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)
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!
