Jewels from Together for the Gospel 2008 (T4G08)
Three days full of solid Biblical teaching and encouragement for pastors, church leadership, and their blessed wives who were able to attend. Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, C. J. Mahaney, and Al Mohler are the four friends. John McArthur, R.C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, and John Piper were their guests ... what need I say except "Thank you, Lord!" What a rich gift from the Father of Lights! I won't be able to share even a fraction of the depth of wisdom and insight from the men who spoke there, but will try to highlight the morsels God used to feed my thirsty soul.
Ligon Duncan
- Jesus admonishes us to teach all the deep doctrines -- everything Jesus has taught us, we are to teach others.
- Theology & Doctrine really matter!
- Celebrate truth!
- Outlive, out-rejoice, and out-die all the critics of solid doctrine and theology.
- Doctrine is necessary for joy, assurance, and marriage.
Thabiti Anyabwile
- All created humans have unity in Adam's sin.
- All redeemed humans have unity in Christ, unity in the church, and unity in our promised eternity with God!
- Race is a construct of human imagination. It doesn't even exist!
- Ethnicity is the actual term that should be used to describe differences in language, culture, nationality, and even religion. But, these differences have absolutely nothing to do with biology!
- Ethnicity is fluid and permeable.
- There are 6 problems with racial categorization: (1.) The abuse of people and the Scriptures flows from it. (2.) It is one step closer to racism. (3.) It prevents and hinders meaningful engagement of other persons. (4.) It undermines Biblical authority and denies the sufficiency of the Scriptures that say we are all created in God's image. (5.) It is resistance against the Holy Spirit, who leads us to love our neighbors. (6.) It pulls apart the very fiber of the Gospel and the doctrines of Limited Atonement and Unconditional Election.
- You will never notice the godliness of someone's character if you are so bound by your racist viewpoint that you cannot see past his skin color.
- When you enter a room, you automatically scan the people in it, evaluating which ones are "like you" and therefore "safe". Simultaneously, you are analyzing that some are not "like you" and thinking to yourself that they are not "safe". This is rooted in racism and can work like a cancer in your soul, robbing you of the joy of loving your brethren of different colors. More than that, it is rooted in the lie that people's differences are biological, when in fact they are not. Our differences have nothing whatsoever to do with biology. Our differences have to do with our cultures, our upbringing, our language, our religion, music preferences, etc.
- The only culture we should cling to is one of holiness and the righteousness of Christ!
John McArthur
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Soft preaching makes hard people.
Hard preaching breaks down hard hearts and makes a soft people.
John Piper
- Be radically salty by embracing suffering and persecution with joy!
- Be risky for the glory of God!
- Make crazy sacrifices for the sake of Christ!
- Don't use Jesus as a ticket to get what worldly people work for.
- Count God's Word as more important to you than your daily food.
- Don't make it a goal to be carried to the clouds on flowery beds of ease!
- Be so radically heavenly-minded that you are free from the world.
- Go to Christ, outside the camp! Leave the cushy comfort and false security. Embrace whatever comes by keeping your eyes on that city which is to come.
- Have a radical flavor to your ministry!
- The glory of God's grace reached its apex at the cross of Christ!
- Jesus' means-work there on the cross will forever be our song of praise, in this life, and then someday bowed low before His throne!
I must say that one of the talks brought great sadness to my heart. R.C. Sproul, a man I greatly respect and honor as a hero of the faith, said some things that were just not true about our God. It was said that the Father forsook His beloved Son while He was in His darkest hour, hanging upon the cross as a sacrifice for our sin. It was said that He no longer remained holy when He took the sins of mankind upon His body and that He was not in the mood to quote Bible. It was said that the Father looked with disdain upon His Son at this moment and turned His face away from Him. Oh brother, it was quite the opposite! The Father and Son are one! (John 10:30) Jesus, by virtue of His humanity, felt forsaken just as was foretold in Psalm 22. Yet, He knew and had told His apostles that they would desert Him, but His Father would be with Him! "Behold, an hour is coming, and has come, for you to be scattered, each to his own,
"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." (Ephesians 5:1-2)
If Jesus and the Father had separated on the cross, they would have ceased to be Triune. They would have ceased to be the God who never changes, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. If Jesus ever ceased to be holy and perfect, then He would not have been a sufficient sacrifice for our sins and would not have satisfied God's wrath on sin. The sacrifice had to be without blemish, holy, perfect and righteous, pure and pleasing to the Father! Jesus was, my brother. Even with my sin on His body, hanging on the cross, He was perfect, righteous, holy, and comforted by the faithfulness of His and my Father!
Yes, the Father was faithfully by the side of His beloved Son at all times!
BTW: I was honored to be the subject of one of the Panel Discussions
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