BINGHAM: Good evening, I'm Nathan W. Bingham,
and welcome to Ask Ligonier. This month marks two years since we launched
Ask Ligonier, a biblical and theological chat service. And since that time, thousands of people just
like you have been asking their questions to our well-trained team of Ask Ligonier agents
positioned around the world twenty-four hours a day, six days a week. Just a few months after we launched that service,
we conducted our first Ask Ligonier live event where we had a guest teacher here answering
your questions unscripted and, as I said, live. Well, later this evening I look forward to
letting you know about the latest expansion of Ask Ligonier and how you can take advantage
of that. Well, by God's grace, every year Ligonier
Ministries is reaching new people, and so some of you watching might think that the
idea behind Ask Ligonier is something new, but for almost fifty years growing Christians
have been turning to R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries as a place
where they can go to find trusted answers, so it really is part of our DNA. So, who is our guest member of the Ask Ligonier
team tonight? Well, he's actually the first person that
joined me in the hot seat here in 2018. He is a theologian, he's a preacher, he's
a prolific author and he's a Ligonier Ministries' teaching fellow. He's none other than Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson, welcome back! FERGUSON: Thank you. BINGHAM: And thank you for joining us tonight. FERGUSON: Well, I appreciate the opportunity
to be with you again. BINGHAM: Well, if you have a question for
Dr. Ferguson be sure to use the #AskLigonier hashtag on Twitter. You can visit the Ligonier Ministries Facebook
page and send us a message or leave a comment on YouTube or wherever it is that you are
watching the live stream tonight. Well, those that watch these events regularly
know that I like to begin with a lightning round, but I do have a question that you really
can only ask once every ten years, and that question is this – is 2020 the beginning
of a new decade or the last year of a decade? FERGUSON: Well, the answer to that is similar
to the question, whether 2000 was the beginning of a new millennium or not. And probably, the answer is "either" or "either." BINGHAM: Okay, all right. Now with that settled… FERGUSON: Sitting on the fence. BINGHAM: Sitting on the fence. I think we're in the same position, but you
know, I really haven't seen as much controversy about that particular question since when
I first came to the States, and some Americans saw me putting pineapple on my pizza. FERGUSON: Wow! BINGHAM: Apparently, that's a hotly debated
subject among Americans as well. But let's turn to our lightning round. Just to refresh you, your memory, it's been
two years since we've done this. Now, that means we're looking for answers
around 30 to 40 seconds in length. You've had your coffee…you've had your coffee! So, I think we'll be able to do it. FERGUSON: Right, we'll do our best. BINGHAM: Okay, well, the first question coming
live from Twitter is this, "Which Puritan books have helped you the most?" FERGUSON: Probably I would say, John Owen's
book on Communion with God, which is in volume two of his Collected Works. Another book that has helped me a lot is Richard
Sibbes' book The Bruised Reed. I love John Flavel's book on The Mystery of
Providence. I've been…of all the Puritans, I've been
probably most helped by John Owen. And another volume of his that was a big help
to me in earlier life was his book on The Glory of Christ. So, those are some of the books. BINGHAM: Avril on Facebook, she's wanting
to know, "Does Christ save us from hell or God's wrath or both?" FERGUSON: He saves us from both and more. He saves us from sin and death and hell, as
one of the hymns teaches us. Saves us from Satan. What He accomplished in His death and resurrection
is multiplex, really, because our situation and sin has got various layers and dimensions
to it. So it's a very helpful thing, I think, for
us as Christians to realize just how much power there is in the work of Jesus Christ. BINGHAM: Another question coming in on Twitter,
"Is it wise for a young man called by God to be a pastor not to pursue marriage?" FERGUSON: That's the kind of question that
you need to answer by sitting down with the person who's asking it, because it very much
depends on the situation. I think it's important that in every aspect
of our lives we live according to the priorities that God has given to us and if God has already
given us, for example, a commitment, an engagement to somebody else prior to our call, then we
must take seriously the fact that we have a prior responsibility and negotiate how we
are going to live together around that situation. BINGHAM: Another question, this time again
from Twitter, "What do you see as the problem in the church in our century?" FERGUSON: Well, it depends where you are in
the world, I think, Nathan. I think one of the problems we obviously face
in the West is that we have too much and that we…I think very much we have our vision
often clouded in the West by what we seem to have managed to accomplish without prayer,
although we say that we believe in prayer. I think one of the things I've noticed in
my own lifetime, serving the Lord in the United States is whenever I've been given a worship
bulletin, when I've been visiting a church, I've always looked to see how this church
tells me what it really is, and often, therefore, I've looked to see how does this church tell
me that as a church it really prays. And sadly, often that has been the most obvious
missing note in "this is how we live as a church." And I know when I came to United States, first
of all, I often used to be amazed at how much seemed to be accomplished on the basis of
so little prayer which I think, then really made me think, we need to be very careful
that we're building with precious stones and good metal and not just with wood and hay
and stubble. So prayerlessness, I think, has really sadly
been one of the marks of our deficiencies. BINGHAM: Do you see a difference between the
church in Scotland and the United States? FERGUSON: I think I would've said I really
did at one time. It was at least in my own experience, it was
much more common to see the people of God meeting together and praying for God's blessing
on the church. And especially when I was younger, I can't
remember ever going to a prayer meeting, but people were praying for other people to be
converted. And I think I noticed over the years of my
Christian experience that that transition to people praying for other people to get
better, and that struck me as being a very significant difference. And you know, as you look at the way in which
God answers prayer, maybe part of the reason why so many churches were growing by members
transferring from another church that they had fallen out with, rather than by congregations
seeing people brought to faith in Christ. BINGHAM: We have another question here, this
is from Corey. Corey would like to know, "What does it mean
in Romans when it says, quote, 'God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts'"? FERGUSON: I think a good way of thinking about
that is that when people rebel against God, especially in the way Romans 1 describes it,
they view themselves as being freed from the judgment of God. These things are happening to us, we are able
to do these things, we are able to flaunt God's law, and you Christian people speak
about the judgment of God. And what Paul says is the fact that you are
doing these things so freely and that you're doing it with a free spirit is actually itself
the judgment of God. God has given you over to that. In a sense, he has said if that is what you
want, then that is what you will have, and you will taste the consequences of it in your
own life. So in Romans 1:18-32, there are these…I
think there are three occasions where Paul says God's response to sinfulness, the way
in which His wrath is manifested is by the way He gives us over to our sinfulness, to
sin to our hearts' content, but by sinning to our hearts' content, we reap the consequences
of the seeds that we are sowing to our own destruction. BINGHAM: Nat on Twitter would like to know,
"What advice would you offer to someone that has seen the fruits of salvation in their
life but still doubt their salvation at times?" FERGUSON: I think the important thing always
is, and this is been the counsel of I think the great masters of the spiritual life, you
know, one of them put it this way, "Make sure for every look you take at yourself and you
need, take ten looks at Christ," because at the end of the day we don't find the grounds
of our salvation or our assurance in ourselves or in our own experience but in Jesus Christ. The other thing I think I would say would
be that you need to hold onto the promises that God has given to you. For example, a promise like this in the book
of James, "You draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you," and hold on to that promise
rather than hold on to the way you feel about who you are and what you are as a Christian. So it's always important, first and foremost,
to look to Christ, to hold on to Christ and to hold onto the promises of God not just
in general as in saying, "O God, I believe your promises," but to look for specific promises
He's given that are applicable to your situation and to hold onto them. Because one of the things God is doing, when
we find ourselves struggling in this way, is He's disciplining us and teaching us to
trust in Him even when we can't feel Him or even when we don't see exactly what He's doing
in our lives. BINGHAM: Eric on YouTube left a comment, would
like to know, "What are the signs or marks of the true church?" FERGUSON: Well, the…I would…you know,
I could appeal to what, for example, the Reformers said, which would've been the preaching of
the Word and the right administration of the sacraments. I think a mark of a true church, you know,
an easy way to identify a true church is, I think, is often by first of all what happens
in the pulpit. Is the Word of God being faithfully expounded
there? And the second thing would be, so what is
that doing to the congregation? Is it producing the fruit of the Spirit in
the congregation? If those two things are true, you know, whatever
other deficiencies there may be in the church, whatever its church government may be, those
are the essential things. A third thing that I think that sometimes
we need to add to that is, are we a community that's willing to suffer for the sake of the
gospel. And I think it may be more and more into the
future, but that will be quite an important mark of the church. It will be an identifier of how true and real
to us the things that we confess, we believe really are. BINGHAM: Steven on Facebook would like to
know, "How can I honestly assess the presence of spiritual fruit in my life? How do I know if I've genuinely repented of
my sin?" FERGUSON: Well again, you know, that's a question
that I think he and I or he and someone else would need to stop, sit down, and think about. I think the simple answer is that you have
repented enough of your sin when you want Christ more than you want the sin, because
the whole purpose of repentance is turning away from our sin to Christ. So that is a more important thing than how
deeply miserable do I feel. God is not in the business of simply wanting
His children to feel deeply miserable, but if necessary, He wants them to feel miserable
enough to turn to Him and to trust in Him. So, sufficient misery is the misery that turns
us back to the Lord. BINGHAM: And the last question for the lightning
round, Janet on YouTube is asking, "When people say that everything happens for a reason,
how do I respond biblically?" FERGUSON: Well, it depends…first of all,
it depends who is saying that. There is a sense in which of course that is
true. But what the Scriptures teach us is that the
reason that things happen to Christians is very distinctive, that is, Christians are
taught to trust that in their lives everything works out for their good. But the sad truth is that if you're outside
of Christ, at the end of the day, things do not work out for your good. And so we mustn't, we mustn't lapse into a
fatalism that says, "It will all turn out for the best," because you know in this world
we would be putting your head in the sand if we thought everything turns out for the
best. So what Scripture is teaching us to believe
is that even although we don't understand it, God is working the best for those who
believe in Him. But the notion that, you know, everything
will turn out for the best is a fallacy. That everything happens for a reason is of
course, from one point of view, a biblical principle because God is sovereignly, providentially
overseeing everything that takes place. BINGHAM: We survived the first lightning round. We'll come back for another one… FERGUSON: There's another one to come. There's more lightning coming, tonight. BINGHAM: There's more lighting. If you've got a question for Dr. Ferguson,
remember, use the hashtag #askligonier on Twitter, leave a comment on YouTube or wherever
you're watching the live stream, or make your way over to Ligonier Ministry's Facebook page
and send us a message there. Now I did say at the beginning that I was
wanting to mention about the latest expansion of Ask Ligonier, and I'm pleased to say that
we have just released the trailer for "Ask Ligonier, the podcast." This is a new weekly podcast where we will
feature answers to your biblical and theological questions from some of the most trusted theologians
and pastors of today. And these are new answers being recorded for
this podcast specifically. So I encourage you to head over to ask.ligonier.org/podcast,
where you can listen to that trailer and also find out all the details of how you can call
in and leave your question as a voicemail, and you may have the opportunity to hear your
question asked with your voice on an upcoming episode of the Ask Ligonier Podcast. So I encourage you, subscribe to the podcast
today so you don't miss the first episode, which will be available next week, by searching
for Ask Ligonier in your favorite podcast app or again by visiting ask.ligonier.org/podcast. Well, we have another question now, this time
from Martin on Facebook. And Martin would like to know, "What are 'the
elementary principles of the world' in Galatians 4:3, and how do they enslave us?" FERGUSON: Well, that's actually a rather difficult
question. BINGHAM: It's not a lightning round, so take
as much time as you need. FERGUSON: We have plenty of time to think
about it. First of all, you need to put that statement
in its context. And the general context in which Paul is speaking
there is the context of the transition from the old order of the Old Testament to the
new order of the new covenant in Christ. And he's looking back to his past life as
a Jewish person, and he's thinking about the way in which as a Jewish person he was under
the law, but in his case he was under the law of God without resting in the fulfillment
of the promise of God. And because that was so, the principles of
the law of God brought condemnation into his life in a whole series of different ways in
the sense that you could go through each of the commandments as basic principles of life. This is how Adam and Eve were created to live. This is how we are created to live. But in each of these areas, instead of the
commandments being energized by our faith in the promise or for us as Christians being
energized by faith in the living Christ, all we've got is these commandments about the
basic elements of life as it should be lived. And instead of living in the free Spirit of
the power of Jesus Christ that enables us to live in accordance with God's commandments,
we are actually in bondage to them. Now, that's by no means a universal view,
but I think is a view that makes sense of the fact that Paul is speaking within the
context of the flow of redemptive history. He's speaking about things that are absolutely
basic to life, and he understands that those are the very issues that the law addresses. So for example, I will put it simply that
when Paul becomes a Christian believer, instead of being in bondage, under condemnation, in
relationship to these aspects that the law addresses, he's actually empowered by the
Spirit of Christ to live in the freedom of them. So that without Christ those duties actually
create bondage, whereas in Christ those duties become our delight. Because in living this way, empowered by the
Holy Spirit, we're living in a way – a) that we know this is the way God created us
to live, and b) we know that we are living in a way that is pleasing to our heavenly
Father, and that is delight and joy. BINGHAM: Well, another question that is probably
well-suited not to a lightning round, this one from Twitter, "If circumcision was a covenant
sign after Abraham had faith in God, why is baptism a covenant sign given to those who
haven't yet shown faith in God?" And they're referencing Romans 4:9-12, Abraham's
faith came first, then circumcision. FERGUSON: Yes, good question about which I
think a couple things are to be said. Abraham was circumcised following his trust
in God's covenant promise. His male seed were circumcised before their
existential trust. So in the Old Testament, circumcision is not
a matter of either/or. Abraham becomes a believer, one might say,
and therefore, becoming a believer is circumcised. His children are born within that covenant
family, and as a sign of that covenant they are circumcised with a view to their responding
to the covenant promise. And I think we would want to say that exactly
the same thing, exactly the same pattern is true in the new covenant. So those who come from outside of the new
covenant community, who are converted to Jesus Christ, will be baptized as converts on profession
of that faith. But in the same way as was true of Abraham,
because the covenant promise is given not only to them but to their children, they too
will receive the covenant sign. So in effect, there is really no difference
at that point between the way in which circumcision was administered and the way in which baptism
is administered. And I think the key thing there, especially
in what Paul says in Romans 4:11 and 12 is to grasp the principle that Paul says circumcision
was a sign of the gracious, saving righteousness of God's covenant promise, which Abraham received
by faith. So the circumcision was not, in the first
instance, a sign of his faith but a sign of God's promise. And it was because of that it could be given
to Abraham who trusted that promise. It was a sign of a promise he had already
trusted that his male children could be given it because it was a sign of the promise and
not a sign of faith. And because it was a sign of the promise,
it called them to trust in the promise. So in the same way, certainly for paedobaptists,
I am baptized…I come to faith in Jesus Christ and I am baptized, and my children are baptized
although they may not yet have come to faith because baptism is not, in the first instance,
a sign of my faith, it's a sign of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So my children are also baptized, and that
baptism becomes a visible presentation of the gospel to them that summons them to faith
and repentance. So in these ways…there are obvious differences
between circumcision and baptism, but there's obviously this continuity in the way in which
God administers the covenant sign and the covenant promise. BINGHAM: Wit, on Twitter, he's asking, "What
approach do you recommend for a local church to use it to get the outward call of the gospel
to all the neighbors living near the local church – door-to-door evangelism, open-air
preaching, or some other option?" FERGUSON: You know, I think this is a situation
in which circumstances alter cases. There are some churches that don't seem to
be in any locality, and I think increasingly in the twentieth century more and more churches
were built, almost deliberately built that way. And I think with foresight, certainly with
hindsight, I think it would have been plain that that was a disastrous methodology, because
it dislocated the Christian community from the community around about it. But this question sounds as though it's about
a church that's actually set in a community, and I think my own general observation is
that in many places fifty years ago, there were all kinds of bridges between the church
and the community, and most of them have broken down now. So I think I would say to any particular church,
the first thing that you need to do as a church is to ask the question, "In what appropriate
ways to this community can we build bridges from us to them that will enable us either
to walk over to them, which might mean we would do things outside of our church plant,
or in other communities that would enable them to walk over to us," or in some situations
you can do both. And, you know, my own feeling has been that
since everything, at the end of the day everything is connected to the Lord, He is the creator
and sustainer of all things, I would be prepared to use anything that was legitimate as a bridge. But you need to work out in your own location
what that might be. I think another thing that is very important
nowadays in our age of relativism, you know, when I think when I became a Christian, people
had a sense that an individual conversion was significant, and in our postmodern or
post-postmodern era there is more likely to be the thought, well, you know, "If that's
been a help to you that's fine, but it wouldn't be a help to me." But the one thing that the world is incapable
of replicating is the dynamism of a living Christian fellowship. And I think one of the observations I've had,
for example, in relationship to our own church, we have seen in the church I belong to in
Scotland, I've spoken to quite a number of people in the last year who have just turned
up at church absolutely out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, and the thing that strikes
them is this living community is totally different from what they thought church was. And when church really is church, in a way
its life as it really was meant to be, and so I think one of the things that we should
think more about is not just, "So how can I, as an individual member of the church,
evangelize my neighbors?" but "How can I take opportunity to expose the church to my neighbors
so that they…" because people sometimes feel things before they understand things
"…so that they can see there's something about this community that it just feels so
right." And sometimes I think even people who would
say, "I hate what these people believe" find that the hatred is dissolved by the fact that
they realize there is nothing like this in the world. And whatever it is, it seems so right. You know, my own conviction is if society
continues to move in its dysfunctional direction then, for example, more and more parents who
are not Christians, if they are exposed to the families that are in our church, are bound
to find themselves asking, "Why is it that these families have managed to do this when
we are completely, we are all at sea in these matters?" So when we're thinking about these things,
I think sometimes some of us have been brought up under a tremendous pressure to engage in
individual witness. I think we need to stand back from that and
ask the question, "How can we engage together in corporate witness?" And there are particular ways you can do this. This is, well, this isn't a lightning round,
isn't it? In, you know, in the church I served in Scotland
we used a number of evangelistic style Bible studies that actually were surrounded by meals
in which members of the congregation served so that it wasn't just Bible, it was Bible
plus the people in whom you could see that the Bible had come to life by their disposition
towards you as a non-Christian and by their relationship with one another. So, I think, always think along corporate
and not just individual lines. BINGHAM: Luke on Twitter is asking, "Looking
into the next decade, what things should we be concerned about losing in the church? What things do you think were lost in the
last decade?" FERGUSON: I think one of the things that we
have been in danger of losing, both in the last decade and will be into the future decade,
is courage. I suspect that there will be a greater call
for real courage to be a witness to Jesus Christ. That's it. BINGHAM: All right. FERGUSON: Yeah. BINGHAM: Well, Nick on Facebook is asking,
"What would you think of a church that allows women in the pastoral role, but only certain…let
me read that again, "What would you think of a church that allows women in the pastoral
role but only certain pastor roles, i.e. a church having a woman as a worship pastor
or small group pastors but not preaching on a Sunday?" FERGUSON: Yeah, that's a complicated question,
partly because that the word "pastor" traditionally has focused exclusively on one particular
office in the church, and now it's used for all kinds of roles in the church, even not
necessarily roles to which the congregation has elected an individual. And my own view of these things is we always
are wisest to go back to the way the Bible uses language. And the way in which the Bible uses language
about pastors clearly refers to elders in the church. And for myself, I think it is a pretty important
principle, or we will be led into confusion and perhaps even controversy, that we get
back to using biblical terms for biblical things, and we don't expand that vocabulary
to all kinds of Christian service in which we serve one another, because the Scriptures
don't do that. So the Scriptures don't speak about worship
pastors, they don't speak about pastors of visitation, they don't speak about youth pastors,
they speak about elders and deacons and the people of God in general ministering to one
another. And I think when we restructure our thinking
in that way according to Scripture, many of these questions begin to go away. For example, worship is one of them. The real worship pastor is the Lord Jesus
Christ. So when, if I visit a church and somebody
comes to me and says, "I'm the worship pastor here," yeah, I'm a relatively shy person and
I'm not a confrontational person, I don't think, but I usually just make a kind of grumbling
sound, but mentally I'm thinking "Christ is the worship pastor here. You may be the choir leader or the organist
or the banjo player or whatever you are, but the worship pastor is not what you are, Christ
is the worship pastor." He is, in the terms of the New Testament,
He is the leitourgos, the liturgy leading priest of the church. And again, in my own view, what takes place
in worship is always dominated not just by the preaching of the Word, but by the Word
itself and the ministry of the Word, which includes the reading of the Scriptures, includes
"So what are we singing and why is it being chosen?" And in all of these matters, it seems to me
one of the disasters of the contemporary church is that from so many of these areas the elders
who are the pastors are absent, and the net result of that is that congregations don't
know who really is their leadership. And what is tragic about that is it's the
elders that the church has elected. Often it's a committee somewhere or somebody
or an employment group that has elected other people to these, and consequently I think
that can lead to misunderstanding, to confusion of office, often to power tensions. So you know, I think my plea would be let's
go back to what Scripture says. And in a sense that's like saying to somebody,
"Go and have a cold shower in the morning," because I think it's true that in many churches
the question, "What does the Bible really say about this?" has never really been asked,
because the assumption is what the Bible does is tells us how to get saved, but as for everything
else we make it up, and it doesn't cross people's minds. Maybe God Himself has got something to say
about the way He wants to be worshiped. And I think sometimes when you say that, people's
response is, "I never thought of that. I thought what He wanted was for me to be
saved and then, well, the really important thing about worship is that we do it the way
we like to do it. And that's so contrary to the whole spirit
of the Scriptures. BINGHAM: Tyler on Facebook is asking, "Do
you think that we can learn humility from the scholarship of Herman Bavinck?" Maybe you could remind those watching who
Bavinck is as well. FERGUSON: Yeah, if we knew who Herman Bavinck
was, we would find out whether we could learn humility from him. Herman Bavinck was a truly, immensely great
Dutch theologian of the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. He was the successor, I think I'm right in
saying that he was the successor, of Abraham Kuyper whose name I think is more familiar
to Christian people in the United States. I might be bold enough to say that I think,
as a systematic theologian, he was a greater theologian than Abraham Kuyper. And maybe the question is being asked because
his great work Reformed Dogmatics has been translated into English for the first time
in the last fifteen years or so, four volumes. And it's an immensely great work. And the answer is, yes, we can learn humility
from Herman Bavinck, for a couple of reasons. One is that one of his great sayings is that,
you know, if you're going to think about God, you need to realize that you're dealing here
with mystery, and mystery recognized produces humility. And the other thing he actually says is that
humility is the cardinal virtue of the theologian. Why is that? Because what we are doing as theologians is
talking about God, and we are not God. And the sooner we realize that, the better. So I, you know, I quite often say that doing
theology – and this is in the spirit of Bavinck – doing theology is simply the way
we repent mentally, that is to say we allow God and His Word to shape the way we think
and feel, rather than seeking to shape God according to the way we naturally think or
feel. So Bavinck is certainly to be recommended. And for those who don't want to read four
hefty volumes, there is a volume, a one-volume edition of his Dogmatics produced. There's also a wonderful book he wrote, which
I think when it was translated into English was called Our Reasonable Faith, I think it's
original title was something like The Great Works of God. And it's a truly beautiful book of theology. So I am very enthusiastic about Bavinck's
theology and very appreciative of his emphasis on the importance of humility. BINGHAM: Well, clearly you're a reader, and
in the introduction at the beginning I mentioned you're a prolific author. But you also film video teaching series with
Ligonier Ministries on camera, and one of your recent ones was titled "The Basics of
the Christian Life." In light of that series, what advice would
you give to a young Christian, a new Christian? Perhaps they're in their first year of walking
with the Lord. What advice would you give to them? FERGUSON: Oh, that's a good question. Well, first and foremost, find a church where
God's Word will be ministered and where there are people who will nourish you…who welcome
you and nourish you. And usually the fact that if there is a solid
ministry of the Word, if they welcome you it usually is a good sign that that's somewhere
that you will find Christians who will nurture and nourish you. The second thing I think I would say is, do
try to build in the regular discipline of reading the Scriptures and praying. That's a lifelong activity. You don't grow in grace simply overnight,
and it doesn't just happen, so you need to build in some way of reading the Scriptures. And there are, you know, there are various
ways in which you can do that. You can join some kind of Bible reading program. An excellent way to do it, maybe the best
way to do it in the world is to subscribe to Tabletalk magazine actually, because Tabletalk
magazine will lead you passage by passage through the Scriptures, and it will give you
a page for each passage you study that will help you to understand it. It will be like somebody sitting down beside
you and helping you to walk through the passage. And the fact that it's a physical thing that
you can stick in your Bible will also be a really helpful reminder to you to keep on
reading the Scriptures. I didn't, obviously didn't think about Tabletalk
at the beginning of answering that question, but if somebody were to say to me, "So what
is the first thing I should buy?" I think I might say, "Actually, if you think
about it, Tabletalk might be the best first thing that you could buy," not least because
it then will give you some indication about other helpful Christian resources and is,
you know, it's a wonderfully reliable magazine, and I recommend it quite a lot to people obviously
and that's not just because of Ligonier connection. BINGHAM: Well, I didn't know you're going
to say that, but for those watching live, if you live in the US or Canada you can go
to "trytabletalk.com," and we'll send you a free three-month trial. And if you happen to live in the United Kingdom
you can go to "trytabletalk.co.uk" and request a free three-month trial as well. If you live in any other country, you can
go to "tabletalkmagazine.com" and read some of the content and articles there. But what I was going to tell those who are
watching live was about your series, "The Basics of the Christian Life" and let them
know that is our way of saying "thank you" for watching live. If you visit "ask.ligonier.org/offer," we'll
give you a free download of that twelve-part teaching series from Dr. Ferguson. Now that web address is "ask.ligonier.org/offer." And it's not just for new Christians, it really
is a practical guide for those essential matters of the Christian faith. So be sure to download that, it's a limited
time offer and our way of saying "thank you" for watching live tonight. Well, we have another question. FERGUSON: Okay. If they're watching in the UK, they should
be in bed. It's 1 o'clock in the morning! BINGHAM: Well, they might be watching the
replay tomorrow on YouTube. But yes, I'm sure there's lots of people in
the UK staying up late just to hear from Dr. Ferguson. FERGUSON: Yeah. BINGHAM: Jeffrey on Facebook has written in
regarding John 4 and is asking, "I understand worshiping in truth, what does worshiping
in spirit mean?" FERGUSON: In that context, it probably does
mean worshiping in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, it would take a long time to explain
fully what that means. But Jesus is looking forward to the fulfillment
of His work. He's speaking to the woman at the well in
John chapter 4 and He says, "The time is coming when you will no longer worship on this mountain
nor will you worship on the mountain of God," and He's saying that the internationalization
of the people of God that takes place on the day of Pentecost means that place becomes
irrelevant in worshiping God. And what then becomes exclusively relevant
is worshiping in truth which, if you read through John's Gospel, eventually it becomes
clear that that means worshiping through Christ and worshiping in Jesus' name. You know, if you fast-forward to John 14:6
where Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." If you're reading through John's Gospel, it's
almost as though at that point John is saying, you were wondering what he meant in John chapter
4 by saying you worship in truth, this is ultimately what he means that He is the way
of access to the Father, "No one can come to the Father except through Me." But what is it that enables us to come to
the Father through Christ? Well, as the gospel goes on, Jesus explains
more and more. This takes place through the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. He had referred to that when he was discussing
the question of the entry into the kingdom of God with Nicodemus in John 3, "You need
to be born of the Spirit if you're going to enter the kingdom of God." He had already discussed that, hadn't He,
with the woman at the well when He said, "You know, if you knew who I was, you would have
asked me for a drink and I would have given you living water." And clearly, as you read on in John's Gospel,
it becomes clear that living water is a reference to the gift of the Holy Spirit. So what he says there and of course this is…He
may have said more to the woman at the well, but the way John is telling the whole story,
and this is typical of him is he's dropping hints that intrigue you, that make you ask
exactly that question, "Well, what does it really mean to worship in spirit and truth,"
and as you hang on with the Gospel it becomes clear that it means to worship the Father
through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. BINGHAM: I'm sure some of the people watching
have read your book In The Year of Our Lord, where you survey twenty centuries of church
history. As you think about church history, is there
someone here that's a little bit more obscure that perhaps we may not have heard of, and
why did they come to mind? FERGUSON: Somebody who is obscure…well,
a man who was very obscure was a man called Simon the Stylite, who was a hermit, but he
was probably the most famous of the hermits who decided that the hermitage he would live
in would be at the top of a pole. So he is one of the more peculiar characters
in church history. I think the other thing about the people in
church history, and some of them appear in that book is that they're the people who lie
behind the people that we know well. And I think one of the…to me one of the
pleasures of kind of reflecting on twenty centuries of church history was kind of bringing
out into the light of day the fact that there are all these hidden people who have been
tremendously significant in the purposes of God, but nobody knows about them because the
person they know about is the person that they led to Christ. And to me that, you know, discovering there
are all these hidden people in the story of the church is a tremendous encouragement because
most of us are those hidden people and not the people whose names are known. BINGHAM: Sasha on Twitter would like to know,
and maybe we'll make this the last question before we jump into a lightning round, just
preparing you… FERGUSON: Thank you. BINGHAM: She would like to know, "How do I
answer someone who's asking, 'How we know the Bible was not written by religious leaders
to control people?' as in Dan Brown's novels?" FERGUSON: Yeah, well, one of the reasons we
know that is because Dan Brown, in his novel, is very clearly, and I think in a very obviously
prejudiced way has located all of his thinking in a group of scholars who very much belong
to the margins of Christian scholarship. They're well-known names, but they hold views
that the vast majority of scholars don't hold. So, that is one thing. The second thing to say is "Just read the
evidence." That is to say, read the New Testament and
ask yourself the question, "Is this the fruit of a group of control freaks?" And I think, the obvious answer is, "No." You can't read the Gospels and think this
is something that has been produced by a group of control freaks. So that the gospel's best evidence for itself
is the gospel itself. And so I would always challenge people, either
on their own or with me, to say, "Well, let's read the Gospels together." And often that's the way to respond in such
a way that you're also sometimes able, by simply saying that, to expose the prejudice
that people have when they say, "No, I don't want to do that." It's a very clear sign of self-justification
and prejudice that they're not willing to expose themselves to the evidence. And so, since most people pick these things
up, you know, by things that they hear talking heads say, "Well, you know it was just a group
of control freaks, it was the people who won who did it," we always need to press them
and say, "So well, what do you really know about this? Are you willing to face the evidence? Are you willing to expose yourself to it?" BINGHAM: All right, you ready for another
lighting round? Have your sip of coffee… FERGUSON: …I am ready for another lightning
round. BINGHAM: Well, I think you're going to enjoy
this first question. David R. or "Rrrr," however we say that, David
R. in Sydney, Australia, I'm assuming watching now live on YouTube, wants to know, "When
are you coming to Sydney to visit your ex-Scottish colleague?" FERGUSON: Well, if he knows my ex-Scottish
colleague whose honorary assistant I was, he's referring to David Roberson. If he knows David, please give David my best
and tell him we're thinking about him as of course, when you know you especially, but
we are all concerned about the people in that area in Australia just now. BINGHAM: So a quick lightning round question
just because we bring up Australia. For when natural disasters strike like that,
how do you encourage people to pray? What is an appropriate Christian prayer? FERGUSON: You know, the most important prayer
is that whatever the providences of God may be, He will use them to turn people to Christ. And that is, you know, it's wholly appropriate
that we should pray that God would turn back the fires. But beyond that, our concern is for God's
glory. And if that means that people are going to
be awakened to think about eternal things when they've been consumed with the things
of this world, then we pray that God will…and you know I think we believe that God will
use these things, make people think about what really matters, what really lasts. In fact, you know, it's very often at such
times that you'll hear people say in response to what they have lost that it's really made
them treasure the things that are really important. BINGHAM: Question coming up from Twitter,
"The thing that is happening between the US and Iran, is the end getting nearer?" FERGUSON: Well, the end is always getting
nearer, but what we know from what Jesus said is there are wars and rumors of wars. And we mustn't jump on the fact that there
are wars and rumors of wars today to draw the conclusion that the end of the world is
about to happen. You know, through my lifetime this kind of
cycle has been repeated again and again and again. And I think we need to take a broader biblical
view than to think that because there is a crisis again in the Middle East that we are
in the last of the last days. BINGHAM: A question coming in, "Should we
view 'the world' in John 3:16 as the elect or as the fallen humanity?" FERGUSON: I think we should not view it just
as the elect, because there is a strong emphasis in the Scriptures on the love that God has
for the world that has turned against Him. And in John's Gospel "world" usually either
means "not just the Jews," or it means "the world as a fallen entity." And in that context, I think both of these
things are true. That the wonder of the gospel is that God
so loved this fallen world that He gave His only Son. And there is an aspect of that, that is saying,
and it is not just an exclusive love for the Jews. So, I think to limit that statement to the
elect would really be to limit the fact that it is the world has lost itself that has drawn
the compassion of God. BINGHAM: A viewer on YouTube has left a comment
and they're asking, "What is the best book of the Bible that an eleven-year old boy should
read during his quiet times or devotional times?" FERGUSON: What is the best book? Well, I think there's no answer to that, really,
Nathan. For a variety of reasons I think I would say,
well, there are two things. Most children of that age do love narrative. And thinking back to my own period as a youngster,
I was not a Christian believer when I was 11, but I was already reading the Bible every
day, and the passages that embedded themselves into my life as a boy, actually, were the
narratives of the life of Joseph and the narrative part of the book of Daniel. I would also add to that, that of course,
the chief narrative with which an eleven-year-old should be encouraged to be familiar is the
narrative of the Lord in the Gospels. It might seem really weird to say, but I wouldn't
discourage an eleven-year-old from reading and enjoying the book of Revelation, because
I remember myself as I think maybe I was a fifteen-year-old, which is a wee bit older,
sitting down having bought J.B. Phillips' paraphrase of the book of Revelation and being
totally gripped by it and understanding its basic message that we live in a war between
Satan and darkness and Christ and light, and that Christ will win. Actually, I read that on a rainy Saturday
afternoon as a fifteen-year-old, having spent my pocket money buying it. And, you know, looking back now I think that
was the weirdest thing in the world. But it was…to me it was just the greatest
adventure story in the world. So, you know, I think be imaginative about
what you encourage a youngster to read, but make sure as they respond that they do read
from Christ outwards and not just like eventually to Christ. BINGHAM: We're going to have some more coffee,
because we're going to make these more lightning. FERGUSON: Okay. BINGHAM: We're coming close to the end now. FERGUSON: Oh of course, I forgot that was…but
that was the eleven-year-old, and an eleven-year-old deserves more than a lightning round. BINGHAM: That's fair. Matthew on Twitter wants to know, "What view
of eschatology do you subscribe to?" FERGUSON: I am what people would usually call
some kind of amillennialist. BINGHAM: Okay, Vincent on YouTube, "What is
essentially wrong with the prosperity gospel?" FERGUSON: What is essentially wrong with the
prosperity gospel is that Jesus taught us to expect suffering, that the Christian life
is carrying a cross not carrying prosperity. BINGHAM: Rachel on Facebook, "Why did God
permit David to have many wives even though that was against His commandments?" FERGUSON: Because God permits many things
in His sovereign wisdom that are contrary to His revealed will. BINGHAM: Charles on Twitter, "What are your
favorite commentaries?" FERGUSON: My favorite…my most favorite commentary
is John Murray on the letter to the Romans and that's for two reasons, one is because
it's a great commentary and the other is because I owe so much to Professor Murray. I heard him speak when I was, I think, seventeen
or eighteen, and he opened a world to me. He was an elderly retired professor from Westminster
Seminary, and that in particular has been a favorite commentary of mine. BINGHAM: Last question for the lightning round,
Christine on YouTube wants to know, "Are there different levels of glory in heaven?" FERGUSON: I could say "yes," and it would
be understood. I think I would say there are different manifestations
of glory in heaven. There is no one in heaven who does not reflect
and manifest the glory of God, but there's no individual who is capable of manifesting
all of the glory of God. And as far as I can kind of work my way round
what the New Testament teaches, there is a sense in which the way in which an individual's
life will manifest the glory of God is related to the way in which that individual Christian
life has lived for the glory of God in this world. BINGHAM: Well, before we get to some final
questions tonight, I want to remind those who are watching live to visit "ask.ligonier.org/offer"
to request your free download of Dr. Ferguson's twelve-part teaching series, The Basics of
the Christian Life. Now that's free there for you as our way of
saying "thank you" for watching live, and it's a limited time offer. We'll come to just a couple of final questions
for you, Dr. Ferguson, tonight. Paul on Twitter would like to know, "What
are the attributes of Christ which make Christ beautiful to sinners, and how ought they to
be presented so that sinners are drawn to Christ savingly?" FERGUSON: So, maybe I can try to answer that
question by saying, "How would you go about answering the question?" And the way you would go about it would be
by reading the Gospels and seeing what was it about Jesus that drew this person to Him. That actually would be a wonderful study,
it would be for some people a revolutionary study, because I have this suspicion that
many people read the Gospels trying to find themselves there, and this would help reverse
that tendency to help them to see all of the focus on the Gospels is not on the people
Jesus met, but who Jesus was to the people He met. So, you know, someone mentioned John chapter
4 earlier on, you could go to John's Gospel and say, "So what was it about Jesus that
drew Nicodemus to Him?" You move into the next chapter, you've got
a totally different human being. You've got in 3 the great theologian in Israel,
and what drew him to Jesus was obviously the sense that there was something about Jesus'
teaching that had the ring of truth about it, and that might draw an individual. But then there is this woman, and what is
it that mysteriously draws this woman? It is the sense she has that Jesus has exposed
who she really is. So when she runs off to tell the neighborhood,
the thing she says is, "This man told me everything I ever did." Well, apparently He hadn't told her everything
she had ever done, but she realized that in the presence of Jesus she was discovering
who she really was. You can go through the whole of John's Gospel
and other Gospels that we see you'd find that there is a compassion that draws people to
Jesus. There's a patience that draws people to Jesus. There, you know, in a wonderful way there
is a willingness in Jesus to pause for the people who do not think anyone really cares
about, and that way you work through the Gospels and you learn about Christ and you also learn
the answers to that question, I think. BINGHAM: Well, final question for tonight. Ernesto on YouTube is asking, "How do I know
if I'm saved?" FERGUSON: Well, you know if you're saved because
salvation begins to appear in your life. You desire new and different things. The law of God that you regarded as an enemy
and an irritation becomes a friend, and you want to keep it. You want to please Christ rather than let
Him down. You know all of these, they're very simple
things. You begin to love the people who love the
Lord Jesus, and these are the kind of things that 1 John speaks about. So a good exercise would be to go to 1 John,
which speaks about our relationship to Christ, our new relationship to sin – we no longer
love it, we hate it – and our new relationship to God's people. We begin to love God's people and to want
to be with them. BINGHAM: Dr. Ferguson, thank you for coming
back, and thank you for spending this hour with us. FERGUSON: Well, thank you, and thanks for
those wonderful questions that people have sent in. BINGHAM: Well, I want to encourage you to
make sure you subscribe to the new Ask Ligonier podcast by searching for "Ask Ligonier" in
your favorite podcast app. But if you need real-time answers to your
biblical and theological questions, you can ask us those questions and get answers twenty-four
hours a day, six days a week simply by visiting "ask.ligonier.org." Well, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I look forward
to seeing you next time.
