inerrancy of Scripture is is vital and and living that out in a in a day-to-day atmosphere but you know pastors are troubled by all kinds of things and you know my my concern is the pastor who graduates from seminary full of zeal and enthusiasm and and goes into a situation that maybe is above his head and experience and and gets disappointed by that and and that is a real problem and and a lot of them will leave and go into some other vocation and it's difficult seminaries can't prepare people for the exigencies of congregational life and sometimes the real difficulties of congregational life you know most pastors are young when they graduate and most pastors are much younger than their elders I was 25 when I entered the ministry and all of my elders were in their 60s and 70s they were old enough to be my grandparents and and so relating across two generations within session there's very little that can prepare you for that and but I'd go back to the doctrine of Scripture I think that maintaining a consistent belief in the inerrancy of Scripture is absolutely vital if you could go back to young 25-year old dr. Thomas well I'm sure you probably want dr. Thomas then what would you say to him to help encourage yourself through through the ministry years that you would face I've had three pastor it's the first one in Belfast in Northern Ireland for 17 years and then in Jackson Mississippi where I was a professor but I was also the evening preacher at First Presbyterian in Jackson along with ligand Duncan who was the senior minister and now I first prayers in Columbia and and first pres Jackson the first person Columbia are clones of each other in almost every conceivable way but both are entirely at the other end of the spectrum from the church I was in in Belfast and I could not have walked into first pres Columbia or first projects in the 25 I was I was unable then to discern the difference between what is necessary and and and what I would like to achieve and you know of the 336 things you want to change in a church how many of them are you willing to die for how many of them are you willing to put your job on the line for and and maybe there are two but at 25 there were 336 and I had a very patient session you know who helped me grow a little and and I think that that's probably true of all of life but it's certainly true in ministry that that wise and godly elders if if you allow them can actually teach you a lot of wisdom to to grow I I mean it's just it's a personal question and and I wish I had given myself more to my family at 25 because that's something that you can never undo and I was a solo pastor but which meant you did absolutely everything and I did not have a secretary or anything and so you did you did everything and and I was also I was always interested in the academic side so pursuing eventually a PhD but but but I was always studying and you know I think I might have one I would like to revisit that and and do the ratio a little differently for my family sick who have loved me through right at all but but yeah will you bring up your time in Belfast there in Northern Ireland you were there for 17 years people watching may not be aware of that that part of your ministry history but you're there in a difficult time during the Troubles that the churches faced persecution it was a difficult time to live as a minister then how did you encourage your congregation what was what was life like during that time a very different season then say we're experiencing now in the United States the reason I went to Belfast was in part because my wife grew up there and her family were there so in a sense she was going home the troubles had broken out in the late 60s and and had been going for a decade or so by the time I got there and there were different seasons sometimes it was bombings in the city and and if a bomb went off in the city you you you knew about it you heard it you sometimes felt it you feel the wind coming up the street even if it was a mile away and yeah I mean I recall coming to church on more than one occasion and there's a body and lying on the street because it had been shot the night before I buried a man with 37 bullets in his back but life went on and churches today in various parts of the world where there is civil unrest and churches in Middle East for example you know your children went to school you went on vacation in the summer you went shopping on a Friday afternoon you got your groceries and so so life just went on there were certain things that you didn't do where there were certain parts of the city avoided especially at night and and the city was very segregated in terms of areas that were safe in areas that were not safe it it was a learning experience and I think I learned very quickly the need to minister to fear to pain to loss of life but especially the sense of frustration these were events that were beyond the control of individuals and the sense of anger I remember coming to church one Sunday morning I was gonna preach on a certain text and the night before there'd been an explosion and several dozen people had been killed and some of the people killed were known to the congregation was a small community so that that wasn't unusual and I just sensed walking into church that morning that there was just an intense sense of outrage and anger and frustration and and my text was just wholly inappropriate and just began to open up one of the Psalms that that that speaks of such things where they vent anger and rage even at God and calling upon God to come down in in judgment so having a better understanding of why those Psalms were returned because they were written in circumstances where really bad things were occurring and things that seemed unfair you know why do the righteous suffer why do the wicked prosper the imprecatory psalms and i think that being in those circumstances helped me to understand a little of how to minister to that well for those that are watching live if we don't get to your questions this evening because we have a lot of them coming in I want to make sure you know that you can ask your biblical and Theological questions 24 hours a day 6 days a week we have a team of well trained agents literally on multiple continents so that we can answer your questions when you have the questions so be sure to visit a scaly guinea org to learn all the ways that you can ask Ligonier your biblical and Theological questions whether you're reaching out to us on social media sending us an email or making use of our chat service on Ligonier org and in the free Ligonier app so that website again is a skeg ania org well dr. Thomas we do have more questions who want to get to this evening we have one here from someone on YouTube and they're asking if you had one minute to say anything to high school students what would you say preach the gospel to yourself every day I think that that that becomes important but there are opportunities to serve the Lord that only come at certain times in one's life and you know the youth sometimes have a lot of zeal but no knowledge and and the trick is you don't want to pour water on the fire and put the fire out you just want to so steer them in the right direction what what encourages me is I consistently see young people in their early twenties who just graduated from high school in college and and they they want to give themselves to ministry and that is that is really encouraging but to live you know to live out and out for Christ to to many youths I think you know follow the patterns of wanting to sow some Wild Oats and then coming back to Jesus in the mid-20s and when they're ready to settle down and so on and you don't know how long a life you have and you you really do want to give that life to the Lord and live it to the full another question here this time being asked to us on Twitter is there an eschatological stance that is more convincing than others yes absolutely for me it's it's an our millennial view that we are in the Millennium I'm not expecting a millennium of a thousand years to occur before Jesus comes or after Jesus comes we are in the Millennium we are in that period of a thousand years and it began on the day of Pentecost and I think that seeing that perspective which which I more or less grasped when I was at seminary has helped me to see that the next great redemptive event is not something that's going to happen in Jerusalem or the conversion of Jews or whatever it is but the next great redemptive event is the second coming of the Lord Jesus and we don't know when that is are there signs that must be fulfilled before Jesus comes and if there are that means that Jesus isn't coming in the next five seconds four three two one and I I say that not trying to be clever or anything because I do think that Scripture does give us certain principles that the gospel must first be preached to all the nations and however you define that and whether that's all people groups and and so on and certainly that has not yet been done there are still people groups who don't have the gospel in their own language so therefore if that is a necessary prophecy that must be fulfilled before Jesus comes then but I do believe that we should live our lives as though Jesus could come again within our lifetime that we may be that generation that doesn't die but is caught up to meet the Lord in the air Paul says and Thessalonians another question here being asked on YouTube when was the church founded Matthew 16:18 or at Pentecost well the church was founded I think in Genesis 3 I believe the church is synonymous with Israel in a New Testament redemptive historical sense so there is a church in the Old Testament book of Hebrew speaks of the church in the wilderness for example but but III think I think I think that the church begins in its New Testament form at Pentecost and you see it emerging slowly and growing from infancy to to adolescence as it experiments with with holding all things in common something which it doesn't continue with as it sees the need for some kind of D a candle ministry in act 6 whether they're strictly deacons but but they're certainly diaconal in their ministry to the full-blown mature church of the pastoral epistles another question he have asked on Twitter this time was the lord's day Sabbath revoked by Jesus no it would be my answer in Sinclair Ferguson's fairly recent book on [Music] sanctification I believe there is an appendix on this very issue which I would I would certainly recommend I think I think that Jesus put his imprimatur on the principle of one day in seven I think that we still believe in the operating force of ten commandments and not nine Commandments because the implication is that there is if there is no Sabbath at all and there's just a utilitarian need to meet but it doesn't really matter when or where or how then then strictly speaking the conclusion is that we really only have nine Commandments not ten and there's there's nothing in the New Testament that even remotely suggests that and the pattern of the New Testament church was that they they met on the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection so the day has changed but the but the principle of one in seven has not why do you think it is that broadly speaking generally in the church there's a less esteem for a Sabbath or the Lord's Day but they essentially have that view that you said we just need to meet together once a week because it's probably prudent and helpful yes and largely I suspected that that that's antinomianism that that's it's inconvenient we we have come to view the weekend and so from about four o'clock on Friday where where were free fall to the weekend and Sunday has become a family day crazily I mean a shopping day or whatever and and it's you know the answer that is not swinging 180 degrees in this direction of legalism the answer of that is to see the the gospel nature of of the Lord's Day and to me to have a day where I'm free from all of the stuff that occupies me and it's different from your em and minister so I mean I'm involved in gospel stuff every day of the week but but for most people to have a day that's clear of the working week is an immense blessing because work and even leisure can so legalistically bind you but that you become a slave to pleasure or you become a slave to work rather than see the Lord's Day as freeing one up to to worship to be with God's people we have another question here at this time asked on YouTube do you have a recommendation for a Bible translation I love the ESV I've loved it since it first emerged I agree with its translation policy I like the fact that it introduces the word propitiation back into our language and we're forced to so we use that word yeah the ESV in all of its many iterations and study Bibles and and I'm I must have 25 different versions of it and love them all well before we get to another lightning round I want to remind people that are watching online that if you've never contacted Ligonier ministries before I encourage you to visit ask Ligonier org slash offer and we'd love to send you a free copy of dr. Sproles booklet god is holy it's a wonderful way to be introduced and to review the important question who is God as this abridged version of dr. sprawls book the holiness of God introduces you to this important question and this pivotal theme of the life and Ministry of dr. Sproul so that web address again is asked Ligonier org slash offer for anyone that's not contacted as before we'd love to send you a free copy all right well it means it's time for another lightning round you still game mmm okay yes all right well this question should elders be required to take a sabbatical actually I'm in a denomination where they do so we have term eldership and our elders sit on session for four years and then they must be off for one and then they become eligible to be re-elected to the session now there are always elders and any situation that requires elders they they can be called upon visitation counseling Lord suburb or whatever but actually to be on a session the reason for that is we have maybe a hundred elders and and it's just unworkable so currently we are 48 and and I have discovered whether this is biblical or unbiblical and III was greatly influenced by John Murray's argument against term eldership 3040 years ago when I first read it but I have seen the value of term eldership in the sense that when they do get a sabbatical they come back fresh and they come back with ideas and when our elders go on their sabbatical they go they go deep we hardly see them I mean they're in church or say and I encourage that but to come back invigorated with with enthusiasm and I like it as a minister I've never had a sabbatical in 40 years of ministry I've had sabbaticals from from seminary as a professor but it's now becoming fashionable for ministers this sorry this was the lightning round ministers yeah I'm still waiting for my sabbatical I would love it okay all right what's the lightning round so we will keep moving but hopefully to get that that vacation that sabbatical what is your favorite piece of classical music oh it changes from from year to year I'm very fond of partner I know RC disapproved immensely and Wagner's a troubled soul for sure but his death ringed days there's nibbling and the ring of the Nibelungen the Ring cycle of four operas 17 hours over four nights it's a bit like Lord of the Rings sim the narrative is very similar in parts and both narratives were derived from the same mythology but if I could only have one thing I am of course having 17 hours of it that that would be it okay I'm not gonna pretend to say I've heard that okay alright what are your beliefs on young earth versus old earth yes the earth looks old it feels old it's it geologically says it's old I was a math physics major the size of the universe says that it's old now all of that can be can be brought about by God creating it to look old and and there's you know Adam was created as a fully grown man so there's nothing in principle I like some of Lennox's professor John Lennox's works on this issue okay yeah why doesn't the church keep Old Testament holy days like Passover Feast of Trumpets Feast of Tabernacles I think because they are part of the ceremonial nature of the law in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in Christ and there was no evidence that the early church the New Testament church desired I mean there's a there's a segue from moving from the synagogue to outside of the synagogue and and so the patterns of synagogue life is there perhaps initially but but by the time you see the fully mature church when when Paul is giving instruction in pastoral epistles for example that there's there's no hint that you should keep the Jewish calendar this question asked on Twitter what is your favorite book other than the Bible Lord of the Rings okay I read it every summer Oh good have you seen the new talking I have not okay a lot of people talking about that right now yes we have this question from YouTube what is something you wish churches would address today mmm tricky question can I think about that while Alliance or another one you come back to it because there's gonna be dead time as I'm as I'm thinking okay well the question I always like to ask is if you could have dinner and maybe you're gonna need to think about this one too but if you could have dinner with anybody from church history who would it be and why well this is difficult because I really I've spent most of my adult life studying Calvin so so I know him I think I know him better than I know anybody else but I'm not sure how great a dinner guest Calvin would be and Luther would be far more entertaining I think a dinner than than Calvin but I really do long to see him in heaven and I really do have some questions to ask him but John Calvin okay alright do you wanna come back to that question about what should the church address today yeah I'm still thinking about it I mean it it it has to address all kinds of things but it and it does it in different guises I think that I think that preaching needs to be exposition of the word and needs to be about the gospel and not be driven by social issues the social issues can be applications of preaching but they must not be the vehicle through which we address the world only the gospel can change this this rotten world of ours you know and there there are there are many things that are troubling God's people at the minute and some of them are social issues and sexual identity issues and and and the church is addressing them but I can't think of the one thing that the church needs to address okay we have another question here this time asked on Facebook what does 1 John chapter 2 verse 3 mean when it says and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his Commandments one of the evidences of a new birth one of the evidences of genuine faith is that you love Jesus and you love Jesus is loss so a desire to keep the law desire to be holy which is our sees book that you're giving away is one of the evidences of being a Christian and it's the only place where Christian will find true contentment and joy and happiness is that when you when you're walking in the will of the Lord keeping his Commandments what description mean when it speaks about Jesus not knowing the day or the hour well then Jesus is incarnate mind he has a human mind so you know if he went up to Jesus and said can you sing the first few notes of Beethoven's fifth symphony he would just look at you because he doesn't speak English he knows Aramaic and Hebrew and Greek but he doesn't speak English English wasn't even a language then so so there are things that Jesus doesn't know Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with men Luke says that twice about Jesus as a young boy and and as an infant and in in my own view Jesus is still growing in knowledge in his human mind right now he's still acquiring knowledge his human mind is not omniscient that's a property of his divine mind but his human mind is is is limited and one of the things that he did not know was the data this second coming it was information that had not been given to him how did Jesus know anything and and he knew things by by study he knew things by asking questions he knew things by reasoning and he knew things because the Holy Spirit told him things but but but other than that that there are things about which Jesus did not know and is this him willingly not accessing that divine mind yes I'd want to put it a little differently but but yes there is no evidence whatsoever that his human mind accessed his divine mind if that was true it would be impossible to tempt Jesus okay all right we'll come to another question now this time from Facebook how can I share the Word of God with someone who identifies as LGBTQ without offending them well we must love those to whom we witness no matter who they are we're to love our enemies but to love our neighbors and so difficult under us there are examples and scenarios where this is difficult and that's not peculiar to LGBTQ issues but what they need is the gospel and it's it's the difficulty of having firm convictions about sexual identity about maleness and femaleness and not being seen as a bigot because that is the catalyst of our society that that if you are not open-minded you are a bigot and I think befriending folk you know and finding opportunities to to witness and speak the gospel and showing genuine love and compassion I say that with some ease in that I live in a part of the country that where this isn't radically open and therefore in the Bible Belt it's probably easier to say that then if I was living in some other part of the country question here on Facebook what can you do about a gay daughter who shuns Shone's you because of your beliefs yeah that's really really partially difficult and I've had to address that with some of my own congregation in recent days and it it's it's very very difficult to - it's maybe say the other way around it's it's easy to do something from which you cannot recover it's easy to make a decision about your relationship with your children from which you may never recover fifty years will go by and and what you what you are about to do will not be undone and you know other compromises you know do you invite your gay daughter and her partner to Thanksgiving dinner you know where do you draw the line can they spend the night can they spend the night in the same room and and I don't want to be the one telling the parents this is where you draw the line they must try and work out for themselves where is the point at which their conscience no longer allows them and and maybe there are there are certain lines that that that you can draw and and still maintain some kind of relationship even though it's always going to be difficult we'll call that the end of the second lightning round we've got into some heavy questions there so we'll give you some time as you answer some of these final questions to take as long as you need but here's a question someone's asking on YouTube and pilgrims progress there is a way to hell it says almost at the end of pilgrims journey does that mean that a saved person can be lost no but as someone someone who thinks that they're saved can be lost which is different and someone that you think might be saved can be lost but but the perseverance of the saints the perseverance of God's elect actually becomes the definitive doctrine of the seventeenth century and and certainly the pivotal doctrine of the post Reformation period I remember the first time I read pilgrims progress just how startling that was you're on the final page of the book and you've crossed the river and and then all of a sudden the camera lens goes to this this this hole in the side of the mountain and and that needs straight to to hell and and I think that what it's saying is that you may convince yourself that you're good enough to go to heaven but in the end right at the point of death you will discover that there is a pathway to hell and therefore I think Bunyan was evangelistically trying to say you need to make your calling and election sure you need to have assurance and you need to have little assurance that that that you are a child of God question here from Facebook how would you respond to someone saying that reformed theology is a quote white man's interpretation oh I have I have a number of African American friends you know who would disagree with that yes I mean much of the Reformation came from Europe and therefore in that sense it is true but I can take you to China I could take you to Russia I could take you to Africa I could take you to South America I could take you to Brazil for example and and there are tens of thousands of people who are not Caucasian who loved the Reformed faith and so yeah okay a one final question for you how can you tell someone who's dying of cancer how important it is to receive Jesus oh that's a great question and there are surely opportunities when somebody is facing near certain death to show love and tenderness and compassion just to speak about heaven to speak about the hope that lies before someone who who knows the gospel who loves Jesus and that this is just slipping into a fold in space and and you wake up in heaven there are opportunities I mean you know the the cross the three crosses it was the same event in all three it was a crucifixion it in one it was softening in one it was hardening and in another it was atoning right so the mere fact that one is aware that that one is dying does not necessarily induce a softening and an openness to receive the gospel it can just as easily Harden but to look for those opportunities where you can speak a gentle word or or or just to say connect can I pray for you and that's a little in mind indirect and bring the gospel into your prayer dr. Thomas we have covered a variety of subjects this evening truly grateful for your wisdom and your insights oh thank you thank you it's been a pleasure well I want to remind you that when you have biblical and Theological questions you can always ask Ligonier we have our agents standing by 24 hours a day six days a week so ensure that you visit asked Ligonier org to learn all the ways that we can help you answer life's most important questions alumni Ethan W Bingham and I look forward to seeing you next time

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

Views: 7,838

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Keywords: ask ligonier, askligonier, derek thomas, nathan bingham, ligonier, ligonier ministries, question and answer, Q&A, ligonier Q&A, ligonier q and a, reformed theology, reformation theology, theology, reformed, theological questions, questions answered, questions and answers, theological answers, ligonier questions and answers, derek, thomas, biblical questions, biblical answers, biblical answers to tough questions, biblical questions and answers

Id: Bl8JEl2dSIs

Length: 63min 6sec (3786 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2019