Review of 2008 Ligonier's National Conference- Day 3

The end of the conference is always sad for me and at the same time by the third day my brain is ready for a break! This year was no exception. The morning started out with Sinclair Ferguson preaching on "The Nature of Saving Faith." This was the most challenging message of the conference for me- one I will have to listen a few more times. Ferguson focused on how it is not faith in Christ that saves but Christ who saves through faith. Ferguson pointed out that Paul speaks of "believing into Christ" and how this language is unique to the New Testament. The best part of the message was when Ferguson was explaining that God does not believe for us and how at the point of believing faith is active and faith is wholly receptive. Saving faith does not have a single constructive moment but we embrace Christ actively by faith. This message was very interesting and offered much to chew on.

After Ferguson was one more Q&A session followed by Sproul's last message on "Counted Righteous in Christ." Sproul centered on imputation and how salvation rests on imputation. Sproul explained how our righteousness is not a legal fiction but that we are truly righteous because Christ's righteousness is imputed to us when we believe. Sproul used the example of Abraham who believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Abraham was justified before he was sanctified. Sproul also talked about how no one is justified apart from works. The point of disagreement between the Roman Catholic and Protestant church comes in when you ask the question, "by whose works are you justified?" The biblical answer is "by Christ's."

I really enjoyed learning more about the doctrines of subsitutionary atonement and imputation at this years Ligonier conference. I also enjoyed staying for the Hallelujah Chorus this year for the first time- a little glimpse of heaven! I was able to talk to Sproul at the end of the conference while waiting for the mp3 messages to be done. I expressed my thanks to him for his teaching on some of my favorite subjects- the psychology of unbelief and his exposition of Romans 1. I also picked up my first Ferguson book, "The Christian Life" and a few Sproul books I've wanted for a long time, "The Consequence of Ideas" and Classical Apologetics." I can't wait to eat them up!

Review of 2008 Ligonier's National Conference- Day 2

Day two of the Ligonier conference opened up with John MacArthur's message, "Simultaneously Righteous and a Sinner." MacArthur started out the message by talking about the teaching of Wesleyan Perfectionism and how it had infected evangelicalism. Some of the examples he gave were very familiar and were experienced by people I know. In speaking on justification and sanctification MacArthur taught:

-both originate from the free grace of God

-both are part of Christ's redemptive work

-both will be present in a person who is saved

-both begin simultaneously

-both are necessary for glorification

MacArthur gave an example of someone who righteous and a sinner at the same time in the apostle Paul who said he had a clear conscience and also called himself the chief of sinners. MacArthur explained that though we have new life we still have our old corpse strapped to us. MacArthur encouraged us to mortify the flesh by:

-using all the means of grace

-abstaining from sin

-keeping out of the way of temptation

-praying fervently

-keeping our eyes on Christ

MacArthur gave his great illustration from 1 Samuel 15 where he compares our battle with sin to the killing of King Agag. Saul was commanded to totally annihilate the Amalekites in battle but he disobeyed God and failed to kill them all. One of the Amalakites he left alive was King Agag. Samuel came and hacked Agag to pieces- just as we are to hack sin to pieces! This is a great analogy because we see clealry the consequences of not following God's command in this area- Some Amalekites got away under Saul and later on a particular Amalekite tried to wipe out the Jews in the book of Esther. If we do not kill sin it will wreak havoc in our life! MacArthur said mortification is a life long process and explained that as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ we will gain victory over sin more and more but said we will feel worse. Because the less we sin and the more we intimately we know God the more we will hate sin.

After MacArthur we were most blessed to hear again from Joni Eareckson Tada as she spoke on "Preaching the Gospel to All Nations." This was another very moving and convicting message from Tada filled with her immense compassion. This woman really has a heart to share the gospel and is obedient to God to do so often. She talked about how God purposes a global church and how we can't be "come and see churches" but instead we need to be "go and tell churches." She talked about how preaching without good deeds makes our message appear barren and how our good deeds adorn and beautify the gospel. This is a woman who is full of good deeds (I loved her story about evangelizing the illegal immigrants -and in Spanish- that she sees on the way to work!). She serves the kingdom more than anyone I know despite her debilitating disability. After hearing all about the ministry she is involved in I was quite ashamed of my able-body self who who does nothing compared to her!

Next came the Scott with, "The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ." Sinclair Ferguson was at the first Ligonier conference I attended. I enjoyed him much more this year as my ear has been trained in understanding accents now! This was my favorite message of the conference as it was an excellent exposition of Isaiah 52-53. Ferguson remarked on a how an ignorant friend of his in school introduced this passage as "the gospel according to Isaiah" and how he at first was embarrassed for his friend but then realized it was even more true than his friend knew. Ferguson talked about a lot of things like how this passage is what is known as a parabola and how the meaning or theme could be found in the middle of the passage and divided it up into 5 stanzas"

-Stanza 1: the Servant's triumph is wholly unexpected (52:13-15)

-Stanza 2: the Servant's humiliation is described (53:1-3)

-Stanza 3: the Servant's suffering is explained (53:4-6) *meaning

-Stanza 4: the Servant's obedience is underlined (53:7-9)

-Stanza 5: the Servant's glorious exaltation (53:10-12)

Ferguson goes on to teach about imputation and substitution and pulls out so many wonderful things from the text that instead of telling you any more about it I will let you listen to this awesome message for yourselves for I cannot do it justice! Listen here http://comequicklylordjesus.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter-weekend-messages.html

The next speaker was a Bible teacher I have heard on the internet but have never seen speak as this was his first time at the Ligonier conference. C.J. Mahaney spoke on "The Resurrection of Jesus." Mahaney reminds me a little bit of Piper because he speaks with so much passion and emotion and the way he cracks himself up reminds me of R.C. Sproul who makes himself laugh a lot. Mahaney talked a lot about death in his message. I was so glad because I think the idea of death is hugely missing in sermons today. This culture shuts a blind eye to death but as Mahaney reminded us, "we are all just standing in line." Mahaney taught that Easter is a yearly reminder of death and went on to say that Easter proclaims death, sin, and judgment do not have the final word because of Christ's resurrection. This resurrection announces forgiveness and that divine provision has been made for those who deserve punishment. Mahaney then focused on how belief in the resurrection should affect the way we live. "It is easier to affirm the resurrection than to apply it," Mahaney said. He went on to give a personal illustration about how the resurrection redefines death for the Christian that was quite powerful (if I can figure out how to put just this clip on I will upload it). His story illustrated how the resurrection brings freedom from the fear of death and wrath. He ended his story by saying, "I experienced the difference of the resurrection while making eye contact with death."

Sproul ended the second day of the conference with a teaching on "Sola Fide" which focused on faith being the means by which justification is given. Sproul went into detail as he contrasted the Roman Catholic belief that faith initiates salvation but is not sufficient in itself for justification with the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. Sproul's message was very good -as is to be expected!

Review of 2008 Ligonier's National Conference- Day 1

This was my 5th year in a row going to the Ligonier's National Conference in Orlando, Florida. It is the thing I look forward to the most every year. This year's theme was "Evangelism According to Jesus." It was not at all a conference on how to do evangelism but rather it centered on making sure we as believers understand the elements of the gospel message ourselves and stressed the importance the word of God plays in bringing people to salvation.

The conference kicked off with Steven J. Lawson's message "The Foolishness of Preaching." This was the first time I have ever heard Lawson preach. The conference emcee was right when he made a comment after Lawson preached that we had blast off! Lawson is a very strong preacher who preaches with authority and does not stop to take a breath- ever! He is rapid fire for an hour straight! Here are some of my favorite quotes from this teaching:

"The herald of the gospel is not results oriented but obedience oriented."

"Men today are more interested in filling the building than filling the pulpit."

"There is one solution to the human dilemma- the word of the cross."

"The wisdom of the world and the foolishness of the cross are going in two different directions."

"God designed the message and the method of how it would go forth(preaching) so that His wisdom and power would be on display."

"The preacher need not beguile the audience because people believe by the power of the word of God."

The second lecture was given by R.C. Sproul Jr. on "Evangelizing Your Children." I got a good laugh when Sproul Jr. was talking about how different denominations view their children: Lutherans, Methodist, & Anglicans are not worried about their children, Baptists view their children as horrible sinners who need to be preached the gospel, and Presbyterians see their children as "baby vipers wearing covenant diapers." Ha, ha, ha! Anyway, the overall theme of Sproul's message was that "To repent and believe the gospel is the answer to every problem." Sproul focused on how we need to be people who repent and not be people who live like we don't sin. His message was directed towards how parents are to evangelize children but was applicable to all relationships. Some quotes from message:

"We will never evangelize by pretending to be something we are not."

"They (our children and all people) need to us repenting and believing the gospel."

"It is foolish to think we will bring people into the kingdom by seeming that we don't sin."

The next message "Good News in a Fallen World" was given by Joni Eareckson Tada. This was the first time I had ever heard her speak and I have to admit I was afraid for her. I was afraid of how she would do. I mean she is a woman -and sorry if this is offensive- but women are not nearly as good at teaching the Bible as the men are. If you disagree with that send me some links to awesome and deep women Bible teachers and prove me wrong, PLEASE!) And not only is she a woman but she was teaching on the same stage as the GREATS! I was afraid for her. The truth is Tada was the like the horse at the track with the worst odds who won the big race. She was awesome! On top of her excellent teaching on bringing the gospel among the suffering in this fallen world her message was beautifully adorned with deep emotion, sensitivity, and compassion that only a woman could bring. Sproul added much by the addition of Tada to the conference this year. She teaches suffering with the authority of deep personal knowledge and reminds us:

"Suffering shows us who we are inside."

"When we are made to suffer we feel the sting of sin and it exposes to us what a poison sin is."

I really cannot do justice to her message but you could tell by the response of the audience that people were hit hard. After this followed a Q & A session with the three speakers. These sessions are a nice repose after brain frying lectures. Some small tidbits from the Q & A:

"The church gathers to worship and scatters to witness."

"Seeker sensitive churches are VBS for adults."

"Everyone rests in the gracious hand of God until they die."

"We live in a culture where people believe that a profession of faith saves them rather than a possession of faith."

Thus ended the pre-conference seminar. The actual conference started Thursday night with more rapid fire preaching from Steven J. Lawson, this time on "The Saving Power of God." Some of my favorite quotes from this message:

"Christ must be fully man and fully God to represent both parties in order to bring about reconciliation."

"We have not evangelized until we have shared the person and work of Christ." (this was said in regard to people thinking that sharing their testimony or witnessing is evangelism)

"We have been saved to serve."

"We bring a message so powerful that no one is beyond it."

"God's wrath is currently damned up by his mercy but it is building and building."

The last address of the night was given by John MacArthur on "Who Is Jesus?" MacArthur is my favorite as I have been raised in the faith on his teaching but I am most sorry to say that at this late hour my jet lag overwhelmed me and I became quite delirious and have no notes to pass on. I only recall what teaching I did hear was incredible- as usual. I look forward to listening to this message again.

Before I conclude this conference day I must give a shout out to the Westminster Brass and the organ woman who play the hymns that I look so forward to every year. The worship music at the Ligonier conference is the best. I wish they would come live at my church!

Easter Weekend Messages

This Resurrection weekend I have had a lot of time to think about the last week of Christ's life, his death, and resurrection. Today I listened to an excellent Good Friday sermon The Atonement by Mark Driscoll and I highly recommend it. To go along with this weekend's theme I also re-listened to an awesome sermon from Sinclair Ferguson "The Substitutionary Atonement" which he preached last week at the Ligonier Ministries conference. It was my favorite sermon from the conference. I have uploaded it here so you can listen to it in the player below. This is the kind of sermon where you will want to sit down with your Bible, a pencil, and a hot cup of coffee and just feast away. I hope you take the time to feed richly on both!

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Ligonier Ministries National Conference 2008

Full debrief to follow soon.